Previously: We discovered that Xander is surprisingly toned under his baggy outfits, that Little League coaches are terrifying, and that I have WAY weirder nightmares than anyone in Sunnydale without the help of a Hellmouth. Unless there’s one under Melbourne that I don’t know about…
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Out of Mind, Out of Sight
Kirsti: Apparently spring in Sunnydale brings with it a Mean Girls “On Wednesdays, we wear pink” idea, because the episode opens with pretty much everyone wearing mint green. Cordy and Harmony discuss the upcoming dance, and Cordy says she’s having her dress made to order because “off the rack gives me hives.” Buffy runs out of the library and collides with them, dropping her bag of stakes and crucifixes (crucifii??), and makes the lame excuse that they’re for show and tell in history class. Cordy and Harmony walk off discussing how weird Buffy is, while our trusty heroine has an “I MISS WHEN I WAS POPULAR” pout.
Lorraine: Much like there is a running with scissors rule, I think our heroine should just learn not to run with crucifii. Seriously. It’s the middle of the school day. Vampires are sleeping. Slow it down.
K: This is an excellent point… Cut to English class, where they’re studying Merchant of Venice. Cordy basically says that Shylock should stop making everything about himself, while also making everything about HERSELF. Pot, meet Kettle. Outside class, she tells Harmony that her dress is ready (weird, because she didn’t know that like an hour ago), and that Mitch (her jock boyfriend) is going to die when he sees it. Oh, honey. On the Hellmouth, that’s a REALLY poor choice of words.
Cut to the boys’ locker room where Mitch is wrapped in a towel. He hears mysterious creepy laughter, before an invisible creature attacks him with a baseball bat. Dun dun duuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuun.
Back in the hallway, Cordy’s handing out chocolate coins as part of her campaign for May Queen. She goes to give one to Buffy, before saying, “I don’t think I need the loony fringe vote.” Buffy reveals to the Scoobies that she was the equivalent of May Queen at her old school, and that she kind of misses the whole popularity thing.
Lor: Interestingly, Cordy is going around with her chocolate insulting people. Who exactly are the people voting for her?
K: I honestly don’t know. Maybe it’s that whole insta-forgetfulness thing that half of Sunnydale has going on? They forget she was insulting and just remember the chocolate?
Mitch is discovered beaten up in the locker room, although he appears to only have half of a black eye worth of injury. (L: Weak ass baseball bat.) Buffy tries to investigate but Snyder stops her. Willow distracts him by pretending that she’d heard Mitch was going to sue the school. Buffy – wearing a KNEE LENGTH!skirt – enters the locker room and finds the word ‘LOOK’ spray painted on the locker doors. Giles suggests an invisible person, someone telekenetic or a poltergeist. Willow promises to investigate missing and dead kids. Knowing Sunnydale, that could be a LONG list.
Sweeney: I know this is before the internet was nearly as magical as it is today, but I feel like Willow could have invented some sort of precursor to Google Alerts that helped them keep tabs on all the dead kids. Why wasn’t reading the obituaries a regular part of their routine? It would certainly simplify things.
K: I guess when you live in a town populated by vampires and demons and who knows what other nonsense, the obituaries make up 90% of the newspaper. Meanwhile, Cordy is very worried about how Mitch is going to look in their prom pictures. There’s some kind of weird flashback in which the camera is effectively a character, and then back in the present, Harmony gets pushed down the stairs.
Lor: It really was weird placement for a flashback. It was like a flashback crept up when you weren’t looking and said, “BOO!” I freakin’ hate when people do that.
K: The flashbacks have a purpose but are really awkwardly situated. It’s a pain, you guys. Buffy hears the weird laughter and follows it into a classroom. Something invisible bumps into her, and we see a ceiling panel in the roof closing. After school, the gang come to the conclusion that it’s an invisible person. Because, you know, that’s a logical conclusion when you live on the Hellmouth. Giles asks how Buffy is planning on hunting said invisible person. She has no idea, but thinks following Cordy is a good place to start. Cordy tries on her dress – at the school, which seems super weird to me – with her minions around her.
