1.10 Nightmares

[Clare]

1.10 Nightmares - Episode #010
The nightmares of Sunnydale's residents come alive

Review (also post a score out of 10) and discuss this episode.

[cyclica]

Another pretty good episode, not great but it has no big flaws.

It's great seeing buffy as a vampire, I suppose she was a vampire with a soul since she didn't want to kill or turn on her friends. And the ugly man was a scary villain, who might actually have posed a threat to buffy. I wish we were told a little more about the 'nightmare world' though, like why only our heroes remember what happened, and whether or not the master really did escape or if it was just some nightmare version of him.

I'm giving this one a 6.

[partcynic]

1x10 “Nightmares”

Episode Rating = 5

Another solid episode, “Nightmares” persists in the S1 precedent of taking well-worn horror ideas and putting new twists on them. While not managing to be as clever or subversive as the likes of “The Puppet Show”, it stills does a good job, and the painfully detail-free plot is compensated for by the core four’s nightmare scenarios, which contain high levels of drama and comedy, and succeed in giving us some additional insight into their psyches.

What I Liked about “Nightmares”:

- The teaser scene (with Buffy confronting the Master and losing) is a smart foreshadow of events to come, and I laughed at Joyce’s comment about buying a lottery ticket after Buffy said she was happy to go to school.

- I always enjoy seeing the Master, and his talk about fear was a good way to both introduce and summarise the theme of the episode. I could have done without the cheesy interjections of the Anointed One (why those effects on his voice?), but they’re so miniscule that it’s no issue.

- The early psychology(?) class is good fun – with particular regard to Xander and Cordelia’s barbs; Willow’s quip about the latter’s hair “weigh[ing] heavy on the cerebral cortex”; Xander being more preoccupied with the teacher’s chest than the subject at hand, and Wendell’s wonderfully horrible spider nightmare coming to life. It was also a nice touch to show that Buffy had kept up with the homework/reading – it seems she took Dr Gregory’s advice to heart.

- The strained/uneasy relationship between Buffy, Hank and Joyce is believable and interesting. It’s refreshing to see a portrayal of a divorced couple that shows them putting their child first, with there being just the right amount of emotional discomfort in the various chats about the subject. It’s also good to remember a time when Hank was portrayed as a fundamentally decent guy (ignoring the inexplicable personality transplant he seemed to have gotten around season five).

- All of Buffy’s nightmares are intriguing, in particular her fear at being buried alive (nicely realised in “Bargaining”), becoming a vampire, and the emotional scene where her father told her she was responsible for the divorce. The latter was one of Sarah Michelle Gellar’s stronger acting moments (at least at this point), and it was easy to feel her pain.

- Willow and Xander are continuing to provide excellent support, though they go beyond 'sidekicks' in being crucial to the series. The moments we got with them were generally funny (Xander’s nudity; Willow’s attempt at singing opera; the campy clown chase), and helped to lighten the mood after the heavier Buffy material.

- The brief moment with Giles at Buffy’s grave was excellent, and demonstrates the growing father/daughter bond between the two characters.

- Child actors usually put shows on the fast track to ruin, but the lad who played Billy gave a solid performance, creating a believable character whose presence gave the story some extra depth. Tying in to this, I thought that the Ugly Man was a clever way of personifying Billy’s fear of the coach that beat him (as well as being one of the more scary monsters of the season), and having the resolution come from Billy facing his fear and unmasking his attacker was thematically perfect.

- Cordelia is in urgent need of a character upgrade (which she’d get next episode), but her one-dimensional portrayal continues to bring laughs. It says a lot about the character’s shallowness that her worst nightmare was having bad hair, and the scene where the nerds were dragging her into the chess club meeting was very funny.

- I like that this was the first episode in which the show portrayed human evil. The idea of a grown man who’d beat a child comatose over something as trivial as Kiddie League baseball is far more disturbing than any vampire, demon or robot could ever hope to be.

What I Disliked about “Nightmares”:

- The machinations of the plot do nothing but give me a big headache, being tough to swallow even for a fantasy series. It’s funny to observe that the episode attempts to hand-wave the ‘realm of nightmares’ thing with a simple “it’s easier when you live on a Hellmouth”, but that’s flimsy justification considering all that happens. It would have been better if the episode had stayed away from showing fractures in reality (like the laws of time, space and even life-and-death bending; what with the sudden midnight graveyard across the road, and the fact that Buffy actually died – wouldn’t that call a new Slayer? If she didn’t really die, was she just like Angel, as a vamp with a human soul? And since the Master was tied to the Hellmouth, wouldn’t his escape have caused it to open? Why didn’t it open anyway? Knowing that it could happen, you can’t tell me Buffy wouldn’t have feared it.) Then there’s the issue of what occurs once the scenario is resolved – Buffy and the gang appear to have their memories of the incident intact, but everyone else acts like nothing happened. Wouldn’t Hank have needed to approach his daughter to do some serious apologising (even though she’d now know he didn’t really blame her for the past?)

- The score music is continuing to suck. It was about right for the Hank/Buffy scene, but the rest of it left a lot to be desired. It’s hard to feel the tenseness or nerve of an action sequence when all you hear are canned drum hits and synthesiser sounds that would have been dated in the Eighties.

- After crossing over from the nightmare realm, why was Billy specifically hanging around the school? I know we can pull out the Hellmouth explanation, but it’s not like its influence wouldn’t extend to other places in Sunnydale.

- I understand why Willow and Xander’s fears are so tame, but while they serve to provide levity amongst the more serious moments, they also undermine them a little bit. I don’t really buy that being on stage and nudity are the worst things they’d dream about.

