The Puppet Show

"The Puppet Show" is the ninth episode of the first season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the ninth episode in the series. Written by Rob Des Hotel with Dean Batali and directed by Ellen S. Pressman, it was originally broadcast on May 5, 1997, on The WB network.

Synopsis[]

IF I ONLY HAD A BRAIN — Sunnydale High School's annual talent show serves as a backdrop for murder when Buffy must catch a knife-wielding stealer of human organs. Meanwhile, the new principal is a discipline-loving brute who forces Giles to run the talent show and orders Buffy, Xander, and Willow to perform.^[1]

Summary[]

Unseen, someone watches a ballet dancer, Emily, stretching backstage. On the stage, Cordelia sings off-key while auditioning for the Sunnydale Talent Show. Giles interrupts her, eager to put an end to her singing. Buffy, Xander, and Willow tease Giles as he complains that Snyder, the school's new principal, put him in charge of the talent show to have more contact with the students. When Snyder overhears the Scoobies making fun of Giles, he punishes them by forcing them to participate in the talent show, making it clear that he's far different from Mr. Flutie because he's not interested in making friends with his students. The next audition is Morgan and his dummy, Sid, and Buffy confesses to being freaked out by dummies. Morgan's act takes a sudden turn for the better when Sid suddenly develops a personality and starts making sarcastic comments about the act.

Alone in the locker room, Emily hears a noise. She screams as a voice declares, "I will be flesh."

The talent show rehearsals continue with Marc, an unsuccessful magician. Buffy, Willow, and Xander debate what to do for the talent show and settle on a dramatic scene because it does not require any actual talent. Sid watches and makes offensive comments as Morgan explains the voice is an imitation of his father.

Snyder explains to Giles that he will run a safer, more disciplined school, only to be interrupted by the discovery of Emily's body. Her heart has been cut out with a knife, and the Scoobies debate whether the killer is a demon or human.

The Scoobies split up and begin interviewing students from the talent show to find the killer. All of their interviews point in the direction of Morgan and his dummy. After school, Buffy breaks into Morgan's locker and finds Sid's case empty. Suddenly, Principal Snyder appears and admonishes her for being in the school after hours. Morgan and Sid are hidden behind a door, watching. In the auditorium, Sid insists that Buffy is "the one," citing her strength as evidence. When Morgan tells him that he "can't do it," Sid says he will.

When Buffy goes to sleep, Sid waits until the lights are off and sneaks into her bedroom. When she hears his footsteps, she wakes up and sees him sitting on her bed. Buffy screams and Joyce rushes in, but Sid escapes before he is discovered. The next morning, Buffy has a hard time convincing the Scoobies that Sid broke into her room. Giles mentions a group of demons that need human organs to maintain their humanity, or they will revert back to their original form.

After a teacher confiscates Sid for disturbing class, Xander steals him so Buffy can talk to Morgan alone. She searches for Morgan backstage, and Snyder is again displeased with her being where she does not belong. In the library, Willow finds references to another possible explanation — animated dummies might harvest organs to become humans. Suddenly, Xander notices that Sid is missing.

Buffy finds Morgan's body, missing his brain, just as a chandelier falls on her. When she tries to stand up, Sid attacks her with a knife. During their fight, they realize they both have the same goal: to stop the demon.

In the library, Sid explains he is a demon hunter, cursed to dummy form. To break the curse, he must kill the brotherhood of seven demons who harvest organs to maintain their human form. He's killed six, and only one remains. Sid reveals that he will die when the curse breaks, something he accepts. Realizing the demon has what it needs, they theorize it will be moving on and will be whoever is missing from the show. Sid suggests Giles form a "power circle" to find out which student is missing, but everyone is present.

Buffy discovers Morgan's brain, and the Scoobies learn that Morgan had brain cancer, which is likely why the brain was discarded. They suspect the demon is still looking for another intelligent human to harvest.

