Buffy for Beginners 1.9: The Puppet Show

One of my least favorite of the first season is this one about a horny ventriloquist�s dummy who is quite literally a walking piece of wood. However, Cordy�s rendition of Whitney Houston�s �Greatest Love of All� and Giles as the producer of the school talent show is perhaps a few of the greatest moments of the episode, forced so lovingly by the new Furher, aka Principal Snyder. Not only that, but the Scoobies are also forced to participate, culminating in one of the greatest acting skits, like, ever.

Ah, but things are never as they seem in the land of the hellmouth, as a young coed bites the dust to the chanting of some evil thing stating, �I will be flesh.� We are led to believe it has something to do with the wiggy dummy being used in the talent show, and ahhhh, the plot thickens. Now, if there�s a deeper meaning to this episode, then quite honestly it is lost upon me, other than the misogynistic overtones of the dummy. �Once you go wood, nothing�s as good!� And as Snyder suggests, �Kids today need discipline. I know Principal Flutie would�ve said �kids need understanding, kids are human beings.� That�s the kid of wooly headed liberal thinking that leads to being eaten.� Oh, where is Principal Flutie when you need him? �Kids, I don�t like �em.�

Once the dead girl is found, the creep factor goes up exponentially, and the Scoobies begin to investigate their talent show compatriots. They find out the dead girl (Emily) had spoken to Morgan, the ventriloquist, before she died. And as Cordy suggests, �It could�ve been me!� Xander�s reply? �We can dream.� Buffy catches Morgan talking to his wooden dummy and grows suspicious as Snyder begins to grow suspicious of Buffy.

Buffy breaks into Morgan�s locker and we cut to a scene of Sid the Dummy and Morgan arguing about Buffy, and the dummy breaks into Buffy�s room that night while she�s sleeping. The next day Cordy complains about her slot in the show and Giles stops and stares at her, stating �Your hair�� �Something�s wrong with my hair? Oh God.� Cordy bolts. Now, this has nothing to do with anything, it�s just one of the funniest moments of the episode.

As Buffy tells the gang about her adventurous night, Giles divulges info about a secret demon who must harvest a human brain and heart every seven years to keep its human form. They are preternaturally strong, as Giles points out, and Morgan seems to be getting weaker by the day. We come to find out that Morgan has a brain tumor, and is getting sicker by the day. The culprit is not Sid the Dummy, but the demon mentioned by Giles previously. Sid is a demon hunter whose cursed soul resides inside the dummy�s body. Only when he kills his seventh demon the curse will be lifted and he�ll be free.

Buffy and Scoobies find out that the demon that�s stealing hearts and brains tried to take Morgan�s, but his was diseased. It goes after the smartest person�s brain, and Giles ends up on the chopping block�.almost. Sid kills the demon and Xander saves Giles just in the nick of time. Sid goes to the happy place and all is well in talent show land. Except of course when Buffy, Will and Xander do their dramatic scene from Oedipus Rex. Oh, merciful Zeus! Oh, and Willow runs off stage.

About Sabrina: As a kid my dad would sneak scary movies past my mom and let me indulge in his horror movie fetish. I grew up watching V, Alien Nation, The Thing, The Fog (all originals) and then, in 1992 when Buffy the movie came out, I became obsessed with vampires, girl power, and all things gothic. I once stayed home from school, faked sick, and watched BTVS: the movie 6 times in a row. I know the beginning cheerleading dance by heart (still). Currently, I’m obsessing over Laurell K. Hamilton novels, and dream about Anita Blake being my best friend.

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