Go Fish

Season 2, Episode 20, Aired
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Episode Summary

When several members of the Sunnydale High swim team are mysteriously skinned alive, Buffy and the gang take it upon themselves to protect the remaining members, which results in Xander revealing a side of himself rarely seen.
7.9
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Fan Episode Reviews (29)

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  • Something fishy going on

    7.0
    "Good"
    By joxerlives, Jan 19, 2012 Report Abuse
    Go Fish

    The Good;
    Good analogy of the competiveness of sports, the dangers of cheating and sports stars being feted and misbehaving as a result (does a week go by without that happening?). Very nice transformation scenes and a great mislead. Some great humour surrounding Xander and his relationship with Cordy, Snyder and of course the Angel subplot isn't forgotten (Why Miss Summers, you're beautiful). Love her Diana Prince moment and her stalking Gage. Plus Jonathon!

    The Bad;
    Terrible monster outfits! Also isn't it a bit much to let the swimteam just go at the end? They've already killed 2 humans in addition to gangraping Buffy, what if they decide to start attacking yachts full of tasty bimbos etc?

    Best line;
    Xander; I'm undercover
    Buffy (leering); Not under much!

    Wheldon cliches;

    Character death; the coach and the school nurse at the 5th and 6th members of the SDH faculty to die in 2 years

    Women good/men bad; Buffy gets sexually assaulted twice, making it the 4th and 5th time for her (if we don't count the Master mauling her) Cam deservedly getting his nose broken in reply to his forcing himself upon her and Buffy's already doubtful reputation ("I heard someone say she was fast") taking a further blow by 'doing it' with the entire swimteam. Nice role reversal though in the girls ogling Xander rather than the other way around for once.

    Kinky dinky;
    Xander in his speedos often considered as his sexiest moment in the series. Although a sizeable minority think his sexiest moment when he was hyena possessed in The Pack which says a great many things about Buffyfans?

    Subtext; Xander seem nervous at the thought of being in the steam room with a bunch of near naked guys. By contrast the girls all seem to be very taken by the sight of him in his speedos, even Willow which seems to once again suggest she's bi rather than gay

    What the fanficcers thought; Buffy 'doing it' with the entire Mutant Swimteam an alarmingly popular pairing. In the end she kills them all with a swordfish's nose and escapes with Willow and Xander's help. If you like the idea of Buffy or any of the Buffy girls 'doing it' with demons just type 'Monsters and Angels/GOT' into your search engine

    Questions and observations;
    I always thought the guy from Prison Break looked familar, rewatching this I now know why (although he doesn't have the tats yet). It's a shame he gets transformed, I love the little hints of a relationship developing between him and Buffy, especially a terrified Gage asking Buffy to walk him home after she saves him from Angelus (talk about gender roles reversal, the strapping athlete asking the petite blonde to protect him). Cam reminds me of Buffy's old boyfriend from LA and the type of guys she used to go out with. Now of course she rapidly get's bored of him as he's nothing compared to Angel and the steroids have made him a jerk. Presumably either the coach added magic to the steroid mix or he's another recipient of the Hellmouth Genius effect.
    7/10 I think, a pretty slight tale but funny nonetheless
    moreless

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  • Go Fish

    8.0
    "Great"
    By TrueTvWatcher, Oct 14, 2010 Report Abuse
    Go Fish was a good episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and it had a Disturbing Behavior feel to it at some points. Willow continues to teach Ms. Calendar's class, as Principal Snyder continues to monitor her, and make special arrangements for swim team members. In this episode we also see a completely new side of Zander as he goes under cover on the swim team to find out whats going on. The girls of the Scooby Gang are surprised to see him on the team sporting a speedo. The swim team coach is the main culprit in this episode and played his part well. This was an entertaining episode to watch.moreless

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  • Standard freak of the week episode. Swim team turns into fish monsters, people die, nobody cares.

    1.0
    "Abysmal"
    By jkutcher, Sep 21, 2010 Report Abuse
    Jesus, this was a terrible episode that belongs in the dregs of season 1. I'm not a Buffy hater, but this episode was just laughable. While there were some funny bits and I did enjoy Zander and Cordie dialogue, it hardly makes up for this train wreck of a plot.

    How in the world does a gym coach know enough about chemistry to perfect (well not really perfect) gene manipulation? Once again it annoys me how little anyone seems to care that several students are now trapped in fish form. Granted they were jerks and had some serious hard-ons for the ocean, but doesn't anyone care about their families? On top of that, we have two dead teachers. No big deal, I'm sure the school can get a student like Willow to sub for the whole year! No school would let a student teach a class and actually grade her fellow peers. I know its a TV show, but come on.

