9A) "Learning to love yourself, is the greatest love of all." (00:00:45) MUSICAL TRUTH: What a perfect song choice for Cordy! While the song, "The Greatest Love of All," a pop standard sung by the likes of George Benson and Whitney Houston, is meant to exemplify self-confidence, self-determinism, and independence, the song takes on a whole new meaning when sung by Cordelia, who turns the song into a celebration of egotism and self-centeredness (so much so, in fact, that she has not a clue just how painful her singing is to the other students' ears!). Quite a few other lyrics in the song have bearing on Buffy. For example, one lyric is "I believe the children are our future." Later, we learn that the Sunnydale High Yearbook motto is "The Future is Ours." The fact that other popular kids follow Cordelia's initiative is reflected in the lyrics, "I never found anyone who fulfilled my needs...so I learned to depend on me." In the second season, when Cordelia begins to challenge the social order of the high school by dating Xander, she again asserts her self-determinism. At the end of Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered, Cordelia announces that she does not follow the opinions of anyone else, and she will date a geek if she wants to (see 28MMM)!--paraphrased from a submission by Gareth See 9W.
CONTINUITY CHECK: In a brilliant moment of self-referential humor, when Cordelia finds herself stricken with amnesia in the fourth season Angel episode, Slouching Towards Bethlehem, and cannot remember anything about herself or her friends, this is the song she chooses to sing for Lorne, so that he could read her future. And she sings it just as horribly there as here.
9B) "...the great producer." (00:01:25) FORESHADOWY GOODNESS: "Giles' role as Talent Show director is also reprised in Willow's dream in" the fourth season finale, Restless.--cjl, Fri, 09/27/02 at 11:54:14, partly paraphrased by Rob
LIFE'S A SHOW: "...[T]he idea of life as a stage is reused by Joss in Restless...[and in Once More, With Feeling]. Of people being given 'parts', and scripts, and...the terror that it invokes. How much more terrifying life is, when we have to make choices, and don't know what to say. Also, the question: who is putting on the play? Who has POWER? Is it Giles, the 'producer,' the stage manager, the person who directs and oversees everyone? Is it Snyder, who is forcing everyone to be there? Is it the hidden demon, waiting in the wings, providing the hidden menace, threatening to suck away intelligence and emotion (brains and heart)...Giles is given a similar role within this show that he is given within the whole of the series. He 'watches' everyone on stage. He tells them what to do. But he wants to shirk his responsiblities. He's only there by the malevolent power of Snyder...Giles, while being a 'librarian' is thrust into the heart of danger and power and responsibility. He is powerless. He finds himself strapped into a guillotine, facing death."--Rahael, Mon, 09/30/02 at 04:04:56
9C) "Our new Fuhrer, Mr. Snyder..." (00:01:35) GILES VS. SNYDER: Gile's "Fuhrer" remark again shows Giles' "hostility to authority and father figures at the same time. It also shows one of Giles' long running tensions and unhappiness with his role in life - he, formerly a rebel, is forced to be a father/authority figure for Buffy (see 5SS and 9GG). Snyder's language is all about power, authority and force. There is a theme here of Snyder as fascist - promising order and discipline. He hates the young, but sees in them the next generation, needing discipline and instruction. There is a sense that he has allied himself with dark and menacing forces to get to his position of power. Here is power as grasping and authoritarian. It contrasts with Giles' reluctant power, which grows out of genuine wisedom and authority." It is also significant that the arrival of this fascist occurs so soon after the appearance of Moloch, a demon also associated with fascism, in I, Robot...You, Jane (see 8W).--Rahael, Mon, 09/30/02 at 04:04:46, with some additions by Rob
9D) "You cannot escape your destiny." (00:02:00) SLAYER HUMOR: Of course, here Buffy is teasing Giles about how he originally approached her, in Welcome to the Hellmouth, with her duty to be the Slayer and rid the world of evil. See 1W.
