Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Witch (1x03)
Feb. 4th, 2008 10:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
fajrdrakoWhat is the real title of this episode? The DVD listed it as "The Witch" but Wikipedia calls it just "Witch".
Doesn't matter. I loved it. It was great fun, with much more characterization and points of interest than "The Harvest". Its best point? It surprised me twice.
I love to get surprises in TV shows. Usually plots are too predictable. There are exceptions - and I love every one of them. This time, I thought at the beginning that it wasn't Amy doing the spellcasting, but her mother. Then I was surprised that it wasn't her mother - that was surprise #1. Then I was surprised that it *was* her mother, that was surprise #2.
Wow. Two surprises in one show. I love that. And I should have guessed that Amy was her mother, I've read enough stories of possession and alien impostors and body-stealers and do on, but I didn't guess and that delighted me.
When Buffy says "Your platitudes are good for all occasions," to her mother, it's a very funny
line, but isn't that an awfully rude thing to say to one's mother? Granted, her mother doesn't
seem to mind. Maybe it's another California thing.
So then the story gets better as it ups the stakes with its stories of mothers and daughters. Amy living up to her mother's career - which turns out to be her mother narcissistically trying to recreate her old career. It's all kind of bizarre and creepy. In the right kind of ways.
I wasn't entirely happy with the pacing, but that's a quibble.
Another good line from Buffy: "So, mommy dearest is really... Mommy Dearest?"
More points of interest:
(1) I love the initial scene, where Giles is upset that Buffy wants to be a cheerleader and she
doesn't care. How does Giles manage to be so utterly cute when he gets pompous?
The best bit:
But I love the next line, for both its innocent ageism and its heterocentrism: "I'd say he should get a girlfriend if he wasn't so old." Hee. Poor Giles. Decrepit before his time.
(2) I liked these lines, too - back to the mother-daughter thing:
(3) Giles. I loved, totally loved, Giles' enthusiasm: "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." I think he loves his job - as Watcher, I mean - and I love it even more at the end of the episode when he does a spell.
(4) Xander. I laughed when Xander had his funniest line yet: "Oh, huh, I laugh in the face of
danger. Then I hide until it goes away."
But on the whole, I liked Xander in this episode less than before - though he had a few good
lines, that was sort of overcome by his attitude that he could somehow trick Buffy into being a
sort of girlfriend. There's something to my mind most unpleasant about that, something that a lot of boys go through at his age, and I know that because I remember being 16 and I remember having some really stupid and futile conversations with boys like that. I'm tempted to say it's
stalkerish but that isn't the right word. Anyway, those aren't particularly good memories and
Xander needs to redeem himself. He's very... self-serving. All his dialogue is about himself and
what he wants. I keep trying not to be annoyed by him but there's something so ego-centred about him (compared to the other characters, except Cordelia) that he keeps annoying me all over again. "King of The Cretins". That sort of thing. At this point his only saving grace is that Willow likes him.
(5) Loved Joyce's line, "This is Gidget hair. Don't they teach you anything in history?" I'm
starting to really like that woman. And her later line: "Great parenting form! Little shaky on
the dismount."
(6) Buffy's kind of cute when she's uber-hyper, ensorcelled and flying high. Wanting to be a macho man. And her line to Xander: "You're my Xander-shaped friend!" So cute.
(7) Another very funny exchange - Willow being snarky -
(8) I liked it that Buffy guessed the body-switching. Then the story gets really sad.
Abusive-parent stories get to me. I loved it later, when Amy is all happy about her father's
attention.
(9) The scenes of cheerleading didn't mean much to me - it's too far out of my sphere of reference to mean much. But it's kind of colourful.
(10) Did I say how much I loved Giles casting his spell? I felt just like Buffy, who at last
appreciated him: "You saved my life! You were a god!"
(11) Xander's rushing in to grab Amy was sort of funny, too. Especially when he's followed by
Willow with a baseball bat. (Go, Willow!) It's kind hokey humour but I wouldn't expect this show
to be subtle. (Does it get subtle later? I've seen no subtlety so far.) I didn't like Xander
taking credit, though. See - every time Xander does something I like (like a funny joke) he
annoys me with a lie or a bit of self-conscious bragging. Silly boy.
(12) And then came my favourite bit of the whole show, which really choked me up:
(13) That was pretty creepy when the statuette of Catherine rolled its eyes. A... creepy, fitting end for her. Is it the end? Will we see her again? Does Giles know what the spell did? Did he plan it that way?
(14) No Angel? No vampires at all? Are they in hiding?
Doesn't matter. I loved it. It was great fun, with much more characterization and points of interest than "The Harvest". Its best point? It surprised me twice.
I love to get surprises in TV shows. Usually plots are too predictable. There are exceptions - and I love every one of them. This time, I thought at the beginning that it wasn't Amy doing the spellcasting, but her mother. Then I was surprised that it wasn't her mother - that was surprise #1. Then I was surprised that it *was* her mother, that was surprise #2.
