One line in Hush...

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Whistler

The Guide
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Drives me nuts!! I can't wrap my brain around it. It doesn't make any sense to me and yet I think it has so much meaning. I just can't define it, can you? The first scene of Hush when Buffy is on the desk and Riley goes in to kiss her he says "If I kiss you it will make the sun go down." What does that mean?? Was it some type of foreshadowing I'm not seeing or something else? So now that I've ranted let's see what it means to you all.
 
I think it was just some of the incoherence that you usually have in dreams. That, or Buffy was really fantasizing hard about kissing Riley.
 
Well, actually... I've never thought about the possibility that this line would foreshadow anything. But now that you mention it, why not? It sounds cryptic enough to be basically anything happening on the show.
 
For some reason, I thought it foreshadowed what Riley isn't, like what Buffy was talking about in the previous episode... (As in, he's normal, he can take her out into the light etc.) Buffy said that it's missing that 'fire', I'm thinking that when she kisses him in the dream, he'll become close to what Angel was??

Ok, I know I'm wrong and/or way off but I thought it could get people thinking still.
 
FaithyFivebyFive said:
For some reason, I thought it foreshadowed what Riley isn't, like what Buffy was talking about in the previous episode... (As in, he's normal, he can take her out into the light etc.) Buffy said that it's missing that 'fire', I'm thinking that when she kisses him in the dream, he'll become close to what Angel was??

Ok, I know I'm wrong and/or way off but I thought it could get people thinking still.
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that actually makes alot of sense now. like the line could mean two things: 1) once he kisses her the illusion of the normal guy is gone. kissing = intimacy = secrets exposed = no more normalacy. and 2) it is buffy reverting back into falling for guys that are drawn to the darkness in her. the sun goes down meaning that kissing buffy = darkness. crazy.
 
November
November
good points!
That and it could represent her deep seated fears of everything that was doomed with Angel (Which she rants about, coincidentally, in the next episode Doomed). Kissing him and more did make the sun go down, metaphorically and literally, and subconsiously she's afraid the same thing will happen with Riley
 
I think Joss said something about that line in the commentary, but I don't remember exactly what. You might check that, though, if you want to know what he says.
 
It kinda foreshadows Twilight although I don't think Joss could have ever known about him/her/it yet.

But I agree with white avenger, probably just some nonsense. 😛
 
Whistler said:
that actually makes alot of sense now. like the line could mean two things: 1) once he kisses her the illusion of the normal guy is gone. kissing = intimacy = secrets exposed = no more normalacy. and 2) it is buffy reverting back into falling for guys that are drawn to the darkness in her. the sun goes down meaning that kissing buffy = darkness. crazy.
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I'd actually say it was the start of Buffy falling for guys who craved the darkness in her. Angel fell for her because of the light she offered his darkness.

I always thought it was just Riley trying to be cute, which of course couldn't happen cuz he is Riley! but I like everybody's suggestions better😀
 
white avenger
white avenger
It's sort of a poetic statement in an almost bloody awful way. Maybe Riley just instinctively knew that Buffy would be attracted to someone like that...
Wishing Oceans
Wishing Oceans
I actually really dislike the statement. :D I thought it was really cheesy. ;]
I kinda agree with that Whistler said. In the ep itself. They kiss. Next thing you know, they're in the clock tower pointing weapons at each other.

Buffy has like a "day self" and a "night self" with the night self being the Slayer aspect. They kissed. He saw that there was a night self and she couldn't hide it from him anymore. So the whole "when I kiss you it'll make the sun go down" could mean that the closer he gets to her, the sooner he's going to find out.
 
Keanoite said:
I'd actually say it was the start of Buffy falling for guys who craved the darkness in her. Angel fell for her because of the light she offered his darkness.
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This is an excellent point.
I had never thought of it like that before.
 
Whistler said:
that actually makes alot of sense now. like the line could mean two things: 1) once he kisses her the illusion of the normal guy is gone. kissing = intimacy = secrets exposed = no more normalacy. and 2) it is buffy reverting back into falling for guys that are drawn to the darkness in her. the sun goes down meaning that kissing buffy = darkness. crazy.
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yes, that does make sense. And really great thinking, I like that idea.

What I came up with is that this foreshadows heir relationship, starting in this episode:they kiss, they become closer. This will, at some point, unevitably lead to revealing certain secret identities. Same episode, at night, after their first kiss in the real word, they coincidentally meet at this house, both armed, both of their illusions about the other one being normal gone. Does this make any sense?
 
I'm working my way through Why Buffy Matters (Rhonda Wilcox) right now in my quest for thesis material and came across a statement I thought might help here.

She suggests (quoting another critic I haven't read) that the dark stands for the unconscious. Buffy spends most of her time in the dark (as Spike continually points out to her), since the things she has to fight are in the dark, so the sun going down plays double-duty as the gateway to Buffy's unconscious and the time of day when her work begins.

As for Riley, only in Buffy's dream does he make the sun go down, does he access the unconscious in his relationship with her; as Spike tells him, Buffy wants some "monster in her man," and Riley does not have in him that release of darkness
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(p 83).
 
I always saw it as part of her vision. As the Gentlemen only came after the sun had gone down.
 
great contributions from everyone. now i know to come here the next time one of Joss' crazy quotes has my brain wracked.
 
Good thread. I thought about this as well. The sun going down or coming up is very symbolic of change, the death of something, rebirth of something new. I pretty much just took that in relation to their new romance.

But I like the idea of it being related to Twilight just cause it's cool.
 
Watched this w/ commentary the other night...

When Buffy gets up to walk to the front to the class Joss talks about Sarah's top as being all Flintstones, that he thought it looked good at the time but wow, what was he thinking having her wear that? During the time that she's laying on the table and Riley plants the kiss on her Joss is talking about filling up the set/classroom with folks from all over the building and that if you notice up in the upper corner by Buffy's head you can see Andy Hallet (Lorne)... I love that fun trivia stuff in commentaries... anyhooo... then the class goes dark and Joss says something about the joy or fun of shooting dream sequences cause you can do stuff say it's going to go dark, then it's dark, and that it's. That's all he says about the room going dark, nothing about what it means. Then goes right in to giving props to Nightmare on Elm St. for having the best scary nursery rhyme and spooky girl singing it and how they tried their best to write a cool one for the show hoping it would be cool too, something like that.

Personally I like the suggestions about it being because the Gentlemen only come out at night. Buffy doesn't have the dreaming frenzy of Alyson/Patricia Arquette on Medium, but when she does they're heavy on the "hey, guess what's coming next!?" theme.

And, another 'what if'... maybe's it's her dreams way of telling her if she gets too caught up with thoughts about Riley she loses the focus of finding more out about The Gentlemen before they get more hearts. You know, like, get your head out of the clouds, girl, The Gentlemen are coming!
 
I always thought it was about her relationships with guys. Angel and Parker all seemed to turn after she'd been with them. Maybe it was her way of warning Riley that that was usually what happened with her.

It always reminds me of the Buffy Angel talk in season 2, were Angel says ''This isn't some fairytale. When I kiss you you don't wake up from a deep sleep.'' or something like that and Buffy replies ''No, when you kiss me I wanna die.'' It just doesn't make sence. At least in this episode she has the excuse of being asleep.
 
"If I Kiss You, It Will Make The Sun Go Down"...

For all the metaphorical readings and foreshadowings I pride myself on picking up on the show... i NEVER got that line in Hush that Riley says during the dream sequence. Is it foreshadowing their downfall eventually... or is there other things it implies? i was just wondering what you all thought.
 
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