atheneum

Buffy is running through the park; looking back behind her at something chasing her. She stumbles; falls. Two hairless demons with no mouths set upon her, and she reveals that her stumble was a ploy to get them to attack her in the open. She stabs one, but the other gets away. As the demon dies, some of its blood glows on her hand, and then vanishes.

The next day in the library, Buffy tells the gang that the other demon got away, and Giles informs Buffy that they've been researching the Mayor's Ascension....and basically they've come up with nothing. Buffy is upset because she thinks the whole charade with Angel pretending to be bad in "Enemies" was for nothing. Giles says that's not true; at least now they know that Faith isn't on their side. Pan down to Buffy absently scratching the place on her hand where the blood touched. Just then Wesley comes in and snarks about how he was detained on "Official Council Business". After putting down Giles' lack of results in the research department, Wesley gets it back when Giles asks what he's turned up, having official channels to work through and all. Wesley also has nothing, and everyone walks out on him.

Out in the hallway, Willow asks if Buffy's seen Angel recently. Buffy says she's had trouble being around him after the whole Faith thing. Willow reassures her that Angel only kissed Faith (i.e. acted bad and all that) to bring her out into the open. As they're talking, a group of basketball jocks comes down the hallway, including Percy, the guy Willow's tutoring. His buddies tell Willow they don't know what she's done to him, but he's actually speaking whole sentences and stuff now, and Percy asks if she'll come to the game. Willow says she wouldn't miss it. Buffy expresses surprise that Willow's going to a basketball game, and Willow waxes excited about it, and says it's a shame that Buffy has to patrol. Buffy does the patented "My life sucks, I have to patrol instead of being a normal girl" expression. She then scratches the spot on her hand again.

Back in the library, Buffy has gone to Giles about her hand, evidently making the connection that maybe it has something to do with having gotten some of the demon's blood on her hand the night before. Buffy doesn't think it's a big deal until Giles reveals that this particular demon infects hosts with "the aspect of the demon". Buffy kinda freaks, and then is apprehensive about what part of the demon she might "take on".

Out in the courtyard during a pep rally for the game that night, Willow reads an editorial in the school paper, putting the "pointless athletic competition" down. Willow notices that Buffy seems distracted, and they talk about the "aspect of the demon" thing. Meanwhile, Xander practically foams at the mouth when he notices Wesley look briefly at Cordelia, who's cheering in the rally. Willow tells Buffy she's sure she'll be okay, and Buffy looks worried.

That night, Buffy stops to check and see if she's still got a mouth in her pocket mirror. Angel surprises her, and says he's been worried about her, after the Faith thing. At the mention of Faith's name, Buffy emotionally retreats and doesn't talk about her insecurities having to do with Faith. Instead she tells him about the aspect of the demon thing, and Angel's already familiar with it. He can tell she's troubled, and he tells her that he won't let anything happen to her if he can help it. That he'll always be with her, and he'll always love her.even if she's covered in slime.

The next morning in the lounge, Oz, Willow and Xander talk excitedly about the game the night before until Buffy comes up, at which point they all shut up. Buffy realizes they stopped talking about the game because they didn't want her to feel bad. The gang tries to downplay the game, but Cordelia happens to be right there and says they're crazy.the game was great! She wanders off to talk to some friends, and Buffy watches Xander as he watches Cordelia. Without his lips moving, Buffy hears him say "I wonder if she and Wesley have kissed yet?" She notes that it really bugs him, doesn't it? Xander asks what, and she replies "Wesley and Cordelia smooching." Xander says "Wow, you read my mind." Pan in on Buffy's face as she realizes that's exactly what she just did.

In the hallway, suddenly Buffy can hear the voices of the students around her. She pauses briefly to bask in the admiring thoughts of one male student, until he starts thinking about "shoving her up against the locker and......" Buffy's eyes bug out, and she hurries down the hallway as she encounters more X-rated thoughts. She tells Giles about it in the library. During a comic scene she proves her newfound ability to him by telling his own thoughts back to him. ("Look at her shoes. If a fashion magazine told her to she'd wear cats strapped to her feet" ) Giles is astounded, and Buffy tells him she can hear everyone's thoughts like that. Giles thinks it could be very useful in battle, by anticipating an opponent's moves. Buffy thinks it could be used for even better things, and we cut to.....

