Fear, Itself

S04E04

Many thanks to Sep, Kitsune and the smarties on the Mediarama Buffy board.

Previously on Buffy: We see Buffy and Parker "Xander 2: Electric Bugaloo" meet, make it and break it. Buffy pines and wonders, "Did I do something wrong?" Willow tells her Parker is a poop head. Anya drops trou in front of Xander and they do the deed. A miscellaneous vampire is tasered by mysterious masked commandos.

Creepy horror movie music plays as Xander wields a large knife. The camera pulls back through what is revealed to be the eye of a jack-o'-lantern. Xander, Willow, Oz and Buffy are hangin' in Xander's basement pad. Xander says he was "going for ferocious scary, but it's coming out more dryly sardonic." Oz (I love Oz) describes the jack-o'-lantern's nose hole as "sad and full of self-loathing." Xander turns the pumpkin to Buffy, who is lying on her stomach on Xander's bed, and asks for her opinion. Buffy, obviously in a gloomy mood, plays with something in a bowl as she muses about the life of a pumpkin: "grow up in the sun, happily entwined with others, and then someone comes along and cuts you open and rips your guts out." As she says "rips your guts out," she squooshes her hand into the bowl and pulls up a big glob of pumpkin insides. The rest of the gang roll their eyes at Buffy's party-pooping, and Xander jumps up to share his scary Halloween movie -- Fantasia. Oz says, "Maybe it's because of all the horrific things we've seen, but hippos wearing tutus just don't unnerve me the way they used to." Willow smiles and Xander insists he meant to rent Phantasm. Willow says she thought they were "doing the Alpha Delt thing." Xander inquires what the Alpha Delt thing is and Buffy and Oz explain that it's a Scary House that ends in a "all-out" party. Xander pouts and insists that he's not interested in a college party, but agrees to attend almost before Willow's invitation to accompany them has left her lips. Buffy is through depressing everyone and decides to leave. Although we saw her picking pumpkin guts off of her hand earlier, I know she didn't get it all off without a paper towel, but that doesn't stop her from smearing it all over Xander's bed when she gets up. Xander, not surprisingly, doesn't notice this. Guys who live in basements tend not to be too picky. Willow notes that Buffy didn't carve her pumpkin and left it "a freak with no face." Oz states the ultra-obvious: "She's still suffering a little post-Parker depression," and Xander inquires, "Does anyone else want to smack that guy?" Willow and Oz raise their hands and I notice that Oz is wearing a studded wrist band that, despite its cheesiness, looks really hot. Ummm...right, on with the show. ["I want to smack Parker too, and not just for looking like Xander." -- Sep]

Buffy walks home in the dark, still doing -- what, kiddies? That's right -- moping. A demon jumps out in front of her (which surprises me, even though I was expecting something of the sort) and she knocks him down with a punch to the head. The demon grabs his head, pulls off his mask and yells, "What the hell's wrong with you, lady?" "That's what I'd like to know," mopes Buffy. I think he deserved it, though. I mean, if you're going to go around jumping out of the shadows to scare lone females at night, you should get what’s coming to you. Especially if it's Buffy you're trying to frighten.

Credits ["As I was watching the credits I was thinking that I'd sure like to see the episode that involves Giles in leather wielding a chain saw." -- Sep]. It looks like this is the episode they had just finished filming when they updated the credits from last season.

I know I'd probably only use it once and forget about it, but I really want one of those I-Zone cameras with the sticky film. I'm a slave to advertising. ["Can I borrow yours?" -- Sars]

