Overall Rating: 5.85 Matt: 4.9 Eric: 6.8 Written by: Jane Espenson Directed by: James Whitmore, Jr. Cast : Sarah Michelle Gellar as Buffy Summers, Nicholas Brendon as Xander Harris, Alyson Hannigan as Willow Rosenberg, Charisma Carpenter as Cordelia Chase, Seth Green as Oz, Anthony Stewart Head as Rupert Giles. Main guest stars : Kristine Sutherland as Joyce Summers, Elizabeth Anne Allen as Amy Madison, Armin Shimerman as Principal Snyder, Harry Groener as Mayor Richard Wilkins III, Jordan Baker as Sheila Rosenberg, Lindsay Taylor as Gretel, Shawn Pyfrom as Hansel, Blake Swendson as Michael. Original broadcast date : January 12, 1999 Joyce Summers has chosen the wrong time to try and bond with her daughter on patrol. As Buffy kills a vampire, her mother discovers the bodies of two young children, seemingly murdered in the park. As the police takes the bodies away, Joyce appears thoroughly shaken by the experience. The next day, Buffy gets Giles to investigate a symbol she found drawn on the hands of the two victims. When he tells her it might be the work of an occult groups, she¹s appalled by the thought that someone with a soul could have done this. While she informs Willow, Xander, Oz and Amy Madison ­ whom we hadn¹t seen in a while ­ Joyce takes action and organizes a Vigil at City Hall. That night, many parents attend said the Vigil, including Willow's mother. After the Mayor says a few words, Joyce gives a forceful speech about how Sunnydale has been taken over by the monsters, the witches and the Slayers ­ which makes Buffy, in the audience, gape in shock ­ and how the adults have to take charge. Later that night, three hooded witches are performing a spell in a circle in the middle of which is drawn the symbol Buffy found on the children. The camera moves back to reveal the faces of the witches: Amy, her friend MichaelŠ and Willow. The next day, Michael gets beat up by a jock threatening him and Amy for being witches and potential murderers. Buffy intervenes and sends the jocks away. Then, she goes to see Giles, who confirms it may have been witches, but that he needs a book Willow borrowed to make sure. Buffy goes in search of Willow, but finds out from Xander that she¹s gone to the washroom and left her books for him to watch. Buffy finds the book she was looking for ­ as well as the witch symbol, doodled in one of Willow¹s notebooks. Before an embarrassed Willow can explain, Principal Snyder arrives with police officers and orders all lockers opened. As the officers start confiscating all material that may be witchcraft-related, Willow explains to Buffy that her, Michael and Amy were performing a protection spell for Buffy¹s birthday. Then, she and Amy get summoned to Principal Snyder¹s office. Buffy, quite freaked out, goes to the library and finds police officers confiscating Giles¹ books. Principal Snyder informs then that he¹s acting on orders of MOO ­ Mothers Opposed to the Occult, created by Joyce SummersŠ That evening, Willow faces her mother, Sheila, who apparently hasn¹t taken that much interest in her daughter ­ until now. She grounds Willow and forbids her to see Buffy again. At the Summers house, Joyce does the same, telling Buffy that she¹s not to see Willow anymore, and insulting her daughter by telling her that she hasn¹t done Sunnydale any good, the proof being that the number of vampires hasn¹t gone down even with her slaying. After an angry Buffy leaves, the ghosts of the two murdered children appear on the staircase and tell Joyce that they won¹t rest until she hurts the "bad people".The ghosts of the two children appear to Joyce and tell her she has to hurt the "bad people." In the park, Angel tries to comfort Buffy, telling her that she has made a difference in Sunnydale and that she must keep fighting. He also muses aloud about the murdered children¹s parents, which gets Buffy thinking: they don¹t know anything about the kids, be it their names, their addresses, their parentsŠ Buffy runs back to the now-empty library to find Giles trying to function with a computer. Learning that Willow is grounded and can¹t even come to the phone, they hook up with her by the Internet and find out that the same murdered children seem to make front page news every 50 years, starting in 1649. Their deaths always coincide with a witch hunt in the towns where they manifest themselves. They are, it seems, the embodiment of Hansel and Gretel. Unfortunately, just as they find out what¹s going on, Willow¹s computer is confiscated by her mother, who locks her in her bedroom. At the library, Michael runs in, his face bloody, claiming that his father attacked him. More and more freaked out, Giles and Buffy leave for her house, hoping to convince Joyce to put a stop to the madness, while Oz and Xander go to try and find Willow. At the Rosenberg home, Sheila forcefully collects Willow in her bedroom, calling her a witch. At Buffy¹s house, Joyce listens to her daughter¹s explanation, then knocks her out with chloroform. Two men then knock out Giles. At City Hall, Amy, Willow and Buffy have been tied to wooden posts over piles of occult books. It seems rather clear that the townsfolk intend to burn them at the stake. Joyce lights the books on fire, pronouncing a death sentence on the three girls. Amy, however, gets angry and tells the spectators that she¹ll show them real magicŠ She turns herself into a rat and scurries away, free. Willow also threatens to use her powers on the watching parents, but the two children are there and remind the adults that they need to kill the "bad girls". Meanwhile, Oz and Xander are making their way through the ventilation systems at City Hall, hoping to get to the room where their friends are being burned. At Buffy¹s house, Cordelia finds Giles unconscious, slaps him awake and tells him about what¹s going on at City Hall. The two drive over there on the double, get to the room and break in just as the flames are threatening to engulf Willow. Cordelia grabs a fire hose and puts the fire out, while Giles speaks a German incantation which, with the help of a revealing elixir, make the children revert to their true self: a large demon. The demon, angry, lunges for Buffy, but the Slayer, still tied to the wooden post, bends over and uses it as a stake on which the creature impales itself. ThenŠ Xander and Oz belatedly crash to the rescue through the ceiling. The next day, Willow and Buffy are discussing the events - Willow¹s mother seems to have applied selective memory to the whole thing. Then, the two girls perform a spell to give Amy her true shape again, but the spell fails. Buffy suggests that it might be a good idea to get "one of those wheel thingies". Summary by OttsFiveByFive.