9E) "Principal Snyder." (00:02:25) FROM THE ORIGINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT: "They get up and see that PRINCIPAL SNYDER is there. In years and schools past, he has ruled with unwavering confidence and was able, despite his size and appearance, to strike fear and respect into his students. But that was then and this is Sunnydale."--"The Puppet Show" by Dean Batali & Rob DesHotel, available from Pocket Books, Inc. as Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Script Book, Season One, Volume 2
9F) "Yeah, but we were fighting a demon..." (00:02:45) CONTINUITY CHECK: The incident of Buffy, Willow, and Xander cutting their afternoon classes to fight a demon, is most likely a reference to the events of I, Robot...You, Jane and the Scooby Gang's fight against Moloch the Corrupter.
9G) "Sunnydale has touched and felt for the last time." (00:03:20) UNFAIRNESS IN THE BUFFYVERSE: This is only the first time the gang is forced to participate in a school event by Snyder, something which is used to great comedic effect in episodes such as School Hard and Halloween. See 4OO.
9H) "They give me the wig." (00:04:10) PUPPET MASTER: "Buffy says that puppets wig her out. Could it possibly be that she gets so frightened by puppets, given their voice and their breath and their life by someone else, because she fears she herself is a puppet? A plaything for the Watchers Council? Expendable? Part of the infantry, fated to die young? (This starts preparing us for Prophecy Girl). This is emphasised for her by Sid...[later] telling her how he's outlived Slayers (see 9HH). She becomes grave, remembering just how short her life span is. But what else can she do but fight and die? As she...[later] puts it, she can't slay vampires on stage (see 9I). And this is the problem she grapples with in Season 6 - she fought and died. Now she has to act on...[the] stage of...[l]ife..."--Rahael, Mon, 09/30/02 at 04:04:56
Act One
9*2) "A dramatic scene is the easiest way to get through the talent show, because it doesn't require an actual talent." (00:07:40) METANARRATIVE HUMOR: This is a great example of the show's rapier wit, and self-depracating humor. Willow says here that acting does not require talent, so it would be the best way to get through a talent show. The funny part, of course, lies in the fact that she is actually a character being played by an actress. They are poking fun at actors, when they are, in fact, actors themselves. This is an example of metanarration, which is when the characters comment on the very format of the story in which they are participating. On a separate note, Willow is very right. Acting does not require talent (as many people in Hollywood prove), but it is highly appreciated. Luckilly, the Buffy cast are most decidedly in the latter category.
9I) "What am I gonna do? Slay vampires on stage?" (00:07:45) METANARRATIVE HUMOR II: "Well, yeah--just like she does in every episode! OK, on screen, not on stage, but it's an early example of metanarration, as well as foreshadowing of her Life's a Show number in Once More, With Feeling...[O]r even this line from Going Through the Motions: 'I've been making shows of trading blows...'"--anom, Sun, 10/27/02 at 11:04:21
BUFFY'S PLACE IN THE WORLD: The implications of this question will plague Buffy throughout the series. Since she was born to be the Slayer, and it seems to her that all of her talents revolve around slaying (although she is definitely short-shrifting herself there, since we all know of Buffy's great intelligence, leadership abilities, etc.), will she ever be able to be or do anything else? This question is adressed in the second season's two parter, What's My Line, where, with the arrival of a new Slayer, Kendra, Buffy is given the opportunity to give up her responsibilities and be a normal girl. At the school job fair, Buffy finds nothing that would fit her talents other than being a corrections officer, which she is not too keen on pursuing. Buffy will continue to struggle with this question when she attends college in the fourth season; what, after all, is her goal there, if her lot in life has already been chosen? The answer will continue to elude her, until the seventh season, when she finds the perfect profession for herself--a high school counsellor for troubled students, thus focusing all the qualities she has fine-tuned as the Slayer--her great intelligence, intuition, leadership skills, and her position as protector--at a job where she could not only be paid but find even more people to help than she ever could before. Now, instead of seeking troubled people out, they come directly to her.
