Episode 1x03 : Witch
This article contains spoilers for the third episode of Buffy and the ones before that (we don’t spoil the following ones though).
TW: mentions of dieting/weight loss, teenage depression
Tellington: Buffy 1x03, Witch (the title is kinda a spoiler in itself – although we do see a bubbling cauldron in the first few minutes). This one is taking us in the wonderful world of cheerleaders. And Giles… isn’t very happy with it.
Vallantyn: Something, something, duties as a Slayer… Thou shall not have fun and stuff. The episode starts with Buffy wanting to join the cheerleading squad, to have a normal teenager activity.
T: Something safe, she says. Well this is Sunnydale so obviously it’s not gonna be normal, nor safe.
V: I mean… even in a normal town, that doesn’t sound safe. Teenagers competing against each other? That’s an invitation to a lot of backstabbing. But yeah, add sprinkles of Hellmouth on top of it, and it’s definitely not safe.
T: Can I point that it’s the first episode not involving Vampires?
V: If I say no, does that line disappear?
T: Maaaaaybe? What’s your point? Does it have Vampires I forgot?
V: No, just saying that you’re asking if you can point it out. But saying it DOES point it out. So if I say “No” does it break the universe or something?
T: I don’t even know how to answer that level of dork/brattiness. So, yeah, first episode that introduces us to the concept of the supernatural outside of just Vampires. Although Giles mentioned in the first episode that all sorts of creatures existed.
V: In this case it’s not even creatures… It’s TEENAGERS. Well, kinda.
T: Because let’s spoil the hell out of this: that witch is not really a teenager. It’s her mom who just wanna be a teenager.
V: AGAIN. Who would want that?
T: Someone who peaked in high school, it seems. Like Amy’s mom who was cheerleading queen AND prom queen (or something).
V: I guess that for people not used to the whole “prom queen” and such, peaking in high school seems a bit weird.
T: That’s our Frenchness talking. But I’m sure even here we do have people who peaked in high school. Or just who were happy during that time. Which is weird in itself. Aren’t your teenage years supposed to be awkward and depressing?
V: I had fun in high school! But I had more fun later.
T: I did have some fun but it was also Depression central. ANYWAY. We talked about Amy’s mom but not even about Amy. She’s that girl in Buffy and Willow’s grade who 1. lost a lot of weight 2. wants desperately to become a cheerleader. But 1 and 2 are actually because her mom took her body. Literally. By magic.
V: Sell your soul for a small size kinda deal I guess.
T: A small clothing size? I think that’s just extreme dieting.
V: Well… why do it the hard way when you can do it the magic way?
T: I don’t think that’s what’s implied, because Willow talks about Amy’s mom (in the past) locking the fridge when she gained a pound. And she was already a witch at that point.
V: Right. Doesn’t add up, but that’s not the point here. So, Buffy is competing with/against “Amy”, and, of course…
T: Cordelia. Who’s just her nicest self, as usual. And whose drive to win is gonna earn her some troubles. Because see, Amy’s mom (does she have a name? we probably see it on the trophy she won that’s displayed in the school) can’t move Amy’s body the way she moved hers. She can’t be as good as a cheerleader as she was. So when she doesn’t make the team she’s just gonna try to… erase the competition.
V: Which starts at the first round of trials, when a girl is on fire. Like literally.
T: “That girl is on fire!” says Willow, and Cordelia answers with an annoyed “Enough with the hyperbole.” It’s funny – I won’t spoil later episodes/seasons but it’s not the last time in this show that people will catch fire by dancing.
V: I’m a bit surprised that Cordelia knows how to use the word “hyperbole” though.
T: Cordelia is smart, she just doesn’t like to show it.
V: Sure, but at that point we don’t know that. I guess that’s just spreading clues.
T: She clearly didn’t show her smarts during the “DEL incident” of last episode.
V: That’s exactly why I’m saying this.
T: So, that girl catches fire and Buffy, uh, extinguishes her? Well I think she just wraps her up with something. After which the Scoobies (or “the Slayer and the Slayerettes” as Willow puts it) meet in the library with Giles to try and understand what happened.
V: Yeah, they’re not the Scoobies yet. But it’s a work in progress.
