| abstract
| - Buffy and Joyce find the corpses of two children bearing what seems to be marks related to witchcraft. Sunnydale's parents vow to root out witchcraft in the town. Except the children aren't entirely dead...
* Adults Are Useless: Subverted; now that they actually take an interest, it becomes a case of Adults Are Harmful.
* Air Vent Passageway: Subverted; Xander and Oz fit into the vents, but have no idea where they're going and only reach the rest of the cast after the demon is already dead. "We're here to rescue you..."
* All Myths Are True
* Animorphism: After seeing Amy turn herself into a rat, Willow and Buffy try to frighten the mob into letting them go.
* Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking
* As Long as It Sounds Foreign: We hear what is supposedly the testimony of the first person to encounter Hansel and Gretel (it makes sense in context). The German in it is... let's say, erratic.
* Black Eyes of Evil: Amy before she transforms.
* Book-Burning: Giles Tome of Eldritch Lore are confiscated and used for the pyre to Burn the Witch.
* Buffy-Speak: Buffy describes slaying as "an alone thing".
* Bully Hunter: When a group of Jerk Jocks pick on a kid because he's a witch Amy tries to intervene. When they start on her Buffy steps in, all smiles. At the very least she's known to have burnt down the gym at her previous school, nearly killed Cordelia, has a known history of violence and been arrested for murder on more than one occasion, so the group quickly scampers.
* Call Back: To "The Wish" with Buffy wondering if she's making any difference in Sunnydale.
* Chekhov's Gun: The reminder that Slayers are not supposed to kill people, an issue in the upcoming "Bad Girls".
* Children Are Innocent: What the Monster of the Week plays upon.
* Creepy Children: The demon's form.
* Does This Remind You of Anything?: Concerned parents blame a murder on some trend among youth, and lash out against that trend.
* Don't Explain the Joke
* Elephant in the Living Room: Joyce's speech to MOO.
* Emergency Transformation: Amy turns herself into a rat to escape the pyre. It's several years before Willow develops the skill to turn her back into a human.
* Eureka Moment: Buffy realises the dead children had no parents, and their names have never been mentioned.
* Evil Makeover / Paint It Black: Amy as a Red Herring.
* Fire-Forged Friends: Co-operating to save Willow ends the awkwardness between Xander and Oz.
* Funny Aneurysm Moment: Cordelia comments to Giles that he was going to "wake up in a coma" on account of all the head traumas he has received. At the end of season 4 of Angel, Cordelia is left in a coma; she dies after 'waking up' to give a last message for Angel from the Powers That Be.
* Fun with Acronyms: Mothers Opposed to the Occult, or MOO.
* Glamour Failure: Giles reveals the demon with his incantation.
* Gratuitous German: The newspaper article the gang looks up and the incantation by Giles.
* Hairpin Lockpick: Giles borrows one of Cordelia's hairpins to pick a lock.
* He Who Fights Monsters: Begins with Buffy's mom finding two young children after what looks like a magical rite. She responds by organizing the other parents in Sunnydale into an organization to go after witches (and Slayers.) The episode ends with them all trying to burn their own children at the stake.
* Hollywood Fire: Even though the 'witches' are being burnt indoors, the room doesn't fill with smoke.
* Hollywood Torches: But no pitchforks.
* Instant Sedation: Joyce knocks out Buffy with chloroform.
* Ironic Echo Cut: Buffy asking her mother to calm down after she finds the dead children. Cut to Buffy telling Giles, "Don't tell me to calm down!"
* It Has Only Just Begun: Giles vs. Snyder.
* It's Personal: The fact that Joyce finds the dead children makes Buffy eager to slay those responsible.
* Malaproper
* Moral Guardians: What the people of Sunnydale become as a result of a demon's influence.
* My Name Is Not Durwood: Willow's mother calling Buffy 'Bunny'.
* A Nazi by Any Other Name: Principal Snyder, of course.
* New Media Are Evil: Inverted when Giles has to resort to the internet because all his books have been confiscated.
* Oh Crap: The Mayor gives Joyce a very wary look when she warns of dark forces in Sunnydale, before she lays the blame for the dead children at the feet of the witches in the town.
* Parental Neglect: Willow's mother, to the point of not noticing a new haircut for four months.
* Put On A Wheel-Thingy: Amy turns herself into a rat and stays that way for 3 years.
* Right Behind Me
* Running Gag: Giles' tendency to get a Tap on the Head is lampshaded by Cordelia.
* Suspiciously Specific Denial: Xander accidentally invokes this even though he's telling the truth.
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* Giles meets Joyce and both are feeling awkward after the events of "Band Candy"
* Too Much Information: Toadstones.
* Weirdness Censor
* What Do You Mean It's Not Heinous?: A Running Gag with Willow in this episode.
* Who Would Be Stupid Enough...?: Buffy finds out about MOO and asks, "Who came up with that lame name?" Snyder smirks and says, "Its founder -- I believe you call her Mom."
* Witch Hunt
* With My Hands Tied: Buffy kills the demon by snapping the stake she's tied to and bending forward so the demon gets impaled on it.
* You Are Grounded: Willow, much to her annoyance as it's the first time she's done something bad (that her parents noticed).
* You Can Panic Now
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