Wow. Two surprises in one show. I love that. And I should have guessed that Amy was her mother, I've read enough stories of possession and alien impostors and body-stealers and do on, but I didn't guess and that delighted me.
When Buffy says "Your platitudes are good for all occasions," to her mother, it's a very funny
line, but isn't that an awfully rude thing to say to one's mother? Granted, her mother doesn't
seem to mind. Maybe it's another California thing.
So then the story gets better as it ups the stakes with its stories of mothers and daughters. Amy living up to her mother's career - which turns out to be her mother narcissistically trying to recreate her old career. It's all kind of bizarre and creepy. In the right kind of ways.
I wasn't entirely happy with the pacing, but that's a quibble.
Another good line from Buffy: "So, mommy dearest is really... Mommy Dearest?"
More points of interest:
(1) I love the initial scene, where Giles is upset that Buffy wants to be a cheerleader and she
doesn't care. How does Giles manage to be so utterly cute when he gets pompous?
The best bit:
Giles: And as the Watcher I forbid it.Tactically bad, Giles. But I'm never very sympathetic to a superhero's desire to "do something normal". And when Buffy said Giles "totally lost his water"... that sounds rude.
Buffy: And you'll be stopping me how?
But I love the next line, for both its innocent ageism and its heterocentrism: "I'd say he should get a girlfriend if he wasn't so old." Hee. Poor Giles. Decrepit before his time.
(2) I liked these lines, too - back to the mother-daughter thing:
Amy: Oh, yeah! Don't you have? I train with my mom, three hours in the morning, three at night....I should think so!
Buffy: Hmm, that much quality time with my mom would probably lead to some quality matricide.
(3) Giles. I loved, totally loved, Giles' enthusiasm: "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." I think he loves his job - as Watcher, I mean - and I love it even more at the end of the episode when he does a spell.
(4) Xander. I laughed when Xander had his funniest line yet: "Oh, huh, I laugh in the face of
danger. Then I hide until it goes away."
But on the whole, I liked Xander in this episode less than before - though he had a few good
lines, that was sort of overcome by his attitude that he could somehow trick Buffy into being a
sort of girlfriend. There's something to my mind most unpleasant about that, something that a lot of boys go through at his age, and I know that because I remember being 16 and I remember having some really stupid and futile conversations with boys like that. I'm tempted to say it's
stalkerish but that isn't the right word. Anyway, those aren't particularly good memories and
Xander needs to redeem himself. He's very... self-serving. All his dialogue is about himself and
what he wants. I keep trying not to be annoyed by him but there's something so ego-centred about him (compared to the other characters, except Cordelia) that he keeps annoying me all over again. "King of The Cretins". That sort of thing. At this point his only saving grace is that Willow likes him.
(5) Loved Joyce's line, "This is Gidget hair. Don't they teach you anything in history?" I'm
starting to really like that woman. And her later line: "Great parenting form! Little shaky on
the dismount."
(6) Buffy's kind of cute when she's uber-hyper, ensorcelled and flying high. Wanting to be a macho man. And her line to Xander: "You're my Xander-shaped friend!" So cute.
(7) Another very funny exchange - Willow being snarky -
Giles: Why should someone want to harm Cordelia?
Willow: Maybe because they met her? Did I say that?
(8) I liked it that Buffy guessed the body-switching. Then the story gets really sad.
Abusive-parent stories get to me. I loved it later, when Amy is all happy about her father's
attention.
(9) The scenes of cheerleading didn't mean much to me - it's too far out of my sphere of reference to mean much. But it's kind of colourful.
(10) Did I say how much I loved Giles casting his spell? I felt just like Buffy, who at last
appreciated him: "You saved my life! You were a god!"
(11) Xander's rushing in to grab Amy was sort of funny, too. Especially when he's followed by
Willow with a baseball bat. (Go, Willow!) It's kind hokey humour but I wouldn't expect this show
to be subtle. (Does it get subtle later? I've seen no subtlety so far.) I didn't like Xander
taking credit, though. See - every time Xander does something I like (like a funny joke) he
annoys me with a lie or a bit of self-conscious bragging. Silly boy.
(12) And then came my favourite bit of the whole show, which really choked me up:
Buffy: Do you ever wish you could be sixteen again?I think I have a special soft spot for mother-daughter relations, just as I have a bete noir for abusive mothers. Maybe I should say "parent-daughter" relations, because I was just as sentimental with "Veronica Mars" in the scenes between Keith and Veronica.
Joyce: Oh, that's a frightful notion. Go through all that again? Not even if it helped me understand you.
Buffy: I love you, mom.
Joyce: I don't get it!
(13) That was pretty creepy when the statuette of Catherine rolled its eyes. A... creepy, fitting end for her. Is it the end? Will we see her again? Does Giles know what the spell did? Did he plan it that way?
(14) No Angel? No vampires at all? Are they in hiding?
