Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV Series) Hush (1999) User Reviews

This episode made me write my first review.

[caramelstudent · 10/10 · 12 February 2010]

I've been watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer and really didn't begin to love the show until Season 4 started. This episode "Hush" was view by me alone in the dark just after Midnight with my windows open and the wind blowing through furiously by an after storm. The writers of this episode did an excellent job scaring the heck out of me. I was in awe the entire episode which I just finished 2 minutes ago. Amazing doesn't touch the surface of what this episode accomplishes with almost no dialogue. If you've never given this show much thought at least watch this episode. If this doesn't impress you then no episode probably will.

BTW My Heart is still racing...

This is one of the Best episodes!!!!!

[leckscheid · 10/10 · 31 May 2006]

This episode of Buffy was one of my personal favorites. Also number three of Joss' personal favorites as well. The episode featured very little dialogue and despite that the good folks at the Emmy's decided it merited a nomination. Unfortunately it didn't win. When Hush first premiered it received about 6 million viewers, which was the highest rated episode of season four. That should tell you something. Even though there was very little talking it managed to intrigue people enough to tune in. Those gentlemen characters (who were played my mimes) were some of the scariest creatures the show has produced (or any network TV show I've seen). Nothing is creepier then a bunch of silver teethed men coming at you with a scalpel while smiling away. I think that despite the lack of dialogue the actors did a fantastic job on the episode.

Hush

[sjstobo22 · 10/10 · 21 March 2019]

I've been a fan of Buffy ever since the film came out in 1992. I know the film is not a good starting point but it's the reason why I started to watch the tv series so it has some advantages. Now I have some favourites but this is my number one episode. Got to give the whole entire cast who appeared in this a tremendous round of applause as to go through this episode and not speak one word is amazing (really wish I could see a gag reel for this). The humour in this too is so cleverly done and I've watched this so many times I still laugh at it every time. The Gentlemen are so creepy but once Buffy screams at the end the way they go out was kind of fitting and oddly satisfying. 10/10

Possibly the best episode of the entire series

[Tweekums · 10/10 · 23 May 2019]

This episode opens with Buffy in a lecture; it isn't immediately clear but she is dreaming... this dream starts with Riley kissing her in front of the class, it then turns a little strange as she hear a girl reciting a chilling rhyme about 'The Gentlemen' and how their victims will die screaming but unheard. She mentions it to Giles and he agrees to investigate. Meanwhile Willow attends a group for fellow Wiccans but is disappointed that they don't appear to know anything about real witchcraft... one girl appears to show interest in her though. The next night as everybody sleeps The Gentlemen arrive in Sunnydale and somehow take everybody's voices. This leads to understandable panic which only escalates when two people are killed. Both Buffy and her friends and The Initiative are trying to stop them but without being able to speak it won't be easy.

'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' features many great episodes and to my mind this might be the best. It starts well; normally I'm not a fan of dream sequences but this works and as it is short and changes fairly randomly in the middle feels like a real dream. We then get some enjoyably lighter moments with Willow and the Wiccans, relationship discussion between Xander and Anya and general sarcastic wit from Spike. When The Gentlemen turn up they are genuinely creepy with their fixed toothy grins and the way they float rather than walk... not to mention how they cut the hearts out of their silently screaming victims (don't worry nothing to horrible is shown). The fact that nobody can talk both raises the tension and leads to some nicely comic moments. The cast does a really great job as they must communicate physically rather than in words... it is almost as if they are in a silent film for much of the episode. Overall this episode is just brilliant!

Knowing Each Other in Silence

[claudio_carvalho · 10/10 · 9 August 2006]

The creepy demons "The Gentlemen" capture the voice of the population of Sunnydale, to steal human hearts without scream. Giles find that in accordance with a legend, if a lady screams, the creatures will be destroyed, but Buffy and her friends, including Riley, have to fight the monsters speechless.

"Hush" is certainly the best episode of the Fourth Season of Buffy up to this moment. Having lots of humor and funny situations, I liked a lot. Spike is hilarious, the romance between Xander and Anya is cool, but I loved the "intense" dialog between Buffy and Riley in end. The Gothic scenario of the final battle against "The Gentlemen" recalls the environment of "Dark City". My vote is ten.

