Witch (Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode)
Encyclopedia
"Witch" is the third episode of the first season
of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997-2003). It serves as the show's first regular episode after the Pilot
and originally aired in the United States on March 17, 1997, on The WB Television Network
. Sometimes billed as "The Witch", the episode was directed by Stephen Cragg and was the first episode to not be written by the show's creator Joss Whedon
.
The premise of Buffy the Vampire Slayer involves an adolescent girl named Buffy Summers
who is chosen by mystical forces and endowed with superhuman powers in order to defeat vampires, demons, and other evils in the fictional town of Sunnydale
. She accomplishes this with the assistance of a close circle of friends and family. In "Witch", Buffy attempts to maintain a level of normalcy in her life by auditioning for her school's cheerleading squad. However, Buffy and her friends must stop a fellow student from tampering with witchcraft in order to take competitors out of the running.
(Anthony Stewart Head
) misgivings, Buffy
decides to try out for the cheerleading team. During trials, the hands of a girl named Amber spontaneously combust
. Amy Madison
(Elizabeth Anne Allen
) seems to be under strong pressure from her winning mother (Robin Riker
), a star cheerleader in her day, and is crushed when she only makes the substitute list after Cordelia Chase
(Charisma Carpenter
) and Buffy. An unknown person is bewitching Barbie
dolls over a cauldron. Next thing is that Cordelia cannot see, which she proves the hard way during driving instruction, and is just saved in the nick of time by Buffy. According to Giles, blinding enemies is a favourite trick amongst witches.
To prove that Amy is a witch, Buffy, Xander
(Nicholas Brendon
) and Willow
(Alyson Hannigan
) collect eye of newt and some of Amy's hair during science class, and prove that she has cast a spell. Amy comes home and tells her mother to get with her homework — while she goes upstairs with Buffy's bracelet that she stole while Buffy was collecting her hair.
The next morning, a slightly manic Buffy blows her chance at the cheerleading squad when she tosses the head cheerleader, Joy, through the room, ceding her slot to none other than Amy. Buffy turns out to have something more than just a mood disorder: a bloodstone vengeance spell has destroyed her immune system, giving her only about three hours to live. The only way to cure her and break the other spells is to get the witch's spell book. The ailing Buffy and Giles go confront Amy's mother Catherine, and find the real Amy inhabiting Catherine's body: Catherine, months ago, had done a spell to switch bodies
, saying that Amy was wasting her youth. Giles finds the witch's book and takes Amy and Buffy back to school to break the spells. Buffy is fading fast.
Catherine is cheering Sunnydale's
school basketball team when she starts getting flashes of what Giles is trying to do. Xander and Willow are unable to stop her from storming into the science lab with an axe, but buy enough time for Giles to break the spells: Amy and Catherine are restored to their own bodies, and Buffy feels good enough to fight. However, Amy's mother's power is too great, and it is only by kicking down a steel vent cowling and reflecting her last spell can Buffy win the day; the mother vanishes.
When Amy and Buffy talk in the school hall the next day, they pass by the school's trophy collection where the statue to "Catherine the Great" stands. While both girls wonder where Amy's mother ended up, the camera pulls close to the statue's face, revealing the mother's eyes and a muffled voice pleading for help.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer (season 1)
- Crew :Series creator Joss Whedon served as executive producer and showrunner. David Greenwalt joined the series as co-executive producer as 20th Century Fox wanted an experienced television producer as Whedon had never ran a television series before. Whedon wrote the most episodes, writing three...
of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997-2003). It serves as the show's first regular episode after the Pilot
Welcome to the Hellmouth
"Welcome to the Hellmouth" is the series premiere of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. This episode and "The Harvest" were originally aired as a two-part series premiere on The WB Television Network...
and originally aired in the United States on March 17, 1997, on The WB Television Network
The WB Television Network
The WB Television Network is a former television network in the United States that was launched on January 11, 1995 as a joint venture between Warner Bros. and Tribune Broadcasting. On January 24, 2006, CBS Corporation and Warner Bros...
. Sometimes billed as "The Witch", the episode was directed by Stephen Cragg and was the first episode to not be written by the show's creator Joss Whedon
Joss Whedon
Joseph Hill "Joss" Whedon is an American screenwriter, executive producer, director, comic book writer, occasional composer and actor, founder of Mutant Enemy Productions and co-creator of Bellwether Pictures...