9J) "Oh, i-in front of other people?" (00:08:00) WILLOW SHY: Willow's intense stage fright later became the subject of her nightmares, in the next episode, Nightmares, and in the fourth season finale, Restless.--cjl, Fri, 09/27/02 at 11:54:14, paraphrased by Rob For more on Willow's stagefright, see 9OO.
9K) "Once you go wood, nothin's as good." (00:08:35) YOU CALL THAT A JOKE?!?: Sid's one-liner here is, of course, a riff on the famous saying, referring to the stereotype of black people's virility in bed: "Once you go black, you never go back."
9L) "Unless you want your prop ending up as a Duraflame log." (00:08:45) POP CULTURE TIME: Duraflame is a company that makes logs for use in fireplaces and campfires that are supposedly ecologically safer (and healthier for people) than burning real firewood. They are made of a combination of finely ground sawdust and wax, formed to look like real logs.
9M) "That's the kind of wooly-headed liberal thinking that leads to being eaten." (00:09:05) ISN'T IT IRONIC?: The ultimate irony here, of course, is that Principal Snyder himself will end up being eaten in the third season finale, Graduation Day II.--Ponygirl, Fri, 09/27/02 at 14:06:28, paraphrased by Rob
9N) "This place has quite a reputation." (00:09:10) SUNNYDALE'S REPUTATION: This is among one of the first clues that we get that the strange happenings at Sunnydale are not going completely unnoticed by outsiders. Although obviously not everyone knows about all of the demonic activity, strange stories are beginning to be told. The bizarre goings-on are pretty much common knowledge by the seventh season. In Beneath You, for example, the character, Nancy, makes it clear that she has heard of all of the rumors about Sunnydale, but had always believed them to be town folklore. Folklore such as this most assuredly sprung up from isolated incidents of vampire and demon victims telling their stories, not to mention incidents such as the giant snake demon from the third season finale, Graduation Day II, the entire town losing the ability to speak in the fourth season's Hush and, later, in the sixth season, all of the townspeople finding themselves bursting spontaneously into song in Once More, With Feeling. Of course, besides the reputation that is buliding among the citizens of Sunnydale, Principal Snyder is well aware of what is going on, a fact we will not begin to learn more about until the second season's School Hard, and which will become completely apparent by the third season. See 9T.
9*3) "...suicide, missing persons, spontaneous cheerleader combustion..." (00:09:15) CONTINUITY CHECK: The events to which Snyder is referring are Dave's death in I, Robot...You, Jane, someone in just about every episode, and Amber's combustion in The Witch.
9O) "Human." (00:10:40) REAL LIFE: "Morgan has brain cancer - though he apparently has 'power' over the puppet, it's a deception. He's going to die, and the puppet is the one with power...," and the puppet himself is longing to die (see 9II). "The ultimate terror stalking the players seem to be their own mortality and lack of power in the face of the injustices...of life...We are born to die, and perhaps have to spend our lives shouldering burdens we are dying to get rid of. And Giles keeps pointing out that the killer could be *human* not demon. Thereby signposting to us, that the real culprit of the horror show is not anything demonic, but plain old life. The menace of the demon in the wings, wielding a primitive, sacrificial knife is the darkness behind the play. And the Scoobies and their fellow players are powerless. This is emphasized by Cordelia's nerves (see 9W), Giles' advice to her and the 'power circle' they form. Reminiscent of another power circle at the end of Season Four, which also features the idea of heart and brain--Primeval. It's the search for wholeness which animates our lives. Someway we can continue living in the world despite our nerves and our fright."--Rahael, Mon, 09/30/02 at 04:04:46
9P) "A person driven to kill is, is, um, it's more complex." (00:11:10) DEMONS IN BLACK AND WHITE: This episode continues the early mythology of Buffy, that all demons, due to their lack of souls, were evil, pure and simple. See 2LL. Of course, since then, as the characters have grown into adults, they see that what, in their younger years, seemed cut and dried, has become more complex. The black-and-white has melded into gray areas that do not have convenient answers--areas where even soulless demons could do good, and as mentioned here, where souled humans can do bad. Interestingly, at this point, they can acknowledge that a human could be corrupted into being evil, but they still cannot see how something evil might be changed for the good. The symbolic level doesn't completely explain, however, why even Giles believes at this point that demons can be nothing but evil, except for the fact that he is growing with them. A likely logical explanation is that the founders of the Watchers Council, which we learn later is not the benevolent society it would seem to be, spread the rhetoric to its Watchers and Slayers that all demons were evil, so that they would never hestitate in their battles against them.
