I just love the way the episode starts.  First we get A Day in the Life, by the Beatles and a fast flashback from season 1 to now, then we get a good punning and slaying just like Buffy used to start in the good old days.

Still at the Magic shop, Giles explains again that once the ritual has started the only way to stop it, will be to stop the flow of blood, to kill Dawn.  He tries to tell Buffy that Dawn is not her sister.  Buffy stops him.  Dawn is not her sister, she says, she is a part of Buffy, made from her and Buffy will not harm Dawn or let her be harmed, by anyone.

Anya comes up with some good ideas for a change and comes up with the Dagonsphere (previously used to repel Glory) and the troll hammer which they still have.  Xander and Anya go look for the Dagonsphere, get caught in the moment and of course have inappropriately timed sex.  They soon find the Dagonshpere, the Buffybot and, to Anya's distress a bunny.  Just to freak Anya out some more, Xander pulls out a ring and proposes.

Willow has been trying out some spells and thinks she has come up with one to cure Tara, it might work, or all their heads might explode but she thinks its worth a try.  Buffy and Spike head of to Buffy's for weapons, realising that he can't come in Spike asks her to pass them over, instead she invites him in.

All ready and equipped the scoobies let Tara lead them to where Glory, Dawn, the minions and a whole bunch of other mad people are assembled.  Tara is the first to go in, closely followed by Willow. She performs the spell, reverting Tara back to her own self and leaving Glory disorientated and ready for the Buffybot and the Dagonsphere.  They fight it out and just as Glory figures out that the slayer is a robot the real one turns up.

Dawn, tied to the top of a big crane starts to scream for Buffy, she races up, closely followed by Glory.  Spike gets there before them, but the Doc is there (and back from the dead) even quicker, throwing Spike from the crane, Doc starts to cut into Dawn starting the blood flowing and the key is activated.

Down below Buffy battles Glory with the troll hammer until she turns into Ben, leaving Ben dying on the floor she races up to Dawn.  Giles quickly moves in on Ben and finishes him off.  At the top of the crane Buffy realises it is too late, she cannot kill Dawn, and the only way to save Dawn and the world (again) is to kill herself. 

Death is her Gift. 

She saved the world, a lot.
Cider 2001
Buffy Vs Dracula
A brand new season and Buffy's sneaking out for some extra slayage in the small hours. Who could blame her? Sleeping with Riley can't be the most pleasurable of experiences.

A nice beach party and then Bram Stoker's and Whedon's world get all parrallely with a nice storm.  Hey where'd that castle suddenly spring from? Do they even have big haunty castles in America?

Another nightly slaying spree in the cemetery and Buffy bumps into the count himself who promptly turns on the charm, and yes, he is very charming.  Aha, Dracula is in town and suddenly everybody wants a piece of his fame, even Spike. 

Giles has confided his plans to leave for England to Willow who (as sweet as always) is very unsubtley trying to make him feel wanted. But even Giles has fallen under Dracula's thrall.  Xander, of course, is hit the worse and his chat with the count soon leads to him snacking on bugs.  What is it with that guy and bugs?

While Giles and Riley set off to look for Dracula, Xander leads Buffy straight to his new master (bater) for a nice chat about the dark side.  Giles and Riley eventually notice the sudden appearance of a new castle in town and their investigations lead to Giles being mauled by three sister vamps (and I am sure he was enjoying it just a little).

Meanwhile, still under Dracula's thrall Buffy has a taste of his blood and discovers her true nature a bit sooner than he had hoped.  The scoobies arrive to find that Dracula has become a pile of dust.

The next day and Giles prepares to tell Buffy that he is leaving, events with the count have awakened the Slayers inquisitive side and she asks that Giles become her Watcher again.  Moved by this he decides not to leave. All's well that ends better  that's what I say.

Now I have watched all four previous series of Buffy and I'm pretty darn sure that she never had a sister.

So did it really happen, or was it all an elaborate spell to keep them occupied while Dawn moved in? Who can tell.
Cider 2001
BACK
The Real Me
Buffy's new Watcher friendly life takes her to Giles and a whole bunch of crystals, of course little sisters always interrupt anything that you want to do and Buffy's is no exception to the rule. So since when did Buffy have a little sister to interrupt her slayer duties? Who can tell but no-one else seems to think it strange, even the lovely Willow is fooled, well maybe it's me that's wrong and Dawn was always there after all.

So it's a shopping trip to the magic shop in Giles' new sporty car and Dawn has to tag along. Of course when they get there they find a dead body, hardly surprising, there's always a dead body in the magic shop.  Dawn is bustled out of the way by her protective older sister and at last someone notices the fact that Dawn isn't real, even if it is a mad man.

Back in the cemetery there's a new big bad in town and it has a Unicorn fetish. Harmony has got herself a gang and a big plan to kill the slayer.  Well someone has to keep Spike amused. 

Meanwhile back at Slayer central we discover that Dawn has a crush on Xander.  Buffy and her mom go out leaving Xander, Anya and Dawn to cheese on round bread and the Game of Life, which Anya is surprisingly good at.  The party is interrupted by Harmony's clever idea to get the slayer by throwing a note wrapped stone through the window.

