Blog #1 Go FIsh

Fishing for Trouble 🐟

"Some people have special privileges,
they're called winners"

In this episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Buffy and the gang are tasked with discovering why the star swimmers, of their team beloved school swim team are turning up dead. Or so they think, it turns out that the head coach of the swim team was giving them steroids which turned them into these fish-like monsters.

However their is no need to feel sympathy towards these all-star swimmers, as is the case in most high schools since these boys are competing for a state championship they believe that they run the school and can do whatever they want. That's why this episode, "Go Fish" explores the idea that we look past peoples faults if we want them to succeed.



The idea that we turn a blind eye to people who do the wrong thing because they are talented or particularly good at something since it  benefits us. This is evident multiple times throughout this episode. For example when one of the swimmers, Gage is not participating in class Principal Snyder tells Willow to change his grade to passing. When Willow questions this obviously unmoral idea the principal tells her to give Gage a pass because he needs to focus on swimming. Another and probably the most apparent example, occurs between Buffy and one of the swimmers she talks to, Cameron Walker. An exchange occurs between the two of them in his car where she becomes creeped out and attempts to leave. He then locks the door and attempts to become intimate with her. She handles this oncoming assault swiftly and  ends up breaking his nose and spraining his wrist. Principal Snyder who sees the entire exchange go down decides to lie and make an exception for the schools beloved swimmer. This appalling idea that that a high school principal would witness a sexual assault and say nothing just win a trophy should seem disgusting.

Unfortunately this show is very similar to high schools and colleges around the country. While this is a older show it is extremely relevant to todays society. The Jerry Sandusky trial, where multiple boys were sexually assaulted by one of their coaches, is an excellent example of this idea. Some people had knowledge of what Jerry was doing but chose to stay silent because the football team was winning. Cordelia a character in Buffy the Vampire Slayer who is perceived as stupid, but has a very profound and thought provoking line when she says "some people have special privileges, they're called winners." This at the time mindless blurted out line actually has a lot of truth behind it and perfectly summarizes this idea that we look past unmoral action of others because of their success.