- Joss takes a bow – Words and silencing – Leaving childhood – Making choices – Establishing an identity – High tech vs low tech – Conclusion – Spicy extras for James Marsters fans

Hush begins with a narrator saying: "Hush, a special Buffy." So – am I supposed to be extra quiet? We’ll see. Sometimes, it’s hard to know exactly what words mean without more cues.

With this suspiciously uncharacteristic, "after-school-special" type opening, Joss Whedon sets up both his fans and his critics for a look at (among other things) the need to feel special, and the lengths to which some people will go to appear so. It is no coincidence that in an episode that has been termed both unique and gimmicky, in a series that is seen as both fluff and substance, we have many references to the enhancement of identity:

• When Willow mentions "the wacky notion of spells", the Wicca group members react with disdain: "Oh yeah, then maybe we could all get on our broomsticks, and fly around on our broomsticks" and "You know, certain stereotypes are not very empowering." Ah, poor, Joss – I mean Willow, poor Willow. Unlike the rest, she’s the real thing, but everyone just rolls their eyes at her, and at her lame, gimmicky sounding ideas.
• Forrest says to Riley, about the secret nature of being demon fighters: "We have a gig that would inevitably cause any girl living to think we are cool upon cool. Yet we must Clark Kent our way through the dating scene, never to use our unfair advantage. Thank God we’re pretty." Oh poor BtVS – I mean, poor Forest and Riley. They have a great thing going, but they can’t get the word out. Yes, thank God they are pretty, or no one would pay any attention.
• With everyone unable to speak, Sunnydale residents are dealing with a unique and difficult challenge. But the reporter on the news mentions that some skeptics are calling the crisis a citywide hoax! Oh, poor Jos - Sunnydale! Sounds like people who have never been there, and really know nothing about it, are making judgment calls.
• Olivia: "All the time you used to talk to me about witchcraft and darkness and the like – I just thought you were being pretentious." Giles: "Oh, I was. I was also right." Olivia: "So everything you told me was true." Giles: "Well, no. I wasn’t actually one of the original members of Pink Floyd." So Giles, in trying to seem special, relied both on showing off with true examples of his uniqueness, and on falsely associating himself with the genius of others. That’s OK. (We’ll forgive you, Joss, for openly ripping off Tim Burton’s style here and there).

What else do we have in the way of the self-rever - referential?

• Anya - bursting into Giles’s apartment, trying to get Xander to confirm that she is special to him. Lucky for her, in this episode, she does finally get that Emmy nomination for writing! I mean - she finally gets that genuine hug from Xander (when he realizes that Spike has not attacked her, and she is alive). And notice that that’s all it takes for Anya to keep right on putting out – she’s such a fool for love, isn’t she? A sucker for a little recognition.
• Willow - getting a big smile on her face when Tara says she’s special, though she’s just been humbly rejecting the idea. The Lead Gentleman does the same thing when the others applaud his achievement in obtaining another heart. Both Willow and The Gentleman act like they don’t want the recognition, but we can see they are both actually quite pleased by it. It’s cute with Willow, and (disturbingly) still kinda cute with The Gentleman. With Joss? Man, he is killing me.
• Xander – insisting he is bitable, i.e., moist and delicious.
• Buffy - pantomiming male masturbation! She is demonstrating, in public, what should be a most private indulgence, what is an act of pure self-satisfaction and nothing more. Joss – for God’s sake, at least shut the door.
• There are many references to self-centered behavior e.g.: Spike and the Weetabix, Xander and his orgasms, Willow believing she is deaf, Buffy immediately sure she is "the princess", and the dorm residents fearfully refusing to answer Tara’s desperate knocks on their doors for help.

The words and images imply that Joss is poking fun at both himself and the (no doubt gentlemanly) powers-that-be in the Entertainment business. But as we began to do in Something Blue, we also take a look at the power – or lack thereof – of words. Without words, communication becomes immeasurably more difficult. The Gentlemen (and what they represent –the extreme in polite society, the establishment) disempower and discourage their pool of possible victims by removing their voices – before they ultimately silence their victims by death. It is a heavy blow, as we can see from the devastated, defeated reaction of the town folks. But, as Professor Walsh tells us, communication and language are not the same thing. It is communication that is essential, which allows us to interact with each other and the external world, which lets us go from inspiration (revelation), to idea, to reality. Without voices, everyone begins to find substitute ways to reach out. Words can be powerful, but they are not an absolute necessity. They can be meaningless or worse: They can interfere with true communication and progress of a relationship when they are used to lie (Buffy and her petroleum, e.g.).

Hush also continues to hammer Season 4’s themes: Leaving childhood, making choices, and establishing an identity. We also continue to compare the Initiative’s high tech military approach to Buffy, Giles and The Scoobies' low-tech, free form approach.

Joss indulges in a self-stroking, unsubtle display of his genius by leaving words behind. But I love words, and I’m not nearly so needy. So let’s look at how these themes were addressed in this episode:

LEAVING CHILDHOOD:

MAKING CHOICES:

ESTABLISHING AN IDENTITY

HIGH TECH VS LOW TECH:

So, wow. That wasn’t easy. I’m not at all sure you’ll get what I mean, am I? Or maybe you’ll understand it better, see it all more broadly and completely, without my words to narrow the picture. I’ll just have to take a chance.

With her twice repeated words, "Fortune favors the brave" one of the messages in this episode is that though ill-fortune may sit in its clock tower and stalk us, descending to rip our hearts out when it’s our time, we are meant to take risks. We are not helpless; we can influence the aim of outrageous fortune, with bravery – like Tara, as she overcomes her shyness and fears, makes a connection with Willow, and escapes her fate at the hands of The Gentlemen. Or maybe like Joss, who despite the self-deprecation he built into the episode, laid it all on the line with this one - and fortune smiled.

• He looks great in Season 4. For some reason, his body looks especially yummy in that scene where he whines about the Weetabix, and plops down on Giles couch.
• I love the look on his face when he hears Anya say: "All you care about is lots of orgasms" to Xander. And then the look on his game-face when Anya makes her "finger in fist" gesture to suggest sexual intercourse to Xander. Oh Anya. She doesn’t need words to be Anya.
• Love the scene with Xander tying Spike up, and Spike telling him he’s a "nummy treat" then channeling Anya. So cute, so funny, both of them. Of course, it also works as more gender-bending for Spike.
• Tight Pants report – there really are times when a picture is worth a thousand words: