Contents Index Browse < Browse >

Some Assembly Required
5V02


The body of a dead cheerleader is dug up from the cemetery, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer is officially back in the saddle. Cordelia accidentally stumbles upon a bunch of body parts in a dumpster, and the parts add up to three people -- the dead cheerleader and her two friends who were killed in the same car accident -- only some of the parts are missing.

Giles suspects zombie activity, and clues lead to Chris -- a science whiz who's been quiet and withdrawn since his brother Daryl's death. We discover Chris, with his buddy Eric, has been secretly assembling a woman from these body parts for Daryl, so he won't have to be alone through eternity. The only part they don't have yet is a head -- the cheerleader's heads are unusable because the formaldehyde used to preserve dead bodies causes rapid deterioration of brain cells. There are currently three live head donors being considered: Buffy, Willow and Cordelia. Daryl votes for Cordelia, but Chris doesn't want to kill anyone, and Daryl becomes enraged. Meanwhile, Giles is courting Ms. Calendar, and their first official date is to the school's football game. That night, Eric decides to kill Cordelia, since Chris can't bring himself to do the deed, but Buffy arrives just in time to save her. As Buffy struggles with Daryl, a can of gasoline spills. A fire starts and Xander, who has arrived to help, pushes Cordelia to safety. Chris, seeing his headless fiancee is about to perish in the fire, throws himself on top of her and pledges his undying love. Angel and Buffy finally talk things out -- he admits he was jealous of her attention to Xander, and he feels left out of her life since he can only be with her at night. They walk off together as we see Daryl's tombstone.

More Information

Adding a typically Buffy-esque twist to a well-worn theme, (previously explored in John Hughes' 1985 teen flick 'Weird Science', itself a reworking of mes Whale's 1935 masterpiece 'Bride of Frankenstein'), makes 'Some Assembly Required' a very entertaining episode. Ty King's witty script contains lots of gleefully black humour, and even manages to generate some sympathy for its most villainous characters.

The episode is also kept buoyant by the charming scenes between the flirtatious Jenny Calendar and the stuffy Giles, who finally plucks up the courage to ask her out. This is the culmination of a lot of very funny advice that Giles receives from his students.

In the tradition of the great Universal Studios horror films of the 1930s 'Some Assembly Required' ends with a laboratory fire started during a struggle between the heroes and the villains, (who are, of course, engulfed in the inferno!).

Trivia

From this episode onwards the short narration that opens each episode is now spoken by Anthony Stewart Head (Giles), and it now has a different underscore. This episode is the first to reveal Miss Calendar's first name: Jenny.

Goto: Major Buffy events Index Main page Vamp Vocabulary