Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1996–2003): Season 5, Episode 9 - Listening to Fear - full transcript

Previously on
Buffy the vampire slayer.

This dark spell I hold
in my worthless hand...

Is our gift to you,
glorificus.

Please. Call me glory.

What if she's something else
altogether?

- Something new, you mean.
- Something old.

So old it predates
the written word.

Lady, whatever you are, please.
I have two daughters.

The key is energy. My
brethren sent it to you.

Dawn.

She has no idea.
No.



She thinks
she's my kid sister.

I have to take care of her.

Your mother has
low-grade glioma.

It's a brain tumor.

Listen, you two, I know this cream
spinach is pretty delicious,

but I promise I won't be offended
if you go out for some real food.

Are you kidding me?

Relaxing in bed while people
bring you food on trays.

I like the jell-o.
Help yourself.

There's something about food that moves by
itself that gives me the heebie-jeebies.

It's good and wiggly.
This girl at school told me...

That gelatin is made
from ground-up cow's feet...

And that if you eat jell-o, there's some
cow out there limpin' with no feet.

But I told her I'm sure they kill
it before they take off their feet.



Right?

You're the one who insisted
on teaching her to talk.

Oh, hello, Dr. Kriegel.

You know my girls... Buffy and dawn.
Yes, of course.

You two are becoming part of the regular
crew around here. Just keeping her company.

Good. Just be careful
you don't wear her out.

Oh, don't worry about that.
I woke up exhausted.

There's really no more
exhausted to get.

Well, maybe some
good news will help.

The blood work's come back from the
lab, and everything seems fine.

So we've scheduled your surgery for day
after tomorrow at 10:00 in the morning.

How's that sound to you?

Oh, well, I think they had
me scheduled for volleyball,

but I can work
around it.

All right, then.
Joyce, you take care.

Make sure and get
some good solid rest.

And I mean that.

Oh, the day after tomorrow.

I don't think I can stand to stay
here another two days just waiting.

Waiting? Give me a break.
We've got tons to do.

We have soap operas to watch
and trashy magazines to read.

An adjustable bed
to fiddle with.

That alone will keep me
busy for four hours or so.

I really don't need you
to stay here, Buffy.

- I know you've got patrolling to do.
- Not tonight.

Tonight I have
mom-taking-care-of to do.

Besides, Riley's filling
in for me with the others.

I'm sure they have
everything under control.

Ah!

- Hey! Human chest! Human chest!
- Sorry.

Oh, my god.
What a rough night.

I dusted two of 'em!
Yea on me!

That was pretty cool, except the
part where I was all terrified,

and now my knees
are all dizzy.

Whoa. Not so much a big
success night for me,

but I think I should get
points just for showing up,

unlike some Riley Finn
who shall remain unnamed.

Yes, that was disappointing. Things
would've been easier if he'd been here.

Oh, piffle! Who needs him
when I'm Dustin' two at a ti...

Whoops. Maybe it would've been
good if he had showed up.

Perhaps he forgot.

Care package! Special delivery
for the summers girls.

Now, let's see what I have
in this sack of mine.

I feel just like Santa Claus,
except thinner and younger...

And female and, well, Jewish.

This is an extra special gift for
your mom that I know she'll need...

A beer hat!

See? It's got cup holders and a straw
that goes directly into your mouth,

and you can fill it
with other stuff than beer.

And somehow, when I was in the store,
this seemed like the most important idea,

and now there's the whole part
where I'm crazy.

It's perfect. Thank you, Willow.
You're very sweet.

Now, let's see, who's next? Dawn, I
believe I have something in here for you.

- Headache?
- Just a little one.

Biggish little one.

I'm fine.

Go on. What else is in that
sack of goodies, Willow?

All right.
Dawn, to keep you busy...

- Spells! Thank you, Willow.
- You got her a book on spells?

The girl who can break things
by just looking at them...

Now has a book to teach her to
break things by looking at them?

It doesn't actually have spells in it.
Just history and anecdotes.

Stuff like that.
Oh, Buffy, I have this for you.

Homework?

I don't believe in tiny
Jewish Santa anymore.

And a yo-yo.
Thank you.

The book is just in case you
get a chance to look it over.

We're doing world war I now. The
last exam was really pretty easy.

