AOQ Review 1-9: "The Puppet Show"
Arbitrar Of Quality
threads.
BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER
Season One, Episode 9: "The Puppet Show"
(or "Learn at SHS/SHS is fun/So come to SHS/Don't walk, run!")
Writers: Dean Batali and Rob Des Hostel
Director: Ellen S. Pressman
Time to play "scene as a microcosm of an episode" again. The
opening shot of "The Puppet Show" takes us across a room full of...
well, strange, random stuff and weirdly dressed people. Initial
reaction: What the hell is this? An awful song soon takes over the
sound, and the camera comes to focus on a stage, with Cordelia
performing. Viewer reaction: Oh. Huh.
Well, that's "The Puppet Show" in a nutshell.
Actually, before we get to the "what the hell?" stage, things start
promisingly enough, with Giles enduring the questionable talents that
the school has to offer and chatting with his misfit charges. Banter
ensues ("I tried to explain that I became a librarian for the purpose
of _avoiding_ interaction with the students..."), and we're
introduced to Principal Snyder, played by Armin "Quark" Shimerman
at his sneering best. While it's hardly unusual to deal with an
antagonistic principal in a high-school show, the fact that Snyder
unreservedly hates kids may keep things interesting. (On the other
hand, it's not a good sign that Snyder keeps popping up to basically
reenact the same "I'm watching you" scene over and over
throughout this episode, and it's a little less amusing each time.)
A lot of the laughs here come from one of my favorite comedic devices:
characters repeating each other's quotes verbatim. (That happens
twice - Buffy's "In every generation..." riff and Snyder's
"Watch. And mock. And laugh.") As a bonus, this scene gets extra
metaphorical mileage out of "The Pack" - as Mrs. Quality pointed
out, a principal who wants to be your friend is liable to get "eaten
alive," albeit not quite in the same way Flutie did.
But the opening sequence also sets in motion the "what the hell is
this crap?" factor that pervades "The Puppet Show." On one
prong, there's Buffy and friends being volunteered for the talent
show. Even if we ignore the fact that a principals don't generally
have that kind of authority, it'd be easier to swallow if it served
some dramatic purpose. Preparing for/agonizing about the show is such
a minor part of the episode that the only reason I can see to include
it is that someone thought it'd be funny to make our heroes
uncomfortable, even if wasn't paid off to its full potential or
anything. Never mind whether it makes sense in the greater scheme of
things, someone thought it'd be fun and wacky, so it goes into the
script. TPS is full of jokes without context like that. It tends to
forget that just because you can do something weird or funny doesn't
mean you should.
The rest of the first half of the show concerns Morgan and his wooden
friend, basically a take on the never-popular "evil ventriloquist's
dummy" movie. Such movies don't tend, on the whole, to be
particularly good, and TPS apes that aspect faithfully for awhile. The
dummy acts a little too suspiciously animated, characters start
worrying that he's stalking them, etc. etc. It's just not a very
interesting story. At least everyone quickly focuses on the
obviously-suspicious kid, but I don't buy for a second that Xander et
al don't share Buffy's suspicions about Sid. These kids have been
attacked by vampires and giant insects and demon-robots, and they
can't accept a sentient dummy? Not a fucking chance. Anyone who's
learned to trust Buffy's intuition about the supernatural would pay
attention to her here. So why don't they? My guess is that someone
thought it was more important to give Xander funny quotables than to be
cohesive about things. Like I said, just because you can make a joke,
even a good one, doesn't mean you should. And some of them indeed
good ("the dummy Slayer?" and the entire "I am completely
inanimate!" sequence), but the laughs come at a price.
So we're maybe 2/3 of the way through the episode, and it's playing
along with a sub-standard _Buffy_ Fantasy Stock Plot homage. And then
TPS slams the viewer with a plot twist, signaling the arrival of the
"oh. Huh," stage.
As plot twists go, it's a great one, probably the most clever of the
series to date. A perfect twist should be totally unexpected but also
make total sense in retrospect, and Sid's real goals and reason for
attacking Buffy definitely make the grade. The whole series of
revelations from there is all extremely clever. The reason for
Morgan's headaches. The real meaning of Sid being "set free."
Xander continuing to suspect Sid, very reasonably. The demon still
being among them, because of the rejected brain. My only complaint is
that everyone involved should have pegged Giles as a potential target
earlier, but otherwise it's a well-crafted story.
