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 22 years ago.

Older and Far Away

• Buffy’s running out on Dawn…
• She’s got some slaying to do…
• Buffy fights a demon that seems to be able to teleport, but manages to run him through with his own sword.
• But she doesn’t see him sort of melt into a puddle that is absorbed by the sword.
• So she keeps the sword, not realizing her foe is trapped within.
• Oh, forgot to mention, before Buffy left the house, Dawn mentioned Buffy’s birthday party happening the next day.
• Haven’t we learned, time and time again, never throw Buffy a birthday party?!
• Dawn faces further disappointment when everyone is too busy to go with her to the mall to find a present for Buffy.
• She gets back home and no one is there.
• Which is when she freely empties her pockets of all the things she’s recently stolen.
• Classic cry for attention…
• Oh… then she takes off her coat, revealing a stolen leather jacket…
• At school the next day, Dawn is summoned to the guidance office.
• The counselor claims it’s a follow-up following her recent loss…
• But we, the audience are aware that this guidance counselor is Halfrek, Anya’s vengeance demon friend.
• She looks like a normal human being in her disguise, so Dawn takes her role of counselor at face value.
• Prior to Buffy’s party, Xander and Anya reveal that they’ve invited a guy friend to come over…
• Clearly not a set up for Buffy.
• Tara arrives and checks in with Buffy… regarding the whole Spike thing.
• She asks if Spike is coming to the party, but Buffy says he wasn’t invited.
• Cue the awkward interaction between Tara and Willow.
• And then Spike comes in the back door… apparently Willow mentioned the party and he saw fit to come by.
• And he brought Clem… his kitty poker demon friend.
• Enter Richard, Xander’s friend.
• What a great party!
• Slightly off topic… Clem might be one of my favorite side characters.
• Dawn is anxious for Buffy to open her present.
• Why? It’s likely stolen anyway…
• Yep… it’s that stolen leather jacket.
• Buffy notices that it still has the security tag on it.
• Wonder why that is?
• Xander made Buffy a new weapons chest, which she seems to appreciate more than the stolen leather jacket.
• Buffy invited a friend from work, Sophie.
• Dawn closes the door and we see Halfrek on the porch saying, “Wish granted.”
• Uh… what wish? What did Dawn wish?!
• Anyway, everyone seems to be having a great time at the party… no matter how late it gets.
• There’s talk of a beer run… and even volunteers to go… but they can’t seem to bring themselves to leave.
• The party lasts all night and Richard reminds Xander they have to be at work in a few minutes… and yet they can’t seem to bring themselves to leave.
• It’s about this time that people start realizing they physically cannot leave the house.
• But all this talk of wanting to leave is upsetting Dawn.
• Ugh… she’s so obnoxious.
• She throws a temper tantrum and runs upstairs.
• Leading the gang to assume she may know something about why they’re all trapped in the house.
• “I’m done being talked to like a kid,” says the kid who is clearly acting like a kid.
• Ugh… she’s so obnoxious.
• Buffy suggests Tara use magic to try and figure things out, but Tara has no supplies.
• Willow reveals that, when they got rid of everything in the house, they didn’t quite get rid of everything.
• So Tara is able to put a little something together.
• Her spell doesn’t get them out of the house, but it does release the demon from his sword.
• Richard gets hurt… real bad…
• The demon vanishes, but is clearly still in the house.
• Night falls and the demon re-emerges, engaging in another fight.
• Richard’s barely hanging on.
• Dawn is still being a brat.
• Hey, stupid girl, a guy could die!
• Anya is kind of in a dark, panicky place… pushing for Willow to be the witch to try and get them out.
• Tara stands up for Willow.
• Anya decides to do something herself.
• Dawn and Buffy have a heart to heart… at which point Dawn mentions the guidance counselor.
• Which shouldn’t be a weird thing, right? Schools have guidance counselors…
• But Buffy is suspicious, considering Dawn had never met this counselor before.
• Then she asks Dawn if she happened to wish for something…
• Meanwhile, Anya is looking through Dawn’s room, insisting the kid knows something.
• And she finds Dawn’s stash of stolen goods.
• Confrontation time!
• Buffy realizes the leather jacket is also stolen…
• All the confrontation leads to Anya realizing the counselor was Halfrek, so she summons the vengeance demon.
• And as soon as she appears, the sword demon emerges again and runs Halfrek through.
• Another fight happens, they finally kill the demon this time.
• Halfrek, it turns out, is fine.
• Oh, and she recognizes Spike… calls him William…
• Because she’s the same actress who played Cecily, the one time object of William the Bloody’s pre-vempiric affections.
• Halfrek realizes that she can’t leave the house because of her own curse.
• So she breaks it, allowing everyone to leave.
• Body count: Sword Demon – 1 0 1