The Puppet Show
Reviewed by Christophe | Rating: 7/10

The Puppet Show
Episode Written by Dean Batali and Rob Des Hotel (Now writers of “That 70’s show.”)
Directed by Ellen S. Pressman

There’s mayhem behind the scenes of Sunnydale High’s annual talent show, when someone or something begins to kill the contestants for their organs. The new Principal, Mr Snyder, forces Buffy and her friends to take part in the talent contest, while they secretly work together to solve this goulish and disturbing mystery.

The entries to the talent show are shown to us at the opening of the episode. There are dancers, magic tricks, a band, and even a very off key solo from Cordelia! Principal Snyder has put Giles in charge of the show, in an effort to expose him to more children. As I have already mentioned, Buffy, Willow, and Xander are forced to participate by the unreasonable Principal. One act, which proves most popular, is a ventriloquist dummy skit, by a student named Morgan Shay. It appears that Morgan is an extremely skilled ventriloquist, as his lips barely move when “Sid,” his dummy comes to life! Buffy, Xander, and Willow, decide to go with a dramatic act for their performance.

The gang is shocked when they learn of the death of Emily, a dancer in the talent contest. Emily’s heart was removed from her body with a long knife. This baffles the slayer, as it does not seem that a demon would use such a knife. So, Buffy and her cohorts make time to discuss Emily’s death with the other talent show contestants. Everyone points his or her finger in the same direction – Morgan Shay! Buffy tries to address Morgan, but he and his dummy’s increasingly strange relationship, prevents her from finding any useful information.

We are shown a scene with only Morgan and his dummy. The dummy IS alive, and has a very clear mind of it’s own! He tells Morgan that Buffy must be killed. That night, the dummy wakes Buffy in her room, scaring her half to death! Buffy’s childhood fear of dummies remains with her today, and the situation greatly disturbs her. When she shares the news with her friends, they disbelieve her story, saying it was probably just a cat. Buffy however, is still determined to speak to Morgan without his dummy.

Fortunately, in one of Buffy’s classes , the teacher confiscates Sid the dummy. When Morgan returns to the teacher to reclaim his dummy, Sid has mysteriously disappeared. Turns out, Xander had stealthily stole Sid, in the hopes of Buffy being able to catch Morgan alone. So, off the slayer goes, backstage to find Morgan. Deeper and deeper she goes, searching the rooms to no avail… until she finds Morgan – dead! His brains had been removed. Buffy is shattered, and begins to make her exit, but before she can leave, a huge iron chandelier falls on top of her – pinning her to the floor.

Back at the library, Giles, Willow, and Xander are distressed when they find Sid has escaped. The trapped slayer sees the very self-animate dummy, as he begins to move in. Sid narrowly misses Buffy’s dodging head with his knife! But the strong slayer wriggles her way from her iron prison and manages to pin the knife-wielding dummy to the wall. This gives the two a chance to swap a few very confusing lines. Ready for the big plot twist of the episode?! You thought the dummy was evil didn’t you?! No way, on BTVS there are good dummy’s… still with me? Sid is a demon hunter. He was once a human, who, on one of his travels, ran into “the brotherhood of 7” (a demon clan). He was killed, and cursed to the confines of a wooden dummy. The only way to lift the curse is to kill all 7 of the demons – Sid has already killed 6. Why was he trying to kill Buffy, I hear you ask?! He thought Buffy was the 7th demon! These demons take on human form, but can only maintain these forms by eating a fresh human heart and brain every 7 years.

It would appear that the last demon had what it wanted, a heart and a brain from separate “donors.” But upon finding that there were no missing contestants in the talent show, Buffy realises that the demon must want something more. Willow checks out some medical files on Morgan, and finds that he had brain cancer. This explains why the demon hadn’t yet cleared out – he still needs a healthy brain, and will most likely target the smartest person present. Believing that Willow’s brain would most likely be the best buy on the market, Buffy and Xander are determined to protect her, not realising that Giles was actually the one in danger!

Giles, back at the setting up of the talent show, has been asked by Marc the magician, to help test his equipment. The equipment in concern here is in fact a guillotine, as Marc is truly the last of the 7 demons – still in need of a fresh and preferably intelligent brain! Things look grim for Giles as Marc begins to chop the rope holding the guillotine blade menacingly above Giles’ forehead. But before Giles can be sliced and diced, Buffy, Willow and Xander arrive in the nick of time. Buffy does her routine slayer moves with the bad guy, who fully transforms into his demon visage. Sid the dummy plunges his knife into Marc’s heart, ending the demon’s life, and freeing his own soul from its cursed prison. Once again, Buffy and her friends, save another regular day on the hellmouth!

This episode is as complex story wise as “Never kill a Boy on the First Date!” Some BIG plot twists and surprises in there! I really liked the way the writers pulled away from the old and very cliched evil dummy story line. The brother hood of 7 demon, who needed to harvest human organs, was a much needed and welcomes twist that added a sense of goulish creepiness to the episode.

Cordelia scored her first couple of scenes since a few episodes, which I thought was great. I’m beginning to see a pattern in Angel’s appearances – if the story does not involve vampires, he ain’t there! And so, since this episode did not dwell on vampiric evils, Angel remained absent. The addition of Principal Snyder was a brilliant move, a huge contrast to Principal Flutie! He is a tough obstacle for Buffy, and already suspects her intentions are not pristine.

“The Puppet show” is a roller coaster of an episode. It will have you guessing at every turn, laughing, and screaming! Great fun!

7/10

Memorable Quotes:

“My predecessor Mr Flutie may have gone in for all that touchy, feely, relatey nonsense, but he was eaten, you’re in my world now! And Sunnydale has touched and felt for the last time.”
- Principal Snyder.

Xander: “But we have talent, we can do stuff! Buffy…”
Buffy: “What am I gonna do? Slay vampires on stage?”
Willow: “Maybe in a funny way!”

“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 on the lack of discipline in Sunnydale High.

Cordelia: “All I can think is, it could have been me!”
Xander: “We can only dream…”
- Cordelia and Xander when discussing Emily’s tragic death.

“Whose ever out there I’m gonna hurt you…Badly! …Just give me a minute!”
- Buffy when she is trapped.

Cordelia: “I….I can’t go out there… all those people staring at me and judging me like I’m some kind of…Buffy!…what if I mess up?!”
Giles: “Cordelia…there’s an adage…ah…that if you’re feeling nervous, then you should imagine the entire audience are in their underwear.”
Cordelia: “Ew! Even Mrs Franklin?”
Giles: “Perhaps not…”
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