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The Puppet Show is the ninth episode of the first season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Someone or something is killing the school's talent show contestants for their organs, and all eyes are on a spooky ventriloquist dummy named Sid.

Starring: Sarah Michelle Gellar (Buffy Summers), Nicholas Brendon (Xander Harris), Alyson Hannigan (Willow Rosenberg), Charisma Carpenter (Cordelia Chase)

And: Anthony Stewart Head (Giles)

Guest Starring: Kristine Sutherland (Joyce Summers), Richard Werner (Morgan Shay), Burke Roberts (Marc)

And: Armin Shimerman (Principal Snyder)

Co-Starring: Lenora May (Mrs. Jackson), Chasen Hampton (Elliot), Natasha Pearce (Lisa), Tom Wyner (Voice of Sid), Krissy Carlson (Emily (Dancer)) Michelle Miracle (Locker Girl)

Contents 1 Plot Overview 2 Notes 2.1 Monster of the Week 2.2 Body Count 2.3 Music 3 Arc Advancement 3.1 Happenings 3.2 Characters 3.3 Referbacks 4 Trivia 4.1 The Show 4.2 Behind the Scenes 4.3 Allusions and References 4.4 Memorable Moments 5 Quotes

[edit] Plot Overview

[edit] Notes

[edit] Monster of the Week

• Brotherhood of Seven: The actual killer behind taking Emily's heart and Morgan's brain is one of seven demons who must harvest human organs every seven years in order to retain their human forms. Sid has killed six of the demons and the final one is lurking around Sunnydale, killing students. It turns out to be Marc, a magician who was questioned earlier in the episode. In order completely dispose of the demon, its heart must be removed.

• Sid: Morgan's dummy is initially thought to be the demon harvesting organs, but it turns out that he is actually hunting the demon and believed that Buffy was the culprit. According to his story, he was cursed by a demon and his essence was thrown into the body of a dummy. The idea of the possessed doll is a horror standard which has popularly been used in the Living Doll episode of The Twilight Zone and in Child's Play. Of course, the twist in this episode is that the doll is actually good and not evil.

[edit] Body Count

#	Whom	By Whom	How	Where
1	Emily	"Marc"	Heart Removed	Locker Room
2	Morgan	"Marc"	Brain Removed	Auditorium
3	"Marc"	Sid	Heart Removed	Auditorium

[edit] Music

• "Greatest Love of All," performed by Charisma Carpenter: The song that Cordelia auditions with is "Greatest Love of All," popularly performed by Whitney Houston. The song appeared on her self-titled album, but was first written for the Muhammad Ali film The Greatest and performed by George Benson to moderate acclaim.

[edit] Arc Advancement

[edit] Happenings

• Sunnydale High: After Principal Robert Flutie was eaten alive by a pack of Hyena possessed teenagers, the school was put into the position of needing to hire a new principal for the school. Snyder, whose first name is not revealed, is appointed to the position and starts beginning with this episode. He, as he says in the pre-credits tease, is much harsher than his predecessor.
• Slayer History: Sid mentions that he knew a slayer in the 1930s, but he doesn't say much other than that she was Korean and they had a romantic tryst.

[edit] Characters

[edit] Referbacks

[edit] Trivia

[edit] The Show

[edit] Behind the Scenes

• Ratings: This episode has the dubious honor of being the lowest rated episode in all seven seasons of the series. It scored a 1.9 national rating, netting a total of about 1.7 million households.

[edit] Allusions and References

• The Usual Suspects: Xander refers to the shadowy villain of the movie The Usual Suspects, Keyser Söze, when he believes that they're being bamboozled. In the movie, Keyser Söze's face is not shown but someone identified as Söze is fingered as the man who killed several people on a ship before setting it ablaze in the harbor. The entire story is told to police by Verbal Kint, a con man with cerebral palsy, who [SPOILER - hover to reveal] turns out to have made up the entire story framed around objects in the officer's office and was the true "Keyser Söze."

Xander: Does anyone like they've been Keyser Sözed?

[edit] Memorable Moments

• As the credits roll for this episode Xander, Willow and Buffy act out a scene from Oedipus for the talent show in front of the audience.

[edit] Quotes