YMMV / Ms. Wiz

• Alternate Character Interpretation:
  • Since Ms Wiz pops up in the children's lives so frequently, one has to wonder if she might be a bit lonely. She doesn't appear to have any friends of her own, aside from Herbert her pet rat. The first book also says she loves being around children, implying that she might find it harder to relate to adults.
  • The end of In Control, Ms Wiz has a gag that Ms Wiz uses the FISH Powder on herself and disappears inside a storybook. But perhaps - since she barely seems to have a life of her own - she actually is a character of some kind released to be a Magical Nanny for children.
  • The other children don't recognise Ms Wiz when she's working as the assistant librarian in In Control, Ms Wiz? Is it just because they haven't seen her in a while (there's mention of her wearing her hair up instead of down like she usually does)? Or does she use magic to prevent people from recognising her until she needs them to?
  • Mrs Thompson screams when she sees Brian Arnold in his Dracula get-up for the ending of Ms Wiz Loves Dracula and fumes about him scaring the children. However as we don't see the interaction between them at the door, could Brian perhaps have asked her to play along?
  • Mrs Thompson also says that Lizzie's father "cured me of men". Did the relationship just end so badly that she doesn't want to date anymore? Or was he a Closet Key for her?
• Fridge Horror: Ms Wiz mentions in Ms Wiz Goes Live that her spell that brought the dinosaur to life doesn't normally last long. If the same is true for the spell she used in You're Nicked, Ms Wiz then she resurrected a bunch of animals who were going to die again when the spell wore off. Though it's entirely likely it was a different type of spell. ^note In the first example she only makes a model of a Dodo come to life to prank a TV presenter. In the second she casts a spell to free the animals that made Mrs Darcy's fur coat
• Harsher in Hindsight: In Ms Wiz Goes Live Jimmy the kids' show host appears to be an Expy of Jimmy Saville. The gag here is that the seemingly beloved host actually Hates the Job, Loves the Limelight. Fast forward to The New '10s when it's revealed that Jimmy Saville was an infamous child molester - and the fact that Little Musha was only five years old when she was on the show is quite horrifying.
• Heartwarming Moments:
  • At the end of the first book, the children of Class Three collect all the awards at the prize giving. Ms Wiz's influence genuinely helped them become better. They're introduced having driven her predecessor away in tears, and they reform through Ms Wiz's teaching. She even tells them that they're "the best class in the school", and therefore they don't need her anymore.
  • Although Mr Bailey's visit to Jack in hospital leads to him accidentally eating his appendix, Jack repays his kindness when he returns to school and lies to say he threw it out. For a character who's normally a mean jokester, it's quite sweet.
  • Lizzie being happily reunited with her beloved cat Waif. And they free all the other kidnapped cats too.
  • Caroline gets to star in a show called 'Heritage', replacing the original actress who dropped out. The book ends with a phone call from a producer who loved her performance so much, they want to offer her another role.
  • Brian Arnold apologising to Ms Wiz for how rude he was to her, and the two getting together. Two years later, they're Happily Married.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: Cuthbert Harris's stance as a middle class Supernatural-Proof Father in Britain makes him seem rather similar to Vernon Dursley.
• Jerkass Woobie:
  • Katrina is described as "one of those people who liked to find fault wherever possible". But once you see her home life in Ms Wiz Supermodel, and realise how rotten her parents are, it's impossible not to feel sorry for her.
  • Mr Bailey's two nastiest moments are: not believing Jack that he's feeling ill when he later gets hospitalized with a burst appendix, and having No Sympathy for Lizzie when her cat disappears. Both times he feels awful afterwards, even visiting Jack in hospital.
• Love to Hate: Cuthbert Harris for being so pompous that he's hilarious. Any time he appears, he's bound to get a slapsticky comeuppance.
• Nightmare Fuel: In the climax of Ms Wiz Loves Dracula Brian Arnold turns up at the Christmas party disguised as a vampire to scare everyone. It's actually quite convincing and Mrs Thompson screams when she answers the door.
• One-Scene Wonder: Caroline's Bratty Half-Pint of a sister Little Musha only appears in Ms Wiz Goes Live but she sure makes an impression.
• Tear Jerker:
  • The children's Heel Realization when they pull off the Relationship Sabotage between Ms Wiz and Brian Arnold. They realise that their friend was genuinely in love, and they physically saw Brian react with disgust at the very things they love about Ms Wiz. Thankfully he comes around and the children learn An Aesop.
  • In Time Flies With Ms Wiz, it's a rather sad moment when Nabilla discovers Jack being ordered onto a horse by a cruel sergeant. Overall, she notes the difference between the film she saw about the Charge of the Light Brigade, and the actuality of the situation; in comparison to the film, where the costumes looked glamorous and sparkly, the men just look tired and dirty.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: Despite Katrina being introduced in the first book, she's Out of Focus for the majority of the series. She doesn't get A Day in the Limelight until Ms Wiz Supermodel - which is the eleventh book in the series. She's rarely included in the schemes that Jack, Podge and Caroline always help Ms Wiz with.
• Unintentional Period Piece:
  • In Control, Ms Wiz gets dated to the 90s by the plot device that saves the day. Ms Wiz brings Fergie and Andrew to life from Mr Goff's Bumper Book of the Royal Wedding. Ms Wiz Supermodel has a moment where the fashion show models come out wearing shell suits - which are associated with 80s and 90s workout clothes. The illustrations for Ms Wiz Goes Live also show an analogue TV in the Smith household.
  • Ms Wiz turning up in a lot of odd jobs might be harder to pull off in the 2000s with the invention of internet and google searching - certainly it would be harder to pose as a teacher or doctor when her credentials (or lack thereof) can be looked up quickly online.
• Values Dissonance:
  • In Ms Wiz Loves Dracula, Mrs Thompson says the faculty aren't used to seeing glamorous witches. In the 90s when the books were written, the Hot Witch trope hadn't really taken off yet. It wouldn't be until the end of the decade that Sabrina the Teenage Witch and Charmed would enter the mainstream.
  • Podge's Hilariously Abusive Childhood might be harder to play for laughs in the 2000s with the rise in awareness of child abuse. The comedy of Power Crazy Ms Wiz is of what lengths Ms Wiz goes to just to get Mr Harris to relent - when these days she'd be more likely to go to a children's charity.
• Values Resonance: Lizzie's mother Mrs Thompson is single and shown to be just as loving as the rest of the Good Parents in the series. Her status as a divorced parent is never remarked upon, teaching a rather nice downplayed Aesop that single parents and their children can be happy and fulfilled too.
• The Woobie:
  • Lizzie in her debut book. Her beloved cat Waif has disappeared, and her teacher yells at her for being too distracted about it in class. Anyone who's ever lost a pet they were close to can sympathise. Thankfully Lizzie is happily reunited with Waif in the end.
  • Peg from Time Flies With Ms Wiz. A village girl from 1578 who was suspected of being a witch because she has a stutter, and is introduced about to be ducked by everyone. She gets saved by Ms Wiz and Nabilla but is convinced she's either dreaming or going mad when they travel to 1854. When they're imprisoned by Lord Cardigan, there's mention of the poor girl sobbing in the corner.