Title (Brazil): "Silêncio" ("Silence")

Fortune favors the brave

[christowhelan · 10/10 · 16 February 2007]

To say the least, this episode is certainly ballsy for series television. Virtually the entire episode has no dialog. What other series would dare to go to such an extreme in order to advance the season story-line? Would Lost? Would 24? (Well, okay, that's a possibility. David Fury IS involved there). Would Grey's Anatomy? The trick, as anyone watching this episode soon discovers, is to get Christophe Beck to score the episode. My recommendation for anyone thinking about whether this episode should be watched or not is DO IT! And be aware of how the music score tells the story the missing dialog would have told, but tells it even more compellingly than words could. The Buffy/Riley love theme is simply a flat-out bewitchingly beautiful piece of music. 10++++ out of 10

The Essence Of Why BUFFY Is Brilliant

[cchase · 9/10 · 11 May 2008]

Having seen the movie years ago and been disappointed by its squandered potential, when I heard that it was becoming a TV series, I flatly refused to watch it. My best friend became a rabid fan immediately, and knowing my love for horror movies, could not believe that I wouldn't watch a single episode. I told him that the movie had scarred me for life as far as anything BUFFY was concerned, and he told me to forget that the movie even existed. He insisted that I give two episodes a shot: "Once More With Feeling" and this one.

Both of them are why I am a BUFFY fan today. He was right - I was hooked immediately. I have never seen a show with the guts to dare try an episode that has next to no dialogue, and nothing else could've pulled it off with the panache and the pure creativity of BUFFY. I think X FILES might've gotten away with it if they'd thought of it first, but I'm glad that BUFFY did it instead.

It is a credit to everyone involved that you are riveted for the entire hour, sometimes hanging onto the edge of your seat. And when it was all over, I craved to know more about every character. So I went out and bought the Season One boxed set. And the rest is history...

I guarantee you that if you've never seen it, either, you'll want to see more if you make this episode your first.

The only reason I'm not giving it 10 out of 10 is because I'm reserving that score for "Once More..."

Best episode

[funkyle91 · 10/10 · 30 September 2019]

Possibly the best episode of Season 4 if not the best episode of the entire series.

A TV Masterpiece

[Mannerism · 10/10 · 1 April 2021]

There are some genres, like SF and horror, where you'll find short stories that are vastly superior to most novels. "Hush" shows that a TV episode can be vastly superior to most movies of its genre. It distills the genre to its essence without sacrificing any of its elements, and ingeniously uses its own unique twist as a way to do so. Whedon and the cast at their best.

The One Where No One Could Speak...

[taylorkingston · 10/10 · 11 March 2015]

I honestly have to say that this is one of my all-time favorite episodes of Buffy The Vampire Slayer. Not just from Season 4, but from he entire series. It's so amazing and different to every other episode. I watch is over and over and I never get bored.

In this episode, The Gentlemen are coming by, and they steal everyone's voice. Buffy and the gang wake up to find that they can't say a word. They can't even hum. And they have no idea what's happening. They then find out that it's the same situation with the rest of Sunnydale. No one can speak, at all. They discover that The Gentlemen are the one's up to it, and that the only way they can defeat them, is to scream. Which isn't very helpful at the moment, with the no-one-can-speak thing. The Gentlemen are hear to kill people for their hearts, and since screaming is the only thing that can hurt them, they silence everyone, so that the victims can't do a thing about their impending death. Meanwhile, Willow meets a new witch friend, Tara, who both try to defeat The Gentlemen, when they come after them. In the end, Buffy finds their hideout and a jar of voices, she smashes the jar and she screams, and then all The Gentlemen's heads explode. But then Buffy has another problem. Riley, who is a commando guy, who captures and sometimes kills demons and vampires, is there too, and he sees everything. Awkward. That'll be hard to explain.

Overall, I give this episode a 10 out of 10.

One of the best

[wms-92741 · 10/10 · 26 April 2021]

Hush lands on pretty much every Buffy fan's top ten list, with good reason. If I were to try to introduce a friend to the show, and had to pick one episode to get them hooked, I'd pick Hush. It has everything that makes BtVS wonderful.

