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Post by Clare on Sept 21, 2008 18:23:40 GMT -5
1.09 The Puppet Show - Episode #009
Principal Snyder makes Buffy, Xander and Willow enter the Talent show - where there's Sid, a real-talking dummy, and a killer on the loose
Review (also post a score out of 10) and discuss this episode.
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Post by cyclica on Sept 26, 2008 7:11:18 GMT -5
Another great episode, it gets a 7 from me.
I liked all the scenes with the dummy, especially the reveal that he was a good guy. There were lots of other great scenes too, like giles making cordy go away just by looking at her hair. And of course the play at the end. I also liked keeping us in suspense as to who the killer was (sid, morgan, snyder) though I was a little disappointed that it was the magician who wasn't even a suspect until the end. Aside from that though,there was nothing really bad I can say about the episode.
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Post by cyclica on Sept 18, 2009 16:23:07 GMT -5
Upon rewatching this episode, there were a few things I wanted to say about it. But now as I actually go to review the episode, I discovered that in my earlier review I had already made pretty much every main point I wanted to make.  Though I would like to say that, as with the angel episode, this one really suffers from being built around a surprise (it turns out sid is a good guy....no he's not.. yes he is), and it looses something in repeat viewings. For that reason I'm bumping this ep down to a 6. Oh and I found a few minor annoyances too.  - Why didn't sid kill buffy in her sleep? I know he woke her up, but still he could have tried again after she went back to sleep. - Buffy the vampire slayer can't lift a chandelier? Even season 1 buffy should have been more than strong enough to pick it up with one hand and fling it across the room. - So the magician goes into his box... and a demon comes out? Nice trick! What happened to bring about this sudden change? |
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Post by partcynic on Sept 19, 2009 8:04:04 GMT -5
1x09 “The Puppet Show”
Episode Rating = 6
A likely candidate for the most throwaway episode of season one, “The Puppet Show” is nonetheless a great story that continues the show’s willingness to explore and subvert classic horror tropes. While you’re not going to get much out of it in terms of character development or thematic depth, it possesses a wonderfully dense and layered plot, with some clever red herrings and an ingenious twist that had never really been done before.
What I Liked about “The Puppet Show”:
- Most of the teaser is cleverly written, and it was great fun to see Giles’ reaction to his role as head of the talent show, as well as the way the gang gently teased him about it (his smirk after Snyder turns their “watch…mock…laugh” comments back on them and forces them to take part is also wonderful).
- The introduction of Principal Snyder is well handled, and he’s in great contrast to Flutie. I loved the various continuity references ("spontaneous cheerleader combustion"; "woolly-headed liberal thinking that leads to being eaten"), and his dialogue was sharp and funny throughout.
- After two episodes of absence and an additional one in which her appearance was tacked on, Cordelia finally feels like she has a place in the story. Her role as comic relief worked excellently (the terrible singing; her complete self-centredness about Emily’s death, even getting her name wrong), and the moment where Giles got her to leave by implying something was wrong with her hair was brilliant (“Xander was right – worked like a charm!”)
- I go back and forth with my overall feelings on Xander, but he was definitely a great character in season one. He gets lots of good lines here, and his dorkier moments (such as crying out “Redrum!” with Sid, which was actually adlibbed by Nick Brendon and left in because the producers liked it) are endearing.
- There are one or two moderately unsettling moments, like when Morgan is putting Sid away and Buffy looks down at the case as it closes - only to see that the dummy is now staring at her. As someone who dislikes puppets and their ilk, I certainly understood why she was creeped out.
- The plotting is actually among the year’s best. There’s lots of mystery as to the identity of the killer (the obvious ones being Sid and Morgan, though there’s even the implication that it might be Snyder), and the subversion of the obvious ‘evil puppet’ narrative is simple, but incredibly effective. It was a fantastic development to have the reanimated dummy be one of the good guys, and Sid himself was likeably lecherous in his approach to Buffy and Willow. There’s even some genuine tenseness towards the end, when we finally learn that Marc is the monster and the gang has to rush to save Giles from being scalped.
- As is commonplace for season one, the pacing is excellent, with each scene conveying important information and doing it at just the right rate. This ensures that even when you know the plot inside out, the episode doesn’t get boring upon re-watching.
- For what is essentially a disposable story, the few emotional aspects are handled nicely. Buffy has the right amount of initial shock/sadness at finding Morgan’s body, and the kinship she develops with Sid over their similar roles (and the fact that their only release will come with death) is quite touching, particularly when she picks up and holds the now-inanimate puppet at the end.
- The scene that plays over the credits is a humorous way to conclude the episode, and it was cute to show Willow’s stage fright in preparation for its role in “Nightmares”.
