"Into the Woods"

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Episode 10 of Season 5

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"I think you took it for granted..."

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Original US airdate: December 19th, 2000 (aired directly before the Angel episode "Reunion")

Rewatched: December 11th, 2022

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• Writer: Marti Noxon

• Director: Marti Noxon

• Guests: Bailey Chase, Nick Chinlund, Kristine Sutherland

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Buffy’s mother is out of the woods, it seems, after her operation, but Buffy and Riley aren’t. This episode is focused on relationships, primarily on Buffy and Riley, with a bit about Spike and Buffy, Anya and Xander, and Anya and Willow.

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Buffy’s relationship with Riley seems, at the beginning of the episode, to be taking a turn for the better, with Buffy finally taking the time to spend with Riley. However, cracks do show. Buffy admits she cried during the crisis with her mother and Riley seems taken aback that he didn’t know and that Buffy didn’t share her pain with him. Riley also leaves in the night, much like Buffy did to hunt during “Buffy vs. Dracula”, except that Riley is going to a vampire den to let them feed from him. Spike discovers what Riley’s been up to, and of course he gets Buffy to come and see for herself. Spike’s desire for Buffy is driving him to get Riley out of the picture. Buffy is rightly upset with Riley and bent on revenge on the vampires. She tries to attack them in the den the next morning, but they are gone, so Buffy torches the place. Towards the end of the episode, they confront her and Buffy beautifully dispatches them (all seven!) in short order. Riley returns to his apartment, only to get an offer from Graham to join up with the army again and fight demons. Riley then confronts Spike the next morning, getting a confession from Spike that he loves Buffy. Spike claims Riley has no future with Buffy, as she wants some monster in her man, and Spike also discusses how he is jealous of Riley, but also not, as it must hurt to be so close to Buffy and know she doesn’t love you. Interestingly, this is similar to the relationship Spike and Buffy will have in season 6. They will be intimate without love.  

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So Spike’s desire to disrupt Buffy’s relationship and the military’s offer have brought Buffy’s relationship with Riley to a head. When the two meet up in the training room at the Magic Box, it doesn’t go well. Riley feels what he did was partly to get back at Buffy for Dracula, even though he knows that isn’t a mature reaction, but also to understand her relationship with Angel (Riley was not a big fan of Angel, either in theory or in person). But then it turned into something else. The vampires needed Riley like Buffy didn’t. As Riley says “It’s about me taking care of you. It’s about letting me in, so you don’t have to be on top of everything all the time.” Buffy, however, feels that Riley can’t deal with her being a Slayer, which means that she needs to be on top of things. In many ways, Buffy is right. Riley has always had some issues dealing with the gray areas of the Supernatural (e.g., Oz and Angel) and Buffy, in many ways, continually falls into those gray areas. While Riley has been better at dealing with the nuance, his lack of any clear mission of his own has also not helped him deal with Buffy. He is no longer the top dog. He is no longer her equal. He’s a Scooby and Buffy will always be the leader.

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Riley tells Buffy that if she can’t give him a reason to stay, he’s leaving with the army. Buffy, unhappy with the ultimatum, does not stop him. However, Xander confronts her and gets her to see that Riley is also right. Xander says Buffy saw Riley as convenient. “I think you took it for granted that he was going to show up when you wanted him to and take off when you didn’t.” Xander gets Buffy to see that she closed herself off from him and that she needs to accept how great he is and fight for him, rather than let him go. So, Buffy does. She runs to get Riley back, but it is too late and he is gone. Riley is gone from Sunnydale (although he will return once more in season 6). It is heartbreaking that Buffy didn’t realize she was holding herself back from loving Riley until it was too late because even though there were also issues from Riley’s side, had he felt that Buffy truly loved him, I think these could have been worked through, too. And perhaps Riley could have found a new mission in Sunnydale that would have balanced his feelings about no longer being in the military. But it was not to be.

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Xander and Anya’s relationship is often played for laughs, and this episode is no different. Anya, who Xander needs to school on being human, who is too literal, who blurts out stuff about their sex life and makes the Scoobies uncomfortable. When Xander makes Buffy face her issues, she throws Anya in his face. In a nicely adult moment, Xander doesn’t defend his relationship or let Buffy derail their talk. But once Buffy is on her way, Xander goes to Anya and declares his love to her: "I've gotta say something, 'cause I don't think I've made it clear. I'm in love with you. Powerfully, painfully in love. The things you do, the way you think, the way you move... I get excited every time I'm about to see you. You make me feel like I've never felt before in my life. Like a man. I just thought you might wanna know." It is a wonderful moment for the two of them, who have really been through a lot and have grown together. And while this episode focuses on Buffy’s failing relationship, it also allows Xander to shine as the ever more adult heart of the group.

