Welcome to Rewatching Buffy, the part of the blog where I rewatch Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Each Tuesday evening, you’re invited to join me as I attempt to rediscover what made me love this show 21 years ago.

Fear Itself

• It’s Halloween!
• Buffy’s depressed. Sad about being used by Parker last week.
• Ugh… get over it. He was a douche. Make better choices.
• Xander has a video for the gang to watch on Halloween.
• Remember video stores?
• But his friends, who are still college students, have a college party to go to.
• There’s a fraternity that’s doing a scary house thing. And Xander gets to go, too!
• When Buffy leaves, her friends agree Parker needs to be slapped.
• Walking alone through town, Buffy is confronted by a demon.
• No, wait… it’s just some guy with a demon mask on. But she punches him in the face first. He deserved it. What kind of stranger just jumps out to scare someone walking down the street wearing a demon mask? Jerk.
• At lunch the next day, Willow is discussing her struggles with witchcraft. Oz is worried. He should be. Not right now, but definitely in a couple years.
• Buffy goes to see Giles, who is decked out for Halloween. He’s ready to greet trick or treaters.
• He’s having too much fun with it.
• He tells Buffy she shouldn’t worry about patrolling, because the bad guys typically take Halloween off.
• At the frat house, the frat boys are getting ready for the party. And one of them found an awesome mystical symbol to paint on the floor in the attic.
• This is Sunnydale. One should not paint mystical symbols if one does not know what they actually represent.
• Anya shows up at Xander’s. She wants to date. And she doesn’t understand why Xander continues to be friends with Buffy, Willow, and Oz.
• He invites her to the frat party. He suggests that she find a scary concert.
• Buffy stops by Professor Walsh’s room to ask for today’s assignments. She missed for “personal reasons.” Walsh doesn’t think depression counts. She misses again and she’s out.
• Riley provides her with the assignment. And advice. Don’t give up. Stiff upper lip. All that.
• Oz heads over to the frat house to help the frat boys with their sound system. He accidentally cuts himself and splashes a bit of blood on that mystical symbol.
• And then a fake spider becomes a real spider.
• See? Sunnydale.
• Buffy’s mom makes her a Little Red Riding Hood costume. That’s cute.
• You know she’s in college, right?
• They reminisce about how her dad used to love taking her out on Halloween. How he loved spending time with Buffy.
• “Not enough, though,” says Buffy. Daddy issues. Starting to explain the whole Parker debacle.
• At the party, a frat guy tells a blindfolded girl that a bowl of grapes is eyeballs. She takes off the blindfold and they’re really eyeballs. Mystical symbols.
• Xander arrives as James Bond. Just in case they turn into their costumes again.
• Willow is Joan of Arc… because of her close relationship with God.
• Oz just has a name tag on. It says God. Get it?
• On the way to the frat house, they come across those commandos on patrol. Nice costumes.
• Things are going nuts inside the house. In the ensuing panic, I count two dead bodies. But they come back to life…
• And then eyeball/grape guy falls down the stairs and breaks his neck. As he lies there, dead, a voice says, “Release me.”
• It’s a sinister sounding voice. Probably something to do with the mystical symbol.
• Buffy discovers real blood. Then they discover a ton of bats. Inside the house.
• But then one of the bats turns into a rubber bat.
• Anya arrives at the house. Dressed as a bunny. Doesn’t scream scary, but okay.
• She can’t find the door. Because it’s not there. It’s like it’s been walled over.
• She sees a girl panicking in a window, only to see the window suddenly vanish.
• Xander seems to be… uh… not heard?
• But they find a frat guy hiding in a closet. He’s muttering something about not knowing… and it’s alive…
• Anya goes to Giles for help. She’s worried about Xander.
• Willow wants to do a spell that will help them not be lost in the house. Buffy’s not sure about doing that.
• Xander’s talking… but Buffy’s not ignoring him. She can’t see or he him.
• Oz is starting to transform into a werewolf… but it’s not a full moon night.
• Willow casts her spell. It goes wrong.
• Their fears are becoming reality.
• The house separated everyone. Get them all on their own, then prey on their fears.
• Buffy winds up in the basement. Broken neck guy is there. His neck is definitely still broken, but he’s walking around and talking like it’s not a thing.
• And then zombies come up from the floor to attack Buffy. Classic Sunnydale.
• Outside, Giles tells Anya they’ll have to create a door. Good thing he packed a chainsaw.
• Of course, Buffy escapes the zombies. The house led her back upstairs.
• That’s where it wants everyone anyway. Someone has to complete the spell that Oz began by splashing blood on the mystical symbol.
• The gang finds the book that the symbol came from.
• Good thing Willow can read Gaelic. The symbol is supposed to summon a demon called Gachnar. It comes forth by feeding on fear.
• Giles breaks in to the attic with his chainsaw. He recognizes the ritual of Gachnar.
• He shows Buffy a picture of Gachnar. She doesn’t want to have to fight it.
• Buffy destroys the mark of Gachnar, which immediately brings forth the fear demon.
• It rises out of the floor where the symbol was broken.
• And it’s tiny. Like… three inches tall. So Buffy steps on him. Squish.
• Body count: Humans – 1; Tiny Fear Demons – 1