Hellmouth Follies: Out of Mind, Out of Sight

“Out of Mind, Out of Sight”
10/4/08

The Popular Ones

SHE: I was worried we were going to become invisible.
HE: It has been a long time. And the public clamor…indescribable!
SHE: We had to move this to the top of our priority list. Just to avoid another catastrophe, what with Wall Street and the bailout and whatnot.

HE: “I just love springtime. Me in bright, spring fashions.” Cordelia is in high form in this episode. She has so many great one-liners.
SHE: This is one of my favorite episodes of all seven seasons.

“My eyes are hazel, Helen Keller.”

HE: Why does Buffy feel like she has to explain stuff when she doesn’t?
SHE: I don’t know. Especially since she’s not very good at it.

SHE: Look, actual teaching at school.
HE: God, I hate it when TV teachers read in class. Am I teaching? Am I acting? Who knows! It’s like they’re either there to be mocked or they’re having a Mr. Holland’s Opus moment. And all in ten seconds or less, because no one’s paying attention. They’re not the star.
SHE: I like how at Sunnydale they teach right up to the bell.
HE: Yeah, the bell always takes them by surprise.
SHE: That happen a lot to you at school?
HE: I think we’ve had this conversation before. I like Cordelia’s observations, though.
SHE: With Shylock it’s whine whine whine. Shylock should get over himself.
HE: I’d kill for a student like Cordelia.
SHE: Her comments are typical Cordelia, but they’re relevant to the text.

HE: “Mitch is going to die.” It took about .3 seconds for me to appreciate the verbal irony in that statement.
SHE: I’m glad to see we’re now in the boy’s locker room watching a boy getting attacked.
HE: By an invisible female assailant, no less. Total inversion of the convention.
SHE: Plus the shot of the baseball bat was scary.
HE: Scary because it was phallic?

SHE: No, because they did it from the POV of the victim. It’s a scary thought to be hit with a baseball bat.
HE: Her knife from later on is phallic, too. Why are you making that face?
SHE: I think we’re in love with the word phallic.
HE: And by we you mean me?
SHE: Uh huh.

HE: She’s pretty good at yielding that bat…why didn’t she just join the softball team? Oh wait, she’s invisible.
SHE: Think of all the bases she could steal if she were invisible.
HE: Cubs have been playing like they were invisible.
SHE: They need Marcie.
HE: They probably do. She could replace Lee in the three-spot.

A Beating

SHE: Who campaigns like that for May Queen?
HE: Cordelia could be that Flick chick from Election.
SHE: Back to my question. Who campaigns like that for May Queen?
HE: Bribery is a time-honored political maneuver. I think she’ll do well in Congress.

HE: There are no dead students here…this week.
SHE: Great line. I love that line. You have to feel sorry for Principal Snyder, though. It’s at least one casualty a week.
HE: It’s like Roadhouse. It was a good night. Nobody died. You never saw Road House? With Patrick Swayze?
SHE: Nope.
HE: NETFLIX!

HE: Cordelia doesn’t need the loony fringe vote.
SHE: She’s just that strong a candidate. If she were campaigning this season, she wouldn’t come to our state. She doesn’t need the loony fringe vote.

HE: At least Mitch can give an accurate depiction of the assault.
SHE: Most Sunnyvale residents are really bad at that.
They usually make up some crap.
HE: Like, I must have been imagining it.
SHE: Or, I stabbed myself with a BBQ fork in the neck.

HE: Principal Snyder, unlike Flutie, doesn’t allow Buffy into the crime scenes? WTF! What kind of school has this become?
SHE: Indeed, the terrorists have finally won.

Invisible Assailant

HE: Are those cherries on Buffy’s skirt?
SHE: I didn’t notice. I was too busy watching Harmony bounce down the stairs.
HE: Harmony sure knows how to take a fall, that’s for sure.
SHE: True. She made it through with just a bum ankle. But she deserved it.
HE: I like how Skinner handled the emergency. “You! School nurse. Now!”
SHE: What was he supposed to do?
HE: Exactly what he did. Pick one person and direct them. Not any of this “somebody go get the nurse crap.”
SHE: It’s creepy when she gets to the top of the stairs and hears the girl laughing.
HE: Disembodied laughter is always creepy. Disembodied anything is usually creepy.
SHE: Disembodied heavy breathing is creepy.
HE: Disembodied throat clearing is not creepy, but still strange.
SHE: Disembodied nose blowing really gets me.

