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Post by Clare on Sept 21, 2008 10:38:38 GMT -5
1.03 The Witch - Episode #003
Buffy becomes a cheerleader and is attacked by a mystical force
Review (also post a score out of 10) and discuss this episode.
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Post by cyclica on Sept 26, 2008 7:03:02 GMT -5
I gave it a 7, it a great episode. In this very early ep they made it look at first like cordy could have been the witch, they could never have done that with a later episode.
I loved that scene where joyce is trying to open a box with a crowbar and can't do it, but then buffy flips the lid off like she was opening a book. They should have done more scenes like that in later seasons.
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Post by partcynic on Sept 7, 2009 12:35:37 GMT -5
1x03 "Witch"
Episode Rating = 6
“Buffy” goes for its first non-vampire tale, and succeeds admirably. “Witch” is a high-quality offering from one-time writer Dana Reston, with an imaginative, twisting plot and a truckload of memorable one-liners. It’s remarkable to see how quickly the Scooby Gang has snapped together as a cohesive unit (a complement to the great chemistry of the main cast), and the story offers an interesting theme on parent/child relationships while progressing the romantic subplots that run through the rest of the season.
What I Liked about “Witch”:
- The first time I watched this episode, I remember thinking that casting spells for the sake of cheerleading was pretty dumb (as is subtly pointed out by Giles), but time (and a few documentaries on pushy stage parents – who really are reliving their glory days through their children) has reversed my position. The main metaphor is elegant and clever, and “She said I was wasting my youth… so she took it” provides one of the most chilling act breaks in the series.
- The plot’s explorations of child/parent dynamics are quite effective, and the parallels drawn between Amy/Catherine and Buffy/Joyce remind the audience that despite her ignorance of Buffy’s secret identity, Joyce is a good mother, and her occasional criticisms and tongue-slips are motivated only by concern for her daughter. The final scene between the two is quite charming, with Buffy having a newfound appreciation for her mother (after seeing a truly bad parent in action) and Joyce’s baffled bewilderment being quite amusing.
- All of the vital narrative points are established prior to their moments of importance (such as Willow’s early comment about Amy and brownies, and the camera shot showing us the mirrored panel at the start of the chemistry class scene), which rewards attentive viewers and ensures that nothing feels like it came from nowhere.
- Besides its engaging story, the episode has a large number of great lines, with almost all of the dialogue having been made as punchy and clever as possible. From the fantastic opening (“You don’t like the colour?”) to the “That girl’s on fire!” / “Enough with the hyperbole” exchange and the Xander classic “I laugh in the face of danger… then I hide until it goes away”, there are plenty of laughs. Xander’s attempts to get Buffy’s attention are also funny (and the bracelet ties nicely into the main plot), and Willow and Giles are treated just as well, with the “Why would anyone want to hurt Cordelia?” / “Maybe they met her?” chat and Giles’ joyful enthusiasm at the “cornucopia of fiends” to be found on the Hellmouth being very endearing.
- I liked what we were shown of the real Amy, and wouldn’t have minded seeing her again prior to the events of “Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered”.
- The early kitchen scene with Joyce, Buffy and the packing crates is great, and I loved the ease with which Buffy opened the box after Joyce had spent so long trying to do so, as well as their reactions to the fertility statue located inside.
- Cordy is a magnificent, bitchy character (threatening ‘Amy’ and then wishing her a nice day), and it’s fun to look back and see the point at which she became a cheerleader; a role that lasted for the rest of the high school years.
- It was a pleasant, minor touch to see Dr. Gregory here before his expanded role in “Teacher’s Pet”.
- The final scene is awesome, with the closing reveal that Catherine’s imprisoned in her old cheerleading statue being both funny and unsettling (and there’s a great nod to it in “Phases”).
What I Disliked about “Witch”:
- The overall portrayal of magic veers close to stereotyping, with the gothic house, bubbling cauldron and black cat adding a feeling of overkill. I did find the doll aspects of the spells interesting and a little creepy (since the use of people/item avatars has roots in actual witchcraft), but I think that some subtlety would have helped.
