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The Zeppo :
Essayist Emily (last name not given)
of the site InsectReflection.com
compares Jack O'Toole and Xander and
their respective views of masculinity:
Even undead, he's still more schoolyard bully
than horrific monster, but that makes him
a more direct danger to Xander, as
he can impose emasculation
directly onto him.
This emasculation is coded homo-erotically,
in an Ancient-Greece sense.
O'Toole threatens to "take" Xander,
grabs him from behind, holds up
a penetrative object and asks him
where he "wants it".
Xander's immediate insistence that
he and Jack were "rasslin' —
….but not in a gay way" stems from
his intertwined fear of emasculation
and homosexuality. ...
This whole episode is an exercise in
"be careful what you wish for", in which Xander achieves
successful masculinity, and has a terrible time because of it.
Theresa Basile compares him with the brave hobbit
Sam in The Lord of the Rings and writes,
"He’s a would-be 'man's man' –
obsessed with being manly –
whose only close friends are women.
He's both a perpetrator and victim of
sexual assault and/or violation of consent.
He's both attracted to and
intimidated by strong women.
He jokes about objectifying women
and viewing sex as some sort of game,
but in more intimate moments, seems
to value romance and real connection.
He's a willing participant
in The Patriarchy and also
a victim of it."
Cultural references
InsectReflection.com notes that the earlier episode
"'Helpless' directly compared Buffy to Superman –
a comparison that has been made before since
'Never Kill a Boy on the First Date' – and
'The Zeppo' follows up on that by comparing Xander
to Jimmy Olsen,' Superman's sidekick.
He has accepted Buffy's role as Hero, but is struggling
to find his own role within the same genre structure."
Continuity
Buffy's crinkly, crimped hair signals that the episode
contains characters who are different than usual,
a little "off" or under a spell.
See, for example, "Something Blue," "This Year's Girl,"
"Who Are You?," "Superstar," and
"Where the Wild Things Are."
Reception and influence
Vox ranked it at #34 of the 144 Buffy episodes, writing that "this episode, which sees him sidelined by his friends as they try to stop yet another impending apocalypse, is truly Xander-centric: Isolated from the gang, he falls in with a bad (read: dead) crowd, has a, uh, romantic encounter with Faith, and eventually averts an apocalypse of his own. ... But the episode reminds us that he charges into battle beside his friends time and again not because he’s gifted, or tasked by some higher power, but because he chooses to. Which is, in some ways, even more noble."
Noel Murray of The A.V. Club wrote that "The Zeppo" had become a favorite episode of his, saying, "What I loved about 'The Zeppo' is how Xander's feelings of abandonment pervade the structure of the episode, which is filled with moments that are (intentionally) dramatically unsatisfying."
In Entertainment Weekly's list of the 25 best Whedonverse episodes—including episodes from Buffy, as well as Angel, Firefly and Dollhouse—"The Zeppo" placed at No. 23. TV Squad's Keith McDuffee listed "The Zeppo" as the fifth best episode of the series. The episode was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Makeup in a Series.
Theresa Basile calls it an overrated episode, saying,
"This is the boy who brought Buffy
back to life in 'Prophecy Girl,'
helped her save Willow/Cordelia/Giles/Jenny
in 'When She Was Bad,'
constantly patrolled with her throughout season two,
pulled Cordelia out of a fire, and rescued Giles
in 'Becoming Part 2,' all without the aid
of supernatural powers –
and all of a sudden, he’s a useless drain
on the Scooby gang
whom they need to protect?
They sacrifice character for the sake of a fairly weak parody that
doesn’t actually become funny until the final act."
On the other hand, she liked "the zombie frat boys who
enjoy Walker, Texas Ranger, because that is some
inspired silliness right there."
InsectReflection.com notes, "This episode is quietly a turning point for Xander's character. More than that, it’s quietly one of the best and most unique episodes in the series.
... This is, in fact, an episode
of Xander The Zombie Fighter,
inside which occurs an episode
of Buffy the Vampire Slayer."
The episode has proved influential on later television writers.
In his "Production Notes: Doodles in the Margins of Time",
Doctor Who executive producer Russell T Davies said that he was inspired by "The Zeppo", along with the
Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Lower Decks",
when writing the 2006 "Doctor-lite" episode
"Love & Monsters", which started an annual tradition
for an episode with little involvement of the lead cast.
Joss Whedon himself cites it as influential
to his later series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
