(episode
written by Dana Reston, directed by Stephen
Cragg)
Giles
is lecturing Buffy on the importance of her role
as the Slayer, chastizing her for having an
interest in 'pop culture' activities. He turns to
look at her, she is dressed in her cheerleading
outfit. Giles points out that she is destined to
fight vampires and demons... not to shake 'pom
poms'.
... a
darkened room, dolls hanging from hooks, a voice
chanting, a cauldron bubbling...
Buffy
is undetered and goes to the cheerleader tryouts,
with Xander and Willow in support. Xander is all
for the cheerleading, and it has nothing to do
with lots of girls in short skirts stretching and
leaping. Xander gives Buffy a bracelet for good
luck, pointing out that the message was on all of
them, it was standard. An old friend of Willow's
comes over, Amy Madison. The first girl to try
out is Amber. She is good. As the routine
progresses her pom poms start to smoke, she
eventually drops them and her hands burst into
flames. Buffy grabs one of the banners from over
the benches and knocks Amber down to the ground
smothering her burning hands with the material.
They
discuss what happened with Giles and decide to do
a little research. Buffy suggests Willow and
Xander should not get involved, as she doesn't
want to put them in danger. Xander responds, 'I
laugh in the face of danger,...then I hide until
it goes away'. Buffy relents and Willow goes off
and does some research on Amber.
At
home Buffy's mom is unpacking some crates
containing some pieces for her first big exhibit
at the gallery. She is trying to undo a crate
with a crowbar, but without success. Buffy
mentions the tryouts, and that they had to be
postponed. Joyce replies that she's sure she'll
do well. Buffy enquires if she actually knows
what she was trying out for. Joyce hesitates, and
answers no, actually not. Buffy fills her in, and
Joyce is happy that she's getting back into
cheerleading, maybe she'll stay out of trouble.
Buffy is not happy with the comment, but Joyce
points out that the trouble started at the old
school just after Buffy had stopped cheerleading.
Joyce then asks Buffy for a hand with the crates,
so Buffy goes over to the crate her mom couldn't
open with the crowbar and flips the lid off with
just one hand.
Willow's
research into Amber brings up nothing
particularly special, just a normal student. The
revised cheerleading tryouts get under way with
Buffy and Amy having to participate in a group
dance session along with Cordelia. As the routine
progresses they all have to do a handstand flip
over, Amy loses her balance and falls onto
Cordelia, knocking her over. Cordelia is not
impressed. After the tryouts are over Buffy trys
to console Amy, saying that she did just fine.
Amy's mother had been a cheerleader, a very good
one, and she wanted to follow in her footsteps.
As Amy is finishing up in the locker room, a very
annoyed Cordelia comes over to her, and threatens
her. If Cordelia doesn't get onto the team, Amy
will be very, very sorry....
The
list is posted and a gaggle of girls are
clammering to see if they made it. Cordelia has
got onto the team. Xander forces his way to the
front of the crowd and checks the board. Buffy is
first reserve, and Amy is third reserve. They
didn't get on the team proper. Amy is gutted,
Buffy a little disappointed.
... a
darkened room, a hair band is being wound around
the head of a dark haired doll, covering the
eyes, there is chanting, the cauldron bubbling.
The doll is dropped into the cauldron 'feed on
Cordelia'...
Buffy
tries to get some consolation from her mother
about not getting onto the team. Joyce suggests
that Buffy tries for the Year Book Committee,
like she had, she thought it was fun. Buffy is
dead set against, saying they are all nerds. The
have a small falling out.
At
school Cordelia seems a little dazed, walking
straight passed Xander and Willow, not responding
to a comment by Xander. Xander is trying to get
some advice from Willow as to asking Buffy out.
As they are discusisng it Buffy heads towards
them. Xander tries to ask her out but Buffy is
distracted by Cordelia's odd behaviour. She gives
her books to Xander and follows Cordelia out of
the school to the driving class. It's Cordelia's
turn to drive. She gets in the front and slowly
switches on and tries to put the car into gear.
She puts it into reverse by mistake and they
shoot backwards, she finds the right gear and
they lurch forward. The car speeds up and
Cordelia begins to lose control. She crashes off
the driving course, through a wire fence and onto
the main road. She staggers out of the car into
the road, a truck heading towards her, she can't
see properly. Buffy races across the road and
grabs her out of the way just in time. When
Cordelia opens her eyes, they are 'whited' over,
she is blind.
The
gang come to the conclusion that witchcraft is
the cause. They try to figure out suspects, and
come up with Amy as a possible. But they need to
be sure. They devise a plan to check if it's her.
