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Post by Clare on Sept 23, 2008 8:37:35 GMT -5
2.16 Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered - Episode #028
Xander gets Amy to cast a love spell on Cordelia for him, except every woman in Sunnydale falls in love with him - apart from Cordelia
Review (also post a score out of 10) and discuss this episode.
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Post by cyclica on Sept 26, 2008 10:45:57 GMT -5
Hilarious episode, I liked it a lot... but I'll still point out a few small flaws.  Since when was amy a witch? As buffy herself said, amy's the last person that should be messing with that stuff, especially knowing what her mother was like. Was it just me, or was there a shortage of willow in this episode? One good thing about this episode though cordy being forced to choose between her old friends and xander, and picking him. She's completely different to the cordelia from the start of the season. Very entertaining episode, I give it an 8. |
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Post by partcynic on Nov 9, 2009 13:53:28 GMT -5
2x16 “Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered”
Episode Rating = 8
It’s interesting to look back at the series and see that we didn’t really get an out-and-out comedy episode until the end of the second season, and “Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered” has the dubious distinction of being the series’ first plotless humour show. Although the ‘a spell goes wrong with hilarious results’ narrative would eventually be done to death, this one differs significantly from its imitators by not forgetting to include some character development and genuine emotion among its laughs. Despite not being that suited to frequent re-watching (it’s too fluffy for that), it’s still a great piece of work, and earns brownie points for demonstrating how “Buffy” could be fall-on-the-floor funny even in the midst of a dark, emotionally draining arc.
What I Liked about “Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered”:
- The teaser scene with Buffy and Xander is fine, and sets the stage for the episode’s topic in a humorous way. The pendant was a nice gesture, and it was sweet that even though Buffy was teasing Xander about dating Cordy, she still helped him dress up for his Valentine’s date with her.
- While her sudden magic-philia needed some explaining (why would someone who suffered so horribly at the hands of an immoral spellcaster be delving into it themselves?), I was happy to see Amy again. It was good continuity, and it’s fitting that the two big episodes to have featured magic (at this point) both involved members of the Madison family.
- After her absence last episode, it was good to see Jenny again, and her uneasy relationship with Giles and the rest of the Scoobs is a clever mirror to how she felt after “The Dark Age”. Despite how little happened between them, the moment was quite emotional, and the score music gorgeous (I swear, this was done just to make her murder all the more upsetting).
- The brief moment we spend with the vampire trio in the factory is great, and also noteworthy for providing the first suggestion that Spike is increasingly unhappy with the way Angelus and Drusilla behave around each other – fantastic and thoughtful preparation for his heel face turn in “Becoming”.
- Despite her massive bitchiness, I’ve always liked Cordelia for being a tactless voice of reason, but she also works well as in her more vulnerable moments. I felt for her when she was subject to scorn from her so-called friends, and her obvious hesitance and uncertainty regarding the break-up kept her sympathetic even when she behaved so shallowly. I also loved the scene where Xander demands the pendant back and she goes to locker, only to then take it off her neck – it really showed how she felt about him, and was a lovely bit of character insight.
- Once the spell kicks in, the episode takes off, and all of the material related to it was strong. I smiled and/or laughed at just about all of the jokes, from the early multiple come-ons to the fantastic seduction scene with Willow (“force is good!”) and Xander’s hilarious walk down the hall, attracting the girls’ attention and the guys’ fury (fitting musical choice, too). Things only got funnier when Jenny and Joyce got the hots for Xander, and it climaxed with the brilliance of Drusilla coming for her ‘kitten’. The dialogue between the two was amazing (“How do you feel about eternal life?” / “We couldn’t just go for coffee?”), and it also served as a believable way of having Xander be saved from Angelus. I could go on about further moments of comedic gold (axe-wielding Willow; Cordy’s confusion as her friends went from hating her for dating Xander to hating her for dumping him; the lunchlady marching along with her rolling pin), but suffice to say that I laughed more at this episode than I had at any previous one.
- The resolution to the situation is tidy, and the development for Cordelia excellent. It was gratifying to see her tell Harmony to get stuffed (and the scene also pointed out just how pathetic Harmony is), and a major growth moment as Cordy placed her own feelings (and someone else’s) above her popularity for the first time. As with Willow/Oz in “Phases”, the final Cordy/Xander moment was cute and heartwarming, and the perfect way to end the episode.
What I found to be a mixed bag about “Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered”:
- In general, everything that happened in this episode was a good time, but it could have done with more of a plot. It’s fine that the framing took a backseat to the (very funny) comedy, but while eps like “Halloween” and “Surprise” have continuously grown on me as I’ve rewatched them , this one is the type that peaks early and then slowly deteriorates – and I think that more of a story would have prevented that.
