Wednesday, February 13, 2002
Review: Warning, Buffy sibling causes eye-rolling
By STEPHANIE McGRATH -- AllPop
Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Season 6, Episode 13
WARNING: SPOILERS
Before we get started with this week's recap, I'd like to address all those people who sent me feedback last week about the previous "Buffy" recap in which I called Dawn "whiny" and "annoying".
1. Yes, yes, yes, I know that in real life, if a real teenager experienced the death of her mother she would probably freak out, and no, I wasn't trying to be insensitive towards those teenagers who have experienced loss.
2. Yes, perhaps I am just as whiny as Dawn, but that's probably not going to change in the near future (just as Dawn's whines aren't going to let up anytime soon), so dear friends, I'm afraid you're going to have to just deal with it.
3. Thanks to everyone who sends friendly and not-so-friendly e-mails to me about these recaps. It's fun to hear what you have to say. I'd also like to generate some interactive "Buffy" debates, so feel free to go and populate the "Buffy" message board.
4. I still think Dawn is annoying. Berate me if you must, but for real, come on, she's not 10! She needs to suck it up and cut it out with the Winona Ryder behaviour already.
Okay, now we can begin.
 Buffy |
Most of this week's "previously on 'Buffy'" scenes involve Dawn and her ... high-pitched crankiness. This means that Buffy's little sister will play an important part in this week's episode, so prepare yourself. (Two nice things I will say about Dawn before I start complaining: 1. She looked very cute in this episode. 2. Michelle Trachtenberg can act, as evidenced in a scene or two this week. She just needs to stop trampling into melodrama land.)
We open with a shot of Buffy packing up her stakes and monster-slaying equipment and Dawn standing around, looking a bit pouty. It seems that the two sisters were supposed to spend some bonding time and have dinner together, but now Buffy has got to go slay some monster or other. Dawn says it's okay in the tone of voice that means it's actually really not okay.
In the graveyard, Buffy is hunting monsters while wearing a bizarre little outfit that brings back painful memories of a horrible sitcom titled "Blossom" that featured impossibly hideous hats. Powers-that-be to Buffy: Lose that hat. Now.
Anyway, so Buffy starts fighting with this weird demon that can disappear and slip into the ground "Terminator 2"-style. Buffy thinks she's killed him but the viewer knows he's actually just slipped into his sword. Buffy checks out the sword and likes it because it's "shiny", so she takes it home. (If you're currently thinking that was not a wise move, you are the wise one.)
Over at the Magic Box, Anya, Willow and Xander are discussing Buffy's upcoming birthday party. They tell Willow that Buffy wants to invite Tara, and there's a little bit of awkwardness but anyone who's ever been dumped can tell that Willow is semi-excited and optimistic about seeing her ex-love at the party.
Dawn drops by and says she is going shopping for Buffy's birthday. She wants one of the Scoobies to come with her, but everybody is too busy. Poor Dawn, she feels as though everyone is too busy for her. She's sad. She looks pouty. She's going to annoy me very shortly. (Note: Why does everyone have to call Dawn Dawnie? It's really aggravating. I think the Dawnie phenomenon and the whole whiny/pouty/annoying Dawn issue can be traced back to the writers, who seem to have gotten confused and think teenagers are actually six years old. Really, people, she's not that young.)
In the next scene, we see Dawn sneak up to her room and pull out stolen merchandise from her pockets, and she's sporting a stolen leather jacket too. Hmmmm, could her sticky fingers be a cry for help? I wonder.
The next day at school, Dawn is called into the guidance counsellor's office. The guidance counsellor is annoyingly and disturbingly cheery. She keeps trying to get Dawn to express her emotions. Finally, Dawn admits that "People have the tendency to go away, I wish they'd stop doing that".
Finally, it's Buffy's big day -- her birthday! As Anya, Buffy and Xander prepare for guests, Buffy says she invited Sophie, a friend from work to join the festivities, while Anya and Xander admit they too invited a friend. (Anya is eager to set Buffy up, you see, so they can go on double dates.) Buffy is annoyed.
Upstairs, Willow is getting dressed up (she knows Tara is coming, you see). I'm not a big fan of her shirt though.
When Tara finally arrives, there's some awkward: "Hey", "Hey", "How are you? "How are you?" kind of talk, and then Tara makes a quick getaway to the kitchen.
Buffy's friend from work shows up, and she is cra-zy. She doesn't really have any social graces and starts yammering on about how her mom said to thank Buffy for inviting her right away since she always forgets to thank people and she's allergic to nuts and dairy sometimes and blah blah blah, she's pretty funny.
Richard, the boy Xander wants to set Buffy up with, appears (and he's kind of cute). Anya and Xander immediately make it obvious that they want Buffy and Richard to hook up by forcing Buffy to show Richard exactly where he can park his car.
Just then, Spike walks in (he has a black eye from last week when Buffy beat him up) with a demon friend, the same demon who was playing poker for kittens the night Buffy got drunk with Spike early on this season.
Buffy tells Richard that the demon is just some guy with a skin condition while Spike eyes Richard suspiciously. (He's jealous, you see).
Dawn is very eager to get to present-opening time.
Willow gives Buffy a portable massager so she can have "instant gratification" even when she's out slaying. Spike snickers. Dawn gives Buffy the leather jacket that she STOLE. Buffy thinks it's beautiful but notices that it still has the security tag on it. Just then, Xander and Anya overshadow Dawn's moment by unveiling their gift -- a hand-made wooden chest to hold all Buffy's weapons. Buffy is touched. Dawn is upset that her gift was overshadowed. (You can tell by the pouting).