Just underlying causes
and trench foot.

So it should be no hassle
to make it up.

I don't even know if I'm
gonna take that exam.

I'd rip it in half and
stick it in bed with me!

Mom?

You know, I think I'm gonna
take a little rest now.

Okay.

We'll be right outside
if you need us.

What was she talking about?
I mean, that was weird.

She's gonna be fine.

It's okay. I'm sorry.
The doctor spoke to me,

and, uh, I should
have told you.

Um, the... the thing that's
pressing on her brain,

sometimes it might make
her say weird things.

Does she know
she's saying them?

Not really. It's sort of
like a flash, you know.

But you saw her two seconds afterwards.
She was normal.

And after the operation,
no more pressing.

She'll be all normal
all the time.

Is that right? Hey,
Santa doesn't lie.

Excuse me.

Careful. The facts say
a picnic is in order.

What is that thing?

Th-there's no data. There's no
pictures on this one. There!

What is the data?
There's no one in there.

Buffy.

Come on, honey.
Don't worry about it.

Can we go home? Home?

Home, home, home.

What's wrong with him?

Is it like mom,
a thing in his head?

I don't think so. I think it's different.
Don't worry about it.

I guess I missed that.
Was he bothering you?

Hey, Ben.
This is my friend Willow.

Hi.
Hi.

Yeah, the crazy man was a little,
you know, crazy, but it's okay.

Are they really
gonna send him home?

Don't get me started. The mental
ward's booked beyond capacity,

literally nowhere
to put them,

so the ones with families,
they're letting 'em go home.

Like his family's gonna be
able to take care of him.

He has to have someone
watch him 24-7.

What was he
saying to you?

Oh, he was just...
Babbling.

You know what's weird?

Japanese commercials
are weird.

Yes. And also...

You know, some of the stars
we're looking at...

Don't even exist anymore.

In the time that it takes for
their light to reach us,

they've died, exploded.

Poof.

Were, um, were things
rough at the hospital?

You know, I used to love to look
up at them when I was little.

They're supposed to make you
feel all insignificant,

but they
made me feel like...

Like I was in space.

Part of the stars.

There's Canis minor...

And Cassiopeia.

And the big pineapple.

You know, I'm not sure I remember that one.
Oh, it's a major one.

See those three bright stars
right over there?

- Yeah.
- And see those stars along there?

That's the bottom
of the pineapple.

It's big.
Hence the name.

The real ones never made sense to me.
I sort of have my own.

Teach me.

See those stars over there?

"Short man
looking uncomfortable."

"Moose getting
a sponge bath."

Hmm.

"Little pile o' crackers."

That was a bit of a stretch.

You do it.
What would you call...

That one?
Hmm.

I see...

A huge flaming meteor about
to crash into something.

I know what I said.
I said...

I said I won't go away far.

A person needs to respect a man.
A man says...

That... the facts says...

He's got to go take a walk
to get some fresh air...

And find some fresh spaces.

And... and he needs to walk...
And some... space!

And needs to walk to get...
To get where he's going.

This thing doesn't work.
It isn't working.

I'm sure they heard you.

I bet it's not even
hooked up to anything.

Just like the push buttons at the crosswalk
that are supposed to make the signal change.

I'm sure someone's... wait. The push
buttons aren't hooked up to anything?

Oh, tell him, Buffy.
Tell him, okay?

Look, Dr. Kriegel,
we wanna go home.

Well, of course. You can come back and visit
your mother first thing in the morning.

No. We.
I mean all of us.

- My mom too.
- Oh. Well, I understand that.

But it's not necessarily
the first thing I'd recommend.

I can't.

I can't stay here waiting for
two days for this operation.

I just can't. It makes my head hurt
to be here. Can't you tell that?

- Joyce, there's no reason to get upset.
- No reason to get upset?

Oh, right. Sorry. I must just think
there is 'cause of my brain tumor!

Here, dawn. Why don't you
get something from the machine?

I'm sorry I said that.

I'm just so tired.
I know.

Listen, doctor, I don't see why we can't
take her home, you know, just until...

I mean, wouldn't it
be better for her...

To rest someplace where she
felt safe and comfortable?

Even if it would mean some work
for you, taking care of her?

- Oh, thank god.
- I'll do it. Anything.