.
The premise of Buffy the Vampire Slayer involves an adolescent girl named Buffy Summers
Buffy Summers
Buffy Summers is a fictional character from Joss Whedon's Buffy the Vampire Slayer franchise. She first appeared in the 1992 film Buffy the Vampire Slayer before going on to appear in the television series and subsequent comic book of the same name...
who is chosen by mystical forces and endowed with superhuman powers in order to defeat vampires, demons, and other evils in the fictional town of Sunnydale
Sunnydale
Sunnydale, California is the fictional setting for the U.S. television drama Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Series creator Joss Whedon conceived the town as a representation of a generic California city, as well as a narrative parody of the all-too-serene towns typical in traditional horror...
. She accomplishes this with the assistance of a close circle of friends and family. In "Witch", Buffy attempts to maintain a level of normalcy in her life by auditioning for her school's cheerleading squad. However, Buffy and her friends must stop a fellow student from tampering with witchcraft in order to take competitors out of the running.
Plot synopsis
Despite Giles'Rupert Giles
Rupert Giles is a fictional character created by Joss Whedon for the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The character is portrayed by Anthony Stewart Head. He serves as Buffy Summers' mentor and surrogate father figure...
(Anthony Stewart Head
Anthony Head
Anthony Stewart Head , usually credited as Anthony Head, is an English actor and musician. He rose to fame in the UK following his role in television advertisements for Nescafé Gold Blend , and is known for his roles as Rupert Giles in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and as Uther Pendragon in...
) misgivings, Buffy
Buffy Summers
Buffy Summers is a fictional character from Joss Whedon's Buffy the Vampire Slayer franchise. She first appeared in the 1992 film Buffy the Vampire Slayer before going on to appear in the television series and subsequent comic book of the same name...
decides to try out for the cheerleading team. During trials, the hands of a girl named Amber spontaneously combust
Spontaneous human combustion
Spontaneous human combustion describes reported cases of the burning of a living human body without an apparent external source of ignition...
. Amy Madison
Amy Madison
Amy Madison is a fictional character, a witch played by Elizabeth Anne Allen in the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and by Shay Astar in the Season 8 motion comics. She made appearances in every season of Buffy except Seasons Five .Amy is a witch...
(Elizabeth Anne Allen
Elizabeth Anne Allen
Elizabeth Anne Allen is an American actress. Allen is best known for her recurring role as the witch Amy Madison on the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer....
) seems to be under strong pressure from her winning mother (Robin Riker
Robin Riker
Robin Riker is an American actress. She has guest-starred in a number of notable television series, including The Rockford Files, M*A*S*H, The A-Team, Airwolf, Murder, She Wrote, Sliders, Malcolm in the Middle, Pyramid, Six Feet Under, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch among other...
), a star cheerleader in her day, and is crushed when she only makes the substitute list after Cordelia Chase
Cordelia Chase
Cordelia Chase is a fictional character created by Joss Whedon for the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer; she also appeared on Buffy's spin-off series Angel...
(Charisma Carpenter
Charisma Carpenter
Charisma Lee Carpenter is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Cordelia Chase in the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and its spin-off Angel, for which she was nominated for four Saturn Awards. In her most recent film she starred opposite Sylvester Stallone and Jason...
) and Buffy. An unknown person is bewitching Barbie
Barbie
Barbie is a fashion doll manufactured by the American toy-company Mattel, Inc. and launched in March 1959. American businesswoman Ruth Handler is credited with the creation of the doll using a German doll called Bild Lilli as her inspiration....
dolls over a cauldron. Next thing is that Cordelia cannot see, which she proves the hard way during driving instruction, and is just saved in the nick of time by Buffy. According to Giles, blinding enemies is a favourite trick amongst witches.
To prove that Amy is a witch, Buffy, Xander
Xander Harris
Alexander LaVelle "Xander" Harris is a fictional character in the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, as well as in numerous items in the series Expanded Universe, such as comic books, tie-in novels and video games...
(Nicholas Brendon
Nicholas Brendon
Nicholas Brendon , is an actor best known for his character Xander Harris in the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer .-Early life:...
