It's try-out time for the Sunnydale High cheer-leading squad, so Buffy decides to give it a shot, along with bitchy Cordelia Chase and pretty blonde Amy (Elizabeth Anne Allen), whose mother was a top cheerleader back in her day. Buffy and Cordelia make the cut, but Amy is put on the reserves. When the girls chosen for the squad start to meet bizarre fates, Buffy and her pals believe that someone is using witchcraft, and that that someone is Amy!
Call me shallow if you like, but any episode that gets both Sarah Michelle Gellar and Charisma Carpenter into cheer-leading outfits is already a winner in my book. But perky young women jiggling their pom-poms aside, I enjoyed this episode for its nifty Wiccan storyline that keeps the viewer guessing until the end, the inventive fates dished out to those who get in the way of Amy's ambitions, the battle between Buffy and the witch, and a creepy final shot that feels like something out of a Twilight Zone episode. With this episode, I really feel like Buffy Season 1 shifted up another gear.
7.5 out of 10, rounded up to 8 for IMDb.
