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Episode Guide > Season 4, Episode 10

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Hush

 

Episode Score

 
9.7 Superb
866 votes

Your Score

Air Date

Tuesday December 14, 1999

Production Code

4ABB10

Episode Summary

The entire town of Sunnydale goes silent when a group of strange creatures called The Gentlemen appear and steal everyone's voices. Buffy and the gang must solve the mystery and overcome the bad guys without being able to discuss their battle plan.

  •  
    10 Perfect

    The town of Sunnydale is plunged into silence as The Gentleman arrive to carry out a macabre plan that involves cutting out the hearts of their victims.Will Buffy regain her voice in time to prevent more carnage? hide show

    This is the episode that you show your friends who are yet to be convinced about the brilliance that is 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer'.If they aren't convinced after seeing 'Hush' then there is no hope for them! And it's time to get new friends.

    Every cast member,from the regulars to the guest stars & the soon to be regulars,are totally on song here in this truly magnificent piece of television.

    Even with repeated viewings you are still scared witless by the blood curdling antics of The Gentleman & you will laugh out loud at the clever script & comedic set pieces,most notably the scene where Giles explains The Gentleman's modus operandi to the gang with hand-drawn overheads.

    And as far as plot development goes the whole Buffy/Riley/The Initiative begins to unfold and viewers get to meet Tara for what will not be the last time!

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  •  
    9.5 Superb

    Season 4, Episode 10. hide show

    Sunnydale is put on quarantine after a "laryngitis epidemic" strikes. However, it is really a group of creatures called The Gentlemen that steal the voices away from people in the town they go in, and they then collect seven hearts from people in the town. Meanwhile, Buffy and Riley find out secrets about each other that can change everything.

    This episode was definitely a classic. It was different than any other episode. I like episodes of supernatural shows when characters lose their senses. :) Buffy also looked beautiful in this episode. She always does, but it really showed in this episode. Plus, Tara is finally introduced. Then, Buffy and Riley find out each other's secrets. Season 4 has gotten better in the past couple of episodes, definitely. :)

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  •  
    10 Perfect

    Silence, creepy men and more silence. in this memorable episode of buffy for once in their lives everybody in sunnydale has fallen quite while creepy gentlemen are coming after people to steal 7 hearts. You can't scream so what can you do? hide show

    This episode has to be one of my favourie episodes off all time. We have a very original storyline and a creepy one at that. throughout the whole episode i was thinking how scary would it be if everyone couldn't speach and when someone like those freaky men and there sidekick were coming to murder you well i would totally poop my pants. i loved how they started to introduce a new love interest in this episode it was suddle but direct. the episode still had the comedy heir about although it was very creepy. i think that my favourite part of this show was the gentlemen though they were so creepy and they did a good job with, from their creepy little smiles to the fact that they floated to how they killed their victims, oh and their sidekick straight jacket wearing people who scared almost just as much as the gentlemen did. in all this episode was very very well written and it will remain one of my fav. episodes of all time.

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  •  
    10 Perfect

    #1 Buffy Episode of All Time! hide show

    Though "The Gift" is a close second for me, I love love love this episode. It has it all--it's funny, hauntingly scary, visually stunning, and full of suspense. All of these characteristics are only heightened by the silence carried on for half of the show, since the characters are unable to speak. The Gentlemen are by far the scariest, creepiest monsters ever on this show--like a nightmare made real. They look like demonic doctors from a insane asylum with their straitjacketed patients traipsing along with them. Though I think Season 4 was the weakest season out of all 7--mainly due to the presence of Riley, Buffy's annoying love interest--I think this one episode makes up for the many sub par episodes from this season (Where the Wild Things Are, Beer Bad, etc.).

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  •  
    9.5 Superb

    Hush is one of my favourite episodes from Season four! The story is great and the Gentlemen are creepy! hide show

    Well, in this episode, all of Sunnydale lose thier voices. It must be pretty frightning to have all these people not being able to talk. The best bit of the whole episode is when Giles does like a seminar. He has this projector and explains the Gentlemen using slides. Anya has popcorn and Buffy and Willow have message boards. When Buffy and Willow go to Giles' place, I love it how Willow writes on her board "Hi Giles!" and then he goes over to her and sort of hugs her. Very nice. Buffy's scream at the end is really amazing! The scene where the Gentlemen are chasing Tara through the college is really creepy too!
    This is one of my favourite episodes of season 4!

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Episode Cast and Crew

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  • At 23:27 if you look closely at the bottom of the screen, when the gentlemen come out from behind the bush, for a second or so you can see the white platform they were rolling along on. []
  • Immediately before Buffy and Riley "face off" in the Gentlemen's lair Buffy throws one of the footmen into a stand of metal shelves, which begins to fall over spilling its contents. The very next shot the shelves are upright and undisturbed even though the sound of them falling can still be heard. They remain this way throughout the rest of the episode. []
  • We learn that Spike likes to crumble up Weetabix in the blood he drinks. []
More Trivia
  • Camden Toy, who played one of the Gentlemen in this episode, returned in two other roles later in the series. He played Gnarl in the third episode of season seven. He also played the Turok-Han later in that same season. []
  • The scenes of the Gentlemen gliding smoothly through Sunnydale in Hush were achieved by swinging them by wires across distances of over 120 feet using cherrypickers. []
  • The promo used for this episode was the same in the USA and Brazil. It was the first time that both countries featured the same promo. []
More Notes
  • Olivia: Sorry I'm late, horror flight.
    Giles: Oh I'm sorry, bad weather?
    Olivia: Baseball movie... []
  • Willow: You were there looking for me?
    Tara: I thought maybe we could do a spell - make people talk again. I...I'd seen you in the group, the Wicca group you were... you were different than them. I mean they didn't seem to know...
    Willow: What they were talking about.
    Tara: I think if they saw a Witch they would run the other way. []
  • Spike: Like I'd bite you, anyway.
    Xander: Oh, you would.
    Spike: Not bloody likely.
    Xander: I happen to be very biteable, pal. I'm moist and delicious.
    Spike: All right, yeah, fine. You're a nummy treat.
    Xander: And don't you forget it. []
More Quotes
  • The Gentlemen look very much like old-time doctors with their black suits and bags that contain tools like scalpels. Their minions are dressed in straitjackets. Perhaps this is a foreshadowing for "Normal Again," the Season 6 episode with Buffy in a lunatic asylum. []
  • Revelations 15:1:
    When Buffy and Willow are first walking through town after the voices are stolen, one of the things they walk by is a group of bible-readers. According to the sign, the verse they read is "Revelations 15:1." Prelude to the Bowl Judgments 15:1 - "Then I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous: seven angels having the seven last plagues, for in them the wrath of God is complete." []
  • Little Girl: Can't even shout, can't even cry. The Gentlemen are coming by...
    The nursery rhyme sang by the little girl can be compared to (and may even be an homage to) the jumprope song recited by the children in the Nightmare on Elm Street movies. []
More Allusions
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