Act Three
11JJ) "Xander, we each had four classes with her last year!" TAKING BLAME: See 11S.
11KK) "...reality is shaped, even...created by our perception." THE PHYSICS OF INVISIBILITY: "Interestingly enough, Marcie Ross's invisibility is discovered by Giles to have a physical cause whose effects have been amplified by the mystical energy of the Hellmouth. Specifically, one interpretation of quantum physics states that the very process of observing something will change the thing observed. This ordinarily only means that humans observing the behavior of subatomic particles will effect their position or velocity. But on the Hellmouth, not observing the human-sized Marcie Ross made her disappear..."--Masquerade, "Invisible Girl" Analysis, from http://www.atpobtvs.com See 11FF and 11NN.
11LL) "Well, just because the story's about him, doesn't necessarily mean he's the hero, right?" METANARRATION: This is a metanarrative statement, because, although Buffy is the "hero" of the series, her character is not the one who is in the forefront of this episode.--Rahael, Wed, 10/30/02 at 09:49:02, paraphrased by Rob
11MM) "Why can't he be both? I mean, he did do some things that are pretty heroic." HERO/VILLAIN: This line repeats one of the main themes of Buffy, namely that it is impossible to lump people into groups according to some of their attributes. Cordy, for example, seems on the surface to be a classic high school bitch (see 1N), but in this episode we learn that there is a lot more to her than that--she actually has depth! No human is all good or all bad (we will later learn this about some demons, too); even the good people on this show have dark sides. See 2W.
11NN) ...and watches as it becomes translucent and then transparent. THE INVISIBLE OUTSIDER: "Of course, a pretty big theme [of the episode] is invisibility. Outsiders, like Marcie become 'invisible'. Not only 'invisible' to the people around...[her, but] invisible to...[her]self when...[she] look[s] in the mirror...[Her] real nature becomes invisible [along with her body. T]he only image..[she] can find of...[her]self is a distorted prejudiced one--that of Shylock the Jew in The Merchant of Venice (see 11H). We can see in the flashbacks that Marcie slowly internalizes her invisibility. Other peoples' perceptions of her become true for her. She has no body left. Interestingly, her revenge on Cordelia is on Cordy's body, very physical, very visible. It's almost as if she has grown to hate all those who are 'seen', all that can be felt."--Rahael, 10/30/02 at 09:49:02
11OO) "And I know you're very strong..." SELF-INTEREST: It's incredible how effective Cordy is at maintaining her own self-interest. Although, in front of others, she feels the need to mock and deride Buffy about her peculiar strengths, she feels no compunctions about coming to Buffy in order to beg her to use these same strengths in order to protect her.
11PP) "Is she really wearing Laura Ashley?" POP CULTURE TIME: Laura Ashley is a clothing designer whose work is known for being very conventional, plain, and, let's face it, dorky. Cordelia and her friends wouldn't be caught dead wearing a Laura Ashley product.
11QQ) "They take your life and they suck it out of you!" METAPHORISHNESS: This short scene is not only interesting as it gives us a chance to watch Marcie descend further and further into madness, but for this line of Marcie's, which is a "rare direct parallel between Cordelia's shallow clique and vampires...[This] issue...was made very overt in the original film, but...[usually isn't] stressed in the...series."--KdS, Thurs, 10/24/02 at 04:58:18, with some additions by Rob
11RR) "Nothing is keeping me from the Bronze tonight." THE BRAVERY OF CORDELIA: Cordelia's arguably shallow bravery (in other words, her desire to be crowned May Queen outweighs her desire to be safe) is again repeated in the Angel episode, Room W/ A Vu, when she refuses to move out of her rent-controlled apartment, even though it is haunted. By that point, even though she has grown a great deal as a character, she still retains her innate desire for the finer things in life. Invisible girl or no invisible girl, nothing will deter Cordy from being crowned queen; ghost or no ghost, Cordy will keep her apartment. This drive will also help Cordelia when she allows it to be translated into a drive to defend herself against all threats, and even protect others.
11SS) "If I'm not crowned tonight, then, then Marcie's won!" REALVERSE FORESHADOWY GOODNESS: This line has an interesting link to the real world, for in tone and meaning, it stands as an ironic parallel to the call taken up by many Americans after 9/11 (and in previous terrorist situations), that if we don't carry on with our lives, the terrorists have won. This parallel is, of course, made all the more ironic due to the fact that, in Cordy's case, this line is stated in a typically self-centered manner, whereas this sentiment is usually meant to be inspiring to victims of actual disasters. The funny thing is, in Cordy's demented little world, she has been the victim of an actual disaster!
