Episode 1.11: Out of Mind, Out of Sight. Original Airdate 5.19.97
"An invisible force is attacking the students and teachers at Sunnydale High. Buffy and the gang must find a way to stop this unseen menace, and determine why it seems to be centering its attacks on Cordelia."
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| Quick! Play "Johnny B. Goode" |
"An invisible force is attacking the students and teachers at Sunnydale High. Buffy and the gang must find a way to stop this unseen menace, and determine why it seems to be centering its attacks on Cordelia."
Daniel's Thoughts:
- Harmony is back!
- I like that in her English class, Cordy makes these completely shallow comments that are true to character but also have some insight. It's nice hearing an actual valid discussion in a fake class on TV.
- Man, Sunnydale High has a huge locker room!
- Yay! Clea Duvall! One of the one-offs that is enjoying a nice career since being on Buffy.I love that this one-off episode is referenced at least twice in future episodes.
- "Be My Deputy!" ~This is a wonderfully nice and genuine moment between Xander and Willow. It shows that these two share a fun history. And it's a nice moment for Buffy, too, being the new girl..and not having many memories with...well anyone. Also, I wonder if Jesse was there? ;) [Daniel! We made a pact with Xander and Willow to never speak of Jesse again! - Z]
- Snyder continues to be awesome - "Don't sue."
- In the first half of the episode, at times, Cordy is written as almost cartoonish.
- Althought later, she has a really nice moment talking about how and why she's often lonely. It's also shallow as hell which makes me give a thumbs up to the writers for giving Cordy a transitional moment without compromising the character
- I love the plot for this episode - it feels like a bad 80s horror film....but in a good way!
- I'd love to find out what happened to Marcie and the school of invisible assassins!
- And like before, I enjoyed the 'aw' moment with Cordelia genuinely thanking the Scoobies. I think this is the first time where it seems she almost wants to be part of the group. She pretends to not know what's going on like most of Sunnydale...but I think she's more aware than we give her credit for.
Zelda's Thoughts:
- Harmony's back!
- "My eyes are hazel, Helen Keller."
- Buffy says her weapons are show-and-tell for "history class." Why is history the catch-all subject?
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It's weird when Cordy makes intelligent arguments analyzing Merchant of Venice. Until it turns back into Cordelia running over people with bikes. It's hard to remember she's not a total nimrod when she so frequently acts like a total nimrod.
Twinsies! - Harmony's pants match Cordy's dress! Ew.
- Mitch (Cordy's bf) is a tool. But he looks good shirtless.
- "I don't think I need the loony fringe vote."
- I had this thoughtful analysis of the Be My Deputy moment, and Daniel Kanyed me [Imma let you finish - D] out of some of it. But here goes: while I love AH's delivery of "Be my deputy" enough that it made it to our episode title, I could not for the life of me understand why this moment was in the show - until I actually stopped and asked out loud "why is this moment in the show?" (funny how that works). It's a small throwaway moment, but it goes along with the motif of the whole episode, of watching something from the outside, of feeling excluded or somehow separate. Mostly we'll be dealing with this in this episode in terms of Cordelia (alone in the center of the crowd) and Marcie (so on the fringes that she actually fades from view), and Buffy herself often already feels like an outsider, because of her Secret Identity and Baggage. But it's rarer for her to feel this when she's with her friends who know all there is to know - except that they were a friend unit that already existed, and that she joined. Which means there will be plenty of frames of reference for Xander and Willow that Buffy just can't get traction on. Including "Be my deputy" - a joke that, appropriately enough, we don't get let in on either. Analysis done.
YOUGUYSI'MREALLYEXCITED "Other lawyers call him the beast." Willow = cutest liar ever- Buffy's skirt goes all the way to her knees! I'm so proud!
- "Maybe it's a vampire bat ... I'm alone with that one, huh."
- Aw, Harmony's pratfall looks really painful. And I couldn't stop laughing. That was amazing.
- I like Clea Duvall. Too bad she's not actually in the episode much.
- Lookit! Men in Black!
- WILLOW'S SHIRT HAS SCOOBY DOO ON IT. I had a minor freak out.
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Ironic that Giles saying "You may have to work on listening to people" was so clearly ADR'd?
Can I be Daphne? - Hi Angel! You're very lurky.
- It's kind of cool that Giles is barely looking at Angel - can barely look at him - but when Angel offers to get him the Codex he looks at him fully for the first time.