Establishing shot of UC Sunnydale. Willow and Buffy walk into the cafeteria as Willow discusses her witchy business. Willow explains that the level is "transmutation, conjuring, bringing forth something from nothing." As Willow grabs an unidentifiable plate of food covered in plastic wrap, she says the magic (or "magick," or however else you'd like to spell the word for something that doesn't exist) is pretty scary, and Buffy replies that no one is pushing her and if "it's too much, don't do it." Buffy is wearing a hideous off-the-shoulder peasant blouse that looks like it was made out of a cheap chintz tablecloth. I don't think that anyone should wear an off-the-shoulder top unless they're spending the day at Renaissance Faire or on the set of a costume drama. "’Don't do it’?" exclaims Willow. "What kind of encouragement is that?" Buffy looks concerned and says, "Oh, this is an encouragement talk? I thought it was ‘share my pain.’" Hee. As Willow progresses through the cafeteria line, she says she can experiment and will know when she's reached her limit. "Wine coolers?" asks Oz, sneaking up behind the girls. When Buffy answers "magic," Oz looks pained and hopes that Buffy didn't encourage Willow. Willow wants to know where her supportive boyfriend has gone, and Oz says he's just worried that Willow will get hurt. "Okay, Brutus," says Willow, and gets flustered as Buffy and Oz give her blank looks. Oz says he gets the reference -- we all do, but somehow we don't see how your boyfriend expressing concern that you're steeping yourself a little too far in the mystical forces, especially in a world where such dangers are real, qualifies as betrayal -- but he can't lie and say he doesn't worry. He knows what it's like to have deep, dark powers you can't control. He finishes by saying that whatever Willow decides, he'll back her, and then he gives her a kiss on the cheek. So cute. Buffy says, "Concerned boy is sweet boy," and as Willow agrees, loud laughter erupts from across the cafeteria. It's that dog, Parker, laughing and eating lunch with a large group of people. Buffy looks pained and hurries out of the cafeteria. Willow follows and tell Buffy not to leave just because of Parker. Buffy replies that she isn't, but that she doesn't want to cope with the whole thing. Smells like denial to me. Willow suggests that the party will cheer Buffy up and maybe she'll even meet someone. Buffy lies, umm...I mean replies that she'll have to patrol, and she's going to double-check with Giles because "he doesn't care about Halloween." As I recall, we learned from the last Halloween episode that October 31 is a quiet night for the mortally challenged, but Willow doesn't call Buffy on that.

At Giles’s pad-o'-sin, Giles answers his door with a cheery "Happy Halloween" and a bowl of candy. Buffy is shocked at his appearance, as am I, because he's wearing a serape made from a cheap Mexican blanket and a huge hat with dangling white string trim. As I collapse into a fit of giggles, Giles explains that it's a sombrero ["Thank you, Captain Obvious." -- Sep] and he thought it "seemed festive." He invites her in and she enters with trepidation, expressing shock at the Halloween decorations. Giles says that, in the past, his Watcher’s duties had interfered with him taking time to enjoy the holiday. He proudly shows off an electronic Frankenstein doll as Buffy looks at him in disgust. He asks her if there's something she wanted, and she explains she wants to patrol tonight. Giles doesn't think there's much need, despite year-before-last's adventures with Ethan Rayne. "Creatures of the night shy away from Halloween," explains Giles, "they find it all much too crass." "Hard to believe," dead-pans Buffy. Giles reassures her that there's little chance of supernatural activity, and offers her some candy.

Establishing shot of the Alpha Dork house, with a young couple entering. The girl has some junk in her trunk, as Sir Mix-a-Lot would say, so enjoy her, because she's probably the only chubby girl you'll see on Buffy all season. (I also have it on good authority that Sep likes big butts and she cannot lie.) Inside the frat house, loud music plays as the frat brothers decorate for their party. A black guy in a Hawaiian shirt walks down the hall and is surprised by a skeleton that pops out of the wall. Enjoy him, because he's probably the only black guy you'll see on Buffy all season. He hands a bag of plastic spiders to FratJerk, who responds that the sound system is not loud enough. Hawaiian Shirt offers to call Oz, who'll hook them up, since it seems he's the only person in the Buffyverse who knows about speakers. FratJerk says he needs a good sound system so he can scare the ladies, and that it's "all about getting laid." "Is there any holiday that's not about getting laid?" asks Hawaiian Shirt, which doesn't sound good written down, but he actually delivered it like a slam to FratJerk, so go Hawaiian Shirt! He turns to leave, but remembers that FratJerk wanted a symbol to paint upstairs and shows him a circular rune in a book. FratJerk has far too prominent a forehead to be on TV.

Xander is putting on his jacket in his basement pad when he turns around and sees Anya coming down the stairs. Xander makes a snide comment about Anya's lack of a knock, but I'll bet she did knock. Most likely on the front door. Xander, your domicile is subterranean. It's not like you have a private entrance. Xander inquires why Anya is there, and she says she came because he hasn't called her once. He replies, quite rightly, that she had said she was over him. "I only said that because I thought that's what you wanted to hear," snaps Anya. Xander explains that he took her at face value, and she replies, "That's stupid." Which he also takes at face value. I'm glad he did, since I wasn't in the mood for a one-sided argument with my TV. They approach each other with definite sexual tension, but Anya deflates the moment by saying she thought they could go out for their anniversary. "Anniversary?" asks Xander, and deflates even further when Anya replies (with a coy grin), "It's been one week since we copulated." Geez, maybe Anya should buy some teen magazines and learn the lingo. Xander explains that he already has plans with Buffy, Oz, and Willow. Anya doesn't understand why Xander continues to hang with the gang, because he doesn't have anything in common with them. The topic obviously makes Xander uncomfortable, but he rallies by saying that Anya can come with him to the party. "Like a date?" asks Anya, and Xander admits there are date-like qualities. He tells her she'll need a scary costume and that as a centuries-old demon she should be able to come up with something.