Unfortunately, who or whatever introduced Dawn into Sunnydale forgot to mention the first rule of being a slayer's sister and Harmony gets an invite.   It seems one thing Harmony missed in her well thought out plan was the fact that Buffy might not be home.  So it's on to Plan B and they kidnap Dawn to entice the Slayer into their cunning trap.  It seems no-one taught Harmony the rules either  don't invite the slayer to your cosy little vampire nest or you'll get very dead.  Which is exactly what happens.
Cider 2001
BACK
The Replacement
This is a must see for all Xander fans. 

The scene is set in the Harris family home, and it is all we ever thought it would be and more.  As the crashes and bangs of his drunken parents are heard in Xander's basement, its not surprising that Xander is looking for a new place to live.  Unfortunately, Xander's construction job doesn't quite pay for the lifestyle that Anya would like to become used to.

Even though the gang have pointed out that life expectancy is not good for owners of the magic shop, Giles has gone ahead and bought the lease.  No-one is surprised when a Demon visits the shop before he has even opened it.  And yes you guessed it, the demon is after the Slayer, don't they have anything else to do?

In a hunt for this demon, the scoobies come across Spike rummaging through the city dump, and also the demon.  Demon guy waves his wandy thing at Buffy but misses and gets Xander instead.  He doesn't seem to be too badly hurt and the gang head off for home.

Next morning Xander wakes up in the city dump and soon finds out that he has been usurped by a much swarver version of himself.  Not only that, swarve Xander gets the apartment and a promotion at work.  For those of you who don't know, swarve Xander is played by Nick Brendon's twin brother Kelly.  Desperate to prove he is the real Xander, he turns to Willow and proves his identity by doing the Snoopy dance. 

When it turns out that both Xanders are actually real Xander, Anya, typically, wants to keep them both, and who can blame her?  But as usual Buffy kicks demon guy Toth's butt and Willow does the magic stuff and turns 2 Xander's back into 1 (spoilsport).

While packing up Xander's stuff, he and Riley have a man to man chat about Buff and Riley confides to Xander that he thinks Buffy doesn't love him.  Somehow, you want to feel sorry for Riley but you just can't.
Cider 2001
Out Of My Mind
Buffy is doing so well at the slaying these days that she is getting them before they even rise.  Oddly so is Riley. 

Giles, pleased as punch to be watcher guy again, has built Buffy a gym at the back of the magic shop.  I suppose if you are going to run the magic shop in Sunnydale it's best to have the Slayer close at hand as much as possible.

Amusingly Harmony is under the deluded impression that she is Buffy's arch nemesis and is number 1 on the slayers hit list. In fear for her unlife, she turns to Spike for comfort, safety and a game of 20 questions. Back at the Summers' home Joyce finally realises that she only has one daughter, but unfortunately collapses before she can share the news. 

At the hospital, Ben, lends Dawn his stethoscope to take her mind of things and she discovers that Riley's heartbeat is faster than a Napalm Death drummer.  When Riley refuses to admit that he has a problem Buffy calls in the initiative and try's to persuade Riley to let them help him.

Spike learns that there's an initiative doctor in town and sees it as the perfect opportunity to get his chipectomy.  Spike and Harmony get to the doctor before Buffy and Riley who turn up just in time to see Spike being stitched back up.  Unluckily for Spike the doctor has had some sense and has only pretended to remove the chip. 

It's touch and go for a minute but unfortunately doc gets to Riley in time and the operation goes well.
Cider 2001
No Place Like Home
Two months ago a bunch of monks said 'ommm' a lot in an abandoned Warehouse and now Buffy finds a glowy ball outside said warehouse. Well I should say a security guard finds it and gives it to her, believing she has dropped it.

While Giles is on the case, Buffy goes to the hospital to pick up a prescription for her mother, who's headaches don't seem to be getting much better, and bumps into the security guard again.  This time though he is strapped to a hospital bed uttering the rantings of a madman.

Meanwhile back at the warehouse, one of the monks returns and a nice girl in red suddenly appears demanding her key which the monk apparently has stolen from her.  When the monk refuses to give it back, she becomes annoyed to say the least.

The magic shop is doing exceptionally well and Anya has finally found her place in our world by becoming a shop assistant.  Linking the security guards madness to his handling of the glowy ball, Buffy thinks that someone has put a spell on her mom which is making her ill.  Anya tells of a spell she knows that will put the spellcaster into a trance enabling her to see any other spells.

Walking around her home in her new trance state, Buffy finds nothing spell-like about her mother, however Dawn's picture keeps disappearing from the family photos.  Entering Dawn's room (much to Dawn's dismay) she finds that it keeps changing from a typical teenagers room to what appears to be a spare room.

Having come back to herself Buffy heads back to the warehouse where she found the glowy ball (a Dagonsphere, a protective device to ward off evil) . Here she finds the monk and the nice girl in red, who turns out to be REALLY strong.  Knowing when she is beat, Buffy makes a run for it with the monk while red girl stamps her feet in frustration and destroys the warehouse in the process.

With his dying words, monky tells Buffy that Dawn is the key to a portal that has been sent to Buffy in human form as she is the only one that can protect it.  Dawn, as well as everyone else, doesn't know what she really is.
Cider 2001
Family
Buffy tells Giles the truth about Dawn but they agree to keep the secret from the others for Dawn's sake.  As part of her new Dawn protecto-girl role, Buffy decides to move back home much to Anya's dismay who can't see the reasons behind helping her move back when they only just moved her out.

After stalking Buffy last episode Spike is now having fantasies about Buffy whilst in bed with Harmony, but any chance to see Spike naked is fine by me.

