Season 5, Episode 8

Written by David Fury

Directed by Daniel Attias

Original Airdate: 20 November 2000

"I mean, I for one didn't want to start my day with a slaughter. Which, really, just goes to show how much I've grown!"

Anya

REGULAR CAST

• Sarah Michelle Gellar as Buffy Summers

• Nicholas Brendon as Xander Harris

• Alyson Hannigan as Willow Rosenberg

• Marc Blucas as Riley Finn

• Emma Caulfield as Anya Jenkins

• Michelle Trachtenberg as Dawn Summers

• James Marsters as Spike

• Anthony Stewart Head as Rupert Giles

GUEST CAST

• Clare Kramer as Glory

• Charlie Weber as Ben Wilkinson

• Kevin Weisman as Dreg

• William Forward as Dr. Isaacs

• Amber Benson as Tara Maclay

• Kristine Sutherland as Joyce Summers

CO-STARRING

• Megan Gray as Sandy

SYNOPSIS

• Joyce gets a CAT scan at the hospital while Buffy and Dawn wait impatiently for news. Giles and Tara admire the new phone book advertisement for the Magic Box. Xander complains about Riley destroying the vampire crypt alone, and then the entire gang continues their search for information regarding the Beast. A demon named Dreg offers a spell to Glory, grovelling before her.
  
  Riley finds the front door to Buffy's house open, and Spike sniffing her clothes. Spike taunts Riley with his knowledge about the Slayer and her mother, and then is thrown out into the sunlight, with his blanket. Riley shows up at the hospital to comfort Buffy, and then sits with Dawn while Buffy talks to Joyce. Joyce confesses to Buffy that they've found something and they need to operate.
  
  At the Magic Box, Tara suggests that maybe the Beast is something that is too old for the books. Glory shows up there and buys several items for a spell, but the gang is oblivious to her true identity. The doctor tells Buffy her mother has a brain tumour and presents her with her mother's options. Ben, the intern gets the doctor away from Buffy, giving her a break from the doctor's constant questions. Anya sorts through receipts and realizes that Giles sold items to Glory that will allow her to perform an ancient transmogrification spell.
  
  Riley takes Dawn to the park where he tries to comfort her about her mother. Dawn tries to make Riley feel good by comparing him to Angel, but unintentionally she makes him feel worse. Buffy talks with the gang about helping her mother then finds out about Glory's plans to transmogrify a monster with a spell. At the Sunnydale Zoo, Glory steals a cobra and performs the spell with Dreg. Buffy arrives to stop her, but instead gets beaten up badly again. The cobra is transformed into a giant cobra monster with arms.
  
  Glory sends the demon on a mission to find the Key for her. Riley arrives at the magic shop in search of Buffy, but afterwards Xander confronts him about destroying the vampire crypt. Buffy calls Giles and tells him to take care of Dawn while she stays with her mother. She stays with her mother as the doctor tells her the bad news. Riley returns to Willy's bar to drink away his worries and again encounters the vampire, Sandy. He allows her to bite him, but stakes her.
  
  The cobra demon arrives at the magic shop and goes after Dawn. Dawn screams in fear and the cobra retreats. Giles and Buffy go after the demon and Buffy beats it to death, taking out all her aggressions. Joyce tells Dawn the truth about her health. Riley is there to comfort Buffy, but she needs to stay strong for her family and refuses to cry. Joyce calls for Buffy and Riley is left standing alone in the hallway.

TRIVIA

• Kevin Weisman, who plays Glory's minion Dreg, plays Marshall J. Flinkman in Alias. He disliked the make-up and only appears in three episodes.

• Joyce has a CAT scan (CAT stands for Computed Axial Tomography). She is diagnosed with a low-grade Glioma in the left hemisphere of her brain. This is a tumour of supporting tissue in the brain. They're slow growing so you can have one for many years without symptoms. Joyce went to bed with a headache in Restless, but it's implied that's it the false memories that triggered the tumour.

CONTINUITY

• Sandy, the vampire sired by Willow in Doppelgangland and also Riley's drinking buddy in Family, is staked in this episode.

• When describing the snake creature, Buffy comments that it's big, but "not Mayor-big."

• This episode is set immediately after the end of the previous one.

• Glory finds her snake at the same zoo that Buffy and company visited in The Pack.

GOOFS

• Why doesn't Glory instruct the snake to locate the Key then bring it to her?

• Buffy wears different pairs of shoes in nearly every scene though she doesn't change the rest of her outfit.

• Glory injures Buffy's right arm during the fight at the zoo, but the Buffy puts an ice pack on her left shoulder when she gets to the hospital.

Buffy Vs. Dracula | Real Me | The Replacement | Out of My Mind | No Place Like Home

Family | Fool for Love | Shadow | Listening to Fear | Into the Woods | Triangle

Checkpoint | Blood Ties | Crush | I Was Made to Love You | The Body | Forever

Intervention | Tough Love | Spiral | The Weight of the World | The Gift