What I Disliked about “The Puppet Show”:
- In the teaser moments where we’re shown Emily’s death from the killer’s perspective, it’s clearly Sid’s voice talking. Since Sid isn’t the murderer, this goes beyond 'mislead' into straight-up error.
- During the Buffy bedroom scene, it’s odd that the patter of Sid’s feet wakes her up, yet the noise he’d have made jamming the window open (hard to do from the outside, and rendered more difficult by having a puppet’s lack of dexterity) doesn’t.
- Buffy’s subdued by the chandelier for a little too long. It’s good that they showed her vision being blurred (implying that she was woozy from being unconscious), but she should have been able to scramble out more easily. In retrospect, this is one of the first incidences in which the writers downplayed Buffy’s powers in order to facilitate the plot.
- A minor thing, but despite best attempts, Sid’s mouth isn’t really synchronised with his dialogue.
- Cordelia’s “everyone looking at me like I was some sort of … Buffy!” line is terrible. It’s awkward and doesn’t make much sense, even considering Cordy’s warped thought patterns.
- If you were a technically immortal demon that could appear human and only needed to restock for hearts and brains once every seven years, would you really be spending your time going to school (after all, you could get the organs elsewhere)? I’d take mortality over an eternity spent in class and doing homework any day.
- The final moment where the curtain rises to reveal the bewildered audience is very funny, but wouldn’t they have heard the skirmish going on (after all, the curtain wouldn’t open until everyone had arrived and was seated)? Approaching it from the opposite perspective, wouldn’t the gang have heard noise from people moving about and talking in the auditorium?
Do I like this episode more or less than the last time I watched it?
I’d probably say a little more. It does have a few issues, but is crammed with what is otherwise spot-on Buffyverse writing. Among other things, I watch the show for its originality and humour, and “The Puppet Show” has both of those things in spades. While it’s not an episode I’d sit down with outside the context of a series/season run-through, I always enjoy seeing it when the time comes to do so, and since it’s an above average edition, I’d have no problem with watching it again. Therefore, I’m sticking with my prior score of a (healthy) six out of ten.
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Post by partcynic on Sept 19, 2009 8:10:06 GMT -5
I noticed that too. It's the (unfortunate) beginning of her powers varying according to the demands of the plot.
Hadn't he begun to transform before that? When he was cutting the rope to release the blade and kill Giles, the skin on his hand was peeling off, and when Buffy hit him, the same thing happened to his face. Since he'd had to reject the first brain he found, he was running behind time-wise, and ended up completely reverting to his original form in the middle of the fight.
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Post by cyclica on Sept 19, 2009 11:51:10 GMT -5
- In the teaser moments where we’re shown Emily’s death from the killer’s perspective, it’s clearly Sid’s voice talking. Since Sid isn’t the murderer, this goes beyond 'mislead' into straight-up error. You're right there. I guess by the time it's revealed that sid was a good guy, you're supposed to have forgotten about the teaser. -- During the Buffy bedroom scene, it’s odd that the patter of Sid’s feet wakes her up, yet the noise he’d have made jamming the window open (hard to do from the outside, and rendered more difficult by having a puppet’s lack of dexterity) doesn’t. Yep, and what's more there's no reason for him to have been running around at all, when he should have been quietly sneaking up on her. -- A minor thing, but despite best attempts, Sid’s mouth isn’t really synchronised with his dialogue. True, but talking puppets never look realistic. And it's a mystical thing anyway, the sounds are coming out of him but he's not really 'talking' in the sense that real people do. - Cordelia’s “everyone looking at me like I was some sort of … Buffy!” line is terrible. It’s awkward and doesn’t make much sense, even considering Cordy’s warped thought patterns. Agreed. Though there may have been some kind of off-screen incident which resulted in everyone staring at buffy. At any rate it's interesting that cordelia would insult buffy even when she's not around, perhaps reflecting a genuine dislike of her, rather than just putting down the 'uncool' kid? - If you were a technically immortal demon that could appear human and only needed to restock for hearts and brains once every seven years, would you really be spending your time going to school (after all, you could get the organs elsewhere)? I’d take mortality over an eternity spent in class and doing homework any day. Agreed, and good point! I can only assume that the demon was drawn by the hellmouth energys in the school, but that's a bit of a stretch. Hadn't he begun to transform before that? When he was cutting the rope to release the blade and kill Giles, the skin on his hand was peeling off, and when Buffy hit him, the same thing happened to his face. Since he'd had to reject the first brain he found, he was running behind time-wise, and ended up completely reverting to his original form in the middle of the fight. Well ok, but he went from normal human (with only a few strips of skin peeled away) to pure demon in like 3 seconds. It's a bit too fast for me to buy. |
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Though I would like to say that, as with the angel episode, this one really suffers from being built around a surprise (it turns out sid is a good guy....no he's not.. yes he is), and it looses something in repeat viewings. For that reason I'm bumping this ep down to a 6.
