Buffy The Vampire Slayer

It’s funny, but when I started to watch this episode, I felt a tinge of dread fall over me. For some reason I thought this episode was one of the awful ones, especially with the hokey title: ’The Puppet Show.’ I mean, come on, how unoriginal is that?

In any case, there’s one thing that this episode definitely did for me and likely most anyone else who’s seen it: I find ventriloquist dummies to be very, very clown-like freaky.

One major happening in this episode was the arrival of Principal Snyder to Sunnydale High. He has some great lines and immediately takes a disliking to the Scoobs (and actually, to all students in general). There was one strange scene with Giles seeing Snyder backstage, as if we were supposed to be lead to believe that Snyder was behind the whole mess at the school that week. Also, we get one hell of a creepy look at his nearly see-through wombat ears.

The whole puppet thing actually turned out to be a neat story, since he turns out to be a cursed demon hunter. I wonder how he wound up in the possession of that kid in school, though. God, those tippy-tapping feet running across the floor was both funny and downright creepy at the same time.

Wow, only a few more episodes left in the season. It’s nice to be looking back at this season so closely and realize it’s not as bad as some people make it out to be.

Main points of interest in this episode:

 First appearance of Principal Snyder.

Quote of the episode: Snyder: "There are things I will not tolerate. Students loitering on campus after school. Horrible murders with hearts being removed. And also smoking."