Gingerbread

"Gingerbread" is the eleventh episode of the third season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and is the forty-fifth episode altogether.

Synopsis
While on the nightly patrol, Buffy not only encounters a vampire, but also her mother, who is looking for some quality time and a chance to "share" in the slaying experience. As Buffy kills the vampire, Joyce discovers the bodies of two children, dead in the park. The police arrive and after some questioning Buffy and Joyce are free to leave. Joyce is really disturbed by the murders.

At school the next day, Buffy confronts Giles about the situation, explaining that the situation is not one that should go unpunished. She draws him a symbol which was found on the hands of the two children. He says it's probably related to the occult; Buffy can't quite get herself to believe "someone with a soul" could've done this. Willow and Amy sit with Xander and Oz&mdash;who exchange a few awkward words&mdash;at lunch. Buffy joins them and fills them in on the murders. Joyce shows up at school and informs Buffy that she has spread the word about the murders to all her friends and that there will be a vigil at City Hall that night.

Many concerned parents attend the vigil, including Willow's mother, and the Mayor who says a few words before handing the mic over to Mrs. Summers. She gives a speech about how Sunnydale has got to take back their city from the monsters, and witches, and Slayers.

Later, Michael (a warlock), Amy and Willow (both witches) are shown performing a spell in a circle that surrounds the symbol Buffy found on the children's hands.

Michael is shoved up against his locker the next day by another student, who threatens both him and Amy. But when Buffy makes a brief appearance next to Amy and gives Roy a seemingly innocent smile, he notices her and suddenly thinks better of going any further, and the big tough guys take off. Cordelia, having witnessed the whole incident, remarks to Buffy about the outcome of getting involved with losers. Buffy goes to find Willow, who has a book Giles needs for researching the symbol.

However, when she finds the book, Buffy also finds the witch symbol in one of Willow's notebooks. Before Willow can explain, a search of all the school lockers begins in order to find any material that may be witch-related. Willow then tells Buffy that the symbol is harmless and that she was not doing anything wrong, just making a protection spell for Buffy's upcoming birthday. Amy and Willow are taken to Principal Snyder's office for questioning. Also, all of Giles' books are confiscated by the police, which leaves the Slayer and Watcher without their resources.

Buffy goes home where she finds out her mom, the new founder of MOO - Mothers Opposed to the Occult -, does not want Buffy to see Willow anymore, and is the one responsible for the raid on the lockers. The two argue, and then Buffy leaves for a pointless patrol, insulted by her mother, who claims her Slaying is not doing Sunnydale any good. The ghosts of the two children appear to Joyce and tell her she has to hurt the "bad girls." Willow goes home where her mother calmly tells her she's grounded. Willow flips out, unable to control her anger towards the fact that her mother does not believe that she's a witch.

Buffy meets up with Angel at the park, and they talk. He convinces her to keep fighting, and to not give up. He also unintentionally gives her the idea that they do not know anything about the two kids; although pictures of the living children have been provided, there has been no reference to their parents or even any names provided. Buffy heads back to the library to find Giles yelling at a computer while Xander and Oz were unable to retrieve any books from City Hall. After hooking up with Willow over the net, the Scooby Gang find out that the two children died hundreds of years ago. A demon returns disguised as them every fifty years to persuade a town to kill what they call "bad girls" (witches). They are an example that fairy tales are true; in life, the children inspired the tale of Hansel and Gretel.

Amy, Willow and Buffy are then taken by force to City Hall, where they are tied to wooden posts atop piles of for a combined book-/witch-burning. Just when Buffy regains consciousness, her mother lights the books on fire, sentencing the three girls to death by burning at the stake. Amy, however manages to cast her famous "rat" spell and scurries away, avoiding death. Cordelia finds Giles unconscious at the Summers' home and wakes him in time for them to head off and save the others. Xander and Oz find Willow's room in shambles.

Giles practices a german incantation while Cordelia prepares a concoction to force the demon to show its true form. Oz and Xander climb through the air vents in hope of saving their friends. Giles and Cordelia break into the room which is now partially on fire with parents watching, and Cordelia uses a firehose to put out the fire. As the demon&mdash;now in its true, ugly form&mdash;goes for Buffy, she breaks the stake she was tied to and stakes the creature. Everyone is safe, and the demon is dead.

The next day, none of the parents remember much of anything regarding the recent events. Buffy and Willow are performing a spell in Willow's room to restore Amy to human form, but it does not work and Buffy says, "Maybe we should get her one of those wheel thingies".

Continuity

 * Buffy asked Angel, "Is Sunnydale any better than when I first came here?"&mdash; Buffy is unaware of the events in the alternate reality, where Sunnydale is indeed much worse off without her.


 * Joyce and Giles are still awkward around each other, since they slept together a few weeks before.


 * Amy turns herself into a rat and remains that way for some time.


 * Cordelia told Giles that one day he might "wake up in a coma" which she actually did later.


 * Cordelia asked Giles rhetorically, "How many times have you been knocked out, anyway?" Giles had been rendered unconscious on an almost regular basis.


 * This was not the first time in history that a Slayer was burned at a stake under the accusation of witchcraft.


 * This is the first and only episode where Willow's mother appears, which meshes with Willow's descriptions of her as an absentee mother who cares little for her daughter's life.

Body Count

 * Sanderson, dusted by Buffy
 * A demon, impaled by Buffy

Production

 * The opening credits on this episode finished a half-second earlier than usual, slightly trimming the end of the theme's final note. Presumably this was done for reasons of time.


 * When the camera pans out of Willow and Amy's coven, first revealing the symbol they were gathered around, the faint laugh of Kakistos can be heard in the background. It is the laugh he uttered after telling Buffy she needed a bigger stake in "Faith, Hope & Trick."

Deleted Scenes

 * Amy and Willow have something in common in this exchange cut due to length:
 * Amy: "Oh, God, and Mr. Nyman that thing he does with his face..."
 * Willow: "The thing with the face! When he makes a point, the - I always think he's going to sneeze!"
 * Amy: "I thought I was the only one who saw it."

Pop Culture References

 * When Principal Snyder walked into the library as it is being emptied of books by the police he said "I love the smell of desperate librarian in the morning" to Giles. This paraphrased the famous line from Apocalypse Now, "I love the smell of napalm in the morning."


 * MOO (Mothers Opposed to the Occult), which Joyce Summers founded, was probably a reference to MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving).


 * Willow and her mother have a discussion about the Mister Rogers show.

Goofs, Bloopers & Continuity Errors

 * The German story Giles looks up on the computer is very badly translated - it is nearly incomprehensible.

Music

 * Christophe Beck - original score

Other

 * This episode carries with it a moral warning against the dangers of mob mentality, as well as the prejudice held in some small communities (despite Sunnydale's ever-expanding borders) towards alternative lifestyles and belief systems. In the same vein, it explores the easy excitability of people living in Sunnydale (and by extension, over the Hellmouth), especially when "civilians", such as Joyce Summers, are exposed firsthand to the aftermath of supernatural violence or danger.