TV-Reviewed

Every so often Joss Whedon decides to put together a standalone episode that has nothing to do with the seasonal storyline. Some of these standalone episodes were good and let’s keep it real… some were right down forgettable. This episode, however, was quite special. Who knew a talent show could be so fun.

The episode begins with Giles picking out students for the Sunnydale talent show. The gang decides to join him and rag on the other students. Unfortunately, Principal Snyder overheard all of their jokes and decided to put them into the talent show as contestants. If that wasn’t bad enough, one of the talent contestants got murdered by an unknown evil. It’s too bad cause she was really talented. Giles and the gang were on the hunt to find who could of done this. After some research, Giles found out that it wasn’t a demon but a human!

Sarah Michelle Gellar as Buffy Summers

The gang suits up and starts to investigate the possible culprits. After a few interviews and Xander having to deal with the corky Cordelia, they established one possible killer, Morgan, played by Rich Werner. He is an amateur ventriloquist that has a dummy for his best friend. Their act is quite funny. Morgan is the shy loner while the dummy is very horny. Buffy tried talking to Morgan a few times but the dummy was too busy trying to get in her pants. Most of the time, she thought it was Morgan but unfortunately it turns to actually be the dummy. The dummy was once a man and was once a demon hunter like Buffy. One of his nemesises trapped him inside the dummy for centuries. He asked Buffy if she could help him free his soul by killing the last demon. She eagerly agreed but there is one problem. Who is the demon that they need to kill?

The dummy told Buffy that the demon is pretending to be human and is one of the contestants. Giles went to the talent show to look for this mystery demon. He was on the watch for anything suspicious. Principal Snyder was lurking around backstage of the show and you could tell he was up to something. He wasn’t the demon but he does have something up his sleeve. In later episodes we will find out what he is all about. He knows more than what he lets on. Back in the library the gang finds out that the demon needs one more body part to complete its transformation into a permanent human. All he needs is a smart brain. This is bad news for Giles.

One of the contestants tricks Giles into helping him with his magic act. It was an evil scheme to get Giles all tied up so he could take his brain. Buffy and the gang shows up before the demon can cut off Giles head. It was actually Xander who saved him from being beheaded while Buffy was beating up the demon. The Demon got the better of her but the Dummy pops up behind it and stabs it to death. Once it died, the demon hunter’s soul was finally released. Buffy seemed sad because throughout the episode you could tell that they had chemistry. During the end credits, we were treated to their talent show performance. To say the least they had the crowd sitting in awe!

This episode was one of the best standalone episodes of the show’s entire run. I couldn’t find one actor who didn’t play their part well enough. For their first year budget this looked quite good. I was every standalone episode could be this entertaining but even great writers have bad days. The first season really was that bad at all.

Rating: 7.0