B109- The Puppet Show

Written by: Rob Des Hotel & Dean Batali
Cast: Sarah Michelle Gellar, Nicholas Brendon, Alyson Hannigan, Anthony Stewart Head, Charisma Carpenter, Kristine Sutherland & Armin Shimerman.

The episode begins with a typical horror-movie shot from the POV of the villain, seeing a ballet dancer (Emily) as a demonic voice whispers “I will be flesh”. Cordelia is singing Whitney Houston’s Greatest Love Of All off key, as part of the try outs for the talent show. Giles stops her, obviously to stop his ears from hurting. Buffy, Xander and Willow join Giles, and mock him as he complains that the new Principal (which he refers to as the Führer) made him in charge of the talent show, despite his wishes, so he could have more contact with the students. As Snyder overhears the Scoobies making fun of Giles, he punishes them by forcing them to participate in the talent show. The next try-out is Morgan and his dummy, Sid, and Buffy confesses to being freaked out by dummies. Morgan’s act takes a sudden turn for the better when Sid suddenly develops a personality and starts making sarcastic comments about the act. The scene cuts to Emily, who notices the demon (unseen by the audience watching her) and screams.

The talent show rehearsals continue with Marc, an unsuccessful magician. Buffy, Willow and Xander debate what to do for the talent show, and settle on a dramatic scene, since it does not require any actual talent. Sid watches, and makes rude comments as Morgan explains the voice is an imitation of his father. Snyder explains to Giles that he will run a safer, more disciplined school, only to be interrupted by the discovery of Emily’s body, whose heart has been cut out with a knife. The Scoobies debate whether the killer is a demon or a human, eliciting Willow’s comment that a human murderer is scarier since it could be anyone — even her.

The Scoobies split up and begin interviewing people from the talent show to find the killer. In a quick montage of the interviews, they all point in the direction of Morgan and his dummy, Sid. They decide to check Morgan’s locker after school hours. As Buffy is busy breaking into Morgan’s locker, and finding nothing, Snyder finds her almost red-handed, and admonishes her for being in the school after hours. Morgan and Sid turn out to be hiding, watching Buffy. Sid tells Morgan that Buffy is “the one”, saying that her strength is evidence of it.

As Buffy goes to sleep, Sid waits until the lights are off and sneaks into her room. When she wakes up, he quickly scampers out. Naturally, Buffy has a hard time convincing the Scoobies that Sid broke into her room. Giles, on his part, suggests that the demon responsible might be needing the heart (and later, a brain) to keep a human guise, which means the demon could be anyone, once again. When a teacher confiscates Sid, Xander steals him so that Buffy can talk to Morgan alone. As Buffy searches for Morgan back-stage, Snyder is again displeased with her being where he does not think she belongs.

In the library, just as Willow finds references to another possible explanation — animated dummies might harvest organs to become humans — Sid is gone when Xander stops paying any attention to him. The scene cuts to Buffy, finding Morgan’s body, missing a brain, just as a chandelier falls on her. When she wakes up, Sid attacks her, and during their fight they realize they are both working for the same goal: to stop the demon.

Sid explains he is a demon hunter, cursed to dummy form until he kills the last of the Brotherhood of Seven, those demons which harvest a heart and a brain. Realizing the demon has what it needs, they theorize it will be moving on, and so it will be whomever is missing from the show. Sid suggests to Giles to form a “power circle” to find out who is missing, but Giles sees everyone there. When Sid is again missing, Buffy finds Morgan’s brain when she looks for him. Buffy, Willow and Xander discover Morgan had brain cancer — which is probably the reason the demon did not use his brain, and is now looking for someone smart. This means that Giles and Willow are in danger.

At the talent show, Marc the magician tricks Giles into strapping himself into a guillotine, ostensibly a magic prop, so that he can take his scalp off and get his brain. Buffy, Xander and Willow rush to rescue Giles, and with Sid’s help they manage to kill Marc — who was the demon all along — and save Giles just as the curtain goes up. Everyone assumes it is part of the show, though there is only minimal clapping. The episode ends with Buffy, Xander and Willow performing a scene from Oedipus Rex with remarkable lack of talent, and with Willow running away from the stage.