HE: Maybe it’s a vampire bat? …even a blind squirrel can find a nut sometimes. Good one, Xander.

SHE: Look at all those band trophies in the band room. Their band rocks.
HE: It’s a spooky band room. I guess my high school would have the spooky Ag room.
SHE: Really, the Ag room is spooky?
HE: No, we didn’t have much of a band.

A Good Vampire

SHE: Did you see the shot of the FBI guys?
HE: Yeah, who are the suits outside the school?
SHE: It’s cool not knowing that’s important later. The second time you see it, you recall that’s important later.
HE: There are few non sequiturs in Joss Whedon’s world.

HE: Did you notice Willow is wearing a Scooby-Doo t-shirt?
SHE: No, I missed that! We’re going to have to watch this episode again.
HE: I think it’s the first reference to the Scoobies. And did you notice that Xander has his skateboard! Did you see it?
SHE: What the hell? I’m starting the episode over.

SHE: I forgot that Giles has not met Angel until this scene.
HE: I like how Giles does a double take on the glass, just to make sure we caught it. Then he says, “a vampire casts no reflection,” just to make sure we caught it.
SHE: But it’s creepy! He’s casting no reflection, and Angel’s able to sneak up on him. Didn’t you jump?
HE: No. I was thinking about the doubletake. All it needed was a slide whistle.

HE: “A vampire in love with a slayer. How poetic, in a maudlin sort of way.” I love it when Giles brings out the heavy-hitting adjectives. He’s awesome.
SHE: He’s a reader with a great vocabulary.
HE: I was wondering if the library could order the Tiberius Manifesto through Interlibrary loan.

SHE: Sure, sweetie. ILF has Interlibrary loan so screwed up it may actually show up at our library. I have a copy of the Pergamum Codex.
HE: That’s saying something. There were over 200,000 volumes there. How about the Legends of Vishnu?
SHE: Sorry, we don’t deal in scrolls.

On Being Invisible

SHE: Poor girl, I feel sorry for her. I was teased by the popular kids in high school, too.
HE: She should realize that maybe her toupee joke just wasn’t funny.
SHE: Cordelia says it two minutes later and they all laugh!
HE: It’s all in the delivery. Ask me, “What’s the secret of comedy?”
SHE: What’s the—
HE: Timing!

HE: Cordelia’s May Queen speech in the quad…I like how she keeps talking in the background during the principals talk. She’s back there ranting like Mussolini.
SHE: She does go on a bit long. I like Buffy’s outfit. The up-do.
HE: The blue thing around her neck—what do you call that?
SHE: A choker.
HE: Are you serious?
SHE: I’m serious. Not a grab-your-dong choker, a neck choker.
HE: I thought it was a sweatband. But I’d like to hear more about this “grab-your-dong choker” you speak of.
SHE: I don’t want to talk about your dong.

Perceived Reality

HE: Dude! look at the size of that stomper!
SHE: She’s got big feet. Was that a combat boot tread?
HE: Sure looked like it. Dang!

HE: Ghost Flute doesn’t put her crap away. Look, just because you’re invisible, doesn’t mean your crap is, too.
SHE: I’d like to point out that yet someone else sneaks up on Buffy. She even pulls a knife and Buffy doesn’t notice.
HE: But does this really count? She didn’t touch the shoulder, and Buffy didn’t yelp.
SHE: How close does she need to be before Buffy notices her? She needs to breathe, right? And those big clompers of hers have to make some noise.

HE: No! Don’t kill the English teacher! What did Ms. Miller do, other than overact Shakespeare? Like that hasn’t been done before. We just don’t get many English teachers on this show.
SHE: I guess the point was to scare Cordelia some more by attacking the English teacher?
HE: I’m sorry, Joss. That’s just going too far.
SHE: I could never imagine harm coming to an English teacher.
HE: Yeah, leave them alone.

Cordelia

SHE: They introduce a quantum mechanical component to the show here. Not just witches and demons anymore.
HE: Giles hates overlooking stuff. I mean, fist-pound-on-the-table hates. But I think in this case he should forgive himself.

HE: Ms. Miller is a crappy-ass teacher. Doesn’t call on Marcie Ross. Doesn’t even notice when she turns invisible in front of her.
SHE: Yeah, what’s with that? Wouldn’t she notice that the girl is gone?

HE: An all-time great line from Cordelia: “This is all about me…Me, me, me!”
SHE: And me!
HE: And me!

