Out of Mind, Out of Sight

There's two things about this episode of Buffy that make it memorable for me. The first is the idea that someone could become invisible because to everyone else, they are already so. I quite like the idea of that. But also, I just really really relate to feeling so invisible that you may as we already be. And who can't relate to that? We've all been there at some point in time. It's just a really good high school moment, I think, taken to it's sort of (?) logical conclusion. And I often think back to Marcy when I'm in a social situation where I feel invisible, or wish I was.

Course I wouldn't beat someone up with a bat if I were invisible. *That's* a bit crazy.

The second thing about this episode that I always think back to is that scene after Cordelia has engaged Buffy's help and she talks about how she can feel so alone even when she's surrounded by people. And that she sees people being so busy rushing to agree with her that they never really listen to hear what she has to say. Such a contrast to Marcy yet the endpoint of feeling alone is the same. I too can relate to feeling alone even when in the thick of things and I like that Cordelia can take a step back and see things from a distance. For me, this glimpse at her is a foreshadowing of her character to come.

I also love the bit where Cordelia comes to Buffy - in the hopes that she's in a gang. I love that even though Cordelia is so self obsessed and has been blowing Buffy off (as we see in the beginning of this episode), there's lots of things about Buffy that she's noticed and noted. And whilst this too foreshadows Cordelia's eventual joining of the group, I like that just *someone* else is paying attention at Sunnydale High. I was starting to worry!

Prophecy Girl

Ben says:


Let me introduce you to the Joss Whedon recipe:

1) Introduce us to a bunch of characters
2) Make us love them.
3) F*#k them up.

Over the season we've grown to care about Buffy, Willow and Xander, both as individuals and as a group. this season finale has little of the build up of later ones, but Whedon compensates by taking an axe to our favourite characters' feelings and relationships. We care about all three of our leads, but it's impossible for all three of them to get what they want. The scene where Xander asks Buffy out is heartbreaking, more so because we know how inevitable her answer is. But at the same time our feelings are dragged through the wringer for Willow, who is forced to watch it all and then be asked to be a pawn to make Buffy jealous.

And then of course Buffy herself is thrust into a situation which encapsulates one of the central conflicts of the first season: the choice between being The Slayer and being an ordinary teen. Buffy tries for a while to hang onto the notion that she has a choice, but of course there is no choice at all; like growing up, there is no way to unlearn once you've seen the world as it is. There's no way to close your eyes, to go back to the innocence you once enjoyed.

All of our central characters are given some nice moments, and there is real poignancy at several parts of the episode. We see Buffy moved by Willow's hurt, we see Xander's love overcoming his jealousy, we see Buffy accept her destiny with all the pain it entails. And the victory takes us back to the things we learned in episode one; that what makes Buffy more than any old slayer is the friendships she has formed. It means a lot more now that we've been through a year's worth of adventures, as we've seen the dynamic between the four central characters grow. It's the difference between knowing something and feeling it.

Anyway, it's a fitting end to the series. There wasn't much of an arc in this season compared to those to follow. The big bad is fairly simple, and there aren't a lot of character curveballs. The first season is really about the developing closeness between Buffy, Xander, Willow and Giles, and it's that dynamic which makes this episode work, and makes it a fitting finale.

I give it five dead Buffys.

Is Young Adult SF/F Too Explicit?

That's the topic of discussion over at the Mind Meld. Check out what Ellen Datlow, Gwenda Bond and others have to say on the matter here

Out of Mind, Out of Sight

Buffy: If you feel so alone, why do you work so hard at being popular?
Cordelia: Well it beats being alone all by yourself.


Out of Mind, Out of Sight


Ben says:


This season sure pulls out some fantastic metaphors for teenage life. In this episode, Cordelia is threatened by a girl who has been ignored, looked through, brushed aside, so often she became invisible. Who has never known how that felt?

In this episode, though, it’s pushed to extremes. The flashbacks of Marcy’s life are truly heartbreaking, and the fact that even the nice kids like Willow and Xander don’t remember her make the story even sadder. Marcy is probably the most sympathetic psycopath so far.

There’s not quite the same level of drama as the last two episodes, but there are some nice moments, including a rare glimpse into the human side of Cordelia, even if Whedon undercuts it (believably) later on. On the whole, it continues the impression that the show has kicked into gear. It doesn’t really feel like the penultimate episode, but then it’s a short season.