- I enjoyed all of the discussion regarding Angelus (and loved seeing him present Drusilla with the heart of “a quaint little shop girl”) – but, as Xander would say, it was a big overture for a little show. After all the talk about how Angelus was prone to especially nasty things around Valentine’s Day, it was a letdown to see that his great act entailed sending Buffy a card and sitting in the tree by her bedroom window.
- The ep pushes the ‘Xander’s noble’ message too much towards its end. Considering that the entire disaster was his fault (as he messed with something he should have known better than to toy with), rejecting Buffy’s advances were not signs of a respectful nature, but the to-be-expected actions of anyone who isn’t mentally disturbed. Applauding Xander for not taking advantage of Buffy while she was basically out of her mind is a bit like praising someone who slips a girl a date-rape drug (a legitimate analogy here – Buffy even calls the spell “the great roofie spirit”), but then decides not to assault her. I’m not saying that Xander’s a terrible person in this situation, but he’s not the great guy the story makes him out to be, either. Note that he doesn’t tell Cordelia the truth about the spell, and is happy to let her go on thinking that he cast it because he was desperate to get her back, when he actually intended to humiliate her.
What I Disliked about “Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered”:
- What possessed Amy to perform her ‘fake homework’ magic in front of Xander, when she knew he was clued in to the supernatural and aware of her mother’s back-story, and would realise what she’d done? Wouldn’t it have been more intelligent for her to deliberately dawdle while packing her things away, wait until the other students had left the class, and then do the spell?
- Why does Amy bow to Xander’s demands so easily? His only real option for blackmail would be ratting on her to Buffy (which he’d already done). It’s not like he could walk up to the teacher and tell her Amy used magic - it would probably just net him a visit to the local psych ward. Even then, if the teacher did check and found no assignment from Amy, she’d probably assume she’d just misplaced it, or Amy could simply bewitch her again.
- We know from the given explanation that Xander’s spell backfired in making every woman apart from Cordelia fall for him, but I would have liked more info. It seems that the magic didn’t have a uniform effect (Cordy’s group is completely cold to Xander when he first approaches, while Willow puts a plan into motion straight away and Buffy/Jenny/Joyce are fine until they first lay eyes on him), and I’d like to know why. Perhaps the time taken was proportional how the women originally felt about Xander, with Willow (who was already attracted to him) being hit first, then people who knew him reasonably well (Buffy), and those who disliked or didn’t know him taking the longest? And was the effect just localised to Sunnydale, or would ladies everywhere have eventually started coming for him? Shouldn’t there also have been an invasion of Sunnydale’s adult women upon the high school?
- The switch from the school scene with Xander and Cordelia fleeing to their subsequent run to Buffy’s house needed some work. It’s late afternoon when they leave, but pitch black a minute or so later. It’s not that early darkness is implausible in February, but the transition could have been smoother.
- Why didn’t Drusilla start fighting and killing the girls once they came after Xander? Given that she’s an already-insane vampire under the influence of a dangerous spell, it’s weird that she simply steps away from the skirmish instead of ripping some throats out to protect her ‘beloved’.
- Most of the material with the Buffy-rat felt like filler to me. It introduced a couple of cheap devices to try and establish tension (like the mousetrap and the black cat, which magically disappeared in the next scene – did Oz scare/shoo it away or something?), but neither of them succeeded. I’m all for light-hearted and jovial, but those bits felt tacked on to kill time.
Do I like this episode more or less than the last time I watched it?
Despite my long-ish list of criticisms (especially for an episode in the eight to ten range), I did really enjoy watching this again. Despite some of its more glaring problems (more plot, please!), the comedy here is well-written, well-performed, and manages to develop Cordelia and Xander both an individuals and as a couple. As I mentioned before, I’m also very impressed at how the series managed to strike such a great tonal balance, and the fact that it was able to air this episode and “Passion” back to back without feeling awkward or detracting from the brilliance of either was a testament to the writing at the time. As such, I’m awarding “Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered” an eight out of ten.