the classroom, where the teacher is discussing "Othello" with the class. Using her new power, Buffy answers all the questions by plucking the answers out of the minds of her fellow students, and even the teacher. The teacher is impressed, and the students are surprised and kind of annoyed. As the teacher talks about Othello, and how we can never really know what is in someone else's heart, Buffy thinks about Angel, and it's obvious she's wondering what he really thinks about Faith. She leaves school and goes to Angel's mansion, where she mentions Faith and tries to read Angel's thoughts about her. But there's nothing coming from Angel, and, after confronting her with the knowledge that she got her aspect of the demon, he tells her that she won't be able to hear his thoughts because he's a vampire. He says it's like a mirrorthe thoughts are there, but they create no reflection in her.

Angel tells her she should just ask him when she wants to know something about him. She asks about Faith and he tells her that kissing her meant nothing. He hated acting like he had no soul; he hated hurting Buffy. He says he's done the "bad girl" thing before, and that's not what he wants. In a touching moment, he says "Two hundred and forty three years, and I've loved exactly one person." He tells her next time just ask, and warns her to be careful with this new power.

Cut to the library, where the rest of the gang has been filled in on Buffy's new power. This is the funniest scene in the episode, as Buffy reads everyone's individual thoughts. She picks up on Wesley thinking about Cordelia, Xander thinking helplessly about sex, Willow being worried that Buffy wont' need her anymore, and Oz being philosophical. (see: Best Line, below) Eventually Xander, Willow and Oz leave the library to get away from her new power.

Out in the hallway, Buffy is assaulted by the thoughts of all of the people around her, as Giles and Wesley try to find another case of this aspect in the library. Giles locates a case, but the man who was infected has isolated himself, because he can't shut the power off. In the cafeteria, Buffy continues to not be able to block everyone else's thoughts as she stands in the lunch line. Jonathan is standing next to her and thinks that she doesn't even know he's there. Buffy walks toward the tables, but the din of thoughts gets louder and louder to her; pressing in on her. Amidst the din, she hears one voice saying "This time tomorrow, I'll kill you all." Buffy tries to figure out whose thoughts she just heard, but there are too many people. The thoughts in her head become too maddening, and Buffy collapses.

Outside, Buffy wakes up to see Giles, Xander, Willow, Oz and Cordelia looking down at her on the ground. She can still hear their voices. She tells them what she heard in the cafeteria, and tells the gang to make a list of everyone who was there, and question them, since she was unable to recognize the "voice" she heard. Giles tells her she needs to go home and takes her to his car. She tells him she can't shut the power out. Giles says he's looking for a way to help her. He tells her she'll be fine, but she hears him think "If it doesn't go away, she'll go insane."

At home, Joyce keeps coming up with reasons to be out of Buffy's room, and seems reluctant to be near her. Her reasoning is revealed when Buffy "reads" her thoughts, and discovers that Joyce slept with Giles in "Band Candy" Joyce practically runs from the room. Back in the library, Willow lays out the plan of investigation. She hands out sample questions to the rest of the gang and assigns them each a list of students to talk to. Montage of each of the gang as they ask students around campus about their mental states. Oz has the editorial guy on his list, but when he goes in to question him he doesn't see him there, because the guy (Freddy) is hiding under his desk.

At home, Buffy closes the window in her room to try to drown out the voices in her head, but it doesn't help. She's hearing voices from all over the town, now. She crawls into her bed and covers her head up with a pillow. At the library, Giles and Wesley reveal that they need the other demon (from the beginning)'s heart to try to cure Buffy. Cut to Angel fighting the demon in the park. They beat the crap out of each other a bit, and the demon runs off. Angel gives chase.

At school the next day, the questioning continues as Xander hints to Larry that he might have repressed rage because he's an in-the-closet gay person. Larry tells him he's "so out he's got his grandmother fixing him up with guys". Oz tries the editorialist's office again, but Freddy sees him and stays out of sight. The gang realizes he's the only one they haven't questioned yet, but in his editorial that day he puts down the school some more. At Buffy's house, Buffy is tossing and turning in a fitful unconsciousness. Joyce worries that her thoughts are somehow hurting Buffy, but Giles says she can no longer pick one "voice" out from the din. There comes a knocking downstairs, and the door opens to reveal Angel underneath a blanket to keep out the sun. He's holding a beaker of glowing, liquified demon heart. Upstairs, he makes Buffy drink the concoction.