After the season three finale, critics loved the show and in particular praised the dialogue. Joss Whedon took this as a challenge and created an episode containing hardly any dialogue. This was a challenge for the cast as well; actors are accustomed to knowing when to speak, or act, based on hearing lines of dialogue. Everyone had to rethink how to accept cues.

It worked masterfully. Every main character is funny at one time or another, and some scenes in particular are hilarious. The Gentlemen, fairy tale monsters who steal voices and then hearts, are genuinely creepy, and their henchmen - basically guys wearing untied strait jackets - don't have to be explained and serve their purpose well within the story. The episode advances three different relationships effortlessly and introduces a fan favorite character in Tara.

If you don't like Hush you won't like Buffy at all, because within the confines of the Buffyverse this is pretty much flawless stuff. I give this episode ten stars because I can't give it eleven.

One of the best episodes on tv, ever!

[trottolinodani · 10/10 · 9 September 2020]

Perfect in every way. I think these are the best 40min on television, ever. Not only in buffy. I don't think there's anything else that made such an impact on me as this one.

Original, scary, funny, thrilling, fast paced.. everything you could want.

An extremely creative episode

[katierose295 · 8/10 · 22 August 2006]

This is a good episode, but it's not my favorite. A lot of people love it and on a creative level it's brilliant. Most of the episode has no dialog, which is such a cool idea and "Hush" handles the silence really well. Plus, this episode introduces Tara, who I like a lot. But, I don't like Riely or the Initative or Maggie Walsh and they seem to get a lot of screen time in "Hush." Plus, I don't think the Gentlemen are that scary and I get tired of watching the float around Sunnydale. I know that I'm in the minority, but I tend to fast-forward parts of "Hush." Of course, there are other parts of the episode that I think are great, so if you're watching on DVD, I recommend seeing this episode. It really is a classic.

"Hush" revolves around the entire town losing their voices. Skelatal looking demon-guys called the Gentlemen arrive to gather seven hearts from human victims, but if they hear a human scream they die. So they steal the voices of everyone in town. Buffy and the Scoobies try to figure out what's going on, while the Initative also start investigating. Meanwhile, Xander comes to realize how much Anya means to him and Willow meets a fellow witch named Tara. Buffy and Riely finally come face to face while fighting the Gentlemen. They are both stunned about what they learn... He's a commando and she's the Slayer. In the end Buffy saves the day, but she now has to deal with her new knowledge of Riely's secret life.

Really, the creativity of "Hush" can't be seen in a basic outline of its plot. It's the overwhelming silence of the episode, that makes it so great. The characters try to communicate in different ways, (White-out boards, pantomime, obscene finger gestures, etc...) and it all just works really well. After a while you forget that there's no dialog because they're all so good at expressing themselves. During the "talking" parts of the episode, there are a lot of references to the importance of really "hearing" each other. Anya claims that Xander won't really talk to her. Giles ignores Spike and Xander's protests and insists that Spike move into Xander's apartment. Buffy quickly substitutes the word "petroleum" for "patrolling" when she talks to Riely so she won't have to explain her calling. And then at the end, when Buffy and Riely really do learn the truth about each other, they sit there with nothing to say. It's all pretty cool.

There are a lot of good parts to this episode. I love that people keep forgetting that they can't talk. Buffy and Xander both try to use the phone. Riley can't use the voice recognition thing in the Initatives' elevator. People try to scream. It's basically what everyone would really do if they suddenly had no speech. And I think it's hilarious that Spike has to move in with Xander. (They'll also share an apartment for a little while in season seven.) Xander and Spike have a fun bickering childishness that's just hilarious. Also I like the beginning of Tara and Willow's relationship. Tara plays an important role for the rest of the show and she and Willow are pretty cute together. It's nice to see them just starting out.

On the downside, I don't understand how the Gentlemen are choosing their victims. They just seem to float around dorms and pick random people. Also, I don't like Riely. I've never liked him, but from "Hush" on I'm pretty much just waiting for Angel to come back to town and beat him up. Finally, what happens to Olivia after this? It seems like we just met her, she and Giles have a relationship, everything's going fine... and then she's suddenly dropped. I don't get it.

