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BuffyGuide.com — The Complete Buffy Episode Guide
The Puppet Show
May 05, 1997
4V09

 
Credits

Writers:
Dean Batali
Rob Des Hotel


Director:
Ellen S. Pressman


Regulars:
Sarah Michelle Gellar as Buffy Summers
Nicholas Brendon as Xander Harris
Alyson Hannigan as Willow Rosenberg
Charisma Carpenter as Cordelia Chase
Anthony Stewart Head as Rupert Giles
Guest Stars:
Kristine Sutherland as Joyce Summers
Armin Shimerman as Principal Snyder
Cast:
Richard Werner as Morgan
Burke Roberts as Marc
Lenora May as Mrs. Jackson
Chasen Hampton as Elliot)
Natasha Pearce as Lisa
Tom Wyner as Sid's Voice
Krissy Carlson as Emily
Michelle Miracle as Locker Girl

 
Synopsis

Giles has been put in charge of Sunnydale High's annual talent show by the new student-hating principal, Snyder. Buffy, Xander and Willow find it all very amusing until they too are forced into participating by Snyder, who sees them, especially Buffy, as trouble makers. Things get worse, however, when a member of the cast is found with her heart removed, leading Giles to suspect there is a demon at work harvesting organs. Buffy first suspects Morgan, a fellow student who has been experiencing extreme headaches, but when he turns up minus his brain the suspicion moves to his creepy dummy. Sid turns out to be hunting the demon himself and helps Buffy track it down, saving Giles just before he becomes the demons next victim. — Short synopsis by angel_star.

For the full, detailed synopsis, click here.

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Monstervision

Slappy There are few concepts in the horror genre that have proven as popular as that of the sinister doll or dummy. Most recent has been "Slappy," from the "Night of the Living Dummy" episodes of the TV series Goosebumps. Before that we had the 1988 movie Child's Play, featuring Chuckie the homicidal doll (Sid with the big knife was an image particularly reminiscent of Chuckie); Magic, the 1978 horror movie starring Anthony Hopkins and Ann-Margret; the third segment of the 1975 TV movie Trilogy of Terror, from the producers of Dark Shadows; and the 1964 movie Devil Doll. And even before TV and movies, there were operas and stories which dealt with living marionettes and golems (inanimate wooden or stone figures brought to life by magic).

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Body Count

Emily
Heart removed by "Marc" in the locker room.
Morgan
Brain removed by "Marc" backstage at the SHS auditorium.
"Marc" (in demon form)
Heart removed by Sid onstage at the SHS auditorium.
Total: Three
Compiled by Eric B.

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Dialogue to Die For

Xander: "I have my pride. Okay, I don't have a lot of my pride, but I have enough so that I can't do this."

Principal Snyder: "I know Principal Flutie would have said, 'Kids need understanding. Kids are human beings.' That's the kind of wooly-headed liberal thinking that leads to being eaten."

Principal Snyder: "There are things I will not tolerate: students loitering on campus after school, horrible murders with hearts being removed... and also smoking."

Willow: "Once again I've been banished to the demon section of the card catalogue."

More quotes from this episode...

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Dialogue to Bury

Cordelia: "I can't go out there. All those people staring at me and judging me like I'm some kind of... Buffy!" Back to Top

 
References

  • The song Cordelia sings in the first Talent Show scene is "The Greatest Love Of All," written by Linda Creed and Michael Masser, which was a huge hit for Whitney Houston in 1986.

  • "Our führer, Mister Snyder."  Führer is the German word for "leader," and was the title used to address Adolf Hitler during his time as leader of Germany from 1933 to 1945. Since then, the word has become associated exclusively with Hitler.

  • "Redrum! Redrum!"  In the 1980 movie The Shining, based on Stephen King's novel, the word "redrum" — "murder" spelled backwards — is one of the images seen by Jack Torrance's son Danny, as his father is slowly going mad.

    Willow

  • "Does anybody else feel like they've been Keyser Söze'd?"  In the 1995 movie The Usual Suspects, Keyser Söze was the name of a legendary master criminal whose name was on the lips of everyone who'd witnessed one of his crimes, but who the police couldn't even begin to find. At the end of the movie, it's revealed that he was right under everyone's nose the entire time.

  • The scene that Buffy, Xander, and Willow perform at the end is from Oedipus Rex (also known as Oedipus the King), a tragic play written by the Greek playwright Sophocles (496-406 B.C.). The play is the first in a trilogy (followed by Oedipus at Colonus and Antigone). In it, Oedipus fulfills a tragic prophecy by unknowingly murdering his own father and sleeping with his mother. Xander plays Oedipus, Willow plays the Priest of Zeus, and Buffy plays Jocasta, Oedipus' mother/wife.
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Goofs and Gaffes

  • The chandelier that Sid drops on Buffy looks as though it's made of cast iron, an impression reinforced by the difficulty Buffy has in moving it. You'd think that an object made of iron, which is as heavy as that chandelier obviously is, would crack a few ribs or something, even with Buffy's supernatural resilience.

  • The "power circle" formed by Giles towards the end seems awfully quick for him to have determined so confidently that not one of the talent show participants was missing, especially considering how many students were participating and how half-hearted Giles' involvement with the talent show was.

  • Did no-one in the audience hear the rather loud fight going on just behind the curtain at the end?
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Notes

  • This episode was released on 20th Century Fox Home Video on September 15, 1998, as part of the first Buffy the Vampire Slayer Box Set.

  • Principal Snyder makes mention of Principal Flutie being eaten ("The Pack") and of "spontaneous cheerleader combustion" ("The Witch").

  • The initial airing of this episode featured a scene at the end in which Buffy, Willow, and Xander perform a scene from the play Oedipus Rex. The scene was not included in repeat airings of the episode. Update: After Buffy left the WB, this scene was restored. It's on the DVD and all reruns. (Update noted by Isaac Rabinovitch.)

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Comments

Brian:
Okay, Sid the dummy is definitely cheesy, and the plot of "The Puppet Show" meanders a bit too far, introducing a few too many red herrings and false leads. Nevertheless, one of the big pleasures of Buffy the Vampire Slayer is the show's light touch. Almost everything in this episode is played for laughs, and successfully, so although it doesn't stand up to even a slightly rigorous intellectual examination, it's still an hour of pleasing and entertaining television. From the poetic justice administered by Principal Snyder to Buffy, Willow, and Xander in the beginning, to Xander's brilliant pop-culture references ("Does anybody else feel like they've just been Kaiser Sozé'd?"), to poor Willow at the end, "The Puppet Show" induces grin after grin despite its holes and flaws. (7/10)
Will:
Suspense and a wooden puppet...you can't get better than that. This episode was one of my personal favorites. In a similar manner to the episode "The Witch," just when you think you have it all figured out...WRONG!! Buffy the Vampire Slayer tends to be a horror/suspense/thriller type of show that throws in a lot of humor. Admittedly, how scary can this show really get? Well, I found myself a bit scared (well, at least on the edge of my seat) through most of this episode. In addition, the closing scene with Buffy, Willow, and Xander attempting to perform "Oedipus" for the talent show is absolutely priceless. Two thumbs up for Buffy! (10/10)
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Nielsens
Air Date Rating Ranking
May 05, 1997 1.9 104 of 107
July 21, 1997 NA NA
September 1, 1997 NA NA

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