9Q) "It could be anyone. It could be me!" (00:11:15) WHAT A PIECE OF WORK IS MAN: "At the heart of all the pain and suffering and moral dilemmas that the Scoobies are going to be faced with is the idea that *any* human being could murder. Even someone like Willow. The drama they stage...[Oedipus Rex,] tells us that ordinary decent human beings could find themselves on the road to hell, paved with good intentions."--Rahael, Mon, 09/30/02 at 04:04:56 See 9NN.
9R) "We wanna bring him to justice." (00:14:30) SLAYAGE VS. THE COURT SYSTEM: This is an interesting concept that the show is touching on, because it is the first and one of the only times that the gang considers not killing a villain, but finding him so that they can bring him to court, to let the legal system take care of him. The reason for the difference, of course, is that the killer is human (or at least presumed, at this point, to be). Interestingly, one of the few times Buffy actually gets to bring a human villain to justice is in the next episode, Nightmares (see 10SS). Buffy has emphasized the fact over and over that the Slayer deals with mystical badness. That is what separates her from a vigilante--she does not avenge the wrongdoers of the human world, which is run by its own rules and legal systems. Further, she is not ethically allowed to do so, because the human world and the supernatural world are distinct and separate. She can harm and kill supernatural things to keep them from harming people in the human world, but she cannot harm or kill humans who do so to other humans. Buffy discusses this at length in the sixth season's Villains, when Buffy explains to Dawn why Willow is not justified in killing Warren, even though he had killed her love, Tara. In an earlier sixth season episode, Dead Things, when Buffy thinks that she has killed a human by accident, she goes to the police to turn herself in, just as she did in the second season's Ted. The natural world and the world of magic cannot break each other's rules. This is why Buffy, who died from mystical forces, was able to be brought back from the dead in Bargaining, whereas Tara, who had died from a gunshot wound (although not by all senses of the word, "natural," still a death carried out by completely human-created means) was not able to be resurrected. Willow, who becomes out of control as a result of this, crosses the line, just as Faith, the rogue slayer, does in the third season. When Faith accidentally kills Alan Finch, the deputy mayor, in Bad Girls, she denies that this action has made her feel regret and remorse in any way. This refusal to accept that she has violated one of the human laws, and Buffy and Giles' insistence that she has, is what drives her completely over to the dark side. Willow's friends' refusal to help her find and kill the Geek Troika is what drives her to the dark side.
9S) "...what about the whole 'it's a demon' theory?" (00:14:50) MUSICALLY SPEAKING: This theory, usually used to explain just about any and all of the weird happenings in Sunnydale, is later parodied in the I've Got a Theory song in the sixth season's musical episode, Once More, With Feeling.
BUFFY'S THEORY: It is also very telling that Buffy so much believes that the killer is not human. Now, to be fair, she is correct, as she usually is in these matters, but it also comments a great deal on how troubling she finds the very concept that a human could be capable of such deeds. She barely even entertains the notion, despite the fact that, in this case, it seems the most likely explanation. The next time Buffy will be confronted with such a grisly, seemingly human-performed murder will be in the third season's Gingerbread.
