The Watcher Diaries 01.16.08: The Puppet Show - Buffy Episode Nine
Posted by Jason Chamberlain on 01.16.2008
From a walking, talking puppet to a new principal, Buffy has her work cut out for her in this episode! 411's Scooby Gang has the full review of The Puppet Show!
Welcome back to Sunnydale!
The first season alone has provided Buffy and her friends with countless monsters to deal with; vampires, witches, demons of all sorts. This week things get even weirder, as Buffy takes on.... a puppet?!
Here’s J.D. Dunn with an episode recap.
Episode 1.09 - "The Puppet Show"
W: Dean Batali, Rob Des Hotel
D: Ellen S. Pressman
Original Airdate: May 5, 1997
Synopsis: Buffy, Willow and Xander are conscripted into the school talentless show. When kids turn up with missing hearts and minds, the gang suspects Morgan and his dummy, Sid. Morgan is reluctant to talk because "Sid" is very protective, but does that make him a killer? Or maybe it's the creepy new principal? When Buffy is attacked by Sid the Dummy, that narrows things down quite a bit. Buffy and Sid duke it out until they realize they're actually on the same side. Sid has been cursed into the body of a dummy by a demon he's hunting. Unfortunately for the demon, he took a cancerous brain and needs a new one -- one from a really smart person…like a librarian. Thankfully, Buffy and crew arrive on the scene to save the Watcher before he loses his head.
Introduces: Principal Snyder, Buffy's school foil who blames cheerleader immolation on liberalism.
Thanks J.D.! I’m up for the review this week, so let’s get to it!
The first season of the show is in the home stretch, and Joss and his fellow writers are getting things down to a science. This episode features a lot of great Scooby Gang interaction that would pave the way for similar episodes in the future. It has a storyline that keeps you guessing until the very end, an interesting newcomer in Sid the Dummy (who sadly wouldn’t return, except in the Chaos Bleeds video game) and the introduction of one of the most sadistic evildoers ever to haunt the streets of Sunnydale... Principal Snyder!
Let’s talk about Sid. A surprisingly interesting character and short of Jenny Calender, probably the most memorable of the ones the first season rolled out (omitting evildoers like the Master and Darla). He had a very interesting backstory which probably could have used some further exploration. He was a dummy, of course, so that visual gag would probably have been a pain to pull off regularly and the audience might eventually have a tough time taking him seriously (not that he was played ultra serious). Still, his appearance is probably one of the best ‘single episode’ guest shots the series ever produced.
This episode also illustrates how well BTVS can handle what other shows might turn into a convoluted plot. For the majority of the hour the viewer really doesn’t know who the bad guy is, and the plot employs a lot of bait and switch moments to keep the audience guessing, but somehow it never gets tiresome.
As for Snyder, at certain points in this episode we are led to believe he might be the ‘demon’ that is stealing organs, but he turns out to be an evil of a far longer lasting sort. The replacement for Principal Flutie (and eventually revealed to be a stooge for the shady Mayor of Sunnydale), Snyder makes every student long for the days of the touchy feely Flutie. Snyder hates kids, plain and simple, and he rejects Flutie’s ‘caring, sharing’ method of principal-ing as ‘wooly headed liberal thinking that leads to being eaten’. Well, hard to argue with that! The near physical pain that Snyder’s mere presence elicits in his ‘victims’ is classic and he’ll be a constant source of ire for the Scoobs for seasons to come.
This episode also packs a whole lot of laughs. From Xander playing around with Sid to Giles suffering through Cordelia’s singing, to the entire gang and their incredulous looks as Sid tells them his life story, there are plenty of laugh out loud moments. It doesn’t get any better, however, than the sterling piece of dramatic ‘acting’ that Buffy, Xander and Willow present for the talent show. Played over the end credits, it’s absolutely hysterical, especially when Willow runs away in terror.
Let's hear what the rest of the Scoobs have to say!
J.D. Dunn
Horror will always get mileage out of dolls. Expressionless bastards. Sid's in-class leer at Buffy is really creepy -- a nice bit of direction by Pressman. Plus, the twist that Sid is actually a good guy is quite clever. The whodunnit aspect isn't really fair, though. Where was that guy throughout the episode?
Nick Wallander
"Puppet Show" was one of the first episodes of the series that showed the fans that not every single mystical entity on the series was going to be an evil creature. Enter Sid the Dummy. This little man at first seemed to be bad news and then in traditional Buffy fashion, we learn not everything is at it seems. This is the kind of kick ass story telling that made Buffy stand out from all other shows that tried to excel at the television horror genre. Whedon and friends somehow managed to make you care about characters you initially despised and does so on the drop of a dime. The end of the episode with Sid in Buffy's arm was as touching a moment as the show had ever seen. Also, let us not forget that this set up the brilliant return of Sid in the Buffy video game, "Chaos Bleeds".
Mike Gorman
Two great characters show up this episode, Sid and Snyder. My fondness for Sid actually grew out of playing 'Chaos Bleeds' on XBox and I find I actually enjoyed this episode more revisiting it now. Snyder on the other hand becomes the perfect pain in Buffy and Giles side dancing around the "does he know or doesn't he know" question for some time. I will add that I did enjoy the Sid twist towards the episode's end as I share Buffy's distrust of ventriloquist dummies. Guess the agents of Mutant Enemy again have corrected my misperceptions!"
Ron Martin
Perhaps there is no funner episode in Season 1. Ventriloquist’s dummies are creepy – this I will not deny. Sid is creepy. He’s creepy when you think he’s the killer; he’s creepy when you know he’s the demon hunter. This is the first “funny” Buffy episode where the laughs outweigh the horror. Principal Snyder’s presence dominates this episode challenged only by the throw away one liners you kind of have to listen for (preferably in a second viewing). Even though you kind of figure it’s not Sid because they are focusing so much on him, the episode is fun enough for you not to care. Even Giles gets in on the action with some good lines. I think this may be the first time another slayer is mentioned. The moment the curtain goes up and the gang is frozen on the stage with the headless demon is priceless. Very well written and plays to strengths of the cast. It shows.
Jerome Cusson
Another show with a twist that is striving more for mediocrity and the "Monster of the Week" concept rather than advancing the main thread of the entire season. This is also an episode that is very funny and light in nature. Shows like "Smallville" did their own weekly monsters of the week but Buffy always did a great job providing entertainment and still having a decent plot line. Not a lot of other shows could say that.
Well, it looks like we've got a lot of gamers around here! Chaos Bleeds, for those Buffy fans who haven't played it, is truly a fun game and definitly worth a pick up for fans of the Whedonverse. I know when I first played it (I got it before I was able to play the original Buffy game, also a blast) I got chills walking down the streets of Sunnydale!
One more thing...
GRR!!! ARGH!!!
The 411: A fun episode that really shows the Buffy formula is starting to fire on all cylinders. One of this season's better efforts.