But the problem with "The Puppet Show" is that it lives and dies by
its plotting. The previous thirty minutes were still a bore; they set
up some interesting stuff, but they forgot to be good in the meantime.
Even the ending is still more concerned with jumping from plot point to
plot point than in getting maximum value out of the individual segment
(not much getting to know Sid as a character, bringing up past Slayers
but not doing anything with it, not much building of suspense anywhere,
etc.). The ideal plot twist has another ingredient that's missing
here: it should come on top of something that's already interesting.
Whereas once one looks past the surprises, TPS feels hollow. Oh. Huh.
Short takes:
1) Does anyone still want to try to argue that Cordelia isn't being
portrayed as a moron? Sure, the character is basically comic relief,
but her best scenes (i.e. concern about her hair) don't require for
her to be stupid, just concerned about stupid things.
2) The scene that plays over the ending credits? I'm with Snyder. I
don't get it.
So....
One-sentence summary: Excellent twists and tight story, bland
execution.
AOQ rating: Decent
[Season One ratings so far:
1) "Welcome To The Hellmouth" - Good
2) "The Harvest" - Decent
3) "Witch" - Excellent
4) "Teacher's Pet" - Decent
5) "Never Kill A Boy On The First Date" - Decent
6) "The Pack" - Excellent
7) "Angel" - Good
8) "I Robot... You Jane" - Weak
9) "The Puppet Show" - Decent]
kenm47
and suspense. I'm having some difficulty with all the negatives.
We're still dealing within the framework of commercial TV in 1997. For
that, I think it was a marvel, and another terrific horror movie homage
with a clever twist on expectations.
Yes Cordelia is still self-absorbed and silly, but a riot. The "hair"
moment let us know that Giles and Xander chat about things, and that
Xander can be a little more perceptive than he seems. The scene with
Xander chatting with Cordy over the ballerina's death demonstrated how
Cordy can always see the world through very special Cordy glasses.
Sid, what to be said abut Sid (other than how he always looked like a
wooden Xander to me)? Well how about that he's got more in common with
our Slayer than anyone else we've met yet. He's a good guy, and HAS to
hunt demons, for what ultimate purpose? Sid's demise. Sid's a twist on
being a Slayer.
Oh yes, we also have a moment where Xander actually saves Giles' butt,
well his skull at least.
Funny episode. More character development. Pathos. More high school
hell, and a new menacing Principal who will not be touchy feely because
that way leads to being eaten, and who does not seem charmed by our
little group of world savers..
I can get a difference of opinion over "I Robot." TPS? I don't see it.
Mind you I do not know what was being said at the time first run, but
I think I liked it right out of the box.
Maybe I'm just more easily amused.
Ken (Brooklyn)
Mike Zeares
Arbitrar Of Quality wrote:
>
> 2) The scene that plays over the ending credits? I'm with Snyder. I
> don't get it.
This, more than anything else in your reviews so far, suggests to me
that BtVS maybe isn't going to be your Favorite Show Ever. I laughed
so hard the first time it aired that I aggravated an injury. It was
the perfect ending to BtVS's first pure comedy episode.
I can't help wondering if Xander's line about being "Keyser Soze'd" is
going to be one of those things that utterly baffles future
generations, like some of the jokes in Shakespeare or pop culture
references in Bugs Bunny cartoons. It's not like The Usual Suspects
has really had much of an effect on pop culture.
-- Mike Zeares
Don Sample
"Mike Zeares" <mze...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> Arbitrar Of Quality wrote:
> >
> > 2) The scene that plays over the ending credits? I'm with Snyder. I
> > don't get it.
>
> This, more than anything else in your reviews so far, suggests to me
> that BtVS maybe isn't going to be your Favorite Show Ever. I laughed
> so hard the first time it aired that I aggravated an injury. It was
> the perfect ending to BtVS's first pure comedy episode.
I just found that last scene painful, and you can't find too many people
who list Buffy higher on their BEST SHOW EVER lists than me.
I find I empathize too much with the characters to watch something like
that, and find it funny. I'm too busy feeling their humiliation.
--
Quando omni flunkus moritati
Visit the Buffy Body Count at <http://homepage.mac.com/dsample/>
Mike Zeares
Don Sample wrote:
> In article <1137648120.6...@g49g2000cwa.googlegroups.com>,
>
> I just found that last scene painful, and you can't find too many people
> who list Buffy higher on their BEST SHOW EVER lists than me.
