Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Gingerbread

"Gingerbread" is the eleventh episode of season three of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the forty-fifth episode of the series overall. It was directed by James Whitmore, Jr. with a teleplay written by Jane Espenson. The story was written by Espenson and Thania St. John. It first aired on the WB Network on Tuesday, January 12th, 1999. In this episode, the bodies of two small children are discovered with strange markings upon them. This leads the citizens of Sunnydale to believe that witchcraft is involved and Joyce Summers establishes a watch group called MOO (Mothers Opposed to the Occult). The townsfolk take a "Burning Times" approach to the issue and things become heated for Sunnydale's resident witches, particularly Willow Rosenberg and Amy Madison.

Notes & Trivia

 * This episode has been made available on Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Chosen Collection and disc three of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Complete Third Season DVD collections.


 * Production code number: 3ABB11.

Quotes

 * Joyce Summers: This is not a good town. How many of us have-have lost someone who... who just disappeared... or got skinned or suffered 'neck rupture'? And how many of us have been too afraid to speak out? I-I was supposed to lead us in a moment of silence, but, silence is this town's disease. For too long we-we've been plagued by unnatural evils. This isn't our town anymore. It belongs to the monsters, and the witches and the Slayers.


 * Xander Harris: Oh man, it's Nazi Germany. And, I've got Playboys in my locker.


 * Buffy Summers: Mom, dead people are talking to you! Do the math.


 * Willow Rosenberg: I worship Beelzebub. I do his biddings. Do you see any goats around? No, because I sacrificed them.


 * Cordelia Chase: I swear, one of these times, you're gonna wake up in a coma.


 * Rupert Giles: Some demons thrive by fostering hatred and-and, uh, persecution amongst the mortal animals. Not by not by destroying men, but by watching men destroy each other. Now they feed us our darkest fear and turn peaceful communities into vigilantes.


 * Willow Rosenberg: Mom! I'm not acting out. I'm a witch. I, I can make pencils float. And I can summon the four elements! Okay, two, but four soon. And, and I'm dating a musician!


 * Cordelia Chase: Everyone knows that witches killed those kids. And If you hang with them, expect badness, 'cause that's what you get when you hang with freaks and losers. Believe me, I know. That was a pointed comment about me hanging with you guys.