Friend defence

This line of Buffy’s, referring to her choice of work friend, was deleted from Older and Far Away:

Marti on Dawn’s mini-arc

Marti Noxon said about Older and Far Away:

Elizabeth Cazenave

Elizabeth Cazenave, who played Dawn’s teacher in Older and Far Away, also appeared in The Mothman Prophecies as a Bellhop.

James C. Leary

James C. Leary played the baggy skinned demon Clem in seasons six and seven. James grew up in Dallas, Texas and currently lives in Los Angeles. He was a founding member of an improvisation comedy troupe called Freudian Slip, using the name Jimmy Leary. James has appeared in Stunt C*cks (which he also wrote and produced) and Beltrán, Los (as Kevin Lynch). He appeared as Clem in eight episodes of Buffy.

Kali Rocha

Kali Rocha played Spike’s crush Cecily when he was a human, and later went on to play vengeance demon Halfrek. Kali has appeared in Gods and Generals, White Oleander, Meet the Parents, The Object of My Affection, The Crucible, Will & Grace and Becker.

Ryan Browning

Ryan Browning, who played Richard in Older and Far Away, has been in Stealing Sinatra, Rent Control, Extreme Days, The Smokers, The Intern and Blink of an Eye.

Richard

Richard was a colleague and friend of Xander. They worked together at the construction site. Xander invited him to Buffy’s birthday party in an attempt to set them up together in Older and Far Away. Halfrek trapped everyone at the party in the house and Richard was stabbed by a demon. He survived.

Sophie

Sophie was a colleague of Buffy’s at the Doublemeat Palace. She was invited to Buffy’s birthday bash in Older and Far Away. On arrival she instantly told Buffy:

Sophie also later revealed that she couldn’t drink beer because of the barley. She made up for her allergies by dancing with Clem.

Bad birthdays

Buffy celebrates her 20th birthday in Blood Ties. Her party comes to a staggering halt when Dawn discovers she’s the Key and freaks out. This isn’t the first (nor last) time that Buffy’s birthday has gone wrong. In Surprise, Buffy slept with Angel on her 17th birthday which prompted him to turn evil and start killing her friends. In Helpless, the Watcher’s Council forced a test on Buffy on her 18th birthday by removing her powers and seeing how she coped with a crazed vampire. In Older and Far Away, Dawn unwittingly made a wish with a vengeance demon that none can leave her, forcing the Scoobies to be stranded in Buffy’s house at her birthday party.

Beaten

In Older and Far Away, Spike is still bruised from the beating Buffy gave him in Dead Things.

Buffy’s 21st

Buffy celebrates her 21st birthday in Older and Far Away, meaning she can now legally drink alcohol, though we saw her drinking in several previous episodes (Reptile Boy, Beer Bad, Life Serial, Dead Things). Her presents include a battery operated back massager from Willow, a stolen leather jacket from Dawn and a new weapons chest, made by Xander and Anya.

Get out, get out, get out!

In Older and Far Away, Dawn screams, “Get out, get out, get out!” at Buffy and the gang. She said the same thing to Buffy and Joyce in season five’s birthday episode, Blood Ties. In Lessons, the zombie janitor yells, “get out, get out, get out!” at Buffy.
This phrase is repeated by Glory in The Weight of the World, when Glory is starting to become “more human”:

GLORY: “What’s he doing?”
PRIEST: “I must anoint the key.”
GLORY: “Really don’t. Go.”
PRIEST: “But-”
GLORY: “Out! Get out, get out!”

Perhaps intentionally similar to Dawn’s outbursts?

Good idea at the time

In Older and Far Away, Xander refers to the events of Once More, With Feeling when he says, “sometimes we do something that seems like a good idea at the time, like, say, invoke the power of a musical amulet?”

Guidance

Halfrek poses as the High School’s guidance counsellor in Older and Far Away. Buffy gets this job for real in season seven.

Klepto Dawn

After her mother died, Dawn started stealing things to try and get attention. She took some of Anya’s earrings in Intervention, a necklace in All the Way and an amulet in Once More, With Feeling. She told Justin in All the Way that “I haven’t paid for lipstick since forever” and in Older and Far Away she stole a leather jacket for Buffy’s birthday. Dawn’s kleptomania was discovered in Older and Far Away when Anya found stolen jewellry in Dawn’s room. In Normal Again, Buffy tells Dawn she has to try harder and stop stealing things.

