Witch (episode)

"Witch" is the third episode of the first season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the third episode overall. It was written by Dana Reston and directed by Stephen Cragg.

Synopsis
Despite Giles' misgivings, Buffy decides to try out for the cheerleading team in order to reclaim some of the happy, normal social life she enjoyed back in LA. During trials after Xander gives Buffy a bracelet, the hands of a girl named Amber spontaneously combust. In the Library, the gang discusses what happened and possibility. Xander and Willow try to force their involvement, through research and stuff.

That evening, Buffy returns home and tries to connect with her mom. However, her mom is distracted by work and setting up the gallery’s first major show. They talk about cheerleading and Joyce inadvertently goes on a guilt trip, about Buffy’s past. Trials continue the next day with group work. During the routine, Amy falls and knocks over Cordelia. Afterwards, Buffy meets her outside the gym, in front of the trophy case and they discuss Amy’s mom, Catherine “the Great”. Amy shows admiration for her mother’s accomplishments and scorn for her absent father. She also is stressed over not being able to compare to her mother’s skill and runs off. Willow shows up and tells Buffy about her and Amy’s friendship during junior high and Catherine’s strict antics. They then move on to what information Willow had found about Amber, which had nothing of interest. While Amy is changing Cordelia tries to intimidate and threaten her. Willow and Xander also talk about his feelings and attempts with Buffy, when they notice the cheerleading lists being posted. Amy is crushed when she only makes the substitute list as a 3rd alternate. Buffy tries to be kind to Amy, who is still caught up on her mother. That afternoon, an unknown person is shown to be using Barbie dolls dressed as cheerleaders in a voodoo-like ritual over a cauldron, naming Cordelia as its victim. The next morning before school, Buffy’s eating breakfast when her mom tries to tell her about her own high school experiences with the yearbook staff. Buffy shuts her down and an argument ensues about Buffy living her own life. Willow and Xander again discuss Buffy and Xander decides to ask her out, but Buffy is distracted by Cordelia. Cordelia is struck blind during her Driver’s 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. Believing Amy to be a witch, Buffy, Xander and Willow collect some of Amy's hair during science class, to prove that she cast the spells. 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, 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 Catherine, 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, Catherine's power is too great, and it is only by kicking down a steel vent cowling and reflecting her last spell that Buffy wins the day. Catherine then 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 Catherine's eyes and a muffled voice pleading for help.

Continuity

 * This was the first use of witchcraft, pyrokinesis, telekinesis, and body switching.


 * Xander's attraction to Buffy was made clear when he gave her a bracelet. However, it was also implied that Buffy did not share the same feelings for him as she claimed that Xander was not like other boys, but rather like one of the girls which is how much she was comfortable with him.


 * Giles is briefly knocked out, for the first of many times to come.


 * Xander makes a brief reference to being so embarrassed that he wishes someone would drive a railroad spike through his head, an unintentional reference to the favored murder method of future enemy - and even later ally - Spike.


 * Willow casts her first spell to identify the witch.


 * This is the first instance of the "black eyes" when strong magic was being used.
 * Despite failing and quitting with cheerleading, Buffy is sometimes still mentioned as so. Darla references her as "that cheerleader" in "Dear Boy", and Twilight calls her "that goofy little cheerleader" in "Last Gleaming."
 * Buffy asks her mother if she would like to be sixteen again, and her mother is horrified at the thought; Joyce would, in fact, regress to her teenage years again in the episode Band Candy.
 * Trying to prevent Amy to enter into the Science labo room, Willow use stereotype terms against the witch. Ironically, Willow becames later also a witch, critizing the same stereotypes.

Individuals

 * Cordelia Chase
 * Corseth
 * Lishanne Davis
 * Gilail
 * Rupert Giles
 * Dr. Stephen Gregory
 * Amber Grove
 * Xander Harris
 * Joy
 * Amy Madison
 * Catherine Madison
 * Amy's father
 * Mr. Pole
 * Willow Rosenberg
 * Buffy Summers
 * Joyce Summers

Organizations and Titles

 * Scooby Gang
 * The Slayer
 * Witch
 * Watcher

Species

 * Human
 * Cat

Locations

 * The Bronze
 * Summers' residence
 * Sunnydale High
 * Sunnydale High School library

Weapons and Objects

 * Fire axe
 * Spellbook

Vehicles

 * Giles's Citroën

Broadcast

 * "Witch" reached a Nielsen rating of 3.2 on its original airing.


 * The German language version of the episode was 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".

Deleted Scenes

 * Xander's take
 * Xander: "Hey, we've fought vampires. Anything else'll be a walk in the park."


 * Insight from Giles
 * Giles: "If I had the power of the black mass, I'd set my sights a little higher than making the pep squad."


 * An exchange between Xander and Willow
 * Xander: "Wow, you've got a killer streak I've never seen before. Hope I never cross you."
 * Willow: "I do, too. Then I'd have to carve you up into little pieces."


 * An oldie but a goodie from Giles
 * Giles: "Yes, the ducking stool! We throw her in the pond. If she floats, she's a witch; if she drowns, she's innocent...[then off their looks]...some of my texts are a bit outdated."

Pop Culture References

 * When Buffy discovers that Amy (actually Catherine) is a witch she says "she's our Sabrina", referring to Sabrina, the Teenage Witch. Coincidentally, the actress who plays Catherine Madison played another witch in the first season of Sabrina, the Teenage Witch. Additionally, Sarah Michelle Gellar was friends with Melissa Joan Hart, who portrayed Sabrina in the series.
 * Ironically, Gellar was an early choice to play Sabrina for the pilot movie; there were also rumors of her playing the part in a possible reboot after the original series ended.


 * Xander references the Human Torch when speculating on Amber's combustion.


 * When Buffy wakes up in bed, she is wearing a t-shirt with a black cat on the front, an animal synonymous with witchcraft.


 * Buffy and Joyce reference the actress Farrah Fawcett and Sally Field's"Gidget" character, who were known in the 60's and 70's when discussing hairstyles.


 * While talking about Amy's mother, Buffy says "so Mommie Dearest is really Mommie Dearest", a reference to the book and later movie Mommie Dearest by Joan Crawford's daughter Christina, which claimed Crawford was an abusive mother.

Goofs, Bloopers & Continuity Errors

 * Giles says that the reversal spell was his "first casting"; this is revealed to be false in "The Dark Age" (Although, given how Giles's past experience with magic turned out, he may have simply been lying to try and distance himself from that past, never believing that anything from that time of his life would return to haunt him).


 * The sign for the cheerleading tryouts says 1996, but the episode was supposed to take place in 1997.


 * The pen Willow is holding and talking to Xander about changes position between shots.


 * When Cordelia is blinded you can see the white contact lenses which Charisma Carpenter is wearing.


 * The levels of liquid in the test tube changes.

Music

 * 2 Unlimited - "Twilight Zone" (Plays when Amber tries out for cheerleading; Plays again later during the basketball game.)
 * Village People - "Macho Man" (Buffy sings this song in the kitchen after falling prey under the spell.)
 * Humbucker - "Count the Time"
 * Walter Murphy - original score

International Titles

 * French: Sortilèges (Spells)
 * Portuguese: A Bruxa
 * Finnish: Noitatemppuja (witch Tricks)
 * German: Verhext (Bewitched)

Other

 * There are no vampires in this episode. This is the first episode in which no vampires appear.
 * This is the first episode with no deaths, as Catherine technically did not die.
 * Of the first five episodes of the series, this is the only one in which Angel does not appear.