Cliff-Notes Version:
"The Zeppo" -
ODD MAN OUT - Xander's (Nicholas Brendon) lack of slaying superpowers has him feeling painfully expendable, but his quest to prove he's cool leads him to an unforgettable night that finds him consorting with fast women, raising the dead and rolling with a dangerous crowd that could put Sunnydale in a world of hurt. Meanwhile, Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar), Giles (Anthony Stewart Head) and the rest of the crew engage in a furious battle with an all-female apocalypse cult that intends to reopen the Hellmouth and bring about the end of the world. Alyson Hannigan, Charisma Carpenter, David Boreanaz and Seth Green also star. James Whitmore Jr. directed the episode written by Dan Vebber.
Episode: 3ABB13
Original Air Date: January 26, 1999
-From buffy.com
Rating:
Review
First off, it tried to intertwine two completely different plots (I use the term lightly), each of which might have made some sense if they had had their very own hour dedicated to them. Did anyone understand the whole Hellmouth opening/ugly blue demon people bit?? It was referred to as the worst thing they've ever faced, yet we had an entire two minutes dedicated to it. We got to see about a minute and a half of the gang worrying about it and complaining about not having any books since Giles got fired, 25 seconds of Giles talking in Latin (complete with little translations at the bottom of the screen) to a weird and not at all intimidating cloud-like thing that, forgive me for saying it, looked like a bad special effect from the old biblical movies with Charlton Heston in them, and five seconds of an actual fight scene. It was ridiculous, much like Buffy's hair.
Then there was the drunken and idiotic (come on, they watched "Walker, Texas Ranger" for god sakes) dead guy gang who was obviously using Xander for his car. What was up with them putting a bomb in the boiler room?? The school's deserted and will remain so for several more hours, the bomb will go off in 55 minutes, why not put it somewhere where it'll actually do some damage? This is what happens when you give high school football players weapons.
The Slayerettes (and the Slayer) seemed completely out of character this episode, especially the "Zeppo" himself. Let's face it, Xander isn't that useful when it comes to fighting or researching, especially now that Willow, who was the only one that was weaker than him in original Scooby Gang, is now a witch. But Xander is a vital member of the gang simply because he IS the Jimmy Olsen. He's the moral support guy, the comic relief. The fact that he knows when to sit back and let other, stronger people handle the big baddies and when to take things into his own hands and do what's right is what gives him his charm. But in this episode, he morphed into the guy who was so obsessed with being considered "cool" that he completely missed the fact that he was hanging out with bad people. Xander's always been persistent and, although he fails to show it sometimes, brave, but he not only succumbed to peer pressure and joined Jack's little posse, he was also a complete wuss for the majority of the ep. Xander's true form didn't come out till the end of the episode, where he got Jack to disarm the bomb and didn't tell the rest of the gang about his heroic deed.
And the last thing on my rant agenda, the infamous Faith and Xander sex scene. This sealed my verdict for "The Zeppo". It had nothing to do with the actual plot of the episode, and it was an over-all tasteless and all too cavalier twist. The fact that Faith kicked him out afterwards and all Xander did was say, "I can't believe I had sex" only further trivialized the scene and made it into more of a disaster. At least Buffy and Angel care about each other. Xander doesn't really know, like, or respect Faith, much less *love* her. It was a horrible scene with horrible morals, and Xander's lack of reaction on the fact that he was used for a cheap thrill made it even worse.
Many people commented that "The Zeppo" was actually poking fun at itself, a parody of the show in general, with the cliche end of the world scene, the cheesy Buffy and Angel moment, and the chants. This made me appreciate it a little bit more, and I found it admirable that the writers feel secure enough to laugh about their show, but the parody was a little too subtle to be funny, which is what made this one of those epiodes where you either really enjoyed it, or you really felt that it fell short.
Ok, lets end on a not so ranty note. Did it look to anyone else like Optic Nerve was trying to reuse as many monster parts as possible? The blue demons looked a lot like Eyghon, the dead guy that got his head knock off by the mailbox looked like James the polterguist, and God knows that Hellmouth monster's tentancles have been used as everything from the original monster to Machida's body. :)
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