Buffy gingerly enters the Psych classroom. Riley the Potato Nose is shuffling papers in the background. Buffy asks Professor Walsh for today's assignments because she couldn't come to class for personal reasons. Dr. Walsh ain't buying what Buffy's selling and tells Buffy if she misses one more class, she's out. UC Sunnydale is a state school and that Psych class is pretty large, so I doubt that Dr. Walsh would have the time or resources to boot every student who missed one lecture. But we get it -- she's a harsh taskmaster. I'm not sure exactly where Buffy was moping in lieu of attending class, but unfortunately it appears that she didn't go back to her dorm and change her hiddy shirt. Riley tells Buffy that Dr. Walsh is serious and notes that Buffy's work has taken a downturn lately. Riley "dimly" recalls being a freshman as he sticks his big tuber nose into Buffy's business, wondering if she's having "too much" or "not enough" fun. "Dimly" is probably the only way Riley is capable of recalling anything; too bad he can't get that huge potato nose to light up, because it would greatly illuminate things for him. Buffy and Riley proceed to have a chemistry-free discussion in which he encourages her to buckle down, tells her she should go out for Halloween, and then says he's staying in to grade papers. Mixed messages much, Potato Nose? Yawn. He should wash his hair, but I guess grad students are too busy for personal hygiene. ["If I looked into the mirror every morning and saw a nose like Riley's I wouldn't be able to see past it to my hair. Literally." -- Sep]

Back at the Alpha Dork house, the frat brothers are working in a large attic-type room, known as the Goat Room. Hey, mea culpa, I was wrong before, because another black guy (with cute little dreads) is in this scene, painting the aforementioned rune on the floor. Xander and Oz enter, carrying a "sound system." "Mi Casio es su Casio," quips Oz, upon being thanked for bringing the equipment. Xander notes the design painted on the floor, and then is distracted by a bowl of grapes. Peeled grapes, explains FratJerk, tell the girls it's eyeballs, blah blah blah. Xander delivers some expository dialogue about how the guests go through the whole house of horrors and in the end emerge at the party. FratJerk encourages Xander to pledge (wouldn't he have to rush first?), but Oz says Xander's a civilian, and FratJerk then calls him a "townie." Like, ha ha. Not. Oz turns on the sound system and some haunted house sounds come out. He tilts his head and gets a knife out of his pocket to tighten down a crackling wire. Ouch! He cuts himself, and shakes some blood on the rune painted on the floor. I am not familiar with the finer points of lycanthropy but I would think that Oz should be a little more concerned about spraying his bodily fluids all around the room. The floor begins to ripple, unnoticed by the guys, who are still cracking wise. A plastic spider sitting on the rune becomes a real tarantula and creeps away. I know that all sounds a little silly, but props to the special-effects department, because it was really well done and spooked me the first time I watched the episode.

In the Summers’ living room, Buffy's mom is running some red fabric through a sewing machine. Buffy thanks her for helping out at the last minute and takes the fabric, which turns out to be a Little Red Riding Hood cape. As she tries it on, Joyce gives her an affectionate smile and Buffy accuses her of getting "nostalgic face." Joyce explains that she's thinking of the twelve-year-old Buffy who last wore that cape, and how much her father loved to take her trick-or-treating. They exchange a little banter about who really wanted the candy Buffy collected, and I'd like to point out that Buffy referring to herself as the "beard" of the candy scheme once again proves this show is not exclusively for teenagers. Joyce reassures her that her father loved spending time with her. "Not enough, I guess," says Buffy in a small voice. When Joyce tries to interrupt and tell her that the divorce was not Buffy's fault, Buffy takes a deep breath and throws herself a little pity party, musing that "maybe it's easier to not let anyone in." Joyce get up and talks about how she was hurt after her divorce from Buffy's father, and resisted making any friends for the first year they lived in Sunnydale, but now she has a close circle of friends. Who would your friends be, Joyce? The creepy lady from your book club that turned into a zombie? Or maybe Willow's mother, with whom you had the bonding experience of attempting to burn your daughters at the stake? I imagine that's quite a strong foundation for a lasting friendship. Joyce is wearing a long-sleeved, striped t-shirt that is disturbingly see-through. Why would anyone manufacture such a garment? Between her strange shirt and Buffy's tablecloth blouse, this scene is rating -1 on the Fashion Scale. Joyce jokes about how her last boyfriend turned out to be "a homicidal robot" and then reassures Buffy that she will always be there for her, as will Mr. Giles and her friends.