Back at the magic shop, the team are discussing what to get Tara for her upcoming 20th birthday, Tara's never talked about family turn up, and really they don't seem like nice people.  Their appearance seem to turn Tara back into the shy stuttering girl she was when we first met her, and she calls her father 'sir'.

While Glory (who is arguably the best bad since the Mayor got all crispy and Spike got his chip) hires some demons to kill Buffy, Riley is feeling more and more out of the loop. So he heads off down to Willy's bar and gets chatted up by a vampire.

With her family in town the truth we have been waiting for since Tara messed up Willow's demon spell finally comes out.  The women in Tara's family are all demons and their demon side appears at the age of 20.  Tara's family have come to take her home but Tara is not convinced.  In an effort to hide her demon side from her friends she casts a spell that will prevent them from seeing demons.

Back at the magic shop the demons hired by Glory turn up to kill Buffy and now have more than a fighting chance as she can't see them.  Spike, hearing of the Slayers upcoming demise, turns up but can't resist the fight.

When Tara turns up (closely followed by her family) and sees what she has done she reverses the spell.  The demons promptly dispatched, Tara's secret comes out.  And then, Through Anya's over logic approach to everything and Spike's strange ability to see what others can't the families big secret comes out.  There is no demon in the family just a story passed down the generations to keep the women in line.
Cider 2001
Fool For Love
A grand (and probably the last ever) Buffy and Angel 2 part epic.

A routine patrol in the cemetery complete with the necessary punning goes wrong and Buffy gets staked herself.  Fortunately it Captain America (otherwise known as Riley) to the rescue and he comes in quite handy afterwards with his combat medical training.

With Buffy out of action, Riley and the scoobies take on Buffy's slaying duties, only the scoobies aren't quite as stealthy as Riley would like.

Buffy's injury has got her a bit worried and she and Giles hit the books to find out as much as they can about the early demise of previous slayers.  Finding nothing in the books, Buffy turns to Spike for info who has the deaths of two slayers to his name.

Tempted by monetary rewards and spicy buffalo wings at The Bronze Spike reminisces about his good old pre-vamp days, when he was nicknamed William the Bloody for his bloody awful poetry and when, even then, he was love's bitch.

His first taste of unrequited love leads him straight to the arms and fangs of the newly vamp'd Drusilla.

Meanwhile back at the cemetery the scoobies find the vamp that staked Buffy and he leads them to his nest.  Deciding that there are two many vamps to take on at night, Riley makes plans with the gang to take them on during the day. 

Back in the 19th century and William has changed his name to the much manlier Spike and is already sparring with Angel.  He soon learns of the slayer and, rather than shrink back in fear at the name, he seeks her out.

It's the 1900 and the middle of the Boxer rebellion in China and while the fighting goes on outside, Spike and the Chinese slayer battle it out in a temple, much to Drusilla's delight.

Back to tonight and, having shook off the scoobies, Riley returns to the vampire nest on his own and blows it up.  Just what is he trying to prove.

Taking the story outside, Spike moves on to slayer number two.  In a brilliant fight sequence that flicks between today and 1977, Spike and Buffy fight it out outside The Bronze while punk Spike and 70's slayer fight it out on a tube in New York.

The tale over and Spike makes an impromptu move on the slayer.  Being roughly rejected, Spike takes his wounded pride (and his payment) back home where he decides to risk the throbbing headaches and take his revenge on Buffy with a double barrelled shot gun.

Arriving home, Buffy finds her mother packing for another trip to hospital.  Finding her crying on her front doorstep, Spike can't bring himself to shoot her and to their mutual amazement comforts her instead.
Cider 2001
Shadow
Joyce is having her scan and Buffy and Dawn are understandably worried.

Meanwhile, Giles and the gang are still trying to find anything at all about Glory.  Glory herself is cooking up a spell and planning a trip to the magic shop for supplies.

Riley, who Buffy has not deemed important enough to tell about her mum's hospital visit, pays a visit to Buffy's house to find Spike in her bedroom sniffing her clothes.  As Riley kicks him out, Spike delights to inform Riley of all his failings and the fact that Buffy confided in him rather than in her boyfriend.

Riley hotfoots it to the hospital in time to discover that Joyce has a tumour.

Back at the magic shop, the gang are still trying to find what and where Glory is when she herself walks into the shop and Giles unknowingly sells her an amulet and a bloodstone that, according to Anya, should never be sold together.  Ina moment of blinding inspiration Giles puts two and two together and comes up with Glory.

Anya, on the other hand, puts the amulet and bloodstone together and comes up with a big snake.  Buffy sets off to find Glory, interrupts the spell and gets another good beating for her troubles.  She limps off leaving Glory to complete her spell and send the big snake off to find her key.

After a dressing down from the gang for blowing up the vamp's nest on his own, Riley is feeling even more out of the loop than usual and heads off back to Willy's bar.  Here he meets the female vamp again, but this time he lets her have a taste of him before staking her.

Snaky is now well and truly on the loose and on Dawn's trail which leads him to the magic shop, seemingly terrified by Dawn it flees with Buffy hot on it's tail.  She finally catches up with it right outside Glory's house, gives it a good strangling and then a good beating.
Cider 2001
Listening To Fear
Joyce is in hospital awaiting her operation.  While Buffy is looking after Joyce, the rest of the scoobies, minus Riley, are fighting vampires in the cemetery.  Riley is getting his kicks elsewhere, he's found a nice vampire nest where he can pay to get his blood sucked.