I didn’t entirely buy the use of the X-Files type FBI agents who turn up at the end. It’s clever, but it didn’t feel entirely believable in terms of the Buffyverse. If the FBI are that interested in supernatural occurrences, surely they’d be turning up a lot more often.

There’s not a lot to say about the episode really. It’s a simple, effective metaphor. There’s a little interplay between Willow and Xander that give us a taste of Buffy not quite belonging. I can’t remember if this thread is taken up in later episodes. I guess we’ll find out!

Anyway, we’re about done with Season 1! Roll on the finale!

This one gets three and a half Harmonies rolling down the stairs.

Nightmares

Alisa says:

This episode is always an uncomfortable one for me to sit through because it's about fear, and core fear - the fear you don't want anyone else to know grips you in the middle of the night. What if suddenly everyone could see, nay experience, what you feared most? There's some kind of fear in that too - the being stripped naked and judged by what you fear. And the two fears that I really relate to in this episode are Buffy's - becoming that which you most hate (whatever that may actually be) and Willow's. In fact, when I was learning to get over my own fear of public speaking, I once gave a speech that included this very thing - Willow's fear of singing in public from this very episode.

I love this episode but it's not one I enjoy sitting through - there's spiders and clowns and permanent night and *shiver*

New Moon

So, I'm about 200 pages into Stephenie Meyers' New Moon, the sequel to Twilight. Gosh this is a totally different book to the first one, isn't it?

Don't check the comments if you don't want to be spoiled.

Nightmares

Willow: So why is this happening?
Giles: Billy.
Xander: Well, that explanation was shorter than usual. It's Billy!


Ben says:


Wow. This is a classic Buffy standalone, and really a great example of what the early seasons are all about.

A mysterious young boy appears and suddenly everyone's nightmares start coming true.

Simple idea, but it's used here to great effect. Wheden and Greenwalt explore some of the absolute archetypal teenage (and indeed adult) nightmare scenarios: forgetting the history test, turning up to class naked, fear of spiders, fear of clowns, fear of turning up to sing soprano and not knowing the words (or how to sing). There's barely a stone of subconscious paranoia left unturned and there are some great laughs along the way.

But like the best Buffy episodes, this one pulls the rug out from under us, and it gets really dark and sinister, with the gradual revelations regarding Billy's attack, as well as the escalating danger to the others. The moment where Giles encounters Buffy's grave is movingly done, and the finale with the "Lucky nineteen" thing still chills me. It's here that Buffy does what it does best; provides an intersection between the comfort of the fantastic and the horror of real life.

One of the highlights of season 1 for my money, it gets five Singing Willows.

Talent Show

Buffy: Could I have a little support here? I'm not just some crazy person. I'm the slayer!
Xander: The dummy slayer? (awkard silence) There's nothing funny about that.


Ben says:

Okay, let's say this up front. Buffy is right: Ventriloquist dummies are creepy. Any episode with a live puppet who has some kind of control over its master is already several steps ahead in the spooky stakes. Poor old Morgan does such a good job or portraying the fear and confusion created by Sid's life, it's impossible not to feel the freakiness.

This isn't just a scary episode, it's also one of the funniest so far. Any episode that opens with Cordelia singing The Greatest Love of All is gonna have to work hard to top that, but there are some classic lines in this episode. My favourite:

Willow: It could be anyone! It could be me. It's not, though.

And Giles's facial expressions during the auditions alone are worth watching the entire episode for.

We also meet Principal Snyder for the first time, and what a fantastic first episode he gets, describing his predecessor's attitude as "The kind of wooly-headed liberal thinking that leads to being eaten". This is just one of many awesome lines that Snyder gets. There is also something undeniably sinister about him here. He is set up quite clearly as a fearsome and unpleasant force at the school, and a thorn in Buffy's side.

There are a few clever twists, and we get to see Giles in danger again, which always raises the stakes (Giles or Willow in danger = Ben on edge of seat). And Sarah Michelle Gellar manages to create poignancy out of a scene with a plastic doll... I am actually realising more so this time around than the first time I watched, what a fantastic actress she is.

And I love the ending. "I don't get it. What is it, avant garde?" followed by a very funny rendition of Oedipus the King.

What's not to like about this episode really?

I give it four spooky dummies.

Twilight

Is anyone out there a fan of Stephanie Meyers' Twilight series?

I just finished Twilight and would love to debrief!

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