Tara prepares to celebrate her 20th birthday and is shocked when her family arrives in town. We discover they’re not there to celebrate the occasion. They’ve come to take her home before she turns into an evil demon just like her mother did at the same age. When Glory sends some Lei-Ach demons to take care of the Slayer, Tara inadvertently helps the demons toward their goal in her attempt to keep her friends from seeing what she believes lies beneath her surface. The Scoobies eventually confront Tara’s family and we discover that Tara is not a demon after all. It’s a family myth to keep the Maclay women in line. Tara feels a part of the gang when Buffy proclaims them all as “family”.
Giles: "People help each other out, Anya. It's one of our strange customs."
Behind the Scenes Trivia
Magic box jars
The jars behind the counter at the Magic Box contain ingredients named after the cast and crew. There’s Tony’s Heads, Charisma Charms and Boreanaz Beads.
Cast and Crew Trivia
Amy Adams
Amy Adams, who played Tara’s cousin Beth in Family, played Marvel Ann in the movie Psycho Beach Party with Nicholas Brendan and Brenda Strong in Catch Me If You Can with Amy Acker (Fred in Angel). She played Kathryn Merteuil in Cruel Intentions 2, the role played in the movie by Sarah Michelle Gellar. Amy has also appeared in The Last Run, Standing Still, Something Borrowed, The West Wing, Smallville, Zoe, Duncan, Jack & Jane, Charmed and That ’70s Show.
Amy was nominated in the best supporting actress category in the 2006 Academy Awards for her role in Junebug.
Ezra Buzzington
Ezra Buzzington played the bartender at Willy’s Bar in Family. He wrote, directed and produced Irascible which also starred Camden Toy. Ezra has also appeared in Art School Confidential, The Rain Makers, The Big Empty, Zen Noir, Secretary, The Man from Elysian Fields, Ghost World, Me, Myself & Irene, Magnolia, Fight Club and 27 Pieces of Me.
Kevin Rankin
Kevin Rankin, who played Tara’s brother Donny in Family, has appeared in Hulk, Birds of Prey and Philly. He is no relation to Steve Rankin, who played Tara’s father in the same episode.
Megan Gray
Megan Gray, who played Sandy in Doppelgängland, Family and Shadow, played Emma Jones in Dawson’s Creek. She has also been in Welcome 2 Ibiza, Picking Up Chicks with Harland Williams and Giving It Up.
Steve Rankin
Steve Rankin, who played Tara’s father in Family, played Jerry Benson in All My Children, which also starred Sarah Michelle Gellar. He has appeared in Trapped, Pearl Harbor, The Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle, Men in Black, L.A. Confidential and Apollo 13. Steve was the stunt fight coordinator for Tumbleweeds. His TV work includes appearances in episodes of The X Files, The West Wing, NYPD Blue, Millennium, American Gothic, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: The Next Generation and Alien Nation.
Character Trivia
Donny Maclay
Donny was Tara’s brother who, along with Tara’s father and cousin, visited her on her birthday in Family. He aided his father to repress the women of the family by pretending they turned into demons on their 20th birthdays.
Mr. Maclay
Tara’s father, Mr. Maclay, appeared in the episode Family. He was a domineering man who led all women in his family to believe they were half demon. Buffy and the other Scoobies stood up to him when he tried to take Tara away, and he was never seen again.
Sandy
When Vampire Willow was at the Bronze in Doppelgängland, she bit a girl named Sandy. Riley later met the girl in Willy’s Bar in the season five episode Family. He realised she was a vampire, so Vampire Willow or another vampire must have followed through and sired Sandy. Riley staked Sandy in Shadow, after allowing her to bite him.
Continuity
Absent family
When Buffy tells Tara’s family that “we’re family” in the episode Family, both Joyce and Riley are missing. Both characters left the show later that season.
April Fools
April Fools is a dress shop in Sunnydale, owned by Mrs Finkle. It specialises in formal wear. In Choices and The Prom, Cordelia briefly worked in April Fools after her father lost all his money through tax evasion. In Family, Harmony comes home to Spike’s crypt laden with bags from the shop, saying everything was on sale.
Bad Hank
Buffy reveals in Family that her father is currently living in Spain with his secretary and is not returning Buffy’s calls.
Birthday gal
Tara is the only Scooby apart from Buffy to have a birthday on-screen, which is seen in Family.
Bubble blower
Willow blows bubbles at Buffy’s birthday party in Checkpoint, which she also did at Tara’s birthday in Family.
Common Slayer
Glory discovered that Buffy was the Slayer in the episode Family, “A Slayer? Oh, god, please don’t tell me I was fighting a Vampire Slayer. How unbelievably common. If I had friends and they heard about this…”
Demon woman
Tara always believed that she was part demon, due to some handy women-repression by the male members of her family. She purposefully messed up a demon-finding spell with Willow in Goodbye, Iowa, as she was ashamed of what she thought she was. Tara discovered in Family that her father had been lying to her, and she was just a normal human girl.