At the hospital, Joyce's headaches aren't getting any better and she has started to say weird stuff upsetting Dawn.  Buffy explains that it is the tumour pressing on her brain that is making her say this stuff and that she doesn't mean it or even remember what she has said.

On the way out of the hospital the bump into one of the mental patients and he makes the same weird comments about Dawn not being real.  The hospital's mental ward is getting overcrowded so they are letting some of them go home.

Willow and Tara are taking an outside nap and naming the stars when they watch a meteor fall to earth in the middle of the woods.   Unbeknown to them, an alien has crawled out of the meteorite and the first thing it finds is the newly released mental patient.  It the slimes its way to the hospital where Buffy and Joyce are trying to persuade the doctors to let Joyce home until it is time for her operation.

Willow and Tara alert the rest of the scoobies (including Riley this time) and they go off to investigate.  Here they find the empty pod and the dead man with a lot of nasty goo in his mouth.  They decide not to trouble Buffy with this and head off to do some research.  Riley, however, stays behind and contacts the Initiative.

At the hospital the alien has found its way to the mental ward and is filling patients mouths with goo one by one.  Meanwhile the doctor's have let Joyce home (followed by the alien) and frankly she's not making much sense.

Hitting the net, Willow discovers that the alien is in fact a Queller demon, a demon sent by meteorite to rid the world of mad people.  Still not wanting to disturb Buffy, they contact Riley who, along with the military, has found the corpses at the hospital.  The Queller on the other hand has found Joyce mid rant in her bedroom.

Riley and co follow it's trail from the hospital to Buffy's door.

Disturbed by her mum's rantings, Dawn goes to Joyce's room to find the demon, she screams for Buffy who dashes upstairs and confronts the demon.  Spike, seemingly ever near by, also turns up and helps kill the demon.  It's all over by the time Riley gets there.

At the hospital one of Glory's minions is in the back of Ben's car and he wants to know why Ben has summoned the Queller demon.  Ben tells him he was just trying to avert some of the evil that Glory has committed in creating all these mad people.

Joyce is back in hospital and not quite as ranty, she does, however, remember that she thought Dawn isn't real, but realises that they have to take care of her.
Cider 2001
Into The Woods
At the hospital the scoobies (including Riley for a change) await the result of Joyce's operation.  Which is a complete success. Celebrating Joyce's imminent return to health, Dawn stays with Xander and Anya leaving Buffy and Riley alone to have loud obnoxious sex.  Buffy, however, manages to make Riley feel even more out of Buffy's life as she tells him that she cried on her own and didn't come to him for sympathy.

As they make love, Spike lurks outside, and when Riley leaves on his now nightly excursion to the blood bank, and Spike follows.

Spike returns to the Summers' home and pays Buffy a bedtime visit and introduces her to Riley's new hobby.  Shocked, betrayed and disgusted by what she sees she leaves closely followed by Riley.

Returning home, Riley finds the initiative waiting for him, they have a new mission and they need Riley's help, they are leaving the next night. In light of recent events, Riley is considering going with them. 

Buffy's solution to the problem is to visit the nest again and kill all the vampires, however, after a nightly visit from the slayer the vamps have skipped town.  So burning the place down is the next best option.  Not being able to de-stress by killing vamps, she takes returns to the magic shop (where Anya and Willow have been bickering away) and takes it out on the punch bag.

Riley, however, beats Spike up, which, strangely, leads to them having a heart to heart over a bottle of scotch.  Deciding it is time to face the music Riley turns up at the magic shop and tries to explain his actions to Buffy.  She's not really listening.  Riley tells her about the initiative's mission and gives her an ultimatum, unless she gives him a reason to stay he will leave that night.

Walking out into the night, Buffy finally gets to slay her vamps, closely watched by Xander who proceeds to give her a good talking to and finally persuades her to get over herself and go after Riley.   But even at slayer speed she's too late and sadly (who am I kidding?) gets to the helicopter as its taking off.  He's gone.
Cider 2001
Triangle
Now this is what we all love about Buffy, a good slay before the opening credits.

In order to get over Riley, Buffy is training with Giles a lot.  Giles' research into Glory has gone nowhere and he is planning a trip to England to contact the watchers (apparently they don't have phones in England yet).  Unwisely, Giles is leaving Anya and Willow are left in charge of the Magic Box.  The bickering begins before Giles has even boarded the plane.

Quite disturbingly, Spike has a mannequin dressed as Buffy in the bowels of his crypt and he is practising apologising to it with a box of chocolates.  It's not going well.  Poor Spike he can't even get anywhere with plastic Buffy.

Back at the Magic Box and Xander is stuck in the middle between his best friend and his girlfriend, the bickering getting too much for them, he and Tara leave them to it.

Left to themselves, Willow helps herself to the ingredients to a complex spell to conjure artificial sunlight and help Buffy with the vampire slaying.  Anya is not happy about the stealing of ingredients and manages to disturb Willow at a rather crucial bit.  Instead of a nice ball of sunshine a Troll appears, with a big hammer.

Taking Giles' car, Anya and Willow follow the troll's trail of destruction whilst desperately trying to find a reversal spell.  Troll boy heads for the Bronze, where, for some unknown reason Xander and Spike are having a game of pool and a heart to heart.

