Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Witch

Aaron, I do agree that there are alot of summer shows that I would like to see reviewed here but I'm really enjoying the Retro articles as well. You don't have to read these and you can write TV Squad and tell them what you want to see here.

Well Joss was great at turning the fears and hidden monsters of High School into great demons for Buffy to fight. This episode really did set the tone for the first few seasons. How some people still live for their HS days and feel that life is wasted on the youth. Buffy didn't need to be a cheerleader and I think this was a way to push the old movie aside and show us what Joss really envisioned for Buffy. He always did hate what they did to his story in that movie.

How does Aaron Peck make rude, obnoxious posts like the one above and have 2 stars????

I love the whole RetroSquad idea, but I would also love to see "The 4400" written up each week.

About Buffy & the "quote of the episode": it seems like Giles ALWAYS got the best lines! At least until about 3/4 through when they turned him into a semi-pathetic character who was hanging around for no good reason. He was my favorite character, and I hated to see him go both times, but I really wish they'd given him more to do in those last few seasons.

I've always had this theory that the second episode of a series is the hardest one to make. Because after you put all your eggs in the basket to make and sell the pilot, now you've got to start delivering on the promise of the pilot and start to expand the series a bit. And "The Witch" does both of these things brilliantly.

It sets up that the Hellmouth is going to attract more than just vampires for Buffy to fight every week, but there will be all kinds of other monsters for she and the crew to battle. It also sets into motion the character arcs for the various players in the storylines--things that will pay off not only this season but in the seasons to come. Looking back you can see the seeds being sewn for Willow's attraction to the wicca powers and how that kind of thing can corrupt if not used properly (as seen with Amy's mom).

About the only real negative from this one is that the central twist of Amy's mom inhabiting Amy is telegraphed pretty early on in the show. I guessed it about an act before the rest of the on-screen cast did. But hey, that's just years of savy TV viewing on my part, I guess.

I dont know about xander and buffy. Although i was hoping that Faith and bufy would get together by the end. that would have been wicked awesome. plus a good change. :D not to mension how hot they were together and all the cemestry. but i might be a little biased on that fact. i have a huge crush on Eliza Dushku and do hope she turns out to like girls. but even then i am just a lowly citizen and probably have no chance even seeing her. but you always can hope. and theres me going off on a compleatly diffrent subject. This i agree was a good episode. It was cool, i thought, to show that Buffy and the gang had to deal with other forces besides those so blatantly evil. besides, they couldnt really kill amy, she was human. It had good twists and an unespected ending. good traits for a how to have.
B
the1trufaith@gmail.com

Hey, how about instead of covering old crappy shows like this, you...well...I don't know...COVER THE NEW SHOWS OUT THIS SUMMER:
1. The 4400
2. Windfall
3. Criss Angel--Mindfreak
4. Reno 911

How's about cover shows that are STILL MAKING NEW EPISODES, JUST A THOUGHT.

I thought Buffy was only ever really interested in guys with a semi-hidden dark side (a couple of vampires, the college creep who did her and dumped her).... That soldier-boy guy (I forget his name) was a straight-ahead Boy Scout, and that's why in the end they had no chemistry together.

Xander was just a good normal guy (though more courageous than other people suspected), making him a great friend to Buffy but not her type romantically. Plus, I think that when he stopped heroine-worshipping her as the series went on, his crush on her diminished.

What I never understood was why Xander and Willow got together when they did. There was never any explanation as to how they had to have each other all of a sudden... except that it served the plot line to interfere with the relationships they were both in with other people.

I kind of hoped they'd get together in the early seasons, but I agree that I could see it happening after the series. Something I always found interesting about season 7 was the really intense family vibe they had between Buffy, Xander, and Dawn in the first 6 eps or so. It was the first times since probably season 2 or 3 that I felt something was going to happen between the two of them, and then all of a sudden the potentials entered and they barely shared any screentime the rest of the year.

I thought Xander was going to end up with Buffy too, after the end of season 6, where he becomes very, very protective of her because of the whole Spike thing, the scene where she gets shot in front of her house, and a few other things I can't remember at this point. But note that he does survive the show, while Anya does not, and Angel kind of moves on... so there's no reason to think that maybe they don't eventually.

They are only 25, right?