 The Scoobies |
Outside Buffy's home stands Dawn's cheery guidance counsellor, who morphs into Anya's vengeance demon friend from last week's episode and says "wish granted".
Commercial break.
The Buffy birthday is a rockin' affair. There's some dancing, some snacking, and Richard meets up with Buffy in the hall and tells her he'll "look for you" back inside the main party room. (That's a pretty stupid comment, since there's only 10 people at the party anyway. Geez.)
Once Richard is out of the picture for a minute, Spike appears and he and Buffy almost make out, but Tara sees them. She giggles. (She knows what's going on, remember?) Spike tells Tara that Buffy was helping him with a muscle cramp.
"In your pants?," Tara laughs (and so do we).
Later that night, the entire gang is still there, playing poker and monopoly and having a good, wholesome time. Dawn suggests that they have a big slumber party, and everyone agrees. Dawn is happy and Tara keeps making muscle-cramp jokes, which is funny.
The next morning, everyone is still there. Xander and Richard have to go to work, Anya says she needs to go open the Magic Box, Willow and Tara need to go to school ... but strangely, no one can make their way to the door.
Whine alert: Dawn starts freaking out and screeching about how everyone wants to leave her because she's no fun to be with and blah blah blah. Then she runs upstairs and flops down on her bed.
The gang follows her and tries to find out what's wrong. Dawn screams that she's glad they're all trapped because then they have to spend time with her. This makes the gang suspicious. They try to find out whether she might have accidentally cast some spell that forced them to stay in the house. Then Dawn screams "Get out, get out, get out", which they do. OMG, I hope I wasn't that annoying when I was a teenager, but no wait, I probably wasn't because when I was a teenager. I wasn't ... you know ... actually six years old.
Downstairs, the gang tries to form a plan. Willow admits that she still has a few spell-related items, which Xander says is "Great, in a very bad way," (which is funny because she has that little magic addiction, remember?)
Tara looks semi-disappointed in Willow but grabs the magic items and tries to concoct a spell to release them from the house. But ... the spell ends up releasing the mean demon from the shiny sword, and all wacky/bad high jinks ensue.
Richard gets stabbed by the demon before he morphs into the walls. Everyone starts to panic, and Buffy tries to calm them down by saying they'll get out soon.
The next scene finds everyone still trapped ... and it's night. (So Buffy was wrong, get it?)
They can hear creepy demon noises in the walls, and everyone is getting spooked.
Upstairs, Tara is tending to the stabbed boy as Anya begins to 100% freak out while Xander tries to calm her down. Xander leaves to get Anya a glass of water and gets attacked by the mean demon, but Spike and Buffy manage to fend him off before he morphs back into the walls.
Anya freaks out again and Buffy asks Dawn if she's doing okay.
"Do you care?," snaps Dawn. ARGGGGGHHHHHH, yes, of course she does, Dawn. Man, you are so annoying.
Anya, who is still freaking out, turns very mean and bitter and starts harassing Willow, ordering her to perform a spell to release them. Willow resists. She doesn't want to go down that road again, but Anya keeps insisting and is getting sort of freak-out scary. Tara sticks up for Willow and says that nobody can make her ex-girlfriend turn back to magic.
Upstairs, Buffy is trying to bond with Dawn. Dawn says she feels "alone", while Buffy says looking after Dawn is her most important job. Anya runs into Dawn's room and starts going through her things, thinking Dawn must be responsible for the trapped spell somehow. She finds all the things Dawn stole from the Magic Box and is very, very pissed off.
Dawn tells the group about the guidance counsellor and how she wished people would stop leaving. Smart Anya figures out that her old pal was the one who cast the spell and is therefore the only one who can break it, and starts screeching for her.
The demon shows up but is immediately stabbed and killed (or so we think) by the bad, bad demon with the big sword. After a short battle, the demon goes back into his sword ,which Buffy breaks so he can't escape again.
Then the vengeance demon/guidance counsellor springs back to life (it takes more than a sword to kill a demon, apparently). She and Spike know each other, and a romantic history between the two is suggested (so she might be back, but I'm not a fan. I hope this is her last episode).
Then the demon starts going on and on about how she knew Dawn was in pain and how she's not going to end the curse and blah blah blah. But then, the curse means she can't leave either, so she quickly breaks it and disappears.
Tara and Willow share a moment and Tara says she's proud of Willow for not relying on magic and such. Xander and Anya leave to take Richard to the emergency room and Spike leaves too and then ---- commercial break in an odd place. It's almost as though they cut off the last five minutes of the episode. Weird.
The End.
Overall: Pretty decent, some funny quips, some drama, some crazy Anya. Not as good as last week's, though. I just can't get over my Dawn dislike. I used to think she was a cool character but now ... whine, whine, whine, it's all she does. I predict a big emotional meltdown coming between Dawn and Buffy. I just hope it's short. Also, I don't want that demon back. She's over-the-top and yucky. And ... when are the rest of Buffy's friends going to find out about the Spike-Buffy romance? I hope it doesn't turn into a "Friends" thing where some know and some don't and it's all a BIG CRAZY MISUNDERSTANDING! (Cue laugh-track). Rating: 3 out of 5 stakes.
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