- Nice segue of Angel talking about not being able to see himself - cut to Marcie, pre-blinvisiblity, looking at herself in the mirror.
- "Just because the story's about him, doesn't mean he's the hero, right?" - I feel like writing a whole essay on this one. I won't, but I kinda feel like it. Nice throwaway meta-moment, guys.
- This episode has another X-Files ending with the creepy government conspiracy of blinvisible assassins. I don't mind it as much as the Teacher's Pet eggs, but I'd like it more if it somehow came back later.
Crossfire!
Rhymes with "blinvisible."
Favorite Lines:
Daniel: "I think I speak for everyone when I say 'huh?'" - Buffy (I've definitely used this one...)
Zelda: "This is all about me! ME ME ME!" - Cordelia
90s Factoid:
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| Willow has one of those squeezy drink things |
Arc/Continuity Stuff:
- Sunnydale has a May Queen.
- Cordelia, Harmony, Xander and Willow have English together.
- Buffy was Hemery High's version of May Queen, which ... we assume is like a regular prom?
Stats:
Angel's Character - makes his triumphant return as creepy portent guy
Dead Humans - 0
Dead Undeads - 0
Giles Unconscious - not quite. damn and blast.
Giles Cleans His Glasses - 0
Buffy Breaks a Door - 1
Evil Reveal - 0
Unevil Reveal - 0
Shenanigans Called - 0
Apocalypse Called - 0
Ooooh, the Marcie episode. I really like this one and I'm sad as well that Clea Duvall wasn't in it much, I loved her on Carnivale. Speaking of Marcie, I totally was afraid of getting those comments written in my own yearbook. "Have a nice summer!" Thankfully, I managed to have friends who would actually write things in my yearbook so I didn't go all blinvisible and stuff. :P
ReplyDeleteI really wish the blinvisible assassins had turned up in the fourth season with the Initiative. It would have made so much sense and been a real threat to Buffy and the gang, as well as the poor demons they were capturing. Ah well, one can dream...
Ohhhhh man that would have been AWESOME! I bet if we got Riley Finn strapped to a chair, he'd start talking about the secret Blinvisible Brigade before long...
DeleteLove your analysis on the 'Be my deputy' moment! Not only is it a cute little bit that reminds of us Willow and Xander's long-standing friendship, it also works thematically as Buffy constantly feels like an outsider, even to her own friends. This is a theme that runs rampantly and obviously throughout the show's history and it's nice to see it even here in this small moment so early on in the series. And yes, Snyder is amazing!
ReplyDeleteLoving your reviews, guys! Keep up the good work :) Also next is Prophecy Girl, best episode of season 1 :D
I would like to second the love for the Be My Deputy analysis. It's definitely a precursor to other episodes that come WAY later, and I love that it's something that's hinted at so early in the show. Great catch.
ReplyDelete... Is it bad that Riley even makes bondage boring?
Also, Cordelia is my favorite Cordelia. Even in Season 1. :)
Yeah, Cordy is great in this episode and I love that they give her depth without compromising her wonderfully shallow and cutthroat blunt ways. And I love that they have a parallel with her and Buffy due to them :)
ReplyDeleteI need to rewatch this episode. It seems a lot better than I originally pegged it (though Marcie goes from sympathetic villain to card-carrying psycho in a matter of seconds. Same way Buffy loses the plot in 'Gone' [though, while it's a stretch, it's a LITTLE bit more understandable than the former]. Why does this show think 'turning blinvisible' equals 'losing the freaking plot and going crazy'?!
Agreed, Marcie details herself very quickly. I think, at least with Buffy in "Gone," the reason she loses the plot (well said!) is suddenly she feels able to act, free of consequences, since she can't be caught out for anything she's doing. And Buffy has ALWAYS had to deal with the consequences - even of someone else's actions, like when Faith refused to take responsibility for her accidental murder.
DeleteAwesome blog! So glad that I found you. I am a huge Buffy fan. :-)
ReplyDeleteWe're glad to have you, Leah! Feel free to peruse our older posts and share with your friends ;)
DeleteGiles cleans his glasses at 28:50 (during the meeting in the library with Cordy).
ReplyDeleteYou could almost count it as two cleanings, because he holds them up to blow on them and look at them, then wipes them some more. But mostly he's blowing on them for moisture as part of the same cleaning.
This is a man who takes his glasses-cleaning seriously, and an actor who is fully up to the task.