The Witch

Buffy Episode Review

In which Giles tells Buffy is that she may not join "this... cult," prompting me, for one, to accidentally spit Sprite up my nose.

What Happened

Buffy tries out for the cheer-leading squad, despite Giles' objections, but a witch is using magic to take girls out of the running. Soon, Buffy is the only one standing between Amy and her dreams.

What Did I Think?

The growing camaraderie between Buffy and Giles, and Buffy and Willow and Xander, makes up for the fact that we've seen this story and we'll see it again.

This is a prime example of the "Buffy Wants a Normal Life" sub-genre within the series. Buffy says, "I want to do X." Giles says, "You can't do X." Buffy says, "I'm going to do X anyways." Buffy does X and finds trouble. Buffy beats trouble to a bloody pulp. Giles glares.

Giles objects that Buffy's duties as the Slayer will prevent her from being a cheerleader. However, if Buffy hadn't been at tryouts, Amber would have been hurt worse than she was and the witchery may have gone undiscovered. Also, Buffy doesn't actually get the chance to try to balance the two activities because of what happens with Amy, so there is really no way of knowing if Giles is right. Unless, Giles means that weirdness will follow her everywhere, so participation in school activities in general may not be a good idea.

The problem is that so many unexplainable things happen, that if they happened in the middle of everything, eventually the periphery characters that aren't in on the secret would wind up looking really stupid for not figuring it all out. So, an episode or two that sets up what an outsider the hero is and how they can't get too involved with normal activities gives everyone some breathing room for people to write off weird happenings as the hero's inevitable freakishness.

Also, it makes sense for Buffy to want to try again with the whole "normal life" thing. At this point, she still hasn't given up on getting back some of what she had before. She's determined to learn from what happened in LA, where her life was taken over by her duties as the Slayer to the point that she wound up burning down the gym.

A lot of Buffy's motivation comes not only from her needs, but also from her awareness of how her life impacts her mother's. When Joyce hears that Buffy is going out for cheer-leading, she approves, commenting, "It will keep you out of trouble." A hurt Buffy mutters, "I wasn't in trouble." She wants a normal life so that she won't get kicked out of school, so that her mother won't have to move again. Also, she needs something to talk to her mother about, a way to make some connection, since she can't explain about the Vampire Slaying.

Speaking of mothers, it turns out that it isn't Amy's fault she's acting so evil - it's all about her mommy. The underlying story here ties into the "high school is hell" metaphor of the series. In this case, the division between what a parent expects from a child and what the child has in mind for their own future. Amy's behavior and her possible motivations prompt a series of very nice scenes between Buffy and her mom.

Television in general, and Buffy in particular, has a very negative view of parents and their ability to a) control and b) understand their kids. Stories always seem to center around that moment when a child has to tell the parent that the child doesn't need the parent anymore. The problem is that the parent-child relationship was never portrayed as healthy to begin with, so this isn't a step in a developing relationship, but rather a sort of "clean break," after which the child is "free" of the parent and their interference.

Amy and Catherine's case is obviously extreme, and it's hard to argue that they should have tried to work things out. (I'd imagine it's also pretty hard to argue with an animated cheer-leading trophy.) This negativity is somewhat balanced, however, by the scenes between Buffy and her mother. Joyce is somewhat absent-minded, a necessary character trait for her to stay ignorant of Buffy being the Slayer, but she obviously cares about her daughter. They, unlike other parent-child duos, talk to each other. Throughout the series, Joyce keeps surprising Buffy (and the audience) with how cool she is.

Every element in this episode is a cliche. It's wonderful, however, to see how each one comes together so neatly and leads back to Buffy's relationship with her mother, a relationship that becomes one of the emotional underpinnings of the whole series.

All things considered, Buffy's relationship with her mother was surprisingly layered.