OUT OF MIND, OUT OF SIGHT (1x11)

The highlight of this episode is the character development of Cordelia. The primary plot is another extremely lame one: an invisible girl causing mischief around campus. This Marci girl comes out of nowhere and I, once again, can't bring myself to care about what happens to her. This, I suppose, makes the final scene with the military guys that much more entertaining. It's almost as if the writers knew that no one cared. Anyway, Cordelia goes from being the school's resident bitch to being a slightly kinder version of resident bitch, with an aptitude for schoolwork and some impressive insights into loneliness. Her conversation with Buffy about being alone even though she has people all around her really helps add some depth and multi-dimensionality to her character.

I also enjoyed the set up for the next episode, Prophecy Girl (1x12), which comes in the form of dialog between Angel and Giles. In order to convince Giles that he's trustworthy, aside from Buffy's opinion, Angel offers (and succeeds) to retrieve a long lost codex on Slayer prophecies. I loved the acting from Anthony Stewart Head in this scene. He goes from tepid to cautiously excited at the prospect of getting a thought-to-be long lost text.

The big scene towards the end when Marci is starting to cut up Cordelia's face is handled ok, but since what Marci is saying to defend herself is meaningless to me, the only satisfaction I get from this is Buffy telling Cordelia to shut up and Cordelia just says, "ok." When Buffy punches Marci in the face I thought a loud "thank god." Still a decent episode though, just nothing spectacular.