Earshot

Season 3, Episode 18, Aired
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Episode Summary

After an encounter with a demon with no mouth, Buffy is infected with the demon's blood and she gains the ability to hear people's thoughts. At first her newfound ability is useful for cheating on schoolwork and eavesdropping on the thoughts of those around her, but when the voices continue to flood her mind, she realizes that she cannot control the power. Amid the chaos, Buffy hears a killer planning a mass murder at the school. Now she must keep herself from going mad long enough to prevent a catastrophe.moreless
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Fan Episode Reviews (28)

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  • Utterly fabulous!

    10
    "Perfect"
    By joxerlives, Jan 19, 2012 Report Abuse
    The Good;
    It's all stunning. Jonathon shows his star quality, the mindreading is excellent, the comedy and action fantastic. If I was to select one ep to show to people to demonstrate how great the series is I think it would be this one. The only thing that could make it better would be if Faith and Dawn were in it.

    The Bad;
    Um? Well, the excuse of why Buffy can't read Angel's mind is rather stupid. It's also a letdown that we never get to read Faith's thoughts.

    Best line;
    Hard to pick but I think I'll go for Jonathon 'You all think I'm an idiot. A SHORT idiot!" (although at 5'2 he's only an inch shorter than SMG, not "3 feet tall"). The one I use all the time though is Oz's 'I call that a radical interpretation of the text' plus Angel's 'I'm a funny guy'. Buffy's entire speech to Jonathon is just too beautiful for words.

    Character death;
    None, thankfully

    Shot;
    Again none although Jonathon has a deer-rifle to kill himself. Some have asked why he uses something as cumbersome as a rifle but even the US has some gun control and they're easier to get than a handgun.

    Tied up;
    Not this ep

    Knocked out;
    Dinner lady by Buffy and Buffy herself faints.

    Women good/men bad;
    Again a female villain

    Jeez!;
    RAT POISON IN THE JELLY! The dinner lady is actually a recurring character, she's also amongst the mob in BBB. Xander's comment on 'taking out the place with a semi-automatic' and later admission that this is 'bordering on trendy at this point' is obviously near the knuckle. You wonder if things had worked out differently if Xander could have been one of season 6's trio (making them a quartet).

    Kinky dinky;
    Buffy is flattered by one of the male students admiring her beauty (love her bashful preening) then shocked that he wants to slam her against the lockers and ravish her (love to know what the second guy in that scene was thinking?). She won't always be so dainty, one day she'll happily allow Spike to do that to her and a whole lot more! But maybe it's an inherited thing amongst the Summer's girls as we finally discover the truth about Joyce and Ripper and the handcuffs on the hood of the police car? And Dawn will of course end up giving RJ a lapdance in 'Him'. Seems denial and sluttiness run in the Summer's family? (as well as incredible beauty). Willow worries that Buffy will develop a 'boy demon part' as her aspect of the demon. Oz and Xander admire Cordy and the cheerleaders. Freddy describes them a 'pseudo prostitutes whipping men up into a sexual frenzy'. Wes considers himself a very bad man for lusting after Cordy. Cordy has kneemarks on her back but claims their from the cheerleading pyramid. Once again Xander shows his yen for older women, fancying the English teacher. Willow tells Jonathon that 'fantasies are fun'. Xander questioning of a trio of babes seems to resemble the questions Playboy ask their Playmate of the Month rather than the FBIs serial killer profile.

    Calling Captain Subtext;
    Xander once again has one of his uncomfortable talks with Larry. Despite being able to read Willow's mind Buffy doesn't pick up any hints of lesbianism. Her reading of Cordy's mind demonstrates that Cordy really doesn't have a subtext, she literally says what she thinks. Nice to see that The Merchant of Venice is still relevant in supernatural teen US series. Xander considers Wes 'Pierce Brosnany' which is a weird way for one straight man to think of another.

    Guantanamo Bay;
    Of course this is the ep which was postponed by the Columbine massacre. For UK fans it meant that we got to see the last eps of season 3 FIRST and if you waited for the video boxsets wonderful vigin eps one after the other. Willow interrogates Jonathom again.

    Where's Dawn?
    It would have been interesting to hear Dawn's thoughts about all things Sunnydale. The only time we see Wes meet Joyce and presumably the littlelest Summers as well. Does Dawn ever learn about Joyce and Ripper's tryst?

    Questions and observations;
    Wonderful in just so many ways, perhaps the most perfect ep of Buffy ever.
    Recently went to see The Punisher; War Zone (not good) and was proud of myself in recognising one of the henchmen as Freddy Iverson from this ep. Xander's maths needs work. Snyder is a Bangels fan. Love the headlines in the school paper, especially 'Apathy on the rise, no one cares'. The final tree gag makes me laugh every time and was apparently ASH's idea. The mislead with Jonathon is so clever. Speaking of minor recurring characters we also have 'Asian Joe' an extra whom you see a lot in the background at SDH. Here he's the guy who thinks about being a software jillionaire, his first and possibly only line in the series. Would the Flaying of the Demon Azareth really be a bad thing? Presumably for the demon Azerath? Percy becomes a recurring character. 'Magic' Jane Espensons commentary is wonderful. The demons closely resemble the Drakh from Babylon 5. Angel comments that in his whole life he's only ever loved one girl, Buffy, which is bad news for Darla in season 2 of Angel;TS. As Jane comments we see Angel hunting solo which is rare before his own show. What is with Willow's hat, is she taking up flyfishing or something?
    Marks out of 10; 10/10 , up there with Dopplegangland as possibly the best ep evermoreless

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  • A Buffy PSA

    10
    "Perfect"
    By fatfreeoreos, Sep 20, 2011 Report Abuse
    I love the episodes that include recurring characters and in this one we get to see a bunch. Larry, Percy, Jonathan, Harmony, and other one off characters make an appearance in this hilarious but serious episode.