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Post by cyclica on Nov 13, 2009 17:11:25 GMT -5
B, b & b is one of my favourite episodes in season 2. Upon rewatching, I enjoy it as much now as I ever did, and I'm sticking with my 8 rating. In the opening, I found one of xander's lines very interesting. When asked why he's dating cordy, he said "The only other person I'm interested in is, um... unavailable." Who is he referring to? If he's talking about buffy it seems kinda awkward, considering he's talking to buffy, so he could be talking about willow. He certainly seemed bothered by oz's closeness with her, and next season he and willow get together. However at this point in the show he also still has some feelings for buffy, as proven later on. To this day I'm still not sure which one of them xander's line was referring to. I'm glad they finally addressed the issue of cordelia spending more time with the social outcasts than her popular friends, and teh impact that would have. And it was a great descision to bring back amy (and to a lesser extent harmony). And I'm glad they continued the angel subplot without making it overshadow the main plot. They made him seem threatening without him being there for the most part, especially when giles mentioned how he would nail puppies to something (we would have to wait until 'soulless' to find out that the something was 'walls'). But the main reason for watching the episode was the comedy. There were loads of great lines and scenes, my own personal favourite was xander pushing a desk up to the library doors so no one could get in, but then buffy opens the doors from the outside and comes in anyway. And I loved the blackmail discussion between xander and amy- "Blackmail is such an ugly word", "I didn't say blackmail", "Yeah, but I'm about to blackmail you, so I thought I'd bring it up".  The comedy did get just a little tiring by the end, with the same 'all the girls love xander' joke being used over and over. But even so it was still one of the funniest episodes of the show. There was nothing that stood out as bad... though that doesn't mean there weren't any tiny mistakes for me to nitpick. - Xander gets amy to do a spell for him or he'll tell on her. But who would he tell? The teacher wouldn't beleive amy's been cheating with witchcraft, and the only people who beleive in witches are the scooby gang, who already know amy's a witch. - When xander is walking down the hall and all the girls are staring at him, all the boys are staring too, and they look angry or disgusted with him. Do guys always look at xander that way, or are they in on the fact he's been using witchcraft? - When drucilla meets xander, it's very noticable that she's shivering. It just seems unusual that drucilla would be cold, considering no one else was, and besides she's a vampire, they're always cold. Why couldn't juliette have worn something warmer, or better yet filmed the scene on a warmer evening? - It came across as a pretty stupid descision for giles and amy to reverse the buffy/rat spell before the 'save xander's life' spell, especially since they didn't know where buffy was. If the buffyrat had crawled into a tiny space, like into a pipe or in a crack in a wall, buffy really wouldn't have appreciated being turned back into a human. In fact she could have been killed. |
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Post by partcynic on Nov 15, 2009 7:22:05 GMT -5
He's talking about Buffy. Saying she was 'unavailable' was a polite way of avoiding saying that she rejected him. It's backed up by a number of things:
- Xander has an established history of attraction to Buffy, but has shown no romantic interest in Willow.
- Right after Xander makes that comment, the camera immediately cuts to Buffy's reaction.
- When the girls are coming on to him, Xander flees from Willow immediately, but only pushes Buffy away because he knows she's not in her right mind.
- The Buffy/Xander hug during the funeral home visit in "Phases" suggested a possible future B/X pairing, and Buffy's statement at the end of this one that "maybe [he] has a chance after all" also supports this.
- When Angelus confronts Xander in "Killed By Death", he points out that Xander still loves Buffy (which Xander doesn't deny).
So I think we can safely conclude who he's referring to.
I don't think it's either of those. They're just angry that their friends/girlfriends are suddenly infatuated with someone they consider a total loser.
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Post by cyclica on Nov 16, 2009 18:13:03 GMT -5
I also loved the scene where Xander demands the pendant back and she goes to locker, only to then take it off her neck – it really showed how she felt about him, and was a lovely bit of character insight. I liked that scene too, it shows cordelia becoming more of a likeable person with feelings. - What possessed Amy to perform her ‘fake homework’ magic in front of Xander, when she knew he was clued in to the supernatural and aware of her mother’s back-story, and would realise what she’d done? Wouldn’t it have been more intelligent for her to deliberately dawdle while packing her things away, wait until the other students had left the class, and then do the spell? Maybe she figures it doesn't matter even if he did know, I mean what can he do about it? He can't tell anyone about it, so it's not like he could blackmail her... wait a minute...  - We know from the given explanation that Xander’s spell backfired in making every woman apart from Cordelia fall for him, but I would have liked more info. It seems that the magic didn’t have a uniform effect (Cordy’s group is completely cold to Xander when he first approaches, while Willow puts a plan into motion straight away and Buffy/Jenny/Joyce are fine until they first lay eyes on him), and I’d like to know why. Perhaps the time taken was proportional how the women originally felt about Xander, with Willow (who was already attracted to him) being hit first, then people who knew him reasonably well (Buffy), and those who disliked or didn’t know him taking the longest? And was the effect just localised to Sunnydale, or would ladies everywhere have eventually started coming for him? Shouldn’t there also have been an invasion of Sunnydale’s adult women upon the high school? I assumed only women who saw him with their own eyes would be affected, and some stranger in the next town wouldn't suddenly come to sunnydale to be with some boy she's never met. - Most of the material with the Buffy-rat felt like filler to me. It introduced a couple of cheap devices to try and establish tension (like the mousetrap and the black cat, which magically disappeared in the next scene – did Oz scare/shoo it away or something?), but neither of them succeeded. I’m all for light-hearted and jovial, but those bits felt tacked on to kill time. I heard somewhere those rat scenes were only included to give SMG some time off. |
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