At the talent show, Marc convinces Giles to strap himself into a guillotine, pretending it is a magic prop. Buffy, Xander, and Willow rush to rescue Giles, and with Sid's help, they kill Marc — who was the demon all along. Sid drives a knife through Marc's heart and collapses as his soul is freed. Buffy takes his dummy body into her arms just as the curtain opens. Confused, the audience assumes it is part of the show.

Later that evening, Buffy, Xander, and Willow perform a scene from Oedipus Rex with a remarkable lack of talent. After Xander forgets his line, Willow runs off the stage.

Continuity[]

• Principal Snyder now heads Sunnydale High, and he'll be the principal until its destruction in "Graduation Day, Part Two."
• Principal Snyder claims that Principal Flutie's "woolly-headed, liberal thinking, led him to get eaten," in reference to his death by students possessed by hyenas in episode "The Pack." Despite Snyder's more disciplined approach to education, he eventually gets eaten as well ("Graduation Day, Part Two").
• Snyder lists some recent events from Sunnydale High: Dave's death ruled as suicide ("I Robot, You Jane), Amber's spontaneous combustion ("Witch"), and Blayne being reported missing ("Teacher's Pet").
• This episode reveals some fears of the Scooby Gang, which will be featured in the next episode, "Nightmares": Buffy is afraid of dummies, Xander is frightened by a mime with clown makeup, and Willow is afraid to perform in front of an audience.
• The idea of a demon hunter being turned into a live puppet is later repeated in the Angel episode "Smile Time."
• The pen that Willow uses in History class, where Morgan gets Sid taken away from him, is the same pen that Buffy drops when she needs to steal hair from Amy in "Witch." 
• The book with the picture of the brotherhood demon will reappear in "Killed by Death," where it also contains an entry about der Kindestod.
• In the non-canon video game Chaos Bleeds, it is revealed that Sid did not go on to his final rest after his curse broke but was instead trapped in a duplicate dummy body in the First Evil's dimension.

Appearances[]

Individuals[]

• Brett
• Lisa Campiti
• Cordelia Chase
• Emily Djiemanowicz
• Robert Flutie (Only mentioned)
• Mrs. Franklin (Only mentioned)
• Rupert Giles
• Amber Grove (Only mentioned)
• Alexander Harris
• Mrs. Jackson
• David Kirby (Only mentioned)
• Dale Leggett (Only mentioned)
• Marc
• Blayne Mall (Only mentioned)
• Willow Rosenberg
• Morgan Shay
• Sid
• Snyder
• Buffy Summers
• Joyce Summers
• Elliot Terhune
• Unidentified girl (The Puppet Show)
• Unidentified Korean Slayer (Only mentioned)

Organizations and titles[]

• Brotherhood of seven demons
• Demon hunter
• Scooby Gang
• Slayer
• Sunnydale High cheerleading squad
• Sunnydale Police Department
• Sunnydale Razorbacks
• Watcher

Species[]

• Demon
• Human
• Spirit
• Vampire (Only mentioned)

Events[]

• Sunnydale Talent Show

Locations[]

• Sunnydale
  • California Institute of Neurosurgery (Only mentioned)
  • Hellmouth (Only mentioned)
  • Revello Drive
    • 1630 Revello Drive
  • Sunnydale High School
    • Sunnydale High School library

Objects[]

• Mister Gordo
• La Nature

Rituals and spells[]

• Curse of the brotherhood of seven demons

Death count[]

• Emily Djemanowicz, heart removed by Marc.
• Morgan Shay, brain removed by Marc.
• Marc, beheaded by Xander and heart destroyed by Sid to prevent his resurrection.
• Sid, curse lifted after slaying Marc, allowing him to die.

