BtVS: Gingerbread / Get your coat... witch! (Rules of Buffy #4: Don't let the grown-ups take charge)

So... Gingerbread is the episode where we discover the true message of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and that is that grown-ups are useless and if we allow them any sort of control they will completely muck it all up. Up until now the only exception to this is Giles... and even he's prone to expose his grown-up-ness occasionally - we can of course ignore all the occasions when the kids are useless because kids are supposed to be useless.

Therefore... its been a while but it's time for a new rule...

Rules of Buffy #4: Don't le the grown-ups take charge

This isn't our town anymore. It belongs to the monsters and, and the witches and the Slayers... I say it's time for the grown-ups to take Sunnydale back.

Buffy: (desperately) Mom, dead people are talking to you. Do the math(s)!
Joyce: I'm sorry, Buffy.
Buffy: Mom, look at me! You love me. You're not gonna be able to live with yourself if you do this!
Joyce: You earned this. You toyed with unnatural forces. What kind of a mother would I be if I didn't punish you?