There are medications
to administer.

I'd have to go over those with you. And
I'd need for you to check her vitals.

Watch her pretty closely. I'm afraid
you won't get a lot of sleep.

I'm not much of
a sleep person anyway.

- Can we go now? Let's go now.
- Oh, hold on a minute.

Let me get all the medications and all the
instructions on how to do everything.

She's right.
Let's do this right.

We don't want
to forget anything.

Everyone stay close.

I'm glad you called me in on this.
Glad you answered.

Oh, yeah. Sorry
about last time.

Heard I missed out
on some fun.

Oh, yeah. Fun was had. Also frolic,
merriment and near-death hijinks.

Look. There it is.

Wow. We have meteorite.

Is it hot? 'Cause, uh,
if there's radiation,

you could, like,
go all sterile.

No, it's not hot.
It's warm.

And broken.

And sort of...
Hollow.

Yeah.

So, uh, we're all thinkin'
the same thing, right?

Festive piñata?
Delicious candy?

Something evil
crashed to earth in this...

And then broke out and
slithered away to do badness.

In all fairness, I don't think we
know about the slithered part.

Oh, no. I'm sure it frisked
about like a fluffy lamb.

Let's look around. Maybe we
can figure out where it went.

It went here.

- No pulse.
- Yep.

The space lamb got him.

- I don't see any marks on him.
- I-i know him.

He was at the hospital.
A mental patient.

They released him today.

Riley, what
are you doing?

I'm not sure.
There's something...

That might be toxic.
Don't touch it.

Oh, yeah. Touching it
was my first impulse.

Luckily, I've moved on
to my second,

which involves dry heaving
and running like hell.

- Oh, man, does that smell.
- So what do we do now?

We can't call Buffy.

I want to call Buffy.

You can't. She's got life
stuff that has to come first.

So... so we'll just
figure this out ourselves.

We're experienced.
Yes.

'Cause it seems like we're always dealing
with creatures from outer space,

except that
we don't ever do that.

This is definitely
new territory.

Perhaps we should explore a bit
more, head into the woods a bit.

- Who votes research?
- Research!

I think that's a good call. There could
have been some other cases like this.

I'm gonna stay here, examine
the body some more...

Look around
a little bit.

Yeah. Don't do
anything hunterly.

No. I'm just not great at research, which
I'm sure you guys have figured out.

I like me
a good crime scene.

Give us a call if you need help?
Believe me,

somethin' jumps out at me in the dark,
you'll hear me even without the phone.

Call me if you
learn anything.

You got it. I don't want to be the
one that finds the bodies anymore.

I need to speak to the man
at the desk. This is Ag...

This is Riley Finn.

You have an agent Miller... Graham Miller.
He'll tell you who...

Yes. Emergency frequency.

Cold. Cold.

Wait. You can't go.

Don't you be that kind
of barn owl!

Please!
Please don't go. Please.

Please don't go.

Please. Please don't...

I can't see you. I can't see you.
I can't see you.

Well, I guess
we're all set then.

You've got my home phone
number, my pager number.

And here. These are the medications
I talked to you about.

The sedative and so forth.
Painkillers.

Right. No problem.

Now, if this is gonna
be too much for you,

we can make your mom
perfectly comfortable here.

No. No, no. I got this. And we
really, really appreciate...

You look just like
your father when he cries.

And what do you think
he was begging for?

I told you she's been...
I know. Joyce?

Joyce. We're all done here.

Why don't you
take your girls home now?

Yes. Yes. Thank you.

Thank you for your help. I'll
see you in a couple of days.

Oh, let's get the hell
out of here.

Here we go.

Oh, it's nice to be home. Do
you want to go into bed, mom?

Oh! Buffy, no.
That light, it's too bright.

It's too bright. It's too bright.
Oh, okay, okay.

Buffy, it hurts, it hurts.
It hurts my eyes.

It's off. It's off. Why don't you shut
off the lights in the living room,

and I will take you upstairs, and we'll
shut off all the lights up there, okay?

Come on.

You Finn?
Yeah.

Major Ellis. I'm in charge of this op.
What's the situation?

Just the one civilian casualty?
That I know of. This way.

Found a stiff in the
woods and called us in?

Don't you usually call your
girlfriend for this kind of thing?