9T) "There's something going on with you. I'll figure it out sooner or later." (00:16:45) SUNNYDALE CONSPIRACY THEORIES: One wonders just how true Snyder's statement is that he doesn't know what's going on with Buffy, and exactly just how high up he is in the Mayor's third season ascension plan. Has the Mayor tipped Snyder off that he should keep an eye on Buffy? Has the Mayor told him more? Does the Mayor yet know that Buffy is the Slayer? See 1Z for a more thorough analysis of the conspiracy, as well as 6II, 15Lx4, 31PP, 31QQ, 34LLL, 42XX and 42YY.
9U) "...if you really love me, and wanna show your support, you'll stay away." (00:18:20) FORESHADOWY GOODNESS: This scene foreshadows the one in Graduation Day II, when Buffy, fully aware of the carnage that will occur at the graduation ceremony, tells her mother to not attend and to leave town. Just as in this case, this disappoints Joyce, who wants to enjoy her daughter's academic accomplishments. In The Puppet Show, however, Buffy asks her not to come just due to her own embarassment, whereas in the latter case, Buffy does so in order to protect Joyce's life, and Joyce, by that point aware of her daughter's Slayerly responisibilities, reluctantly agrees. It is important to note, though, that it is to Joyce's credit that she neither pushes Buffy here, nor comes to the talent show despite Buffy's pleas. She respects her daughter's wishes, again reaffirming that, even if she is not the perfect mother, she is a good mother, she tries very hard and allows her daughter to be her own person. This was one of the major themes of The Witch (see 3BB).
9V) Sid is there looking in. (00:18:55) IT'S NOT EASY BEING MEAN: Sid is an homage to classic evil dummy/ventriloquist horror movies of the past, including 1948's Dead of Night, the 1960 Twilight Zone episode, The Dummy, and 1975's Magic, starring Anthony Hopkins, the immortal tag line of that film being, "Magic is fun...when you're dead!" Of course, the twist in The Puppet Show is that Sid ends up not being evil, but instead a demon-hunter, like Buffy!--cjl, Fri, 09/27/02 at 11:54:14, paraphrased by Rob
Act Two
9*1) "...in the covers..." (00:19:25) BUFFY WIGGED: This moment is incredibly rare, and because of it, deeply moving. Buffy is so frightened by something that she actually calls her mother for help. This brief moment of vulnerability, which she quickly brushes off, when she realizes that she can't reveal her true fears to her mother, is a great example of Buffy's desires to be a "normal girl" conflicting with her Slayerness. Instinctually, she calls out to Joyce, clearly showing that the fact that she is a Slayer does not change her biological desires and needs. Like anyone else, she longs for protection from her mother, and her calling to Joyce is a primal action, because she is dealing with a primal fear--namely being attacked while she sleeps. In this state of being half-sleep, half-awake, she immediately reverts to the role of a child. And the fact that she can still ever be like this makes her character all the more human and real. Underneath her strong Slayer body, she longs for the day when her mom could protect her from all the monsters of the world, and not the other way around.
9W) "My song is about dignity, and human feelings..." (00:20:40) THE GREATEST LOVE OF ALL II: "At first...[Cordelia's] song...[was] there to amuse us. Cordelia gives us plenty of examples of her hardheartedness, self preoccupation and selfishness. Imagine her having to learn to love herself!" But this later line of hers to Giles begins to reveal some of her hidden depth. As she discusses, "dignity and human feelings," it echoes the fact that, throughout this episode, "we see that all the 'actors,' the 'players' are being robbed of their 'dignity' and 'human feeling'. Cordelia, ultra confident at the start, becomes more and more scared about appearing on stage...[as the episode progresses.] She worries about standing on stage and being judged by the audience like "some kind of Buffy." Of course, the word that she meant was "freak," "which is how she refers to Buffy and Morgan earlier. Cordelia refers to a 'freak show' which is certainly how the talent show, and indeed Buffy as a whole could be described. Cordelia really suspects she is just as freakish as those she mocks. That's why learning to love herself is the greatest love of all, and a song which she is shown as not being able to sing. There's a disconnect there, which fuels her dramatic energy as a character. Gives her all those poignant lines to say, as well as witty cruel ones."--Rahael, Mon, 09/30/02 at 04:04:56, partly paraphrased by Rob See 9A.