11TT) "Way eviler than me!" SELF-IDENTIFICATION: Note that Cordelia does not say that Marcie is evil and she is not; instead, she says that Marcie is more evil than she. This phrasing choice indicates that Cordy herself is well aware of how badly she treats people.--KdS, Thurs, 10/24/02 at 04:58:18, paraphrased by Rob
11UU) "I can be surrounded by people and be completely alone." THE HONESTY OF CORDELIA: Say of Cordelia what you will, but one thing of which you cannot accuse her is being dishonest, at least in what she tells other people about themselves. Although her blunt words can sometimes come out as unfeeling and hurtful, they spring from her inability to be anything but brutally honest with everyone she meets. She does not use euphemisms, or soften any blows for anybody. But this does not spring from a desire to be hurtful, but an inability to filter out, in her brain, when a white lie would be more fitting. The best indication of this occurs in Earshot, when Buffy gains the ability to read people's minds; whereas there is a great dichotomy between what is thought and what is spoken by every other character, Cordelia's words and thoughts match up exactly. Interestingly, she expects this same sort of treatment, herself, which becomes clearer on Angel: the Series. In the first season episode Eternity, Angel becomes transformed into Angelus for a short time, and tells Cordy that she is a lousy actress. When Angel later tries to deny that these feelings were real, she does not let him. She demands that he not lie to her; dishonesty is something she only expects of her enemies. In the fourth season's Slouching Towards Bethlehem, when she returns to the earthly plane sans memory and the Angel Investigations gang try to hide the truth about demons from her, she finds herself incapable of trusting them, once she learns the truth. She stays with Connor, because he is the only one who was honest with her, even admitting that he once held a knife to her throat. This scene with Buffy is the first time we see Cordy not only being honest about others, but about herself. That is one of the biggest contradictions of Cordy's character at this point--she feels she has the right to speak honestly of others, all the while hiding behind a facade herself. She perhaps senses a kinship with Buffy, although she may not even realize why (see 1N). When she finds herself alone with Buffy, and away from everyone else's ears she can open up. In many ways, she feels totally safe with Buffy, not only because she knows that she is strong (see 11OO) , but because no other students would believe Buffy if she told them that Cordy opened up to her, anyway. Either way, this episode does constitute the first baby steps Cordelia takes to being a good, more human character. See 30AAA.
11VV) "Your secret dies with me." FORESHADOWY GOODNESS: This is a promise Buffy might not have to keep to long, since she dies in the very next episode, Prophecy Girl. This is only one of this episode's clues to the events of Prophecy Girl (see 11EE, 11YY, and 11DDD).
11WW) "You were popular? In what alternate universe?" LINKAGE: Cordelia will herself create an alternate universe in the third season's The Wish, when she tells the vengeance demon, Anyanka, that she wishes Buffy had never come to Sunnydale.
11XX) "It's gas." THE WACKY WORLD O' SCIENCE: "[N]atural gas is very dangerous in poorly ventilated rooms because it is heavier than normal air and...explosive when oxygen supplies are limited. Because it is both colorless and odorless, chemicals are added to make it smell bad so that leaks can be detected early and...deaths from [both] asphyxiation and catastrophic explosions avoided. It is not unusual for an isolated depression along a natural gas pipeline to fill with gas from a minor leak. Any source of static electricity natural or manmade can cause a whole valley to explode."--Cactus Watcher, Thurs, 10/24/02 at 06:52:03
Act Four
11YY) Cordelia and Buffy are tied to the May King and Queen thrones. LAMB TO THE SLAUGHTER: Cordelia and Buffy, both being tied up to the identical thrones, is not only meant to again show a parallel between the two (see 1N). It also foreshadows the next episode, Prophecy Girl, when Buffy will be "all dressed up in her ritual dress...[as Cordelia is now.]" The dance the characters go to at the end of that episode is the Spring Fling. "Perhaps we are being pointed to the real 'May Queen,' the Lamb, being readied for the holy sacrifice. Because, what does...[Buffy] say to the Master, when she comes back to life? 'I may be dead, but I'm still pretty!'"--Rahael, Wed, 10/30/02 at 09:49:02, with some additions by Rob
11ZZ) "...I thought you would understand my vision, but you're just like them." MARCIE TWISTED: Marcie's dementia has reached a point of self-centeredness to, ironically, rival that of Cordelia's. Marcie is so involved in her own pain that she can't understand that others feel this way, too (see 11K and 11BBB). Just as Cordelia, for a short time, saw a possible kindred spirit in Buffy, so does Marcie. At first, Marcie notices that Buffy is also an outsider in school, treated poorly by Cordelia, etc., but, in the end, Marcie is in this only for herself. By losing her link with reality, she is alone in her own little world, where she is the victim and everyone else are her tormentors.
