Amy Madison:
Amy Madison:
Debut -- The Witch (Season 1)
Season 2: Bewitched, Bothered & Bewildered
Last Seen -- Something Blue (Season 4)
When we first meet Amy at cheerleader tryouts in The Witch, she appears to be a nice, ordinary girl. Willow used to hang out with her in junior high, so we know that Amy's got to be decent. But when accidents keep happening to prospective cheerleaders, Buffy & Co. begin to suspect that Amy's a witch. They develop a plan to test their theory, and are proven correct. But the madness isn't so easily stopped -- it turns out that the real Amy isn't responsible for almost killing Amber, Cordelia, and Buffy; instead, it's her psycho mom, Catherine Madison who's the witch. Because Buffy was able to beat Catherine by forcing her to become the victim of her own spell, Amy's able to go live with her more normal parent and get her life back to normal.
Amy pops up in Season 2's Bewitched, Bothered & Bewildered. This time, Xander notices that Amy's been working some magic with regard to turning in "invisible homework" -- he's just been dumped by Cordy, so he turns to Amy to exact his revenge. Amy denies being a witch at first and is shocked that Xander would do something so mean as to blackmail her, but she finally agrees to help him. It's obvious that her sorcery skills aren't anywhere near as good (or is that bad?) as her mom's were, because the spell backfires. Now every female in the area wants Xander, including Amy. When Buffy and Amy fight over him, Amy turns Buffy into a rat. Later, Giles forces Amy to help him reverse the spells and order is upon Sunnydale once more. I like the character of Amy and can see how she could become a recurring character. She wouldn't necessarily have to know about Buffy's identity, but it's kind of neat to see some of the same kids in the classes; it lends realism to the show. At the time of this writing, the only recurring character, who sometimes gets a line or 2, is Jonathan.
In Season 3, Amy pops up in Gingerbread, with darker hair, even! She's still a witchy, and she's joining Buffy & Co. at lunch the day that Joyce Summers makes a surprise visit at school. Anyhoo, Amy later is shown with Willow and some warlocky guy Michael, doing some kind of ritual thing. It's later revealed that she was helping Willow do a protection spell for Buffy's birthday, which is the following week.
What's strange is that it seems Amy outs herself as a witch to just any ol' folks...maybe they already knew. When this Random Jerk Kid and his gang pick on Michael, Amy asks what they'll do to her, as well. Hm..Anyhoo, Amy's big thing in this episode is to be tied to a stake at City Hall to be burned by an angry mob, led by...Buffy's mom! Amy does her famous "Hecate" spell and turns herself into a mouse or rat or something of that nature. It looked like a mouse to me, but then again, I wasn't like on top of the tv or anything and I was having a small headache. So whatever. Anyway, she escaped the burning.
The downside? She'll be naked..if Buffy and Willow can ever reverse her spell, that is.
As of the episode Helpless, Amy's still a rodent. But..Willow bought her one of those cool wheel things.
And Amy is still a rat by the time Graduation part 1 rolls around. According to Oz, she's got a swinging Habitrail going. Amy was in the room when Willow and Oz consummated their relationship, but it looked to me as though an article of clothing was covering her cage, so perhaps she didn't bear witness to the event...
Well hello to the nakedness! That is...Amy finally got de-ratted, if only for an instant, in the episode Something Blue. Basically one of Willow's spells went awry (par for the course), and after Willow says that Amy's the real witch, etc., Amy pops up, naked, with long hair, and looking very ecstatic. Too bad Buffy and Willow don't notice her, and too bad that Willow says, "Then she's a rat" or something...because that's when Amy gets re-ratted. She'll probably be back soon. I think. In human form, that is.
Debut -- The Witch (Season 1)
Last Seen -- Same Episode
Amber's a minor, minor character in every sense of the word. She appears at the beginning of the episode as the first cheerleader to perform at tryouts. Xander, Buffy, and Willow are watching her, and saying that she's really good. Cordelia's got her back turned, and when Willow says, "That girl's on fire!", Cordelia tells her, "Enough with the hyperbole!" But Willow's not wrong -- in the middle of Amber's routine, her hands begin to smoke, and all of a sudden she's on fire. Because of Buffy's quick response to the fire -- namely, dropping her to the floor and putting the fire out with a blanket -- Amber survives. That's the last we ever see or hear of her, and we still don't know if she continued to pursue cheerleading!
Debut -- Inca Mummy Girl (Season 2)
Died Same Episode
Ampata is actually the name of the foreign exchange student from South America who's supposed to stay at Buffy's house for 2 weeks. But he gets picked off by the mummified Incan Princess who not only sucks the life out of him, but also assumes his identity. We first see the Inca Princess when the gang's on a field trip to the museum..legend has it that she was chosen to die at the age of 16 for her people, and the seal she holds protects her from evil spirits. When Rodney tries to steal the seal, he ends up breaking it, and the next thing you know, the Inca mummy grabs him and sucks the life out of him with a kiss. The life force enables her to lose the mummification and become the beautiful girl that she was years ago. In order for her to maintain this image, though, she must continue to drain the life force from people; otherwise, she returns to her freeze-dried mummy/corpse state. In her quest for a normal life, the princess goes to
the bus depot to kill the real Ampata and make a life for herself with Buffy's help. Apparently, she was able to hear conversations while she was on exhibit in various museums.
Ampata's kills included: Rodney, the real Ampata, and the Incan Princess Guard. She would've gotten Jonathan, too, but Xander came looking for her..
Biggest Understatement:
"You're not a normal girl." -- to Buffy, upon witnessing Buffy's unique agility and strength.
Anyhoo, Xander falls for her big-time, and has no idea that she's sucking the life source out of people until it's too late. She kills the Incan Princess Guard when he tries to tell her that she died for a reason, and she must continue to be the mummy. Basically, we learn that the seal was actually to keep her from waking up and going on the hunt for life. There's a showdown at the museum that has her fighting Buffy. She knocks Buffy into a stone-like sarcophagus (okay, so it's not standing up, but let's face it, sarcophagus is a cool word) and is about to put the smooch on Willow to sustain her life and be with Xander. Xander talks her into letting Willow go and taking him instead, and she reaches out to drain him when Buffy attacks her from behind. Ampara falls to the ground and smashes, her arms still hanging off of Xander. Ampata provides the first real figure who can relate to Buffy, in that she was chosen at a young age to give up her life so others might live. Buffy can really identify with this, but not with what Ampata did in an effort to recapture her life.
