Witch (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

"Witch (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)"

"Witch" is episode 3 of season 1 of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. See also List of Buffy (series) episodes.

Plot

Despite Giles' misgivings, Buffy decides to try out for the cheerleading team. During trials, the hands of a girl named Amber spontaneously combust. Amy seems to be under strong pressure from her winning mother, a star cheerleader in her day, and is crushed when she only makes the substitute list after Cordelia and Buffy. We see a brief glimpse of somebody bewitching Barbie dolls over a kettle. Next thing, Cordelia cannot see, which she proves the hard way during driving instruction, and is just saved in the nick of time by Buffy.

To prove that Amy is a witch, Buffy, Xander and Willow collect eye of newt and some of Amy's hair during science class, and prove that she has cast a spell. Amy comes home and tells her mother to get with her homework — while she goes upstairs with Buffy's bracelet that she stole while Buffy was collecting her hair.

The next morning, a slightly manic Buffy blows her chance at the cheerleading squad when she tosses another girl through the room, ceding her slot to none other than 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. The ailing Buffy and Giles go confront the mother, only to realize that the real Amy is stuck in her mother's middle-aged body while her mother is reliving her glory days. Giles finds the witch's book and takes Amy and Buffy back to school to break the spells. Buffy is fading fast.

Amy's mother is cheering Sunnydale's school 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 her mother switch bodies again and Buffy feels good enough to fight. However, Amy's mother's power is too great, and it is only by kicking down a steel vent cowling and reflecting her last spell can Buffy win the day; the mother vanishes.

When Amy and Buffy talk in the school hall the next day, they pass by the school's trophy collection where the statue to "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.

Acting

Starring

• Sarah Michelle Gellar as Buffy Summers
• Nicholas Brendon as Xander Harris
• Alyson Hannigan as Willow Rosenberg
• Charisma Carpenter as Cordelia Chase
• Anthony Stewart Head as Rupert Giles

Guest starring

• Kristine Sutherland as Joyce Summers
• Elizabeth Anne Allen as Amy Madison
• Robin Riker as Catherine Madison

Co-starring

• Jim Doughan as Mr. Pole
• Nicole Prescott as Lishanne
• Amanda Wilmshurst as Joy
• William Monaghan as Dr. Gregory

Translations

• French title: "Sortilèges" ("Sorcery")
• Spanish title: "La Bruja" ("The Witch")
• Italian title: "La strega" ("The Witch")

Production

The German language version of "Witch" has been censored to remove the Nazi references in an exchange between Buffy and Willow.

The original English exchange (DVD edition):

Willow: Her mom's kinda ...

Buffy: Nazi-like?

Willow: Heil.

is translated as:

Willow: Ihre Mom ist eine echte ...

Buffy: Superfrau?

Willow: So in der Art.

which translated back to English would roughly be:

Willow: Her mom is a real ...

Buffy: Superwoman?

Willow: Something like that.

References to Hitler, Nazis, and the Holocaust in U.S. films and TV series are routinely cut out by German translators. Another example of this is "Phases".

When Buffy discovers that Amy (actually Catherine) is a witch she says "she's our Sabrina", referring to the Sabrina, the Teenage Witch franchise. Coincidently, the actress who plays Catherine Madison played another witch in season one of the Sabrina television series.
“Witch” reached a Nielsen rating of 3.2 on its original airing.

Continuity

Arc significance

• This episode marks the first appearance of Amy Madison, a long-running secondary character in the series.
• Also seen for the first time is Giles' Citroën, wrecked by Spike in "A New Man".
• Giles is briefly knocked out, for the first of many times.
• Giles says that the reversal spell was his "first casting"; this is revealed to be false in "The Dark Age".
• Willow casts her first spell to identify the witch. She will not cast her second until the end of season 2.

Timeline

• Stories that take place around the same time in the Buffyverse: