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Season 6, Episode 14
Written by Drew Z. Greenberg
Directed by Michael Gershman
Original Airdate: 11 February 2002
"We do not joke about eating people in this
house!"
Buffy
REGULAR CAST
GUEST CAST
CO-STARRING
SYNOPSIS
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Buffy apologizes to Dawn for having to leave and
hunt down a dangerous demon, promising that some real quality time will
happen soon. In the cemetery, Buffy fights with the demon, who carries a
sword and disappears randomly. Buffy stabs the demon with its sword and
its sucked into the blade before she heads back home, sword in hand. At
the Magic Box, the gang talk about Buffy's upcoming birthday party and
Xander tells Willow that Buffy wants Tara at the party. A bit too
eagerly, Willow agrees that her ex-girlfriend should be there. Dawn
arrives and there's brief talk about the super villains and the complete
lack of success in tracking them down. Dawn asks for company to shop for
Buffy's birthday gift at the mall, but no one is available and she goes
alone.
Later that night, Dawn returns home to an empty house and retreats to
her bedroom where she unveils a brand new leather jacket underneath her
own coat, one she clearly did not pay for. The next day at school,
Dawn's called away from class to the guidance counsellor who prods into
the young girl's life and tries to get her to reveal her problems. Dawn
wishes that people would stop leaving her. Food is prepared by Anya for
the birthday party as Buffy informs her friends that she invited a
friend from work, Sophie. Xander and Anya share that they also invited a
friend, a guy friend for Buffy, which doesn't please Buffy. Buffy lets
Tara in and when the two talk secretly, Buffy explains that Spike wasn't
invited because he wouldn't behave around her friends.
Downstairs, Willow and Tara chat, both nervous and unsure about how to
react. The conversation dies off and Tara breaks away to the kitchen for
a much-needed drink. After hearing about the party from Willow, Spike
shows up and surprises Buffy. With him, he brings beer and another
demon, Clem from kitten poker. Before Buffy has a chance to do anything
about Spike's presence, Xander introduces his friend from work, Richard.
Buffy goes to show Richard where he can park his car while Spike watches
on, clearly jealous. Dawn is anxious for presents to be opened, but
Xander and Anya are more concerned with Buffy's progress with Richard
and Dawn is yet again treated like an uninformed child. Spike catches
Buffy alone and tries to lure her away for some private celebrating, but
Buffy's not interested and ignores Spike's jealous jabs at Richard.
Buffy opens her birthday presents and receives a back massager from
Willow and a brand new leather jacket from Dawn. The security tag still
attached to the coat draws Buffy's attention, but the new custom weapons
cabinet from Xander and Anya that is wheeled out into the room interests
her more. Sophie, a young teenager, arrives and Buffy moves to introduce
her new friend, leaving a disgruntled Dawn to shut the door. As the door
closes, the guidance counsellor steps out of the shadows and turns into
the vengeance demon Halfrek before she says, "Wish granted." The party
continues on at full force with dancing and games. Buffy and Richard
talk briefly and then Buffy steps away and finds herself alone with
Spike in the dining room. He makes jokes about how sweet Richard is and
tries to persuade Buffy to put her hand on his crotch, but Tara walks in
and catches them.
Xander and Anya playfully discuss who will go get beer and Willow ends
the excessive cuteness by offering to make the run herself. Instead of
getting up and leaving though, Willow simply drops her head to the
table. The night of birthday fun continues as the gang play Monopoly and
poker in groups while Dawn watches on, happily. The next morning, no one
has left the house and it suddenly seems weird that despite how much
they all want to be where they have to be, they don't go anywhere. Spike
comments about eating breakfast and subtlety hints at Richard being a
meal before Buffy drags him off and the two begin to yell at each other.
They talk about leaving the house and getting away from each other, but
soon it's realized that they can't leave - something is keeping everyone
in the house.
The gang discuss the dilemma, most of them really needing to get to work
or school. Dawn snaps at them all, hurt and angry that they all want to
leave. Suspicious, the Scooby Gang talk to Dawn and question whether she
did a spell or something to lock them all in the house. The young teen
is furious that they would accuse her of such a thing, but they don't
drop the subject when she denies it and that only upsets Dawn more.
Magic is suggested to fix the problem, but Tara, who doesn't have any
supplies with her, is the only one who can do it. Things get complicated
when Willow reveals that she still has a few items she kept for an
emergency only. Tara's anything but pleased, but asks for the supplies
anyway and makes it clear that Willow is to keep her distance from the
spell casting.
Tara performs a spell to "release" them from the house, but instead it
releases the demon from the sword Buffy brought home. The sword-wielding
demon attacks the gang and Richard takes a cut to the chest, but is the
only one seriously injured before the demon retreats into the walls.
While Richard's wound is tended to, noises can be heard in the walls and
Anya begins to show signs of claustrophobia. Xander comforts her and as
he goes to get her some water, he's attacked by the demon. Buffy and
Spike fight the demon back into hiding, but Xander is injured and still
shows more concern for Anya's state of shock than his own physical harm.
Buffy and Dawn finally get to talking and Dawn begins to open up.