“I don’t recall seeing you here before.”
“Oh no. I have a life.”

HE: Cordelia says she was kind of hoping Buffy was in a gang. I think, added to Willow’s shirt, this might be another early reference to the Scoobie Gang.
SHE: So we have two references in one episode?
HE: Proto-references, maybe.

HE: I don’t understand why they are crowning the May Queen at the Bronze.
SHE: It’s a school event. Wouldn’t they be doing that at school?
HE: Maybe the gymnasium wasn’t available.
SHE: Have they had anything horrible happen in the gymnasium lately? Cleaning up murders is an ordeal. Sometimes you can’t get the stains out.
HE: You would have to rewax the floor. That takes forever, and it’s expensive. But it doesn’t explain why Cordelia is getting ready for it at the school.
SHE: You’d think she’d go home.

SHE: I love that Cordelia gets a chance at another dimension in this scene.
HE: She actually has a non-shallow moment here… “working at being popular beats being lonely by yourself.”

Follow the Music

HE: Cordelia’s going to change in the mop closet. Aw, they cut away! Come on!
SHE: ...

SHE: I think Marcie’s loony because she sounds terrible. She needs lessons.
HE: Man, this high school is cavernous.
SHE: You’ve got to love the craftiness of Marcie. She divided and conquered.

HE: Buffy can’t reach up and grab Cordelia? When she was able to jump over the gate in a single bound?
SHE: Yeah, why did she have to flip over the pipe on the way up? I bet she could have jumped up.

HE: Floaty syringe, floaty syringe.
SHE: Marcie is diabolical. She’s like a serial killer.
HE: Where’d she get the black medical bag? Hannibal Lecter Tech?

At the Bronze

HE: How did Marcie get across town?
SHE: With two bodies.
HE: Does she have an invisible car that got ignored by the mechanic?
SHE: Good catch. I didn’t think about that at all.
HE: It would have been so much easier to have it all at the gym.
SHE: Easier on Marcie. Poor girl’s already stressed with being insane and everything.

HE: “You’re not the student; you’re the lesson.” That is an ominous line.
SHE: I guess the "learn" design on the curtain was for Buffy’s benefit?
HE: It really wasn’t well-thought out. Buffy never saw the “listen” sign at the classroom, did she?
SHE: And Cordelia never saw the "look."
HE: All I know is that I don’t think Marcie’s qualified to do plastic surgery.

Rescue

HE: How did Angel know to come rescue the Scoobies?
SHE: He explains later that he smelled the gas when he brought the Codex. Why didn’t he have them thank him?
HE: I want to know where he got the Codex.
SHE:Interlibrary loan, duh.

Listening

SHE: It’s great when Buffy uses her Jedi powers to fight Marcie.
HE: By Jedi powers, you mean listen for the noisy boots?
SHE: Yeah, that snuck up on her earlier when no one was around.

HE: So these suits are creepy? No, that dude’s tie is creepy
SHE: I missed the tie. What was creepy about it?
HE: The one on the left was all Men in Black, while the one of the right was MIB with a splash of Walk the Line. Which was the tie.

Appreciation

SHE: Why does Giles lie about Angel saving them?
HE: I don’t get it either. Does Giles feel threatened? Is he trying to protect Buffy?
SHE: Maybe that’s it, since he pretty much calls Angel out for being in love with Buffy.
HE: Right now he thinks he's invisible to her. Just like Marcie was. And Angel is to mirrors and shiny surfaces.
SHE: Ooh, deep.

HE: I like Xander’s peep show shirt.
SHE: I missed it. I have to watch this episode again.
HE: I guess that’s a car on Buffy’s shirt. I’m really surprised you’re missing these details.

At the FBI

HE: Meanwhile, at the Initiative…

SHE: How does Marcie get into a chair without sitting on somebody?
HE: There’s this great scene from an X-Files episode that deals with the problems of being invisible. You’d always be tripping over stuff, because you can’t judge your distance from things. This guy was running along, and tripped over a bunch of crap in the front yard.
SHE: Cause he didn’t know where his feet were?
HE: Exactly. On the other hand, it would be pretty cool to go commando all the time.
SHE: Wouldn’t you get cold?
HE: You just wear clothes when you want to. Sounds awesome to me.

HE: An Assasination and Infiltration textbook. The text is baffling.
SHE: It’s from “Happiness Is a Warm Gun” from the Beatles’ White Album.
HE: I don’t get the reference.
SHE: Maybe this will help.