Buffy Mythology Guide Season Five Continued

Mythology Guide: Season Five Cntd

COUNTERPOINT

Plot Points:

The Watchers Council arrives en masse led by Quinton Travers. They have information on Glory but will only share it if Buffy passes their inspection. They close the Magic Shop and threaten to deport Giles if Buffy doesn't cooperate. They're alarmed at all the dangerous magical artifacts Giles has for sale. Anya is concerned about them learning she's an ex-demon. Quinton reminds Buffy she is the Council's instrument, and that Glory is a more powerful instrument. Giles says the Council is the best in the world at political manipulation.
Dreg and another demon monk bring Glory another victim when she is weak. "The signs of the allignment are moving faster than expected"; she must use the Key quickly and suspects Buffy knows where it is.
Buffy has taken to arguing about the possibly mystical aspects of history with her professor like Rasputin's dubious death.
Spike saves Buffy from a vamp then taunts her about her unsuccess with boyfriends.
Demon monk asks Ben the Intern where Buffy is for Glory. Ben didn't know Buffy was the Slayer and doesn't want to help. Ben refuses to help and beats up demon monk. Glory doesn't understand why Ben won't help, and says Ben drives her insane, and wishes she could "get my hands on him".
The Watchers question Xander, Anya, Willow, Tara, and Spike at stake's-length on Buffy and her tecniques. They're distressed at Xander's involvement with no special abilities. Spike lies to them about Buffy using him (the female Watcher wrote her thesis on Spike). Buffy fails a physical test protecting a dummy from an attacker while blindfolded getting instructions in Japanese.
Buffy finds Glory at her house but she just wants to talk. Glory is able to silently move faster than the eye. Dawn walks in on them and Glory calls her over and learns her name. Dawn says she knows something is up. Glory threatens her friends and family if she doesn't tell her where the Key is.
Buffy takes Joyce and Dawn to live with Spike at his crypt. Joyce and Spike watch soap operas together.
Buffy is attacked by a trio of armored knights who she defeats. They are the Knights of Byzantium, an ancient order of thousands. They are enemies of Glory, "the Beast". They want to destroy the Key and her for protecting it. They expect her to kill them but she lets them go and keeps one of their swords.
Buffy confronts Quinton refusing anymore questions or tests. She has power of Glory and them, they really returned to beg her to give their jobs meaning. She orders them to give her all their information and leave, and to have Giles officially reinstated as her Watcher and paid a salary too. Quinton agrees and begins the low-down on Glory. "Glory isn't a demon. She's a God".

Analysis:

If the Watchers Council has the political power that Giles suggests this means a whole new dimension to the possible threat they pose. What is an ancient mystical society that's basically around to guide a single warrior doing with so much power? Is there some dark purpose to collecting this kind of power, or is it just the byproduct of having been around for so long? Sounds like the Watcers Council is quietly being build up as a threat, possibly for Season Six.
Quinton said that Buffy is the Council's instrument, and that Glory is a more powerful instrument. This suggests that there is some kind of organization behind Glory as well, the opposite number of the Watchers Council so to speak. Is Ben part of this organization?
The demon monks speak of "the signs of allignment". Since Glory wants to return home, to her local demon dimension presumably, this probably means the allignment between our dimension and hers is coming, a time when the barrier is weakest and she can cross with the help of the Key.
It looks like Glory could die if she doesn't regularly get a human victim to feed upon.
Buffy's mention of Rasputin's dubious death seemed suspicious. Is this foreshadowing for Rasputin appearing? Or something similar?
If Glory is surprized that Ben didn't help her, then it seems she doesn't know him that well, or that he's against her.
Glory says Ben drives her insane. Does this literally mean he is the force that driving her to madness? We've already seen him connected to this when he cleaned up Glory's insane victims in "Listening to Fear".
Glory says she wishes she could get her hands on Ben. What is preventing her from doing so? She knows where he is, so it seems she's either afraid of meeting him in person or there's some kind of law preventing them from meeting. But in "Family" they were in the same room even if they didn't know it; Glory snagged a demon about to attack Ben. In any case, Ben is probably another God like Glory set against her, but he's not allowed to take a direct action against her.
If anyone you would think the Watchers Council would stake Spike and be done with it. Yet they just question him here. If they're willing to let Angel, a SOULED vampire, die in "Graduation II", surely they would have problem with killing a still evil if temporarily harmless vampire who has killed two Slayers in the past! Or perhaps the female Watcher spared him because she researched him.
If Spike is trying to win over Buffy why did he lie about her to the Council, saying she lets him drink some blood of victims and whatnot? Is he just rebelling against his feelings or something?
The big question is how did Glory find where Buffy lives, since she went to Ben for that and he didn't tell her. Presumably the Summers aren't listed in the phonebook for safety reasons. Did she just rough up the local demons to find out?
Glory met Dawn in person, but did not sense she was the Key. This seems surprizing. If Glory can't sense the Key even in human disguise how does she expect to find it? Obviously she knows it was moved here by the monks but not that it was made human.
How can Buffy possibly prevent Glory from doing horrible things when she doesn't hand over the Key? Even if she puts Joyce, Dawn, Xander, Willow, Giles, Anya, and Tara into hiding, Glory could still just go on a rampage murdering innocent people. Her only hope is to say she doesn't know anything about the Key or try to give her a fake, both of which are only delaying tactics. Presumably something the Watchers Council learned will be instrumental to avoiding this fate.
Apparently the Knights of Byzantium are just human, so unless they have some heretofore unseen powers they're going to be absolutely worthless in fighting Glory, even if they send a thousand troops (which would at least look really cool!).
If the Knights want the Key destroyed, is there any good reason to protect it aside from the fact that it's Dawn? It's existance means it's possible for Glory to leave this dimension (which would seem to be a good thing but presumably has drastic consequences for us), presumably it's destruction wouldn't cause any serious harm unless the Knights don't care about that. In that case, why do the Czech Monks in "No Place Like Home" refuse to destroy the Key? Did they have some dark purpose for doing that?
Seems like the Knights had a misunderstanding about Buffy. They'll probably become uneasy allies once they understand Buffy isn't out to kill them (which is what they thought apparently) but she'll have to protect Dawn from them too.
Buffy's dressing down of Quinton was a major sign of her growing maturity and power.
Now that Giles is an official Watcher again, he should have easier access to mystical information.
What's the Buffyverse difference between a demon and a God? Since demons ruled the Earth before they left, was this the same time the Gods ruled? Is a God just a non-evil demon from the old times? More to come!

