"Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered" [2x16] Review by Mikelangelo "MikeJer" Marinaro Posted by MikeJer on October 30, 2005 Writer: Marti NoxonDirector: James A. Contner Quick Links Spoiler Warning! This is a retrospective review and may contain spoilers from anywhere in the series. Read at your own peril. Review Here's an episode where we finally get a look at Xander and Cordelia's odd relationship. This is an extremely lightweight romp that makes its mark as easily the funniest episode of the season and is also one of the series' overall funnier episodes. There's lots of confusion and fun after Amy's backfired spell kicks in and it never lets up all the way until the, actually somewhat surprising, ending involving Cordelia actually ditching Harmony and her now old group of sheepish friends. The craziness begins with Cordelia's 'group' abandoning her simply because she's dating Xander. Cordelia's genuinely upset about this. Like she said back in "Out of Mind, Out of Sight" (1x11), "Well, it beats being alone all by yourself," in response to why she likes being popular. She doesn't fully realize that now she's got the Scoobies to keep her from feeling alone. By the end of the episode that realization comes and she, naturally scared about it, leaves her old friends behind. It becomes quite the whacky adventure before she gets there though. First, Cordelia breaks up with Xander on Valentine's Day of all days, right after he gave her a beautiful heart pendent on a necklace. This genuinely hurts Xander and he doesn't try to hide it. We can tell Cordelia also feels quite bad about it as well because the next day she is wearing (although hiding) the same necklace. That leads to the blackmail of Amy and the spell to make Cordelia love him, so he can in turn break up with her instead. Like almost all spells in this series, it backfires and causes chaos to ensue. Every single female except Cordelia ends up falling in love with Xander, including Buffy. Buffy coming onto him is his absolute fantasy and he can barely resist kissing her when offered the opportunity to. He gets pulled away by Amy who is also hitting on him in the same way Buffy was. This is when he realizes, in a subtle and heartbreaking way, that Buffy isn't really coming onto him; the spell is talking, not Buffy. This really saddens Xander, especially after the little bit of hope she gave him after hugging him in the previous episode. All of this Xander lovin' going around leads to the fantastically funny scene where he's walking down the main hallway of the school while all the girls are checking him out and making moon eyes. By this point absolute chaos is unleashed. Amy turns Buffy into a rat, Cordelia is getting beat up, Ms. Calendar is even coming onto Xander, and Willow tries to axe murder him for not returning her 'love.' In response to all this Xander grabs Cordelia and runs off to Buffy's place for sanctuary. While here Buffy's mom hits on Xander and he, absolutely hilariously, slams his head down on the table and yells "whatever!" Amazingly, the chaos doesn't stop here. They flee up to Buffy's room where Angelus, wanting to finally do in Buffy, grabs Xander instead but Drusilla is under the spell and stops him from hurting Xander! Wow, good times. Giles and Amy finally break the spell and everything returns to normal except at the end Cordelia finally shuts Harmony up and says, "You're a sheep. All you ever do is what everyone else does just so you can say you did it first. And here I am, scrambling for your approval, when I'm way cooler than you are 'cause I'm not a sheep. I do what I wanna do, and I wear what I wanna wear. And you know what? I'll date whoever the hell I wanna date. No matter how lame he is." And with that speech Cordelia has grown another step forward. This is great stuff. There's also a couple other nice touches that don't involve Xander and Cordelia. Giles shows that he hasn't lost his affections for Jenny and that his devotion to Buffy still comes first. Jenny completely understands, and this is undoubtedly the moment she decides to begin research on how to curse Angel again. The rotten fruits of her labor come up in "Passion" (2x17), the next episode. The good guys aren't the only ones celebrating Valentine's Day. Spike gives Drusilla a stunning necklace for the occasion, but Angelus comes in and gives her a fresh heart from a shopkeeper to outdo Spike's gift. Angelus is continuing to steal Dru's affection away from Spike and this naturally infuriates him. Spike will get some satisfaction in seeing Angelus being beat up by Giles in "Passion" (2x17) and then will actively help stop Angelus in "Becoming Pt. 2" (2x22). This is simply a fantastic episode with tremendous fun to be had. Minor Pros/Cons (+/-)
Foreshadowing
Quotes BUFFY:Sorry to say, Xand, slaying is a tad more perilous than dating.XANDER:Well, you're obviously not dating Cordelia. SPIKE:Why don't you rip her lungs out? It might make an impression. ANGELUS:Lacks... poetry. SPIKE:It doesn't have to. What rhymes with lungs? XANDER:Th-that's it! This has gotta stop. It's time for me to act like a man. And hide. GILES:I cannot believe that you are fool enough to do something like this! XANDER:Oh, no, I'm twice the fool it takes to do something like this. :(Oz comes up and punches Xander) OZ:That kinda hurt. XANDER:Kinda?! What was that for? OZ:I was on the phone all night, listening to Willow cry about you. Now, I don't know exactly what happened, but I was left with a very strong urge to... hit you. (offers his hand to help Xander up) BUFFY:I seem to be having a slight case of nudity here. OZ:But you're not a rat. So call it an upside. BUFFY:Oh, yeah. I remember coming on to you, I remember begging you to undress me... And then a sudden need for cheese.