- This point is of no real concern, but this ep is particularly noteworthy in the wardrobe disaster stakes. The outfit Willow sports (the red jacket; black and white polka dot dress and lime green tights) is so ugly that even the biggest social outcast wouldn’t wear it, and it’s hard to believe in Cordelia’s supposed wealth and style when she’s wearing pink neckscarves and clashing colour combinations. Do all of these people clothe themselves in the dark? And why are nerds always portrayed as dressing like old men from the Thirties?

Do I like this episode more or less than the last time I watched it?

I’d probably say a little more, though my grade holds fast. I really enjoy the humour and character moments in this episode, but it doesn’t change the fact that they derive from a plot that needed to be more grounded and succinct. Still, “Nightmares” is worthwhile for giving each member of the core four some interesting material, and the supporting cast assist nicely in fleshing their characters (and interactions) out. Thanks to these positives, I’m sticking with a well-deserved five out of ten, and tipping my hat towards season one’s continued consistency.

[cyclica]

Upon rewatching this episode (as a reviewer rather than as a casual watcher) I enjoyed it more than before, but I also found a lot more flaws than I had noticed before.

I loved the insight into the characters, the originality of the plot, and how real the threat was. Usually when the threat is just a villain to be defeated, I know buffy will defeat it, but when the whole world is changing, I'm facinated as I don't know how things will return to normal. Another big plus for this episode was the nightmare conversation between buffy and her 'dad'. This is definately one of the most intense emotional moments in the show, you can't help but feel bad for buffy.

The ugly man (aka the baseball coach) was a great villain too. He had an interesting design (with that one huge slab for a hand) and I love how he's a real threat to buffy - if the kid dreams someone who is stronger than buffy, then how can she beat him? (...by becoming a vampire! Didn't see that one coming!). I also liked how the episode starts with buffy dreaming about confronting the master underground, a nice forshadowing to prophecy girl.

Overall this is an imaginative, insightful, and at times emotional episode that I'd want to watch again, and not just when rewatching season 1. I give it a high 6.

Onto the nitpicks, flaws and mistakes:

- The master can somehow feel psychic powers? I know we're supposed to just accept that he's got abilities other vamps don't have, but come on. He's not a demon, he was human once. How did he get these abilities?
- At one point we see buffy close her locker, the scene cuts to willow, and when it cuts back to buffy she's closing her locker again.
- When buffy is in class about to take the history exam, her classmates had already started the exam before she was even given the paper.
- Xander goes into some mysterious room where they are doing construction (and there are swasticas on the walls for no explained reason), and he doesn't find it at all suspicious that there are chocolate bars all over the floor?
- Like I said in my earlier review, they never explained why only the scoobies retained their memory of what happened. Nor did they explain whether the events really took place and everyone just forgot, or if they went back like the day never happened.

[partcynic]

Another big plus for this episode was the nightmare conversation between buffy and her 'dad'. This is definately one of the most intense emotional moments in the show, you can't help but feel bad for buffy.

I agree - it's a fantastic scene. The only better dramatic moment in S1 is the "I quit" one in "Prophecy Girl".

- The master can somehow feel psychic powers? I know we're supposed to just accept that he's got abilities other vamps don't have, but come on. He's not a demon, he was human once. How did he get these abilities?

It's not a huge stretch given that he also has limited hypnosis skills. Perhaps he was like Drusilla, and already had some kind of 'gift' prior to being sired.

- When buffy is in class about to take the history exam, her classmates had already started the exam before she was even given the paper.

Well, reality was distorting. Perhaps they were just writing their names and ID information. It's not uncommon for people to do that prior to starting a test, especially when they're waiting for other students to arrive. It gives you a little more time to answer the actual questions once you get going.

- Xander goes into some mysterious room where they are doing construction (and there are swasticas on the walls for no explained reason), and he doesn't find it at all suspicious that there are chocolate bars all over the floor?

Yeah - that's a little weird. I guess it just shows that Xander's more motivated by his stomach than anything else.

[rhinoishere]

i'd personally have to rate this episode a 6/6.5

-to be it wasn't be best episodes of the buffy career but i do think it was one of the best in season 1. I mean it gave the viewers and inside look at all the characters, things we thought we might have known about them was either proven wrong or right. Xander's love for food and fear of clowns, Willow's stage fright (to which i can relate lol), Giles getting lost in the stacks (giles the loser, before be became to the cool old man that we all know and love later on ) and Buffy's fear that she was all to bllame for her parents divorce. I thought that scene was very well played. I know in the back of my mind i always wondered about Buffy and her dad, and why they divorced, and this episode tied together buffy's thought about the divorce, it gave Buffy a human aspect. I mean in the first season she was slaying and school, and her home life wasn't that great part of the show that it later came to be. I mean yeah sure there was joyce and the way buffy reacted when she thought angel bite her mother, but other than that, there really wasn't anything to this point. no one knew what was inside buffy's head, lilke we all thought we knew with the hints dropped throughout the show, in the beginning, and this was the first time we got a good clear look at not buffy the superhero but buffy the girl with insecurities, and that's why i liked the episode. you got a different look at buffy's character, and an inside look into the buffy that she'd become, since later on in the show buffy wasn't afraid to show her emotion or how she felt towards someone or something.

[cyclica]

Sept 21, 2009 13:02:03 GMT -5 rhinoishere said:

Giles getting lost in the stacks (giles the loser, before be became to the cool old man that we all know and love later on

I dunno, I prefered fuddy-duddy giles to the giles of later seasons (certainly he's a lot more fun to watch).

btw welcome back.