Buffy tries out for cheerleading. While at the tryouts, the gang meets Amy, a cheerleader-hopeful who seems really set on being on the squad. One of the girls trying out finds herself too hot when her hands suddenly light on fire in the middle of her routine. Amid discussion over the weirdness, Xander and Willow proclaim their willingness to help, thus cementing their roles in "the Scooby Gang". The next day, Amy relates to Buffy her idolization of her mother...who had been a cheerleading great when she went to school there. At lunchtime, the gang finds out that Buffy and Amy are both alternates, and will only be on the team if the regulars can't be, for some reason. Amy takes it really hard, and is icy and mean to her mother (who appears to be exceedingly nervous) when she goes home. The next day Xander laments that Buffy doesn't seem to realize or reciprocate his feelings for her. The shenanigans continue when Cordelia almost gets hit by a car, and suddenly can't see. Finally, the gang figures out that there's a witch taking out the cheerleaders. They think it might be Amy, since she's so maniacal about getting on the squad. In class that day, another cheerleader gets bumped off the team when she suddenly has no mouth. Buffy performs a test on Amy, and finds out that she IS the witch. Buffy, as first alternate, is now on the team. But she wakes up the next morning feeling wiggy. In the course of her wackiness, she gets herself thrown off the team, and Amy's in. Buffy gets sick quickly, Giles takes her to Amy's house to try to find out how to help her. Once there, they figure out that the real witch is Amy's mom, who switched bodies with her daughter so she could relive her glory days as a cheerleader in high school. They steal her spellbook and head back to the science lab at school to counteract the spell. During the final confrontation, their bodies get switched back, and Amy's mother is banished to live inside her trophy statue that sits in the display case. Everything's back to normal Flaws: Sorry, but it's another picky continuity problem. After Buffy's been healed, and Amy has been switched back into her body, Giles says "This was my first casting", meaning "spell". But in the episode "The Dark Age" we find out that Giles and a group of his buds conjured up an evil demon. Now I ask you...isn't a conjuring a spell? Thoughts on the episode: Okay episode. We see the first glimpses into Giles's almost paternal outlook on Buffy when he gets upset w/ Amy's "mom" when Buffy's sick. Also, we begin to suspect that Willow has a crush on Xander. Best Line: N/A |
"The Witch" |
