Editorial Note: Stephanie S will return to the blog as soon as possible, but she is presently fighting off a rather severe case of brochitis and unable to keep up more than very light activity. In the meantime, during the long winter hiatus, I'll throw an extra Buffy the Vampire Slayer review your way!
Overall Rating: 6.3
For an episode featuring a horror cliche that's been done a thousand times from just about every conceiveable angle, this turns out to be a rather suspenseful and entertaining episode with a few chuckles and a nifty twist that I'm pretty sure has NOT been done in the world of horror dummy plots.
Plot Synopsis:
Giles has quite unwillingly been placed in charge of the school's annual "talentless show" and the Scooby Gang delights in teasing him for the torments that await - that is until "herr furor" Principal Snyder orders the three to participate in the show as a way to force them to integrate into the school. Just when it seems there is absolutely no talent to speak of in the whole of California, a boy named Morgan Shay appears to suddenly master the art of ventriloquism. His dummy tells off-color jokes and amuses the crowd, but it gives Buffy the creeps. It would normally be a passing thought; however, a cheerleader and dancer named Emily is found dead in the girl's locker room with her heart removed, sending the Scoobies into research overdrive.
At first, all signs point to the murder being carried out by a human and everyone involved in the talent show points their finger squarely at Morgan, who they say has been seen arguing with his dummy, Sid. Giles is forced to spend his valuable time running rehearsals for the talent show, so Buffy tails Morgan for a while and breaks into his locker to see what he might be hiding. Unfortunately, Sid and Morgan see her do this and Buffy is targetted - apparently to "free" Sid, he must kill this one more. Indeed, later that night, Buffy catches a glimpse of what appears to be Sid running across her floor and trying to attack her, but he gets away and Buffy can't prove what she saw was real.
While the Scoobies wrestle with two possibilities - Morgan is crazy (and a killer) or his dummy is possessed and trying to become human by harvesting organs - Morgan continues to get weaker by the day. He has painful headaches and is growing detached and isolated at school despite his high intellect. While scouting the theater looking for Morgan, Buffy makes a grizzly discovery - Morgan is dead, his scalp sliced off and his brain missing. Sid, meanwhile, has other things on his mind. Things like trying to kill Buffy. He escapes from an unwatchful Xander's captivity to hunt Buffy and nearly succeeds in pinning her down with a huge chandelier long enough to kill her, but she barely manages to stop him. At this point, they both realize their theories are wrong. Sid is NOT in fact an evil dummy and Buffy is NOT the demon he was trying to kill!
Sid mournfully reports to the Scoobies that he has been cursed by a brotherhood of seven powerful demons to walk the Earth for eternity as an inanimate dummy and to free himself, he must kill all seven. He's gotten six and the seventh must be one of the members of the school's talent show. The demon they're looking for needed a human heart and brain to stay in his human disguise for another seven years and apparently he's gotten both of those pieces now, so Sid suggess that Giles form the power circle on stage to check to see which member of the talent show is missing. Unfortunately, everyone is present. Either the demon is someone else or - as Buffy discovers shortly thereafter - he doesn't have what he wants. She finds Morgan's brain (or rather it finds her by falling from a stack of props and landing in her hands; a fact she finds most distasteful) and a little research turns up a surprise regarding Morgan's health. It turns out, he's got brain cancer...his brain won't do. With the hunt back on, they go to warn Giles, but it's very nearly too late. The real culprit, a magician named Marc, has somehow persuadaed him to help test a "prop" Guillatine for his magic act, and once ensnared, Giles finds himself at the mercy of a very sharp blade. Buffy and Xander arrive just in time to save him and thwart the demon's plans and Sid turns up at just the right moment to assist in the death of the demon and deliver the death blow to its heart. The fighting over, the Scoobies are free to perform (horribly) in the talent show.
Writing: 7.5
Although the dialog is not particularly scintillating, contributing to a general feeling that the episode could have been more than it was, the writers did manage to craft a twist that is genuinely surprising - a skill they've shown on several occasions already and will continue to show going forward. The show would have gotten higher marks if it weren't for some rather severe character assasination at the end. To set up the jeopardy in the thrilling final battle, we are asked to believe that a man as smart as Giles would willingly submit himself to testing what appears to be a very real guillatine blade. No matter how much you might want to help a student, no one as smart as careful as Giles would ever do this. It kind of ruins the moment for me.
Acting: 7.5
Some excellent voice acting by Tom Wyner (Sid)...but I must say I was very unimpressed with the guest appearance of Richard Wermer (Morgan)...he doesn't do sick guy or crazy guy or victim guy well enough to convince of anything...a lot of hammy overacting in his scenes that I find off putting. The regulars do their usual good work, but this isn't an episode that lends itself to acting that pops.
Message: 5.0
Apart from introducing us to Principal Snyder - who will be a thorn in the collective sides of the Scoobies for the next two years, and setting up the unfortunate Hollywood miscasting of conservative administrations as cold, unfeeling hateful people vs. the liberal good guys...(in my experience, nothing could be further from the truth than this perception...in fact the more liberal the administrator, the more they tended not to care much about their students' progress compared to how much they cared about school politics and appeasing the teacher's union)....the episode is light on message. I won't go too hard on them for Principal Synder...his role in this episode isn't all that critical. But this is a problem that's going to come back again.
Highlights:
XANDER: I can't do this!
BUFFY: Xander, come on!
XANDER: No...I can't! I have my pride! OK, I don't have a lot of my pride, but I have enough that I can't do this!"
WILLOW: Xander, a dramatic scene is the easiest way to get through this talent show...since it doesn't require any actual talent. (LOL)
SNYDER: Principal Flutie may have gone in for that sort of thing...but he was eaten. This school has quite the reputation, Mr. Giles. Suicides, murders, spontaneous cheerleader combustion. That ends now. This is going to be a whole new school - a tight ship. Clean, orderly, civil. Have to keep a watchful eye on the bad element. (looks at the Scoobies) Those three, for example...
GILES: I'm quite sure there are bigger problems in this school than...
SNYDER: ...I know their kind and I've done some digging. They're always getting into one scrape or another. Children need discipline. Principal Flutie might have said children need 'understanding' and 'love'. That's the kind of wooly-headed liberal thinking that leads to being eaten.
GILES: I'm certain it was a bit more complicated than that. (LOL)
CORDELIA: It's just such a tragedy for me! I mean, Emma was one of my best friends!
XANDER: Emily.
(and later)
CORDELIA: All I can think is...it could have been me! (LOL...ah Cordelia)
SYNDER: What are you up to, Ms. Summers?
BUFFY: Principal Snyder! I was just looking for something.
SNYDER: Mmm hmm...school hours are over, Ms. Summers, which means you should be gone.
BUFFY: And I'm leaving any minute now.
SNYDER: There are some things I will not tolerate in my school. Loitering on school grounds after hours, horrble murders with herats being removed...and also smoking. (ROTFL!!)
SID: Hey, don't get weepy eyed on my, kid. I've been alive a lot longer than a human should. Or a slayer for that matter. Although, if you wanted to cuddle up with me and offer some comfort...(he puts his dummy hand on Buffy's knee...she removes it, looking amused)
BUFFY: So that whole horny dummy thing isn't an act, is it?
SID: Nope. (LOL)
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