Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Recap/S3/E13 The Zeppo: Difference between revisions

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{{quote| '''Buffy:''' Do you remember [[Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV)/Recap/S1 E12 Prophecy Girl|the demon that almost got out the night I died]]?<br />
{{quote| '''Buffy:''' Do you remember [[Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV)/Recap/S1 E12 Prophecy Girl|the demon that almost got out the night I died]]?<br />
'''Willow:''' Every nightmare I have that doesn't revolve around academic failure or [["Not Wearing Pants" Dream|public nudity]] is about that thing. In fact, once I dreamt that it [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|attacked me while I was late for a test and naked]]. }}
'''Willow:''' Every nightmare I have that doesn't revolve around academic failure or [["Not Wearing Pants" Dream|public nudity]] is about that thing. In fact, once I dreamt that it [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|attacked me while I was late for a test and naked]]. }}
* [[Barrier Busting Blow]]: Xander relaxes after escaping a zombie, only for the head ([[Multiple Head Case|one of them at least]]) of the Hellmouth demon to burst through the wall next to him.
* [[Barrier-Busting Blow]]: Xander relaxes after escaping a zombie, only for the head ([[Multiple Head Case|one of them at least]]) of the Hellmouth demon to burst through the wall next to him.
* [[Blood Magic]]: Jack cuts his palm to raise his zombie friends.
* [[Blood Magic]]: Jack cuts his palm to raise his zombie friends.
* [[Buffy-Speak]]: Buffy suggests Xander be "fray-adjacent."
* [[Buffy-Speak]]: Buffy suggests Xander be "fray-adjacent."
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{{quote| '''Buffy:''' Is this a penis metaphor?}}
{{quote| '''Buffy:''' Is this a penis metaphor?}}
* [[Geeky Turn On]]: Cordelia is smirking over Xander's belief that his [[Cool Car]] will somehow make him cool when a hot blonde suddenly expresses an interest. Triumphant!Xander takes her for a ride, only to end up at the Bronze bored out of his skull listening to her rave on about engines -- he's even [[Beyond the Impossible|happy to see Angel]] in the hope that Angel will call him away on some important Scooby business.
* [[Geeky Turn On]]: Cordelia is smirking over Xander's belief that his [[Cool Car]] will somehow make him cool when a hot blonde suddenly expresses an interest. Triumphant!Xander takes her for a ride, only to end up at the Bronze bored out of his skull listening to her rave on about engines -- he's even [[Beyond the Impossible|happy to see Angel]] in the hope that Angel will call him away on some important Scooby business.
* [[Gory Discretion Shot]] / [[Sound Only Death]]: Dickie is killed by the Sisterhood behind venetian blinds.
* [[Gory Discretion Shot]] / [[Sound-Only Death]]: Dickie is killed by the Sisterhood behind venetian blinds.
* [[The Greatest Story Never Told]]: How Xander stopped a zombie gang from blowing up the school.
* [[The Greatest Story Never Told]]: How Xander stopped a zombie gang from blowing up the school.
* [[Hannibal Lecture]]: Cordelia does this to Xander [[Woman Scorned|and loves it]]. At the end of the episode Xander just smiles and walks off, having gained the required coolness to ignore her.
* [[Hannibal Lecture]]: Cordelia does this to Xander [[Woman Scorned|and loves it]]. At the end of the episode Xander just smiles and walks off, having gained the required coolness to ignore her.
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* [[Our Zombies Are Different]]
* [[Our Zombies Are Different]]
* [[Person As Verb]]: Cordelia derides Xander as being "[[The Marx Brothers|The Zeppo]]" of the Scooby Gang.
* [[Person As Verb]]: Cordelia derides Xander as being "[[The Marx Brothers|The Zeppo]]" of the Scooby Gang.
* [[Previously On]]: The shortest one ever in the series, consisting only of Giles being told he's fired.
* [["Previously On..."]]: The shortest one ever in the series, consisting only of Giles being told he's fired.