>
> I find I empathize too much with the characters to watch something like
> that, and find it funny. I'm too busy feeling their humiliation.
Yeah, it was over-the-top for me to say that, although I wasn't really
serious. But most comments I've seen over the years have been on how
high-larious that scene is. And I guess I was anticipating the same
reaction from the Arbitrar.
Now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure that I've always watched it
as the *actors* doing "bad acting," rather than the characters failing
miserably. I'm outside the moment, instead if in there with them.
Well, the whole ep was played for laughs, pretty much.
-- Mike Zeares
Daniel Damouth
news:1137642069....@o13g2000cwo.googlegroups.com:
> A reminder: Please avoid spoilers for later episodes in these
> review threads.
> Time to play "scene as a microcosm of an episode" again. The
> opening shot of "The Puppet Show" takes us across a room full
> of... well, strange, random stuff and weirdly dressed people.
> Initial reaction: What the hell is this? An awful song soon takes
> over the sound, and the camera comes to focus on a stage, with
> Cordelia performing. Viewer reaction: Oh. Huh.
You didn't think it was funny how self-absorbed and deluded Cordelia
was, and how suffering Giles was?
[...]
(On the other hand, it's not a good sign that Snyder
> keeps popping up to basically reenact the same "I'm watching you"
> scene over and over throughout this episode, and it's a little
> less amusing each time.)
It was intended as a red herring, I think. I loved the backlit scene
with all the light shining through his ears. Creepy or funny,
depending on the viewer.
[...]
> But the opening sequence also sets in motion the "what the hell is
> this crap?" factor that pervades "The Puppet Show." On one
> prong, there's Buffy and friends being volunteered for the talent
> show. Even if we ignore the fact that a principals don't
> generally have that kind of authority, it'd be easier to swallow
> if it served some dramatic purpose. Preparing for/agonizing about
> the show is such a minor part of the episode that the only reason
> I can see to include it is that someone thought it'd be funny to
> make our heroes uncomfortable, even if wasn't paid off to its full
> potential or anything.
I have no idea what you mean. The friends being sentenced to be in
the show served no dramatic purpose? It kept them in proximity to
the puppet, and Cordelia, and the Principal, and Giles, and allowed
the final surrealistic scene on the stage (before the epilogue) to be
explainable. It was a lucky coincidence, or a plot contrivance if
you like.
> Never mind whether it makes sense in the
> greater scheme of things, someone thought it'd be fun and wacky,
> so it goes into the script. TPS is full of jokes without context
> like that. It tends to forget that just because you can do
> something weird or funny doesn't mean you should.
I don't know what this means.
> The rest of the first half of the show concerns Morgan and his
> wooden friend, basically a take on the never-popular "evil
> ventriloquist's dummy" movie. Such movies don't tend, on the
> whole, to be particularly good, and TPS apes that aspect
> faithfully for awhile. The dummy acts a little too suspiciously
> animated, characters start worrying that he's stalking them, etc.
> etc. It's just not a very interesting story.
I agree that this part of the plot was a bit formulaic and thus not
that interesting. But, it's shot through with funny moments and
characterization. Joss has often said things like he'll sacrifice
plot for character.
> At least everyone
> quickly focuses on the obviously-suspicious kid, but I don't buy
> for a second that Xander et al don't share Buffy's suspicions
> about Sid. These kids have been attacked by vampires and giant
> insects and demon-robots, and they can't accept a sentient dummy?
> Not a fucking chance. Anyone who's learned to trust Buffy's
> intuition about the supernatural would pay attention to her here.
Well, it's only the ninth episode. It took much longer for Scully to
start to believe Mulder's crazy theories.
You didn't mention my favorite moment, when Buffy gently says "let
me", but Sid does the deed himself and dies, leaving a very sad
Buffy. IMO, this is the first truly sad moment in the series.
I tried to respond to the rest, but I don't understand your viewpoint
well enough. Maybe you were just expecting something else.
-Dan Damouth
JJ Karhu
<tsm...@wildmail.com> wrote:
>A reminder: Please avoid spoilers for later episodes in these review
>threads.
>
>
>BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER
>Season One, Episode 9: "The Puppet Show"
>(or "Learn at SHS/SHS is fun/So come to SHS/Don't walk, run!")
