TV-Reviewed

This episode had to the best one of the entire first season. It continued with the storyline of the master in a slick and inventive way. We get to witness everyone’s personal fear including Buffy’s. Some were funny and the others were quite frightening. Spiders, clowns, and being turned into a vampire; who wouldn’t be afraid of that?!

Giles’ worst nightmare was based on his greatest strength: the ability to read and be knowledgeable. Giles was researching the recent phenomenon but couldn’t make sense of any of the words. He couldn’t read the books, computers, or the newspapers. Giles, for the first time in his life, was useless. Xander had to face not one but two of his worst nightmares. The first one was quite embarrassing giving the fact that he walked into one of his classes with just his boxers! The class had a riot with it but Xander was left being the class clown. Speaking of clowns, he was being chased by one later on during the episode. He had a fear of clowns since he was a child. He was able to overcome this fear by knocking the clown out. After all, it takes a real man to knock out a clown.

Sarah Michelle Gellar as Buffy Summers

Willow’s worst nightmare was having to sing in front of a group of strangers. It doesn’t seem so bad if you think about it but if your dressed up like a Chinese doll and don’t have singing voice, it could leave some everlasting scars as an adult. Willow was able to escape that nightmare and enter Xander’s. She helped him gain some courage to knock out the clown so they could escape. It looks like these two truly need each other. In later episodes Xander gets to return the favor.

Buffy’s worst nightmares were quite interesting and a bit predictable. Her father was coming to town and you could tell that Buffy was happy and eager to see him. Once he arrived, he told her the reason why he divorced her mother. It was because of her! He said some pretty harsh things that left Buffy wanting to cry. She wanders into a cemetery and had to face her other worst nightmare, the master. The master was able to bite her and bury her in her own grave. Once Giles found her, we realized that dying wasn’t her worst nightmare but it was for Giles. Buffy arose from her grave a vampire and didn’t even realize it. Willow told her about her new face and it was made clear that Buffy’s worst nightmare was becoming a vampire herself.

How did everyone’s nightmare come true you ask? A little boy by the name of Billy was put into a coma by his father. The was living his worst nightmare over and over in his coma. Since this is the Hellmouth misery loves company. The boy was inadvertently making everyone’s nightmare come true. His was an ugly image of his father beating him with a baseball bat. This master was able to attack other people as well sending them to the hospital. Buffy had to fight this thing in order to wake the boy up. Once the monster was defeated, the boy awoke and everything went back to normal. The father paid a visit but Buffy had some stern words for him before she left. Let’s hope it sunk in so the Scooby gang doesn’t have to relive their nightmares all over again.

This episode was very intriguing. Their nightmares fit well with their personalities and nothing was too far fetched. One of their classmates were scared of being attacked by his dead spider collection, Cordelia having a real bad hair day, mangled hands, and flying killer bees. It was an action packed episode that starts from the very beginning. I enjoyed this episode and consider it the best one of the first season.

Rating: 7.5