Summary: Buffy The Vampire Slayer Season 1 Episode 10 "Nightmares". The Hellmouth Podcast is back with one of my favorite episodes from Season 1. In this episode of the Hellmouth Podcast: Spiders Hate Wendell Nazis and Candy Cordelia's Bad Hair Day and Asteroid Billy saves the day... * Buffy The Vampire Slayer Season 1 Episode 10 – Nightmares * Open this episode in the Master’s lair. * Finally we are back to the master plotline which is the overarching storyline of the first season. The last time we addressed the Master’s plotline was in episode 0107 “Angel” * Buffy comes down into the Master’s lair. * The Master is stalking Buffy as she walks around. * He sneaks up on her from behind. * When she sees him she is terrified, frozen * She can’t fight back, she is so scared that she just lets him grab her neck and bite her. * Then Buffy wakes up, it was just a bad dream. * This was not just a cutesy opening scene to reintroduce the Master in this episode. As I talk about/recap this episode, I want you to keep something in mind. * This episode is all about solidifying the master as this seasons villain. * We are in Buffy Summer’s bedroom. Her mom is waking her up to go to school. * Buffy realizes that what she saw was just a nightmare, or was it? * Buffy’s dad is coming to pick Buffy up this weekend. * Sunnydale High – Willow and Buffy are discussing her dad’s upcoming visit. * Willow asks Buffy why her parents split up, the details are vague, Buffy never asked. She was getting in trouble a lot at the time. * Obviously, despite what Buffy says to the contrary there is a part of her that feels responsible for her parents divorce. * Cordelia is back (We are in class)– Cordelia chastises Wendell for being in her light when she is looking in the mirror. Xander chimes in and mocks the fact that Cordelia is the center of the Sunnydale universe. * Xander tells Buffy and Willow about the altercation. * Willow asks, “Why is she so Evita-like” – very funny. * They are going to be talking about “Active Listening” today * During class, Buffy sees a little boy standing in the hallway. * Immediately after, Wendell, the light hogging student, opens his text book and spiders erupt out of it. * Opening Credits * Master’s Lair – The Master is speaking to the anointed one * He says that fear is the most powerful force in the human world, not love, not hate. * The master talks about his fear of the cross. I think that the master’s intentional reckoning with this fear is one of the things that makes him so powerful. * IMPORTANT QUOTE “If I can face my fear, it cannot MASTER me.” * Big neon metaphor flashing here folks. The “Master” is the embodiment of our fears. He is our master when we cannot control our fears. * Master mentions some powerful psychic force at work in the world above which is causing a change… for the worse. * Back at Sunnydale high * Buffy’s mom is dropping her off, she didn’t sleep well. * Willow and Xander meet Buffy in the hall and want to know if she has talked to Giles about the spider episode in class the other day. * Library – continuation of hallway conversation. * They look for Giles, he stumbles out of the stacks, he was lost. * Giles is visibly upset, tells the group that regarding the spiders, they best have a chat with Wendell himself. * Outside at the picnic tables the group goes to talk to Wendell * They ask Wendell if this has happened before, he says “lot’s of times” * He doesn’t hate spiders, he loves them. Spiders hate Wendell. * I think this is a fantastic T-Shirt slogan. * Cordelia walks by and says “I hope you studied for the history test.” * Buffy rushes off to take a history test * Turns out Wendell had a huge spider collection * His brother killed them while he was away at camp one week.