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Finally, Anya and Willow have a fight. Mostly, Willow still doesn’t really like Anya and Anya doesn’t like that Xander takes her side a lot. This will come to a head in the next episode, paving the road towards a better Anya and Willow relationship in future.

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Relationships continue to be a main theme on Buffy and this episode packs in the relationship drama and sees a 2nd Buffy boyfriend leaving Sunnydale behind.

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"Triangle"

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Episode 11 of Season 5

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"Rules are stupid"

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Original US airdate: January 9th, 2001 

Rewatched: December 16th, 2022

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• Writer: Jane Espenson

• Director: Christopher Hibler

• Guests: Abraham Benrubi, Amber Benson, Kristine Sutherland

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Riley is gone and Joyce is recovering, and life in Sunnydale goes on. Giles leaves for England to see if the Council can find out anything about Glory and the key (but promises not to say Dawn is the key) and at the end of the episode, he is not much wiser. However, he is hopeful that the Council is on the case and will soon be able to deliver intel. Dawn, however, overhears part of the conversation Buffy, Giles and her mother have at their dining room table. While she most likely did not hear that she was the key, she heard enough to know something going on relates to her.

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Spike continues to be in love with Buffy. He worries she’s angry at him for showing her what Riley was up to in the last episode, something Buffy does not seem to be hung up on, and when helping victims at the Bronze, which has once again been the venue for monster mayhem (how do they have the money to keep re-opening?), he wants credit for not feeding from bleeding disaster victims. Buffy is not impressed and Spike is feeling rather disappointed. Spike wonders what it takes for Buffy to notice him. Spike will learn the answer to this question in season 6 & 7.

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The main events, however, focus on Anya and Willow, who have not been getting along. When Giles leaves, Anya wants to be left in charge of the Magic Box, which Giles is reticent to do, considering Anya’s somewhat blunt customer service, and would rather it be a team effort (but seriously Giles, you pay Anya. She’s good at it. Coach her in customer service and let her show she can do it, but I digress). Willow offers to help, which does not put Anya in a good mood and both appeal to Xander to back them up. Xander is not amused. Later, once Giles is gone, the same dynamic plays out. Willow and Tara are “stealing” supplies to see if they can do a spell to make simulated sunlight to help Buffy. Anya calls Willow on it and again they fight. When they try to pull Xander into it, he leaves. When they turn to Tara to do the same, she also leaves. During their argument, they accidentally free Olaf the troll, who, we later learn, was once Anya’s boyfriend. She turned him into a troll and it ended up getting her the vengeance demon gig.

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The crux of the argument is that Anya is a bit jealous of Willow, who has known Xander for so long and has a part of Xander Anya never will. She is also a bit afraid that Willow may break them up the way she did Cordelia and Xander. Willow, on the other hand, is worried that Anya may decide to harm Xander at some point. She knows enough of Anya’s vengeance demon days and seeing Olaf doesn’t help. In some ways, both are right. Xander and Willow have a bond and at the end of season 6 it will help Xander save the world. Also, after Xander leaves Anya in season 6, she will return to being a vengeance demon. However, despite the future, now in this moment, Anya and Xander are in love, in a stable adult relationship and Anya should be secure in her relationship with Xander, especially after his declaration in the last episode. For Willow, she needs to accept that Xander can manage his own love life without her help and that he loves Anya. And through the course of the episode, they are able to put away their jealousy and fear and start respecting each other, which marks a turning point in Anya acceptance by the Scoobies as more than Xander’s girlfriend.

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So, although this episode is a fairly standard monster-of-the-week one, it allows for an in-depth look at Willow, Anya and their relationship to Xander.

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In fun facts, Spike mentions that the Bronze has a tasty fried onion flower thing, a dish that will be mentioned again. Anya says she can’t drive, which seems to contradict her telling Xander to flee with her in her car at the end of season 3, although is in line with Xander’s dream in "Restless". The world without shrimp is mentioned again. And Buffy gets Olaf’s troll hammer, which will come in handy during her final fight with Glory.

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"Checkpoint"

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Episode 12 of Season 5

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"Power. I have it, they don't."

