Earshot

These snapshots may contain SPOILERS for the entire series, so if for some reason you haven't yet seen some of the episodes and do not want to know what is going on, read no further.

----------------------------recap-------------------------------
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.
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Buffy: You had sex with Giles? You had sex with Giles?!
Joyce: It was the candy! We were teenagers!
Buffy: On the hood of a police car?!
Joyce: [goes to leave, glances back] I'll be downstairs. [exits] You feel better!
Buffy: Twice!?


Good character development, great dialogue and an average plot.

"Earshot" is an episode that starts brilliantly before it runs out of steam - Buffy the mind reader! Still, before Buffy is confined to bed with a bad case of sensory overload there’s much to enjoy.

We get to hear that Xander worries that Buffy will discover that he has a one-track mind ("Naked girls! Naked woman! Naked Buffy!"), Willow fears that Buffy will soon know more about the taciturn Oz than she does, and Wesley has his illicit feelings for Cordelia to conceal ("I am a bad, bad man"). Buffy also catches Oz deep in philosophical thought. Cordelia’s shallowness and lack of tact come across beautifully. She has nothing to fear from Buffy’s new ability because she simply blurts out whatever crosses her mind. And lets not forget Giles and Joyce's reactions to Buffy discovering that they slept together are utterly hysterical... "TWICE?!"

The fun stops when the episode switches to the investigation into the "This time tomorrow I’ll kill you all" threat.Thats when it quickly loses momentum. Not too badly, but after a couple of viewings now, that portion seems lackluster. Good secondary character development, but not really inspired.

It seems tragic that here we have Jonathan's cry for help, which goes unanswered. Jonathan swears that he'd never hurt anyone. I like Jonathan a lot. He's a interesting and conflicted character. But knowing what will happen to him in seasons six and seven, this episode seems almost tragic. But then it is a Whedon show.

Minor nitpick: who tries to commits suicide with a rifle that comes broken down in a sniper case?

Foreshadowing
WILLOW We all have fantasies that we're powerful, more respected. Where people pay attention to us.
JONATHAN Uh... maybe.
WILLOW But sometimes the fantasy isn't enough, is it Jonathan? Sometimes we have to make it so people don't ignore us. Make them pay attention. You know what I'm talking about, don't you?
- "Superstar"



My views/status of characters;
Buffy - like
Willow - like
Xander - like
Giles - like
Cordelia - like
Spike - absent
Angel - neutral
Oz - like

Overall I consider this a good episode compared to the rest of the season.