Gingerbread

Buffy's mother has decided that the time has come for her to accompany her daughter on patrol to see what being the Slayer really entails. While Buffy is dispatching a vampire Joyce finds the bodies of two young children and is understandably horrified. Buffy promises to get to the bottom of it and asks Giles about a symbol drawn of the children's hands. He fears that they could be dealing with a human foe, possibly some kind of cult involving witchcraft. When Joyce hears she believes something must be done so starts contacting other parents... soon there is a full scale witch hunt under way and anybody involved with the occult is being targeted; Willow and Amy are in real danger as they are witches and Giles has his books confiscated; the very books that might help solve the question of who the dead children are and who harmed them.

This was a rather impressive episode with some surprisingly tense moments; I liked the fact that the most obvious threat came from the parents. Not surprisingly we ultimately discover that they were being influenced but that doesn't make their actions less disturbing. The story provided plenty of great moments; most notably Willow standing up to her mother and Giles giving his opinion of Principal Snyder... not to mention Amy's spell near the end. The cast is on fine form; Alyson Hannigan stands out as Willow takes the central role, it was good to see Kristine Sutherland doing more as Joyce and recurring guest Elizabeth Anne Allen impresses as Amy. The explanation for what happened is well handled. Overall this was another solid episode.