I wasn’t looking forward to reviewing this episode, mainly because I’ve never really enjoyed it. Having looked at it again, I can see why- it’s just a really unsatisfying attempt to do in Buffy terms what every other fantasy and sci-fi series has tried to do at some point. It’s become a staple- the episode where people’s fears or dreams become reality- and while it provides us with a few good moments, the abiding impression is that the concept came first, the funny or revealing incidents came second and the rationale a poor third. If nothing else, Buffy episodes are usually so well-constructed that the slapdash nature of this episode sticks out a mile.

To give it its due, ‘Nightmares’ does have its moments, although a surprising number of them are nothing to do with the main cast. Cameos like Way Cool Guy and his mother turning up at school, or the briefly-glimpsed corpse stumbling down the hospital corridor add a sense that the situation affects more than our regulars; Cordelia’s bad hair day is actually quite disturbing as Charisma Carpenter plays it with such fear and horror, and Sarah Michelle Gellar has an absolutely cracking scene just reacting to Buffy’s dad telling her that she’s the reason her parents split and that he doesn’t want to see her again. Giles’s loss of the ability to read is nicely psychological and Willow’s fear of performing in front of people is consistent with the previous episode. Some of the others are less so- I can’t help feeling that if this had been part of Season Six or Seven, Xander would have been totally naked when his clothes disappear, and neither this nor the business with the clown give any real insight into his character. The best that can be said is that his decision to turn and knock the clown out show his latent courage which later seasons would bring out. It’s also neatly done when Giles’s nightmare of failing to protect Buffy turns into Buffy’s nightmare of becoming a vampire, although it’s interesting that whereas the Master is a snarling beast in Buffy’s nightmare at the beginning of the episode, he’s his mercurial self later in the episode when temporarily released.

But there’s no internal logic to any of this- no real reason why Billy’s being in a coma unleashes everybody’s nightmares. Giles mentions astral projection, but that only accounts for his presence around the school while he’s comatose in hospital. Other "issue" episodes tend to have an emotional core, something which makes you feel for the characters in their plight, but if this was an attempt to do something about competitive parents and coaches then it doesn’t work. The situation just seems so far fetched and is only resolved when the baseball coach just happens to drop into the hospital as the Slayerettes are in Billy’s room. I can’t help feeling that I’m missing something, but neither can I work out what it is. There’s just so much that’s usually in the best Buffy- originality, emotional impact, narrative logic and construction- that isn’t here. It’s a badly-conceived mess with a few good character moments and not much else.