Witch 

Buffy suspects she has a witch on her hands when the cheerleading squad falls victim to sudden blindness and spontaneous combustion.

Director:

Stephen Cragg

Writers:

Joss Whedon (created by), Dana Reston

Stars:

Sarah Michelle Gellar, Nicholas Brendon, Alyson Hannigan

Cast

Episode complete credited cast:
Sarah Michelle Gellar	...	Buffy Summers
Nicholas Brendon	...	Xander Harris
Alyson Hannigan	...	Willow Rosenberg
Charisma Carpenter	...	Cordelia Chase
Anthony Head	...	Rupert Giles (as Anthony Stewart Head)
Kristine Sutherland	...	Joyce Summers
Elizabeth Anne Allen	...	Amy Madison
Robin Riker	...	Catherine Madison
Jim Doughan	...	Mr. Pole
Nicole Prescott	...	Lishanne
Amanda Wilmshurst	...	Senior Cheerleader
William Monaghan	...	Dr. Gregory

Storyline

Against her Watcher Giles' wise advice, Buffy decides to get a normal life, trying out for cheerleader, more competitive then she imagined; there Amber spontaneously catches fire at both hands, soon various other girls have disabling accidents. Xander feels frustrated when even giving her a cool bracelet doesn't seem to catch Buffy's romantic attention. After some study, the gang concludes it's a case of witchcraft, suspecting Amy, a girl who trains heavily, coached by her ma, former champion and home coming queen Catherine Madison, of using it to eliminate competitors and find a test- Amy is positive but seems ignorant, yet lords her mother Catherine Madison. Next Buffy looses her self-control and blurts out to like Xander, but only because he is not like other boys, rather 'one of the girls'. Giles researches how to break the spell, then Buffy guesses how Amy and mother switched roles and more...

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Plot Keywords:

library | heroine | female protagonist | 

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Genres:

Action | Drama | Fantasy | Romance

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Certificate:

TV-PG

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

17 March 1997 (USA)

Filming Locations:

1800 Stewart St., Santa Monica, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Mutant Enemy, Kuzui Enterprises, Sandollar Television

Technical Specs

Runtime:

45 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Cordelia mentions another Cheerleader-wannabe, Amber, in the episode. Amy comments that Amber was trained by Benson. Amber Benson will later star in the show as Tara.

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Goofs

Giles translates "the darkness breathes" in Latin as "tenebrae respiratis". That means "you, the darkness, are breathing". The correct Latin translation is "tenebrae respirant". ("Darkness" is singular in English and "tenebrae" is plural in Latin).

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Quotes

Rupert Giles: Why should someone want to harm Cordelia?
Willow Rosenberg: Maybe because they met her?
[pauses]
Willow Rosenberg: Did I say that?

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Connections

Referenced in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered (1998)

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Soundtracks

Count the Time
(uncredited)
Performed by Humbucker

User Reviews

Welcome Amy

This episode is nice because we get to "know" the characters a bit more. The episodes in the first season of Buffy are unique because its fun to see the characters sort of "figure out" who they are. I enjoy this episode because it has a nice twist that I *wont* give away towards the end.

As far as action wise / pacing wise, this episode is a little bit on the slow side. The action really doesn't start until the last few minutes *BUT* the episodes pacing is unique because it slowly builds throughout.

The ending is well...they do only have 45 minutes....all in all a slow average episode with a good twist.

6 out of 10