Guest Starring:

Kristine Sutherland:

(Joyce)

Amber Benson:

(Tara)

Clare Kramer:

(Glory)

Charlie Weber:

(Ben)

Cynthia LaMontagne:

(Female Council Menber)

Oliver Muirhead:

(Phili)

Kris Iyer:

(Nigel)

Kevin Weisman:

(Dreg)

Troy T Blendell:

(Jinx)

Harris Yulin:

(Quentin Travers)

Wesley mark:

(Professor Roberts)

12. Checkpoint.

The Watchers council are back in Sunnydale, they test Buffy's abilities to see if she should be privy to information they have on Glory.

Great quotes:

Glory: "... sweet lumpy minion..."
Willow and Tara are questioned on their magical proficiency: Willow: "Very high!" Tara: "Five!"
Xander fears Giles will be sent to England: "They're condemning the man to a lifetime of blood sausage bangers and mash."

Fantastic moments:

The council are back!

Spike helps Buffy out in a fight and then gives her a fantastically nasty verbal fist-full on why she can't seem to keep a man "Maybe you push them away, or maybe you cling too much. Maybe your beauty's fading ... things not as high, not as firm."
The episode's final scene is awesome stuff, "She's not a demon, she's a god." Say what?
Throughout the episode Anya desperately tries to hide her demonic past from the Watcher's council, telling them that "... I moved here from south eastern Indiana where I was raised by both a mother and a father." When describing her childhood she insists that she was "... smaller and shorter than I am now."
Willow and Tara telling the council guy about their 'relationship': "Girlfriends, actually." "Yes, we're girlfriends." "We're in love, we're lovers. We're lesbian gay-type lovers" The council guy tells them he meant their relationship with the slayer: "Oh; just good friends."
The watcher's council interview Spike; it turns out the woman talking to him is a bit of a fan and wrote her thesis on him. She's rather smitten by Spike's charms. Buffy takes Joyce and Dawn to Spike's cave for protection, he and Joyce sit down to watch 'Passions'.

Duff Bits:

Although the return of the watcher's council is played for good comedy, I get the impression that they are only there to advance the season 5 arc. All we really needed was for them to call Giles and tell him Glory is a god, but in order to make this information more dramatic we have a whole palaver involving tests etc.
So we are introduced the knights of Byzantium. There are lots of problems with them, which I will flag up in later episodes where they appear. They have been dubbed 'the knights who say 'key'' in some circles. If you think about it they are completely superfluous to the overall arc, just an excuse to have some bonus swords and sorcery.

Dean's comments:

The Scoobies look on as Buffy puts the council in their place.
The comedy just keeps on coming; the Watcher's council question all of the main characters about their involvement with Buffy and the slaying, the results are entertaining. The final scene in the magic shop is great, as well as the revelation about Glory. Buffy tells the council that it isn't her who needs them, but they who need her. She gets the information they came to give her completely on her own terms, Giles is re-instated as her watcher and integrated back into the council. She tells the council that her friends are all useful members of the team (although Anya continues to pretend she isn't an ex-demon "Willow's a demon?!" she exclaims). Although the revelation about Glory's real nature is exciting it smacks of an unfortunate "we must make each new bad guy bigger and badder than the last or else it wont be as good" syndrome, something that is corrected in season 6. Apart from the comedy, Buffy looks more 'mum-like' than she has so far in season 5. And that's not just her hairstyle, she protects her family and realises that she has the power over the council. Xander plays the part of the audience "That was excellent" he says of Buffy launching a sword to quieten down a council member during her monologue.

6/10

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