From: Wikipedia

EPISODE COUNT-

BUFFY- (+6)

• +1/ Taunting Giles about their role-reversal-
  Buffy: Giles, unto every generation is born one who must run the annual talentless show. You cannot escape your destiny.
  Giles: If you had any shred of decency, you would have participated, or at least, um, helped.
  Buffy: Nah! I think I’ll take on your traditional role… and watch!
• +1/ Meeting Snyder for the first time-
  Buffy: Principal Snyder!
  Snyder: So. We think school events are stupid, and we think authority figures are to be made fun of.
  Buffy: No! No, we don’t. W-unless you do.
  Snyder: And we think our afternoon classes are optional. All three of you left campus yesterday.
  Buffy: Yeah, but we were fighting a demon…
  Snyder: Fighting?
  Buffy: Not fighting.
• +1/ Her reaction to Sid the dummy’s flirting-
  Sid: (puts his hand on her knee) Of course, if you want to snuggle up and comfort me…
  Buffy: (takes his hand off of her knee) So, that horny dummy thing really *isn’t* an act, is it?
  Sid: Nope!
  Buffy: Yuk!
• +1/ Defeating the demon at the end.
• +2/ Her part in their play with Xander & Willow.

XANDER- (+5)

• +1/ Reaction to Principal Snyder’s order to enter the talent show-
  “Can I just mention, that detention is a time-honored form of punishment?”
• +1/ Mucking around with Sid the Dummy, scaring Buffy in the process.
• +1/ Saving Giles from a guillotine.
• +2/ His part in the play at the end, he really gives it a go.

WILLOW- (+5)

• +1/ Willow’s reaction to Snyder ordering their participation in the talent show.
• +1/ Talking about murder-
  Giles: A demon is a creature of evil, pure and very simple. A person driven to kill is, is, um, it’s more
  complex.
  Willow: The creep factor is also heightened. It could be anyone. It could be me! (gets looks from them all) It’s not, though.
• +1/ Not realising she’s the smartest kid in school apart from Morgan-
  Willow: What could a demon possibly want from me?
  Xander: What’s the square root of 841?
  Willow: 29. Oh, yeah.
• +2/ Her part in the play at the end. She freezes up and ends up running off the stage.

GILES- (+2)

• +1/ Avoiding Cordelia by using Xander’s trick-
  Giles: Oh! I’m sorry. Um, your hair, uh…
  Cordelia: There’s something wrong with my hair? (pulls it behind her ears)
  Giles remains silent, but continues to stare.
  Cordelia: Ohmigod! (quickly leaves)
  Giles: (to himself) Xander was right. It worked like a charm.
• +1/ Giles offering Cordelia some advice-
  Cordelia: I, I can’t go out there. All those people staring at me and judging me like I’m some kind of… Buffy! What if I mess up?
  Giles: Cordelia, there, uh, there-there’s, uh, uh, an adage, uh, that, uh, if you’re feeling nervous then, uh, you should imagine the entire audience are in their underwear.
  Cordelia: Eww! Even Mrs. Franklin? Uhhh!
  Giles: Perhaps not.

CORDELIA- (+3)

• +1/ Cordelia’s singing during talent show auditions. It’s really quite funny.
• +1/ Cordelia being interrogated by Xander about the killings-
  Cordelia: It’s just such a tragedy for me. Emma was, like, my best friend.
  Xander: Emily.
• +1/ Getting a bout of stage fright before the talent show and asking for Giles’ advice, which she doesn’t like. (see Giles’ point 2)

PRINCIPAL SNYDER- (+3)

• +1/ Meeting the Scoobies for the first time-
  “My predecessor, Mr. Flutie, may have gone in for all that touchy-feely relating nonsense, but he was eaten. You’re in *my* world now. And Sunnydale has touched and felt for the last time.”
• +1/ “Kids today need discipline. That’s an unpopular word these days, ‘discipline’. I know Principal Flutie would have said, ‘Kids need understanding. Kids are human beings.’ That’s the kind of woolly-headed, liberal thinking that leads to being eaten.”
• +1/ “There are things I will not tolerate: students loitering on campus after school, horrible murders with hearts being removed. And also smoking.”

SEASON COUNT-

BUFFY- +64
XANDER- +30
WILLOW- +30
GILES- +27
ANGEL- +13
CORDELIA- +8
PRINCIPAL FLUTIE- +6
MS. CALENDAR- +5
THE MASTER- +3
PRINCIPAL SNYDER- +3
AMY- +2
JOYCE- +1
HARMONY- +1
DARLA- -3

OVERALL COUNT-

BUFFY- +64
XANDER- +30
WILLOW- +30
GILES- +27
ANGEL- +13
CORDELIA- +8
PRINCIPAL FLUTIE- +6
MS. CALENDAR- +5
THE MASTER- +3
PRINCIPAL SNYDER- +3
AMY- +2
JOYCE- +1
HARMONY- +1
DARLA- -3

EPISODE THOUGHTS-
An OK episode. Once again, the character’s carry this episode. The plot is rather lame, especially because of the horny, talking dummy, but the Scoobies manage to make it at least fun. Buffy, Xander and Willow all are very solid, Giles a little less so but he has his moments with Cordelia. We are also introduced to Snyder, who is at his best in this episode. Solid show.

74/100