Season 2, Episode 16 | Aired: 10 February 1998 | Written by: Marti Noxon | Directed by: James A. Contner
A Valentine’s Day episode in which Xander’s love spell goes catastrophically wrong — affecting every woman in Sunnydale except the one it was meant for. The result is comedy of a fairly dark variety, and one of the season’s more purely entertaining hours.
What Happens
Cordelia breaks up with Xander on Valentine’s Day to avoid social embarrassment. Xander, furious, goes to Amy (now practicing magic after the events of Witch) and persuades her to cast a love spell on Cordelia. The spell backfires — instead of compelling Cordelia’s love, it transfers to every other woman nearby, leaving Cordelia unaffected. Buffy, Willow, Joyce, Jenny, and eventually most of Sunnydale are all desperately in love with Xander. This is not as good as it sounds.
Angelus, delighted by the chaos, also falls under the spell — and his response to Xander is characteristically murderous. The mob of lovesick women becomes increasingly dangerous. Amy turns Xander into a rat to protect him. The spell is reversed. Cordelia, having watched the chaos, gets back together with Xander anyway.
Key Moments
Joyce’s behaviour under the spell is the episode’s most uncomfortable element — mothers and students alike affected, the spell indiscriminate. The show plays it for comedy while acknowledging that the situation is genuinely disturbing, which is a difficult tonal balance that it mostly lands.
Cordelia’s final choice to stay with Xander despite the social cost is the episode’s emotional note — braver than anything else in it, and a real character moment for her.
Monster / Villain
Amy’s misfired love spell — the monster-of-the-week is a magical accident, and the most dangerous thing in the episode is an angry mob of women who aren’t responsible for their own actions.
Notable Quote
“I’m a love machine.” — Xander, briefly, before things get terrible.
Where It Fits
A tonal break in a season that by this point is getting very dark. Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered earns its comedy and uses it to do real character work for Xander and Cordelia. Also the episode where Angelus gets to be funny in a menacing way, which is harder than it sounds.