Meanwhile, the rest of the gang try to figure out a plan, but the only
untried solution lies in the magically trained hands of Willow. Xander
and Anya suggest that Willow try to use magic although she doesn't want
to, and Tara firmly stands in the way of that idea. Upset that no one is
willing to do anything productive, Anya goes upstairs to find her own
solution to their problem. Dawn reveals to her sister that she recently
talked to a guidance counsellor and may have made a wish to the woman.
In Dawn's room, Anya searches frantically through Dawn's possessions,
while Xander tries to stop her. Dawn enters the room with her sister and
is very freaked out by the invasion of her privacy. Anya uncovers Dawn's
secret stash of jewellery and objects from the Magic Box which stuns
everyone.
Dawn tries to get away downstairs, but she's followed and Anya goes off
on her for stealing. Buffy has a hard time accepting her sister's
behaviour and tries to blame the guidance counsellor Dawn talked to for
the situation. Anya puts the pieces together and concludes that the one
responsible for their mess is Halfrek and summons the vengeance demon
because she is the only one who can lift the spell. Halfrek appears in
the house just before she's run through with the demon's sword and falls
to the ground. Spike and Buffy fight with the demon and yet again, the
demon tries to escape into the wall. Buffy uses the sword to stab the
demon through the wall, effectively trapping it within the sword and
then breaking the metal over her knee. The demon gone, the only problem
left is destroying Halfrek's pendant so they can be freed. Before Anya
can get Halfrek's pendant, the vengeance demon (or "justice demon" as
she prefers to be called) rises, barely harmed by the stabbing.
Briefly, Halfrek recognizes Spike as William and he finds her familiar
too, but both deny knowing each other. Halfrek explains her purpose and
it's lack of restriction to revenge on men. She informs the Scooby Gang
that Dawn's pain is silent, but desperate pleas for attention was
something she hadn't seen so severely in a long time. According to her,
the whole gang deserve to be cursed and confined to the house together
for all eternity. Halfrek tries to leave, but falls victim to her own
curse and is forced to lift it in order to escape.
As Tara clears up all remains of her spell casting, she and Willow talk
about Willow's possession of the supplies. Tara understands why Willow
kept them and is proud that she didn't fall for the temptation of using
magic even in a desperate situation, but makes it clear that the redhead
has to make it without backup. Richard is escorted outside and to the
hospital while most of the remaining gang depart for freedom from the
house. Dawn stays behind, but is surprised when instead of leaving like
the others, Buffy just shuts the door and stays in the house.
TRIVIA
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Marti Noxon had this to say on the events
of this episode: “An effort to deal with Dawn, with her state of mind
and what was going on with her. How abandoned she had been feeling. We
were trying to do a good haunted house story. Again, maybe not our best
demon in the world. We were trying to wrap up the whole Dawn mini-arc -
get it out on the table and get it out of the way. We did want to deal
with it, and at that point it was pretty much over. A kind of a lapse
was that Buffy and Spike were okay with each other after the events of
the week before. That was one where we shot it and we were like, ‘Oh
shit!’ See, let me point out our own failings. You don’t have to do it
for me.”
CONTINUITY
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Spike asks Buffy whether or not she's
considered not celebrating her birthday. Her birthdays have nearly
always gone badly, seen in: Surprise
(Buffy slept with Angel who turned evil);
Helpless (The Watcher's Council made
her lose her powers, her mother was kidnapped by an insane vampire and
Giles was sacked); A New Man (Giles
was turned into a demon whom she nearly killed) and
Blood Ties (Dawn discovered she was
the Key and reacted badly). Since season three, the birthday episodes
have aired at the same time within a season, with this year being the
exception. There is no birthday episode in season seven.
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Spike is still bruised from his fight
with Buffy in the previous episode.
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Xander refers to the events of
Once More, With Feeling
when he says, “sometimes we do something that seems like a good idea at
the time, like, say, invoke the power of a musical amulet?”
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Buffy's present from Dawn is a stolen
leather jacket. Dawn's stealing is finally discovered in this episode.
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Xander mentions the fact that nobody is
buying Anya's slug-scented candles. Buffy tried to sell one in
Life
Serial.
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Clem mentions that poker is weird without
kittens, with which he played poker in
Life
Serial.
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Spike and Halfrek recognise each other.
They met when she was posing as Cecily Addams in
Fool for Love.
GOOFS
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When Richard is badly injured the Scoobies
not only move him upstairs, which seems inadvisable, but they also don't
bother to bandage him up.
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When Buffy and Spike are in the hall,
Spike's reflection can be seen in the hall mirror by the door.
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When Tara casts her release spell, why is
Spike getting ready to rush for the door, without any protection against
the daylight?
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Anya says that only a vengeance demon can
break his or her own vengeance spell. But it was Giles who destroyed her
amulet in The Wish.
Bargaining
(Part 1) |
Bargaining (Part 2) |
Afterlife |
Flooded |
Life
Serial
All the
Way | Once More, With Feeling |
Tabula Rasa |
Smashed |
Wrecked |
Gone
Doublemeat
Palace |
Dead Things |
Older and Far Away |
As You Were |
Hell's Bells |
Normal Again
Entropy |
Seeing Red |
Villains |
Two to Go |
Grave
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