User Reviews

"Buffy the Vampire Slayer" was still trying to explore all of the different things that it was or could be when this sort of one-off episode veered into "X-Files" territory. The performance by Clea DuVall as the invisible girl is memorable, which is remarkable precisely because we see so little of her. (When I first saw this episode, I couldn't help wondering, just who is that actress?) However, the character she plays, Marcy, goes being from sympathetic to being a despicable psycho.

This marks the first of many times that the character, Cordelia (played by the lovely Charisma Carpenter), would overcome her revulsion for Buffy's "loser squad" and ask them for help.

As is looking forward to being elected the school's May Queen but then her date for the night is badly beaten by a baseball bet… just a bat; there was nobody obviously holding it. Buffy and her friends have a few ideas about what happened and initially assume it was probably a ghost. Then, following an encounter with whatever it was Buffy suggests that it could have been a girl with the power of invisibility. Research suggests it is Marcie Ross, a girl who disappeared a few months previously. Nobody seems to remember her though; even Willow and Xander, who were in several classes with her, have no memory of her. It emerges that after constantly being treated as though she wasn't there Marcie just turned invisible. It is also fairly obvious that she is targeting people around Cordelia and has special plans for her on the night of the May Queen coronation.

This was a pretty solid episode; I liked the fact that the cause wasn't a supernatural creature. When we see why Marcie turned invisible it is hard not to feel sympathetic for her… at least at first; it is clear that she has well and truly snapped making her less sympathetic at the end where she poses a real threat to Buffy and her friends as well as Cordelia. There are a couple of disturbing moments; a teacher has a plastic bag pulled over her head and later Cordelia is cut with a scalpel as Marcie promises to give her a face nobody will forget. It was fun to see Cordelia being the centre of the antagonist's attention as she always wants to be the centre of attention while accusing others of being self-centred; Charisma Carpenter does a fine job in the role. Clea DuVall also impresses as Marcie even though we only actually see her in a few flashback scenes. The finale where Marcie is taken off to a sinister government run facility, where her invisibility might be put to use, was a good way for the episode to sign off. Overall I really enjoyed this episode.

I love this episode. I think it's so interesting and creepy all at the same time.

In this episode, Cordelia's friends are being attacked by something they can't see. Buffy figures out that it's an invisible girl doing the terrible deeds. She is mad at Cordelia for being ignored, and she never had real friends. So this turns her invisible, then she takes her revenge. Eventually, she kidnaps Cordelia with the intention of messing up her face, so no one will ever forget her. But before this can happen, Buffy stops her and then the government take Marcy, the invisible girl, away, where she learns how to infiltrate and assassinate.

Overall, I give this episode a 9 out of 10, which in my ratings book is: Amazing.

Out of sight, out of mind;

The Good; One of the best allegories yet for High School as hell. Real sense of menace to the knife floating behind Buffy although from what we've seen since it probably didn't pose a real threat to her. Cordelia starts to come more and more into her own here and some funny stuff from Snyder

The Bad; Not much, very strong episode

Best line; Cordelia; "Oh my god, is she really wearing Laura Ashely?"

Worst line; Willow; "Mitch was attacked by a floating bat?" Xander; "Maybe it was a vampire bat?" (GGRRRoooaaannn!)

What the fanficcers thought; Invisible Marcie later showing up to save the Scoobs common see 'Why do we write this?'

Questions and observations: So, the government know what's going on in Sunnydale and are exploiting it to their own ends? We see the beginnings of the Initiative here. A sign of the times that Marcie at the end is training to assassinate cult leaders as this was just after Waco. Nowadays of course she'd be after Osama and co. Interesting that the class are doing The Merchant of Venice, Marcie easily resembles the figure of Shylock. If you've ever watched the DVD commentary for The Grudge SMG remembers Jason Behr who played Ford in 'Lie to Me' appearing on Buffy but not Clea Duvall. Rewatching the ep you realise that she never has any scenes with visible Marcie so they probably never met. Harmony again, named for the first time. Cordy has passed her driving test to judge by her story of running the girl on the bike over. The scene where the teacher is nearly smothered by the plastic bag is HORRIBLE. First meeting between Giles and Angel. Cordy, Buffy, Willlow and Xander are all knocked out, the start of a grand scooby tradition. Ironically Giles who is so notorious for it stays conscious. Cordy and Buffy are also tied up, another Buffy cliché that will see much use. How exactly does Marcie get Cordy and Buffy to the Bronze? I gotta say, if faced with the choice of being gassed or risking an explosion I'd take explosion every time. If you'll pardon the pun it would have been lovely to 'see' Marcie again, maybe in season 7 Buffy could have been chained up and helpless only for her bonds to miraculously unravel? But if at her new school she's got friends etc won't she become visible again? I don't know if it's deliberate but the title reminds me of the story where Soviet premier Breshnev is meeting the US President Nixon and during the chitchat he asks where the vice-president Spiro Agnew is? (some form of demon according to Angel and Fred's dad). Agnew was keeping a low profile at the time as he was under investigation for corruption so Nixon replied, "Oh, you know, out of sight, out of mind'. Breshnev looks at Nixon oddly then hurriedly walked away whereupon Nixon's translator tells him that Breshnev's translator interpreted 'out of sight, out of mind' as 'Invisible maniac' Good ep, 8/10

Everyone feels like a nobody from time to time, ignored and overlooked by the people around them. But at Sunnydale High being unpopular can lead to the on-set of actual invisibility. Marcy, the school's least noticed student, has become transparent and is determined to get her revenge on the cool kids in class. Harmony is shoved down the stairs, Cordelia's new boyfriend gets a baseball bat massage and as for Cordy herself... Well, things don't look so good for our newly elected May Queen. Desperate enough to risk social leprosy, Cordy goes to the Scoobies for help in dealing with Marcy's wrath.