At school, we pan up from the courtyard to reveal Jonathan in the bell tower with a high-powered rifle.

Back at the Summers house, Buffy wakes from her fugue and can't hear thoughts anymore. At school, the gang finally tracks Freddy down in his office. He reveals that he thought Oz was after him because of an unfavorable review he wrote about Oz's band (Dingoes Ate my Baby) in last Thursday's article. The gang realizes they're back to square one, until Cordelia unearths a letter to the editor from Jonathan, saying "by this time tomorrow you will all know what I've done, and although death isn't easy, it's the only way." It's signed Jonathan. Buffy shows up, and they all split up to find Jonathan. Back in the belltower, Jonathan assembles his rifle, amidst scenes of the gang searching for him. In the cafeteria, Xander is distracted by the Jello they're having for lunch that day. More searching, searching, searching. Buffy's in the courtyard. She looks up at the belltower and sees Jonathan inside with the rifle. In a cool scene, she avoids the congested steps by running up the railing instead. She grabs hold of the roof and swings herself up. She runs across the roof and crashes through one of the windows of the belltower just as Jonathan finishes loading the rifle. Startled, Jonathan holds the gun on her.

He tells her to go away, and Buffy says she won't. She keeps using his name, and Jonathan tells her to stop acting like they're friends. He says she and everyone else thinks he's an idiot. A short idiot. Buffy tells him it's not true; they don't really think about him at all. Having learned from her experience with being able to read peoples' minds, Buffy tells him basically that everyone's life sucks sometimes. That everyone "down there" (in the courtyard) is ignoring his pain because they're too busy dealing with their own. She talks about the loneliness and the confusion that they all share. She says it looks quiet down there, but it's not. It's deafening. Jonathan draws nearer as he looks down at the courtyard with her, and his gun is pointed at the floor. Buffy tells him she could have taken it away from him by now, and he says he knows. He gives her the gun, and Buffy ejects the bullet from the chamber.

As she turns away to put it down, Jonathan says he just wanted it to stop. Buffy says that mass murder wasn't the answer, and Jonathan looks shocked. He says he would never hurt anyone.he'd come up there to kill himself. Buffy realizes that this means their killer is still out there.

In the cafeteria, Xander sneaks back into the kitchen to get some jello. Just as he's about to eat some, he looks up to see the lunch lady pouring Rat Poison into the food. He runs out into the cafeteria and tries to warn everyone, knocking all of their lunch trays to the floor before they can eat it and get poisoned. The lunch lady follows him with a cleaver. She's about to take a swing at Xander when Buffy shows up and grabs her arm. The lunch lady says the students are all vermin; they just come in there and eat and eat. Buffy realizes she's not gonna settle this confrontation with logic, and beats the lunch lady up.

The next day, Buffy tells Willow that she's feeling better about things now that she and Angel have actually talked. Giles greets them in front of the school, and Willow leaves to go give Freddy the murder profiles information the gang gathered while looking for the killer. Giles asks Buffy how Jonathan is, and she says he's dealing. Buffy says it's kind of nice to help him, but she's kind of afraid he's gonna ask her to prom. Giles smiles and says she's obviously returned to her normal state. He asks her if she's up to some training, and Buffy says sure......if he's not too busy having sex with her mother. Giles is shocked and doesn't even look where he's going as he runs smack into a tree.

FLAWS: none found.

THOUGHTS ON THE EPISODE: A pretty good one. Some really funny stuff, and also nice in the continuity department, as Buffy learns some of the things the people closest to her don't tell her about. The best part either has to be that scene in the library, or at the end when Giles runs into the tree out of shock at Buffy's revelation about him and her mother.

BEST LINE: Hehseveral during the scene in the library when Buffy's reading everyone's thoughts.

Xander: "What am I gonna do? I think about sex all the time. Sex. Help. Four times five is thirty. Five times six is thirty two. Naked girls. Naked women. Naked Buffy. Oh God, help me!"

Oz: "I am my thoughts. If they exist in her, Buffy contains everything that is me and she becomes me. I cease to exist. No one else exists either. Buffy is all of us. We think; therefore she is."

Buffy: (to Giles) "Sure, if you're not too busy having sex with my MOTHER!"

"Earshot"