Guest Starring: 
     
 Eliza Dushku: 
 (Faith) 
   
 Saverio Geurra: 
 (Willy the Snitch) 
   
 Channon Roe: 
 (Jack O'Toole) 
   
 Michael Cudlitz: 
 (Bob) 
   
 Whitney Dylon: 
 (Lysette) 
   
 
 
  13. The Zeppo.  
   
  As the Scoobies fight to avert an apocalypse, Xander has a night to remember.  
   
  Great quotes:  
   
 
  • Willow proves her hardiness: "The shaking is just a side-effect of the fear."
  • Cordelia: "Of all the humiliations you've had, that was the latest." What a bitch!
  • Buffy on Xander's car: "Is this a penis metaphor?"
  • Xander on O'Toole's knife: "You gave it a girl's name, how very 'serial killer' of you.", and after O'Toole asks him "...where d'ya want it?" Xander responds with "I'm fairly sure I don't want it at all..."
  • Xander to Faith: "Oh I'm up, I'm suddenly very up. It's just that I've never been up with people before."
  • Xander: "Gotta think, gotta think... I had sex!"
  
  Fantastic moments:  
   
 
Xander encounters a knife...
  • Oz and Xander discuss the nature of 'cool'. Xander displays paranoia while Oz calmly reflects on the philosophy behind the word.
  • Special mention needs to go to the incidental music, the violin that follows Xander around emphasises his feeling of unreality while overly melodramatic orchestral pieces accompany the Scoobies in their 'fight against evil'.
  • Evil surfer zombie dudes puling chest slams, screaming about beer and baking cakes; surely there is no better way to parody the horror genre than this?
  • Xander's fling with Faith takes on a surreal element; the way the action shifts so quickly from them being in a fight for
    ...before encountering Faith.
    their lives to getting to her apartment and Faith declaring "That was great, I've gotta shower" as she shoves him out the door is such that we the audience are in the same position as Xander; barely able to believe what has just happened.
  • The final shot of the episode, in which Xander confidently ignores Cordelia's taunts which had haunted him so at the start, is splendid. Xander walks away stronger, the winner and the hero.
  
  Duff Bits:  
   
 
  • A slight problem with the timing of the episode. When Xander goes for doughnuts they seem to imply that Oz should get in his cage, therefore imminent full moon, yet it's light outside.
  
  Dean's comments:  
   
 
Isn't he cool?
What an unbelievable work of television these 45 minutes of programming are! Such a simple concept, and done with such timing and wit that I defy anyone not to look upon this episode as a shining example of all that is great about BtVS as a whole. The genius of the series lies in its ability to use its characters to tell stories about human emotion. Xander is the hero, despite being the only character not involved in saving the world, it says that people who just get on with their lives and see things through are heroes in their own way.
Buffy and Willow aren't impressed.
From the opening scenes of the episode you know something different is happening; the director uses a 'b-movie' style to introduce the episode and in doing so seems to be looking directly at the audience and winking at us. All the scenes about the end of the world that would usually be charged with an energy and vigour take on an air of triteness, as Xander seems to stumble between them. When Xander staggers into Buffy and Angel's conversation declaring their undying love it's almost as if the audience had jumped through the screen and tried to explain to Gellar and Boreanaz that they're just actors and it's not real. Note the way also that the Hellmouth beast is unrealistic and that the Scoobies are fed tacky lines ("My god it's grown!") and the bizarrely unnecessary 'dramatic' camera angles while all the time we keep cutting back to the real action, the real hero, Xander, coming of age at last.		 
   
 10/10 
 
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