The rest of the gang soon turn up and they find out that troll boy is actually an old boyfriend of Anya's and the first victim of her vengeance.  After trashing the Bronze, drinks lots of ale and leaves.

The group split up and Anya & Willow (still bickering) return to the Magic Box to find a reversal spell.  Possibly looking for his own vengeance troll boy turns up closely followed by Xander.  Finding his girlfriend and his best friend in trouble Xander, quite heroically, fights the troll.  Amused by Xander's valour, the troll gives him a choice, one of the girls lives, one of them dies, which one shall it be?  Buffy arrives in the nick of time, and gives Willow just enough time to complete her spell and send the troll into another dimension.

Giles returns from England with little more information than he left with, as Buffy, Joyce and Giles discuss the situation downstairs, Dawn gets to hear a little more than she should.
Cider 2001
Checkpoint
The scoobies are having a meeting at Buffy's and Giles has some news.  The council has found something out about Glory (and not having phones in England) they have decided to make a trip to Sunnydale.

Meanwhile, Glory herself hasn't had enough brain and is having withdrawal symptoms, so another mad man is set loose on Sunnydale.  Glory has been doing some thinking she's figured that Buffy must know where the key is and the time is drawing near for Glory to use it.

The Magic Box has just got back to normal when the council turn up and they are not at all impressed with Giles' new occupation.  They kindly take over and shut the shop, much to Anya's disgust.  What they hadn't mentioned before is that they have come up with a review of Buffy's progress and will only share the information that they have on Glory if Buffy passes the test. 

After a terrible day at college and a run in with Spike, Buffy returns to the shop to find the council waiting for her.  They threaten her with having the shop shut down and Giles deported if she does not comply with the review.  The first part of the review leads the council to question all Buffy's friends, which they all find a tad uncomfortable, except for Spike who seems to have found an admirer.

The next part involves Buffy protecting a dummy while blindfold and guided only by instructions from the council, in Japanese.  Buffy prefers to do it her own way but gets the dummy killed.  Returning home she finds Glory at her house. 

Buffy decides to get Joyce and Dawn to a place of safety and so takes them to Spike, don't tell me where that piece of logic came from but she had had a bad day.  On her way back to the shop for the final part of the test Buffy is attacked by what can only be described as three Knights of the round table.  It takes her some time but she beats them and gets the last one to talk.  He tells her that they are Knights of Byzantium, an ancient order that are also seeking the key in order to destroy it so that Glory cannot use it.  As usual, he says, more will come.

Buffy has now seriously had enough and she lets the council know it.  They give her the information that she needs and leave, but not befoire re-instating Giles as watcher.

So what did they know about Glory?  She's a god. Oh, as usual, dear.
Cider 2001
Blood Ties
Oh dear, it's Buffy's birthday, we are bound for bad things.

After the revelation that Glory is a god from one of the nastier demon dimensions and is needs the key to get back there, Buffy decides that it's time the gang know the truth about Dawn.  Meanwhile Glory herself has found herself the Knight of Byzantine that Buffy let go but can't get any information about the key out of him either.  So she mushes his brain and sends him to the mental ward.

Buffy, however inadvisably, is having a birthday party and Anya is getting jealous of all the presents she is getting.  More paranoid than usual Dawn thinks everyone is talking about her and dashes off to her room to sulk.  Using the trellis, rather than that nice low roof Buffy used to use, she gets out of the house and bumps straight into Spike who is lurking outside as usual.  The pair head off to the magic shop to steal stuff.  Here Dawn finds Giles notebook and learns the truth about herself.

More than a little freaked out by this revelation she returns home and cuts herself with a knife.  Bandaged up and back in her room she trashes is and burns all her beloved diaries.  By the time Joyce and Buffy get upstairs, she's gone again.  The team split up to look for her.

Wandering the streets aimlessly, Dawn finds her way to the hospital and to the mental ward where the Byzantine knight recognises her as the key.  Rushing back out she runs straight into Ben, who gets her a drink and lends an ear.  Finding someone who will listen, she blurts out the whole story.  Learning the truth Ben tells her to leave before Glory finds her and then he himself turns into Glory.

It appears though, that as Glory, Ben remembers nothing of the conversation he had with Dawn before and, therefore, does not know that Dawn is the key.  Finding Dawn alone, and recognising her as the slayer's sister, Glory starts to quiz her about the key, although it appears that Dawn is learning more than Glory is.

Having no luck finding Dawn, the gang meet up and head for the hospital where they find her with Glory.  So there is another Buffy/Glory fight that doesn't go too well for Buffy or Spike.  Willow and Tara, however, have better luck and make Glory disappear with a transportation spell.  As Willow recovers from the after effects of the spell Buffy and Dawn make up, but Dawn doesn't remember that Ben actually turned into Glory.
Cider 2001
Crush
The Bronze has been refurbished after the accident with the troll and they are having a grand re-opening party.  The scoobies are all there and partying hard.  Surprisingly Ben is also there and Buffy takes the opportunity to thank him for looking after Dawn.  As they chat away Spike looks on jealously, now where have I seen that look before? Oh yeah, Angel's face. 

Just before the opening credits the late train pulls into Sunnydale, unfortunately, all the passengers are dead.

