The Puppet Show

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The Puppet Show

"The Puppet Show" is episode 9 in season 1 of the television series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer. See also List of Buffy (series) episodes.

[edit] Plot

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 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.

Principal Snyder's unexpected fan popularity has made him appear in the first four seasons, and referenced in the final three.

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.

[edit] Production

Two dialogue exchanges from the original script were cut due to length:^[1]

Buffy: And I don’t think we’ll be featuring Xander’s special gift…
Xander: Okay, some people are jealous that they can’t burp the alphabet.
Buffy: …so we’re back to drama. We’ll just do it quickly. Get in, get out. Nobody gets hurt.

Buffy: Pretty good. I never heard ‘Flight of the Bumblebee’ on the tuba before.
Lisa: Most people aren’t up to it.

On the original airing of the episode, the closing credits was split-screened with a scene in which Buffy, Willow, and Xander perform a scene from the play Oedipus Rex. This scene was excluded in repeat airings until the series left The WB Network. It is included in the DVD Collections, and in present television reruns. Cordelia sings her talent show song "Greatest Love of All" again in the Angel episode "Slouching Toward Bethlehem." Numerous ad-libs were included in the final cut. Such unscripted bits are when Willow runs off the stage terrified and when Xander cries “Redrum! Redrum!”^[2]

This is the lowest-rated episode of the entire series, pulling in an audience of 1.7 million households.^[3]

[edit] Starring

• Sarah Michelle Gellar as Buffy Summers
• Nicholas Brendon as Xander Harris
• Alyson Hannigan as Willow Rosenberg
• Charisma Carpenter as Cordelia Chase
• Anthony Stewart Head as Rupert Giles

[edit] Guest starring

• Armin Shimerman as Principal Snyder
• Kristine Sutherland as Joyce Summers
• Richard Werner as Morgan Shay
• Tom Wyner as Sid the Dummy (voice)

[edit] Translations

Translated versions of this episode are entitled:

• French title: "La marionnette" ("The marionnette")
• Spanish title: "La Marioneta en el Show" ("The Puppet Show")
• Italian title: "il teatro dei burattini" (The Theatre Of The Puppets)

[edit] Continuity

[edit] Arc significance

• This episode introduces Principal Snyder, who will remain as a secondary character who consistently mistrusts and accuses Buffy of misbehavior until he dies at the end of Season 3.
• Willow's stagefright was first referenced in the previous episode. A similar nightmare for her would occur in the episode Restless.
• Sid the Dummy returns as a playable character in the video game Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Chaos Bleeds. The story takes place during Season 5.

[edit] Timeline

• Stories that take place around the same time in the Buffyverse:

* Because the 1992 motion picture Buffy the Vampire Slayer is not considered to be canon, its date in the chronology reflects its release date. Because The Origin graphic novel adjusts the events of the movie to fit in-line with the series, its place in the chronology reflects those events having occurred approximately one year prior to Welcome to the Hellmouth.

[edit] References