1.11 Out of Mind, Out of Sight

Plot Synopsis (Hide)

The episode starts with preparation for the end-of school dance, at which Cordelia is fully expecting to be crowned May Queen. Her intended date is attacked in the locker room by a disembodied baseball bat, although Cordy's main concern seems to be whether or not his bruises will show in the Prom photographs! Buffy, meanwhile, is feeling increasingly left out, partly due to Cordelia's obvious popularity reminding her of her old life, pre-vampire-slayage, and partly due to Xander and Willow going through a nostalgia phase, and reminiscing about fun times before Buffy came on the scene.

Later Cordelia's friend Harmony falls down some steps, and claims to have been pushed, although no-one was near her at the time. While everyone crowds round her, Buffy hears a faint giggle and goes to investigate. She follows the sound to the music room, but when she enters, there is no-one to be seen. Discounting the possibility of a ghost, since whoever it was had bumped noticeably into Buffy on the way to the music room, the gang decide they must be dealing with an invisible girl.

Patrolling the school that evening, Buffy sees Cordelia preparing for the dance with her friends. She watches for a few moments, with a wistful smile, and then turns away. As she walks on, she hears the sound of a flute playing, but can't quite work out where the sound is coming from. Angel visits Giles in the library to discuss the Master's plans, and reveals that he knows where to find a supposedly lost book, the Pergamum Codex, which is said to contain detailed prophecies of the Slayers role. While this is happening, we see occasional flashbacks of a shy girl watching Cordelia with her friends, and trying to join in only to be rebuffed every time.

Next day, Willow's research into missing students provides a list of possible suspects, and the most recent is Marcie Ross, a girl who disappeared only a few months previously. Neither Xander nor Willow remembers her, though they later discover that they shared several classes with her. The notes show that she played the flute in the school band, so she seems a likely candidate, and Buffy goes back to the music room to investigate. She finds a footprint on a chair below a loose ceiling tile, leading into the attic space. Crawling through into a larger area, Buffy finds evidence that someone has been sleeping up there, as well as a flute and a yearbook with Marcie's name in it. The girl seems to have been overlooked and ignored so much that she eventually became truly invisible.

The next person to be attacked is Ms. Miller, a teacher who has been helping Cordelia with her English classes. She hears a door opening, and a giggle, although there seems to be no-one there, then a plastic bag is pulled tightly over her head and she begins to suffocate. Cordelia, arriving for some extra coaching, finds Ms. Miller slumped over her desk, and removes the bag just in time. Realising that she herself is the connection between all the victims so far, and having seen evidence of Buffy's abilities, she goes to the library and asks the gang for their help.

Buffy agrees to stay with Cordelia until the dance, and stands guard outside a cupboard while she changes into her dress. Continuing to look for ways to make Marcie visible again, Giles, Xander and Willow hear the flute playing, and decide to follow. They trace the noise to the bolier room, where they find a tape recorder playing. The door slams and locks behind them, and we hear the noise of gas escaping.

Buffy hears a muffled cry from the locked cupboard, and breaks the door down only to see Cordelia disappearing up through the ceiling. Buffy follows and works her way to Marcie's nest in the ceiling space, where she finds Cordelia unconscious. As she bends over to check for a pulse, Marcie attacks and Buffy falls through into the music room below. A medical bag is dropped on to the floor next to where she is lying, dazed, and a syringe full of liquid is injected into her neck. Although she tries to get to her feet, her vision begins to blur and she falls unconscious.

In the boiler room, the gang have been struggling to escape, but are beginning to succumb to the gas. Willow is already unconscious as Xander slumps to the floor, leaving Giles beating weakly at the door alone. Just as he starts to give up, the door opens and Angel helps them to safety, before returning to the boiler room to deal with the gas leak. He was bringing the missing book to Giles when he smelt the gas and came to investigate.

When Buffy awakes, she finds herself and Cordelia at the Bronze, tied to the May Queen thrones. Cordelia is frightened, declaring that her face is numb, and the girls are then startled by the invisible Marcie wheeling in a trolley full of gleaming surgical instruments. Cordelia tries to reason with her while Buffy struggles against the ropes. Increasingly angry and unhinged, Marcie lashes out with a scalpel, cutting Cordelia's cheek, and threatens to give her a face no-one will ever forget. Sneaking a scalpel from the tray while Marcie is otherwise occupied, Buffy finally manages to free herself, and leaps to Cordelia's defence, but finds it hard fighting an invisible foe. Cordelia's hysterics are an added distraction, and yelling for her to be quiet, Buffy concentrates hard to hear/sense where her opponent is. There is the slightest of noises, and Buffy spins to land a solid punch. Marcie is thrown into one of the curtains adorning the May Queen stage, and it envelops her, rendering her visible at last. Buffy knocks her cold just as the door opens and two FBI agents arrive on the scene. They take Marcie into custody, and warn Buffy and Cordelia to forget about what has happened.

At school the next day Cordelia shows some grace, thanking Buffy and the others for helping her. Although she immediately turns away from them when her boyfriend comes along, it does show that she has some finer feelings after all. As the gang turn and walk into the library, the scene cuts away and we see a government training facility where Marcie is led into a classroom occupied by several other invisible kids. She opens her book to the first lesson – entitled "Assassination and Infiltration".

Pop Culture References

Cordelia refers to her boyfriend as Helen Keller when he gets the colour of her eyes wrong.
In the 1880's, Helen Keller was left blind and deaf at the age of just nineteen months, but with help led a full and inspirational life.

Buffy: Crush! Kill! Destroy!
This is a quote from the 60's cult sci-fi series "Lost in Space".

Nitpicks

• How did an invisible girl transport two unconscious and very visible girls from the school to the Bronze without attracting attention? Now I know we don't really know how far that is, but please!
• If Angel doesn't breathe, isn't it a bit odd that he was able to smell the gas?
• On arriving at a government facility, Marcie enters a classroom containing several tables with chairs behind them, and a closed book at each position. She walks to a chair, pulls it out and sits down - how did she know that chair was free, since all the other kids are invisible too?