Miss Kitty Fantastico
Miss Kitty Fantastico was a black and white kitten belonging to Tara and Willow. The girls discussed getting a cat in New Moon Rising. She appeared in The Yoko Factor, Restless and Family then disappeared for three seasons. Her absence was finally explained in End of Days, when Dawn implied that Miss Kitty had died, “Xander, my crossbow is not out here. I told you, I don’t leave crossbows around all willy-nilly… Not since that time with Miss Kitty Fantastico.”
Willy’s Place
Sunnydale had a bar called Willy’s Place which catered for the vampire and demon population. It was first seen in What’s My Line? (Part 1) when Angel went there to question the bartender, Willy the Snitch. The bar was also seen in Amends, The Zeppo, Goodbye, Iowa and Family. In Same Time, Same Place, Xander suggests trying to get information at Willy’s place.
Music Trivia
Melanie Doane
The song that Willow and Tara dance to at the end of the episode Family is called “I Can’t Take my Eyes Off You” by Canadian singer Melanie Doane. It appears on her 1998 album ‘Adam’s Rib’. The song has a different meaning one would assume. Melanie Doane says on her website: “Sometimes I watch too much T.V. Mostly when I’m lonely. This song, “I Can’t Take my Eyes Off You, is for my special lover, the TV. I wrote it with my friend Kevin who’s also from Halifax and watches too much TV too.”
So dear to me
Always keep me company
Who needs to go outside
I will be your silent bride
I can’t take my eyes off you
Nothing ever needs to be said
You send your message
right into my head
You fill me up when I’m alone
So soothing is your monotone
I can’t take my eyes off you
I can’t take my eyes off you
So maybe you’re not as real
as the others
But I choose you over all my past lovers
For they have come and they have gone
but I can always turn you on
I can’t take my eyes off you
I can’t take my eyes off you
Mythology Trivia
Lei-ach
The Lei-ach were a family of demons sent by Glory to kill Buffy in Family. They had white and red faces and long, forked tongues. The Scoobies were blinded by a spell placed on them on Tara and were unable to see the Lei-ach to fight them properly until the spell was released.
References
Bloomingdales
Buffy says in Family, “I saw a really cute sweater at Bloomies but I think I want me to have it”. She means the department store Bloomingdales.
Miss Congeniality
In Family, Buffy calls Glory “Miss Congeniality”. This is an award given out at beauty pageants which is voted for by the contestants themselves. It goes to the most friendly contestant. Sandra Bullock starred in a movie entitled Miss Congeniality in 2000, which had a sequel in 2005.
Goofs
Seen at 19.10 minutes:
Tara goes back to her dorm room where she sees her father. The only problem is - she moved in with Willow in Real Me and no longer lives in her old black room.
Seen at 30.50 minutes:
During Buffy’s fight with the invisible demons, there are several mistakes when we see Buffy’s point of view. The light above the door is low, but during the fight with the demons it’s brighter.The bench is on the right, but during the fight it’s in the centre.
Quotes
Giles: "People help each other out, Anya. It's one of our strange customs."
Giles: "Well I saw myself in more of a patriarchal sort of role. You know, lots of pointing and scowling."
Xander: "He called me a bad name. I think it was bad. It might have been Latin."
Buffy: "Nothing like getting your ass kicked to make your ass hurt."
Tara: "Um... that, that was funny... if you um, if you studied Taglarin mythic rights... and are a complete dork."
Anya: "We have to bring presents, right? Birth is a present thing?"
Anya: "Thank you for coming. We value your patronage. Please come again for more purchases!"
Giles: "Could we perhaps be a little less effusive Anya? We don't want to frighten the people."
Buffy: "Your definition of narrow is impressively wide."
Buffy (describing Glory): "She was kind of like Cordelia actually. I'm pretty sure she dyes her hair."
Giles: "You're in a magic shop, and you can't think what Tara would like. I do believe you're both profoundly stupid."
Donny: "So all these books got spells in 'em? Turn people into frogs, things like that?"
Xander: "Yeah, we're building a race of frog-people."
Buffy: "It's family night. And besides, Melinda's a bad influence. I don't like you hanging out with someone that... short."
Riley: "Yeah, a lot of young people nowadays are experimenting with shortness. Gotta nip that in the bud."
Glory: "A Slayer? Oh God, please don't tell me I was fighting a Vampire Slayer! How unbelievably common. If I had friends, and they heard about this..."
Glory: "You have the cutest little suppurating sores! Has anyone ever told you that?"
Dawn: "You don't want to mess with us."
Buffy: "She's a hair puller."