My favorite part of the episode: Giles' "Who are the Gentlemen?" lecture to the Scoobies. The whole scene is wonderful and his over-heads are just hilarious. He makes some similar looking flashcards in season seven's "First Date." Pretty much anytime Giles starts drawing monsters, it's just gonna be fun.

Scary Good

[soccerrae · 10/10 · 13 September 2011]

To start off, this is one of my favorites, one of Joss's as well... and that is a pretty hard spot to steal, what with Becoming Parts 1&2, Passion, Once More With Feeling, Touched, End of Days,Chosen, Amends, Graduation Parts 1 & 2, Angel...and yes, you can see I can just go on and on. What I am saying is..this was an amazing episode.Moving on: Well, Buffy is a horror show. But I've never actually been truly scared while watching.. and Hush did that for me. I literally had chills running down my spine. There's just something so scary about not being able to cry out for help or warn anyone else when you are in trouble. And the whole episode was just eerie. The cast&crew won an Emmy for this, and they completely deserved it. I especially like the part towards the beginning when Willow & Buffy discover they cant speak and they are having a mouthing soundless words conversation. They didn't make it to where you could tell they were enunciating for the viewers, but you could plainly see what they were saying. This episode just blatantly proves the genius that is Joss Whedon's creation, Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The deepness of the characters relations and love(or hate) for one another is just astounding. And I'm proud to say... still watching 12 years later in 2011. <3 Buffy the Vampire Slayer Forever. I can't say this for any other television show, but: Buffy truly & completely impacted my life. -- Bangelfreak.

So brilliant I'm speechless!

[Joxerlives · 10/10 · 25 August 2012]

The Good;Everything, it's all staggeringly brilliant. If I was to name a favourite scene it would be when Forrest and Riley are stuck in the lift about to be gassed, Riley's desperately trying to remember the overide code and Forrest holds up a piece of paper on which he's written 'C'mon! C'mon!', makes me laugh every time. Also love Gile's slideshow, the final battle and Olivia. The Gentlemen's applause.

The Bad; Naught. OK, when Spike get's his mug of blood from the fridge it's full up but then he takes a sip from it and it's almost empty

Women good/men bad;When Anya starts to complain about Xander's insensitivity towards her he comments "Boy you really did turn into a girl, didn't you?". Love Buffy's horrified reaction to Giles' drawing of her and her exasperated look as Riley smashes the wrong thing. The scene with the Wicca group, a bunch of 'wanna blessed be's' is hilarious, (when the Charmed girls had a similar scene they ended up dancing naked around a fire with them, sadly that doesn't happen here). The scene where the Gentlemen hold the guy down and slice his heart out, yeeesh! We don't actually see anything but Giles' slideshow doesn't leave much to the imagination. Also Spike's V sign to Xander. Buffy breaks guy's wrists and henchmens neck.

And here's Tara. Personally I for one thought the subtext between her and Willow was evident right from the beginning, just the look on Willow's face at the end of their final scene together when she calls her 'special'. Xander thinks Spike would bite him as he's 'moist and delicious'. The awesome dream sequence is great, the little girl I think is quite obviously Buffy as a child. All very Nightmare on Elm Street. Remember reading a great fanfic where Buffy and Anya are killed by Freddy Kreuger but in the end he wakes up from his dream screaming, chained to his bed in the mental hospital he's been confined to since the night he got torched. But after the nurse sedates him she walks away and we discover she's actually Buffy. Buffy get's stabbed with the scalpel but just seems to shrug it off. Presumably Dawn is quietly at home with Joyce Just terrific, one of the Buffy eps that just sets the standard for all others, Joss at his finest. Isn't it a bit much though for Buffy to automatically assume she's the princess? Finally spotted Andy Hallet in the dream sequence, he's sitting two seats behind SMG with a dark haired girl sat in front of him. The little girl declares that you 'Can't call to mom', foretelling Joyce's death? Equally when Riley in the dream turns into a Gentleman is he revealing his hidden side?