>Writers: Dean Batali and Rob Des Hostel
>Director: Ellen S. Pressman
>A lot of the laughs here come from one of my favorite comedic devices:
>characters repeating each other's quotes verbatim. (That happens
>twice - Buffy's "In every generation..." riff and Snyder's
>"Watch. And mock. And laugh.")
Don't forget the pained expression and pause before he realizes that
he has to finish the sentence in a preposition ("And laugh . . . at.")
// JJ
Matthias Wolf
[Snyder]
>I loved the backlit scene
>with all the light shining through his ears. Creepy or funny,
>depending on the viewer.
Also an hommage to a certain character Armin Shimerman played on
ST:DS9.
--
Matthias Wolf
Matthias Wolf
>
>Arbitrar Of Quality wrote:
>>
>> 2) The scene that plays over the ending credits? I'm with Snyder. I
>> don't get it.
>
>This, more than anything else in your reviews so far, suggests to me
>that BtVS maybe isn't going to be your Favorite Show Ever. I laughed
>so hard the first time it aired that I aggravated an injury. It was
>the perfect ending to BtVS's first pure comedy episode.
But it is *not* pure comedy. It has a lot of comedy, especially a lot
of meta jokes (which indeed is a first), but Sid as a tragic character
is taken seriously.
And while I agree that the epilog is hilarious, there's also a twist
to it. For AoQ, this might be a SPOILER, therefore I use ROT13 here:
Gur cynl vf Brqvchf Erk, juvpu qrnyf jvgu n cebcurpl trggvat
shysvyyrq, orpnhfr bs gur irel nggrzcg gb nibvq vg. Fbhaqf snzvyvne?
--
Matthias Wolf
drifter
It also has one of my favorite Willow scenes ever: Willow panics and
runs off the stage.
--
Kel
"I reject your reality, and substitute my own."
kenm47
as the *actors* doing "bad acting," rather than the characters failing
miserably. I'm outside the moment, instead if in there with them.
Well, the whole ep was played for laughs, pretty much.
-- Mike Zeares"
I pretty much thought of that scene as a throwaway over the credits
(Joss on the commentary says the station only allowed it the first time
the ep aired). No big deal. Not a riot, but clever enough showing how
outsiders Xander and Willow have difficulty before the big crowd.
Buffy's just there.
I figure if there's anything to gripe about, it's the last scene of the
ep itself with the curtain rising on the beheaded demon and Buffy
cradling Sid. Never did tell us how Giles et al explained that.
Ken (Brooklyn)
kenm47
ST:DS9.
--
Matthias Wolf"
Thanks. I was going to say that, particularly as DS9 was still on the
air first run at the time. Another one of those now pop culture
footnotes for info we all knew at the time.
Ken (Brooklyn)
Daniel Damouth
news:1137675267....@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com:
> I figure if there's anything to gripe about, it's the last scene
> of the ep itself with the curtain rising on the beheaded demon and
> Buffy cradling Sid. Never did tell us how Giles et al explained
> that.
Well, a dramatic scene, presumably. Avant-garde. It is a talent show,
after all.
-Dan Damouth
MBan...@gmail.com
didn't even watch them all back then as S1 to me was hit or miss
without much caring involved either way. It wasn't until later that the
show became a Tuesday night at 8:00pm standing appointment with my TV
set.
I own S3-S7 of Buffy, and I recently borrowed S1 from my sister (who
has all 7) to watch it from the beginning again. Up until last week I'd
never seen TPS. Somehow that one episode has always eluded me.
On first viewing I got a kick out of it. I honestly think it was one of
the better earliest episodes. I felt bad when Sid collapsed on the
demon after stabbing him in the heart. They did enough story on the
character that it definitely made an impact when he died.
Also, those ventriloquist dummies always wig me out, so it was a nice
twist that they made it a good guy.
The scene over the credits gave me the giggles. So I would give this ep
a "good" over a "decent" but I can understand the "decent" rating.
kenm47
terrific misleading throwaway joke:
"Willow: (sits behind Buffy) I think dummies are cute. You don't?
Buffy: Uuuhhh. They give me the wig. Ever since I was little.
Willow: What happened?
Buffy: I saw a dummy. It gave me the wig. There really wasn't a story
there."
Ken (Brooklyn)
Don Sample
"kenm47" <ken...@ix.netcom.com> wrote:
An Avant-garde set piece. Static performance art if you will.