    When Buffy encounters a demon on patrol, it infects her with telepathy. With this ability, she and us are able to hear everyone's thoughts. My favorites were Oz and Cordelia. His were so deep and hers were so superficial, they all just made me laugh. My favorite scene is the pep rally scene. I liked the blocking and the dialogue. It had some of my fave lines of the series, including Xander's "Pierce Brosnany eyes" comment and Oz saying he read the school paper for the obituaries.

    The one thing I didn't like was the blatant misdirection about Jonathan. He is shown with a shotgun in the clocktower, and then he reveals that he was going to commit suicide, which is a pretty hard thing to do with such a long gun. I liked the end scene with Xander and the lunch lady though. It was scary when you think about the implications, but funny anyway.

    I understand why they yanked this episode from original airing, but I was so happy they included it in the original spot on the DVD. This is my second favorite episode of the season, only because it doesn't have Spike, but it is one that I never get tired of.moreless

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  • Earshot

    8.0
    "Great"
    By TrueTvWatcher, Oct 15, 2010 Report Abuse
    Earshot was a very interesting episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It was fun to watch Buffy using her new found ability on those around her, though some times she wished she didn't hear what she did. It was interesting to learn what some people were thinking. When Buffy heard some one plotting to kill, she started a frantic search. Eventually she stopped the lone gun man who was actually only going to kill himself. Buffy learned about the true nature of what happened in Band Candy between Giles and her Mom. It was an entertaining episode that fits right in.moreless

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  • "Infect? Infect? Giles, Infect?"

    10
    "Perfect"
    By spikemaniac, Sep 06, 2010 Report Abuse
    He he! I love this episode its hilarious! Buffy picks up part of a demon by accidenly getting some of it's goo on her skin. She tells Willow and Willow says, "Was it a boy demon?" HA! loL! U gotta love it! She then hears a voice in the cafeteria say, "Tomorrow u will all die" and she immediatly tries to find out who it is. She thinks it's jonathon, the school nerd-short guy who everyone is really mean to, but infact he was going to kill himself. It ends up to be the cafeteria lady who wanted to put rat poison in everyones food. All in all, great episode, extremely funny, especially with some of the things Buffy ends up hearing...
    Wesley: God look at Cordelia, no, don't look at Cordelia! lol!moreless

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  • Season 3, Episode 18.

    9.0
    "Superb"
    By Wanted23, Apr 28, 2009 Report Abuse
    Buffy kills a demon with no mouth and becomes infected with his blood. The demon, however, has telekinetic powers, and Buffy gains the ability to read people's thoughts.

    This episode reminded me of Episode 3.06 of Charmed. I liked the concept though, and how things played out. I liked when Cordelia asked if the teacher was going to kill a bunch of people and that it was for the yearbook. Hehe. I liked the thing with Jonathon though. I knew Jonathon wanted to kill himself, considering he left a suicide note. I liked the lunch lady thing though, but I kinda felt bad for her. Good episode.moreless

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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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  • Trivia

    ADD TRIVIA

    • Xander's accusation of Larry is reminiscent of a similar awkward confrontation revealing Larry's homosexuality in Phases (S2E15).

      Edit
    • When Buffy reads her mother's mind, she's hearing about the affair with Giles that Joyce had off-camera during the episode "Band Candy." After being hinted at a few times since then, we now know exactly what happened between the two and where. Edit
    • When Buffy does the flip to get on top of the building near Jonathan, her shirt is not the same one that she is wearing before and after she does the flip. Edit

  • Notes

    ADD NOTES
    • Although episodes are normally listed according to air date, which would put this postponed episode as the last in season 3, a special exception was made for this episode because this is the place in which it appears in the tape and DVD releases. Edit
    • This episode is seventh in Joss Whedon's list of his top ten favorite episodes according to his personal letter included in the Australian Chosen Collection Box-set. The episodes on this top ten list are not ranked, but are put in order of which episode aired first. Edit
    • The A&E biography for Buffy the Vampire Slayer makes note of this episode but incorrectly keeps saying that the student [Jonathan] was going to kill the other students. They even had a clip of Marsters talking about this episode and how it dealt with students killing each other. Jonathan was going to kill himself; the crazy lunch lady was going to poison the students. Edit

  • Quotes

    ADD QUOTES
    • Buffy: Listen, there's a killer in the cafeteria. Xander: See? I've been saying for years the lunch lady is gonna do us all in with that mulligan stew. Edit
    • Xander: (his thoughts) 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 Buffy. Oh stop me! Buffy: God Xander, is that all you think about? Xander: Actually... bye! Edit
    • Oz's thoughts: I am my thoughts. If they exist in her, Buffy contains everything that is... and she becomes me. I cease to exist. Oz: Huh. Edit

  • Allusions

    ADD ALLUSIONS
    • Giles: Berk.
      Giles refers to Wesley using a British slang term for idiot. Edit
    • Xander: Ok, so turn-offs include: smoking, insensitive men and Birkenstocks.
      Xander interviews the attractive girls of Sunnydale and turns the psychological profile into a fact finding mission for the lovelorn. A list of turn-offs like these are commonly found in the profile accompanying a featured model in magazines like Playboy.

      Birkenstocks are a brand of sandals commonly thought of as being very "hippy". Edit

    • Xander: He's got his filthy, adult, Pierce Bronan-y eyes all over my Cordy.
      Xander complains about the way that Wesley looks at Cordelia with a comparison to Pierce Brosnan. Pierce Brosnan is an actor best know for playing James Bond and is considered to be quite good looking. Edit

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