As this episode opens Buffy is out patrolling even though she is suffering from the flu. She gets in a fight with Angel and if it weren't for her friends intervening she's probably have been killed. She then collapses and is taken to hospital. As she recuperates she sees a strange figure following a child. The next day it emerges that a child has died. Another child tells her that Death is coming for them and that he can only be seen my children. Some snooping around reveals that the doctor treating the children had been involved in some fairly controversial medical decisions
is he the Death the children fear or is it something even more sinister?
This was an impressively creepy episode. The opening was effective and things only got better when Buffy got to the hospital. The fact that she was ill made her seem more vulnerable than usual increases the level of tension; as well as the worry about what is going on in the hospital there is the ongoing threat from Angel. The idea of a demon that specifically targets children is rather disturbing and when we see just how he does it things get genuinely scary. 'Death' reminded me of Freddy Krueger of 'Nightmare on Elm Street' fame; this particularly shows in the final confrontation in the hospital basement. As well as some good scares there are some pretty amusing scenes such as when Willow shows that she doesn't know what 'playing doctor' really is and the final scene where Buffy receives a picture drawn by a child she saved showing her slaying 'Death'. The only slight weakness was the fact that the characters are less affected by Jenny's death than one might expect and there are references to Buffy's cousin who died when she was young who had never been mentioned before. Overall though this was a good creepy episode.
This was an impressively creepy episode. The opening was effective and things only got better when Buffy got to the hospital. The fact that she was ill made her seem more vulnerable than usual increases the level of tension; as well as the worry about what is going on in the hospital there is the ongoing threat from Angel. The idea of a demon that specifically targets children is rather disturbing and when we see just how he does it things get genuinely scary. 'Death' reminded me of Freddy Krueger of 'Nightmare on Elm Street' fame; this particularly shows in the final confrontation in the hospital basement. As well as some good scares there are some pretty amusing scenes such as when Willow shows that she doesn't know what 'playing doctor' really is and the final scene where Buffy receives a picture drawn by a child she saved showing her slaying 'Death'. The only slight weakness was the fact that the characters are less affected by Jenny's death than one might expect and there are references to Buffy's cousin who died when she was young who had never been mentioned before. Overall though this was a good creepy episode.