The Zeppo

I am a real Buffy fan and have almost watched all the episode. But one of the episode that dissatisfied me is this one. I don't know why it have such a great grade, 8,7/10.

This episode was for me, a plot which could be very good, but instead went wrong. This episode is over the top. Much is happening during 40-45 minutes, for me it was too much. This episode is concentrated much on Xander, and well it would turn up great if Buffy and the other one wouldn't interfere with that. Instead they almost take more place than Xander, because they have a greater "mission" than him. And this episode was quite unfair...

The Scooby gang totally ditched Xander in a subtle way and hey the Scooby Gang should do everything together, mortal as immortal. For me this episode gets a strong 6. It doesn't reach a 7, unfortunately. Josh Wheedon exaggerated to much, at least for me.

I have to say that through all the episodes so far, Xander is my least favorite character. He is wrought with weak sarcasm. He thinks his mouth will get him what he wants and he never does. The early scene when Jack is hit by the football is typical. He couldn't just say he was sorry. He couldn't just walk away. He's also undependable and flies by the seat of his pants all the time. When things are serious, he ignores the most optimum comment and often is insulting and condescending. He asks OZ how to be cool. The simplest course would be to stop putting on an act. I hope that after all he went through in this episode and the confidence he found, he can carru this new character into the future.

So often Xander is seen as the least important of the series protagonists; he is just an ordinary high school boy with no powers or skills; he isn't even seen as cool by other students. When the latest threat appears to be the worst Buffy has faced it is decided that Xander should say away from the danger while Buffy, Giles, Willow and Angel try to deal with it. Trying to compensate he gets a cool classic car; this is the start of his problems though as he ends up driving Jack, a school bully, around as he raises his friends from the dead! Once raised there is more trouble in store as first they state their intention that Xander should die and be raised to join there group then he realises they are planning to set off a bomb.

This episode was a lot of fun; I really liked how we focused on Xander's story even though one would expect Buffy and the other's struggle to prevent the Hellmouth from opening would dominate proceedings. It has been clear for some time that Xander is the least special of the group so it was fun to see him being forced to deal with a situation when the others are too busy to help him. Jack and his friends are a good group of antagonists who manage to be threatening and mildly amusing. Nicholas Brendon is on great form as Xander; we see his frustration with being left out, his fear when threatened and ultimately believable bravery. There are some surprises; most obviously what happens between Xander and Faith after he helps her get out of a spot of bother... details of this would spoil it! Some might be disappointed that we don't see too much of what Buffy and the others are up to, just enough to make it look interesting, but if we had Willow's comment about the world not knowing what they did wouldn't be amusing. Overall this episode was a lot of fun; there was good character development for Xander, some solid action and scares and quite a few good laughs.

It's nice to see Xander, one of the most unappreciated and underrated characters of the show shine for once. Seeing him take on four undead goons alone while his friends were preoccupied was pretty cool. My favorite scene is when him and the villain-of-the episode, Jack fight towards the end. It was brief yet and intense and lead to the intense standoff of the episode.

I won't give away the ending but man, it was definitely a huge confidence booster for our guy. If you like Buffy, than this's a must watch. I think even non-fans will enjoy it too. Take it for what it's worth and see for yourself.

I just love this episode. Xander really carries it, something he's failed to do in the other Xander-center episodes IMO. Cordy is absolutely withering in her disdain for Xander and, of course, HOT. The monster plot is at first mysterious and ominous and later a beautiful in-joke. Jack O'Toole is brilliantly psychotic. His gang is pretty bleh, but they serve their purpose. Even Faith is interesting and sexy in this episode. The denouement is brilliant both in the gang's discussion of the monster and Xander's penultimate confrontation with Cordy.

Xander will forget the life lessons he's learned in this episode, but for one brief shining week he gets to be the man.