WITCH
SEASON 1 EPISODE 3
You might be able to tell from the title that this is the first episode of the series that's not about vampires. It's about werewolves...Nah, it's about witches, and it's one of the better standalone episodes of the first season.
Giles: I make allowances for your youth but I expect a certain amount of responsibility, instead of which you enslave yourself to this...cult?
Buffy: You don't like the color?
Buffy goes out for the cheerleading squad in this episode in an attempt to have a normal life (a common trend through the first few seasons) and while Giles disagrees, that doesn't stop her (another common occurrence). The cheerleading thing is one of the only remaining connections to the character of Buffy from the 1992 movie; she's already evolved beyond the annoying valley girl caricature of the film into a more sympathetic character.
Xander gives Buffy a 'good luck' bracelet before tryouts with "Yours Always" written into it, and then amusingly tries to play it off by saying they all had that written on them. This is where Xander's interest in Buffy is brought more to the forefront with Willow becoming Xander's confidant while still harboring feelings for him. The plot thickens!
We meet Amy Madison, an old friend of Willow and Xander's from middle school at tryouts. While they chatter about Amy's mom being so helpful in practicing her cheers, a thirty year old extra is trying out when suddenly...her hands go up in flames. The effects actually look pretty good here. Buffy puts her out and cue the rocking theme song! The only bad thing about the credit sequence for the first season is that all twelve episodes were shot before any aired, so there's lots of content from later episodes in the credits. It sort of ruins a couple things for a first time review, but nothing too major.
Later they're discussing it and Giles gets way too excited about people almost dying. Willow comes up with a cool nickname (The Slayerettes) which never really gets off the ground, and Xander says one of my favorite lines: "I laugh in the face of danger...and then I hide until it goes away."
Buffy's mom seems a lot more disinterested in Buffy in this episode. She kind of bounces around from being caring to really distracted, but tends to land more on the side of distracted than not.
At the rescheduled tryouts, Amy botches the audition, tumbling into Cordelia, who then threatens her like a psycho in the locker room. Afterwards, Amy pours out how she wishes she could be like her mother, an old cheer queen, who everyone else describes as crazy. As the results are posted, Buffy and Amy realize they are alternates.
Then creepy cauldron time. Cordelia's been hexed, and she goes blind while taking her driving class. Those contact lens look pretty painful too. Back at the library they find out that Xander likes to look at naked pictures in all the witch books, tee hee. Everyone then decides that Amy's a witch and they have to get a lock of her hair to prove it. I don't know why but this part always reminded me of the movie Halloweentown. Buffy acts as conspicuously as possible and they find that she's a witch.
So Amy goes home and bosses around her mother, revealing all her evilness and desire to be on the team. Buffy wakes up the next morning, hexed, super cute and clumsy. Later after tryouts she's stricken and almost completely drained. So they go to Amy's house to confront her mom before it's too late. They met Katherine Madison and she reveals that her mom pulled a Freaky Friday, putting herself in Amy's body and Amy in hers. In Amy's room, complete with hanging dolls, creepy chains, and even a black cat, Giles finds the book to reverse the spell. They head to the high school science lab and Giles gets all warlock-y, casting a counterspell.
The spells are successful, Buffy reverts to normal and Amy and her mom reswitch bodies. Then Katherine tries to send Buffy away with magic, and Buffy kicks down a mirror, reflecting the spell back at her. I'm embarrassed to say that I know a similar climax was used in the Mary Kate and Ashley movie Double, Double, Toil and Trouble. I have no shame...well, a little.
After the battle, everyone is happy. Giles says it's his first casting. Keep that in mind for...later. The next day, Buffy and Amy wonder where Katherine sent herself too, and as they walk away, the statue of her old cheerleading trophy now has two wandering eyes in it and muffled screams.
Overall, Witch is a good standalone episode. Not the best standalone of the season but most definitely not the worst either. It's a solid episode that continues to build on the characters and their relationship and the one-off story is pretty interesting too.
***
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