- The scene with Cordelia taking driver’s ed was stupid, and the events that transpired didn’t make much sense. If Cordy had been feeling severely disoriented (or was having trouble with her vision), she should have told the instructor right away (regardless of what he said), and when she was in the car, she should have instantly braked – or at least taken her foot off the accelerator – as soon as things started to go wrong. Even if she couldn’t see what she was doing, the location of the footbrake is instinctive knowledge for anyone who’s gotten behind the wheel.
- Parts of the ep aimed at scary (the aforementioned Cordelia scene, the girl’s mouth suddenly disappearing in chemistry class), but they were more funny than anything else.
- I didn’t really buy the ‘drunk’ Buffy material from when the vengeance spell first hit her. Her hyper behaviour and throwing the cheerleader across the room were humorous, but I think that SMG could have acted better in those scenes.
- If Buffy only had a couple of hours to live at the time Giles took her to the Madison home, it might have been better to have Amy fill them in on what happened later, instead of sitting with her and losing vital minutes chatting.
- Giles’ statement that the reversal spell was his “first casting” makes no sense in retrospect, though I guess you can stretch it and say he meant his first spell since becoming a Watcher or moving to Sunnydale.
- There’s a bit too long a pause after Catherine’s magics are reversed. Since Giles knew he would be undoing a body-swap spell, he should have realised that it would place Catherine in the room with them, and should have either tried to attack her straight away, or shown forethought and gotten Amy to willingly restrain herself, so that Catherine would have been hindered upon returning to her original body.
Do I like this episode more or less than the last time I watched it?
I’ve seen the S1 eps so many times that my opinions of them are basically set in stone, and “Witch” is one that I’ve consistently enjoyed. Besides the ridiculous driver’s ed scene, I like almost everything in this ep, and I think it does a good job of setting the chronological precedent of what an off-arc story should be like. The plot is interesting, the humour funny, and there are lots of good character moments – all things that I look for in “Buffy”, and all of which are enough to grab “Witch” a six out of ten from me.
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Post by cyclica on Sept 9, 2009 16:50:40 GMT -5
I think I'm gonna bump this one down to a high 5. It was ok, but there wasn't anything special about it. I loved that scene where joyce is trying to open a box with a crowbar and can't do it, but then buffy flips the lid off like she was opening a book. They should have done more scenes like that in later seasons. Good point, cyclica! ;D Seriously though, there were a few nice little scenes like that, such as xander calling willow a boy, only for buffy to later call xander one of the girls. Or xander and willow's eagerness to help buffy at the start - "you're the slayer and we're like the slayerettes". And as I said before, cordy being threatening is great to watch. As for the plot, well it's ok. I don't really like how 'public' some of the spells were (especially removing some poor girls' mouth) and yet no one except the buffy gang wanted to know what was going on. What on earth would the victims be thinking after the spells were perfomed on them? I can understand them turning a blind eye to vampires in the bronze, but if I caught on fire or had part of my face removed, I would want to know what was going on. And I can't see amy's-mum-in-amy's-body really working. How could her friends like willow have not noticed? Joyce seems to be incapable of understanding buffy just because she is 16, yet amy's mum can seemingly get into the mind of a 16 year old well enough to fool amy's closest friends. Since I'm already nitpicking, here's some more- - Why is amy's mum trying so hard to be a cheerleader again? She was a successful cheerleader; it's not like she failed the first time around and is trying to prove she can do it. - But then again, if she was such a great cheerleader, why did she only make 3rd alternate? And why did she fall over so much? - At the start, cordy seems to be hanging out with the scoobies, and talking to them like they are friends. Why? - Willow noticed that the first cheerleader was on fire before she was on fire. It kinda reminds me of back to the future, when marty looks at his hand for about 10 seconds before his hand even begins to fade away. Psychic powers maybe?  - I'm no chemistry expert, so I may be completely wrong here, but if buffy spills some compound containing acid onto someone, wouldn't it be really painful? - Amy's mum's last spell directed at buffy was for 'the dark place to have her soul'. So the dark place is inside a statue? It was a fitting ending to the episode for her to be turned into a cheerleading statue (with a great callback later on as oz discovers it) but it doesn't really match the words in the spell. - I realise this is a problem for a later episode but I thought I'd mention it - buffy mentions being a vampire slayer in front of joyce, and joyce doesn't send her back to the asylum? |
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Post by partcynic on Sept 10, 2009 6:10:06 GMT -5
I didn't really think Willow and Amy were friends as opposed to 'positive acquaintances'. Willow states that they were friendly in junior high, but since we never see them hanging out (besides two or three episodes), they're probably not that close anymore. In fact, when Amy first appears Willow notes that she's lost weight, implying that she hadn't seen (or possibly even spoken to) her in a while.
