Original Air Date: February 10, 1998
Written by Marti Noxon
Directed by James A. Conter
Summary
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 know, 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.
Miscellaneous Info
-The script called for Buffy to be changed
into a rat for a good portion of the episode to free up sarah
Michelle Gellar to spend a week in New York hosting Saturday
Night Live.
-Oz's guitar is inscribed with the words "Sweet J".
Quote of the Week
Buffy: Slaying is a tad more perilous than
dating.
Xander: Obviously you're not dating Cordelia
My Rating
3.5/5
Cast
