Decades later, the silent spooky Gentlemen of Hush still haunt the nightmares of Buffy fans. Heck, they still haunt the nightmares of Xander actor Nicholas Brendon. An oasis of genuine terror in the muddled fourth season that saw Buffy and co going to college and meeting Biggest Bore Ever Riley, Hush may be the best episode of the series full stop. Starting with a premise right out of a fairytale everybody in the town of Sunnydale woke up one day to find they can't talk things take a swift turn for the Grimm when the reason for the sudden bout of muteness is revealed: the pale, be-suited Gentlemen, who steal people's voices before chowing down on them with some impressive gnashers. Hush has some of the best visual jokes in the show's history Buffy's poor non-verbal communication, the Scooby Gang using white boards to scribble down messages to each other but what really sticks in the mind is the silent terror as a new victim tries to escape the clutches of a swarm of Gentlemen happening upon them. A group of uber-polite monsters who will catch you, kill you, and you can't even scream out in terror. There's something so primally horrifying about that.
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