9X) "I'm sorry. Um, your hair, uh..." (00:21:00) GOOD ADVICE: This is a rare instance of Giles following Xander's advice...and most significantly, it pays off!
9Y) "Okay, everyone look at me like I'm in a bunny suit..." (00:21:35) IT MUST BE BUNNIES!: This line "[d]idn't mean much at the time" that this episode first aired, but, in retrospect, it is funny that Buffy says this line, because Anya, in the fourth season's Fear, Itself, will dress up for Halloween in a "bunny suit because she thinks it's scary." Incidentally, Anya's fear of bunnies has become a running gag on the show.--Cactus Watcher, Sat, 09/28/02 at 17:27:59, partly paraphrased by Rob
THE BUNNY CLUE: Funnily enough, this bunny line actually gives a link as to who the actual culprit of the episode is--Marc, who only moments before had lost the rabbit he needed for his magic trick!--anom, Sun, 10/27/02 at 11:04:21, paraphrased by Rob
9Z) "Or possibly the nightmare of somebody who had...dummies on her mind?" (00:22:05) CROSSING THE LINE: Interestingly, only one episode after it became clear that Giles fully trusts Buffy's ideas (see 8X), we again see him not believing her. In this case, however, it is clear that this is not a regression, but the fact that this idea is so farfetched as to be almost entirely implausible. Demons, possessions, etc. may be unlikely, but Giles knows they are possible. But the idea of this puppet being evil and having a mind of its own is too much even for Giles to believe. This indicident may be the one to prove that in Sunnydale, anything can happen.
9AA) "I'm not just some crazy person. I'm the Slayer." (00:22:15) BUFFY CRAZY?: This line is ironic, in itself, since most sane people would believe that Buffy's claim that she is a mystical warrior against the dark forces of the night is insane. Not surprisingly, that is most people's first reaction to finding out Buffy's identity. The question of whether Buffy actually is delusional is the subject of the sixth season's brilliant and controversial Normal Again.--Cactus Watcher, Sat, 09/28/02 at 17:27:59, paraphrased by Rob See 3NN, 23CC, 24H, 28GGG, 30ZZ, 34JJ, 34YY, 34ZZ, 34BBB, and 35WW.
9BB) "Redrum!" (00:27:08) ALL WORK AND NO PLAY...: "Redrum" is a reference to the classic Stephen King horror novel, The Shining, and the 1980 Stanley Kubrick film adaptation, starring Jack Nicholson and Shelley Duvall. "Redrum" is the word "murder" spelled backwards. In the story, this was written in blood "on a mirror presumably from the inside."--Cactus Watcher, Sat, 09/28/02 at 17:27:59, partly paraphrased by Rob
9CC) "I'm not sure how safe it is for a girl like yourself to be here...alone." (00:28:55) UNDERESTIMATING BUFFY: This is one of the times, which have become increasingly rare, where Buffy would be underestimated due to her sex. As her reputation as "protector" and knowledge of her strengh grows throughout the school, this is a mistake that is made less and less, although every now and then a new demon or vampire who is not aware that she is the Slayer, or someone new in town, will have the same misconception that Buffy quickly shatters.
9DD) "...have acted upon their desire to become human by harvesting organs..." (00:29:40) JIMINY CRICKETS!: This notion is a evil twist on the classic Pinocchio story by Carlo Collodi, about a puppet who longs to be a real boy. This innocent children's story, however, never makes any mention of organ-harvesting as the means to bring about this outcome!--paraphrased by Rob from a submission by Vickie