Ben beat up Glory’s minion Jinx in Checkpoint as a message to the hellgod that he wouldn’t co-operate with her. In Blood Ties, Jinx’s face was still injured from this, and Ben reminded him why. In Forever, Ben told Jinx, “you’re more fun when I hit you”.

In Blood Ties, Glory recognises Dawn from when she visited Buffy’s house in Checkpoint.

In Blood Ties, Dawn has a couple of flashbacks to being confronted by the crazy guys in Real Me and Listening to Fear. She also remembers Sobek the snake from Shadow.

Xander’s arm is still bandaged in Blood Ties from when he was beaten up by Olaf in Triangle.

In Blood Ties, we see that Spike has the box of chocolates which we saw in Checkpoint. He also tries to pick up Olaf’s troll hammer first seen in Triangle.

Willow blows bubbles at Buffy’s birthday party in Checkpoint, which she also did at Tara’s birthday in Family.

We find out much more about Glory in the episode Blood Ties. In his diary, Giles says that the Watcher’s Council have been getting their information about Glory from The Book Of Tarnis. He says that Glory “absorbs the energy that binds the human mind into a cohesive whole”, which …

In Blood Ties, Spike asks Dawn if she’s sneaking out to watch Teletubbies, a reference to the popular British children’s show about some brightly coloured creatures who get great fun out of simple things like vacuuming and handbags.

There is a unicorn-shaped candle in the Magic Box in Blood Ties. This is possibly a reference to Harmony who, we discovered in Real Me, likes unicorns.

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 …

Spike used the Urn of Ishtar in The Magic Box as an ashtray in Blood Ties, which was how Buffy discovered he’d been there with Dawn.

In Checkpoint, Buffy tells the Watchers that without her they’re just watching Masterpiece Theatre. This is a reference to a long running prime-time drama series shown on American television. It shows productions of plays and works of literature.

The Magic Box has the following items, according to the Watchers in Checkpoint: focusing crystals, runic artefacts, an amulet of Cauldis and a Burmese statue which can melt eyeballs. In Life Serial, we see that they also sell ‘Lemon Seduction’ and ‘Essence of Slug’ candles, Eyeballs in Honey, Mummy Hands …

In Checkpoint, Nigel from the Watcher’s Council mentions to Willow and Tara that there is an accredited institution for witches, which he says all witches should be registered with. He mentions a “Magical Proficiency Level” which Willow and Tara have never heard of.

In Checkpoint, we discover that Glory has a time limit for using the Key. Her minion Dreg tells her, “We have found that the signs of the alignment are moving faster than expected… If you are to use the Key, you must act quickly.”