T: The Slayerettes would be a great name for a band though.
V: True.
T: I think the conversation goes something like “so, someone hates cheerleading… or likes it too much”. Which points them to Amy. They understand quite quickly she’s a witch (although they’re a bit mistaken) and they make this potion in science class which shows if someone has cast a spell lately. It comes handy that that science class gives them the two elements they need for their potion, because half the class is dissecting a frog and half is doing chemistry. Real, real handy. And believable, too.
V: You don’t seem really convinced though. The potion, once thrown on the subject, is supposed to turn blue if that person did cast a spell lately.
T: And it does! Great detective work from the not-yet-Scoobies!
V: So, they know “Amy” did cast a spell lately, and once that she saw that something thrown on her did turn blue, she escapes, going back home where we see her briefly interacting with her “Mom”. Up to this point, “Amy” was nothing but sweet, but that interactions flips the character around.
T: She asks her mom to do her homework. Normal teen behavior? (Talking about normal teen behavior it’s also an episode where we see Buffy and her mom’s relationship evolving a bit, with Joyce – the mom – trying to understand Buffy… and failing.)
V: Since Buffy was the one who threw the potion on her, she’s Amy’s next target. She cast a spell on her, making her a bit… Unhinged?
T: Which doesn’t help with Joyce understanding her, haha. There is a delicious moment where she sings Macho Man at the breakfast table, before heading to cheerleading practice and uh, endangering her mates by her unhingeness coupled with her Slayer strength.
V: Yeah, I feel the correct term here might be “yeet”. She yeets her mate. Oopsie.
T: Willow and Xander get her to the library where she collapses. It is revealed that she is under the influence of… a spell, that first hits you like alcohol then… basically kills you. To avoid this fate, they must get the witch’s spellbook. Or just behead her, which I think Xander is in favor of.
V: While Willow and Xander try and stall Amy, Giles and a not so good Buffy go to her house to try and get her spellbook. Where they meet her Mom. Quickly during the conversation, they realise Amy’s mom is Amy and Amy is her mom.
T: I think Buffy, despite being not so good, is the one who understands it. She’s probably a better psychologist than Giles.
V: And who’s to better understand a teenager than another one?
T: Even when one of the teenagers look like a 40-something. So, after chit-chatting a bit they head to the room where Amy’s mom is doing her spells. They find her spellbook (guarded by a cute jumpscare-cat) and rejoin the empty science classroom to cast the counterspell.
V: But Amy’s mom isn’t really happy about it, and goes “Axe Murderer” on them.
T: I think we call it the “The Shining move”.
V: “Honey I’m Home” much? She said axing the science lab’s door.
T: So she succeeds in axing the door I think, because she enters the lab while Giles is trying to cast the counterspell (Giles as a spellcaster is so cool). And she has two targets: both Buffy and Amy. Giles finally heals Buffy who, all better, is able to fight Amy’s mom (I remember her name! It’s Catherine!),
V: Like Catherine the Great, right! And while Catherine tries and banish Buffy to outer space or something, they actually bounce her spell back to her.
T: With a mirror I think? Inspired.
V: I mean, if it works, why change it?
T: Maybe she was targetting Amy, because in the end the gang asks where she could have gone and Amy tells them “she said I would never make trouble again”. And on this, we see the cheerleading trophy with moving, panicked eyes, like someone is stuck inside. It’s creepy (and reminded me of a Twin Peaks bit, if you know you know). I think the episode ends like this. Overall, I really liked it, like the first two. I found it super funny, clever, cute, just the right amount of kitsch.
V: Might not have been kitsch at the time though. But yeah, first episode beyond the 2-parts pilot, we dig a bit more into Sunnydale, all of it without Vampires.
T: It’s funny to note that Jesse isn’t mentionned once. And he was Willow and Xander’s best friend?
V: Maybe it’s still too fresh?
T: Yeah, they seem very happy without him though.
V: I mean… Teenagers. Just because they seem happy doesn’t means they really are.
T: You’re not wrong. But is it a spoiler if I say that Jesse is never talked about again in the rest of the series?
V: They have Buffy now.
T: Right. They won the friendship lottery.