Buffy for Beginners 3.4: Fear Itself

By Sabrina Boyer
Unlike the other Halloween episodes the series does, this one does not have an annoying damsel in distress Buffy. It has awesome costumes, quippy lines, and a frat/Halloween party gone bad. What more could a girl ask for?

Oh wait, I spoke too soon. Buffy is all whiney because Parker dumped her. Exhibit A: As Xander asks Buffy what she thinks of his carved pumpkin face, she responds with, “I was just thinking about the life of a pumpkin. Grow up in the sun, happily entwined with others then someone comes along, cuts you open and rips your guts out.” Yeah, damsel in distress Buffy is back. What IS it with Halloween?

The gang discusses what to do for the best holiday of the year as Xander tells them he rented Fantasia. Fantasia? It was supposed to be Phantasm. Oops. Will thought they were going to the Alpha Delt scary house, and Xan feels more like a townie cause he’s not in with the college crowd. “Sounds kinda lame,” Buffy says. You have to go through their haunted house to get to the actual party. Xander says he has better things to do than tag along with some fraternity, but then quickly agrees to hang since he has nothing better to do while Buffy’s still suffering some post-Parker depression (Um, excuse me Buffy, but he’s no Angel!).

The next day Will and Buffy discuss Will’s burgeoning Wicca, her wanting to move forward, Oz concerned that she’ll go too far. Buffy sees Parker in the cafeteria and forgets to be hungry.  She’s sure Giles will require her on active slayer duty for Halloween and when she gets to Giles’, he’s wearing a sombrero when he answers the door. He’s all Halloweened out. Buffy wants to patrol, but Giles tells her that the Ethan Rayne two years ago thing was anomalous and that the creatures find Halloween too crass. “Hard to believe,” Buffy replies. Later, at the frat, the boys get ready for their bash, setting up to be so scary women will fall into their arms. “Halloween isn’t about being scared,” says Frat boy # 1. “It’s about getting laid.”

How original coming from a frat boy. And then the stupid frat boys paint a mystical symbol from some spooky looking book. Oh, stupid frat boys.

Meanwhile Anya comes by Xander’s place; he hasn’t called. Not once. “You said you were over me,” Xander said. “And you believed that?” He tells her he accepts things at face value. “That’s stupid,” she says. Anya wants to go out for their anniversary since it’s been one week since they copulated.  Then she hits a sore spot when she reminds Xander that he shares little in common with the rest of the Scoobies. She asks if they’re dating and he says there are definitely date-like qualities at work here. He asks her along to the party and she has trouble coming up with something scary. A 1000 year old ex-demon can’t think of something scary.

Buffy goes by to pick up her assignments from Professor Walsh since she missed class due to her Parker depression; she strikes up a conversation with Riley who gives her a pep talk about having some fun and doing her work. There’s a brief connection. Awww. (I like Riley, ok?) Oz and Xan deliver the speaker system to the frats who give ‘em some grief about being a townie. There’s that scary symbol on the floor and Oz cuts himself on the speaker wire, spurting some blood on the symbol, making it go all watery looking. Uh oh. Was that some kind of trigger?

Joyce makes Buffy a last minute costume, Little Red Riding Hood (again with this metaphor? Are they trying to tell us there’s a big bad wolf she’ll have to fight again? Isn’t that the theme for her life?) Buffy and Joyce talk about her absent father; Buffy’s starting to see a pattern with men: open your heart and they bail. Is it easier not to let anyone in? Joyce talks to Buffy about fear, fear in trusting others again. There’s nothing to be afraid of. Except when there is.

And then it’s crazy Halloween antics, toilet papered trees, silly string, and the best costumed couple ever. Willow is Joan of Arc and Oz is God. Can you think of a more awesome idea? At the Alpha Delt house, the guys are scaring up their girls, complete with real eyeballs. The fakeness is turning realness. Yikes. The gang sees the military stealthy guys as they walk to the scary house while everybody’s actually terrified at the scary house. As the gang enters, they realize something’s amiss. As they enter, Oz exclaims, “Let the horrors begin.”

The gang starts walking through the house and experiencing real frights. The house is all different and Buffy finds real blood. And real bats. And some real scary voice screaming “release me.” And then there’s the scariest thing of all: Anya dressed as a bunny. A Bunny! But when she gets to the house there’s no door. She sees a woman at a window banging on it to be released and then the window magically disappears. Weird. She goes and gets Giles while the gang realizes that there are real scary things terrorizing the house. And then they all start to manifest their own worst fears, what they are truly afraid of.

Buffy and Willow begin to argue about letting Buffy stay behind as the gang leaves; Willow wants to conjure a spell to help guide them out and she argues that being the slayer doesn’t automatically make Buffy boss. “I’m not your sidekick!” she exclaims. Then Xander disappears, or more accurately, no one can see him. Willow’s fear is that she’s not a good witch. Oz’s fear is his wolf, and he starts to change. Buffy’s fear? That she’ll always be alone. So, now that the gang is separated from each other, Will conjures her spell to guide her out of the house. Since she can’t make up her mind, her little guidey light gets all buzzing bee around her like, and it goes all wrong. Buffy gets trapped in a basement with dead people.

Outside, Giles figures out a way to get into the house. With a motherfrakin’ chainsaw. Hell yeah Ripper! Buffy makes it upstairs as the rest of the gang does. They all got so scared that they ended upstairs. Xander realizes that the source of the scaries is the symbol and they hear that scary voice again. It’s the mark of Gaknar, a summoning spell to manifest Gaknar to come into being. It feeds on fear. Giles gets all serious, and tells them that destroying the mark of Gaknar…..(which Buffy immediately does) is NOT the way to defeat it and will immediately bring him forth. But as it turns out, Gaknar is like, “Big overture, Liiiitttlle show.” He’s like three inches tall. “Who’s a little fear demon? Who’s a little fear demon?” Xander taunts. And then Buffy steps on him. Moral of the story? Fears seem like large problems, but in reality, they’re usually smaller than we think. And then Giles laments his lack of translation ability: the text underneath a picture of the fear demon? “Actual size.”

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About Sabrina Boyer: As a kid my dad would sneak scary movies past my mom and let me indulge in his horror movie fetish. I grew up watching V, Alien Nation, The Thing, The Fog (all originals) and then, in 1992 when Buffy the movie came out, I became obsessed with vampires, girl power, and all things gothic. I once stayed home from school, faked sick, and watched BTVS: the movie 6 times in a row. I know the beginning cheerleading dance by heart (still). Currently, I’m obsessing over Laurell K. Hamilton novels, and dream about Anita Blake being my best friend.

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