Blog #11 Episode 3 Buffy 'Witch'

This episode is called witch, and as you might guess Buffy must fight a witch. She first discovers there may be a witch when Buffy tries out for the cheerleading squad. At the tryouts, one girls’ hands explode in fire, and then Buffy knows something is up. The viewer is given another hint there is a witch, with the image of a brewing cauldron, though no character is revealed. I do not like how obvious the foreshadowing is in this episode and the one previous. The viewer is introduced to another teenage girl, Amy, trying out for the cheerleading team. We also see her mother very badly wants Amy to make the cheerleading team, which will play a role later in the plot. Another stroke of witchery occurs during driving class when Cordelia, the other cheerleader who makes it in front of Amy, is struck with blindness. Buffy is now convinced Amy is a witch, with the help of Xander and Amy they prove she has actually cast a spell. They use very clique ingredients: the eye of a newt and the witches (Amy’s) hair. The next day at cheerleading tryouts Buffy is clearly the next target of the witches’ curse, as she launches a fellow cheerleader across the room - resulting in her losing her spot to Amy. But the curse is even worse, after confronting Professor Giles Buffy finds out that the spell has weakened her and she will die within hours. The two of them quickly move to confront Amy’s mother. But there is a twist which was again foreshadowed. This twist caught me most off guard though and I enjoyed it. This could have been picked up on when Amy comes home and tells her mother to do her homework. It turns out that the Witch is in Amy’s body only temporarily, she is actually Amy’s mother. She decided to use a ‘body switch’ spell in order to live vicariously through Amy. The Witch was a cheerleader in her youth, and wishes to be again. This addresses a fairly common issue with teens and their parents. Often parents and their kids likes and dislikes don’t perfectly align and although the parent wishes to see their kid do well, they should not get so involved, or literally force them to follow in their footsteps - Like Amy’s mother does. Buffy finally kills the witch by having one of her spells bounce back on herself.