Spike's little crush on Buffy has got to the extent that he gets Harmony to dress up in the sweater he stole from Buffy's house and play Buffy sex games.  Meanwhile, Buffy herself returns home to the news about the train murders and Dawn not home.  Naturally she turns to Spike for help (if she hates him so much, why does she keep asking for his help) where she finds Dawn listening to Spike tell stories of his dark past. 

When she lecture's Dawn about hanging out with vampires, Dawn breaks the news that she has a crush on Spike (he has cool hair and wears neat leather coats  we can see where she's coming from) but that he would never notice as he is so much in love with Buffy. 

The next day Buffy returns home to find Spike chatting with Dawn and Joyce in the kitchen, it seems she can't get away from him.  His excuse is that he knows where the vampires responsible for the train murders are nesting.  When they get there the vampires make a swift exit at the sight of the slayer much to Spike's disgust and he finally makes his feelings known to Buffy, much to her disgust.  Gutted by her reaction Spike returns to his crypt where he finds Drusilla waiting for him. 

As ever, Dru can see into Spike's mind and tells him she wants him back and persuades him that the pain caused by the chip in his head is all in his mind. Rejected by Buffy, Spike decides to team back up with Dru and they hit the bronze just like in the good old days back in season 2.  Finding a likely couple Spike finds that Drusilla is right and that matter can win over mind, or has Dru fooled him and killed his dinner before handing it to him?

Meanwhile, after talking things over with the gang, Buffy decides that she has to face Spike and make it clear to him that she does not and can not reciprocate his feelings and heads of to the crypt leaving Willow to do the vampire invite reversal spell.  Finding Spike's crypt empty, Buffy takes a tour and finds a shrine to all things Buffy, including the mannequin. 

Fresh from their feed Spike and Dru return, after somewhat of a scuffle Spike knocks them both out with a cattle prod and they wake up to find themselves tied up.  This, Spike says, is his way of proving to Buffy that there could be something between them.  His ingenious plan is as follows, if Buffy admits that there is something between them he will stake Drusilla, otherwise he will let Drusilla loose to kill Buffy.  Buffy, however, does not want to play and Spike is interrupted mid rant by a stake from Harmony.  Luckily for him she's not a very good shot.

As Spike and Harmony fight it our, Drusilla frees herself and sets on Buffy, Spike lets Buffy loose and is swiftly dumped by all three girls.  Spike goes after Buffy only to find that she's changed the locks.
Cider 2001
I Was Made To Love You
Joyce has recovered from her op and has even got herself a date for the first time since robot Ted.  Understandably she's a bit jittery and her daughters aren't really helping.

Tara and Anya share a stroll through the park for some odd reason when they come across a nice smiley girl, with an odd speech pattern looking for her boyfriend Warren. 

Spring is in the air, so of course it's time for a party at The Bronze, Buffy and Ben seem to be getting along very well to Spike's disgust when the girl looking for Warren turns up again.  Everyone (including Willow) is instantly smitten by her but it seems they are all out of luck because she only has eyes for Warren as Spike soon finds out.  Trying to make Buffy jealous ('cos that's gonna happen) he whispers sweet nothings in her ear and gets thrown through the window for his pains.  Well at least he's now got Buffy's attention, until she also gets thrown through the window. 

Stunned by the girl's strength they soon figure out that she is a robot created by Warren.  Willow gets to work on her laptop to find trying to find Warren, while Warren himself is getting ready to leave.  Buffy gets to him first though, and he confesses everything.  He created, April, as the ideal girlfriend only to find that he soon got bored of the ideal girlfriend, found a real girl and up and left.  April has been looking for him ever since.

Now the real girl has left Warren and it isn't long before she bumps into April, Warren and Buffy are close behind and Warren tries to explain to April that he doesn't love her anymore, but she has been programmed to love him and doesn't understand.  Then she takes her anger out on Buffy and they fight until her batteries start to run out, Buffy sits with her until they do.

Warren is still determined to leave Sunnydale, however, Spike has other ideas.  Buffy meanwhile returns home to find that her mother has been sent some rather nice flowers........
Cider 2001
The Body
Buffy returns home to find her mother dead on the settee.

This stands out as one of the best ever Buffy episodes and brings out the talent of the writers, directors and cast.

Anyone who has ever lost anyone close to them or who knows someone who has lost someone close to them will recognise something in this episode. 

The whole episode is played without any incidental music and focuses on the emotions and reactions of each character.

Buffy, the protector, the strong one, after her initial shock, goes into automatic pilot and hides her feelings, waiting until the undertakers have been, she goes to the school to pick up Dawn and take her to the hospital.

Dawn immediately crumbles and can't understand.  Willow wants to be there for Buffy and becomes uncharacteristically picky about what clothes to wear and bemoans the fact that she doesn't have anything sombre or adult to wear. Tara, who has experienced the same thing, comforts Willow with a kiss.

Xander wants to be supporto guy (probably because there have been so many times when he hasn't been) and Anya can't come to terms with the fact that people die.  Giles, as the grown up among them wants to take over and shield Buffy from the more mundane tasks, like arranging the funeral.

The gang all meet up at the hospital.  To break the tension Dawn sneaks off and locks herself in the mortuary wanting to see her mother but not realising that locking yourself in a mortuary is not the best idea when you live on a hellmouth.  Of course one of the bodies turns out to be a vampire and it wouldn't be the Buffy we =know and love if we didn't have at least one good slaying.

