BtVS season 1: The Witch
Feb. 11th, 2008 05:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shapinglightWell, I watched it, and before I post my scattershot impressions, I'm afraid I just have to say that cheerleading is silly. Very, very silly.
That said, the episode sort of acknowledges this, first by making most of the cheerleaders, including the head one (who looks way too old to be at school) horribly bitchy and second by Giles's rather scornful astonishment that anyone should go to the lengths that Catherine Madison has gone to just to be a cheerleader.
Buffy's final words to Catherine - "Oh, grow up!" - were never more well-deserved.
Anyway, I still think this is a great little episode - definitely the best written of the series (and thus the show) so far. Obviously, it doesn't have to work to establish the characters the way Welcome to the Hellmouth did, but it does do quite a bit to deepen them and explore further their relationships with each other.
We learn, for instance, that Giles has become quite fond of Buffy very quickly. He seems already to see himself almost in loco parentis, if his pre-credits attempt to ban her from cheerleading is anything to go by, though of course, he also already knows he will fail, as his wry acknowledgement of Buffy's "You're gonna stop me - how?" makes quite clear.
We get to see Joyce being apparently neglectful mum again by not being involved in every minute of Buffy's day, getting pissy when Buffy rejects her idea of helping with the school year book and then being cool mum at the end when she admits to Buffy she hasn't a clue how to connect with her. Buffy is obviously both relieved and pleased to discover her mum is happy to be the age she is and is in fact just normal.
Willow and Xander have some nice moments together too, as do Buffy and Xander, though probably Xander doesn't think so when he gets his 'Willow is just one of the guys' speech turned on its head when Buffy tells him he's 'just one of the girls.'
Poor old Xander (didn't find him so annoying in this episode, though his Buffy-crush is still irritating). So it begins and so it'll continue.
Other good stuff
Giles being all vehement and scary, and not at all Mr Stuffy Brit of the first two episodes. I think this was one of the things that made me start to realise this show was a bit out of the ordinary. He also looks incredibly sexy.
This is the first time Giles gets knocked out cold, though I'm pretty sure it's not the first time he's cast a spell, even though he claims it is. In fact, I thought he looked dead shifty when he said that, though that of course is with the benefit of hindsight.
The first time we see Giles's old Citroen too. Yay!
Elizabeth Anne Allen is very good as Amy. She's really scary when she's being Catherine-as-Amy at the end. Can quite see why all the other cheerleaders shrank away from her. Also, the show's been very consistent right the way through in its portrayal of the physical appearance of people doing magic - the all black eyes etc. Congrats to the continuity person.
Buffy is cute. Cute, cute, cute! She's like a little cuddly toy.
The episode also contains lots in the way of foreshadowing that isn't, if you want to look for it, and that's always fun; like for instance Xander checking the magic books out of the library. Maybe his spell-casting in OMWF isn't as out of left-field as all that? Willow's competence in the spell business is another thing, though I suppose it's just possible that this is deliberate, if Joss was thinking at all beyond season 1. Oh, and for the Spike obsessives among us (don't look at me like that!), Xander mentions a railroad spike.
See, foreshadowing.
All in all, lots of fun, and doesn't suffer from annoying vampire portentous-speak like the first two episodes. No Angel, but I don't really mind that.
Best line: Hard to choose, because there were quite a lot. Almost everything Giles says is dry and ironic. Will go with this exchange:
Giles: Why on earth would someone want to harm Cordelia?
Willow: Because they met her? :Looks shocked: Did I just say that?
That said, the episode sort of acknowledges this, first by making most of the cheerleaders, including the head one (who looks way too old to be at school) horribly bitchy and second by Giles's rather scornful astonishment that anyone should go to the lengths that Catherine Madison has gone to just to be a cheerleader.
Buffy's final words to Catherine - "Oh, grow up!" - were never more well-deserved.
Anyway, I still think this is a great little episode - definitely the best written of the series (and thus the show) so far. Obviously, it doesn't have to work to establish the characters the way Welcome to the Hellmouth did, but it does do quite a bit to deepen them and explore further their relationships with each other.
We learn, for instance, that Giles has become quite fond of Buffy very quickly. He seems already to see himself almost in loco parentis, if his pre-credits attempt to ban her from cheerleading is anything to go by, though of course, he also already knows he will fail, as his wry acknowledgement of Buffy's "You're gonna stop me - how?" makes quite clear.
We get to see Joyce being apparently neglectful mum again by not being involved in every minute of Buffy's day, getting pissy when Buffy rejects her idea of helping with the school year book and then being cool mum at the end when she admits to Buffy she hasn't a clue how to connect with her. Buffy is obviously both relieved and pleased to discover her mum is happy to be the age she is and is in fact just normal.
Willow and Xander have some nice moments together too, as do Buffy and Xander, though probably Xander doesn't think so when he gets his 'Willow is just one of the guys' speech turned on its head when Buffy tells him he's 'just one of the girls.'
Poor old Xander (didn't find him so annoying in this episode, though his Buffy-crush is still irritating). So it begins and so it'll continue.
Other good stuff
Giles being all vehement and scary, and not at all Mr Stuffy Brit of the first two episodes. I think this was one of the things that made me start to realise this show was a bit out of the ordinary. He also looks incredibly sexy.
This is the first time Giles gets knocked out cold, though I'm pretty sure it's not the first time he's cast a spell, even though he claims it is. In fact, I thought he looked dead shifty when he said that, though that of course is with the benefit of hindsight.
The first time we see Giles's old Citroen too. Yay!
Elizabeth Anne Allen is very good as Amy. She's really scary when she's being Catherine-as-Amy at the end. Can quite see why all the other cheerleaders shrank away from her. Also, the show's been very consistent right the way through in its portrayal of the physical appearance of people doing magic - the all black eyes etc. Congrats to the continuity person.
Buffy is cute. Cute, cute, cute! She's like a little cuddly toy.
The episode also contains lots in the way of foreshadowing that isn't, if you want to look for it, and that's always fun; like for instance Xander checking the magic books out of the library. Maybe his spell-casting in OMWF isn't as out of left-field as all that? Willow's competence in the spell business is another thing, though I suppose it's just possible that this is deliberate, if Joss was thinking at all beyond season 1. Oh, and for the Spike obsessives among us (don't look at me like that!), Xander mentions a railroad spike.
See, foreshadowing.
All in all, lots of fun, and doesn't suffer from annoying vampire portentous-speak like the first two episodes. No Angel, but I don't really mind that.
Best line: Hard to choose, because there were quite a lot. Almost everything Giles says is dry and ironic. Will go with this exchange:
Giles: Why on earth would someone want to harm Cordelia?
Willow: Because they met her? :Looks shocked: Did I just say that?