Gingerbread

Joyce accompanies Buffy on her slaying one night by the park and discovers two dead children. She is extremely shaken by this and seeks comfort in Buffy. The two children are about six and eight and have strange symbols on their hands.

Buffy tries to get help from Giles, and shows him the symbol that was on their hands. He tells her that it is most likely witchcraft.

Xander, Willow, Oz, and Amy meet for lunch and try to discuss Buffy's birthday, but Buffy shows up. She tells them about the dead children and how her mother isn't handling it well. Then, her mother shows up. She starts talking about finding who did it and such. She says that she called everyone she knew and is holding a meeting at city hall.

That night at city hall, hundreds of people show up, including Willow's mom. The mayor speaks, and then Joyce makes a speech about getting up and doing something. She announces that she is beginning an action committee.

Three witches are conjuring a spell that involves the symbol found on the children. One is Amy. The other is Willow.

At school the next day, Buffy has to get a book from Willow that will help Giles find the witches. Buffy looks and finds Willow's notebook with the symbol all over it. She confronts Willow, but before she can explain, the police burst in a start searching lockers. Their looking for witch stuff, and find some in Willow's locker. Willow tells Buffy that the symbol was for a protection spell, but now it's broken.

Buffy goes to the library to find the police raiding the library. They are taking all of Giles's books. Principle Snyder informs Buffy that the whole thing is due to MOO, Mother's Opposed to the Occult, and it has been started by her mother.

At Willow's house, Willow tries to tell her mother that she's a witch, but she doesn't believe her. She has an outburst and rattles on all her "witch credentials". She also indulges her dating a musician.

Buffy confronts her mother about raiding the library, but she won't back down. Joyce tells Buffy that she doesn't believe that the slayer is really doing anything for Sunnydale. As Buffy leaves, Joyce begins talking to the dead children.

Buffy goes to the playground and sees Angel. She finds comfort in him; telling him how bad she's feeling about slaying. She uses the metaphor with the Dutch kid who stuck his finger in the damn, how it keeps getting stronger. Angel brings up stuff about kids and their parents.

She rushes to the library, where Giles is attempting to tackle the internet. Buffy brings up that the kids don't have names or parents. They find reports of other dead children in other towns, under the same circumstances, every fifty years. The earliest case of these dead children, was in the 1600's, and their names were Hansel and Gretel.

Willow is locked in her room and then her mother takes her away. Buffy and Giles go to Buffy's house and her mother knocks them out because the dead kids told her too. They take Willow, Buffy, and Amy to city hall and plan to burn them at the stake.

At Buffy's house, Cordelia wakes Giles up. Cordelia cracks jokes while they try to get to city hall.

Joyce lights the stakes and Amy does a spell to save herself. She turns herself into a rat and crawls off.

Meanwhile, Oz and Xander hear Buffy and Willow screaming and crawl into the air ducts in order to get to them.

As the fire burns higher, Willow and Buffy try to plead with their parents, but to no avail. Giles and Cordelia arrive and Cordy puts out the fire. Giles recites a spell and the demons resort to their true form. The demon is big and incredibly nasty. Buffy uses the top of her stake to plunge it through it's heart. After it has been killed, Oz and Xander crash through the ceiling.

Willow and Buffy are attempting a spell at Willow's house, and Willow tells Buffy that her mother doesn't remember all the witch stuff. The spell is unsuccessful, so Amy remains a rat.

I loved this episode! After feeling deprived of Buffy for many weeks, this was a welcome comeback. And, it is a great improvement over last years Bad Eggs. Firstly, I loved the overall witch plot. But, I think they crammed that whole "fairy tales are real" thing in and it kind of ruined it. Brownie points for the German useage! Anyway, in an episode that isn't that great, there is always one scene that can turn it around and make it a happy memory. This episode had two: Angel and Buffy in the playground. The duck/dike thing was fantastic! Basically that joke was it for me. Two: Cordelia and Giles. They stole the episode. That, if anything, makes me sad that she's leaving for the spinoff. Joss needs to compensate by putting them together as much as possible.