Spike is now allowed to roam around loose. The Wicca group refer to the 'wolf at our side' which Oz used to be. Will makes good cookies so why should she be opposed to the bakesale? The clocktower scene is very Tim Burton right down to the music. Tara trips like a true horror heroine. Nice twist with Willow's door. Buffy kills 8 Gentlemen and one henchman. Pink Floyd are a Cambridge group whilst Giles went to Oxford.

Marks out of 10; 10/10

Best episode!

[cdachilds · 10/10 · 27 June 2020]

I love this episode, favourite of the whole series for me!

There's a Kind of Hush...

[bruin-8 · 10/10 · 11 August 2020]

I'm a latecomer to Buffy; I watched some episodes when it was first broadcast, and enjoyed them, but was too busy to watch the entire series. Now I'm retired, and have time on my hands to watch the whole thing.

So this is the very first time I'm seen Hush... Wow.

You can usually tell when Josh Whedon himself writes an episode; the dialogue (what there is of it) is sharper and funnier,, while the menace is more intense and suspenseful. Hush is a prime example - certainly the finest of all the episodes I've so far watched.

The lack of dialogue in much of Hush is handled superbly, with great comic non-verbal timing by all the cast. The Gentlemen are truly frightening - they feel like classic Doctor Who characters (back when Doctor Who was any good that is!). Everything seems to have a deeper resonance in this, it is by no means a "monster of the week" filler.

Hush is also about the development of relationships; Buffy and Riley, Giles and Olivia (who sadly, I've heard, doesn't appear again), the burgeoning romance of Willow and Tara, and Xander and - not Anya, but Spike.

In a final stroke of genius, after speech is restored to the town and all seems resolved, Buffy and Riley sit in a room saying "We need to talk" - and silence returns for a full minute before the titles appear. Superb.

Definitely my fav

[boramaster · 9/10 · 15 August 2014]

Probably spoilers because it is difficult to talk about this one without them. Now it has been decades since I've seen House on Haunted Hill (the wonderfully schlocky William Castle/Vincent Price one) but the part that gave me the creeps as a kid was watching someone apparently transverse a room without walking; floating even. The Gentlemen in this episode do it way better and it is just as creepy. Also, kind of nifty to find out that they were mimes which makes 'em even creepier :) And a nice touch is the addition of the madmen in loose straight-jackets. Not to mention having a heart removed from someone unable to make a sound (shades of another Castle work, The Tingler). All in all, quite a bit of stuff is introduce in this episode. Giles girlfriend, Tara, Buffy and Riley finding out about each other... I realize that a lot of people prefer Once More, With Feeling, but I definitely have a partiality to Hush. They actually make great companion pieces even though Hush was season 4 and Once More was season 6. A nine because I try to reserve a 10 for the truly and spectacularly great.

It's the best episode of the season, alright.

[m-47826 · 9/10 · 29 June 2021]

Definitely on the top 5 for the series best. After a row of below average fillers. The Initiative, Pangs and Something Blue. With a personal inkling of mine, towards Pangs and Something Blue. For the fun and dark humor, as well as seeing old characters coming back. Hush seemed to have been setting the bar too high, for the rest of the season. The start is pretty formulaic of any BTVS episodes, but once the spell is cast, it's a whole spectacle. The plot is groundbreaking, even today. It was the first and the last time, we would see something like that on TV. Even musical episodes couldn't capture this colorful atmosphere again. And everything that made Buffy episodes so efficient, was enhanced by the haunting score throughout. So for the processing only, Hush is a must watch for everyone.

Impressive

[ApolloBoy109 · 2 November 2011]

I have been watching Buffy on Netflix at the urging of my niece over the last month. I love Horror, and I did liked the original movie but the TV series blasts the movie out of the water. The writing is so provocative and rich. The acting perfect.

I choose HUSH to speak my peace on this well produced series because Mr Josh wrote this as a personal challenge... a wordless story - no voice. It is an important adventure as well because the two romantic leads ... ... are ... we'll say . . . educated regarding their involvement in nightly activities.

Do yourself a favor and enjoy the silence. BTW, you know more about lip reading than you think.

How do we kill them?

