Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered

Another Xander-centric episode. It seems like comic relief and a break from the evil that is Angel, but there's some character building that is worth noting. Xander gets Cordy a silver heart necklace, and it must be nice--Buffy likes it, and Cordy's first reaction is very appreciative. In the scene where Xander gives her his heart (yea, go with the schmaltzy symbolism), he makes a speech about how he sees something in her, and in their relationship, that isn't apparent at first look. Her reaction, though, is to break up with him. She's losing too much social status over him, and they don't make sense.

So....Xander has Amy do a love potion to make Cordy fall in love, not forever, though. He wants to make her go through the heartache and social stigma that he's experiencing. Like most spells at this point in the show, it goes awry. Every female except Cordy--including Jenny and Joyce and the lunch lady--are desperate for Xander's attention.

At the end of this spell, Buffy (and presumably all the girls) know what they did while enchanted. Buffy talks to Xander about how she tried to get him to undress her, and gives him high marks for resisting. While she was under the spell, he makes a whole speech about how he would if she had any clue how much it would mean to him, but since she doesn't, he doesn't want to. It's an echo of Oz's speech about not kissing Willow until she is kissing him back--seems like a trend. A man doesn't take what's offered until it matters emotionally as well as physically? Not sure how I'd word it yet, but there's a definite trend.

This is the first time we see Amy as a witch, and we're immediately hit with Amy's penchant for rat spells. Gee, wonder if that's going to show up again! And we hear more examples of Angel's torturous side, but it turns comic in this case; instead of getting Xander to hurt/kill/vamp, Dru saves Xander till the angry crowd of females saves Xander from Dru.

Here's the point worth noting: As angry as Giles was with Xander for messing with the forces of darkness--calling him "selfish" and "a fool"--Xander faces no consequences. It's a slightly comic break from the meta-plot, not a tragic building up towards Angel's evil climax. That's true of "Once More With Feeling," when Xander messes with magic, that time causing at least one death, yet he's teflon. Curious. Willow and Buffy don't get that much of a get out of jail free card. Neither do Angel, Spike and Faith when they mess up. Is it possible that because the writers (Joss especially) identifies strongly with Xander, he slids through? Maybe....