Screencaps
Comments (39) All Comments | Link2 | TallieJan 3, 2007 This episode is awsom.I love the part when Buffy comes with the rain coat on.Did you? All Comments | Link3 | KyarorinApr 27, 2007 I love that you connected Amy's black eyes to the way it continues throughout the series. What's interesting to note is that Amy's eyes don't just turn black, they then also turn to red, which further indicates that the magicks will do that when connected to rage, a thing seen again in the episode "Seeing Red". Or else it's pure coincidence. XD All Comments | Link4 | MelanieJun 25, 2007 I agree this ep is greatly hilarious. On a continuity/ foreshadowing note, the spell Amy uses to turn Buffy into a rat is the same spell she uses in S3 Gingerbread when she turns herself into a rat. All Comments | Link5 | LibMaxJul 28, 2007 Chebonne, good point. Spike may have a poetic soul, but he does word-music the way my butt chews bubble gum. Plenty of things rhyme with "lungs" (tongues, rungs) and "gleaming" (seeming, streaming, dreaming) - however, NOTHING rhymes with "effulgent." All Comments | Link6 | LibMaxJul 28, 2007 I love the character development for Xander in this episode. "I want, for once, to come out ahead - I want the Hellmouth to be workin' for me!" is possibly Xander's moral low point in the entire series. And we can see how cheap and rotten he feels, sitting there holding the candle while Amy casts the spell, but he goes through with it anyway. But he buys it all back twice in the episode - first when he doesn't even hesitate to do the noble thing when Buffy comes on to him (once he figures out that it's the spell), and then when he dives into the sea of homicidal females to rescue Cordelia. It's also full of great comedy, as noted in MikeJer's review and the other comments. I think it's the first purely comic episode that works, a kind of comic savant in that ME didn't really get the purely comic episodes working properly otherwise until Season Four. One thing I can't gloss over - the phlebotinum in the plot is very tight and consistent and makes sense in every detail. As hugely contrasted with the Season Seven episode which ripped this one off, Him. But in BBB, the spell fails perfectly for perfectly logical reasons. The center of the charm is the heart-shaped locket Xander gave Cordelia and demanded back. He thinks it symbolizes how little she cares for him, but in fact we know it symbolizes that she does care for him, even if she's too afraid to admit it. So, since the locket means the opposite of what Xander thinks it means, instead of focusing the effect of the spell on Cordelia it protects her and reflects the spell on everybody else who's female. Likewise, Amy warned Xander that a love spell has to be gone into with pure intent, and Xander sneered "I intend revenge - pure as the driven snow." That's the source of the homicidal backspin on the spell. Xander didn't want Cordelia to fall in love with him so that he could have her, he wanted to reject her and make her suffer. So at the first hint of rejection, the spell sours into violent rage, beginning with Buffy. Xander was really a dead duck until Amy breezed in and turned the proceedings into a chickfight. Giles in turn rescued Xander from Amy and Jenny, but eventually all the gals turned on Xander just like Buffy did. Neat to see that even in a comic episode, logic and consistency mattered. Oh, one more little thing, I like the shot at the end of the scene when Xander blackmails Amy. The way it's framed when Amy looks around him at Cordelia, it's almost as if she's some evil thing that's just popped out of his chest a la Alien. All Comments | Link7 | buffyholicOct 14, 2007 One of the most funny episodes of the entire series. I´m laughing like crazy everytime. What I love the most is Buffy with the raincoat and the girl mob. It´s so funny to see that even the lunch lady is affected. All Comments | Link8 | Plain SimpleNov 14, 2007 As we find out later in the series (it might even be in Angel the Series) Spike was a failed poet in his pre-vampire time, which makes his 'lungs' remark even funnier in retrospect. All Comments | Link9 | AndrewJan 11, 2008 Damn good. I actually think this is my favourite episode so far (yes, I haven't watched Buffy 'till now. Sue me). Halloween, School Hard, and the previous episode, Phases, all give it a run for it's money, though. The scene in Xander's bedroom with him and Willow was just brilliant. But I think my absolute favourite bit was Amy casting the spell to turn Buffy into a rat- she sounds and looks so cool while doing it. It's also nice that, instead of getting up, pointing her arms at Buffy, and casting the spell, she begins casting it while still down, and gets up ready to point at Buffy at it's completion. This is eminently sensible. All Comments | Link10 | BillFeb 8, 2008 I think you are missing the point with your one minus. The way in which Xander is treated is actually completely realistic, not just for Xander, but also for the classic cool person dating the very uncool person and they break-up scenario. But there are a few reasons why the reactions that Xander gets fit perfectly, 1) Xander is known, but not for the reasons he wants to be known. As the first three years show he is very well known at his school for being a giant joke. He thinks he's being funny and he tries to hide behind his attempt to be the class clown, but at the end of the day he fails in that regard as well. His fellow students don't regard him as the class clown, they view him as truly pathetic, and this plays out in all his interactions with other students, especially the popular ones where he is always the butt of the joke. 2) Cordelia is incredibly well known, and the Prom Queen figure slumming it with one of the most pathetic figures in the school would be known by just about everyone. It doesn't matter what Cordelia sees in Xander, because all the rest of the school sees is the most popular girl in school with the biggest loser in the school. That doesn't make sense to them, and leads to the reactions. This brings us to the reactions, all of the above adds to what you get, fellow students laughing at and mocking Xander. The break-up was initialized by Cordy and this further proves to the students that Xander is a loser, and that this is just one more case of him showing just how big of a loser he can be. Not only was he dumped, but he was dumped on Valentine's Day. In that situation, at any school in America, someone like Xander would be mocked and ridiculed for all he is worth, because that is how the high school social strata operates. All Comments | Link11 | FedSep 26, 2008 I don't know. If a girl would out of the blue act incredibly attracted to me even if I didn't cast a love spell I'd be really reluctant to give in, especially as Buffy has gone on record to say she doesn't like Xander like that. This is why I never bought Buffy thanking him for not taking advantage of her during her bewitched period as it would for a normal person like him be considered false and essentially 'rape'. All Comments | Link12 | RekidkNov 11, 2008 First-time Buffy-watcher, first-time commenter. I just wanted to note that Cordelia going to her locker to remove the necklace that she had secretly been wearing was incredibly touching, and possibly the highlight of the episode for me (despite all the other awesomeness that was going on). BTW, great reviews! I love your site - you help me pick up on all the things that I miss when watching Buffy. :D All Comments | Link13 | SamNov 22, 2008 Delicious. Hands down the funniest episode in the entire series, and quotable from beginning to end. Great review, Mike! Some of my faves: Drusilla: Oh Angel! Angelus: I knew you'd like it. I found it in a quaint little shopgirl. Giles: Valentine's Day. Oh, yes. Angel nails a puppy to... Buffy: Skip it. Giles: But he... Buffy: I don't wanna know. I don't have a puppy. Skip it. Giles: Right you are. Xander: I don't want to use force! Willow: Force is okay. Amy: He loves me. Jenny: No one can love two people at once. What we have is real. Giles: Instead of making me ill, why don't you sit down and try to help me. Cordelia: What are you doing? Make me yak! Joyce: Cordelia, go back upstairs. Cordelia: Gross, I think not... and keep your mom-aged mitts off my boyfriend. Former! Why has everyone gone insane? Xander: Is it so hard for you to believe that women find me attractive? Cordelia: The only way you could get girls to like you would be witchcraft. Xander: That is such a... okay, good point. Cordelia: I do what I wanna do, I wear what I wanna wear, and you know what, I date whoever the hell I wanna date... no matter how lame he is. All Comments | Link14 | EmilyMar 9, 2009 I think it's incredibly ironic that Angel tells Spike that his plan of ripping Buffy's lungs out "lacks poetry" when it's really William the Bloody who's the poet. Another part that's very well done in this episode is that they were once again stuck in the basement, which is where I think Cordelia was beginning to think of getting back together with him Putting the wood together to block people even if they got through the door was also a nice foreshadowing of Xander's future carpenter ability. All Comments | Link15 | NixMar 14, 2009 LibMax, nice comment on the source of the homicidal backspin, but I think there's something more to it. The original love spell was to 'Diana, goddess of love and the hunt'. Thus, when each affected woman's protestations of love was rejected, she turned to the hunt instead... All Comments | Link16 | LeoApr 4, 2009 Okay, maybe I just have a sick mind, and I've