Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered
The night before Valentine's Day, Xander shows Buffy his V-Day gift for
Cordy: a necklace with a heart-shaped pendant. After cracking a few jokes,
Buffy assures Xander that Cordy will love his gift. She then slays a vampire
which rises from its grave, and they continue on with their conversation.
The next morning, Harmony and her friends are shunning Cordy from their
discussion groups. They mock Cordy for dating Xander, whom they perceive to
be one of the biggest losers in Sunnydale. Elsewhere, Amy asks Willow and
Buffy if they plan on attending the V-Day party at the Bronze later that
night. Willow is going to see Oz play in the band, while Buffy plans on
staying home. As everyone leaves and hands in their assignment, Xander
notices that Amy does not have a paper to turn in. To his surprise, he
watches as Amy stares at Miss Beakman, the teacher. Miss Beakman then
reaches out her hand, as if she is taking Amy's paper which doesn't even
exist. Amy then turns and leaves. Xander catches up with Buffy and Willow,
telling them that he suspects Amy of messing around with witchcraft. Buffy
and Willow remind him that it was Amy's mother, Catherine, who was the
witch, and that Amy would never fool around with it. Giles spots Buffy and
approaches her. Jenny Calendar sees them and walks over, but Giles brushes
her off, saying that he and Buffy are busy at the moment. In the library,
Giles warns Buffy that Angel has a long past of committing horrid acts on
Valentine's Day. He refuses to tell Buffy any specifics, however, but he
does suggest that she be careful. Meanwhile, in the factory, Spike and Angel
give Drusilla their V-Day gifts. Spike gives her a necklace, while Angel
gives her a freshly torn-out heart.
That night, Buffy receives a box of roses, which were left at her doorstep.
Buffy opens the box and finds a card with only one word written on it:
"Soon". At the Bronze, Xander sees Cordy and walks over to give her his
gift. After admiring the necklace for a moment, Cordy breaks up with him.
Xander is righteously furious, and it only gets worse for him the next day,
as everyone in school seems to know that they broke up. Xander then notices
Amy walking around, so he runs over and tells her that he knows she's
practicing witchcraft. With the upper hand, Xander strikes a deal with Amy:
help him cast a love spell on Cordy, and nobody will have to know that she's
a witch. After arguing the idea for a while, Amy concedes and tells Xander
that she needs a personal item of Cordelia's. Xander finds Cordy near her
locker and demands that she return the necklace he gave her. Cordy says it's
in her locker, but when she opens it, she hides behind the locker door so
she can remove the necklace from her neck without Xander seeing. Meanwhile,
Buffy walks into the library and shows Giles the "Soon" card. Buffy demands
that Giles tell her everything she needs to know about Angel and Valentine's
Day, so Giles sits her down and proceeds to read various anecdotes from his
books.
In a darkened room, Amy and Xander perform the spell that should cause Cordy
to fall in love with him. However, Xander soon finds out that the spell had
no effect on Cordy. He walks into the library where Buffy is still listening
to Giles read his books. Buffy consoles Xander, then suggests that they
spend some time together that night. Buffy's suggestions get increasingly
lurid, but before they get too close, Amy walks in and tells Xander that she
needs to have a word with him. Outside in the hall, Amy tells Xander that
the spell didn't work. Xander could care less now, seeing how his dreams of
Buffy and himself are finally being fulfilled. However, Amy then suggests
that they spend some time together later that night, without the spells and
other witchcraft. Xander grows suspicious, and his fears are confirmed when
another girl approaches and asks him to accompany her that night. Xander
realizes that the spell actually worked. However, instead of affecting
Cordy, it zapped every other girl in Sunnydale. Xander goes home to avoid
everybody, only to find Willow waiting for him in his bed. Willow wants to
him to take her right there in his bed, and when things get a little too
steamy between them, Xander pushes her off and runs off.
The next day, every single girl in the school ogles Xander as he walks down
the hall. He quickly enters the library and tells Giles everything that's
going on. Before Giles can process the information, Jenny walks in and tells
Giles that they need to talk. However, her attention quickly shifts to
Xander, proving that the spell affected not only the girls, but every single
female in town. Giles gets between the two and berates Xander for causing
all this to happen. He then leaves Xander in the library, dragging Jenny
along with him. After they leave, Xander tries to barricade the entrance to
the library, but Buffy simply walks in, wearing nothing but a raincoat. She
seductively asks Xander to undress her, but he can't, for he knows that what
Buffy is doing is not out of attraction for him, but simply a result of the
spell. Just then, Amy arrives and tells Buffy to leave. Instead, Buffy
punches her to the floor. Angered, Amy gets up and casts a spell on Buffy,
turning her into the small rat. Giles and Jenny return just then. While
Xander and Giles try to catch the rat, Oz walks into the library and punches
Xander for whatever he did to depress Willow. While Xander assures Oz that
nothing happened, the rat escapes through the partly-opened library door.
Realizing that the rat is gone, Giles commands Xander and Oz to find the rat
while he tries to get Amy to reverse the spells. Giles soon determines that
Amy must have made a mistake in the casting that caused Cordy to be
protected by the spell instead of affected by it.
In the hallway, Xander notices a fight breaking out. To his horror, he sees
a mob of girls beating on Cordy. The mob is angry at Cordy for breaking
Xander's heart. Rushing in through the love-crazed girls, Xander pulls Cordy
out of the pack and runs away with her. They run outside, only to find
Willow and dozens of other girls. Willow is wielding an axe, for she would
rather see Xander dead than with Cordy. While the mobs of girls battle each
other, Xander and Cordy escape through the commotion and end up at Buffy's
house. Joyce lets them in and, after sending Cordy upstairs to get some
bandages, starts seducing Xander. Cordy is sickened by this, so she pushes
Joyce outside. Joyce punches through the door window and struggles to unlock
the door, so Xander and Cordy run upstairs and hide in Buffy's room.
Thinking they're safe, Angel suddenly arrives and pulls Xander through the
window and throws him to the ground below. Before Angel can kill him,
Drusilla arrives and protects Xander. While Angel leaves, Dru offers
immortal life to Xander. Before she can sink his teeth into his neck, the
mob of girls finally track them down. They pull Xander away from Dru and
pile up on top of Xander. Cordy runs out and pulls Xander out from the pile
before quickly running back inside. All the girls chase them into the house.
That is, everyone except Dru. Angel reminds her that she can't get in
without an invitation. Xander and Cordy run into the basement and lock
themselves in there. Meanwhile, Oz tracks the rat into the school basement.
The rat is first menaced by a cat, then approaches a mouse trap. Upstairs,
Giles and Amy perform the reversal spells. They first reverse the spell on
Buffy, causing her to transform back to her human self. She quickly realizes
that she is completely naked, so she asks Oz to find her some clothes. While
Giles and Amy work on reversing the love spell, the mob of girls break open
the basement door. Xander and Cordy run downstairs, but there's nowhere to
go. Soon, all the girls gang up on top of them. Finally, Giles and Amy
complete the reversal spell, and everybody returns to normal. All the girls
look around, completely confused as to what's going on. Cordy makes up an
excuse that they had just finished a scavenger hunt.
The next day, Buffy thanks Xander for not taking advantage of her the
previous day. It seems that everybody retained their memory of what occurred
during the run of the spell. Xander then bumps into Harmony, who is walking
with Cordy and the rest of their friends. After Harmony mocks Xander, Cordy
has had enough. She rips on Harmony and tells everybody that she can date
whoever she wants to date. Cordy then walks over to Xander and takes his
hand. Cordy is horrified by what she's just done, but Xander comforts her,
and the two of them walk off, together again.