    Nice Pie charts Everyone :)moreless

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    3 5

  • Overall a good episode of Buffy when compared to some of the worst, but when compared to some of the best, it's not brilliant.

    6.8
    "Fair"
    By vicky24c, Apr 12, 2010 Report Abuse
    Season 2 &3 are my favourite seasons of Buffy and even though this is not my favourite episode, it is still pretty good. In this episode members of the school swimming team being skinned by an unknown demon. After more investigating, it is discovered that the team are being skinned in order of their positions on the swimming team. When the Scooby Gang investigate, they discover this & Buffy follows the swimmer whom they believe to be the next victim. Angel attacks him at one point and he doesn't seem to like the swimmers blood. After more investigating it is discovered that the team are not in fact being skinned but are in fact turning into demons themselves. The Scooby Gang discover that the swimming coach has being putting steroids into the air in the steam room, which has been causing the team to transform into demons. In the end, in true Buffy fashion, Buffy saves the day and the coach is no more.


    The best part of this episode is when Willow is interrogating Jonathan and when we see Xander in his Speedos. Overall a good episode of Buffy when compared to some of the worst, but when compared to some of the best, it's not brilliant.moreless

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  • Season 2, Episode 20.

    8.5
    "Great"
    By Wanted23, Apr 19, 2009 Report Abuse
    Sunnydale High swim team members are mysteriously skinned alive, and it is discovered that they are taking in a form of steroids that turns them into fish-like creatures.

    This wasn't my favorite episode, but it wasn't necessarily bad. We saw Nicholas Brendan in a speedo. Rawr. Haha, and I also liked seeing Conchata Farrel in a serious role that wasn't Two and a Half Men. I didn't expect it. A lot of those swim team members were hot, too! I also LOVED when Cordelia said that she would still date Xander even if he was a fish. It was very unexpected of her. Decent episode.moreless

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    2 0
 

Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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  • Trivia

    ADD TRIVIA
    • Sewers and storm drains normally have access that is restricted to personnel of the appropriate county or municipal government. Access would not be from inside a school building, nor would the access be a simple wire mesh grate that anyone could easily remove. Edit
    • Even though Gage gets bitten by Angelus, you see no bite marks on his neck the next day. Edit
    • It is not clear how the gill-monsters themselves get in and out of that enclosure in the sewers, where Coach Marin ultimately traps Buffy. They are not as strong as the Slayer, and even she could not jump high enough to reach that hole in the ceiling. Edit

  • Notes

    ADD NOTES
    • Music: At the beach party -- "Mann's Chinese" by Naked At the Bronze, as Buffy watches Gage playing pool -- "If You'd Listen" by Nero's Rome Edit
    • Wentworth Miller went on to star in the 2005 Fox series Prison Break. The role of Gage in this episode was his first acting job. Coincidentally, Wentworth's character in Prison Break (Michael Scofield) is nicknamed "Fish" by some of the other characters. Edit
    • This is the last episode which uses Anthony Stewart Head's "In every generation..." narration. Edit

  • Quotes

    ADD QUOTES
    • Cordelia: God, this is so sad. We're never gonna win the state championship. I think I've lost all will to cheerlead. Xander: Raise your hand if you feel her pain. Edit
    • Xander: All I'm saying is, it's a stupid idea to have a victory party at the beach. It's officially nippy. So say my nips. Edit
    • Gage: This "being my shadow" act. It's getting old. What do you want from me? Buffy: Well... um... it's a little embarassing you see. I'm a swim groupie. Gage: Uh-huh. Buffy: Oh yeah! You know, there's just something about the smell of chlorine on a guy, oh baby! Edit

  • Allusions

    ADD ALLUSIONS
    • Coach: After the fall of the Soviet Union, documents came into light detailing experiments with fish DNA on their Olympic swimmers. This may be a reference to the 1976 East German Olympic women's swim team. The swim team took 11 of the 13 golds and the entire East German team doubled the number of metals from the previous Olympics. When the swim team was accused of steroid use because of their big muscles and deep voices, an official famously responded; "They came to swim, not to sing." After the fall of the Iron Curtain it was revealed that they had been given steroids from the time they were pre-teens and told they were vitamins. Edit
    • Buffy: I mean it's not like you were exposed more than once. (Xander looks at her) Twice? Xander: Three times a fish guy. A reference to the famous chorus of "Three Times a Lady" by The Commodores. Edit
    • Xander: Breakfast of state champions.
      "Breakfast of Champions" is the motto of Wheaties cereal. Edit

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