watched too much season six or whatever, but am I the only one who thought Angel wasn't going to Buffy's house to kill her? When I first saw the episode, and he makes the remark about "Perfect. I wanted to do something special for Buffy - actually - to Buffy. But this is so much better." I got the feeling he was talking about some kind of rape. I dunno, I mean, Angelus is damnright cruel, and it is Valentines day. Seems like his kind of thing to do. But I spose it all depends on how you take his comment. And we know how messed up that would make Buffy, especially after seeing how Spike's attempt hurt her. All Comments | Link17 | EmilyMay 11, 2009 Leo, I don't think that's so far out there. The only question, if this is true, is why didn't he rape her? All Comments | Link18 | O_HaiMay 17, 2009 The thing I love about this series is the fact that the writers weren't afraid to break from the darkness and drama (both of which are surprisingly potent) and have a little fun every now and then, and lots of goofy fun was had here. "I know what your face wants!" *BAM* Easily my favorite moment of the episode! All Comments | Link19 | SunburnSep 19, 2009 Love this too, and my absolute favourite bits are Giles's reactions to Jenny falling under the spell too... the way he loses his doubts *extremely* quickly when he notices Jenny involuntarily stroking Xander, then the way he nearly leaves without her but rushes back to retrieve her and drag her reluctantly away! LOL-o-rama! All Comments | Link20 | NiaJan 22, 2010 @ 9:23am Leo, I always wondered about whether or not Angelus was planning on raping Buffy in that scene too. As well as when he goes to the hospital to see her in Killed by Death. Both times he didn't meet up with Buffy because Xander was there. We know that Angelus was a rapist(Holtz wife, nuns, etc). All Comments | Link21 | LizzieJun 29, 2010 @ 11:36am Xander: "Blackmail is such an ugly word." Amy: "I didn't say blackmail." Xander: "Yeah, but I'm about to blackmail you so I thought I'd bring it up." Choking with laughter! All Comments | Link22 | AerylJul 2, 2010 @ 1:12pm The one thing I always thought, was that since the spell was to make Cordy fall in love with Xander, and she already was, that was why she was unaffected, and it bounced onto to everyone else. All Comments | Link23 | DanAug 17, 2010 @ 10:18pm I just saw a rerun of this episode, and I remembered something: Angel nearly killed Xander in this episode. He was hilariously saved (for a minute) by Drusilla, but there's no doubt what was about to happen. As far as I'm concerned all the Angel lovers who rag on Xander because he didn't tell Buffy that Willow was attempting to restore his soul at the end of the season and that he was the most vocal in his disapproval of Buffy's behavior re: Angel next season can suck it. I don't care how much my friend is in love with a guy, if he tried to kill me, I'd behave the way Xander does as well. I'm guessing people tend to forget about this attempted murder because it happens in a light-hearted episode, but I don't blame Xander for remembering it. I knew there was a reason I didn't blame the guy in those instances and it was nice to see it for myself again. This episode is definitely a comic highlight in the series' entire run. Giles is in fantastic disgusted form and Xander's faceplant on the table when Joyce starts putting the moves on him is priceless. I love how Charisma Carpenter delivered the "...my boyfriend! Former!" line in this scene too. Nicholas Brendon plays the straight man really well here. All Comments | Link24 | DarthMarionAug 18, 2010 @ 4:59am You know, Willow is trying to kill him here too. If Giles comes in and say that Xander has a choice between reversing the spell or kill her, well it's obvious... He tried to rape Buffy in season one (in an episode disturbingly reminiscent of the Angelus arc). They are many examples of scoobies almost killing the others because of a change of personality induced by magic. And when you are offered to restore their original personality why would you kill them? Xander's behavior is understandable. It is, but his lack of respect for Buffy's (quite rational) decisions and autonomy on this is distasteful. I don't despise his hurting feelings, his anger or his rejection of Angel, I despise his lashing out on Buffy, his acid words against her. Ther others can control themselves, I believe I'm not asking too much from him. For the record I'm far from an Angel lover ^^. All Comments | Link25 | DimitriOct 28, 2010 @ 3:15pm The thing with Cordelia secretly wearing the neclace and removing it by hinding behind her locker is just so.. emotional! All Comments | Link26 | AfterthebattleDec 29, 2010 @ 4:42am I like that Buffy says that Amy is "the last person that should be messing with that stuff" when talking about