Arbitrar Of Quality
> Arbitrar Of Quality wrote:
> >
> > 2) The scene that plays over the ending credits? I'm with Snyder. I
> > don't get it.
>
> This, more than anything else in your reviews so far, suggests to me
> that BtVS maybe isn't going to be your Favorite Show Ever.
Maybe. That's part of the fun in coming in as a blank slate, yes? I'd
decided to start writing reviews before I'd even watched the first
episode, so there was a chance it'd be a long string of gushings, or a
long string of "Weak" and "Bad" ratings (accompanied constant reminders
that no, I really wasn't trolling).
I was cringing for the same reasons Don was, while also being confused
as to whether the scene was "real," since they'd already done their
unintentional avant garde "act" and we never found out what they'd
actually been planning. I prefer the idea of the scene being an
outside-of-continuity tribute to bad acting, so unless a writer (or a
future episode) contradicts it, I think that's how I'll think of it.
> I can't help wondering if Xander's line about being "Keyser Soze'd" is
> going to be one of those things that utterly baffles future
> generations, like some of the jokes in Shakespeare or pop culture
> references in Bugs Bunny cartoons. It's not like The Usual Suspects
> has really had much of an effect on pop culture.
It'd be too bad. But then again, during the period when TUS references
were more common, most of them gave away the ending. If the movie had
changed the face of pop culture, the ending would've been forever
Rosebud'd [or _Crying Game_'d, if you prefer] for future generations.
-AOQ
Arbitrar Of Quality
> > But the opening sequence also sets in motion the "what the hell is
> > this crap?" factor that pervades "The Puppet Show." On one
> > prong, there's Buffy and friends being volunteered for the talent
> > show. Even if we ignore the fact that a principals don't
> > generally have that kind of authority, it'd be easier to swallow
> > if it served some dramatic purpose. Preparing for/agonizing about
> > the show is such a minor part of the episode that the only reason
> > I can see to include it is that someone thought it'd be funny to
> > make our heroes uncomfortable, even if wasn't paid off to its full
> > potential or anything.
>
> I have no idea what you mean. The friends being sentenced to be in
> the show served no dramatic purpose? It kept them in proximity to
> the puppet, and Cordelia, and the Principal, and Giles, and allowed
> the final surrealistic scene on the stage (before the epilogue) to be
> explainable. It was a lucky coincidence, or a plot contrivance if
> you like.
Wouldn't they have been hanging around anyway if they were trying to
keep an eye on Morgan? Other than the ending and maybe one short
discussion mid-show, the fact that the three had "volunteered" for the
show was pretty much a non-factor throughout the episode, which seems
strange given that it's rife with possibilities for (good or bad)
comedy.
> > Never mind whether it makes sense in the
> > greater scheme of things, someone thought it'd be fun and wacky,
> > so it goes into the script. TPS is full of jokes without context
> > like that. It tends to forget that just because you can do
> > something weird or funny doesn't mean you should.
>
> I don't know what this means.
Well, I tried to explain it the best I could. My examples were the
volunteering for the show and everyone's skepticism about Buffy. The
latter is the best example: I did think Xander's antics were amusing
(and "redrum!" almost made me forget that I loathe the movie version of
_The Shining_), but I was also bothered by them in the greater scheme
of things, since I just don't understand why he wouldn't take the
possibility that Buffy's right seriously. The joke is funny in
isolation, but it doesn't fit the circumstances.
> I tried to respond to the rest, but I don't understand your viewpoint
> well enough.
I does my best.
-AOQ
kenm47
amusing
(and "redrum!" almost made me forget that I loathe the movie version of
_The Shining_), but I was also bothered by them in the greater scheme
of things, since I just don't understand why he wouldn't take the
possibility that Buffy's right seriously."
I get what you're saying here, but if one loves the product enough
that's the kind of gaffe that's really small in the scheme of things.
It's a problem for any TV detective (say Monk or Alyson on Medium for
example). If what they say is always correct, always to be taken as
scripture, always infallible, many shows would be very short.
Here Xander probably should have believed, but we cut him slack
because, well because he's Xander often big-hearted but small minded
(in various meanings of that), because an inanimate object "alive" is
somehow harder for him to believe in than "living" human looking
vampires or big seductive bugs.
Sometimes the show's need for a story does outweigh the writers'
collective ability to stay constantly on point. But we are still
talking a first year, when no second year was assured, and a creative
team trying something actually new.
