Fear, Itself

This redirect is about the Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode. For other uses, see Fear Itself.

"Fear, Itself"

"Fear, Itself" is the fourth episode of the fourth season of the fantasy television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997-2003). Written by David Fury and directed by Tucker Gates, the episode originally aired on the The WB Television Network in the United States on October 26, 1999.

The premise of Buffy the Vampire Slayer is that an adolescent girl, Buffy Summers, is chosen by mystical forces and given superhuman powers to kill vampires, demons, and other evil creatures in the fictional town of Sunnydale. She is supported by a close circle of family and friends, nicknamed the Scooby Gang. "Fear, Itself" explores the inner fears and insecurities of these characters, using the plot device that Gachnar, a demon with the ability to materialize terror, is accidentally conjured and wreaks havoc on a Halloween party.

Background

In the show, Buffy Summers is a teenager who, at the age of fifteen, was chosen by mystical forces to be the latest Slayer, a girl endowed with superhuman powers to fight and defeat vampires, demons, and other evil forces. After moving with her mother, Joyce (Kristine Sutherland), to the fictional town of Sunnydale, she befriends Willow Rosenberg (Alyson Hannigan) and Xander Harris (Nicholas Brendon), who join her in the struggle against evil. They are guided by Buffy's "Watcher", Rupert Giles (Anthony Stewart Head), who is well-versed in demonology and is responsible for Buffy's training as a Slayer. During season two, Willow begins to experiment with magic, eventually becoming a formidable witch.

Buffy and Willow begin to attend college in the fourth season. They take a Psychology course taught by Dr. Maggie Walsh (Lindsay Crouse), who has a teaching assistant named Riley Finn (Marc Blucas).

Buffy scholar Roz Kaveney has noted that episodes in the fourth season address authority, order, and the estrangement from the self and others as Buffy and her friends take on new roles after high school. An ongoing theme in the series is Buffy's complex relationship to her destiny as the current Slayer and how she uniquely expresses this role, and this plot element is further explored in season four in general.

Plot

While carving jack-o'-lanterns in Xander's basement, the gang discusses plans for Halloween; however, Buffy continues to mope over her situation with Parker. They decide to go to the Alpha-Delta house for a party. The next day at school, Buffy and Oz both express their concerns for Willow and her use of magic. Buffy spots Parker and immediately runs away. Willow follows her, explaining that she should get over it and have fun at the party that night, but Buffy thinks that Giles will want her to patrol. When Buffy goes to visit Giles, she's surprised to find him embracing the Halloween spirit. He discourages her from patrolling and encourages her to go party.

At the Alpha-Delta house, the members are getting ready for the party. One finds a symbol in an old book to paint on the floor. Anya goes to see Xander, wanting to know where their relationship is heading. He agrees that they're somewhat dating, inviting her to the party. Buffy visits Maggie Walsh and asks for her assignment, but she receives a cold response from the teacher. Riley, however, gives her the assignment, telling her to have fun on Halloween. Oz and Xander carry a sound system to the Alpha-Delta house, and Oz installs it while one guy is painting the symbol. Oz cuts his hand, spilling drops of his blood, and activates the ritual to summon Gachnar.

Joyce sews one of Buffy's old costumes, Little Red Riding Hood, and talks with her about how things used to be. Buffy waits outside the house for her friends, and Xander shows up dressed as James Bond. They run into Willow, dressed as Joan of Arc, and Oz, going as God. Everything at the party goes awry as fears begin to materialize. The gang enters the house, but they encounter several obstacles. Later, Anya arrives at the party, dressed as a bunny, but she is unable to get inside. She sees a girl screaming at a window, and the window disappears from the house. Inside, Buffy tells the gang to find a way out and get help. A skeleton attacks her from behind, but after she attacks, it becomes fake again. Buffy and Willow fight over her giving orders, as well as whether Willow can safely do a guidance spell. Meanwhile, Anya goes to Giles for help.

