Gingerbread

Season 3, Episode 11, Aired
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Episode Summary

Picking the wrong night for mother-daughter bonding, Joyce discovers the bodies of two children in the park, apparently sacrificed in an occult ritual. Deeply disturbed by what she has seen, Joyce rallies the adults of Sunnydale, convincing them to rid the town of all magical and occult influences. Soon, however, it becomes apparent that Buffy, Willow, and Amy are themselves considered a part of the occult threat to Sunnydale.moreless
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Fan Episode Reviews (19)

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  • The more Joyce the better

    8.0
    "Great"
    By joxerlives, Jan 19, 2012 Report Abuse
    Gingerbread

    The Good;
    Host of good stuff, the hysteria, the fiery climax, the mislead with Willow, Amy! The Buffy/Joyce scenes are superb, great to meet Will's mum. Love the Mayor's very careful tiptoeing around MOO and Principle Snyder is a joy to behold

    The Bad;
    A tv cliche but surely the police would take longer than 5 minutes to get a statement from Joyce and Buffy and wouldn't leave them hanging around the crime scene. Also the demon at the end with the stake through it's throat is very obviously a perspective gag.

    Best line;
    Joyce; "Oh my god it's mister Sanderson from the bank!" just pipping Willow's; "You do doodle"

    Shot; no but Giles is intimidated by a security guard with a gun

    Tied up; Willow, Amy and Buffy

    Knocked out; Buffy and Giles by Joyce using chloroform. Cordy asks how many times Giles has been knocked out, I figure it must be a dozen or more. Love her line about 'waking up in a coma' although it's rather ironic given the events of 'You're Welcome'.

    Women good/men bad; in this case it's the women who lead the crusade/lynch-mob

    Kinky dinky; Giles and Joyce are at least talking to one another now but still awkward. Willow implores the dark forces to 'fill her with their black naughtiness' which one day they will. Xander has Playboys in his locker which is suprisingly classy porn considering what we know about him. As I recall it was actually the story of the little Dutch boy with his fist in the dyke but that's probably too kinky even for Joss. Giles logs into the 'Frisky watchers chatroom' which I'm sure someone launched at some time

    Calling Captain Subtext;
    The not so subtle implication is a rant against those who wish to censor Buffy or criticize it for it's occult features. But really it's against bigotry and mob rule anywhere. Ironically I remember this ep being censored on the BBC at the point where Buffy stakes the demon at the end.
    . Buffy seems unaware that 'dyke' is another word for dam which makes her expression when Angel refers to having "a finger in the dyke" all the more hilarious.

    Guantanamo Bay;
    SDH has it's civil liberties suspended, Snyder glorying in his power

    Questions and observations;
    This ep marks the beginning of Cordy's eventual reintegration into the Scooby gang as she helps Giles save Buff&co and Oz and Xander reconcile. The first appearance of rat Amy. Someone should tell Michael that the New Romantic era is over. When Joyce and Buffy have their talk at SDH they're standing under a poster saying 'Blood required again'. You rather wonder that no one has thought to form a vigiliante group to counter the Hellmouth evil before? Joyce refers to 'neck rupture', presumably the authorities term for vampire killings. Snyder misquotes Apocalypse Now which he will appear in a parody of at the end of season 4. Once again Buffy's status as the Slayer seems common knowledge to judge by the boys reaction to her at the school. Willow claims that she's sacrificed the local goats, one day she will sacrifice Bambi.
    So lovely that Joyce comes along to Buffy's Slaying patrol. You have to agree with Snyder that it's rather weird for Giles to have such a wide selection of books dedicated to the supernatural in the library. It's a great turnaround that Joyce the parent relies on Buffy the child to console her from the evils she's seen. She has a point that Sunnydale isn't getting any better, they're not running out of vampires. But as 'The Wish' and 'Dopplegangland' prove Buffy&co make a huge difference.
    One wonders what Dawn makes of all this? Love Giles struggling with the computer, can't he call the Council for help?
    Angel and Buffy's talk is interesting especially in light of his crisis of faith in season 2 of his own show. No Faith which is a shame, love to see where she would stand in all of this. Xander and Oz in the air ducts speaks of every cliche in every action film ever. A hint of Amy's true colours as Buffy observes "She couldn't do us first". Lovely fanfic called 'The Mayoress' based on this one where The Mayor falls in love with Joyce and gives up evil to marry her and become Buffy, Faith and Dawn's stepfather.
    8/10 again, very good but not truly great
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  • Absolutely terrible, heavy-handed, poorly-written episode.

    2.0
    "Terrible"
    By belgand42, Sep 18, 2011 Report Abuse
    Despite being an overall great show Buffy has had some really bad episodes over the years. Sometimes they're uninspired, sometimes they're overly melodramatic, and sometimes they're just all-around bad.

    This is definitely the latter. This episode was so terrible that it actually turned me off Buffy for almost a decade. It was the first episode I watched when it first aired and due to the overall horrible nature of this show alone I dismissed Buffy entirely until 2006 when, in the wake of how great Joss' Firefly was, I finally decided to re-evaluate the show and found that it was actually really great.

    Essentially the biggest problem is that it's built around a message more than it is around a plot. In trying to push that forward it's incredibly heavy-handed and rarely interesting. It also suffers rather strongly from the affliction of introducing new characters without any explanation and pretending that they've been there all along (Amy and the other, male, witch). For Willow's mother it serves the plot and makes sense (she's an inattentive mother... even if that seems a tad out-of-character given Willow's nature), but in the case of Amy she just happens to be sitting there at lunch without any prior mention.