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Original US airdate: January 23rd, 2001 (aired directly before the Angel episode "Blood Money")

Rewatched: January 7th, 2023

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• Writer: Douglas Petrie & Jane Espenson

• Director: Nick Marck

• Guests: Clare Kramer, Charlie Weber, Cynthia Lamontagne, Oliver Muirhead, Kris Iyver, Kevin Weisman, Troy T. Blendell, Amber Benson, Harris Yulin, Kristine Sutherland

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The Council is back in Sunnydale with information about Glory and the Key, but they want to have a review before they entrust Buffy with their findings. And at first, Buffy and the Scoobies cooperate, especially since the Council is threatening to have the Magic Box closed and Giles deported, but as Buffy rightly points out later, without Buffy, what is the Council going to do with their intel? There is no one else, really, who can face Glory and they know it. So, it is really stupid power games.

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Glory also visits Buffy at her home. She’s still looking for the key and is full of threats but doesn’t actually do any harm. Then Buffy is ambushed by the Knights of Byzantium, so are working against Glory, but also against Buffy as long as she has the key. These two encounters help Buffy realize that she has the power.

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Which she then tells the Council. She tells them there will be no games, that Giles will be reinstated as her Watcher (meaning that Buffy and Giles will work for the Council again) and she tells them to stop questioning her friends, who are more than capable (even Xander) of supporting her. Buffy owns her power. It is glorious. Then, she learns that Glory isn’t a demon, but a God, and some of her confidence falters.

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For me, this episode is truly a sign of Buffy’s growth and her realization that she has agency. In Buffy’s first conversation with Quentin Travis of the Council, he wants to put her in her place, reminding her of the  status of the players in their game, that the Council fights evil and the Slayer is their instrument. He says it’s been that way since the beginning, as though this makes it right. Finally, he reminds her she’s dealing with grownups, negating Buffy’s own adulthood and experience as a Slayer. This puts Buffy in a tailspin and she worries that she won’t be Slayer enough for them. She says she’s just herself and doesn’t know anything.

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At the end of the episode, Buffy echoes some of Quentin’s own words when she reclaims her power. She shows them who has the power, who gets to exercise it, who gets to make the choices, and really underlines that she is the Slayer. She is an adult. And she doesn’t need the Council as much as they need her. Buffy has passed the review by showing that she doesn’t even need one.

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"Blood Ties"

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Episode 13 of Season 5

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“You are my sister.”

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Original US airdate: February 6th, 2001 (aired directly before the Angel episode "Happy Anniversary")

Rewatched: January 13th, 2023

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• Writer: Steven S. DeKnight

• Director: Michael Gershman

• Guests: Clare Kramer, Charlie Weber, Troy T. Blendell, Amber Benson, Kristine Sutherland

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As we near Buffy Summer’s 42nd birthday (on January 19th, 2023), it is time to watch Buffy turn 20. This, like many Buffy birthdays, does not go so smoothly. While Buffy has a nice party, it is somewhat derailed because the Scoobies now all know that Dawn is the key, Dawn is picking up on their strangeness around her, and it sends her searching for answers. Spike, come to wish Buffy a happy birthday, instead accompanies Dawn to the Magic Box. Dawn reads that she is the key and is very upset. At home, she cuts herself to see if she’s real. The next day, she refuses to go to school, trashes her room and burns her journals and runs away, this time trying to find answers at the hospital mental, where a Knight of Byzantium, who Glory earlier drained, tells Dawn she is an abomination. Ben finds her and Dawn tells Ben everything and Ben tells Dawn to leave before Glory gets there. Then he turns into Glory, finally revealing the true relationship (although not all the key details) between the two.

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However, Glory thankfully can’t remember what Ben and Dawn had been talking about and Dawn is able to keep Glory talking until Buffy and the Scoobies arrive. The fight with Glory lasts longer this time, but Buffy (and Spike) aren’t really matches for her. It ends when Willow, using magic she’s not really ready for and perhaps foreshadowing some of her actions in season 6 teleports Glory away with Tara's help. In the end, Dawn can’t remember that Ben turned into Glory. Only that he was there, then Glory came.

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In the end, Buffy has a clear message for Dawn. They are sisters no matter how it happened. As Buffy says, “this blood, it’s Summers’ blood. It’s just like mine. It doesn’t matter where you come from or how your got here, you are my sister.” At first watch, I assumed that Buffy was being metaphorical. However, the final episode of this season shows that Buffy and Dawn do in fact share blood, it may be that Buffy already knows now how the monks made Dawn. Either way, it is a touching moment and Dawn is able to feel loved by her family again, which is the key theme of this episode. 

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