From The TV IV

Listening to Fear is the tenth episode of the fifth season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the eighty-eighth episode overall, and fractures Buffy and Riley's relationship beyond repair. A strange alien creature has landed in Sunnydale via a fallen meteorite. Upon its arrival, there are several killings of mentally ill people. But with Joyce's brain tumor, he perceived insanity may be the end of her.

Guest Stars: Amber Benson (Tara), Kristine Sutherland (Joyce), Clare Kramer (Glory), Charlie Weber (Ben), Barbara C. Adside (Creature), Debbie Lee Carrington (Creature), Paul Hayes (Older Night Watchman), Keith Allan (Skinny Mental Patient), Erin Leigh Price (Vampire Chick), April Adams (Nurse Lampkin), Nick Chinlund (Major Ellis), Kevin Weisman (Dreg), Randy Thompson (Doctor Kriegel)

Contents 1 Plot Overview 2 Notes 2.1 Monster of the Week 2.2 Body Count 3 Arc Advancement 3.1 Happenings 3.2 Characters 3.3 Referbacks 4 Trivia 4.1 The Show 4.2 Behind the Scenes 4.3 Allusions and References 4.4 Memorable Moments 5 Quotes 6 Reviews

[edit] Plot Overview

[edit] Notes

[edit] Monster of the Week

• Queller Demon: In ancient times, people believed that the moon caused insanity and would pray to the moon in order to fix the problems that it caused. Their prayers were answered in the form of the queller demon, who would come to Earth in a hollow meteor and would hunt and kill the mentally ill. The demon has history dating back most recently to Russia in 1917 and as far as the 12th century in Iceland in response to sweeping plagues of madness.

[edit] Body Count

#	Whom	By Whom	How	Where
1	Crazy Man	Queller Demon	Choked	Woods
2/3/4/5	Crazy Men	Queller Demon	Choked	Hospital
6	Queller Demon	Buffy	Stabbed	Buffy's Kitchen

[edit] Arc Advancement

[edit] Happenings

• Ben & Glory: It is revealed that Ben summoned the Queller Demon in order to clean up after Glory's making people insane to sustain her life in the mortal plane. It is understood that Ben and Glory have been at odds for a long time and the demon had been summoned previously because of Glory or someone like Glory.

[edit] Characters

• Joyce: Joyce is released from the hospital and readmitted later on in the episode in order to undergo the surgery to remove her brain tumor. She also discovers that Dawn isn't really her daughter after going through her temporary insanity.

[edit] Referbacks

[edit] Trivia

[edit] The Show

• Finding Dead Bodies: Willow comments that she doesn't want to be the one who finds dead bodies anymore. This is in reference to when she discovered corpses in Prophecy Girl, Doomed and Real Me.
• Outer Where?: Although the gang routinely deals with demons coming from below, this is the first time that they have to handle something that comes from space.

[edit] Behind the Scenes

• Factual Error: Although Willow says that the Tunguska blast occurred in 1917, it actually happened in 1908.
• Initia-Who?: Although he makes an appearance and has lines in this episode, Bailey Chase is uncredited.

[edit] Allusions and References

• Jell-O: Jell-O is a gelatin dessert product, but it is also a name generally used (like Kleenex or Band-Aid) for non Jell-O brand foods. Gelatin is a protein made from collagen, which is typically found in the bones and skin of cows. The bones and skin are put in acid and the solution that results is processed to make gelatin.

Dawn: There's a girl at school told me that gelatin is made from ground-up cow's feet, and that if you eat Jell-O, there's some cow out there limping with no feet.

• Mercury and Saturn: While Mercury and Saturn are planets, they are also American car companies. Saturn, an independent manufacturer, produces three types of vehicles; the L-Series, the SC-Series and the S-Series are all mid-to-compact sized vehicles. Mercury is a subsidiary of the Ford Motor Company which, conversely, mainly makes mid-to-full sized sedans and SUVs.

Xander: (about the planets) Look at how teeny Mercury is compared to, like, Saturn. Whereas in contrast, the cars of the same name...

[edit] Memorable Moments

• Joyce's random outbursts as she descends more and more into insanity.
• Buffy's battle with the queller demon in her home.
• Joyce realizing that Dawn isn't really her child.

[edit] Quotes

• Riley: Oh, that might be toxic, don't touch it.
  Xander: Oh yeah, touching it was my first impulse. Luckily, I've moved on to my second, which involves dry-heaving and running like hell.

• Xander: Look at how teeny Mercury is compared to, like, Saturn. Whereas in contrast, the cars of the same name...
  Giles: Xander, please, we have work to do.
  Xander: I still don't see why we have to come here to get info on a killer snot monster.
  Giles: Because it's a killer snot monster from outer space. I did not say that.

[edit] Reviews

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