Buffy the Vampire Slayer perfected the Halloween episode with “Fear, Itself”

If “Halloween” finds Buffy struggling with her unwillingness to lose her femininity, relationships and freedom for her calling, “Fear Itself” allows her to contend with the grief of accepting that her calling requires sacrifice, but it does not to make happen. in the way of life. By fighting her way out of the basement and away from those words, Buffy overcomes her fear of being swallowed by the Slayer, and commits herself to finding a healthy balance between what she wants in her life and what belongs to her. is required by her sacred duty. The taunting college zombie asks Buffy why she even bothers with that, but it’s the relationships she shares with her friends, family, lovers and enemies that push her to become the most realized version of herself, as evidenced in this haunting episode.

And like Buffy herself, Xander and Willow’s fears grow. As the only member of his friend group not attending college, Xander becomes invisible in this house of horrors, showing his fear of being left behind by his friends as they all grow and change without him in this new experience. In Season 2, Xander’s greatest fears were allayed by the closeness of his friends (overshadowed by Buffy’s strength, stunned by Willow’s cleverness), but in Season 4 he’s terrified that they’ll all leave him behind. Likewise, Willow’s struggle to be seen and understood when she barely knew who she was finds new ground in Season 4, as Willow’s fear of losing control of her magic and not being taken seriously shows her growth as a character . This allows her to gain self-confidence while still giving her space to develop her newfound strength and the way she is perceived by those around her.

But beyond these moving investigations and heartfelt metaphors, “Fear, Itself” never forgets the humor at the heart of this often silly series. When Buffy, the fearful reactions of the partygoers to gain the strength he needs to become physical again. He rises from the shattered floor of the attic, with clouds of smoke and hellfire beneath the floorboards, only to grow only six inches tall. Buffy and the gang coo and laugh before she finally crushes him under her boot. As the final stimulus of the episode, Giles translates the text beneath the terrifying illustration in the spellbook that summoned him: “True size.”

By ending on this very unserious note, the series re-establishes Buffy as a force beyond her fears, and an individual above the tricks and trials of a single, silly holiday. In a show where every episode introduces new and terrifying supernatural adversaries, the Halloween episode should feel like a pointless endeavor. But Buffy‘s dedication to the holiday, especially in this Season 4 episode, injects humor and heart into a traditional TV convention, and allows the show to poke fun at the spooks and scares that have become old hat for our titular Slayer, while the deployment of her usual Big Bads in comparison.

Through a single 41-minute Halloween outing in the middle of the series’ most transformative season, Buffy explores the pain and anxiety of coming of age, enhanced by the show’s signature humor and moving central relationships. This episode is so successful in its scares, metaphors, and laughs that the only Halloween-adjacent sequel (season 6’s “All the Way”) forces the holiday itself to take a backseat to the real horrors of adulthood : babies, marriage, life, death, virginity and responsibility become much more terrifying in comparison. It’s an effective episode in its dour presentation of the terrifying nature of the unknown future, but has little interest in unpacking how and why the holiday itself is so packed with potential that’s perfectly exploited in the chilling season 4 special.

About the bigger one Buffyversespin-off series Angel‘s single All Hallows Eve effort (“Life of the Party” from season 5) is closer to a “Something Blue” repeat than a satisfying holiday episode, like everything Lorne (Andy Hallett) says on the Wolfram & Hart Halloween party comes to fruition. Following in the footsteps of ‘All the Way,’ this Season 5 episode is yet another example of how this universe fails to achieve the same success as Buffy‘s Halloween magnum opus.