Spellcasters Anonymous

In Older and Far Away, we learn that Willow has joined a group called ‘Spellcasters Anonymous’ (”We’re still looking for a better name”). How many magic-addicted people are there in Sunnydale?

Turned off by slugs

Xander and Anya mention slug candles in Older and Far Away, first seen in the Magic Box in Life Serial:

Weird without kittens

In Older and Far Away, Xander asks if the boys want to play poker, and Clem says it’s weird without kittens. This is a reference to Life Serial earlier in the season, where Spike played poker with some demons, with kittens as the stake.

William?

Spike and Halfrek recognise each other in Older and Far Away - she even calls him William. This is a reference to the fact that Kali Rocha, who plays Halfrek, played Spike’s love interest, Cecily Adams, in Fool For Love. Cecily seems to have been made into a vengeance demon by D’Hoffryn.

Different specialities

In Older and Far Away, Halfrek reveals that there are different “jobs” for vengeance demons. Anyanka concentrated on scorned women, and Halfrek’s duty was to protect children and punish parents. She originally came to Sunnydale because she heard Dawn’s cry for care and attention.

Children of the Corn

In Older and Far Away, Xander makes what could be a reference to the 1984 cheesy horror film Children of the Corn when he says, “the only thing missing is a cornfield”. Children of The Corn is the story of a couple encountering a Nebraskan town filled with demonic teenagers. Nicholas Brendon (Xander) appeared in Children of the Corn 3.

Empire of the Sun

The episode title Older and Far Away is a quotation from J.G. Ballard’s novel Empire of the Sun. It relates the story of a wealthy, young British boy named Jim, living with his family in pre-World War II Shanghai. During the Japanese invasion, he is separated from his parents and learns to survive the hostile streets before being captured and sent to a Prisoner of War camp. The novel was turned into a movie by Steven Spielberg in 1987. Dawn’s class in school is studying Empire of the Sun - her teacher says, “if we can come up with things Jim lost during his years in Shanghai, and things he gained…”

Field of Dreams

In Older and Far Away, Xander says the line “…And now we can’t leave. Only thing missing is a cornfield. There … there isn’t a cornfield, is there? This could be a reference to the 1989 movie Field of Dreams about a group of baseball players who purposely lost the 1919 world series. In the movie they are drawn to a haunted cornfield and can’t leave until they play a game of baseball there to redeem themselves.

Twilight Zone

In Older and Far Away, Xander says, “the only thing missing is a cornfield”. This could be a reference to an episode of Twilight Zone called ‘It’s A Good Life‘ which starred Billy Mumy as a little boy called Anthony, who wished people into a cornfield when they made him mad. The episode was adapted from a short 1953 horror story by Jerome Bixby.
In Lessons, Dawn says, “To serve humans is a cookbook”. This is from a short story by Damon Knight called To Serve Man, made into an episode of the Twilight Zone - in which a group of aliens claim to trying to help humans. They write a book called To Serve Man which is later discovered to be a cookbook. In the Angel episode Peace Out, Gunn says, “To Serve Man! It’s To Serve Man all over again.”

Seen at 02.26 minutes:

When Buffy was on patrol she said to herself about the demon, “ran off, huh?” But at her birthday, Buffy tells Spike that the demon in the house is the one she killed on patrol.

Seen at 18.45 minutes:

When Buffy and Spike are in the hall, Spike’s reflection can be seen in the hall mirror by the door.

Seen at 20.53 minutes:

When Dawn runs up the stairs because she is mad at the Scoobies, we see the Scoobies still standing downstairs, watching her. But when Dawn is about to enter her room, the Scoobies are right behind her.

Seen at 24.32 minutes:

When Tara casts her release spell, why is Spike getting ready to rush for the door, without any protection against the daylight?

Seen at 25.12 minutes:

After the demon stabs Richard, Buffy runs to tackle it and you can see there is a streamer caught on her arm. It disappears in the next shot.

Seen at 25.49 minutes:

When Richard is badly injured the Scoobies not only move him upstairs, which seems inadvisable, but they also don’t bother to bandage him up.