I most probably haven't done this excellent episode justice at all, but what can I say, just go watch it.
Cider 2001
Forever
It's the aftermath of Joyce's death and Buffy and Dawn are trying to pick out coffins.  Buffy is still on autopilot trying to be the strong one and not letting her emotions show which is hard for Dawn to accept.

On the night before the funeral, Spike arrives with flowers for Joyce, Xander thinking he is just trying to get on Buffy's good side turns him away, not realising that Spike really did like Joyce.  Willow, always better at judging people's actions, notices that he didn't leave a card.

At the funeral, Buffy remains at the graveside long after everyone else has left, until it gets dark and Angel shows.  In just one moment they hold hands, no words need to be spoken, that one action says it all, they were meant to be together.  At last they sit close together, and Buffy finally puts her feelings and her fears into words, she can open up to Angel like she never could with Riley, they have an understanding that Buffy and Riley could never have.  For her it always has and always will be Angel even though they both know nothing can come of their feelings.  When they kiss the passion is still there.  They remain together until the morning comes and Angel has to go.

Meanwhile Dawn is staying with Willow and Tara, still not over her mother's death she wants to cast a resurrection spell.  Tara, trying to dissuade her says it's not possible, Willow on the other hand is not so sure, she says it is possible but it is best to leave things as they are.  The next day Tara and Willow go to college leaving Dawn to herself, on they way out Willow secretly makes a book reveal itself to Dawn.

One of Glory's minions accosts Ben at the hospital and he lets slip that the key is human, realising what he has done, he stabs the minion.  Of course the story soon gets back to Glory.

At the magic shop, Dawn soon finds out where the bad spell books are and Spike soon finds her spell making and lends a hand.  He takes her to see a magician by the name of Doc who tells them how to cast the resurrection spell, which involves stealing the egg of a Gorra demon, which, after a bit of a fight for Spike, they do.

Returning home and finding the spell book missing and just how dangerous it could be, Tara and Willow rush off to tell Buffy.  Buffy confronts Dawn and the emotions are let loose at last.  Meanwhile a zombie Joyce is making her way towards the Summer's house, there's a knock at the door and Buffy suddenly wants her mum back. It's dawn who's the strong one now and she rips up the picture of Joyce, reversing the spell.
Cider 2001
Intervention
After her mother's death Buffy has become concerned about being the slayer, she believes being the slayer is turning her to stone and that as she becomes a better slayer she is losing her ability to love.  Riley left because she couldn't open up to him and now her mum, is dead and she doesn't want to lose anyone else.  Giles tells her of a quest she can undertake, a place where she can go to find the answers she seeks.

Warren has made the Buffybot that Spike ordered complete with all the 'special' programs he ordered, and now he is in a hurry to leaves.  Spike, pleased with his new toy, is happy to let him go. 

At her mansion, Glory is convinced that Buffy and the key are somehow connected and commands her minions to watch everyone that Buffy knows and find out who is new in her life.

Giles and Buffy set off for the desert, fully equipped with a book, a gourd and a bunch of twigs.  Giles performs the ritual, which is much akin to the Okey Cokey, and Buffy wanders off into the desert, where she is guided by a puma to a nice rock.  Here she realises that she has been here before.

Back at the crypt, Spike is enjoying a few sex games with the Buffybot and they finally make it to bed.  While Spike sleeps contented, Buffy heads off for a slaying spree.  In the cemetery she bumps into Xander and Anya on patrolling duties while Buffy is out of town.  Their confusion at Buffy being back so early is interrupted by Spike and a bunch of vampires.  Glory's minions watch on as Buffy protects Spike above all others while fighting the vamps.  Slaying gets Buffybot all hot for Spike again and Xander and Anya get a glimpse of something they would rather not have seen.

They rush back to tell Willow and Tara, and all come to the conclusion that Buffy has finally lost it.  Xander goes off to find the new lovers and with Xander hammering on the door of his crypt, Spike tells Buffy to hide below.  As Xander is lecturing Spike the minion's turn up, out number Spike and take him off to Glory.

Meanwhile, the real Buffy has met up with the first slayer who tells her that she pulls away from love because it is too painful, but the Slayer should feed from pain and that love will bring her her gift.  Death is her gift.  Buffy isn't too convinced by this but the first slayer has gone.

Missing Spike, Buffybot turns up at Willow's to ask for her help in finding him.  Xander arrives and tells of Spike's capture.  Of course, Spike knows who the real key is the gang have to get to him to stop him from blabbing, Buffybot on the other hand just wants to save him.  They head to Buffy's to get weapons.

Back at Glory's she knows straight away that Spike is a vampire and not the key at all, but he might know who the key is. Unfortunately for Spike, he's saying nothing.

Desperate to save Spike but, unlike the real Buffy, not having a plan, Buffybot goes upstairs to change just before the real Buffy walks in.  Meeting with Buffybot she figures it out straight away and is not too happy her friends couldn't tell the difference between her and a robot.  (Just as an aside this episode leaves only Giles from the original scoobies who hasn't at some point had a double).  Buffy has an idea where Spike may be and they set off to prevent him from telling Glory the truth.

Battered though he may be, Spike has though of a way to escape and gets out just as the Buffy's and the scoobies arrive.  A huge fight ensues between the scoobies and the minions in which poor old Buffybot gets broken.