Nighttime scenes of campus Halloween revelry: people in costumes toilet-papering trees and shooting Silly String. Willow is on the phone in the world's largest dorm room, fiddling with the armor she is wearing and talking (to Oz, I assume) about how they have to make sure Buffy has fun at the party. Willow walks down the dorm hall, where she encounters a tall guy in drag (another black guy!), a skeleton talking on his cell phone and a lobster having a argument with a Christmas present. Those are their costumes, I mean.

At the Alpha Dork house the party is in full swing, with revelers inside and out. Up in the Goat Room FratJerk, dressed in fake Rasta dreads, is encouraging a blonde girl to shove her hand in the grape "eyeballs." She pulls off her blindfold and the grapes have turned into real eyeballs! Scream! Buffy is standing somewhere outside, her hair in braids and holding a wicker picnic basket. Buffy's Little Red Riding Hood costume qualifies as scary also, because it's made out of both gingham-checked and polka-dotted material. Xander approaches from behind and leers, "What you got in the basket, little girl?" "Weapons," Buffy glumly replies. She then compliments him on his tuxedo, and he tells her he's James Bond and is prepared in case they get turned into their costumes like year before last. He's ready to be "cool secret agent guy." "I hate to break it to you, but you'll probably end up cool headwaiter guy," cracks Buffy. "As long as I'm cool and wield some kind of power," says Xander. Willow (in her knight costume) and Oz (in his regular clothes) approach, arm in arm. Xander is as confused by Willow's costume as I am and Willow explains that she's Joan of Arc. She figures they have a lot in common since Willow was almost burned at the stake, and also she had that close relationship with God. Buffy and Xander look confused and turn towards Oz, who flips back his outer shirt to reveal a "Hi My Name Is" sticker with GOD written on it. Hee hee, that made me snort out loud. The four of them walk along and encounter two spooky masked commando guys with guns who don't say anything and slip away quickly. Xander mentioned he invited Anya, but that she will be showing up later after she finds a costume. The exchange had me laughing and thinking of Sars; Buffy moans that now she'll be the third wheel and Xander says "technically speaking, you're a fifth wheel." ["Bless you, Xander." -- Sars]

Back at Alpha Dork, the party is chaos. In the Goat Room, lights flash and screaming students run in all directions. All the doors out of the room slam shut as the partygoers approach. A screaming girl in a hula-dancer costume runs by and we draw in for a close-up of a girl dressed as a princess, prone on a couch, blood dribbling from her mouth. Downstairs, our intrepid four approach the front door. Upstairs, Chaz, the guy with the cute dreads, runs frantically down a hallway, and we get crazy camera shots of screaming students and general chaos. FratJerk runs through the halls screaming, "Help me!" and falls down the stairs to the ground floor. He appears to have broken his neck. Too bad, so sad. As he lies sprawled on the ground, a spooky deep voice commands, "Release me!" The gang enters the house, which seems deserted. The only noise is a haunted-house sound-effects tape, repeating crazy laughter and wolf howls over and over. Buffy looks over the decorations, including a severed head in a bowl, and says, "Terrifying. If I were Abbott and Costello this would be fairly traumatic." Oz and Xander walk down a hall, followed by Buffy and Willow. Willow walks into a large spider's web and gets spooked. "Frat boys aren't too obsessive with their cleaning. Might not be decoration, per se," jokes Oz. Oz notices that a real tarantula is crawling on Willow and flicks it off. They continue on, and Buffy finds a puddle of real blood on the carpet. The girls hear a squeaking noise and the gang is attacked by a flock of bats which sweep down and fly over them. Pretty cheesy computer graphics here. Oz notices that a bat has fallen to the floor, but it's now rubber. As Xander tries to explain away the strange happenings, the scary voice again shouts, "RELEASE ME!"