When Buffy and Giles meet Amy (in Catherine's body), Amy says that the body switch happened a few months ago. Since Buffy started at Sunnydale at the beginning of the new school year, it means that Catherine had several months (most of the summer vacation) in Amy's body to 'adjust' to being 16 again.
Because she's one of those sad, sad people whose life peaked at 18, and for whom everything has gone downhill since then. She was bitter about her husband leaving her and resentful of her daughter's youth, and was spiteful enough to do something about it. It wasn't about desperation to be a cheerleader or correcting past wrongs, it was about her wanting to go back to the happiest period in her life, regardless of consequences. And depressingly, there are many, many people in reality who'd do the same thing if they had the opportunity.
As she says, "I can't make my body move like hers [meaning her old one]". She was in a different body, and people have natural variations in their physical skills that stay, irrespective of training or practice. Hence the comparative clumsiness.
It would depend on the acid itself. Since 'acid' is anything with a PH lower than 7 (like fizzy drinks), it might not hurt at all if it was weak enough. I'm also not sure if the spell itself had acid in it - wasn't that just the topic of the class?
I took it as a more generic thing, so that 'the dark place' would have varied from person to person, depending on who it hit. In Catherine's case, it just turned out to be a deliciously karmic one.
Yeah - but as you said, that's the fault of "Normal Again". It contradicts five years of canon, and is the one that should get the criticism for that.
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Post by cyclica on Sept 11, 2009 17:26:41 GMT -5
^ Agreed, with everything you said. I missed the bits about willow regarding amy as just an acquaintance, and about buffy pouring the spell mixture over amy, not the acid.  |
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Post by partcynic on Oct 5, 2009 13:20:18 GMT -5
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Post by Clare on Oct 20, 2009 17:13:29 GMT -5
For the first non-vampire episode it's a very good one which I enjoy each time I watch it - it's one of my favourites of season one - however, the stereotyping of witchcraft throughout was a bit overdone (a black cauldron complete with bubbling green concoction, really?). I like this episode a lot especially because of how it mixes humour (e.g. Buffy trying out for the cheerleading squad and neither Giles nor Joyce being happy for her) with a more serious tone (e.g. mothers who push their kids to be like how they were or parents trying to relive their youth through their kids, plus witchcraft being used to cause some quite horrible effects). The Buffy-Xander-Willow love triangle is developed throughout the episode. Xander gives Buffy a bracelet with "Yours Always" inscribed on it (" It came that way, really, they all said that!"  ) and Willow looks jealous and then he tells Willow she's his "guy friend that knows about girl stuff" - poor Willow. So, later on when Buffy tells Xander he is "totally and completely one of the girls", it's funny and it makes Willow happy again. I also love the scene with Buffy and her mam when Buffy easily opens the crate with one hand after Joyce struggles with a crowbar. Buffy hints to Joyce about training with her like Amy does with her mam but Joyce says hers mustn't have a lot to do... You would have thought Joyce would have been warmer to the idea of Buffy wanting to spend time with her. Once again, Giles seems excited about living on the Hellmouth and all the demons that they could face in the future (" There's a veritable cornucopia of, of fiends and devils and, and ghouls to engage.") much like at the end of 'The Harvest': Giles: " I'd say the fun is just beginning." Willow: " More vampires?" Giles: " Not just vampires. The next threat we face may be something quite different." Buffy saves Cordelia for the second time - the first time from being bitten by Luke in the Bronze - this time from being run over by a truck. There is no appearance from Angel in this episode which allows Buffy to develop her relationship with the other characters, mainly between the "Slayerettes" as Willow cleverly names Xander and herself, and between Buffy and her Mam. Did you notice when Willow and Xander are making the potion to find out if Amy is the Witch and Willow passes Buffy the glass, the amount of liquid has gone down... Just a random observation. There are some great quotes throughout the episode, some of my faves are: When Joyce says she was the photo editor for the yearbook and Buffy replies with: " And have you seen the kids