Buffy the Vampire Slayer Re-Watch: Fears and Outcasts (Season 1 Episodes 10 and 11)

If there’s one thing that Buffy the Vampire Slayer always does right, it’s highlighting insecurities and anxieties that are common to us all.

Both Episodes 10 and 11 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 1 take aim at this topic, which is why I see fit to review them together.

While Episode 10, “Nightmares,” focuses on the nightmares and fears of the students at Sunnydale High and Episode 11, “Out of Sight, Out of Mind,” leans heavier on the fear of being alone, alienated, and forgotten, the two really go hand in hand.

The concept of dreams is something we’ve already been introduced to in the Buffyverse. It’s revealed in Season 1 Episode 1 that dreams are linked to the Slayer; she has them as a part of her duties, always foreshadowing the danger surrounding her.

“Nightmares,” takes that concept to a new level, with everyone reeling in their own danger and insecurities. The dreams range from tarantulas taking over a classroom to a mom visiting her son at school to Buffy becoming a vampire herself, but all of them are connected by fears and insecurities, and a little boy that bears a strong resemblance to Joseph Gordon-Levitt circa his days on 3rd Rock from the Sun.

What’s most important about the entire, “Nightmares,” episode is the insight we gain into what the biggest fears are for each of our characters.

Buffy’s fear is that her father left because she was a bad kid. Willow’s fear is public performance. Xander’s is public nudity.

Giles’ is the fear that I most love, because it’s so key to who Giles is and to the relationship he is developing with Buffy. His fear is that he will fail Buffy as a watcher and that she will die as a result.

Giles has grown over the season to care about Buffy far more than any other Watcher has ever cared about their Slayer. He’s become so personally invested in her that the fear of failing her, of not training her properly, of her death…that’s what most consumes Giles.

It’s interesting because the traditional job description of the Slayer says that she will die and another will rise. Another Watcher will take over. It’s a destined cycle.

But Giles’ fear over losing Buffy shows that there’s something different about this Watcher and this Slayer. Their bond is much more familial than the ones before them. It’s so strong that Giles guilt over what could happen to Buffy weighs on his mind in his dreams.

It’s a great contrast to what Buffy’s thoughts are about her father in her nightmares as well. Giles’ love for Buffy consumes him, while in her own nightmares, Buffy’s father really couldn’t care less about her. Based on how little we’ve seen her dad and heard him discussed, it’s clear that Giles is the only stable father figure in her life, right now.

The Master: Fear is in the mind. Like pain, it can be controlled. If I can face my fear, it cannot master me.

The Master’s words are important in both episodes.

In “Out of Sight, Out of Mind,” the Scooby Gang is faced with a very transparent foe. A young girl named Marcie, (a very teenage Clea DuVall,) who has long gone ignored by her fellow students, literally becomes an invisible ghost.

Marcie never masters her fears, never controls her fear of being forgotten. She is a loner. She is forgettable. But she’s also not assertive, doesn’t speak up, and definitely doesn’t stand up for herself.

Marcie’s biggest flaw is that she leans into loneliness and accepts it as her fate.

I find that “Out of Sight, Out of Mind” is a far more effective message on bullying than the Season 1 Episode 6 classic, “The Pack.”

Marcie isn’t traditionally bullied in the way that the hyenas bully the students in, “The Pack.” She’s bullied in a way that is much more common. She’s unpopular, so therefore, her presence doesn’t matter to those around her.

Cordelia and her friends all ignore her, even when she attempts to join the conversation. They are so self-absorbed that they pretend she’s not even in the room. Her yearbook is filled with the generic message, “Have a good summer.” Even her teachers ignore her, never calling on her to participate in the class discussion.

Marcie’s story is actually quite tragic. Her literally becoming invisible is definitely a feeling that many teens have, especially those that struggle to fit in.

It’s a struggle that Buffy herself is no stranger to.

But Buffy DID connect. She did make friends. She took control of her inability to fit in, and found a group of friends who accepted her, something that Marcie doesn’t do. But as Buffy discovers while looking at Marcie’s yearbook, even her own friends play a role in Marcie’s invisibility.

Marcie’s story, oddly, is a great parallel to what Cordelia is going through, and what appears to be the thing that pushes her to hang out with the Scoobies. You can be alone, even surrounded by others. It’s always hard to tell who your real friends and confidants are.

Cordelia: Hey, you think I’m never lonely because I’m so cute and popular? I can be surrounded by people and be completely alone. It’s not like any of them really know me. I don’t even know if they like me half the time. People just want to be in the popular zone. Sometimes when I talk, everybody’s so busy agreeing with me, they don’t hear a word I say.

It turns out that the queen bitch of Sunnydale High feels alone sometimes too. But she doesn’t give into that loneliness as Marcie does.

It goes back to the Master’s words in, “Nightmares.” Fear and pain can be controlled, and if they are, they cannot consume us.

Marcie allows herself to be consumed. That’s why she’s invisible.

That’s also what drives her to bring physical harm upon those who emotionally hurt her. It’s not right, by any means, but it’s understandable. It’s a familiar story that we see more and more on the news or newspaper headlines.

If you struggle with loneliness, fear, or anxiety, here’s a life lesson from Buffy: take control of it. There’s always a way out. There’s always someone to talk to. Don’t let your struggles consume you.

If we learn anything from these episodes it’s that everyone is struggling in some way, some more obvious than others.

These are examples of the heart episodes of Buffy. The stories that leave deep impressions on us and the ones that we often look back on and remember exactly how we felt when watching them for the first time.

Episodes like these, those that take very human feelings and put that supernatural spin on them, are what defined Buffy the Vampire Slayer as the voice of a generation.

Pop Into Pop-Culture:

• “You were there, and you,” is a direct reference to The Wizard of Oz.
• Willow’s opera nightmare is the opera Madame Butterfly.
• “A dream is a wish your heart makes,” is a line from the Disney classic, Cinderella.
• “Red alert!” is a reference to Star Trek.
• “Crush! Kill! Destroy!” is a reference to the Lost in Space robot.
• Poltergeist is a film from the 1970’s.

Fashion Fau-Pauxs:

• Cordelia’s frizzy hair clipped back with a rubber ducky barrette.
• Willow’s puke-colored…so ’90s.
• Giles’ very short scarf.
• Harmony’s kitty cat shirt.
• Willow’s Scooby Doo t-shirt, perhaps a nod to the Scooby Gang.
• Buffy’s cherry-printed skirt and knee-high boots.
• Xander’s “peep show” t-shirt.

Cordeliaisms: 

• “Hello, dufus? You’re in my light.”
• “I am, of course, having my dress made. Off-the-rack gives me hives.”
• “My eyes are hazel, Helen Keller.”
• “Did I ever tell you about the time she attacked me at the Bronze? I don’t know why this school admits mentals like her.”
• “Here’s a chocolate – ooo…I don’t think I need the looney fringe vote.”
• “You were popular? In what alternate universe?”
• “Color me TOTALLY self-involved.”
• “Did you guys check out that extreme toupee? It looked like a cabbage.”
• “Thank you for making the right choice and for showing me how much you love me. Being this popular is not just my right, but my responsibility, and I want you to know I take it very seriously.”

Stay tuned for the next installment of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer Re-Watch, “Prophecy Girl,” the Season 1 finale!