* [[The Last Dance]]: Willy suggests Buffy and Angel get together as the world's going to end anyway.
* [[The Last Dance]]: Willy suggests Buffy and Angel get together as the world's going to end anyway.
* [[Let's Split Up Gang]]: Jack's gang in the school.
* [[Let's Split Up, Gang!]]: Jack's gang in the school.
* [[The Load]] / [[What You Are in The Dark]]: Xander feels like a fifth wheel, and the entire episode is about how he proves to himself -- not the Scooby Gang -- that he isn't.
* [[The Load]] / [[What You Are in The Dark]]: Xander feels like a fifth wheel, and the entire episode is about how he proves to himself -- not the Scooby Gang -- that he isn't.
* [[A Man Is Not a Virgin]]: Averted; Xander drops some big hints to Faith that he's never actually done it before. It doesn't stop her.
* [[A Man Is Not a Virgin]]: Averted; Xander drops some big hints to Faith that he's never actually done it before. It doesn't stop her.
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* [[Melodrama]]: Spoofed when the usual romantic wangst of a distraught Buffy arguing with Angel who's determined to make a [[Heroic Sacrifice]], with mutual [[Love Confession|Love Confessions]] and [[Its the Only Way]], is interrupted by Xander bursting in on them. After making a half-hearted attempt to bring up his own problems Xander leaves, and the [[Musicalis Interruptus|romantic music commences again]] as Buffy and Angel start up exactly where they left off.
* [[Melodrama]]: Spoofed when the usual romantic wangst of a distraught Buffy arguing with Angel who's determined to make a [[Heroic Sacrifice]], with mutual [[Love Confession|Love Confessions]] and [[Its the Only Way]], is interrupted by Xander bursting in on them. After making a half-hearted attempt to bring up his own problems Xander leaves, and the [[Musicalis Interruptus|romantic music commences again]] as Buffy and Angel start up exactly where they left off.
* [[Mood Whiplash]]: Whenever the overly-dramatic events of [[The End of the World As We Know It]] cut to Xander's antics with the zombie gang, culminating when a [[Battle Royale]] with a shrieking [[Multiple Head Case]] [[Eldritch Abomination]] [[Smash Cut|Smash Cuts]] to Xander and Jack's quiet face-down over the [[Time Bomb]].
* [[Mood Whiplash]]: Whenever the overly-dramatic events of [[The End of the World As We Know It]] cut to Xander's antics with the zombie gang, culminating when a [[Battle Royale]] with a shrieking [[Multiple Head Case]] [[Eldritch Abomination]] [[Smash Cut|Smash Cuts]] to Xander and Jack's quiet face-down over the [[Time Bomb]].
* [[My Girl Is a Slut]]: Xander [[Car Fu|runs down a demon]] [[Rescue Romance|Faith is fighting]]. They flee to her motel room and, [[Interplay of Sex and Violence|frustrated over not being able to kill]], she has [[Glad to Be Alive Sex]] with Xander. Cue romantic music and snuggles under the bedsheets, then a [[Musicalis Interruptus]] [[Smash Cut]] to Faith booting Xander out the door now she's finished making use of him.
* [[My Girl Is a Slut]]: Xander [[Car Fu|runs down a demon]] [[Rescue Romance|Faith is fighting]]. They flee to her motel room and, [[Interplay of Sex and Violence|frustrated over not being able to kill]], she has [["Glad to Be Alive" Sex]] with Xander. Cue romantic music and snuggles under the bedsheets, then a [[Musicalis Interruptus]] [[Smash Cut]] to Faith booting Xander out the door now she's finished making use of him.
* [[Not Afraid to Die]]: How Xander wins the [[Time Bomb]] face-off; as Jack doesn't have time to fight his way past Xander and escape, he's forced to defuse the bomb.
* [[Not Afraid to Die]]: How Xander wins the [[Time Bomb]] face-off; as Jack doesn't have time to fight his way past Xander and escape, he's forced to defuse the bomb.
* [[Not Big Enough for The Two of Us]]: After Xander has successfully faced down Jack into defusing the bomb.
* [[Not Big Enough for The Two of Us]]: After Xander has successfully faced down Jack into defusing the bomb.