BLOOD TIES Plot Points:

Glory and two other Hell Gods ruled over one of the worst demon dimensions. Her presence here limits her abilities and drives her to madness, which can only be sated by absorbing people's sanity. Buffy and Giles tell Xander, Willow, Anya, and Tara that Dawn is The Key. Willow and Tara put spells on the Summers home and Magic Shop that will warn when a God approaches.
A group of Order Knights are attacked by demon monks. The Knights say killing the Link/Key is the Will of God. The Knights are victorious until Glory slaughters them. Glory interrogates a survivor on where the Key is before sucking his sanity.
Buffy's Twenith Birthday party. Dawn runs off to break into the Magic Shop, Spike tags along for protection. She finds Giles' journal and learns she is the Key, an energy field made flesh by the monks of Dagon six months ago. Dawn freaks out about it to Buffy and Joyce and runs away.
Ben is surprised to learn the Order has arrived. Jinxo visits him and tells him to join with Glory. Ben says Glory can't harm him.
Dawn visits the nut house where the Knight says she is the Key and must be destroyed. She is found by Ben, who she tells is the Key. He freaks out and tells her to run. Ben morphs into Glory! Glory doesn't know Dawn is the Key; instead she interrogates her on where Buffy has the Key. Dawn gets her to describe the Key, Glory is suspicious she was with Ben to get a peak at her "unmentionables" which seems to be the Lock.
Glory is about to kill Dawn when Buffy and the gang arrive. Buffy and Spike fight Glory until Willow and Tara finish a spell that teleports Glory away a mile into the sky. The spell damages Willow and it can't be tried again. Dawn doesn't remember that Glory came out of Ben. Buffy makes up with Dawn.

Analysis:

If Glory is a Hell God, then Ben probably is too. Who is the third Hell God? Someone yet seen? The leader of the Order of Byzantium perhaps? Or is s/he still in the demon dimension? It seems like Ben is happy to be here on Earth, so perhaps he left the dimension and Glory was dragged along with him against her will.
Didn't Glory give Buffy an ultimatum last episode? Give her the Key or she'll slaughter her friends and family? What happened to this? Everyone seems to have forgotten the threat including Glory! Of course, the magic spell warning of Glory's approach will let them hide from her before she can arrive presumably (then again she can either teleport or move faster than the eye so this might be a false hope, or if Ben doesn't set off the alarms he could approach then Glory could possess him). But still!
Looks like there's a whole cult of demon monks as well. Where are these folks coming from? Glory's Dimension? And considering how horribly they performed in battle against the Order Knights, what good are they?
The Order Knights say killing the Key is the Will of God. Is this true? Or are they just being led by another Hell God? Are The Powers That Be from Angel "God"?
Speaking of monks and religious sects, are there any more of the Order of Dagon, the monks who originally protected the Key? Were they the followers of the third Hell God, or perhaps the followers of Ben? He doesn't want Glory to get the Key either remember.
Buffy and Joyce REALLY handled the situation with Dawn wrong. They should have been emphasizing the entire time that no matter what she is they have grown to truly love and care for her despite the secret.
It appears that Ben and Glory are the same person, two minds in one body. That's why Ben is so confident Glory won't hurt him, because she doesn't physically exist when he does. It also explains the scene in "Family" where a demon is about to attack Ben, then a few seconds later Glory is there. It appears that Ben is the split personality inside Glory and not some kind of pregnancy, and that by sucking sanity she attains dominance over him, but it's a loosing battle.
Ben may not know that Glory shares his body. Or he was just being vague with Dawn because he doesn't want her to learn too much.
Obviously since Glory didn't know Dawn was the Key, she doesn't share Ben's memories. This probably means that Ben doesn't have Glory's memories either. However they can dimly sense each other because when Ben learned Dawn was the Key Glory was able to sense something was going on with Ben and take possession.
This might also explain why Glory was so weak in the ensuing battle. She was fighting at barely Slayer strength it seems. She attacked Xander without killing or severally injuring him. She didn't knock down the building. The most likely explanation is that forcing the body transference took a lot of energy, normally she has to wait for it to come but this was an emergency.
So what is the Lock? Glory calls it her "unmentionables". Presumably it's her body and not some separate object. And since Glory was suspicious of Dawn being with Ben, that means the Lock is on him too (seeming to confirm they share one body).
Glory knows Buffy has the Key. Why doesn't she just start randomly slaughtering innocents until Buffy hands it over?
Using the teleportation spell on Glory was a bit of a cop-out, but I don't see why it can't be used again if it worked the one time. Sure it knocks the wind out of Willow but isn't that a willing trade-off to send away Glory?
Why doesn't Dawn remember that Glory is Ben? Was her memory of it erased? If so, it's the same kind of effect that seems to happen toGlory and Ben. Did this effect her only because she is the Key, or would this happen to anyone?

