Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered
It's Valentine's Day, and all is not well. Giles is concerned for Buffy, given Angel's past history of tormenting people on this particular holiday, and Cordelia has noticed a downsurge in her popularity since her relationship with Xander went public. As Angel leaves a box of roses for Buffy with a note saying, "Soon", Cordy breaks up with Xander just after he gives her a gorgeous silver locket as a Valentine's Day present. Now the laughingstock of the entire school, a heartbroken Xander turns to Amy-who has decided to take on her mother's calling of witchcraft-for a love spell that would make Cordelia love him and allow him to dump her, giving her a taste of the hamuliation he's enduring. The spell backfires and instead makes every woman in Sunnydale except Cordelia fall for Xander. This leads to fierce jealousy and mob rage(Amy at one point transforms Buffy into a rat), as the entire female populationof Sunnydale-including Drusilla and Joyce Summers-tries to kill both Xander(for not loving them)and Cordelia(for breaking his heart). With Giles's help, Amy reverses the spell, and things revert to something resembling normal in Sunnydale, whatever that is.
Xander buys an expensive gift for Cordelia, which he gives to her before she breaks up with him. Xander-who had asked Buffy to pick his clothes for the evenings(she picks a wardrobe that looks like it comes straight from Angel's closet)-is devastated, to say the least, especially given that the breakup is on Valentine's Day. After learning the extent to which she broke Xander's heart, not to mention the realization that dumping Xander to satisfy her shallow friends was simply not worth it, Cordelia gets back together with him. Oz and Willow's relationship continues apace, and when Willow's love-spelled heart is broken by Xander not returning her affections, she spends all night crying on the phone to Oz. On the vampire side of things, the love triangle among the bad guys thickens: Spike gets Drusilla a piece of Jewelry, but Angel gives her a heart-ripped from the chest of a "quaint little shop girl"-which she seems to like better, to Spike's annoyance. Jenny makes two attempts to reconcile with Giles following the events of "Innocence", but the first cut off by circumstances, and the second by Jenny falling victim to the love spell.
Email: jonlaframboise@yahoo.com