Revision as of 20:58, 25 January 2014


Set into despair by Cordelia's insults, Xander tries desperately to appear "cool." For this purpose, he borrows his uncle's Bel-Air.This triggers an odd series of events in which he ends up killing several zombies, stopping a bomb, and sleeping with Faith. At the end of the episode, he's gained a lot of self-confidence after staring down a psychopathic zombie.

In other news, yet another demon cult tries to open the Hellmouth.

This episode contains examples of:

  • Always a Bigger Fish: An axe-wielding Xander chases Zombie!Dickie down a corridor, only for them both to come tearing out again pursued by the Sisterhood of Jhe.
  • An Axe to Grind

 Bob: Good for chopping.

 Buffy: Do you remember the demon that almost got out the night I died?

Willow: Every nightmare I have that doesn't revolve around academic failure or public nudity is about that thing. In fact, once I dreamt that it attacked me while I was late for a test and naked.

 Buffy: Is this a penis metaphor?

  • Geeky Turn On: Cordelia is smirking over Xander's belief that his Cool Car will somehow make him cool when a hot blonde suddenly expresses an interest. Triumphant!Xander takes her for a ride, only to end up at the Bronze bored out of his skull listening to her rave on about engines -- he's even happy to see Angel in the hope that Angel will call him away on some important Scooby business.
  • Gory Discretion Shot / Sound-Only Death: Dickie is killed by the Sisterhood behind venetian blinds.
  • The Greatest Story Never Told: How Xander stopped a zombie gang from blowing up the school.
  • Hannibal Lecture: Cordelia does this to Xander and loves it. At the end of the episode Xander just smiles and walks off, having gained the required coolness to ignore her.
  • Hold Me: Subverted when Xander helps Faith escape a demon -- she's a little banged up, says "Hold me" to him, and as he goes to comfort her she positions his hands so she can snap back her dislocated shoulder.
  • Incredibly Obvious Bomb / Time Bomb
  • In Medias Res: By seeing events from Xander's point-of-view, all the snippets of Buffy cliches and tropes that any Buffy fan could tell would make sense in context if the full story was ever told come across as hilariously random, nonsensical, and melodramatic.
  • Ironic Echo Cut

 Xander: Oh man, I'm out of my league. I gotta find Buffy. She'll know what to do.

Buffy: (To Angel) I don't know what to do!

 Parker: It's in the, it's in the boiler room!

Xander: Alright. Now I'm gonna ask you this once, and you better pray you get the answer right.

Parker: Okay, okay!

Xander: How do I defuse... (Xander drives too close to a mailbox which knocks Parker's head off) I probably should've left out that whole middle part.

  • Knife Nut / I Call Her "Vera": Jack has a very large Bowie knife he calls "Katie"
  • Late to The Punchline: Xander finally gets round to looking at what the zombie gang looted from the hardware store -- finding kerosene, electric wire and dynamite.

 Xander: Hey! They're not baking any cakes!

 Faith: Don't worry. (pulls off her own shirt) I'll steer you around the curves.

 Xander: I don't think I wanna be seeing you on campus anymore, Jack.

 Xander: Who, at a crucial moment, distracted the lead demon by allowing her to pummel him about the head?

Faith: Yeah. That was real manly how you shrieked and all.

  • Self-Deprecation: Desperate for coolness, Xander asks Oz if it is hard to play the guitar.

 Oz: Not the way I play it.

 Faith: A fight like that and... no kill... I'm about ready to pop. (her hand reaches down for Xander's groin) You up for it?

Xander: Oh, I'm up. I'm suddenly very up. It's just, um... (grins sheepishly) I've never been up with people before.

  • Strange Minds Think Alike: Xander makes a sarcastic remark about feeling like Jimmy Olsen to Giles. Later, Cordelia mocks him by saying that, with everyone he knows having superpowers, he must feel like...Jimmy Olsen. Xander starts lampshading this, but then cuts himself off with "Mind your own business!"
  • Suspiciously Specific Denial: Xander finds himself the wheelman outside the store the zombie gang are looting when Willow walks by.

 Willow: Xander, what are you doing here?

Xander: Nothing! Certainly not crime.

 Xander: (breathing hard) Less than two minutes. Dumb guy. Little bomb. How hard can it be?

(Jack jumps him from behind)

Jack: And it just got harder.

 Xander: What is it? How do you get it? Who doesn't have it, and who decides who doesn't have it? What is the essence of 'cool'?

Oz: Not sure.

Xander: I mean, you yourself, Oz, are considered more or less 'cool'. Why is that?

Oz: Am I?

Xander: Is it about the talking? You know, the-the way you tend to express yourself in short, non-committal phrases?

Oz: Could be.

 Jack: I'm gonna carve you up and serve you with gravy. You piss me off, boy. Now you pay the price. First the eyes, then the tongue. I'm gonna break every one of your fingers.

Xander: (indicating Time Bomb) You gonna do all that in forty-nine seconds?

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