[skay_baltimore · 9/10 · 27 July 2010]

OK...aside from the creativity involved in structuring almost an entire episode sans dialog, maybe THE funniest scene in the entire series was when Xander wrote on his board: "How do we kill them?", and Buffy responded by making repeated diagonal stabbing motions -- without a stake in her hand. Without the stake it looked like she was indicating that the way to kill them was to jerk them off. The looks on everyone's faces literally left me laughing out loud. Then, realizing what they were thinking, she took the stake out of her pocketbook and showed them what she'd really meant. But by that point the comic cat was out of the proverbial bag. Just too damn funny!!

(Even funnier than when Xander misinterpreted Willow's hand gesture for "hearts", as "breasts" in response to the question: "What do they want?")

An all-time great episode of TV

[ossie85 · 10/10 · 17 August 2022]

Buffy and Riley still can't get past their secret lives and it is impacting their relationship, each making poor excuses. Olivia, Giles' girlfriend returns. A mysterious force goes over Sunnydale causing everyone to lose their voice.

Why It's So Good - One of the most iconic episodes of Buffy, a sensational bit of television which earnt Buffy its only major Emmy nomination (best writing - drama). The episode was frightening, clever and funny, and kept the story moving forward. A perfect example.

Watch Out For - The Gentlemen are incredibly scary villains, having a nightmare like quality about them.

Quote - "Well no, um, I wasn't actually one of the original members of Pink Floyd. But the monster stuff, yes." - Giles to Olivia.

The best episode

[moov_e_c_er · 10/10 · 31 March 2022]

What a challenge for the actors. Best episode Of all episodes of this show. The concept. The makeup. The of course action. The delivery. The most creepy bad guys.

The gentlemen

[Realrockerhalloween · 3 October 2016]

Hush is a creepy fave of mine about humanoid demons taking the voices away from the populace and stealing seven hearts. Riley wants to date Buffy yet their world's are miles apart. It feels like a Grimes fairy tale as the legend goes a princess, Buffy, finds the box containing sounds that she smashed allowing her to scream and kill them. As they float over the streets for victims with their footmen it feels they walk ed right out of the book pages into modern day America cutting out hearts for a ritual. Tara out late at night's chase scene is possibly my favorite as she runs down hallways and corridors looking for sanctuary until she finds Willow where they use their combined power to force a soda machine to slide against the door.

Riley trying to be apart of Buffy's life stands out to me as he knows her from class and it as isn't until they run in to each other at the bell tower do they realize the mutual attraction and hobby they share. It's like they were made for one another and unlike Angel no fear of intimacy issues or having fun in the sun.

entertaining, but too many questions afterwards

[alienf3tus · 27 April 2017]

So the only other episode of Buffy I've seen was the Pilot a couple months ago and I didn't like it enough to continue watching. Consequently not knowing who some of these characters are was pretty inevitable. Even with that, I found them pretty annoying and melodramatic, as I initially did in the Pilot. The romance part of this didn't work for me. I found it to be pretty awkward and a waste of the episode's time. Additionally, opening with the dream sequence was a bit jarring and abrupt, and really tried too hard to hammer in the seemingly nonexistent chemistry.

It took an entire 15 minutes for the episode's plot to finally start. I really liked the design of the Gentlemen, they looked super cool and creepy. The concept of the episode works very well since the performances are good enough to understand what the characters are supposed to be saying. Additionally it worked because it was the 90s. If this took place today, everyone would just be texting each other, which everyone does anyways. The silence in the episode also made for some good comic relief, even if some parts were a bit stupid and unimaginative (Anya asking Xander for sex).

I actually have more questions than desired after viewing this. Why were there straight jacket gimp looking things following the gentleman everywhere? Why were they wearing straight jackets? Why did the Gentlemen wait an entire day until taking a heart? Why did they only take one heart that night if they needed seven? Wouldn't it be easier for them to take every heart needed at once? Why did they need hearts in the first place? Why did they come to town in the first place? Why specifically THIS town?

As a whole, it didn't feel like that much really happened in this episode, but the head explosions at the end were pretty satisfying. Overall, the amount of questions and problems I have with this overrule the things I actually liked. 6/10