The laughs made up for the gaffes in my opinion. :-) It still does not
diminish this meeting of Chosen Ones and a real fun hour of TV (well 44
minutes).
I'm sorry you didn't enjoy it more. I was hoping would be a fun bounce
for you after IRYJ and Angel.
On to "Nightmares" then! You're in the stretch for Season 1.
Ken (Brooklyn)
John Briggs
> Mike Zeares wrote:
>> Arbitrar Of Quality wrote:
>>>
>>> 2) The scene that plays over the ending credits? I'm with Snyder.
>>> I don't get it.
>>
>> This, more than anything else in your reviews so far, suggests to me
>> that BtVS maybe isn't going to be your Favorite Show Ever.
>
> Maybe. That's part of the fun in coming in as a blank slate, yes?
> I'd decided to start writing reviews before I'd even watched the first
> episode, so there was a chance it'd be a long string of gushings, or a
> long string of "Weak" and "Bad" ratings (accompanied constant
> reminders that no, I really wasn't trolling).
>
> I was cringing for the same reasons Don was, while also being confused
> as to whether the scene was "real," since they'd already done their
> unintentional avant garde "act" and we never found out what they'd
> actually been planning. I prefer the idea of the scene being an
> outside-of-continuity tribute to bad acting, so unless a writer (or a
> future episode) contradicts it, I think that's how I'll think of it.
It's "Oedipus Rex" - in the first script it was "A Streetcar Named Desire"
:-)
I think the simple explanation is that the episode came in long, so they had
to play it over the credits. It's not in the re-runs. The script book has
been published, so you can check the final shooting script.
--
John Briggs
Mel
And yes, I laugh because I absolutely hate performing in front of an audience and can *totally* empathize!
Mel
Daniel Damouth
@g49g2000cwa.googlegroups.com:
> Also, those ventriloquist dummies always wig me out,
What happened?
-Dan Damouth
Matthias Wolf
Yep, as I said, quite a lot of meta jokes. And the one above gets me
every time. Another one:
Xander: But we have talent. We can do stuff. Buffy, uh...
Buffy: (also sitting now) What am I gonna do? Slay vampires on stage?
Willow: Maybe in a funny way!
--
Matthias Wolf
arnold kim
"Daniel Damouth" <dam...@san.rr.com> wrote in message
news:Xns9750C11E7B82...@66.75.164.119...
I'm guessing he saw a dummy, it wigged him out. Not much of a story there.
Arnold Kim
MBangel10 (Melissa)
> "Daniel Damouth" <dam...@san.rr.com> wrote in message
> news:Xns9750C11E7B82...@66.75.164.119...
>
>>MBan...@gmail.com wrote in news:1137681573.933470.324270
>>@g49g2000cwa.googlegroups.com:
>>
>>
>>>Also, those ventriloquist dummies always wig me out,
>>
>>What happened?
>
>
>
> Arnold Kim
>
>
You know, I didn't even think about that line when I wrote it. LOL
arnold kim
"MBangel10 (Melissa)" <mban...@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:a7WdneUtibhv-03e...@comcast.com...
Apologies. I wasn't even really looking at the attributions there...
Arnold Kim
Matthias Wolf
>It's "Oedipus Rex" - in the first script it was "A Streetcar Named Desire"
>:-)
Which leads to the question, who did the change and was it a
deliberate choice (I think so).
Another thing I recall from this first draft was the principal's name
being Mr. Miller. Now, Snyder makes a lot more sense, given that the
touchy-feely one was called Flutie.
--
Matthias Wolf
John Briggs
That would have been Joss. But the point at issue, the placement of the
scene over the end credits was just a timing issue. According to "The
Watcher's Guide", Willow's stage-fright was not in the script. This can
easily be checked in the script book.
--
John Briggs
rrh...@acme.com
Arbitrar Of Quality wrote:
> Mike Zeares wrote:
> > Arbitrar Of Quality wrote:
> > >
> > > 2) The scene that plays over the ending credits? I'm with Snyder. I
> > > don't get it.
> >
> > This, more than anything else in your reviews so far, suggests to me
> > that BtVS maybe isn't going to be your Favorite Show Ever.
>
> Maybe. That's part of the fun in coming in as a blank slate, yes? I'd
> decided to start writing reviews before I'd even watched the first
> episode, so there was a chance it'd be a long string of gushings, or a
> long string of "Weak" and "Bad" ratings (accompanied constant reminders
> that no, I really wasn't trolling).
