Witch (Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode)
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| "Witch" | |||
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| Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode | |||
 Buffy in her cheerleading uniform |
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| Episode no. | Season 1 Episode 3 |
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| Directed by | Stephen Cragg | ||
| Written by | Dana Reston | ||
| Production code | 4V03 | ||
| Original air date | March 17, 1997 | ||
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| Episode chronology | |||
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| List of Buffy the Vampire Slayer episodes | |||
"Witch" is the third episode of the first season of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997-2003). It serves as the show's first regular episode after the Pilot and originally aired in the United States on March 17, 1997, on The WB Television Network. Sometimes billed as "The Witch", the episode was directed by Stephen Cragg and was the first episode to not be written by the show's creator Joss Whedon.
The premise of Buffy the Vampire Slayer involves an adolescent girl named Buffy Summers who is chosen by mystical forces and endowed with superhuman powers in order to defeat vampires, demons, and other evils in the fictional town of Sunnydale. She accomplishes this with the assistance of a close circle of friends and family. In "Witch", Buffy attempts to maintain a level of normalcy in her life by auditioning for her school's cheerleading squad. However, Buffy and her friends must stop a fellow student from tampering with witchcraft in order to take competitors out of the running.
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[edit] Plot synopsis
Despite Giles' (Anthony Stewart Head) misgivings, Buffy decides to try out for the cheerleading team. During trials, the hands of a girl named Amber spontaneously combust. An unknown person is shown to be using Barbie dolls dressed as cheerleaders in a voodoo-like ritual over a cauldron. The next day, Cordelia is struck blind during her drivers ed class, and is saved from wandering into traffic in the nick of time by Buffy. According to Giles, blinding enemies is a favorite trick amongst witches.
Amy Madison (Elizabeth Anne Allen), another contender, seems to be under pressure to compete from her mother (Robin Riker), a star cheerleader in her day, and is crushed when she only makes the substitute list after Cordelia Chase (Charisma Carpenter) and Buffy. Believing Amy to be a witch, Buffy, Xander (Nicholas Brendon) and Willow (Alyson Hannigan) collect some of Amy's hair during science class, to prove that she cast spell. Amy goes home and orders her mother to do her homework, while she goes upstairs with a bracelet she stole from Buffy during class.
The next morning Buffy is behaving in a somewhat drunken manner. She blows her chance at the cheerleading squad when she tosses the head cheerleader, Joy, through the room, ceding her place to Amy. Buffy turns out to have something more than just a mood disorder: a bloodstone vengeance spell has destroyed her immune system, giving her only about three hours to live. The only way to cure her and break the other spells is to get the witch's spell book and reverse the magic. The ailing Buffy and Giles confront Amy's mother, Catherine, and find out that Catherine switched bodies with her daughter months before, saying that Amy was wasting her youth. Giles finds the witch's book and takes Amy and Buffy back to the school to break the spells.
Amy/Catherine is cheering Sunnydale's basketball team when she starts getting flashes of what Giles is trying to do. Xander and Willow are unable to stop her from storming into the science lab with an axe, but buy enough time for Giles to break the spells: Amy and Catherine are restored to their own bodies, and Buffy feels well enough to fight. However, Amy's mother's power is too great, and it is only by reflecting her last spell back onto her that Buffy wins the day. Catherine vanishes with a scream.
When Amy and Buffy talk in the school hall the next day, they pass by the trophy collection where the cheerleading trophy of "Catherine the Great" stands. While both girls wonder where Amy's mother ended up, the camera pulls close to the statue's face, revealing the mother's eyes and a muffled voice pleading for help.
[edit] Writing
The episode literalizes the notion of the parent who seeks to live through the child. As such, it establishes the tendency of the series to use plot elements as metaphors for deeper social issues.
[edit] Continuity
- Amy Madison, who will play a major role in the sixth season, is introduced.
- Xander's attraction to Buffy is made clear for the first time.
- Catherine Madison is trapped in a trophy, where she presumably stays at least until Sunnydale High School is destroyed ("Graduation Day"). Oz examines the trophy at the beginning of "Phases", unaware of its origins, and comments that "It's like its eyes follow you wherever you go".
- This is the first of only eight episodes of the series not to feature at least one vampire, the others being "The Pack", "I, Robot... You, Jane", "The Puppet Show", "Inca Mummy Girl", "Living Conditions", "Fear, Itself" and "Beer Bad".
- Along with "The Puppet Show", "Nightmares" and "Inca Mummy Girl", this is one of only four Buffyverse episodes in which Cordelia appears but Angel does not.
[edit] Reception
"Witch" pulled in an audience of 3.2 million households.[1]
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- "Witch" at the Internet Movie Database
- "Witch" at TV.com
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