By Chris Snellgrove
| Printed
Buffy the Vampire Slayer is taken into account one of the crucial revolutionary exhibits in tv, and rightfully so: it ushered in a brand new period of quippy style superheroism, basically paving the best way for the later rise of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. On high of its whip-smart writing, the present was additionally crammed with wonderful and hilarious characters that you just couldn’t assist however love. This included Cordelia Chase: she was written to be a vapid imply woman, however followers cherished her a lot that she helped launch Angel, Buffy’s very profitable spinoff.
Nevertheless, if the Buffy producers hadn’t dubbed over a line from one of many present’s most notorious episodes, Cordelia wouldn’t have been such a fan-favorite; in truth, she would have been canceled altogether! The episode in query is “Go Fish,” which has a scene through which Cordelia makes enjoyable of the concept that all people are inherently equal. That’s unhealthy sufficient, however in a line ultimately dubbed over, she appeared to defend the follow of slavery!
Cordelia Like You’ve By no means Seen Her Earlier than
In “Go Fish,” Buffy and her associates have a number of run-ins with Sunnydale Excessive Faculty’s swim crew, who appear particularly aggro (even by the requirements of jocks). It seems that their coach has been giving these athletes one thing a lot worse than steroids: he and a loopy nurse have altered these swimmers’ DNA, which periodically transforms them into gill monsters straight out of Creature From the Black Lagoon. Finally, the monstrous crew kills each the nurse and their coach; most of them (together with a just lately remodeled Xander) are given therapeutic therapies, whereas the swimmers previous the purpose of no return swim out to the ocean, their humanity totally misplaced.
Comparatively talking, Cordelia doesn’t play a significant function in “Go Fish,” however she does have a memorable alternate with Willow and Xander. Willow (who has been educating the pc science class after Jenny Calendar’s dying) complains a few pupil asking her to vary his grade, which Xander gripes is “flawed” as a result of “It’s a slap within the face to each certainly one of us that labored onerous and studied lengthy hours to earn our D’s.” That’s when Cordelia mocks Xander for “being the voice of the frequent wuss” and archly tells him that “sure persons are entitled to particular privileges. They’re known as winners. That’s the best way the world works.”
Cordelia Almost Received Canceled
As a substitute of backing down, Xander asks her “about that nutty ‘all males are created equal’ factor,” which she deems “Propaganda spouted by the ugly and fewer deserving.” Xander says he thinks Lincoln stated that, and after Cordelia insults Lincoln’s look, Willow clarifies that the quote got here from Thomas Jefferson. Cordelia replies, “Stored slaves, bear in mind?” However if you happen to watch the display screen fastidiously at this second, you will notice that her lips preserve shifting after she completed speaking.
That’s as a result of actor Charisma Carpenter needed to redub her authentic dialogue. When filming the episode, she initially stated, “Stored slaves. Received any extra?” The script says that she poses this query as “a problem,” which can suggest she was difficult Willow to provide extra factoids about Jefferson, or possibly difficult her associates to quote extra problematic individuals who spouted virtuous issues. Nevertheless, I consider the road was dubbed over for a extra sinister purpose: the producers realized that it sounded as if Cordelia was really supporting slavery.
Asking “obtained any extra?” after mentioning that Jefferson “owned slaves” could have made the viewers assume that Cordelia needed to have slaves of her personal. That may sound loopy, however take into account that she is a spoiled wealthy woman (daddy hasn’t been busted for tax fraud but) who doubtless did have the fashionable equal of servants serving to round her home. Plus, it’s far simpler to consider that Cordelia was making a pro-slavery remark when her earlier dialogue had her brazenly mocking the concept that everyone seems to be created equally.
The Producers Quietly Saved This Fan-Favourite Character
By having Charisma Carpenter redub the road, the Buffy the Vampire Slayer producers eliminated the problem from her voice; now, she merely reminds everybody that Thomas Jefferson was a foul man who owned slaves. This helps make Cordelia’s prickly imply woman a much more tolerable character and retains her from getting canceled by the fandom. Which is nice, as a result of it could solely be a bit over a yr later that Cordelia departs Sunnydale to go begin a brand new life in Los Angeles as a part of the Angel spinoff, whose titular hero she helps remedy instances and combat crimes.
“Go Fish” is already an notorious episode as a result of the fish monsters practically assault Buffy in a really intimate means whereas the coach leeringly says, “boys produce other wants.” Thankfully, this Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode dodged one other scandal by redubbing a line that might have made Cordelia Chase a fan of slavery. Now, with out that problematic dialogue, we are able to take pleasure in Cordelia for who she actually is: the pinnacle b*tch accountable for any state of affairs who isn’t afraid to place fellow college students of their place!