I wouldn't touch that stuff
in his mouth if I were you.

Toxic?
No. Just messy.

Guy seemed to have simply
choked on the stuff.

Near as I can tell, it's some
kind of protein alkaloid.

Does this fit the profile of any
sub-t you're familiar with?

It's not subterrestrial,
major. Extraterrestrial.

It came out of that.

Miller, set the trackers
for a protein signature.

Yes, sir.

No good, major. This alkaloid's
breakin' down at an accelerated rate.

It's dissolving
too fast to track.

You got a better idea?
Thing came from space.

Gotta be some
trace radiation.

We have Geiger counters
in the packs.

Shouldn't be too much background
gamma noise out here.

Break 'em out.

Mom?

Oh, my... oh.

- Mom, what are you doing?
- I'm making breakfast.

You shouldn't eat any more.
You're disgustingly fat.

Oh, Buffy, I don't know
what I'm doing.

You just
need some rest.

We'll put you
back to bed.

Okay. There you go.

That will help you sleep.

Come on.
Get you all tucked into bed.

Don't touch me!

You... you thing.

- Mom, please.
- Get away from me.

- You're nothing. You're a shadow.
- Mom.

- I don't know what you are or how you got here.
- Mom, it's dawn.

Dawn, honey, what's wrong?

She's just tired.
We all are. Come on.

Go to sleep. I'll check in
on you in a little bit.

She hates me.

No.

She called me a thing.

She loves you, okay?
She's not herself.

I told you what the doctor
said about the tumor.

No, not just mom.

People. They keep saying
weird stuff about me.

Are you talking about
the man in the hospital?

He called me a thing too.

And there was another one. A weird
guy outside the magic shop.

He said I didn't belong.

He said I wasn't real.

Why does everybody
keep doing that?

What's wrong with me?
Nothing. It's not you.

I think there's something that happens in
people's brains when there's something wrong.

It's... it's like
a short circuit,

and it makes them feel like
nothing's real except for them.

That's all it is.

Look, it is not you, okay?

And if anyone says anything
like that to you again,

don't listen,
even if it's mom.

I hate it.

I know.

Just don't listen.

Look at how teeny Mercury is
compared to, like, Saturn.

Whereas in contrast,
the cars of the same name...

Xander, please,
we have work to do here.

I still don't get
why we had to come here...

To get info about
a killer snot monster.

Because it's a killer snot
monster from outer space.

I did not say that.

Demons enter our world in
all sorts of different ways.

This one came from above.

And the university library's astronomy
section is the home of "aboveness." Got it.

Hey, diggin'
the study material too.

We've been scouring all the
international periodicals...

For any other meteorite
landings in the last week.

Big zippo.

Then it would appear that the
world is not being invaded.

- I'm pretty pleased about that.
- Uh, guys?

I've got some stuff.

The most recent meteoric anomaly was
the Tunguska blast in Russia in 1917.

Some witnesses claimed the
meteor was hollow. Hmm.

Maybe with a chewy
demon center, like ours.

How far back does this list
of anomalies go? Pretty far.

Back to the queller impact
in the 12th century.

- The what?
- Queller. I don't know why they call it that.

It didn't hit a place
called queller or anything.

It landed just outside
of Reykjavik in Iceland.

Wait. I just saw...

Queller. Quell...

Ah. Here. Here.

"Primitive people used to believe that
the moon was a cause of insanity.

"Sometimes they would pray to the
moon to send a special meteor...

"To fix the problem
the moon had caused.

These meteors were expected
to quell... the madmen."

The man in the woods...
He was a mental patient.

And he got
pretty well quelled.

Okay, I'm looking
in history right now.

It says in the middle ages, there were
these sweeping plagues of madness.

People were losing
their marbles everywhere,

but then it would
suddenly subside.

And these dates
look pretty close.

Like maybe it happened after
each one of the meteor events.

As if something emerged
from the meteors...

And quelled the madmen.

Meteor go boom,
crazy guy goes bye-bye.

Xander's little book
made it sound like...

This queller thing
had to be summoned, so...

- Who summoned it?
- Who else?

My money's on glory,
our resident beastie summoner.

We should call Buffy. Except
we can't call Buffy. Can we?

No, but we'd
better call Riley.