For whatever it is worth, I own on DVD all of Buffy (including the
movie), Angel, Firefly, and Serenity. I think this qualifies me as a
fan[1]. So far I have found your reviews pretty near spot on. I
belong to the school of thought that Buffy took a while to hit its
stride. I'm not quite sure exactly when I would say this occurs:
probably later in season 1. But certainly not with this episode, in my
opinion.
Richard R. Hershberger
[1] As I have mentioned elsewhere, I came late to the show and the
first episode I ever watched in its entirety was "Normal Again". If
you stick with your project this will eventually tell you something,
but it will be a while.
William George Ferguson
<tsm...@wildmail.com> wrote:
>A reminder: Please avoid spoilers for later episodes in these review
>threads.
>
>
>BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER
>Season One, Episode 9: "The Puppet Show"
>(or "Learn at SHS/SHS is fun/So come to SHS/Don't walk, run!")
>Writers: Dean Batali and Rob Des Hostel
>Director: Ellen S. Pressman
I'm weighing in late, since I went to bed early last night. From the
rapid response time of others, you may guess that people were waiting to
see what you made of this one. You'd be right.
>Actually, before we get to the "what the hell?" stage, things start
>promisingly enough, with Giles enduring the questionable talents that
>the school has to offer and chatting with his misfit charges. Banter
>ensues ("I tried to explain that I became a librarian for the purpose
>of _avoiding_ interaction with the students..."), and we're
>introduced to Principal Snyder, played by Armin "Quark" Shimerman
>at his sneering best. While it's hardly unusual to deal with an
>antagonistic principal in a high-school show, the fact that Snyder
>unreservedly hates kids may keep things interesting. (On the other
>hand, it's not a good sign that Snyder keeps popping up to basically
>reenact the same "I'm watching you" scene over and over
>throughout this episode, and it's a little less amusing each time.)
It wasn't designed as amusing, rather as suspicious. At this point, us
folks watching for the first time knew nothing about Snyder, including
whether or not he'd recur or be a one-off. As someone else said, the
writers were using him as a red herring. My aged memory from 9 years ago
is that by the 3rd (I think) time he pops up in the ep, I discounted him
as a suspect, because it was being telegraphed so strongly that he was.
>The rest of the first half of the show concerns Morgan and his wooden
>friend, basically a take on the never-popular "evil ventriloquist's
>dummy" movie. Such movies don't tend, on the whole, to be
>particularly good, and TPS apes that aspect faithfully for awhile. The
>dummy acts a little too suspiciously animated, characters start
>worrying that he's stalking them, etc. etc. It's just not a very
>interesting story. At least everyone quickly focuses on the
>obviously-suspicious kid, but I don't buy for a second that Xander et
>al don't share Buffy's suspicions about Sid. These kids have been
>attacked by vampires and giant insects and demon-robots, and they
>can't accept a sentient dummy? Not a fucking chance. Anyone who's
>learned to trust Buffy's intuition about the supernatural would pay
>attention to her here. So why don't they? My guess is that someone
>thought it was more important to give Xander funny quotables than to be
>cohesive about things. Like I said, just because you can make a joke,
>even a good one, doesn't mean you should. And some of them indeed
>good ("the dummy Slayer?" and the entire "I am completely
>inanimate!" sequence), but the laughs come at a price.
>
>So we're maybe 2/3 of the way through the episode, and it's playing
>along with a sub-standard _Buffy_ Fantasy Stock Plot homage. And then
>TPS slams the viewer with a plot twist, signaling the arrival of the
>"oh. Huh," stage.
>
>As plot twists go, it's a great one, probably the most clever of the
>series to date. A perfect twist should be totally unexpected but also
>make total sense in retrospect, and Sid's real goals and reason for
>attacking Buffy definitely make the grade. The whole series of
>revelations from there is all extremely clever. The reason for
>Morgan's headaches. The real meaning of Sid being "set free."
>Xander continuing to suspect Sid, very reasonably. The demon still
>being among them, because of the rejected brain. My only complaint is
>that everyone involved should have pegged Giles as a potential target
>earlier, but otherwise it's a well-crafted story.
>But the problem with "The Puppet Show" is that it lives and dies by
>its plotting. The previous thirty minutes were still a bore; they set
>up some interesting stuff, but they forgot to be good in the meantime.