that do yearbook? Nerds pick on them." Xander: " First vampires, now witches. No wonder you can still afford a house in Sunnydale." So why do people keep moving to Sunnydale? Giles asks: " Why should someone want to harm Cordelia? and Willow replies with: " Maybe because they met her? Did I say that?" I love bitchy Willow (in the early seasons anyway). - Cordy is a magnificent, bitchy character (threatening ‘Amy’ and then wishing her a nice day), and it’s fun to look back and see the point at which she became a cheerleader; a role that lasted for the rest of the high school years. I really like the scene where she threatens/tries to intimidate Amy and her rant about her dream to be a cheerleader who is "adored by every varsity male as far as the eye can see." Although, yes, Amy would probably be intimidated by Cordelia but would her mam (who is in her body at the time) be? - I didn’t really buy the ‘drunk’ Buffy material from when the vengeance spell first hit her. Her hyper behaviour and throwing the cheerleader across the room were humorous, but I think that SMG could have acted better in those scenes. I actually enjoyed those scenes and thought she acted quite well. I also thought it was really endearing how Giles reacts when the bloodstone vengeance spell drains Buffy's energy - that's more than just a Watcher-Slayer relationship already, more like a father-daughter one - you can see how much he cares for her. - The final scene is awesome, with the closing reveal that Catherine’s imprisoned in her old cheerleading statue being both funny and unsettling (and there’s a great nod to it in “Phases”). Yes, that ending is creepy but a great twist! I wonder if anyone realised there was a person/soul of a person in there. I know Oz looks at it in 'Phases' and mentions that the eyes follow him around but even Willow, Giles, Buffy and Xander didn't know where she went. Do you think Amy ever wondered what happened to her? I wonder if the statue was destroyed in the blast at the High School at the end of 'Graduation Day' or do you think it stayed intact until they removed the rubble to rebuild the school? As for the plot, well it's ok. I don't really like how 'public' some of the spells were (especially removing some poor girls' mouth) and yet no one except the buffy gang wanted to know what was going on. What on earth would the victims be thinking after the spells were perfomed on them? I can understand them turning a blind eye to vampires in the bronze, but if I caught on fire or had part of my face removed, I would want to know what was going on. The victims were probably thinking it's just one of those things that happens at Sunnydale High... those things they hear about happening and hope don't happen to them (and I bet the counsellors at the school hear some strange and interesting stories ). I don't know why other students/teachers didn't seem too bothered after the spells happened though... I'm no chemistry expert, so I may be completely wrong here, but if buffy spills some compound containing acid onto someone, wouldn't it be really painful? It would depend on the acid itself. Since 'acid' is anything with a PH lower than 7 (like fizzy drinks), it might not hurt at all if it was weak enough. I'm also not sure if the spell itself had acid in it - wasn't that just the topic of the class? Giles says: " You'll need some of her hair, a little quicksilver and some aqua fortis." and Willow responds with " Well, that's just mercury and nitric acid. You can get that in the science lab." Now, nitric acid is a highly corrosive and toxic acid that can cause severe burns, and mercury poisoning can result from exposure to soluble forms (such as mercuric chloride) or inhalation of mercury vapor (I did research  ) - If I'm thinking right, Willow and Xander mixed those 2 with some of Amy's hair which Buffy got and then Buffy "spilt" some of the potion onto Amy, the liquid turns blue on Amy's arm but there is no sign of it burning her or anything... - Giles’ statement that the reversal spell was his “first casting” makes no sense in retrospect, though I guess you can stretch it and say he meant his first spell since becoming a Watcher or moving to Sunnydale. I noticed that too: " I assume the, uh, all the spells are reversed. It was my first casting, so... I may have got it wrong." Maybe he was talking about that specific kind of spell? Otherwise it looks like the writers changed Giles' backstory for later episodes. It's not like she even looks young enough to still be in High School, lol. What a crazy world - makes Buffy tVS look sane! Overall pros: Great dialogue throughout, some fun scenes, nice development of relationships between core characters, a good monster-of-the-week episode. Overall cons: Quite a few witchcraft stereotypes are (over)used, some quotes/scenes are questionable (e.g. Giles has never cast a spell before? The science class scene with the "acid", etc.). Rating: 7.5/10 |