    Things proceed in a linear and predictable manner until a quick, pointless ending is reached more to end the show than to reach any sort of real conclusion.

    Many episodes of Buffy fail because they try too hard to function as an analogy for some sort of mythic ideal of what it's like to be a teenager. When they push to serve their narrow-minded ends in delivering a message the story and characters suffer.

    Since nothing plot-centric happens in this episode it is very, very missable and I strongly advise everyone to skip it. Who knows, maybe if I hadn't seen it all those years ago I'd have been enjoying Buffy for a lot longer.moreless

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  • Gingerbread

    10
    "Perfect"
    By TrueTvWatcher, Oct 14, 2010 Report Abuse
    Gingerbread was a great episode of Buffy The Vampire Slayer because it blends Folk and Fairy Tales into the stories so well. Buffy was out patroling when her mom shows up with a snack for her, but she just might be the snack for vampires! Joyce finds two dead children in the park, and they start influencing her which eventually leads to a witch hunt. The town goes crazy, and they try to burn Amy, Buffy and Willow at the stakes. Amy turns into a rat and gets away, but Buffy and Willow are rescued by the rest of the Gang and Giles unmasks the true form of the creature responsible.moreless

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  • Season 3, Episode 11.

    8.5
    "Great"
    By Wanted23, Apr 24, 2009 Report Abuse
    After Joyce decides to bond with Buffy during her patrol, she discovers two dead children with witch symbols on their arms. She then forms a vigil and a group of protesters that plan to burn all the witches at the stake. However, is it their option, or are they being possessed?

    I liked this episode. It was a little twisted with the dead kids, but I liked it nonetheless. It was very entertaining and I remember the scene where Buffy and Willow are about to be burned. I didn't remember that it was in this episode or what happened though. I liked it though. Hehe, poor Amy is a witch. Cool episode.moreless

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  • Joyce goes a little crazy.

    9.0
    "Superb"
    By addict666, Jul 31, 2008 Report Abuse
    There are some good parts of this episode and some other mediocre parts. I like how the parents are given something to do in this episode and it kind of explains away why they are never really around or concerned with the actions of their children or the mysterious deaths that occur in town. The whole Salem witch trial thing is played out pretty well and I love the whole Amy as a rat storyline that continues throughout the show, even though she has a way of appearing and disappearing at convenience. I also like to see Oz and Xander working together again after the whole Willow and Xander thing that I am so happy has ended. I like how they storm in at the end to save the day even though it's a little too late. Overall a good episode.moreless

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    1 0
 

Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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  • Trivia

    ADD TRIVIA
    • For industrial applications, the size of the ventilation shaft that Xander and Oz are crawling through seems to be right, but in reality they are far too big for an office building. Edit
    • Ventilation screens are fastened in place, usually with several screws, yet Oz lightly hits the screen with the palm of his hand and the screen simply falls into the shaft. Edit
    • When we first see Buffy tied to the post talking to Joyce look at her arms. When the camera looks at Buffy her arms are free of the ropes from the elbows down, but when the camera is on Joyce Buffy's arms are restrained down to the elbows. Edit

  • Notes

    ADD NOTES
    • When Joyce mentions "skinning" in her speech, she is referring to the skins that were left after the fish-men had "hatched" in "Go Fish." Edit
    • As stated below, Giles calls Snyder's people that are taking the books away 'Marauders'. Armin plays Quark on DS9 and played the first Ferengi on the last outpost (tng). The only known Ferengi ship is called a Marauder. Edit
    • Giles speaking German: He says "Ich beschwöre die Macht der Hekate, sie mag den Weg bereiten. Das Böse soll das Gesicht des Bösen tragen!" Which translates to "I call the power of Hecate, it may clear the path. Evil shall wear the face of evil." Before he demaskerades the demon: "Verbergt Euch nicht hinter falschen Gesichtern" [do not hide behind false faces (literally translated)]. In the German dubbed version Giles uses a German (pseudo)dialect called 'Althochdeutsch'['Old German']. Edit

  • Quotes

    ADD QUOTES
    • Willow: Prince of night, I summon you, come fill me with your black naughty evil! Edit
    • Giles: I just wonder if we're looking for a thing, the use of a symbol on a victim like this suggests a ritual murder and a cult sacrifice by a group. Buffy: A group of.. human beings? Someone with a soul did this? Giles: Yes, I'm afraid so. Buffy: Okay, then while you're looking for the meaning of that symbol thingy, could you also find a loophole in that "Slayers don't kill people" rule? Edit
    • Sheila: Willow, you cut off your hair. Huh, that's a new look! Willow: Yeah, it's just a sudden whim I had - in August! Edit

  • Allusions

    ADD ALLUSIONS
    • Xander: What's with the grim? While he might have just meant the serious looks on the men's faces, Xander might also have been making a pun on Grimm. "Hansel and Gretal" is one of the fairy tales recorded by the Brothers Grimm. Edit
    • Buffy: Is Sunnydale any better than when I first came here? This may be an allusion to the episode The Wish, in which we saw exactly how Sunnydale would be if Buffy had never come there. Edit
    • Giles: It happened in Salem, not surprisingly.
      Giles refers to the Salem Witch Trials in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692, where almost every man or woman who did something out of the ordinary was accused of being a witch. Nineteen men and women were eventually convicted of witchcraft and were hanged while hundreds of others awaited trial in prison until the panic subsided. Edit

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