Overall Rating: 9.95 Matt: 10.0 Eric: 9.9 Writer/Director: Joss Whedon Cast : Sarah Michelle Gellar as Buffy Summers, Nicholas Brendon as Xander Harris, Alyson Hannigan as Willow Rosenberg, James Marsters as Spike, Anthony Stewart Head as Rupert Giles. Main guest stars : Marc Blucas as Riley Finn, Emma Caulfield as Anya, Leonard Roberts as Forrest Gates, Phina Oruche as Olivia, Amber Benson as Tara, Lindsay Crouse as Maggie Walsh. Original broadcast date : December 14, 1999 My one-line description: This is one hell of an episode. It left me… speechless. In Psychology class, Professor Walsh is lecturing about non-verbal communication, and experiences that escape verbal description. She asks Buffy to come to the front of the class for a demonstration; the Slayer lies on the desk, and Riley leans toward her, saying that when he kisses her, it’ll make the sun go down. As they kiss, it does indeed grow dark, and the students vanish. Buffy comments to Riley that fortune favors the brave… Then, hearing a child’s voice, she goes out in the hallway, and there is a little girl, holding a carved box and singing a nursery rhyme: "Can't even shout, can't even cry / The Gentlemen are coming by / Looking in windows, knocking on doors / They need to take seven and they might take yours / Can't call to mom, can't say a word / You're gonna die screaming but you won't be heard." Riley comes up from behind and puts his hand on her shoulder, but when she turns, she faces a horrible, smiling monster… Buffy jerks awake as the class is ending, and Willow teases her. Riley asks her if he was in her dream, and smiling, she answers that he was. He then asks her what her plans are for tonight; "Patrolling", she blurts out, before trying to cover up her mistake. He goes on to say a bit laconically that he’s going to be grading papers that evening (liar!). Buffy calls Giles afterwards and dictates the rhyme to him, so he can research it. Hanging up, the Watcher asks Spike (who’s looking for some Weetabix to give his blood some texture) if he’s ever heard of the Gentlemen, but he gets no information. Meanwhile, outside his place, Xander and Anya are arguing (again) about their relationship. As they enter, she accuses him of caring only about orgasms. However, their argument is cut short by Giles, who asks Xander to take Spike in for a few days – he’s having a friend over, and he’d like some time alone. Anya asks if it’s an "orgasm friend", and Giles agrees that it is the most appalling thing she could have said (that line always cracks me up). Then Xander, Anya and Spike all whine about the arrangement. Willow attends the Wicca group meeting, and is a bit disappointed by the fact that they only want to talk about newsletters and bake sales. She actually asks whether they’re going to do any spells, but she’s ridiculed by the girls, who accuse her of perpetuating a stereotype about witches. A blond girl, Tara, seems to be about to agree with her, but shies away at the last moment. Leaving the meeting, Willow meets up with Buffy and complains about the Wanna Blessed Be’s, saying that she wants to do more than float pencils one day. Then the subject shifts to Riley, and Buffy deplores that all they do is talk, and that she has to lie to him; she wishes she could tell him about being the Slayer. At the same time, Riley, who’s just finished his workout, is saying the same thing to Forrest, but his friend reminds him that it’s a burden he has to bear. That night, Xander ties Spike to a chair in his basement, although the vampire points out that he’d never want to bite him anyway. Then Xander goes to bed, and Spike teases him, imitating Anya’s girly voice. Meanwhile, Olivia arrives at Giles’ place; they waste almost no time on small talk before they start kissing. In the Sunnydale clock tower, a demon opens a carved box, which sucks in the breath of all the residents of Sunnydale, including Buffy and Willow, asleep in their room, Giles and Olivia, curled up in the Watcher’s bed, and Xander and Spike. All those breaths converge, in the form of a white mist, to the tower. One of the demons closes the box, smiling. The next morning starts out uneventful for Buffy, who gets up, pads to the washroom and brushes her teeth. As she emerges, she sees a crying girl running down the hallway. Going back in her bedroom, she spots Willow, and they say good morning to each other – but no sound comes out. The two think they’ve gone deaf, but then they take a look out in the hallway, and see voiceless students freaking out. Xander wakes up also voiceless, and silently accuses Spike of doing this to him. Spike give him a rude hand sign, and Xander picks up the phone, intent on calling Buffy. She picks up the phone, but neither of them can talk, so they hang up. Spike looks at Xander as though he’s an idiot. Riley and Forrest waste no time going down to the Initiative using the elevator, but they’ve forgotten a detail – they can’t speak their voice code. The cabin floods with noxious gases; the doors open, revealing an annoyed Maggie Walsh. She points to a sign that says "In case of emergency, use stairwell." Buffy and Willow are walking in an eerily silent downtown Sunnydale.. Some people are reading from a Bible, and a guy is selling dry-erase boards. The girls shake their heads in outrage… and show up at Giles’ place each wearing one around their neck. He comforts them, giving Willow a hug, then tells them that he has no idea what is going on. Xander signals to them as a news bulletin comes on the TV, claiming that the entire town has fallen victim to laryngitis. Buffy writes on her board that she should go patrolling that evening. Giles asks why. "Because there will be chaos", a flat computer voice says as Maggie Walsh types on a keyboard. She asks Riley and Forrest to patrol in civilian clothing that evening; Riley