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Post by Clare on Sept 21, 2008 18:26:52 GMT -5
1.11 Out of Mind, Out of Sight - Episode #011
Buffy stops an invisible girl (Marcie) from teaching Cordelia a lesson
Review (also post a score out of 10) and discuss this episode.
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Post by cyclica on Sept 26, 2008 7:13:05 GMT -5
A great episode from season one, all about cordelia, up til now she's had little to do but from now on she properly becomes a member of the gang. Though I didn't like the idea that the hellmouth can somehow have the power to change people, like turn marci invisible. It seemed like a cheap way to drive the plot forward, they should of at least had the hellmouth affecting more people in later seasons. But other then that it was a great ep, I give it a 7.
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Post by partcynic on Sept 22, 2009 7:10:44 GMT -5
1x11 “Out of Mind, Out of Sight”
Episode Rating = 5
As the end of the season approaches, the entertaining episodes keep on coming, with “Out of Mind, Out of Sight” being a welcome addition to the “Buffy” family. Giving Cordelia some much-needed (and deserved) airtime, it mixes an intriguing plot and theme with plenty of amusing dialogue, as well as granting Ms Chase some of her most important character development.
What I Liked about “Out of Mind, Out of Sight”:
- They made us wait almost a year before giving Cordelia the spotlight, and it turns out that it was well worth the time. Considering her absence and/or tacked-on appearances during a large chunk of the season, her continued presence needed justification, and this ep gave it. Most of her dialogue is hilarious (the whole chat about running the girl over; “how’s [Mitch] going to look in our pictures”; the May Queen acceptance speech; “This is about me! Me me me!”; her response to Giles’ statement about her never visiting the library being “I have a life”; and the way she whimpers and obliges when Buffy tells her to shut up at the Bronze), and the other characters’ responses to her are equally funny (such as Xander suddenly seeing research in a more positive light). I also loved that she’d initially assumed Buffy was in a gang, and it was interesting that she was able to digest the concept of a supernatural attacker without problems, her only concern being her own safety.
- Besides fulfilling the episode’s humour quotient, Cordelia also triumphed in the character development stakes. Her chat with Buffy about popularity and loneliness was one of the best scenes here, and her genuine gratitude at the end puts her on the path to defrosting, as well as preparing her for an eventual niche role in the Scoobs.
- The Shakespeare discussion in Ms Miller’s English class is clever in serving as a description for the main theme of the episode – that is, “the anger of the outcast at society”.
- The slight parallels between Marcie, Buffy and Cordelia are pretty nice, and the early scenes where we see Buffy reflecting on her pre-Slayer life (and feeling left out of the school’s culture) come across sympathetically.
- It was great to see Principal Snyder again. “There are no dead students here… this week” is a classic line, and I liked seeing Willow and Xander pretending that Mitch was going to sue (“they call [his lawyer father] The Beast”) in order to let Buffy sneak in the locker room.
- The brief library scene with Angel and Giles is decent, and permits some set-up for “Prophecy Girl”.
- As is the season one standard, the plot is unique and thoughtful. While it follows in the footsteps of “Nightmares” in failing to stand up to major scrutiny, the ‘perception = reality’ concept was clever, and imaginatively utilised to create the narrative’s main metaphor. The pacing is also excellent, with everything we’re shown being relevant and necessary in progressing the story and character arcs.
- Marcie is one of the series’ first ‘shades of grey’ villains, and while her behaviour at the end was inexcusable, it was hard not to feel sorry for what she went through, especially since none of it was her fault. The various messages she left after assaulting her victims had a sinister touch, and Cordelia witnessing the ‘listen’ one provided a believable reason for her to go to Buffy.
- I liked how Giles’ joke about Buffy learning to listen ended up being crucial to stopping Marcie. This kind of ‘early flippant comment has great meaning later’ construct was frequently applied during the season, and it shows how much care was being put in the writing.
- The very last scene is smart and humorous, as well as providing an unpredictable conclusion to the story. It’s also noteworthy that this episode gives us the first hint that the government knows about the ‘other world’, preceding more significant concepts like the Initiative.
