Cordelia's reign as Queen B of Sunnydale goes on. As she parades down the hallway with her cheerleader boyfriend, and best friend Harmony (Mercedes Mcnab), not for the first time Buffy stumbles into Cordelia's path and causes embarrassment for both of them. Later in class, Cordelia offers a alternative take on a classic Shakespeare text which surprisingly which oddly chimes with her English teacher. But just when things seem to be running smoothly for Miss Chase, her jock boyfriend has his features brutally messed up by a baseball bat carried by a mystery presence. Later, Harmony is shoved down a flight of stairs, and the teacher Cordy was getting on so well with is almost suffocated to death by the same mysterious entity. It turns out that Cordelia has a invisible stalker, and might just need the Slayer in her life after all.
Though not a perfect episode, OOM, OOS is a sleeper hit from the first season, and highlights many of the aspects I love the most about the High School years of Buffy. The writers take the tried and tested trope of the invisible person threat and connects it to the very realistic tension of High School bullying, and puts a fresh twist on it. As a text Buffy has a history of being nicely balanced when it comes to dealing with humanistic revenge. The plight of Marcie and her actions towards Cordelia are as evenly judged, as those of Jonathan in the season 3 episode Earshot. On the one hand, there is understanding for Marcie's actions, and sympathy from the Scoobies, (the scene when they are looking through a old year book is a good example of this and a nice scene). At the same time, the show makes it clear that Marcie has no good excuse to turn to violence and had better options. The tale of the outcast who mysteriously disappears from sight (and in this case out of memory) has been touched upon before in art house cinema offerings including recent Iranian film About Elly. Here the plot is skillfully reworked for the unique Buffyverse. During its run Buffy has a string of fine character actors appearing, and Clea Duvall is the first one of note here. Considering, she spends most of the episode invisible, Duvall does a fantastic job of selling Marcie's rage at the world. Her voice work during the big set piece where she has Buffy and Cordelia trapped is really chilling.
Most of all this episode works because it is the first proper character study of Cordelia. Slowly, the show is giving her a little a bit more to do, and is building for what is to come from the character. I like that Cordy strikes a bond with a teacher and that she is active in a class discussion. Of course, her argument during said scene may just reflect her shallow nature (at this point), and could be read as a pure comic moment, but I do see it as Cordelia taking a interest in something outside of her regular sphere of interests. Most important of all Out of Mind... sets Cordelia on the slow path to becoming a Scoobie. There is a nice tease at the end of the episode, where in a warm exchange it is clear that she is grateful for Buffy, Willow and Xander's efforts in helping her, before casually distancing herself from them once again when her boyfriend shows up. The most important example of this being set in motion is when Buffy is protecting Cordy and the pair have a heart to heart. This is a rare example up to this point of Chase showing her vulnerability in opening herself up to Buffy. In this exchange the text engages with the idea that being the most popular girl in High School (and from a high sociality status) can have its hardships. Whilst, also, showing just a hint of a human being within Cordelia. Its also, a interesting sequence purely because at one point in the casting process Charisma Carpenter was considered for the role of Buffy, this is not the last time that the writers will play with the two characters contrasts. Its a telling scene also, because of how much like Cordelia Buffy was like in a previous life, and what a different television show this would have been if the character had followed the depiction in the 1992 movie.
