1.3 Witch

Plot Synopsis (Hide)

Buffy decides to try out for the Sunnydale High cheerleading squad, in an attempt at some sort of normal teenage life, and there meets Amy Madison, a friend of Willow's. During the audition, one of the top contenders catches on fire, and Buffy has to rush to the rescue. A further audition takes place, during which Amy messes up one of the cartwheels, crashing into Cordelia, who is quick to make sure everyone realises it was Amy's fault, not her own. After the audition, Amy confides to Buffy how important getting on the squad is to her, mainly because her mother, Catherine, had been a champion cheerleader herself, and Buffy worries that Amy may be trying too hard to live up to parental expectations.

In the locker room, Cordelia confronts Amy, and threatens retribution if the cartwheel incident damages her chances of getting on the team. When the results are posted, Cordelia is safely through, but Amy is upset to discover that she has only made it on to the alternates list, along with Buffy. Later we see a an attic room kitted out as a witch's lair, including the predictable bubbling cauldron, and a spell is cast on Cordelia in what sounds like Amy's voice. During a driving lesson the next day, Cordelia's behaviour becomes gradually more erratic, and after Buffy has to save her from being hit by a truck, we discover the reason - Cordelia has gone blind. Giles figures out that they must be dealing with witchcraft, and as the only known connection between the two victims is the cheerleading squad, Amy's obvious desperation to get on the team puts her right at the top of the suspects list.

A test for witchcraft, which Giles devises, shows positive results when tried on Amy, and the audience see her at home, behaving in a rude and overbearing manner to her seemingly compliant mother. Amy has stolen a bracelet from Buffy, which she uses to cast another spell. The next morning, Buffy is acting strangely, appearing almost as though she were drunk, and she later collapses at school. Giles determines that all of the witch's spells could be reversed, if he could get hold of her spell book, so he takes Buffy to Amy's house. Once there, Buffy realises from Mrs. Madison's behaviour that she is actually Amy, and that Catherine, the real witch, has switched their bodies so she can relive her glory days.

Collecting the spell book, they head for the science lab, where Giles casts the counter spell. The angry witch, now back in her own body, tries to cast another spell on Buffy, saying that she "would never cause trouble again". Buffy uses a mirror to reflect the spell back on to the witch, who disappears, screaming, into a vortex of light. At the end of the episode, we see a close-up of Catherine's cheerleading trophy in a display case, and the terrified open eyes of the statue reveal where the witch has been trapped.

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!