What I Disliked about “Out of Mind, Out of Sight”:
- As with the previous episode, you can’t really take the machinations of the plot too seriously. The concept of perception shaping reality was an interesting one (and indeed holds some philosophical ground), but you have to assume that what happened to Marcie was a one-in-a-billion chance due to the way she was chronically ignored over a very long period of time – otherwise, you’d expect to be seeing this quite often (as we were jokingly shown in “Storyteller”). One thing I would have been interested in knowing was whether changing people’s perceptions of Marcie might have been able to make her visible again, though it seems unlikely.
- When Buffy first finds Marcie’s hideaway, why didn’t Marcie just stab her? I suppose that Marcie may have thought Buffy would understand (as she says), and thus only decided to attack her when she began protecting Cordelia. Also, wouldn’t Buffy’s Slayer senses permit her to notice heavy breathing and a big knife right behind her, given that they were in a small space without much extraneous noise?
- While Cordelia admittedly doesn’t weigh much, how strong do you have to be to lift a conscious, actively resisting person up from the ground into a (high) ceiling? A lot of adult males would have trouble doing that, let alone a skinny sixteen-year-old girl like Marcie.
- Just how shoddy is the construction work at Sunnydale High? It’s strange how Marcie flips Buffy over and she crashes right through the ceiling into a classroom – I hope the explanation there is simply a case of bad dry rot. In addition, Buffy gets stunned too easily considering the relatively short distance of the fall, and the fact that she didn’t suffer any head injuries.
- Where did Marcie get all of her medical equipment? Had she been able to sneak into the hospital and steal it without being noticed?
- How did Marcie manage to transport Cordelia and Buffy into the (theoretically shut and/or locked) Bronze before the sedatives they were given wore off? Was she in possession of a van/truck? And how did she move the girls about without anyone witnessing mysterious floating people, or an active vehicle with no visible driver?
- Angel’s rescue of Giles et al is too fortunately timed (coming right at the key moment), but at least his prophecy-delivering job gave him a legitimate reason for being there.
- Similarly, the convenient arrival of the FBI agents at the Bronze smacks of deus ex machina, providing a cheap and overly easy solution to a troublesome situation (it would have been interesting to see how Buffy would have dealt with Marcie otherwise). Still, at least their presence in Sunnydale was established earlier.
- Are we supposed to take Buffy’s statement of “this has happened before” (and the classroom full of invisible students) as concrete evidence that there are other Hellmouths? If so, who’s guarding them, and why haven’t any apocalypses been coming from their directions?
Do I like this episode more or less than the last time I watched it?
I feel exactly the same. This episode is interesting in that almost all of its problems are contained in its last third (beginning with when Marcie grabs Cordy), suggesting that more time may have been spent on the plot’s set-up and development than its resolution. Problems aside, “Out of Mind, Out of Sight” is a really enjoyable story, and the excellent humour, insight and character growth for Cordelia is more than enough to make it a keeper. Therefore, I’m giving this episode a solid score of five out of ten.
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Post by cyclica on Sept 22, 2009 14:30:51 GMT -5
This is the big cordy episode, and it's one of my favourites from season 1. This is the point where she starts becoming one of the gang. There were lots of great scenes in this ep, like snyders line "there are no dead students here... this week", followed by willow and xander pretending the school is going to get sued to distract snyder so buffy can sneak past. And those 'have a nice summer' yearbook messages really were kinda scary. But what I really love about this episode was cordelia. She was great to watch, every other line she had was funny (though harmony was at her least funny). I loved how the episode looks at popularity, how even the most popular kid can be lonely, and how hard it is being the least popular. And we get some great insight into buffy's past, how she gave up popularity to become the slayer. I couldn't help but feel for her when her only two friends started laughing over inside jokes which she didn't understand. I'm sticking with the 7 I gave it before. Lots of humour, insight, originality, and a great way to set up cordy's introduction into the scooby gang. And loads of flaws too! - When the guy (whose name I can never remember) gets hit by the bat in the locker room, it clearly isn't hitting him. - Why is cordelia getting dressed at the school? - Why is marci living at the school? Don't these people have homes to go to? - Giles sees a man standing next to him with no reflection. Considering he's never met angel or has any idea what he looks like, why would he assume this vampire is angel? Shouldn't he play it safe, assume the vamp is evil, and run away? - Marci sneaks up behind buffy