Outside, we see Little Bunny Foo-Foo hopping through the forest. No, wait! It's Anya in a big...bunny costume. I thought Xander told her to dress up as something scary? ["Unless she's supposed to be Bunnicula the Vampire Bunny, who drains the blood of vegetables." -- Sep] She approaches the frat house, but the door the Scooby Gang entered through is gone. Anya knocks and then clomps around the front of the house. Looking up, she sees a terrified girl at a second-story window. As the girl screams for help, the bricks of the house suddenly slide together to cover the window. I'm ashamed to admit that I saw a lot of horror movies in my day, and that effect had a very good Nightmare on Elm Street vibe. "Xander!" exclaims Anya and begins to run.

Inside the house, Our Gang realize they have circled around to the front of the house, but the stairs and door are missing. Oz pulls the plug on the special effects tape. Willow says they should clear out because they don't know what they are dealing with. Xander asks if anyone else hears a hissing noise and the group looks around the room until Buffy finds Chaz hiding in a closet. He sobs, "Sorry, I didn't know. It's alive. It's alive." Behind them, a plastic skeleton comes alive and raises its head.

As Buffy tries to get Chaz to tell them what happened, the skeleton sneaks up behind her and stabs her in the back. She quickly kicks the crap out of the attacker, and as it falls to the ground, it turns back into the plastic decoration. As Buffy examines her wound, a girl screams upstairs and Chaz closes himself in the closet. When Buffy turns back to see him the closet has disappeared. Buffy decides to head upstairs and grabs her basket of weapons. She instructs the other three to find their way out of the house and get help. Willow is outraged that Buffy is attempting to send her away.

Back at his apartment, Giles sits morosely, still dressed in poncho and sombrero, eating his Halloween candy. He hears knocking at the door and jumps to answer it. Rather than the trick-or-treaters he expected, he encounters Anya in her bunny suit. Anya pushes her way into the apartment, demanding that Giles save Xander right away. He asks about Buffy and the others and Anya lightly says, "Oh, they're trapped too. But we gotta save Xander!" That girl is hooked but good. Anya explains what she saw at the house, and Giles says it seems like a "matter and reality distortion." He gathers supplies and reassures Anya that Xander will be okay.

Buffy and Willow argue about whether Buffy can send the others away. Xander attempts to interrupt but is ignored. "Being the Slayer doesn't automatically make you boss," snipes Willow, and explains that she wants to do a simple incantation which conjures an emissary from beyond to help lost travelers. "Conjuring?" snarks Buffy. "Will, let's be realistic here, okay? Your basic spells are usually only about 50-50." "Oh yeah?" shouts Willow. "Well...so's your face." Willow proceeds to stomp off, saying, "I'm not your sidekick," and Oz follows. Buffy sighs in exasperation. Xander attempts to calm Buffy down, following her around the room as she loads her crossbow and telling he's right with her, right by her side. Buffy looks around the room and calls out, "Xander?!" "Funny how you haven't lost your sense of inappropriate humor," quips Xander, but then realizes that Buffy really can't see him. Buffy takes off down a hallway, muttering about Xander's typical behavior, and Xander follows. When he rounds the corner, she has disappeared.

Willow is still stomping through the halls, ranting about how Buffy thinks she isn't ready to be a full-blown witch. They circle back around to the front of the house and Oz notes, "this floor used to have windows." Willow notices the staircase and charges up it with Oz in tow. Oz is telling Willow that he doesn't think they are thinking clearly when he notices that his hands have begun to change into paws. He tells Will that something is happening, and looks at her with a partially werewolfed face. She says it's impossible -- there is no moon tonight. He pleads with her to get away from him as she dithers about finding ropes or doing her guiding spell. She attempts to touch him, and he growls, scratches her hand, and runs away. We hear Willow's cry of "don't leave me" echoing through the halls. Xander rounds another corner and see himself in a mirror. Behind him the severed head comes alive, which wasn't scary since I'd been expecting it since the first scene in which it appeared. Xander flees. The camera creeps into a bathroom where Oz is crouched in the bathtub, still partially wolfed out and chanting desperately, "I'm not gonna change. I'm not gonna change." Spooky horror-movie music plays as Buffy walks carefully down a hallway.

Willow sits on a table and begins her incantation to "Aradia, Goddess of the Lost." A small green light appears before her. Willow tells the light to lead her to Oz, then corrects herself and says she should try to find the people upstairs. As she talks, the light splits into two lights, then three, and then a whole swarm that flies around her. If you've seen that early X-Files episode with the tiny green insects in the forest, then you've seen this special effect. Anyway, as Willow calls for help, some of the lights fly into her mouth and she begins to choke and cough. Buffy hears Willow calling and breaks down a door trying to find her. She falls into a basement and lands on her back. FratJerk steps out of the shadows, his head all torqued to the side. ('Cause he broke his neck, you know.) He intones, "They all ran away from you. They always will. Open your heart to someone and --". Hands thrust up from the ground and grab Buffy, who screams.

