Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Witch

"I laugh in the face of danger - then I hide until it goes away."

- Xander Harris

"Witch" is the third episode of season one of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The episode was directed by Stephen Cragg and written by Dana Reston. It first aired on the WB Network on March 17th, 1997. In this episode, Buffy tries out for the high school cheerleading team, much to Mister Giles' lament. A classmate named Amy Madison will do anything to make it on the team, but trouble abounds when mysterious things begin happening to the other cheerleaders. One girl spontaneously combusts and Cordelia is rendered blind. Buffy begins suspecting witchcraft, but when she falls under the witch's spell, it is up to Giles and the Scoobies to save her and set everything right.

Notes & Trivia

 * This episode has been made available on Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Chosen Collection and Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Complete Third Season DVD collections.


 * First episode of the series not written by Joss Whedon.


 * First episode of the series that does not feature vampires.


 * First appearance of Amy Madison. Amy will become a secondary character seen at different points throughout the series. She appears next in the season two episode "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered".


 * The song that Buffy is singing in her kitchen at home is "Macho Man", recorded in 1978 by the Village People and appeared on their album Macho Man. This is the first indication that something is wrong with Buffy, as the character is too modern to ever be caught dead singing a 1970s disco song. While this may be the first time that Sarah Michelle Gellar is found singing in the series, it won't be her last. In the season six musical episode "Once More, With Feeling", Sarah sings two full songs, "Going Through the Motions" and "Something to Sing About", as well as an overture and part of an ensemble piece.


 * Although Catherine Madison is alive and trapped inside of her own bronze statuette, she is presumably killed when the entire town of Sunnydale is destroyed in the series finale "Chosen".


 * When Buffy discovers that Amy (actually Catherine) is a witch she says "She's our Sabrina", referring to the Sabrina, the Teenage Witch franchise. Coincidently, the actress who plays Catherine Madison played another witch in season one of the Sabrina television series.

Quotes
"For I am Xander, King of cretins. May all lesser cretins bow before me."

- Xander

"Mom, I've accepted that you've had sex. I am not ready to know that you had Farrah hair."

- Buffy