In science they concoct a special liquid that
will turn blue on a witch if she has cast magik
in the last 24hrs. Buffy 'accidentally' spills
the liquid on Amy's arm, and it turns blue. Just
as this is done the class starts to freak. One of
the girls, who is on the cheerleading team, has
lost her mouth, where it should be is just a
covering of skin. Amy seems as surprised as the
rest of them. The gang try to figure out the best
approach, what if Amy doesn't realise what she's
doing?
When
Amy gets home, she orders her mother to do her
homework, and comments on Buffy and her friends.
As she turns to go upstairs a bracelet dangles
down in her hand, it's the one Xander gave Buffy.
When
Buffy gets up the following morning she is in a
very good mood, almost like she's drunk. She
keeps singing 'I'm a macho, macho, macho man...'.
When she gets to cheerleading practice she is
still in a hyped up mood. Xander and Willow come
to the practice to give moral support, and are
surprised by Buffy's response, jumping up and
down in the middle of a routine saying 'there's
my buds..I love my buds..'. She is chastised by
the coach and they continue with the routine.
Xander and Willow are a little concerned, and get
more concerned when the routine gets to a bit
where one partner helps the other on a 'stepover'
move. The coach, who is Buffy's partner is thrown
half way across the gym. Buffy goes over to
apologise, still very hyped. She is kicked off
the team. Xander and Willow make some excuse
about medication and usher her out of the gym.
The next reserve is Amy, she is now on the team.
Outside
the gym Buffy is telling Xander and Willow how
much she likes them, and that Xander's not like
other guys, he's like one of the girls.. then she
nearly collapses. They take her to Giles, who
comes to the conclusion it must be a vengance
spell of some sort, and is quite fatal. They only
have a few hours at most to undo all of the
magik, or Buffy will die. They decide to go to
Amy's house to find her 'Book of Shadows' so that
they can reverse all of the spells. Buffy is
getting worse and can only just walk. Willow and
Xander are assigned to watch Amy, and keep her
away from the science labs. At the house Amy's
mother answers, but won't let them in. Giles
forces his way in carefully ushering Buffy in
behind him. They confront Amy's mother about the
magik, and insist that she help them undo it. She
laughs.. Buffy notices a plate of brownies under
the coffee table and remembers something Willow
had told her, about Amy going over to Willows for
brownies when her mother went on one of her
regular diets. Buffy looks up at her 'Amy?'. She
explains to them what happened, that one morning
she woke up in her mothers bed, with her mothers
body.. Giles asks where she might be casting her
spells. They go up to the loft room and gather
what they need, the Book of Shadows, the dolls.
Giles hands the stuff to Amy and picks up Buffy,
who is now too ill to walk. He insists Amy has to
come with them.
The
basketball game is under way, and the
cheerleaders are doing their stuff. Giles takes
Buffy into one of the labs and lies her on a
desk, he takes off his coat and folds it into a
pillow for her and gently places it under her
head. He goes over to another table and starts to
set up everything to undo the magik. He starts to
cast the spell... as the spell progresses Amy and
her mother start to switch back, but only in
flashes. Her mother knows what they are up to.
One of the flashes causes her to topple from the
top of a pyramid display by the cheerleaders. She
gets up and heads out of the gym, obviously
angry. Willow and Xander follow and try to
distract her. She uses magik to choke Xander and
throws Willow over to where he is lying, and
heads off towards the science labs. Giles is
almost there with the spell. Amy's mother grabs a
fire axe and starts to break down the locked door
to the lab. Just as she enters the spell works,
and all her magik is reversed, leaving the real
Amy holding the axe. Giles is knocked unconcious
and Amy's mother gets the axe off her. Buffy is
now regaining her strength and battles with Amy's
mother. Just as she is about to cast a spell on
Buffy and Amy to send them somewhere unpleasent
for good, Buffy knocks down an overhead mirror
which reflects the magik back onto Madison
senior. She dissapears. Buffy helps the now
consious Giles back to his feet, just as Xander
dashes in and grabs Amy, declaring he's got her.
Giles and Buffy tell him it's okay, and to let
her go, just as Willow dashes in behind him with
a baseball bat...
Amy
gets renuited with her father, and tells Buffy
she is quite enjoying his overprotectiveness. She
is gratefull to Buffy and her friends. They go to
the schools trophy cabinet, where the awards
Amy's mother had won for her cheerleading are
kept. They wonder where she is now, turn and walk
away... a closeup examination of the bronze
cheeleader figure reveals two eyes looking out,
looking from side to side, and muffled noises,
like a silent cry for help.....
Narration written by Lizzie Lake.
This episode narration is purely my own
interpretation of the episode. I am in no way
connected with the show or it's creators or
owners. All Buffy copyrights etc are owned by
20th Century Fox / Warner Brothers / Joss Whedon
etc.
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