This isn't my favorite episode, mostly because it relies so heavily on Marcy, a character who we've never seen before. (No pun intended.) It does have some good parts, though. Hearing Cordy's take on the "Merchant of Venice" is pretty funny. Especially, her own traumatic experience running over a selfish bicycler, who just wanted to whine about her leg, instead of focusing on poor Cordy's problems. And for everyone who's ever written "Have a nice summer!" in a yearbook, this is an episode that will make you smile and wince at the same time.

On the down side, I don't really like the end of the episode, with Marcy being recruited by the government. It seems a little too X-File-y. Also, the Scoobies spend so much time trying to figure out what's going on and who's behind the invisible attacks that the episode takes a while to really get going. As for Marcy, I started out feeling a little sorry for her, but after she attacked several people, tried to kill Giles, Willow & Xander and kidnapped Buffy and Cordelia, I ended up seeing her a nut job. No wonder people ignored her. Students becoming invisible at Sunnydale High will be referenced again in season seven, but all in all, this is another episode you could skip and not miss much.

My favorite part of the episode: Cordelia talking to Buffy about popularity. "Sometimes people are so busy agreeing with me, that they don't even hear what I'm saying." It's really our first glimpse of the bright, insightful Cordelia lurking behind her snobby cheerleader facade.

An invisible force is hurting Cordelia's friends and she comes to the gang and asks them for help. This invisible girl is after Cordelia as she continually ignored her and caused her to become invisible. Angel also tells Giles that he can the Codex, a book which has all the prophecies on the slayer.

Why It's So Good - An episode that many people, including myself, can relate too. It is heart breaking if you feel excluded and unnoticed, however, it is never an option to lash out.

Watch Out For - Have a nice summer.

Quote - "A vampire in love with a Slayer! It's rather poetic! In a maudlin sort of way." - Giles.

Out of Mind, Out of Sight is about an invisible girl seeking revenge, after being ignored out of existence.

It's a bit of a daytime soap drama, the least enjoyable episode of the first season. A positive to come out of it is Cordy more or less gets in with the group. Like last episode, there's no scene at the Bronze and no great music. Why a guy would be curled up in corner just letting a floating baseball bat hit him repeatedly, is beyond me, from a girl laughing no less.

SPOILER WARNING Overall, not a great episode, but once again it's required to build the characters for what we know them to be in the future and Angel bringing the Codex at the end, is a clever sneaky addition for the finale. I'm not sure why Giles didn't tell Buffy that it was Angel who rescued them from the basement though. Marcie's character was portrayed badly. She didn't seem that lonely, needed to act smaller and let the others around her act bigger to get the impression of loneliness. It gets the point across nicely though of how blind people can be to others around them. The end felt a little bit random. How did Marcie know where to sit in the classroom at the end?

The FBI knows about this invisible girl, but not about all the other things going on? And of course they plan to make murderers out of them ...

A series of mysterious attacks leave the students of Sunnydale High stumped. When Buffy comes to the conclusion that all the attacks revolve around Cordelia Chase, she and her friends do some more digging and discover that it's an invisible force that's doing all the attacking and is holding a grudge against Cordelia. It is now up to Buffy to stop this menace from exacting it's revenge, but how can she do battle with something she can't even see?

OK well.Im not sure really what to say about this episode.It wasn't very good.What saves it from being a poor episode is Cordy.She shows a more caring and less bitchy side in this episode.

5/10

Out of site, out of mind shows that Cordy has feelings of loneliness even with many followers agreeing with her and wonders who her friends are. What I like about Joss Whedon is he gives his characters substance allowing them grow as a person and care about them. Without it I don't think Buffy works since It would only be the hero's journey to follow and yet even villains are allowed depth. Marcy, invisible girl stalking the school, was ignored to the point she was erased from reality which you see through flashback making you wish it had all gone differently for her. Still I ponder could Marcy be rehabilitated or his mind to warped beyond the point of help.

Another aspect is the mysterious men in black who show up to take invisible girl away to a facility to use as an assassin. Is this the first appearance of the initiative or an evil organization since they need spies. Very xfiles to include it as I wish it could've been explored later with a Marcy reappearance instead of forgotten.

It's Queen Election time, where Cordelia is set to reign supreme. Unfortunately for Cordelia, a mysterious invisible force wreaks havoc on the school and Cordelia's friends. Cordelia has no choice but to turn to Buffy for help. I always enjoyed it when Buffy would battle other forces. This episode is not only creative but it takes advantage of the opportunities it has. Buffy's biggest foes are vampires, but how scary is battling something you can't see? This episode did a really good job of maximizing the minutes it had in this one to deliver a really good episode. You can see both sides. Being popular and non-popular can both be very lonely. When you're not popular, nobody really pays that much attention to you. When your popular, you have so much pressure to please everybody else and all the phonies that you can't really connect to the people you want to. Your always focusing on maintaining the facade. The last 10-15 minutes get quite dark and somewhat sadistic. It provides a powerful message that you shouldn't ignore people. You should always try to treat everyone equally.

8.6/10