Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Recap/S1/E09 The Puppet Show

""Unto every generation is born one who must run the annual talentless show. You cannot escape your destiny.""

Something is killing the school Talent Show contestants and taking their body parts. The Slayerettes suspect a classmate and his dummy.

First appearance of Principal Snyder.

"Snyder: There are certain things that I will not tolerate. Students loitering around school after hours, horrible murders with hearts being removed, and smoking."
 * Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking

"Snyder: This place has quite a reputation. Suicide, missing persons, spontaneous cheerleader combustion. You can't put up with that."
 * All Part of the Show
 * Arbitrary Skepticism: With all of the supernatural stuff that the Buffy gang encounters on a daily basis, is it really so far-fetched to think that a dummy might be animate?
 * Bad Bad Acting: The Scoobies' stiff, laughable performance of Oedipus Rex.
 * Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick

"Look at you -- you're strong, athletic, limber, nnnnubile....(twigs out for a moment) I'm back!"
 * Bait and Switch:
 * Credits Gag: The Scoobies 'talent' performance is shown during the credits.
 * Demonic Dummy:
 * Distracted by the Sexy:

"Sid: (to Willow) How about you and I do a little rehearsing on our own, honey? You know what they say: once you go wood, nothing's as good!"
 * Double Entendre: Sid has plenty in his act. It turns out Sid isn't acting though, he really is horny.

"Snyder: From now on you're gonna see a very different Sunnydale High. Tight ship, clean, orderly...and quiet. (Cut to Screaming Woman who's just found Emily with her heart cut out)"
 * Everyone Hates Mimes: Xander yelps at the sight of a mime on stage.
 * Falling Chandelier of Doom: Buffy gets trapped under one (rather unconvincingly, as it looks like something an ordinary cheerleader could lift, let alone Buffy).
 * Faux Horrific: The Scoobies horror at being forced to take part in the Talent Show.
 * Gilligan Cut

"Cordelia: It's just such a tragedy for me. Emma was, like, my best friend. Xander: Emily. Cordelia: All I can think is, it coulda been me!
 * Hollywood Tone Deaf: Cordelia's utter butchering of Whitney Houston's "The Greatest Love of All."
 * Hypocritical Humor

Xander: We can dream."

"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?
 * Hey, It's That Guy!: Quark is now a student-hating principal! (Mmm, perhaps it should be Hey, It's That Voice!).
 * Imagine the Audience Naked

Giles: Cordelia, there, uh, there-there's, uh, uh, an adage, uh, that, uh, if you're feeling nervous then, uh, you should imagine the entire audience are in their underwear.

Cordelia: Eww! Even Mrs. Franklin? Uhhh!

Giles: Perhaps not.

Cordelia: Yeah."

"Giles: Well it's a welcome relief to have someone else explain these things."
 * Jaws First Person Perspective: Emily's death.
 * Laser-Guided Karma: Buffy, Xander and Willow tease Giles for being forced to supervise the school's talent show by Principal Snyder. Moments later, the principal appears and tells all three to participate themselves. Giles fails to suppress a smirk in the background.
 * The Mean Brit: Averted as Giles is too polite to tell the contestants they suck.
 * Monster of the Week
 * Mr. Exposition

"Xander: Does anybody else feel like they've been Keyser Sozed?"
 * No Guy Wants an Amazon:
 * Off with His Head: The fate of the episode's villain.
 * Open Says Me: Buffy spends a second or two trying to pick a combination lock, then just smashes it through the locker door.
 * Organ Theft
 * Person as Verb

"Snyder: Kids today need discipline. That's an unpopular word these days, 'discipline.' I know Principal Flutie would have said, 'Kids need understanding. Kids are human beings.' That's the kind of woolly-headed liberal thinking that leads to being eaten."
 * Pieta Plagiarism: Buffy holding
 * Slippery Slope Fallacy: Played for laughs with the new principal.

"Snyder: I don't get it. What is it, avant garde?"
 * Throw It In: Willow running away in the middle of the final scene. It's worked in perfectly.
 * Nicholas Brendon screaming "REDRUM!!!" while playing with the puppet was shot between takes.
 * True Art Is Incomprehensible: The Scoobies have just defeated the Monster of the Week when the curtain rises exposing them to the audience. Buffy is cradling a ventriloquist dummy. Willow is holding a hatchet. Xander and Giles are next to a guillotine with a decapitated demon lying on it.


 * Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Buffy's fear of dummies.
 * You Are Who You Eat