#like no….. harrow’s gaslighting of herself and us is Really Important Actually

[fingertipsmp3]

Lmao why is my chapter summaries of HtN document over 3000 words long already and I’m not even two thirds of the way into HtN

[blorgon-schmorgon]

BtVS Rewatch 1x09 The Puppet Show

continuing my weekly rewatch of buffy with my partner (his first time watching), we watched the puppet show last week, which I expected to dislike. I remember feeling bored the last time I saw it, and was anxious to move past it, but I think it might actually have been the episode my partner enjoyed the most? He spent most of it guessing how it was going to go, and never caught on, which is probably testament to how tightly written the episode was and the good use of red-herrings and false leads. Watching him watch it gave me a new perspective on the strength of the episode, and speaks to what morgue.isprettyawesome claims is the best bit of this episode - the genuine surprise and the use of Buffy’s format to keep the audience guessing and introducing a slew of weirdness that somehow clicks together. I don’t feel like any Buffy episode will introduce this many twists again, but it’s a very solid method of doing Buffy, and feels very season 1 in its horror movie riffing. 

some thoughts on youth and the wider world: 

I just made a recent imagery series about youth in season 1, and I think this episode really captures some of the themes of youth really well? Sid the Dummy is kind of antithetical to the monsters we’ve seen thus far (Moloch, The Master, Miss French, Catherine Madison), as a creature that has a simulacra of eternal youth foisted upon it rather than seeking that youth. Of course, the real monster of this episode is the demon going undercover as a magician seeking youth in his own way, but he receives so little screentime and focus that he really seems like an excuse to explore Sid the Dummy instead. Initially, Sid seems to be another variation of these previous monsters - attempting to steal the youth of high school students - but turns out to be the opposite, a demon hunter cursed to live in the body of a puppet, a quasi-child, until he completes his purpose of slaying a set of demons. In some ways, Sid seems to be an archetype for what Angel will eventually become, and the role Angel is currently playing in the show - Buffy’s connection to a wider world of monsters and demon fighters that exist beyond her, a model of her future development and growth. The connection these two make in this episode is similar to the connection she will build with characters like Angel, Kendra, and Faith, the shadow selves that will nudge her into and away from separate paths of growth. Here, she meets someone who has fought the good fight and is unable to leave, trapped in a fight he no longer wants to be a part of, an inversion of the short-lived Slayer, which he comments on:

Sid:  Don't get sniffly on me, sis. I've lived a lot longer than most demon hunters. Or Slayers, for that matter.

Buffy herself will feel trapped in a role she doesn’t want to play again and again - particularly in season 6 - and so Sid feels like a useful metaphor for thinking through that future pain and feeling of entrapment. Sid doesn’t quite fit any high school metaphor the way previous monsters have, but as I said about I Robot, You Jane, seems to be a way for the show to begin commenting on itself. Here, Sid holds up a fractured mirror to Buffy, her growth, and the Slayer as a construct. 

On the flip side, the episode also introduces Principal Snyder. Where Sid represents a path of adulthood for Buffy to consider and step into, Snyder represents malevolent adulthood, a force to be fought by rebellious and independent youth envisioning an alternative future. Snyder represents conformity, order at the expense of justice and change, and compliance to authority. These themes will emerge more strongly in season 3, but here remain a useful kick in the pants for a show that hasn’t quite found its grounding and a sense of conflict. Until this point, the key authority figures were Principal Flutie and Joyce Summers - Snyder represents a tangible human figure of conflict for the Scooby Gang to organize against, as opposed to the more benevolently negligent Flutie and Joyce. This is important set up work for future seasons! The show is beginning to come into its own here, and its great!

Another notable moment that emerges from this episode is Buffy’s fear of dummies stemming from a childhood experience, and Xander gaslighting her fear of Sid by drawing on that - it’ll happen again in Killed by Death with Buffy’s fear of Kindestod, and is an interesting, if not quite effective way, of heightening the episode’s tension. The show is beginning to understand the importance of personalizing the threat to the main characters, but drawing on experiences in the past is a little cheap, and doesn’t quite work.

I’m also fascinated by the character of Morgan - Morgan who is Sid’s helper, Morgan who seemed to be invested in this fight too, Morgan who dies offhandedly, Morgan the enigma and someone who seems to be a shadow of Ford in Lie to Me, or even Ben in season 5. A cancer/death-stricken youth who seems to choose good in a way these future variants don’t. What is his relationship with Sid? What are his motivations? His disposability seems linked to this episode’s twisting surprises, but I wish he had gotten more of a focus and been sketched out more clearly. Sid doesn’t remark on his death at all, which seems like such a wasted opportunity to flesh out Sid and Morgan more clearly, and relate it to the show’s larger themes.

On a final note, what I love about this episode upon rewatch is how much fun the cast seems to be having, and how relaxed the Scooby Gang seem to be - we won’t see this for the rest of the season as they’re put in more harrowing situations that shake up the dynamics of the group in interesting ways, but we will see this a lot in season 2 that helps to ground a heavy and emotionally tough season. Season 1 is doing a lot of important legwork with this episode, and it’s great to see the family unit of the show come into itself! I love their teasing of Giles, I love the epilogue, and I love their familiarity with each other!