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When several cheerleaders are involved in strange accidents that cause them to spontaneously combust or leave them without eyes or a mouth, Buffy and the gang suspect that one of the cheerleader wannabes is practicing witchcraft and is trying to eliminate her competition.
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Director:
Stephen Cragg
Writer:
Dana Reston
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Broadcast: 1997-03-17
Production No.: 4V03
Episode Overall No.: 3
Episode Type: Regular Episode
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Episode Notes -  |
When Cordelia see one of the girls trying out for the cheerleading squad, she makes the comment "Who does she think she is, a Laker Girl?", Charisma Carpenter was a cheerleader for the football team San Diego Chargers.
When Willow is telling Xander that he looks like a chewed-up pen to Buffy, he tells her that she doesn't have to "drive it through his head like a railroad spike" this is later revealed to be the torture method that Spike used to get his nickname.
This episode has the first instance of "black eyes", where a witch's eyes go completely black when she is drawing on some particularly strong magic. The trait will recur throughout the duration of the show.
Although not mentioned until Season 2's "Some Assembly Required" the head cheerleader's name is Joy.
Elizabeth Anne Allen (Amy) originally auditioned for the part of Buffy.
Whedon had the idea for "The Witch" when he wanted to let us (the viewers) know that they won't be always dealing with Vampires, as the show calls it "Buffy the Vampire Slayer." Ironically enough for a show titled 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer', half of the first season episodes do not even have a vampire appear: The Witch, The Pack, I Robot - You Jane, The Puppet Show, Nightmares (only the Master and the Anointed One) and Out of Mind, Out of Sight (not counting Angel). Many fans must have noticed this because many of the non vampire-centered season 2 and 3 episodes show Buffy at least at one point on patrol.
The sign at cheerleader tryouts says it's 1996, setting this episode in 1996, even though it first aired in 1997.
Allusions:
Cordelia: These grapes are sour.
From the Aesop's fable where the fox, unable to reach the grapes, determines that they are probably sour anyway. The idea being that when something is unobtainable we declare it to be undesirable. Of course the real Amy probably never was much interested in becoming a cheerleader.
Buffy: She's our Sabrina!
Sabrina, the Teenage Witch first appeared in Archie comics in the 1960's. The TV series began in 1996 starring Melissa Joan Hart and was soon followed by a cartoon series. The reference to Sabrina may also have been an inside joke, since Robin Riker's last acting job was a guest appearance on the TV show.
Joyce: Great parenting form. A little shaky on the dismount.
Joyce speaks of her parenting skills in the language of gymnastics. The dismount from an apparatus is usually an especially tricky move.
Joyce: This is Gidget hair.
Gidget was a 1959 surf movie starring Sandra Dee as the title character and also 1965-66 television show starring Sally Field.
Buffy: I'm not ready to know you had Farah hair.
Farah Fawcett was a famous actress and sex symbol of the 70's. Her hairstyle was much imitated.
Buffy: So mommy dearest is really ... Mommie Dearest.
A reference to Christina Crawford's autobiography, made into the 1981 movie Mommie Dearest about her abusive relationship with her adoptive mother, Joan Crawford.
Amy: Her nickname was Catherine the Great.
Catherine the Great (the original one) was Empress of Russia from 1762-1796. She is known for making Russia a major European power but also for strengthening the class system and the power of the nobility.
Giles: Well pardon me for finding the glass half full.
A famous test for pessimism vs optimism is whether one calls the glass half empty (the pessimist) of half full. Giles sarcastically apologizes for delighting in the variety of supernatural activity in the vicinity of the Hellmouth.
Amy: Oh how I hate this, let me count the ways.
A play on the opening line of the poem from Elizabeth Barret Browning's Sonnets from the Portuguese: "How do I love thee? Let me count the ways."
Cordelia: Who does she think she is? A Laker Girl?
The Laker Girls are the cheerleaders for the NBA's L.A. Lakers.
Trivia:
The edges of Cordelia's solid white contacts can be seen after she is blinded.
Why did Giles insist on taking Amy (in Catherine's body) with them to the lab? If he'd thought for a second he would have realized that when the spell broke he'd have an upset witch in the same room as him and Buffy.
When you look through the door to what should be the dining room that is seen later on in the series, you see what looks like a miniature hallway and a door. So where'd the dining room go?
Amy tells Buffy that her mom makes her practice 3 hours in the morning and 3 hours in the evening, but later on in the ep, Buffy says that she just doesn't have time to practice 3 hours a day. 3+3 does not equal 3.
The potion is supposed to turn Amy's skin blue, but instead, the potion turns blue on her skin: that's a big difference. Did the make-up team get lazy? When Buffy pours the potion onto Amy, the potion turns blue and is seen dripping down over normal-colored flesh.
Why doesn't the driver of the truck that Buffy saves Cordelia from even try to stop? He would have seen the car accident but he continues to attempt to run Cordy down - maybe he did meet her, like Willow said.
During the second cheerleading tryouts (group performance) Cordelia is seen putting a headband on before, then while she's cheering it's no longer there, and then when Amy falls on her, Cordelia has the headband back on.
When Willow fills the test tube with the yellow liquid in science class the test tube is filled half way but in the next shot, as she hands the test tube to Buffy, it is only filled a quarter of the way.
Quotes:
Giles: Why should someone want to harm Cordelia?
Willow: Maybe because they met her! Did I say that...?
Buffy: Mom, I've accepted that you've had sex. I am not ready to know that you had Farrah hair.
Joyce: This is Gidget hair. Don't they teach you anything in history?
Joyce:(about cheerleading) I'm glad you're taking that up again. It'll keep you out of trouble.
Buffy: I'm not in trouble.
Joyce: No, not yet.
Giles: But that's the thrill of living on the Hellmouth! There's a veritable cornucopia of, of fiends and devils and, and ghouls to engage. Pardon me for finding the glass half full.
Buffy: I'm inscrutable, huh?
Joyce: You're sixteen.
Willow: Yeah! You're the Slayer, and we're, like, the Slayerettes
Xander: For I am Xander, King of Cretins. May all lesser cretins bow before me.
Giles: You have a sacred birthright, Buffy. You were chosen to destroy vampires, not to... wave pompoms at people. And as the Watcher I forbid it.
Buffy: And you'll be stopping me how?
Giles: Well, I... By appealing to your common sense, if such a creature exists.
Amy: I'm thinking about getting fat...
Buffy: I hear that look's in for spring.
Catherine: How dare you raise your hand to your mother! I gave you birth. I gave up my life so you could drag that worthless carcass around and call it living. You've never been anything but trouble. I'm going to put you where you can't make trouble again!
Catherine: She said I was wasting my youth. So she took it.
Xander: I laugh in the face of danger. Then I hide until it goes away. |
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Buffy The Vampire Slayer (1997) - 1x03 - The Witch