"Buffy the Vampire Slayer" Out of Mind, Out of Sight (1997)

Director:

Reza Badiyi

Writers:

Joss Whedon (creator)
Ashley Gable (teleplay) ...

TV Series:

"Buffy the Vampire Slayer" (1997)

Original Air Date:

19 May 1997 (Season 1, Episode 11)

Genre:

Action | Drama | Fantasy

Plot:

An invisible force is attacking the students and teachers at Sunnydale High. Buffy and the gang must find a way to stop this invisible menace, and determine why it seems to be centering its attacks on Cordelia.

Plot Keywords:

Locker Room | Jock | Baseball Bat | Towel | Library

Cast

Sarah Michelle Gellar	...	Buffy Summers
Nicholas Brendon	...	Xander Harris
Alyson Hannigan	...	Willow Rosenberg
Charisma Carpenter	...	Cordelia Chase
Anthony Head	...	Rupert Giles (as Anthony Stewart Head)
David Boreanaz	...	Angel
Clea DuVall	...	Marcie Ross
Armin Shimerman	...	Principal Snyder
Ryan Bittle	...	Mitch
Denise Dowse	...	Ms. Miller
John Knight	...	Bud #1
Mercedes McNab	...	Harmony Kendall
Mark Phelan	...	Agent Doyle
Skip Stellrecht	...	Agent Manetti
Julie Fulton	...	FBI Teacher

Runtime:

45 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

USA:TV-PG

Company:

Mutant Enemy

Trivia:

The final scene is of Marcy reading a textbook chapter titled "Assassination and Infiltration" with a subtitle referring to targeting the leader of a cult as an example. However, the actual text begins with the date August 2, 19XX and this is followed by the lyrics of The Beatles song, "Happiness is a Warm Gun" only they are written as prose, with the line "Happiness is a warm gun" changed to "Joy is a hot revolver".

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: The final scene is of Marcy reading a textbook chapter titled "Assassination and Infiltration" with a subtitle referring to targeting the leader of a cult as an example. However, the actual text begins with the date August 2, 19XX and this is followed by the lyrics of The Beatles song, "Happiness is a Warm Gun" only they are written as prose, with the line "Happiness is a warm gun" changed to "Joy is a hot revolver".

Quotes:

Xander: Well, yeah. I would give anything to be able to turn invisible. Well, I wouldn't use my powers to beat people up, but I'd use my powers to protect the girl's locker room.

Soundtrack:

Siciliano

An invisible girl's after Cordy

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Everyone feels like a nobody from time to time, ignored and overlooked by the people around them. But at Sunnydale High being unpopular can lead to the on-set of actual invisibility. Marcy, the school's least noticed student, has become transparent and is determined to get her revenge on the cool kids in class. Harmony is shoved down the stairs, Cordelia's new boyfriend gets a baseball bat massage and as for Cordy herself... Well, things don't look so good for our newly elected May Queen. Desperate enough to risk social leprosy, Cordy goes to the Scoobies for help in dealing with Marcy's wrath.

This isn't my favorite episode, mostly because it relies so heavily on Marcy, a character who we've never seen before. (No pun intended.) It does have some good parts, though. Hearing Cordy's take on the "Merchant of Venice" is pretty funny. Especially, her own traumatic experience running over a selfish bicycler, who just wanted to whine about her leg, instead of focusing on poor Cordy's problems. And for everyone who's ever written "Have a nice summer!" in a yearbook, this is an episode that will make you smile and wince at the same time.

On the down side, I don't really like the end of the episode, with Marcy being recruited by the government. It seems a little too X-File-y. Also, the Scoobies spend so much time trying to figure out what's going on and who's behind the invisible attacks that the episode takes a while to really get going. As for Marcy, I started out feeling a little sorry for her, but after she attacked several people, tried to kill Giles, Willow & Xander and kidnapped Buffy and Cordelia, I ended up seeing her a nut job. No wonder people ignored her. Students becoming invisible at Sunnydale High will be referenced again in season seven, but all in all, this is another episode you could skip and not miss much.

My favorite part of the episode: Cordelia talking to Buffy about popularity. "Sometimes people are so busy agreeing with me, that they don't even hear what I'm saying." It's really our first glimpse of the bright, insightful Cordelia lurking behind her snobby cheerleader facade.