Buffy Episode Witch

In the episode, "Witch", Buffy and other characters battle with the pressures of parents. During the episode Buffy tries out for the cheerleading squad. Amy tells Buffy that her mom was one of the best cheerleaders at Sunnydale High School. Strange things start to happen to the cheerleaders that made the team. Buffy and her friends conclude that all of the strange things that happened might have something to do with Amy. It turns out that Amy's mom switched bodies with Amy. This episode is an example of how parents put pressure on their kids to live out their own dreams.

This show contains a monster in each episode, and the monster in the episode is Katherine, Amy's mom. In two different ways Katherine is a monster. Katherine is a witch and that makes her a monster in the sense of horror. During the final fight between Buffy and Katherine, her eyes turn black. The look when she is casting a spell is monstrous. Katherine is also a monster because of the things she has done to her daughter

During the episode, Katherine hurts others to get what she wants. People do not have a choice of what their actions are, because Katherine controls them by taking away their free will. During the episode she is willing to take her daughter's body so that she can relive her glory days. At one point Katherine takes Delia's vision away to get the cheerleading spot. In the episode, Amy talks about how her parents split up, and her dad would always call her a witch. After he left things got worse. Amy's mom was hurt and wanted to go back to the days where she was treated like royalty. The amount of pressure she puts on Amy to be exactly like her in high school is too much for Amy to handle. Amy did not want to be a cheerleader, but her mom would not accept anything else. Amy looses her free will to her mom. 

Parents live through their kids in many different ways. It can happen in sports, schooling, music, or even relationships with other people. Parents become overbearing and control everything their children do. They do not let their children live out their own lives. There are many reasons why parents do this to their children, but in a lot of cases it is the same reason Katherine did it to Amy. She missed what she used to have and what she used to be. Amy was her second chance to do it again and be more. Katherine was a witch so she could literally live through Amy, but parents today do it figuratively. Parents will push their children too hard. They do not stop to think about what is best for the child.

In conclusion, the episode shows how the weight of expectations from parents can be too much. Children have to be able to make their decisions and do what makes them happy. Monsters are not always easy to spot. They can come across in many different forms, and sometimes the worst monsters are the ones that are supposed to be doing the protecting.