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Post by cyclica on Oct 21, 2009 19:03:44 GMT -5
Did you notice when Willow and Xander are making the potion to find out if Amy is the Witch and Willow passes Buffy the glass, the amount of liquid has gone down... Just a random observation. Good catch, I didn't notice that. Although, yes, Amy would probably be intimidated by Cordelia but would her mam (who is in her body at the time) be? Probably not. It's funny how I missed that; even now that I know 'amy' is really her mother, I still sometimes forget when I watch a scene with her in. She does such a good amy impression.  I wonder if the statue was destroyed in the blast at the High School at the end of 'Graduation Day' or do you think it stayed intact until they removed the rubble to rebuild the school? Wow that's gotta suck, being stuck under a pile of rubble for who knows how long, then presumably thrown in the garbage later. What if the statue was broken in half? Would she feel it? The victims were probably thinking it's just one of those things that happens at Sunnydale High... those things they hear about happening and hope don't happen to them (and I bet the counsellors at the school hear some strange and interesting stories ). I don't know why other students/teachers didn't seem too bothered after the spells happened though... One of those things? Having your mouth vanish is just one of those things? It would scare the crap out of me! Though I see what you mean about weird stuff presumably happening even before buffy started school there. It is a hellmouth town after all. Giles says: " You'll need some of her hair, a little quicksilver and some aqua fortis." and Willow responds with " Well, that's just mercury and nitric acid. You can get that in the science lab." Now, nitric acid is a highly corrosive and toxic acid that can cause severe burns, and mercury poisoning can result from exposure to soluble forms (such as mercuric chloride) or inhalation of mercury vapor (I did research ) - If I'm thinking right, Willow and Xander mixed those 2 with some of Amy's hair which Buffy got and then Buffy "spilt" some of the potion onto Amy, the liquid turns blue on Amy's arm but there is no sign of it burning her or anything... Ah so it should have burnt her. But it didn't. Error... or proof she's a witch? I noticed that too: " I assume the, uh, all the spells are reversed. It was my first casting, so... I may have got it wrong." Maybe he was talking about that specific kind of spell? Otherwise it looks like the writers changed Giles' backstory for later episodes. Yep they most likely changed his backstory. And I personally wish they had left it they way it was. I liked the idea of giles being a fuddy-duddy all his life. |
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Post by partcynic on Oct 22, 2009 11:30:54 GMT -5
Clare: I think she could've been believably intimidated - after all, despite her powers, she's stooping to play the popularity game, and upsetting Cordelia wouldn't be the way to go about it. IIRC, the original script for "Doomed" had the characters spotting the intact statue in the wreckage, but it was excised for time. That implies that it at least survived - perhaps it's now somewhere in the smoking crater of Sunnydale, with Catherine still trapped inside. ** cyclica: That's interesting to think about. Since the statue was supposed to have survived the explosion at Sunnydale High, it's implied that it may be unbreakable. Perhaps destroying it could have freed her spirit, but the curse was so powerful that it guarantees Catherine being trapped for all eternity, rendering the statue impervious. Haha, I like that. The colour thing was just a smokescreen - the real test came from whether it caused excruciating pain or not. I'm actually glad they changed it. Knowing he'd messed up in the past made the character feel more relatable for me, and I think that most of his best moments came from material related to his Ripper days.
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) and Willow looks jealous and then he tells Willow she's his "guy friend that knows about girl stuff" - poor Willow. So, later on when Buffy tells Xander he is "totally and completely one of the girls", it's funny and it makes Willow happy again.
) - If I'm thinking right, Willow and Xander mixed those 2 with some of Amy's hair which Buffy got and then Buffy "spilt" some of the potion onto Amy, the liquid turns blue on Amy's arm but there is no sign of it burning her or anything...