Welcome to Rewatching Buffy, the part of the blog where I rewatch Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Each Tuesday evening, you’re invited to join me as I attempt to rediscover what made me love this show 21 years ago.

Checkpoint

• Last week I mentioned that this was one of my all time favorite episodes. But then I looked back at a Top 10 episodes post that I did a few years ago and it’s not there. Hmm…
• Still, it’s a great episode with two excellent scenes in particular.
• The gang all comes over to Buffy’s house.
• Giles reveals that the Watchers’ Council, led by good old Quentin Travers, is coming to Sunnydale.
• Meanwhile, Glory is losing her mind. She hasn’t fed on anyone’s sanity lately.
• So her scabby demon minions bring her a mailman. All better.
• Except for the mailman. He’s crazy now.
• One of her scabby demons then reveals to Glory that the signs of the alignment are moving faster than usual.
• So she needs to use the Key soon if she’s ever going to use it.
• Quentin and his council of Watchers shows up during store hours.
• They force Giles to close for the duration of their visit.
• Quentin is super condescending. As are the rest of the Watchers.
• He lets Giles know that they’ve discovered some disturbing and vital information about Glory.
• And he’s holding that information hostage while the Council performs a review of Buffy’s methods. They want to know if she’s worthy of their intelligence.
• Buffy is in a history class and, as the Slayer, she has some differing points of view on certain historical figures, like Rasputin.
• The professor is super condescending.
• She takes out her frustration on a vampire, but then Spike swoops in and stakes the vampire for her, thinking he did her a favor.
• Spike then gives her a hard time about not being able to hold on to a boyfriend.
• Why doesn’t she just stake him and be done with it?
• One of Glory’s minions corners Ben at the hospital. She thinks Ben has info on the Slayer.
• Buffy gets to the Magic Box and tries to leave after seeing the Council flanking Giles.
• Quentin explains that, should Buffy resist their methods, they would not only refuse to give her the information on Glory, but have the Magic Box closed down and have Giles deported back to England.
• Glory’s minion returns to Glory beaten severely. Ben refused to help her.
• She says that Ben makes her so mad. If she could just get her hands on him…
• Why can’t she? What’s their relationship?
• I’ve always really liked the table in the magic shop. It’s got a light inside the middle of the table. I want one.
• Members of the Council single out Buffy’s friends and interview each of them. Even Spike.
• Later, they convene with Buffy and Giles in the training room behind the shop.
• Buffy, blindfolded, is to protect a dummy by following Quentin’s instructions. In Japanese.
• It doesn’t go well.
• Buffy heads home and we get the first of two really great scenes in this episode.
• Glory’s there. Waiting for Buffy.
• She just wants to have a little talk.
• As hero/villain conversations go, this is one of my favorites. It rivals the time the Mayor showed up in the high school library.
• Dawn gets involved in the conversation and then, after Glory leaves, Buffy tells Joyce to pack a bag.
• She takes them to Spike’s crypt. She needs him to look after them in case Glory decides to get violent.
• Joyce and Spike bond over Passions. Remember that show? So dumb…
• Everyone waits for Buffy at the magic shop. She’s 20 minutes late.
• Doesn’t help that she’s attacked on her way there. By three guys wearing chain mail.
• She takes down the knights and interrogates the last one who isn’t unconscious.
• He says they’re the Knights of Byzantium. They stand against the Beast (Glory) and they fight Buffy because she protects the Key.
• They want to destroy the Key so that Glory can never use it.
• So now that’s two factions that Buffy needs to protect Dawn from.
• She lets that still conscious knight go, but keeps his sword.
• Then she arrives at the Magic Box for the second really great scene in this episode.
• Buffy puts the Watchers in their place.
• She points out that the point of their evaluation wasn’t so much for her to prove that she needs them. It was because they need her.
• Buffy demands the information. She demands Giles be reinstated as her official Watcher with full salary to be paid retroactive from the month he was fired. She demands the Magic Box stay open.
• Quentin finds her terms acceptable.
• Then he reveals that Glory isn’t a demon. She’s a god.
• Body count: Vampires – 1