Sweeney: Though the fact that this is considered normal would explain why nobody is confused by the trio’s infatuation with library, particularly given that 2/3 aren’t exactly model students.
K: Valid point. Buffy watches from the doorway, then hears flute music, but can’t find where it’s coming from.
Back in the library, Giles hears a noise in the stacks and freaks out when he bumps into Angel, who’s doing his lurking-in-the-shadows routine again. We learn that vampires don’t have a reflection before Angel says that he can’t see Buffy for her own good (what up, Edward Cullen) (L: Angel says: FIRST!) and Giles sums up their entire future relationship by saying “A vampire in love with a Slayer. It’s rather poetic…in a maudlin sort of way…” TRUTH, G-Man.
Angel and Giles discuss the Master, and Slayer lore. Giles mentions a missing codex, and Angel says he knows where it is. Giles gets his “ZOMG NEW BOOKS!” face, before mentioning the invisible girl. Angel says that looking in the mirror every day and not seeing anything is a suckfest, so maybe being invisible isn’t as awesome as they think.
Lor: Which is great, because Angel manages to somehow make that about him in an episode where self-centeredness is key. WE GET IT ANGEL. YOUR LIFE IS THE PITS.
K: OH MY GOD, HAVING A SOUL IS HAAAAAAAAARD. Another flashback, and this time we see the girl. She’s pretty mousey, and is trying to bond with Cordy and her minions, but they ignore her.
Sweeney: This just kills me a little, though. As someone who just sort of accepted high school lonerdom, I have a hard time sympathizing with people who make such doormats of themselves in order to befriend people who suck. I mean, I love Cordelia in the context of this show because she makes me laugh, but I can’t fathom going to any great lengths to befriend her or giving any fucks over her not liking me.
That being said, I will be the first person to jump on the High School Is Rough And High Schoolers Are The Absolute Worst bandwagon.
K: Back in the present, Cordy is announced May Queen. Willow notices a couple of men in black loitering around and wonders if Cordy’s hired bodyguards. But Buffy’s more interested in the list of missing and dead kids. It’s disturbingly thick, as predicted. The most recent one, Marcie Ross, went missing six months ago. Buffy figures it’s her seeing as how Marcie played flute in the band. She heads to the band room to check it out. Somehow, she realises that Marcie’s hiding in the ceiling, and climbs up there. She finds a little camp, complete with food, flute, bed and teddy bear. And a yearbook.
Lor: I’m a violent, invisible person. NEEDS MY TEDDY BEAR.
K: Obvs. Meanwhile, the English teacher is waiting for Cordy after school when Invisible Marcie shoves a plastic bag over her head. Cordy comes in and saves her in the nick of time. As they watch, Invisible Marcie writes “LISTEN” on the blackboard. In the library, Buffy shows Marcie’s yearbook to the Scoobies. Every single person wrote “Have a nice summer,” which Xander refers to as “the kiss of death” from a social perspective. Neither Xander or Willow remember her, despite having had four classes with her the previous year. Xander makes a comment about how she turned invisible because everyone ignored her, and Giles thumps the table and explains that because of the Hellmouth, people’s perception of Marcie as invisible caused her to literally become invisible.
Lor: …okay. This would be a good time to worry what people think of you…
K: Buffy sees that Cordy’s picture in the yearbook has been defaced. At which point Cordy walks in, all panicky, and asks for help because Buffy’s strong and has weapons and is kind of weird, and Cordy hopes she’s in a gang. Buffy explains the Invisible Marcie situation, and points out her picture in the yearbook. Cordy says she’s never seen her before, which sends Invisible Marcie – listening in the air vents – into a crazy talking-to-herself rant. Meanwhile, Buffy comes up with the genius plan to use Cordy as bait. Get used to it, Cor, it’ll be happening for years to come.