The crisis all over, the gang are discussing matters (and Willow disturbingly is fixing the Buffybot) back at the Magic Box.  They don't know if Spike spilled the beans to Glory and realise that he will only lie to them about it if he did.  Buffy heads off to the crypt in the Buffybot's clothing and gets the truth from Spike.  Touched that Spike really does have some feeling and went through all that pain to protect her kid sister she kisses him.
Cider 2001
Tough Love
Buffy has decided to leave college in order to look after her sister whose schoolwork is suffering.  Buffy doesn't really know how to deal with it, she wasn't the best student herself and has suddenly had to grow up quick.  She goes to Giles for help and he persuades that she is up to the job.  She starts her new role by giving Dawn a good telling off and taking her home.  Dawn rebels against her sister's authority and they end up having a row until Buffy blurts out that the school have told her that if she can't control Dawn, she will be found unfit to look after her.

After the failure of her minion's, Glory decides if you want a job doing properly, do it yourself.  With a little thought she has soon figured out who the key is.

Willow and Tara are getting ready to go to the culture festival and have their first fight resulting in Willow storming out. She turns to Giles for comfort and Tara goes off to the festival on her own.

Glory's minions have been told to keep an eye on Buffy and the scoobies while she sees to the key an Giles finds one of them lurking at the Magic Box.  He soon gets it to talk and thy find out that Glory thinks Tara is the key.  Willow rushes to find her but gets there too late, finding that Tara is not the key she has mushed her brain, leaving Tara mad.

Willow wants her revenge, but Buffy persuades her that now is not the time or so she thinks.  Willow heads for the Magic Box, gets supplies and it's straight off to Glory's where she dishes out a little pain of her own.

Buffy picks up Dawn from Spike's and tells them how she thwarted Willow's plans.  Spike, as ever, an expert in human behaviour, puts Buffy straight. As the witch and the god fight it out, Buffy turns up and for once doesn't get her arse kicked.

Glory hasn't given up though and turns up at Willow and Tara's, now mad, Tara soon gives Dawn's true identity away.

Cider 2001
Spiral
Buffy and Dawn run for it, closely followed by Glory, until she is hit by a truck and turns into Ben.  Knowing their danger the gang decide to make a run for it and try to get as far from Sunnydale and Glory as possible.

To the scoobies surprise, Buffy turns to Spike for help and he finds them a campavan in which they set off with the minimum of supplies.

In the meantime, Ben is contemplating killing Dawn himself so that Glory cannot return to her dimension and he can remain where in this world, and the Byzantine knights rescue their mad friend for the hospital.

The Byzantine are the first to find the fleeing scoobies and they chase them on horseback.  After the usual bloody great fight, the scoobies seem to have lost them.  Congratulating themselves they drive on with Giles at the wheel when there appears another knight who manages to get his spear into Giles, the van overturns and they make it to an old petrol station.

Boarding it up as the fight continues they capture one of the Byzantine leaders just before Willow creates a magic and powerful energy barrier.  Giles' wound is deep and he isn't getting any better.  With the knights surrounding them outside Buffy only knows one thing to do, call Ben.  Calling a parley they get the knights to let Ben through to tend to Giles.

As the captured General comes round he tells the team how Glory came to be in our dimension, cast from her own dimension in male human form.  But being a God, she found a way to escape this form.  They key will return her to her own dimension, but in the process will open the barriers to all other dimensions letting al sorts of demons and horrors into our world.

Ben arrives and treats Giles as best he can in the situation.  Of course it's not long before he turns into Glory, who soon realises that gentle Ben has done something right for a change, grabs Dawn and is off, leaving a trail of dead Byzantine in her wake.

It's finally too much for Buffy.
Cider 2001
The Weight Of The World
At Glory's they are preparing for the ritual that will open the dimensions.  The preparations for activating the key are well under way, and it's Dawn's blood that will activate the key.

Buffy remains in a comatose state despite all her friends' efforts.  With Buffy and Giles both out of action Willow takes over and is surprisingly good at it.  Spike brings up the matter of the Ben/Glory situation but no-one knows what he is talking about, which gets starts to get him a bit exasperated to say the least.  It appears that Glory has manufactured a spell so that any humans that may see the transition don't remember it, Spike, not being human, is immune.

All else having failed, Willow is going to try a spell to go into Buffy's mind and try to bring her back.  In Buffy's mind Willow finds Buffy as a girl waiting for the arrival of baby Dawn, this switches to the Magic shop where Buffy replaces a book on the shelves and then to the desert with the first slayer.
It's getting close to ritual time and the split between Glory and Ben is closing and she soon switches to Ben who begins to remember everything he has done as Glory.

Spike and Xander go to the Doc's for help, but unfortunately he turns out to be one of Glory's biggest fans, in the fight that ensue Xander kills the doc and Spike retrieves the very thing that they are looking for.

Willow is still in Buffy's mind and Buffy putting the book back in the Magic shop is a recurring feature, although confused, Willow finally gets through to Buffy. Buffy tells her that this moment was when she gave up, when she realised that she couldn't kill Glory and save Dawn.  She thinks that she has killed Dawn.  But Willow gets through and brings Buffy back.

Back at Glory's Ben tries to save Dawn, despite Glory, however the gap between them is getting closer and they argue as they switch from one to the other.  In the end Glory wins and Ben takes Dawn back for the ritual.

When Buffy comes to, they head back to the magic shop and Giles tells Buffy what he has found out, once the ritual has started, the only way to stop it is to kill Dawn.
Cider 2001
The Gift
(100th Episode)