- A queller demon?
- Yeah. That's our perp.

It's sort of a scavenger that
can be summoned to kill...

Crazy people. Yeah.
How'd you know?

'Cause I've got five corpses here at
the mental ward at sunnydale memorial.

You're at the hospital?
Listen, Riley, i...

I saw Buffy's mom earlier, and
she was acting kinda... wacky.

Insane wacky,
if you know what I mean.

It's okay. Joyce
was released earlier today.

That intern, um, Ben, told me.
They're safe at home.

Oh, good. And the thing, the
queller, is it still there?

We... I think I've got it
cornered in the air ducts.

Look, Willow,
keep at what you're doing.

Call me if you find out
how I can kill this thing.

Well, okay, but
shouldn't we come help?

Okay.

I wish that someone had bothered to tell me
that there would be tennis being played.

I just didn't know.

Those eyes.

Those eyes, they're
like gasoline puddles.

Tell me. Tell me
because I need to know why.

Why are you staring
at me like that?

[ Joyce ] Hat are you asking me?
Ou are asking me, aren't you?

Is this a test? And if this
counts on the final grade,

I need to know now.

Okay, there are teachers and
they put this in the syllabus,

but they do not
stare down at you.

They do not cling.
They do not look down on you.

You know there
are people who are nice,

and they give you presents,
even when you are bad.

♪

Does someone know you're here? Because they
should have told you that at the gate.

You're not supposed
to be here.

I need to rest now.

I don't like the way
you're staring at me.

Did they tell you that
at the gate?

Stop staring at me!
I don't like it!

Please?

The trail stops here,
edge of the parking lot.

It stops?
A car.

It hitched a ride,
probably underneath.

So much for containment. So some poor
mental patient checks out of here today,

drives away with this thing,

took it right
to its own home.

Checked out today.

Get me a list of all patients
discharged in the last 24 hours.

No. I know where it's goin'.
We've gotta move. Now!

I'm gonna close my eyes, and when I
open them, you are going to go away.

Get off me!

Oh! Oh...

Buffy!

Buffy!

- What? What is it?
- There's something out there, Buffy. It's after mom.

You guys stay in here.
Don't leave this room.

It's okay, my baby.
It's okay.

Spike?
Yeah.

Listen, uh,
did you hear a noise?

What the hell
are you doing in my house?

Right, then. Caught me.

Your basement's full of junk, and
me being in need of, uh, junk...

- you were stealing?
- Well, yeah. Can't exactly work the counter at burger barn.

Wait.
Are those pictures of me?

Buffy.

Cover the room!
We're in! Fan out!

- Check the back!
- Clear!

You okay?
We're clear!

You just missed
a real nice time.

It's gone.
I killed it.

Oh, god.
It's gone? You promise?

I promise.

Everything's all right.

Everything's all right.

It's strange. A body might ask what
exactly it is you think you're doing.

He might ask what all this
was meant to accomplish...

Because to a humble postulant,
it looks like chaos,

like unnecessary attention
drawn where it ought not to be.

Get out.

Sir.

Sir, forgive me. I just want to understand.
Why summon the queller?

What do you think? Because I'm
cleaning up glory's mess,

just like I've done
my whole damn life.

Buffy, uh,
I wanna ask you something,

and if I'm... if I'm being
crazy, you just tell me, okay?

You got it.

The other day...

Well, actually,
I'm not sure when.

The days seem
to all bleed together.

It's not important.
No, I guess it isn't.

I do know I was
pretty out of it,

and I had...

Not... not a dream exactly.

More like I had
this knowledge.

It just came to me
like truth, you know?

Even though it
didn't seem possible,

even though I shouldn't
think such things.

What?

That dawn...

She's not mine, is she?

No.

She's...

She does belong to us though.

Yes, she does.

And she's important
to the world. Precious.

As precious as you are to me.

Then we have to
take care of her.

Buffy, promise me.
If anything happens,

if I don't come
through this... mom...

No. Listen to me.
No matter what she is,

she still feels
like my daughter.

I have to know that
you'll take care of her,

that you'll keep her safe,

that you'll love her
like I love you.

I promise.
Good.

Good.

Oh.

My sweet, brave Buffy.

What would I do
without you?

Grr! Arrgh!