Earshot

[Updated April 30, 2013]

Those who watch Buffy on DVD get to experience something the TV viewers didn’t: Earshot in the correct order. The originally scheduled air date was the week after the shootings at Columbine High (April 20, 1999), and the network decided that the Earshot storyline was too similar. It eventually aired on September 21, 1999, just before the beginning of S4.

In the comments on Enemies, deidre asked an excellent question which hadn’t occurred to me: how was the season arc affected by the fact that Earshot got skipped? I wish I could remember my thoughts on the season when it first aired, but I don’t. I mostly remember seeing Earshot and thinking that they should have aired it on time because there was nothing in it which would have suggested any “approval” of Columbine.

When I look at it today in context, it seems to me that Earshot contains important elements leading to the season finale. The empathy we see Buffy develop (see below), in particular, strikes me as crucial for understanding both the behavior of her fellow students in The Prom and her own actions in Graduation Day. That said, those of us watching it live must have filled in those blanks because I don’t recall thinking that something important had been left out. That’s a sign that the story arc was strong enough to carry the conclusion.

The irony of the delay is, of course, that the actual message of the episode is diametrically opposite that of the Columbine murders. Not only were no murders shown or even committed, but Buffy stopped them because the telepathy enabled her to empathize with her fellow students. That’s something we all (hopefully) learn to do as we grow up. It’s particularly important for Buffy because being the Slayer tends to isolate her from others, even her friends, and could lead her to stop caring about other people. We get reminded of some of that isolation early in the episode when Willow tells her that “everyone” is going to the basketball game, but Buffy can’t because she has patrolling (i.e., adult responsibilities). The isolation and its potential consequences would be a serious problem for anyone, but could make it eventually impossible to function as the Slayer – why bother to save people if you’re that distant from them?

The telepathy enables Buffy to understand the internal pain of her fellow students, which she describes to Jonathan in the tower. However, it also reinforces Buffy’s isolation, to the point where she “can’t really be around people anymore”. In metaphor, Buffy is isolated precisely because she alone has come to understand the internal lives of her fellow students. The telepathic demons have no mouths because the pain we all experience comes in part from the lack of communication (consistent with the message of Dead Man’s Party).

The subplot works in unison with the main one. Buffy’s concerns about Angel are a specific example of the insecurity her fellow students experience. In her case it’s a matter of jealousy, as we see from the classroom discussion of Othello. Faith preyed on Buffy’s insecurities regarding Angel in Enemies, much as Iago did on those of Othello. The dialogue between Buffy and the teacher describes the way Joss saw Buffy and Faith:

“TEACHER:  Jealousy clearly is the tool that Iago uses to undo Othello. But what's his motivation? What reason does Iago give for destroying his superior officer?

***

BUFFY: Well, he, um, he sort of admits himself that his motives are... spurious! He, um, he does things because he, he enjoys them. It's like he's not, he's not really a person. He's a, the dark half of Othello himself.”

Exactly.

In the same way, all the students have their own little Iagos preying on their insecurities: “How can I be her friend now? She doesn't need me.”; “I hate my body. No one is ever gonna love me.”; “Am I normal?”. Buffy realizes that and tells Jonathan: “Every single person down there is ignoring your pain because they're too busy with their own.” Joss describes this insight as “the key to the whole show” (Joss has too many “keys”). Further tying together Buffy’s individual concern with this theme of the episode, Buffy solves her problem with Angel in the same way she solves it with Jonathan: by talking about it.

The ending scene might well win a contest for favorite in the whole series.

Trivia notes: (1) Joss rewrote the classroom scene and changed it to the discussion of Othello. He wanted the scene to relate to Buffy’s situation. (2) In the DVD commentary, Jane Espenson says that “In general, if a line’s really good, it tends to be [Joss’s]. It’s remarkable how many times the writers get complimented on a line and it turns out to be one of Joss’s.” (3) Willow’s interrogation of Jonathan was a deliberate callback to the similar scene in Go Fish. (4) Don’t be puzzled if you were wondering where the bell tower came from. They built it for this episode. (5) Joss also wrote the bell tower scene. (6) Xander’s frantic efforts to prevent anyone from eating the Jello are an homage to the movie Soylent Green.