magic. All Comments | Link27 | debisibJan 6, 2011 @ 9:25am Xander: we should be safe up here Angelus: works in theory (pulls xander out the window) One of Angel's most badass moments... how did no one mention this? All Comments | Link28 | Captain HaddockSep 13, 2011 @ 7:22am Slight nitpick, but in high school, we used to say things like, "way to get dumped, dumpee mc dumperson" all the time to each other, then we'd have a five second slap fight. Yes, we were jerks, but we were also 15 and very influenced by television. Besides, in a cliquey school like Sunnydale, I can totally see one of the students saying something like that, especially to a character as low on the totem pole as Xander. All Comments | Link29 | sigmuphiJun 3, 2012 @ 7:17pm Surprised that no one has pointed this out so far: a subtle reinforcement of how Giles views his responsibility as Watcher (and his affection for Buffy). When he and Amy are working on reversing the spells, which one does he have her reverse first? The scenes are rotating rapidly between the murderous rampage of Xander's countless rejected lovers and the Buffy-rat's encounter with the rat trap, inter-cut with the progress on the spells. And even though we're seeing the urgency -- that imminent death may be a consequence of both spells -- it's Hecate, not Diana, who hears the first plea. All Comments | Link30 | ItAin'tAeschylusAug 7, 2012 @ 2:36pm I was surprised by the show's research department in this episode. They get Hecate right: Greek godess of magic and sorcery (among other things). But they're off about "Diana" (Artemis is the Greek name). Artemis IS the goddess of the hunt, but she had nothing to do with romantic/erotic love. That was Aphrodite and/or Eros. Just a nitpicky remark from a Greek mythology buff(y). All Comments | Link31 | Ryan ONeilAug 27, 2012 @ 7:56am Which is exactly why the ritual didn't work: the writers didn't not do their research, Amy did not, and invoking the goddess of the hunt instead of the goddess of love turned everybody violent, as they viewed him more as prey (interesting inversion of the hyena-possession) than as a purely romantic interest is what I'm telling myself All Comments | Link32 | Rob WAug 29, 2012 @ 10:31am Amy's spell at the beginning of the episode shows that she was already headed down the wrong path with magic, but I have to wonder whether Xander might have pushed her a little farther down it. She initially objected to the impure use of a love spell, but gets talked into compromising that principle. Seeds of S6 & 7 being sown here? Also, excellent -- and unexpected -- use of Drusilla here. All Comments | Link33 | Ryan ONeilNov 7, 2012 @ 3:55pm *in reply to Rob W (#32) Dru was HILARIOUS!!Two more things I just realized: 1) Xander and Cordelia both realize that being popular isn't necessarily what they want (another supernatural high school metaphor with Xander getting the supernatural part). 2) Xander forgot BOTH lessons he learned in this episode: don't mess around with magic (if he was telling the truth in the musical instead of just covering for Dawn), and how hideously it sucks to be broken up with on Valentine's Day (or right before a wedding: right decision, certainly, WRONG time) All Comments | Link34 | junNov 28, 2012 @ 7:25am *in reply to Ryan ONeil (#31) I like that interpretation!All Comments | Link35 | SummerDec 18, 2012 @ 4:59pm Sooooooooo glad you gave this an A, Mike! It deserves it. This ep is probably top 10 for me in the series... it's an old favorite but looking back at it now it accomplishes a lot. I like the theory about the love spell not working on Cordy cuz she's already in love. I'm gonna go with that :) All Comments | Link36 | Bleedin' WhedonFeb 23, 2013 @ 5:25pm One of my favorite touches in this episode: Xander blocks the library door, then Buffy walks right in, 'cause it's a pull door. Also: Xander falls from a roof onto his back, then gets right up. I know this happens all the time in TV and movies, but damn, that's a serious MOI for spine. All Comments | Link37 | Great WhazooMar 9, 2013 @ 4:31pm *in reply to Ryan ONeil (#31) Amy invokes the powers of Dianna, goddess of love and of the hunt. She speaks that in her cantation and is mythicalogically correct. Therefore, the rejection of love brings the hunter and prey action. I'm thinking that's a decent plot line.All Comments | Link38 | Ryan ONeilMar 9, 2013 @ 4:41pm *in reply to Great Whazoo (#37) Really? I thought Artemis/Diana was a virgin.All Comments | Link39 | StakeAndCheeseMar 9, 2013 @ 7:44pm *in reply to Ryan ONeil (#38) You're right Ryan. I took a classics class last semester, so I'm busting out some knowledge.Post a Comment
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Haha - "What rhymes with lungs"! Is anyone else getting flashbacks to Fool For Love and "gleaming"?