The Zeppo
The Good;
All of it, pure genius and a chance for Nic Brendon to shine like a beacon.
The Bad;
Not much, the zombie makeup could be a bit better but that's about all. Buffy's hair looks like it's been through the machine that makes crinkly chips. Surely Jack's bomb is not sophisticated enough to be boobytrapped, why doesn't Xander just yank the wires out? Like Spike in Lover's Walk and the swimteam in Go Fish isn't it a bit irresponsible to just let O'Toole go at the end?
Best line;
Willow; Occasionally I'm callous and strange (as we'll find out in Seeing Red)
or
O'Toole (threatening Xander with his knife) Are you sacred?
Xander (desperate) Would that make you happy?
But the winner is;
Xander (wondering why Oz is cool) Is it the way you express yourself in short, non-commital sentences?
Oz; Do I?
also good is Xander's 'I like the quiet', he's prepared to die to save his friends.
Wheldon Cliches;
Character death;
The Magic Box has a new owner but not for long.
Shot;
Various members of the undead gang when they were alive plus Oz twice by Willow
Tied up;
nope unless Faith and Xander indulged in some during the heat of passion
Knocked out;
Angel according to the dialogue plus werewolf Oz
Women good/men bad;
Actually a sisterhood of female demons this time around.
Jeez!;
Decapitation by letterbox, death by soda machine
Kinky dinky;
Faith shamelessly uses Xander for her own pleasure then chucks him out the door afterwards. Not that he's complaining! (and I'm sure millions of guys and not a few girls would agree). Xander seems to imply that he's never had sex before. We don't exaclty know how old he or Faith are so it could be statuatory rape, like Buffy/Angel (the legal age is 18 in California). Faith does this after the pain of Xander resetting her shoulder, linking pain, violence and pleasure (in Get It Done we discover why Slayers have this dark sexual side). Buffy seems to imply that Xander's car is a penis metaphor, love how her mind works. Xander's girl is lovely although Cordy's opinion of her is probably correct. Willow dreams of being naked, attacked by demons and late for a test.
Calling Captain Subtext;
Xander is quick to point out to the cop that although he and Jack are wrestling it's 'Not in a gay way'. Check out page 17 of the Sunnydale High Yearbook for a very interesting picture of Willow from this episode posed with a couple of SDH cheerleaders. Some of the dialogue about making Xander 'part of the gang' has a distinct Carry-On feel about it.
Guantanamo Bay;
Xander interrogates the zombie-gang by dragging one behind a car and threatening another with a bomb. Buffy goes to beat up Willy but finds someone has beaten her to it.
Scoobies to the ER;
Giles this time with a banged up arm and head wound.
Where's Dawn?
Presumably Buffy got Dawn and Joyce out of town as she did in Graduation Day pt2
Questions and observations;
The title comes from one of the lesser known Marx brothers. I suppose they could also have called it 'The Ringo'? (they do refer to Yoko later). Raising the dead appears to depend on the alignment of the stars as we later see in Bargaining although the magic is obviously different as Buffy is alive whilst Bob and co are zombies. Xander and Cordy still have a rapport despite them having fallen out. Cordy mocks Xander for his lack of superpowers but one day she will have her own in spades. The seeds of the season 7 ep Potential are sown here. The scene between Oz and Xander is wonderful, they have obviously made up although what would Oz have thought of Will telling Xander she loved him outside the Magic Box? Giles and Buffy both like jelly doughnuts. Amazingly the SDPD make themselves useful, rescuing Xander at the Bronze. Sunnydale obviously has it's share of criminal gangs in addition to all the evil. Uncle Rory is mentioned again. The series is confident enough to make fun of it's own cliches but the more serious point is that the Buffy/Angel relationship has not much room left to go. This is the last comedy ep before we start the evil-Faith storyline where things get a lot more serious. Xander uses the SDH soda machine to kill one of the gang, is this why it always gives the wrong drink from then on? He's pretty handy with the axe but then he wanted to be a fireman. Thankfully Oz still can't remember stuff he does as a werewolf but that'll change by season 4. Interestingly in this ep Angel is referred to as a the 'key' to opening the Hellmouth just as his blood awakened Acathla.
10/10, one of the best eps for a series at it's peak.