Xander tries to talk to the gang but finds that he's become invisible to them. Willow and Oz find a staircase and head up. As they're walking, Oz begins to change into a werewolf and scratches Willow before running away from her. Xander approaches a mirror, and a head on the table behind him says that he can see him. Oz sits in a bathtub, chanting to himself that he isn't going to change. Willow conjures her spell. However, it gets out of control, and she screams for help as it attacks her. Buffy, hearing Willow's cries, tries to get to her, but she falls into the basement where bodies come up from the ground and grab at her. Giles and Anya are unable to find a way inside, so Giles cuts a door. In an attempt to escape the fears, the gang runs into the coat room and things seem back to normal. They determine the sign on the floor to be the Mark of Gachnar. Giles and Anya break into the room. Buffy destroys the symbol before Giles can tell her that destroying the symbol will bring Gachnar forth. But as the demon has manifested itself, it turns out to be merely a few inches in height. After a laugh, Buffy squashes him with her shoe. At Giles' place, the gang eats candy and Giles discovers his mistake.

Reception

The episode received a favorable response from fans of the show. According to online archive Internet Movie Database, "Fear, Itself" maintains an average score of 8.0/10 based on 560 ratings.

Cultural references

• Xander attempts to rent a scary movie, Phantasm, to watch on Halloween, but instead accidentally rents Fantasia.
• Xander asks Oz if he senses a disturbance in The Force (Star Wars).
• For his Halloween costume, Xander dresses up as the fictional spy James Bond, as a safeguard against turning into his costume, a reference to when he turned into a soldier in "Halloween".
• While first going through the haunted house, Buffy says that "If I were Abbot and Costello this would be fairly traumatic."

Filming Location

The fraternity house in this episode is the Alfred Rosenheim mansion located at 1120 Westchester Place, Los Angeles, CA 90019. The mansion is a registered Los Angeles Cultural Monument, and is also is used for the setting of American Horror Story where the interior was recreated on a studio stage.

Continuity

Arc significance

• This episode explores the fears that each of the members of the Scooby Gang has, most of which are the underlying subplot for each character for the entire season:
  • Buffy is afraid of letting people into her life since her experience with Parker, and, as she has expressed on previous occasions, fears that being the Slayer means she will always be alone. In the house, these fears are made real by being separated from (or seemingly abandoned by) all of her friends.
  • Xander fears growing apart from the others, since he is the lone Scooby that did not go to college. In his basement before the party Anya touches on this and he gets defensive about it. Gachnar makes him invisible and inaudible to the others, so that the others, in effect, "abandon" Xander.
  • Oz speaks of his fear of becoming the wolf to Buffy and Willow in the cafeteria. Under Gachnar's influence, he starts to change, even though, according to Willow, there is no moon that night. (In 1999, October 24 was a full moon; Halloween, October 31, was first quarter.)
  • In the cafeteria, Willow tells Buffy that the next level she is approaching in her magical skills is a "little scary". When she tries to cast a spell to help them in the house, the spell goes awry and it attacks her.
  • Anya's Halloween costume introduces her irrational fear of bunnies. This would continue to be a running joke throughout the entire series.
  • Gachnar tells Buffy, "they're all going to abandon you." Aside from Oz, who leaves later this season, this comes to pass regarding the rest of the Scooby Gang in season 7.
• Willow's cries of "Oz, don't leave me!" eventually come true two episodes later.
• This is the second episode where the fears of each member of the Scooby Gang materialize. The first time where this occurred was in the Season One episode, "Nightmares", although the fears manifested in that instance were different.
• This episode is the second of three Halloween-themed episodes. This episode also reveals the reason why supernatural forces avoid going out on Halloween in the Buffyverse: they find it too "crass".
• This episode marks Buffy's first contact with the Initiative "commandos", though she mistakes them for people in costume.
• This is one of only eight episodes of the series not to feature at least one vampire, the others being "Witch", "The Pack", "I, Robot... You, Jane", "The Puppet Show", "Inca Mummy Girl", "Living Conditions" and "Beer Bad".

External links

• "Fear, Itself" at IMDb
• Template:Tv.com episode