) and Willow
Willow Rosenberg
Willow Rosenberg is a fictional character created for the fantasy television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer . She was developed by Joss Whedon and portrayed throughout the TV series by Alyson Hannigan...
(Alyson Hannigan
Alyson Hannigan
Alyson Lee Hannigan is an American actress. She is known for her roles as Willow Rosenberg in the cult classic television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Michelle Flaherty in three American Pie films, and Lily Aldrin on the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother.-Early life:Hannigan was born in...
) collect eye of newt and some of Amy's hair during science class, and prove that she has cast a spell. Amy comes home and tells her mother to get with her homework — while she goes upstairs with Buffy's bracelet that she stole while Buffy was collecting her hair.
The next morning, a slightly manic Buffy blows her chance at the cheerleading squad when she tosses the head cheerleader, Joy, through the room, ceding her slot to none other than Amy. Buffy turns out to have something more than just a mood disorder: a bloodstone vengeance spell has destroyed her immune system, giving her only about three hours to live. The only way to cure her and break the other spells is to get the witch's spell book. The ailing Buffy and Giles go confront Amy's mother Catherine, and find the real Amy inhabiting Catherine's body: Catherine, months ago, had done a spell to switch bodies
Body swap
A body swap is a storytelling device seen in a variety of fiction, most often in television shows and movies, in which two people exchange minds and end up in each other's bodies. Alternatively, their minds may stay where they are as their bodies adjust...
, saying that Amy was wasting her youth. Giles finds the witch's book and takes Amy and Buffy back to school to break the spells. Buffy is fading fast.
Catherine is cheering Sunnydale's
Sunnydale
Sunnydale, California is the fictional setting for the U.S. television drama Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Series creator Joss Whedon conceived the town as a representation of a generic California city, as well as a narrative parody of the all-too-serene towns typical in traditional horror...
school basketball team when she starts getting flashes of what Giles is trying to do. Xander and Willow are unable to stop her from storming into the science lab with an axe, but buy enough time for Giles to break the spells: Amy and Catherine are restored to their own bodies, and Buffy feels good enough to fight. However, Amy's mother's power is too great, and it is only by kicking down a steel vent cowling and reflecting her last spell can Buffy win the day; the mother vanishes.
When Amy and Buffy talk in the school hall the next day, they pass by the school's trophy collection where the statue to "Catherine the Great" stands. While both girls wonder where Amy's mother ended up, the camera pulls close to the statue's face, revealing the mother's eyes and a muffled voice pleading for help.
Writing
The episode literalizes the notion of the parent who seeks to live through the child. As such, it establishes the tendency of the series to use plot elements as metaphors for deeper social issues.Continuity
- Amy Madison, who will play a major role in the sixth season, is introduced.
- Xander's attraction to Buffy is made clear for the first time.
- Catherine Madison is trapped in a trophy, where she presumably stays at least until Sunnydale High School is destroyed ("Graduation DayGraduation Day (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)"Graduation Day" is the season finale of the WB Television Network's third season of the drama television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, consisting of the twenty-first and twenty-second episodes. They are also the fifty-fifth and fifty-sixth episodes of the show overall...
"). Oz examines the trophy at the beginning of "Phases", unaware of its origins, and comments that "It's like its eyes follow you wherever you go". - This is the first of only eight episodes of the series not to feature at least one vampire, the others being "The Pack", "I, Robot... You, JaneI, Robot... You, Jane"I, Robot...You, Jane" is the eighth episode of season 1 of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The episode was written by staff writers Ashley Gable and Thomas A. Swyden, and directed by Stephen Posey....
", "The Puppet ShowThe Puppet Show"The Puppet Show" is the ninth episode of season 1 of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The episode was written by story editors Rob Des Hotel & Dean Batali, and directed by Ellen S. Pressman. The Scooby Gang becomes involved in the school talent show through the mechanations of new...
", "Inca Mummy Girl", "Living Conditions", "Fear, Itself" and "Beer Bad". - Along with "The Puppet ShowThe Puppet Show"The Puppet Show" is the ninth episode of season 1 of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The episode was written by story editors Rob Des Hotel & Dean Batali, and directed by Ellen S. Pressman. The Scooby Gang becomes involved in the school talent show through the mechanations of new...
", "Nightmares" and "Inca Mummy Girl", this is one of only four Buffyverse episodes in which Cordelia appears but Angel does not.