with a knife, but doesn't stab her? Why sneak up behind her with a knife then? - Why do marci's clothes turn invisible? Or is she naked the whole time? - No one notices when she turns invisible in the classroom? I know she is constantly ignored, but still you'd think whoever is sitting behind her would notice her vanishing. - Cordelia just accepts without question that people can turn invisible? - The bronze is closed for fumigation, again? Didn't we already see that in the episode 'angel'? - When cordy is tied up, she clearly isn't tied very tightly. She could easily slide out of those ropes. - How did marci get to be as strong as buffy during the fight at the end? And if she's not, why is buffy hitting her with full force? - Why would giles tell buffy they were saved by the janitor, why not admit it was angel? - So apparently other kids in other schools have become invisible too... do they all live on hellmouth towns? - When marci goes to the secret invisible-kids-only classroom at the end, how does she know which seat to sit on? Why didn't we hear some voice saying 'hey get off me?'  Fun buffy facts- - Willow was wearing a scooby doo t-shirt, perhaps because she's a member of the scooby gang? - The plot of this episode would later be ripped off on an episode of smallville... which coincidentely happened to feature azura skye, the actress who would play cassie in 'help'. |
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Post by cyclica on Sept 22, 2009 14:50:46 GMT -5
- How did Marcie manage to transport Cordelia and Buffy into the (theoretically shut and/or locked) Bronze before the sedatives they were given wore off? Was she in possession of a van/truck? And how did she move the girls about without anyone witnessing mysterious floating people, or an active vehicle with no visible driver? Good point, that never occured to me. I guess it was night and no one was around. - Angel’s rescue of Giles et al is too fortunately timed (coming right at the key moment), but at least his prophecy-delivering job gave him a legitimate reason for being there. - Similarly, the convenient arrival of the FBI agents at the Bronze smacks of deus ex machina, providing a cheap and overly easy solution to a troublesome situation (it would have been interesting to see how Buffy would have dealt with Marcie otherwise). Still, at least their presence in Sunnydale was established earlier. I wouldn't say angel and the fbi guys arrived at just the right moment, if anything they both arrived late. - Are we supposed to take Buffy’s statement of “this has happened before” (and the classroom full of invisible students) as concrete evidence that there are other Hellmouths? If so, who’s guarding them, and why haven’t any apocalypses been coming from their directions? I don't like the idea of a world full of hellmouths (and I don't think giles would have pointed out a second one in cleveland if there were loads of them), but how else would the kids get their powers? Perhaps they all built invisiguns, like the trio did? |
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Post by partcynic on Sept 23, 2009 13:27:55 GMT -5
What would she have done if she'd come home? Her parent(s) might have had a bit of a hard time accepting the whole invisibility thing. Besides, if Marcie had turned invisible due to being ignored, there's a chance her family members were part of the cause. They may not have been worth returning to.
I didn't think it was closed for fumigation. It was just shut during the afternoon/day (in preparation for the May Queen event that evening).
He was respecting Angel's feelings on the matter. When they chatted in the library, Angel had said that the issue was too complicated/he didn't want to see Buffy again yet, and Giles honoured that.
But it happened during the afternoon (the FBI agents come in from the sunlight)...
Wouldn't 'late' be - at least in Giles et al's case - arriving when they were dead? Even the Buffy/Marcie one is dodgy, since the agents appear at just the right moment for Buffy to have won, yet not have to think about how to deal with Marcie in the long-term. Both instances are classic, contrived deux ex machina.
Yeah, that idea's never sat comfortably with me either. You'd have thought that with so many opportunities to open the gates of hell, demons would be smart enough to avoid going to the one that's guarded by the Slayer.
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Post by cyclica on Sept 23, 2009 18:30:19 GMT -5
I didn't think it was closed for fumigation. It was just shut during the afternoon/day (in preparation for the May Queen event that evening). There was a sign on the door saying closed for fumigation. Though maybe it was just recycled footage from 'angel' and we weren't meant to look too closely. But it happened during the afternoon (the FBI agents come in from the sunlight).... Ok my mistake. For some reason I remember it being night. |
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Post by partcynic on Sept 24, 2009 9:30:47 GMT -5
I think you're right about it being recycled footage from "Angel". Since they were holding the May Queen coronation there, there's no way they would have been fumigating the Bronze that day.
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