"One Girl in All the World" Re-Watch: "Witch" & "Teacher's Pet"

 Buffy the Vampire Slayer

It's been a while since I've seen these first season episodes and they are something. If you're looking for a quick binge, neither of these episodes would necessarily be required viewing. That being said, let's get to it.

"Witch"

Buffy Summers: "They have cheerleading coaches?"

Amy Madison: "Oh, yeah. Don't you have? I train with my mom: 3 hours in the morning, 3 at night." 

Buffy Summers: "Hmm. That much quality time with my mom would probably lead to some quality matricide."

In an attempt to inject some normalcy into her life, Buffy decides to try out for cheerleading. At the tryouts, one of the more talented girls' hands catch on fire. After the results are posted, the girls who made the team start being taken out one by one. All signs point to witchcraft and Amy, a girl who is desperate to get on the squad per pressure from her mother, Catherine, who was a star Sunnydale High cheerleader. When Buffy gets targeted with a spell that could kill her, the Scoobies try to stop Amy before Buffy's time runs out.

How do I look?

I really like this episode. I always have. It's not like ever going to appear on a list of "best of Buffy" episodes, but it's a lot of fun. It's breezy and sometimes that's all you really need. It also has one of my favorite Buffy moments which is when Buffy bops in to her kitchen singing "Macho Man" over and over again. Sarah Michelle Gellar looks like she is having the best time and pseudo drunk Buffy is a ton of fun. She's excited when she sees juice, twice! She's understanding of her mother's issues with her. She's so excited to cheer that she can barely stay in the routine. She tosses a girl across the gym, which seemingly ruins her short-lived cheer career. We all know that this is bad, but it's extremely enjoyable to watch while it's happening.

This episode sort of eases viewers in to how "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" is going to work. Buffy may be the chosen one when it comes to slaying vampires, but there aren't enough vampires to sustain a series. That's where the Hellmouth comes in. The Hellmouth draws all manner of beasties to Sunnydale so Buffy will be slaying more creatures than vampires. 

A running theme throughout the series is Buffy attempting to juggle a normal life along with her duties as a slayer. And then when she tells Giles the things that she wants to do to try to achieve this balance and he is apoplectic about it. The cold open here is great as Giles is freaking out and you are wondering what could possibly be the issue. The reveal that it is cheerleading is pretty funny and solid.

The episode looks at the relationships between mothers and daughters. Clearly, the relationship between Amy and Catherine is incredibly toxic. Catherine is obsessed with reliving her glory days through her daughter no matter what Amy wants to the point that she switches their bodies. Joyce and Buffy are on the opposite end of the spectrum. Joyce wants to connect with Buffy and Buffy wants that too, but they are just failing at it. Joyce forgets about Buffy's cheerleading tryouts and so she kind of overcorrects when she brings up how much she loved being on yearbook staff and how Buffy got them ran out of LA. It's interesting to watch them navigate this and it feels really realistic.

The action quotient in this particular episode is relatively low. There are some fun moments like Amber's hands catching on fire, Cordelia's blindness and the girl in biology's mouth disappearing. I do enjoy the moment when Buffy tells Catherine she feels better and then clocks her. The last ten or so minutes of the episode do feel a bit rushed but Catherine being trapped in her old cheerleading trophy is a nice punishment for her. 

Amy will continue to be a semi-important character, popping up throughout the remainder of the series. We still are dealing with Xander's crush on Buffy which I think is supposed to be endearing but continues to be creepy. And even though in her bloodstone curse induced loopiness she tells him she sees him as one of the girls, Xander is undeterred. So that's great.

Grade: B+

"Teacher's Pet"

Rupert Giles: "Um, this computer invasion that Willow's performing on the coroner's office. One -- one assumes it is entirely legal?"

[Buffy and Willow speak at once.]

Buffy Summers: "Of course."

Willow Rosenberg: "Entirely."

Rupert Giles: "Right. Wasn't here... didn't see it... couldn't have stopped you."

After the biology teacher, Dr Gregory, who is one of the only teachers who believes in Buffy is killed he's replaced by Natalie French. All the boys, particularly Xander, have the hots for her. When a clawed vampire that Buffy is tracking freaks out upon seeing her, Buffy becomes extremely suspicious of Miss French. Buffy deduces that she is actually a giant praying mantis and it becomes a race against time when the team finds out that Xander is at Miss French's house.

Buffy connecting with a teacher.

This episode begins a tradition in the series which is Xander falling for women who turn out to be creatures or demons of some kind. It's kind of a funny running through line that starts here with him almost getting killed after mating with a humanoid She-Mantis. 

This episode is fine. It is just a little too focused on the horniness of teenage boys and this trope of teachers fucking their students. So much of season one is just Xander lusting after Buffy. I mean, this episode begins with Xander having a dream where he saves Buffy from a vampire attack and then getting on stage and playing in a band. There is even a call back to this dream and it's wild. It's wild to me that like this plot point continues for basically twelve full episodes. It doesn't really make Xander likable and it also makes you question why Willow is so into this boy.

The whole episode kind of has this disjointed feel. I really liked Buffy's interaction with Dr Gregory at the beginning of the episode. It's nice to see a teacher who cares about Buffy and sees her potential even though Principal Flutie is apparently waving her permanent record at anyone who will look at it. But it's clear that the only reason they have this interaction is so Buffy is personally invested in finding out who murdered him. Also, wouldn't have someone found his body before they do if it was in the lunchroom fridge? I shudder to think of what is going on in that kitchen. The clawed vampire plot point also feels like it comes out of nowhere and is unnecessary even though they use him as a bloodhound at the end of the episode. I just feel like there could be a more organic way for all this to go around. If they wanted to bring Angel in, they could have done it in a better way.

I do like Buffy going in to full research mode. It's like the show is trying to tell us that Buffy is brains and brawn. She learns basically everything that she can about praying mantises. And she does it quickly. And it just so happens that Giles has a friend named Carlyle who was researching the she mantis even though it drove him crazy, so that is a really nice coincidence. I enjoyed the ending fight and how they showed it primarily through the silhouettes of Buffy and the she mantis. 

But overall this episode is just kind of meh. It feels like they are struggling to do these kind of standalone episodes and remind viewers of the overarching plot involving the Master. I know we haven't seen him for a couple of episodes but he's still out there and he's bad. Don't forget! It jut doesn't feel very organic and again, Xander continues to be creepy and entirely unlikable. And I get that a lot of teenage boys are probably creepy and unlikable but they aren't one of the main characters in a television show.

Grade: C+

Next up, Buffy tries to go on a date while waiting on the appearance of the Anointed One and Xander falls in with the wrong crowd.

What do you all think? There are definitely some growing pains, but entertaining overall? Let me know in the comments.