11AAA) "...will take the sight of the May Queen to their graves." LITERATURE CORNER: Marcie's planned torture of Cordelia is similar to the scene in William Goldman's fantasy novel, The Princess Bride (later turned into a blockbuster movie starring Robin Wright, Cary Elwes, Billy Crystal, and Andre the Giant), in which the hero, Westley, suggests this as a suitable punishment for the evil Prince Humperdinck:
"'We have our special tricks with swords...The first thing you lose will be your feet...The left, then the right. Below the ankle. You will have stumps available to use within six months. Then your hands, at the wrist. They heal somewhat quicker. Five months is a fair average...Next your nose. No smell of dawn for you. Followed by your tongue. Deeply cut away. Not even a stump left. And then your left eye--'
'And then my right eye and then my ears, and shall we get on with it?' the Prince said...
'Wrong!...Your ears you keep, so that every shriek of every child at seeing your hideousness will be yours to cherish--every babe that weeps in fear at your approach, every woman that cries, 'Dear God, what is that thing?' will reverberate forever within your perfect ears...I leave you to live in anguish, in humiliation, in freakish misery until you can stand it no more; so there you have it, pig, there you know, you miserable vomitous mass..."--"The Princess Bride" by William Goldman, published by Ballantine Books
11BBB) "Yeah, I'll bet you know how I feel." LINKAGE: This episode has many interesting links to the third season episode, Earshot, in which Buffy gains the ability, for a short time, to hear the thoughts of everyone surrounding her. In particular, she is drawn to Jonathan, another character who nobody notices or cares about, and who decides to kill himself because of this. These episodes, thus, both deal with "the theme of the lonely, alienated teen. The end message for both seems to be that...[if you get too] wrapped up in your own pain you...[might fail to] recognize that EVERYONE is in pain. Marcie is trying to teach everyone else to look, listen and learn, but she failed to do the same for Cordelia. Granted, Cordelia's pain was buried pretty deep."--ponygirl, Thurs, 10/24/02 at 09:12:38, with some additions by Rob
11CCC) "Hi! What do you want?" XANDER VS. ANGEL: Interestingly, no one thinks to thank Angel for saving their lives. Xander, in particular, is outright hostile to him. His reaction here is very similar to how he reacted the first time he met Angel (see 5II).
11DDD) "It's not like I need the oxygen." THE METAPHYSICS OF VAMPIRE BREATHING: "Can vampires breath? They don't need to: In...[this episode,] Angel turns off the gas valve that Marcie used to poison the gang. In...[the third season's] Lover's Walk, Spike says, '...actually, I don't breathe.' Angel also survives a lynching in...[the Angel episode Are You Now Or Have You Ever Been?]...Vampires can breath, if they chose to: Spike's smoking, for example. But not very effectively: 'When Buffy drown[s, in Prophecy Girl,]...Xander suggests CPR. Angel says, 'You have to do it. I have no breath'...'(Leather Jacket, Dec 7 10:51 1998). (a)" The most likely explanations for this strange dichotomy are that (a) a vampire does not require oxygen in order to live, but can metaphysically simulate the action when desired--just as it can simulate other human actions, like having sex (and, assumably, the fluids involved, albeit not capable of fertilization, just as a vamp can reproduce tears or saliva)--the demon spirit inhabiting the formerly human body does not need oxygen, just as it does not need the heart to beat in order to circulate the vamp's blood, for it is all done by mystical means; and (b) air that exits a vampire is either poisonous or devoid of oxygen. The "poison" theory is not likely, since, if this were true, Buffy's making out with Angel or Spike would have proven to be fatal. The second, however, is feasible, if a vamp's lungs are not what is creating the air flow. If lungs have the strength and capacity to inhale and exhale cigarette smoke, there is no reason why they could have been used to revive Buffy. Breath from a breathing human is not even required for CPR; a bag valve mask (BVM) can be used. "The mechanical workings of a bag-valve mask device are simple. Oxygen, flowing at 15 liters per minute, is attached to the BVM and enters the reservoir. When the bag is squeezed, the air inlet to the bag is closed, and the oxygen is delivered to the patient (b)." If a BVM could revive a human, a vamp's lungs could. Unless a vampire's lungs never operate. Instead, it is possible that by mystical flabotanum, the air is sucked into a vamp's nose and mouth, and that the air that exits when he or she "exhales" is not the same that entered. That would make sense, since it seems that anything a vamp ingests besides blood "disappears" into the vamp's body. Therefore, a vamp can eat human food (although not for nutritional purposes), but does not produce waste. Perhaps, therefore the air that a vamp takes in does not need to be exhaled, as human air does, and the exhaled air comes from either a mystical source, or is not the same air, and is, therefore, unoxygenated.--(a) Masquerade, "Vampire Physiology" from http://www.atpobtvs.com; (b) "Emergency Care," edited by Edward T. Dickinson, MD, FACEP, 9th edition, published by Brady/Prentice Hall, New Jersey, 2001; and additions by Rob See 1V and 24ZZ.
