Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered

Xander is a character who represents the lovable loser who we always root for. Sometimes he steps up (saving Buffy more than once!), but socially and romantically he takes a lot of hits, so this premise is pure fun. I love the ending too!

After so many really intense episodes, this comes along. Granted we still have Angel, Drusilla, and Spike, but they walk into a den of ridiculousness and are squelched. Xander has the witch girl create a love spell, but it backfires and every woman he encounters falls in love with him, in the most possessive ways. He can't take two steps without being mobbed by women. Even a cook with a rolling pin. If they can't have him, they decide it is better to kill him. Even Buffy's mother pulls a kitchen knife on him. Ultimately, Buffy gets turned into a rat (to add to the stupidity factor). I guess a break was needed and this worked pretty well.

Overall, Xander's character has not held up to time as well as the others which is commonly acknowledged in the fandom. This episode is one of the ones that makes this the most obvious. While there are some good Xander focused eps (Zeppo!) this is not one of them. The premise of the ep is full of red flags, specifically: In his on-brand immature fashion he blackmails (!) Amy into putting a love spell(!) on Cordelia after she breaks up with him (!). It goes wrong, chaos ensues - some funny, some borderline problematic.

The good: one of the earlier spells gone wrong eps which are always funny. Cordelia's story arch with her friends and her genuine confusion she still can't get it right is strong and we see some of her emotional depth and later (fab) character development here. It is portrayed that he has done a bad thing but I think it did need to be cotextualised more than it was.

The bad: other than the obvious red flags, I think it is shocking Cordelia gets back together with Xander after all this without so much as discussing how horrible his reaction to the breakup was and that his intention, if it had not gone wrong, was for the spell to make her love him.

Fun fact - Sarah Michelle Gellar is a rat in this one because she needed less screentime to work on another project. They had to put parts of this ep together fairly quickly for this to work which goes a short way to excuse some of the storyline.

Overall: I'd agree it's a funny episode and I wouldn't skip it in a rewatch, but especially with the news about Joss Whedon that have since come to light (on whom the Xander character is loosely based on) this one just doesn't sit right with me especially as part of a generally feminist show.

I have to recognize that I have a soft spot for episodes that don't take themselves too seriously, be it "Buffy", "X-Files" or "Supernatural". The ones that have a very silly premise for the plot, and play all of its running time with a constant wink to the viewer.

In this episode, Xander is depressed after Cordelia break's up with him before Valentine, because, you know, appearances. Cue Xander teaming up with long forgotten character Amy, now, as her mother before, also a witch. Xander just wants Cordelia to go through the same sad and depressing feelings he is going through, but the spell doesn't work... well, as intended, and all the women start to love him, and obsess around him.

From that moment on it is all silly plot development after silly plot development, but so perfectly done, that the viewer won't be able to stop laughing. It's the kind of episodes that make casual viewers become fans, and that, after all the plot and background have already been set, gives life to a show and helps the viewer relate to the characters. It is an episode that doesn't just go for laughs (there are quite a lot of them), but also offers a lot in character development and is, in its own way, quite realistic in that respect.

Very, but very funny episode. Classic.

Chaos ensures (once again) as this time Xander fiddles with blackmail and magic to change his fortunes. Good deeper lesson, lots of funny circumstances, and action to go along with the tale. A bit of a side-quest from the main plotline so not a lot of advancement to the situations of everyone else, but we get a little more character insight to Xander and Cordelia.

Something was unsettling about the show but cannot quite place my finger on it, and the wrap-up was usual like I had seen it before with the one involving Chemistry class. Having a difficult time believing that Xander did NOT take full advantage of his situation which he was trying to get into since the inception of the series, but hey, I suppose he had to remain slightly noble to continue with the Scooby crew.