The Zeppo

The Zeppo
Written and Directed by

Original Airdate: January 26, 1999

Plot: After a biting comment from Cordelia, Xander questions his place in the Scooby gang. His attempts to find his identity makes some new friends who aren't exactly what they appear...

Review

Warning: If seeing SPOILERS for the latest episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, "The Zeppo," is the end of the world for you, please turn back now. There are major SPOILERS just ahead...

In short: Good concept...not so sure about the execution.

If you'd asked me three weeks ago, based on the brief paragraph summaries I saw of the upcoming new Buffy episodes, which one I'd picked as my favorite of the new set, I'd have said "The Zeppo." First of all, it features Xander, whom I think has been under utilized at times this years and is one of my favorite charaters on the show. But also for the fact that it looked like it might bring up some really interesting issues that, let's face it, the show needed to deal with. And it looked like it might have the potential to be another BBB--one with a serious tone that keeps a good natured sense of humor about it.

And for the first fifteen or so minutes, it really did things well. I absolutely adored the first fifteen or so minutes of the Zeppo and was literally rubbing my hands together with anticipation of more to come.

By the thirty minute mark, I was reminded of last year's Some Assembly Required and that analogy became even more apparent to me as the episode continued. For those of you who might not have been around when SAR aired or when I posted my thoughts on it, my basic complaint was this--SAR brought up a lot of really great stuff in the first fifteen minutes and then left it all behind and became a standard monster of the week story with very little or no focus. Throw in the fact that one set of nasty uglies in The Zeppo is raised from the dead and the analogy becomes that much more painfully obvious.

It's not to say I didn't like both episodes. But for me, the Zeppo felt like a great appetizer followed by a not so great meal. I left feeling a bit unsatisfied.

And that's a shame because the Zeppo had a lot going for it.

First of all, we had the beginnings of the aftermath of Giles being fired. And while I liked seeing his access to the council being cut off and seeing how our heroes had to deal with the latest threat to the world as we know it without that resource, this plotline brought up a lot of questions that demanded answers. The first was if the council is so gung-ho about the Slayer/Watcher thing isn't the new Watcher there yet? Also, would the council really be as crass as to cut Giles off even with the therat of the Hellmouth being opened? Surely they could find a way to bend the rules.

But, I may be missing the forest for the trees here.

My other big complaint here was the fact that while this plotline was interesting, it deserved a lot better than the short end of the stick it got. It felt like an intrusion on the Xander's new friends plot and I didn't like that. Surely the plotline that involves reopening the Hellmouth deserves more than just lipservice and to be the cutaway plot. If you make it the centerpiece, it gains a lot and is far more interesting in the long run. Here it feels like it's tacked on.

Also, I wish we'd have some more explanation of why the witch group wanted to open the Hellmouth. I mean, the reason is obvious, yes, but as I stated with SAR, I love villains with a bit of motivation or that are shades of gray. (Hence, my great love of Spike or Ford from Lie to Me) They were just evil and it felt like they were put there to give Buffy and crew someone to slay.

Overall, not exactly what I was looking for.

But what this plotline did do right was not disjointedly dovetail with the Xander plot. I had a sinking feeling half-way through that the new gang of Xander's undead buddies would somehow or other work into the plot and Xander would end up saving everyone and prove his worth to the group. And it's just been done before and I'd have really been less than happy if it'd been done here. Buffy is a show that pushes the envelope and takes chances and it was nice to see that they took a chance here.

Also, the plotline here brought up some nice issues--just what does Xander bring to the Scooby gang? And while we got to see that he can be a help at times, I don't think the issue has been resolved. I think part of this was to give Xander back a bit of his self-confidence that has been shattered by the break-up by Cordy and her attitude toward him and on that level it worked. The last scene when he just walks away from her grinning as she squirms was absolutely fabulous. And really shows how Xander has grown a bit this year as a character.

And seeing him with the new friends was interesting. In fact, his quiet desparation to get away from them and re-integrate himself with the Scooby gang was nicely done. Scenes that spring to mind are the one with Giles at the cemetary, trying to help Willow and, of course, his, er, scene with Faith. They all worked on some level and I really hope that there will be some consequences to the actions seen here--esp. the scene with Faith. I don't want to see them become a couple by any stretch, but I think it will be interesting to see how they react to each other later. Personally, I don't think Faith will think anything more of it while Xander may put a bit more importance on the event. But time will tell.

All in all, this was a good angle, but in some ways it didn't go far enough. Yes, Xander made these friends and learned something about himself, but I wish it had gone further. I'm not sure how, but I was left feeling a bit empty when the episode was over. Like I'd missed a course of the meal or maybe that desert hadn't been served yet.

Hopefully Joss and comany will deal with the issues brought up here later and when I look back on season three in a few months it will all make a bit more sense.

Until then, I can only hope...

Well, that's about it for now, except a few small things...

--The scene between Oz and Xander was absolutely dead-on and may have been the best sequence in the episode. Oz's answer to Xander was absolutely perfect and it's the best use of Oz I've seen in quite some time...

--Seeing Oz go wolfy was nice, but in the end it felt like a set-up to the gag....I should have seen it coming.

--Was it just me or did the first jock who was raised look a lot like the reanimated brother from SAR?

--So, will Xander still be car guy?

All in all, an interesting epiosde that falls a bit short...but it's almost February and I've got to admit I can't wait to see what Joss does next....

My rating: 6.5 (out of 10.0)

Next up: A repeat of Homecoming...

"Are you afraid of me?

"Would it make you happy?"