>Even the ending is still more concerned with jumping from plot point to
>plot point than in getting maximum value out of the individual segment
>(not much getting to know Sid as a character, bringing up past Slayers
>but not doing anything with it, not much building of suspense anywhere,
>etc.). The ideal plot twist has another ingredient that's missing
>here: it should come on top of something that's already interesting.
>Whereas once one looks past the surprises, TPS feels hollow. Oh. Huh.
Without being spoilery about it, this story structure happens in some
other episodes, although not enough that it becomes recognizable or
predictable (unlike, say, the 'surprise twist' at the end of L&O episodes
which happen so routinely (every ep) that they can't be a 'surprise').
The problem has been noted before that the gangbusters twist ending needs
the set-up to work, but the length and boredom of the set-up detracts
from the ending. I'm not sure there's a perfect solution to this.
> Short takes:
>1) Does anyone still want to try to argue that Cordelia isn't being
>portrayed as a moron? Sure, the character is basically comic relief,
>but her best scenes (i.e. concern about her hair) don't require for
>her to be stupid, just concerned about stupid things.
>
>2) The scene that plays over the ending credits? I'm with Snyder. I
>don't get it.
As you said in response to another post, it's really more a meta-moment.
>So....
>
>One-sentence summary: Excellent twists and tight story, bland
>execution.
>
>AOQ rating: Decent
>
>[Season One ratings so far:
>1) "Welcome To The Hellmouth" - Good
>2) "The Harvest" - Decent
>3) "Witch" - Excellent
>4) "Teacher's Pet" - Decent
>5) "Never Kill A Boy On The First Date" - Decent
>6) "The Pack" - Excellent
>7) "Angel" - Good
>8) "I Robot... You Jane" - Weak
>9) "The Puppet Show" - Decent]
Translating your ranking to a 1-5 scale (presuming that you actually have
a rank below 'weak' that you haven't felt necessary to use yet), your
averaging ranking of the first season so far is 3.56 (or 'Decent Plus'),
which, to be honest, is right about where the 1st season has generally
been ranked (but then, I'm a known numbers geek, that's the way I see the
world).
--
HERBERT
1996 - 1997
Beloved Mascot
Delightful Meal
He fed the Pack
A little
Clairel
Mike Zeares wrote:
> Arbitrar Of Quality wrote:
> >
> > don't get it.
>
> so hard the first time it aired that I aggravated an injury. It was
> the perfect ending to BtVS's first pure comedy episode.
--I agree completely. It was absolutely hilarious. One of the real
treasures of season 1 (not my favorite season), and worth buying the
DVDs for this scene alone, if nothing else.
Question for AOQ: what sorts of things do tickle your sense of humor?
Do you find Monty Python funny, for example?
> I can't help wondering if Xander's line about being "Keyser Soze'd" is
> going to be one of those things that utterly baffles future
> generations, like some of the jokes in Shakespeare or pop culture
> references in Bugs Bunny cartoons. It's not like The Usual Suspects
> has really had much of an effect on pop culture.
--Noooo, don't say that! "The Usual Suspects" is immortal!
Clairel
Arbitrar Of Quality
> (On the other
> >hand, it's not a good sign that Snyder keeps popping up to basically
> >reenact the same "I'm watching you" scene over and over
> >throughout this episode, and it's a little less amusing each time.)
>
> It wasn't designed as amusing, rather as suspicious. At this point, us
> folks watching for the first time knew nothing about Snyder, including
> whether or not he'd recur or be a one-off. As someone else said, the
> writers were using him as a red herring. My aged memory from 9 years ago
> is that by the 3rd (I think) time he pops up in the ep, I discounted him
> as a suspect, because it was being telegraphed so strongly that he was.
That's actually a really good point, and something I didn't take into
account since I kinda knew that Snyder would be a recurring character.
> Translating your ranking to a 1-5 scale (presuming that you actually have
> a rank below 'weak' that you haven't felt necessary to use yet), your
> averaging ranking of the first season so far is 3.56 (or 'Decent Plus'),
> which, to be honest, is right about where the 1st season has generally
> been ranked (but then, I'm a known numbers geek, that's the way I see the
> world).
Well, I was planning to do a series-so-far breakdown of ratings at the
end of each season, so enjoy. Or feel free to do such things yourself
whenever your inner numbers geek is so inclined.
-AOQ
