3x13 The Zeppo - Buffy the Vampire Slayer Episode Guide

Buffy the Vampire Slayer

- Episode 03x13

Episode: 03x13
Title: The Zeppo
Type: Regular Episode
Production Code: 3ABB13
First Aired: Jan. 26, 1999

Season 3 » Episode #13 - The Zeppo

Buffy the Vampire Slayer - 03x13 The Zeppo

Summary: Taunted by Cordelia, uncool Xander sets out to improve his image and gets more than he bargained for by way of ferocious demons, the walking dead and an unexploded bomb before he earns a night of passion with Faith. Unfortunately, his solo heroics go unnoticed by Buffy and the team, who are preoccupied with a nest of hideous bird-like creatures threatening to reopen the Hellmouth.

Who appeared in this episode?

Guest Stars:

Buffy Anne Summers	played by Sarah Michelle Gellar
Willy the Snitch	played by Saverio Guerra
Jack O'Toole	played by Channon Roe
Bob	played by Michael Cudlitz
Parker	played by Darin Heames
Dickie	played by Scott Torrence
Lysette	played by Whitney Dylan
Cop	played by Vaughn Armstrong
Quentin Travers	played by Harris Yulin

Episode Quotes

	Season 3 / Episode 13: - The Zeppo Xander: Yeah, great knife. Although, I think, um, it may, technically, be a-a sword. Jack O'Toole: She's called Katie. Xander: You gave it a girl's name. How very serial killer of you.
	Season 3 / Episode 13: - The Zeppo Xander: What do I have? Oz: An exciting new obsession, which I feel makes you very special.

[More Quotes]

MISTAKES/GOOFS

CREW: At 38:14, as Xander comes down the basement stairs, at the top of the picture you can glimpse part of the lighting instrument that is throwing the bright splash of light onto the wall above Xander's head.
CREW: During the "battle of the Hellmouth," after Buffy is slammed through the library doors into the corridor beyond, the view cuts to the multi-headed monster following her out and you can clearly see the wheeled dolly supporting the leftmost head and the crew member behind the dolly operating the head. (Hitting pause during the bright flash of light gives a very clear view.)
FAKE: When the "battle of the Hellmouth" begins in the library, the handles abruptly disappear from the library side of the doors, obviously for safety reasons necessitated by the upcoming wire gag where Buffy is slammed through the doors into the corridor beyond. Also, the cylinder lock on the outside push-plate jumps from below the handle to above it.
GEOG: At 35:42, as Jack and his gang are running down the street after Xander's car and Jack shouts, "He's heading for the school," everyone in fact is heading *away* from the school, which is visible in the background behind Jack, only a half-block back up the street (and extending all the way down the left side of the street, as well).
BOOM: At 14:45, as Giles is walking into his office, the tip of the boom microphone dips into the frame for a fraction of a second.

TRIVIA

The structure and concept of this episode (which for the most part follows Xander on what in another episode would be his subplot, while the series' more conventionally main characters are relegated to the background) is an homage to Tom Stoppard's 1967 existentialist play Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, which follows the action of two relatively minor characters from Shakespeare's "Hamlet" while using the actual main plot and characters from Hamlet as occasional background and diversion.
"Zeppo" (Herbert Manfred) Marx was the fifth and youngest of the Marx Brothers, after Chico, Harpo, Groucho, and Gummo. Although he was a performer (unlike Gummo), he was rarely given much comedic material, usually playing the "straight man" in the Marx's plays and movies instead - hence Cordelia's insult to Xander that he is inessential to Buffy and the gang and therefore "The Zeppo" of the group. Zeppo Marx stopped appearing in films after Duck Soup (1933), and formed a theatrical agency with Gummo.

Episode Screenshots (From Season 3)

KEYWORDS:

» Back to Buffy the Vampire Slayer TV Show