The Good;
All of it, pure genius and a chance for Nic Brendon to shine like a beacon.
The Bad;
Not much, the zombie makeup could be a bit better but that's about all. Buffy's hair looks like it's been through the machine that makes crinkly chips. Surely Jack's bomb is not sophisticated enough to be boobytrapped, why doesn't Xander just yank the wires out? Like Spike in Lover's Walk and the swimteam in Go Fish isn't it a bit irresponsible to just let O'Toole go at the end?
Best line;
Willow; Occasionally I'm callous and strange (as we'll find out in Seeing Red)
or
O'Toole (threatening Xander with his knife) Are you sacred?
Xander (desperate) Would that make you happy?
But the winner is;
Xander (wondering why Oz is cool) Is it the way you express yourself in short, non-commital sentences?
Oz; Do I?
also good is Xander's 'I like the quiet', he's prepared to die to save his friends.
Wheldon Cliches;
Character death;
The Magic Box has a new owner but not for long.
Shot;
Various members of the undead gang when they were alive plus Oz twice by Willow
Tied up;
nope unless Faith and Xander indulged in some during the heat of passion
Knocked out;
Angel according to the dialogue plus werewolf Oz
Women good/men bad;
Actually a sisterhood of female demons this time around.
Jeez!;
Decapitation by letterbox, death by soda machine
Kinky dinky;
Faith shamelessly uses Xander for her own pleasure then chucks him out the door afterwards. Not that he's complaining! (and I'm sure millions of guys and not a few girls would agree). Xander seems to imply that he's never had sex before. We don't exaclty know how old he or Faith are so it could be statuatory rape, like Buffy/Angel (the legal age is 18 in California). Faith does this after the pain of Xander resetting her shoulder, linking pain, violence and pleasure (in Get It Done we discover why Slayers have this dark sexual side). Buffy seems to imply that Xander's car is a penis metaphor, love how her mind works. Xander's girl is lovely although Cordy's opinion of her is probably correct. Willow dreams of being naked, attacked by demons and late for a test.
Calling Captain Subtext;
Xander is quick to point out to the cop that although he and Jack are wrestling it's 'Not in a gay way'. Check out page 17 of the Sunnydale High Yearbook for a very interesting picture of Willow from this episode posed with a couple of SDH cheerleaders. Some of the dialogue about making Xander 'part of the gang' has a distinct Carry-On feel about it.
Guantanamo Bay;
Xander interrogates the zombie-gang by dragging one behind a car and threatening another with a bomb. Buffy goes to beat up Willy but finds someone has beaten her to it.
Scoobies to the ER;
Giles this time with a banged up arm and head wound.
Where's Dawn?
Presumably Buffy got Dawn and Joyce out of town as she did in Graduation Day pt2
Questions and observations;
The title comes from one of the lesser known Marx brothers. I suppose they could also have called it 'The Ringo'? (they do refer to Yoko later). Raising the dead appears to depend on the alignment of the stars as we later see in Bargaining although the magic is obviously different as Buffy is alive whilst Bob and co are zombies. Xander and Cordy still have a rapport despite them having fallen out. Cordy mocks Xander for his lack of superpowers but one day she will have her own in spades. The seeds of the season 7 ep Potential are sown here. The scene between Oz and Xander is wonderful, they have obviously made up although what would Oz have thought of Will telling Xander she loved him outside the Magic Box? Giles and Buffy both like jelly doughnuts. Amazingly the SDPD make themselves useful, rescuing Xander at the Bronze. Sunnydale obviously has it's share of criminal gangs in addition to all the evil. Uncle Rory is mentioned again. The series is confident enough to make fun of it's own cliches but the more serious point is that the Buffy/Angel relationship has not much room left to go. This is the last comedy ep before we start the evil-Faith storyline where things get a lot more serious. Xander uses the SDH soda machine to kill one of the gang, is this why it always gives the wrong drink from then on? He's pretty handy with the axe but then he wanted to be a fireman. Thankfully Oz still can't remember stuff he does as a werewolf but that'll change by season 4. Interestingly in this ep Angel is referred to as a the 'key' to opening the Hellmouth just as his blood awakened Acathla.
10/10, one of the best eps for a series at it's peak.
