"She's not my sister!"
"She doesn't know
that."
Whoa. Never before has a season
arc kicked into life so soon and so thoroughly. Now we know: Dawn is "the
key" in human form and Glory, the best and most fun big bad since the
Mayor, is looking for her. It's going to be good, I know. A super-powerful,
spoiled valley girl is an excitingly fun basis for a villain. I love her
entrance, too: proper special effects, not CGI.
I get the impression that, this
season, the writers' plans worked out much more smoothly, with no changes
forced upon them. The big reveal about Dawn comes at the perfect position in
the season, after just enough time has elapsed for us, the viewers, to accept
and like her as a permanent part of the show. She isn't just there for plot
reasons, though: especially with Joyce being suddenly and mysteriously ill
she's yet another source of responsibility for Buffy, who already has both her
slaying and her studies to worry about.
So momentous are the events of
this episode that, for once, the rest of the ensemble gets relatively little to
do. Yes, we get the grand opening of the Magic Box under its new owner, Giles, and
more scenes of Spike stalking Buffy and trying to make sense of these confusing
new feelings. It's a particular delight, of course, to see Anya in her new job.
Yes, this is an "event"
episode and, as such, full of exposition rather than the character stuff that I
usually like to talk about. But I'm excited about what's coming next. So many
threads are bubbling away, arc-wise, if you'll forgive the horribly mixed
metaphor. Willow 's
over-dependence on magic, Buffy and Riley growing slowly apart, Joyce's
worrying illness, Spike's infatuation with Buffy, and now this. It's a heady
mix, and I'm excited about what's to come.
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