11EEE)"You're a thundering loony." BUFFY: "As ever, Buffy's compassion has its limits, and they largely involve outright sadism."--KdS, Thurs, 10/24/02 at 04:58:18
11FFF) "Janitor, um, found us. Shut the valve off." HIDING THE TRUTH: Buffy will be given a lot of flack through the years for keeping secrets from her friends (see 4Q), the first major one being her hiding Angel upon his return to Earth in the early part of the third season. And yet the first person to lie about Angel is not Buffy, but Giles. He does this to protect Buffy, just as she later will do this to protect Angel. This stands as yet another example that all of the characters on Buffy are flawed, and all of them sometimes make wrong decisions, and many times they are good-intentioned ones. An arguable case occurs in Becoming II when Xander fails to warn Buffy that Willow will be attempting to resurrect Angel's soul and instead passes along the false message, "Kick his ass."
11GGG) "You really helped me out, and you didn't have to. So thank you." JOSEPH CAMPBELL & THE HERO'S JOURNEY: "Cordelia, as I have already suggested, fulfills the role of Threshold Guardian, an obstacle that must be overcome before the Hero can set out on her path. On BtVS, Cordelia serves as the symbolic reminder of the life that Buffy has forsaken. Threshold Guardians are rarely enemies to be defeated; instead the Hero must often co-opt or assimilate them as part of the group. Buffy does just this. She saves Cordelia’s life several times during the first season, and by the end of that season, Cordelia can no longer deny Buffy’s ability. In the season’s penultimate episode...Out of Mind, Out of Sight...Cordelia is threatened by invisible girl Marcie and solicits Buffy’s protection. Her once adversarial character comes to a mutual toleration, if not respect for, the Scooby Gang."--Rattletrap, Tuesday, 12/11/01 at 09:21:16 See 1Q, 1S, 1Y, 1JJ, 1TT, 2T, 2RR, 3FF, 12LLL, 27CCC, 35XXX, and Appendix A.
11HHH) "Cool." SLAYAGE VS. THE GOVERNMENT: This is one of the series' first indications that, although Buffy must let human laws take care of human criminals (see 9R), at times the government is just as unjust and corrupt, if not more so, than Buffy would be were she to kill human villains. Here, we see that, under the pretense of incarcerating and rehabilitating Marcie, the government is actually planning on using her invisibility skills, and warped brain, to good use--as a covert military assassin. Not only is this an implication of evil and corruption existing in the government, but this is also the "first implication that elements of the government are aware of the paranormal, and that their interest is not entirely benevolent. A set-up that would not be fulfilled for over two seasons...[in The Initiative story arc of the fourth season. The] actual text of the page [from Marcie's textbook] reads, 'radical cult leader as intended victim, August 2nd 19XX,' followed by lyrics from the Beatles' [song,] Happiness is a Warm Gun. This is probably an oblique reference to the murderous cult leader Charles Manson, who seems to have been inspired by his interpretation of tracks on the Beatles' White Album...There would be far more detailed and explicit Manson references in the characterisation of Adam, and his plans for the world's future, towards the end of" season four.--KdS, Thurs, 10/24/02 at 04:58:18, with some additions by Rob