asks her (on a piece of paper) what is going on, and the computer voice answers that they’re looking into that. On patrol that night, Buffy sees Riley breaking up a fight, and intervenes to help him. Then the two of them hug and tell each other they’re OK. Something shatters, and they start to walk in different directions – but Riley pulls Buffy to him and they kiss passionately. Buffy looks as Riley walks away. Out of the clock tower the demons – the Gentlemen – come, floating quite erect and spiffy in their business suits, preceded by straightjacketed and chained monsters. The Gentlemen separate, going in different directions in pairs. Meanwhile, at Giles’ place, Olivia gets out of bed and spots something eerie outside. She pulls the curtain and peers outside – and a Gentleman floats by, smiling at her, frightening her out of her wits. Elsewhere, two Gentlemen enter Stevenson hall, pass Buffy and Willow’s room, and go down a floor to a room that seems to meet with their approval. They knock on the door, and the male student answers. The chained monsters pin him down on his bed, and as he tries to scream, the Gentlemen take out a scalpel and make an incision in his chest… Later, at the clock tower, the Gentlemen line up seven jars, of which four are empty and three contain fresh human hearts. The next morning, as Buffy checks out the crime scene in her dorm, Olivia shows Giles a drawing of the Gentleman she saw. Looking at newspaper headlines reporting that students were murdered and their hearts removed, Giles nods and takes out a fairy tale book. Xander, Anya, Buffy and Willow meet in a lecture hall on campus, where Giles has prepared quite a show for them. Playing some ominous music, he puts a transparent sheet on the overhead projector; "Who are the Gentlemen", it asks. Next is "They are Fairy Tale monsters", and "What do they want". Willow eagerly raises her hand and points at her chest. Xander mouths "Boobs?" and Giles puts up the next transparent, which answers the question – "Hearts". Giles then explains that they silence a whole town, then cut the hearts out of people (the transparent explaining that one has a rather gory picture drawn on it, and Anya munches popcorn while looking quite excited). Giles suggests that no sword can kill them, but in the fairy tale, "The Princess screamed once and they all died". Willow suggests playing a recording, but Giles answers that only a real voice will do the trick. Buffy asks how she can get her voice back, and Giles just answers that she will have to patrol that evening (cute drawing of Buffy, by the way). Riley and his gang also go out on patrol that night. Riley spots something moving in the clock tower, and decides he should go investigate. Elsewhere, Tara (the shy blonde Wicca) leaves her dorm room with books on spells of silence and Willow’s room number. However, as she walks alone in the night, she hears a sound – it’s the Gentlemen, and they’re after her. She runs into Stevenson Hall and starts pounding on doors. Willow finally hears her pounding, and opens the door to see what’s going on. Tara bumps into her, and the girls fall in a tangle. Seeing the Gentlemen in pursuit, they flee in terror. Out on patrol, Buffy spies a Gentleman, and is tackled by one of its chained monsters. They fight and she breaks his neck, and then runs after the other one. At the clock tower, Riley is also attacked by the monsters, and is giving as good as he gets when Buffy bursts in. The two don’t notice one another until they end up pointing their weapons at each other. The stunned look of recognition on their faces gives way to more fighting, however – Riley stuns a chained monster with his taser gun, and looks up, startled at Buffy’s fighting moves. At Giles’ place, Spike gets a cup of cold blood from the fridge, drinks and vamps out. He then goes to the living room, where Anya is sleeping on the couch; Xander enters and sees Spike, vamped out with blood on his upper lip, and thinks he’s killed Anya. Xander starts beating him up, until Anya gets up and gestures that she’s fine. The two hug, and Anya (rude even when silent) gestures that they should go have sex. On campus, Willow and Tara are still fleeing from the Gentlemen. They make it into the laundry room and lock the door, but the monsters are obviously bent on breaking it down. Willow tries to move a heavy soda machine with her mind, but can’t manage it. Tara takes her hand, and the two girls, combining their efforts, mentally hurl the machine to the door. At the clock tower, Buffy chases a monster upstairs, only to find herself ambushed by three more. As they hold her down, a Gentleman approaches with a scalpel. Riley zaps him with his taser, and the fighting resumes, Suddenly, Buffy spots the carved box on a table, remembers what it is, and gestures for Riley to smash it. Unfortunately, he smashes a heart jar instead… Buffy gestures again, furiously, and this time he gets it right. All the voices emerge from the box, and as soon as Buffy gets hers back, she indulges in a long, piercing scream. Grimacing in pain, the Gentlemen’s heads burst into green splatter. The next day on campus, Tara explains to Willow that she’d been looking for her. She says that she’s been a practicing witch since she was little, because her mother was a powerful witch – like Willow. The redhead denies that she has anything special, But Tara insists that she has power. The two smile at each other. At Giles’ place, Olivia tells the Watcher that she’d never believed his monster stories were true… until now. He asks her if it’s too scary for her, and she answers that she doesn’t know. He looks worried and pensive. Riley goes to Buffy’s room, and she greets him; they both know they have to talk. They sit down, and just look uncomfortably at each other, in silence… Summary by OttsFiveByFive.