Lor: I was sort of distraught over how easily the Scoobies gave this explanation to Cordy and how easily she accepts it. Did I miss something? Are the students now openly in cahoots with the librarian? Why didn’t Cordy freak out just a little more?
Seriously. This bothered me.
Sweeney: If they accept the general weirdness of Buffy and her weapon-having, I don’t think her excessive time with the librarian necessarily constitutes as weird. I mean, it would be assumed that the people she is with allthetimealways would be connected to her general weirdness. Also, Cordelia just saw the invisible girl write shit on the board after trying to murder a teacher and has experienced a lot of the general Hellmouthy stuff first-hand already.
K: Again, I’m going to blame the insta-forgetfulness. It worked for Joss for seven years, so I figure I can use it twice in one post!
In the library, Willow, Xander and Giles hear flute music and follow it to the basement. It turns out to be a trap, and they end up trapped in the boiler room with the gas running and the shut off valve broken. Dun dun duuuuuuuuuun. Meanwhile, Cordy is changing into her dress in a janitor’s closet. Buffy hears weird noises and smashes the door open just in time to see Cordy being dragged into the roof. She follows them to Marcie’s camp, where she finds Cordy unconscious, and gets herself drugged by Marcie. She and Cordy wake up at the Bronze tied to chairs with Cordy having a wiggens because she can’t feel her face. They see the word “LEARN” on the stage backdrop in gold glitter. Nice to know that you can still be craft orientated when you’re invisible and buckets o’ crazy!
OMG. It was about this point that I noticed that Buffy’s shirt has a slit up the middle to just below her boobs and she’s not wearing anything under it. Wowsers.
Lor: LOL. I didn’t even notice. Guess I was distracted by the glitter threat.
K: I really want to know how much glitter it took to make that banner… ANYWAY. Marcie’s planning to slice and dice Cordy’s face so that no one ever forgets it. A scalpel dances in front of Cordy’s face and Buffy takes advantage of Marcie having her back turned to make a grab for the cart of instruments, using another scalpel to cut herself free. She kicks the cart into Marcie and tries to untie Cordy, but Marcie attacks her. Meanwhile, down in the basement, Angel turns up with the codex for Giles, and saves him and the others from death by gas. I guess he has his uses after all!
Back at the Bronze, Buffy mentions that she did feel sorry for Marcie until she worked out she’s bonkers. They fight and Buffy uses her super Slayer hearing(?) to sense where Marcie is, knocking her into a curtain and therefore easy to see. Buffy goes for the knock out, and the men in black (who are apparently FBI agents) turn up, and take Marcie away, saying that they’ll rehabilitate her. Instead, she’s taken to a classroom of invisible teenagers, to learn about assassination and infiltration. Who knew Magneto was working for the government these days?!
There’s not a whole lot of funny in this episode. It’s mostly sad and relatable. The feeling invisible part, I mean, not the trying to kill people part… At least Buffy still wears something kinda skanky to remind us that we’re watching the same show we know and love.
Next time on Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Buffy dies and I’m not even joking. Tune in for S01 E12 – Prophecy Girl.
I'm a 30-something librarian and I still live with my parents because I'm super broke. Leader of Team Heartless Cow. I have an inexplicable love for 90s television, eat too much chocolate, and read more than is good for me.
I'm a 30-something south Floridan who loves the beach but cannot swim. Such is my life, full of small contradictions and little trivialities. My main life goals are never to take life too seriously, but to do everything I attempt seriously well. After that, my life goals devolve into things like not wearing pants and eating all of the Zebra Cakes in the world. THE WORLD.
Nicole is the co-captain of Snark Squad and these days she spends most of her time editing podcasts. She spends too much time on Twitter and very occasionally vlogs and blogs. In her day job she's a producer, editor, director, and sometimes host of educational YouTube channels. She loves travel, maps, panda gifs, and semicolons. Writing biographies stresses her out; she crowd sourced this one years ago and has been using a version of it ever since. She would like to thank Twitter for their help.
