1.3 Witch

Plot Synopsis (Display)

Pop Culture References

Cordelia: Who does she think she is, a Laker girl?
Reference to the elite cheer-leading squad of the Los Angeles Lakers basketball team

Xander: It's like the Human Torch, only it hurts
The Human Torch is one of the characters from Marvel Comic's "Fantastic Four"

Buffy: So mommy dearest really is "Mommie Dearest"?
A reference to a book of that title, written by the adopted daughter of screen legend Joan Crawford, and describing the violence and abuse the author suffered at the hands of her foster mother.

Looking though her mother's high school yearbook, Buffy comments "I'm not ready to know you had Farrah hair", referring to the famous curly blonde tresses of Farrah Fawcett, one of the stars of the original 70's hit series Charlie's Angels. Joyce's reply "This is Gidget hair", reveals instead that her style was copied from that of Sally Field in the 1965 TV show "Gidget".

After Giles's test shows that Amy has recently cast a spell, Buffy says "She's our Sabrina" drawing an obvious parallel with the teen-cult TV series, "Sabrina the Teenage Witch"

What We Learn

• Buffy's parents are divorced.
• Giles has never cast a spell before (Ed. Oh, really??)

Nitpicks

• In the close-up of the trophy, we can see the name on it is "Catherine Madison", which is also Amy's surname - however, Amy says her parents didn't get married until after graduation. Surely, the trophy should have been in Catherine's maiden name, or was she unusual enough (for those days) not to take her husbands name for herself or her child? Maybe Madison is such a common surname in Sunnydale, that Catherine and her husband already shared it!
• When the "witch test" turns Amy's arm blue, indicating she has recently performed some magic, Buffy says that Amy "was as freaked out as the rest of us" when a girl in the classroom was affected by a spell. The gang believe from this that Amy must be casting the spells without knowing it. However, since we later find out that "Amy" was really Mrs Madison the whole time, and obviously knew she was a witch, her amazement at the spell doesn't make any sense. It's just a bit of poetic license to keep the audience from guessing the truth!