Written and Directed by Joss Whedon
Forrest
"Can't even shout, can't even cry, the Gentlemen are coming by, Looking through the windows, knocking on the doors, they need to take 7 and they might take yours. Can't call to mom, can't say a word, your gonna die a-screaming but you wont be heard."
Buffy wakes up after class and she talks to Riley. They are about to kiss, when Buffy starts talking, ruining the moment. Buffy calls Giles about her dream, and he says he will look into it. Xander and Anya are on their way to Giles's and Anya says that he doesn't care for her. Giles says that Spike will have to stay at Xander's, he has a friend coming to town. Willow is at a Wicca meeting, but they are all bake-sales and no spells, but Tara seems different. Willow tells Buffy about the meeting and Buffy says she wishes she could tell Riley that she's the Slayer. Meanwhile, Riley is talking to Forrest about his secret identity problem. Xander ties up Spike when he is about to go to sleep. Giles is researching when Olivia arrives.
In a clock tower, a box is opened by a creature. The box steals all of Sunnydale's voices. The next morning, Buffy Willow, and Xander can't talk, and Xander tries to call Buffy, but it obviously doesn't work. Riley and Forrest head to the Initiative to find out what's wrong. Buffy and Willow buys message boards on the way to Giles's, and discover that everyone's already there. The TV explains it as laryngitis. Buffy tells Giles to keep researching. Forrest and Riley are giving orders to maintain order in the town, in case of chaos. Buffy spots Riley, and the kiss, and Riley goes to separate a fight.
Olivia gets out of bed while Giles is sound asleep. She looks out the windows to see gentlemen floating outside, with mutated humans. She sees a gentleman pass by the window, grinning at her. The gentlemen attack a dorm person. He tries to scream as they tear his skin open with a scalpel. The gentlemen take his heart to their tower, where they have a few hearts already.
Olivia draws a picture of the gentleman for Giles and he reads the paper about the dorm attack. He pulls out a book about Fairy Tales. Giles creates a presentation with slide at the campus. The Gentlemen are fairy-tale creatures who steal voices and needs seven hearts, but killing them is unknown. There is a tale about a princess who had her voice, and screamed, and they all died. Buffy patrols, as does Riley. Riley spots shadows in the tower and heads over. Tara from the Wicca group circle Willow's address, and heads on over. She runs into the gentlemen, and she runs. She bangs on random doors and Willow steps out hearing all the commotion, running into Tara. Willow injures her ankle, and they run. They run into a room and Willow tries to move the soda machine using magic to block the door but it's too heavy. She fails, and Tara grabs her hand and they move it together.
Riley enters the tower and fights some humans. Buffy joins him as well, coming through the window. They are shocked to see each other, but continue fighting. Spike drinks some blood from Giles's fridge, and vamps out. Xander sees what looks like Spike biting Anya. Xander starts to beat up Spike when Ayna wakes up showing that she's ok.
Buffy follows one upstairs to find the Gentlemen and their hearts. They almost take Buffy's heart, but Riley shots it with electricity. They fight, and Buffy recognizes the box when a human jumps on her. She motions to Riley to smash it, and after a couple tries, he does, returning all their voices. Buffy screams, killing the Gentlemen and the mutated humans. The next morning Riley tells Buffy that they need to talk, and she agrees. It ends in silence.
Willow meets Tara, Riley sees Buffy in action and Buffy discovers Riley is a commando guy/
Rating
5/5
Oops!
As the Scoobies watch Tv, Olivia's drink goes from whiskey to water.
When Buffy holds her board up asking how she gets her voice back, the marker goes from her right hand to the slot.
At the lecture hall, Anya sits down empty handed but next time we see her she is eating popcorn.
When Riley smashes the bottle, a chunk of the glass lands on the box, but when he smashed the box, the glass has disappeared.
When Spike opens the fridge and gets his blood, it's full to the rim, but when he drinks it he tips it so far that if it were full, blood would have spilled all over him.
Trivia
Andy Hallet (Lorne in Angel) can be seen in the top-left corner of the lecture hall in the opening sequence.
At the end, Buffy screams to kill the Gentlemen. That isn't Sarah Michelle Gellar's scream, because she couldn't scream that long
Joss Whedon said that he prefers the Buffy/Riley theme rather than the Buffy/Angel theme as it sounds more mature.
David Soloman directed the scene where Spike and Xander discover their voice is gone. Joss Whedon was too busy to direct it himself.
Joss Whedon got an Emmy nomination for this episode in the 'Outstanding Writing in a Drama Series' category. 'Hush' also recieved a nomination for 'Oustanding Cinematography in a Single-Camera Series'. 'The West Wing' won both categories. This was the 52nd Anual Emmy Awards.