Behind the scenes[]

Production[]

• Numerous ad-libs were included in the final cut. Such unscripted bits are when Willow runs off the stage terrified and when Xander cries, "Redrum! Redrum!"^[2]
• A calendar in Giles's office indicates the episode takes place in April 1997, the month before it first aired.
• The sound heard faintly when Sid stabs Marc's heart is a pitched version of the dusting sound.
• This is the fourth episode of the series without any vampires, after "Witch," "The Pack," and "I Robot, You Jane."
• The ending credits roll alongside Buffy, Willow, and Xander's play. This is the first time in the Buffyverse that a scene is played as the credits roll, a format used again only in the Angel episodes "She" and "Judgment."
• This is also the only time in the show that the ending credits are not in the Slayer font.

Broadcast[]

• This is the lowest-rated episode of the entire series, pulling in an audience of 1.9 million households.^[3]
• On the original airing of the episode, the closing credit sequence was split-screened with a scene in which Buffy, Willow, and Xander perform a scene from their play. This scene was excluded in repeat airings until the series left The WB network. It is included in the DVD collections and in present television reruns.

Deleted scenes[]

• An exchange from the original script was cut due to length:^[2]

  Buffy: "And I don't think we'll be featuring Xander's special gift..."

  Xander: "Okay, some people are jealous that they can't burp the alphabet."

  Buffy: "...so we're back to drama. We'll just do it quickly. Get in, get out. Nobody gets hurt."

• Another exchange from the original script was cut due to length:^[2]

  Buffy: "Pretty good. I never heard 'Flight of the Bumblebee' on the tuba before."

  Lisa: "Most people aren't up to it."

• In an early draft, the Scoobies perform instead a scene from A Streetcar Named Desire, with Willow as Stella, Buffy as Blanche, and Xander as Stanley.^[4]

Pop culture references[]

• The song that Cordelia sings, which she describes as being "about dignity, and human feelings, and personal hygiene or something," is "The Greatest Love of All," popularized by Whitney Houston. Personal hygiene may be a reference to the line: "Show them all the beauty they possess inside."
• Xander asks: "Does anyone else feel like they've been Keyser Soze'd?", referencing the film The Usual Suspects.
• While goofing around with Sid, Xander references The Shining by shouting, "Redrum! Redrum!"
• Buffy, Willow, and Xander perform a scene from the play Oedipus Rex. Xander plays Oedipus, Buffy plays Jocasta, and Willow plays the priest of Zeus.

Goofs[]

• When Buffy is breaking into Morgan's locker, she says "two to the left, three to the right," but she actually turns the dial first to the right, then to the left.
• As Giles announces five minutes until the power circle, there's a sound of violin despite the player's bow not touching the strings.
• A few crew members can be heard laughing when Willow runs offstage (though this could also be members of the audience watching the play).

Music[]

• Charisma Carpenter — "The Greatest Love of All"
• Walter Murphy — original score

International titles[]

• Armenian: "Տիկնիկային ներկայացում" (Puppet Show)
• Czech: "Loutkohra" (Puppets)
• Finnish: "Kahlenukke" (Puppet in Chains)
• French: "La Marionnette" (The Puppet)
• German: "Buffy lässt die Puppen tanzen" (Buffy Lets the Puppets Dance)
• Hungarian: "Démoni Bábu" (Demonic Puppet)
• Italian: "Il Teatro dei Burattini" (The Puppet Theater)
• Japanese: "人形劇" (Puppet Show)
• Polish: "Teatrzyk Kukiełkowy" (Puppet Show)
• Portuguese (Brazil): "O Show de Bonecos" (The Dolls Show)
• Romanian: "Spectacolul de Păpuși" (Puppet Show)
• Russian: "Кукольное представление" (Puppet Show)
• Spanish (Latin America): "El Guiñol" (The Puppet)
• Spanish (Spain): "El Ventrílocuo" (The Ventriloquist)
• Swedish: "Dockteatern" (The Puppet Show)

Adaptations[]

• The episode was included in the VHS collection The Slayer Pack.
• This episode's script is collected in The Script Book: Season One, Volume 2.
• A illustration of the scene of the Scoobies fighting Marc was included in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer Adult Coloring Book.

Gallery[]

Photos[]

Advertisement[]

"The Puppet Show" promo

"Evil never toys around."

Quotes[]

References[]