Corpses burst out of the ground and menace Buffy, who screams and struggles. Outside, Giles is inspecting the former location of the door. He remarks to Anya that he'll have to create a door. Anya asks if he can do that. Hasn't this girl ever heard of carpenters? Giles stalks over to his bag and pulls out a chainsaw. He marches up to the house and gets to work. Okay, usually Giles doesn't do anything for me, but in this scene he's wearing a cute little grin and an all-black outfit and looks pretty good. Giles fans will be talking about this episode for years to come, I'm sure. Buffy fights to get away from the corpses. DeadFratJerk utters some pretty ineffective "scary" dialogue about how no matter how hard she fights, she always ends up in the same place. Shut up, DeadFratJerk. Buffy exits the basement through a small door and ends up in the Goat Room. She sees people cowering in fright, including Oz, who is no longer wolfed out. Willow runs in screaming, "Get 'em off me!" and batting at her hair, but we don't see any of the tiny lights. Oz grabs her hands and hugs her. Xander sits rocking and sulks, "I'd offer my opinion but you jerks aren't going to hear it anyway. I might as well hang out with my new best friend, bleeding dummy head, for all you dorks care." Obviously Xander is no longer invisible because Buffy snaps, "What is with you, Xander?" Buffy says that they were all brought to the attic, but for what purpose? The gang notices the rune painted on the floor and Xander finds the book from which it was copied. The scary voice says (sigh -- again), "Release me!" Willow says the rune is the mark of Gachnar and is a summoning spell for -- um, Gachnar. Somehow the beginning of the spell was triggered, and the demon, who feeds on fear, is trying to manifest itself. I find it pretty hard to believe that Willow has a workable command of Gaelic, considering that fewer than one million people speak it. I hardly think Gaelic 100 was a course at Sunnydale High. The gang tries to talk themselves out of being scared, but Gachnar continues to yell and all the doors in the room start to rattle. It's interesting to note how the Scooby Gang's fears have changed from the last time they did this episode and called it Nightmares.

By Ace

They run towards one door, which is thrust open by a shadowy figure holding a chainsaw. Great horror movie imagery here, recalling both Friday the 13th and Texas Chain Saw Massacre. It's Giles! Giles looks damn hot in this scene too. Hmmph. Anya pops into the room behind him and hugs Xander. Giles says Gachnar is affecting the reality of the house, but has not achieved full manifestation. Buffy says she can fight the demon until Giles shows her its picture in the book, and she says, "I don't want to fight that." Giles reads from the book, "The summoning spell for Gachnar can be shut down in one of two ways: destroying the mark of Gachnar..." Buffy punches her fist through the floor and disrupts the mark. "...is not one of them and will in fact immediately bring forth the fear demon itself," continues Giles. D'oh! They gather around the hole Buffy punched in the floor as a bright light begins to shine up through it and Gachnar howls and screams.

The room shakes as Gachnar begins to manifest himself. He's a horned scary-looking guy with a face like a lamb trussed for roasting. He rises up, howling, to his full height. At this point I'm thinking, "Hmm, that's not very effective, because the special effects team hasn't given us any visual cues as to how big Gachnar is," and then Gachnar tilts his head back to look up and the camera pans back to show him as a tiny demon standing at Buffy's feet. Ha! The gang gazes in astonishment. "Big overture, little show," comments Xander. "I am the dark lord of nightmares. The bringer of terror," squeaks tiny Gachnar, and the gang smirks. "Who's a liddle fear demon?" says Xander in that talking-to-babies voice. "Don't taunt the fear demon," admonishes Giles. "Why? Can he hurt me!?" Xander asks. "No, it's just...tacky," Giles replies. Giles instructs Buffy to destroy Gachnar, and she stomps on him.

Later, the gang is at Giles's, pigging out on his Halloween candy. Xander looks Anya up and down and inquires, "That's your scary costume?" "Bunnies frighten me," says a chagrined Anya as Xander continues to stare at her. "I should have translated the Gaelic inscription!" exclaims Giles. He shows the book to Buffy and explains that the inscription under the small picture of Gachnar says "actual size." Ha! Best episode of the season thus far.