Out of Mind, Out of Sight

"Out of Mind, Out of Sight" is the eleventh episode of the first season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and is the eleventh episode overall.

Buffy must protect the thorn in her side, Cordelia, when Cordy becomes the target of an invisible apparition of a former student who wants revenge. Complicating matters is when the Scoobies learn that the invisible girl isn't a ghost.

Synopsis
Cordelia is talking excitedly with Harmony and her friends about the spring and the May Queen competition when Buffy bumps into them, spilling various slayer paraphernalia. Buffy makes up an excuse about borrowing it from Giles for a history project.

In English class, Cordelia comments that in The Merchant of Venice, Shylock is self-involved and whiny. She likens it to a bicycle rider she ran over; the girl whined about her pain and ignored Cordelia's traumatic experience. The teacher seems agreeable to the viewpoint. After class, Cordelia arranges to talk with the teacher the next day to talk about her paper.

In the boys' locker room Mitch Fargo, Cordelia's boyfriend, is attacked by a floating baseball bat. Cordelia is outside campaigning for May Queen. As Xander and Willow mock Cordelia, referring to a past Buffy did not share, she feels left out and explains that she was the May Queen at her old school. The conversation ends when they hear that Mitch was beaten and is taken to the hospital. Buffy slips into the boys' locker room to find the word "LOOK" spray-painted on the lockers.

At the library, the Scoobies are stumped. They suspect a ghost. Meanwhile, Harmony asks Cordelia about Mitch's condition; Cordelia explains that he is alright but looking too bruised for the prom pictures. In a flashback, we see Cordelia and Harmony talking about Mitch's recent break-up with Wendy, and whether Cordelia would like to be his girlfriend. In the present, Harmony is pushed down the stairs and injures her ankle by the invisible force as Buffy approaches. Principal Snyder arrives, and Buffy's friends must distract him from Buffy, who runs off to follow an invisible source of laughter. The invisible thing bumps into Buffy before escaping.

Xander suggests a cloak of invisibility worn by the Greek gods. Buffy dismisses that theory because of the pettiness of the crimes. As the Scoobies disperse, Buffy follows the sound of a flute. In the library, Giles is surprised by Angel, who offers to get a book of prophecies, the Pergamum Codex. Another flashback sequence sees Cordelia and Harmony discussing a lecture and ignoring Marcie. In the present, Cordelia wins the May Queen award. Looking over Willow's list of missing kids, Buffy suspects Marcie when she sees she played the flute. Tracking Marcie, Buffy finds her hideout just as Marcie finds Mrs. Miller, Cordelia's literature teacher. She chokes her with a plastic bag. Cordelia, arriving a short while afterwards, saves Mrs. Miller. An invisible hand writes "LISTEN" on the blackboard.



As Willow looks over Marcie's yearbook, she sees it is full of the generic "Have a nice summer!" greeting, something you write down in the yearbook of someone you don't know, showing nobody knew Marcie. (Xander explains that "Have a nice summer!" is "the kiss of death".) She is horrified to find her own greeting to Marcie, "Have a great summer!". Giles realizes that Marcie became invisible not because of magic but science; she became invisible because people treated her like she didn't exist. In a flashback sequence, we see Marcie being looked over by her teacher in favor of those around her even when she had her hand up. She puts it down in defeat, and starts becoming invisible. As the Scoobies realize that Marcie really is after Cordelia, the latter walks into the library asking Buffy for protection. They decide to use Cordelia as bait, and to have Buffy bodyguarding her. As Cordelia is getting dressed, she confides in Buffy that she is lonely too, but being popular "beats being lonely by yourself". Marcie lures Willow, Xander and Giles into the boiler room, where she closes the door and opens the gas, then grabs Cordelia as she is changing. Buffy follows Cordelia, and finds her unconscious. Marcie surprises Buffy, kicking her and knocking her out.

Buffy wakes up, finding herself tied to a chair near Cordelia, similarly indisposed. They see the word "LEARN" on a curtain, and Marcie explains that Cordelia is the lesson, or will be when she makes a mockery of Cordelia's face by surgery. Buffy kicks the instrument tray at Marcie and frees herself from the ropes. Angel rescues the Scoobies, and shuts off the gas. Buffy concentrates, listening to Marcie, knocks her into a curtain before knocking her out. Two FBI agents, Doyle and Manetti, arrive to haul Marcie away. Cordelia comes by the day after the coronation to thank them for helping her, much to their surprise. However, her reaction when Mitch arrives shows she is not ready to renounce her popularity. Meanwhile, Marcie is taken to a school full of invisible students by the FBI. She sits down in class and opens her textbook. The title reads "Assassination and Infiltration" (as an apparent in-joke from the production team, the text on the page contains the lyrics to the Beatles' "White Album" song "Happiness Is a Warm Gun", to which the now-homicidal Marcie chuckles and says, "Cool").

Continuity

 * Cordelia begins to have a rapport with Buffy and the Scoobies beyond simply ridiculing them.


 * The United States government is aware of the supernatural, a fact that becomes more apparent later with the Initiative.


 * Giles and Angel meet for the first time.


 * Angel gives Giles the Pergamum Codex, which allows him to accurately predict Buffy's death.


 * Marcie's condition will be briefly referenced later when Buffy assures her friends that her invisibility is not a result of the same condition.


 * Another student from the newly rebuilt Sunnydale High will begin to experience the same condition until Buffy intervenes.


 * Cordellia makes reference to the "Twinkie Defence", Ben's hospital superior will reference it as well in season 5 when as he fires him.

Production

 * The scene in which Marcie watches her hand fade away was inspired by a vivid dream that show creator Joss Whedon had as a child, and also matches a similar scene in the movie Back to the Future.


 * Underneath the manual headline of "Assassination and Infiltration" are the lyrics to the Beatles song " Happiness Is a Warm Gun", but with a few small changes; any repetition in the lyrics is removed, the line "happiness is a warm gun" is changed to "joy is a hot revolver", and the last line of text that is visible is not part of the song. What it says is "because joy is a hot revolver, and he is afraid of the monkeys who are in"
 * This episode was also known as "Invisible Girl" in some areas.

Broadcast

 * "Out of Mind, Out of Sight" pulled in an audience of 2.3 million households.

Pop Culture References

 * This episode is a twist on the phrase "Out of Sight, Out of Mind", which usually presents itself as someone leaving and being forgotten about. In this episode, the fact that Marcie is ignored while she is there causes her to turn invisible.

Music

 * Sharon Bezaly & Terence Charlston - "Sonata in E-Flat Major for Flute and Harpsichord, BWV 1031: II. Siciliano" (Instrumental flute played several times by Marcie.)
 * Walter Murphy - original score