CRUSH Plot Points:

The Bronze reopens redesigned after the damage done in "Triangle". Willow continues to have serious headaches as a result of the teleportation spell. Buffy thanks Ben for helping Dawn. Buffy is slacking on college classes again.
Dawn visits Spike. She has a crush on him and feels safe with him. Spike tells her scary stories. Buffy finds out and is disgusted, Dawn counters with Buffy loving Angel and tells her Spike is in love with her. Xander knew Dawn had a crush on him.
Spike continues to attach himself to Buffy and gets her on a stakeout with him for vamps. Buffy confronts Spike who is disgusted and storms out. Drusilla visits Spike to recruit him to help her and Darla turn Angel to evil. Dru thinks he can overcome the chip. Harmony walks in on them and chews out Dru. Spike throws her out and joins with Dru. They drain a couple together, Spike drinks the blood of a victim Dru killed for him.
Buffy discovers Spike has a shrine for her at his crypt, where she gets tazered by Dru, who is then tazered by Spike. Spike ties them both up and wants Buffy to decide between him or death at Dru's hands. Buffy refuses. Harm shows up to beat up Spike. Dru breaks free and fights Buffy, though Spike frees her. Dru and Harmony leave Spike. Buffy orders Spike out of her life and has the anti-invite spell done on the Summers house.

Analysis:

In recent episodes Buffy was suddenly doing very well in college, so why the sudden disinterest? Is it a result of the missed classes during Joyce's sickness? Or a result of her slow change into darkness as she gets in touch with her Slayer side?
Dawn says the chip in Spike is the same thing as Angel's restored soul, but it really isn't. Angel isn't evil by choice now while Spike isn't evil against his choice. All Spike needs is the chip out and he's back to his old ways; on the other hand all Angel needs is to loose his soul to be back to his old ways, though Angel isn't looking to get it removed of course.
If Drusilla came to recruit Spike why didn't she show up earlier? It's been four episodes since we last saw Dru and Darla on ANGEL when they got burned (and why in the world is she still injured from that?! It's been a month or more, probably!).
Why is Dru so confident Spike can overcome the chip? Ignorance or some mystical knowledge?
Spike going with Dru and drinking from a freshly killed girl is proof positive that Spike has not been redeemed by his chip. Dru gave him the opportunity for evil and he did it. The only reason he didn't go with Dru to L.A. is because of his Buffy obsession. This obsession is not something good natured, it's a sickness rooted in darkness just like the murdering. In fact, that could define any vampire love.
How was Buffy so easily taken out by Dru with a tazer stick? Was it just because Buffy was off her guard with Spike and thrown by finding the shrine? Remember the Initiative commandos has tazer weapons too and they never managed to take out Buffy.
When Dru fought Buffy, why didn't she use her hypnotic power which is her most dangerous weapon, which is exactly how she managed to kill a Slayer before, Kendra in "Becoming I"? Was it just because she is still injured from being burned?
Why does Buffy stake Spike at this point? She's certainly disgusted with him, and has seen he has not redeemed himself or even wants redemption. She could easily find out about Spike helping Dru kill and drain a couple at the Bronze. Why does she continue to let him live, unless there actually is some secret attraction there? And what will she do when Spike continues to harass her?

I WAS MADE TO LOVE YOU Plot Points:

A college student constructed a robot to be the perfect girlfriend, but he couldn't love her and ran away. She follows him until her power runs out. Spike recruits the student to build him a Buffy robot.
Spike visits Giles, Xander, Willow, Tara, and Dawn at the Magic Shop. They all want him out even Dawn, and Giles threatens him.
Anya tells Tara about her success at online trading.
Buffy asks Ben out. Ben changes from Glory while at her apartment. She later reneges on the phone, which Glory overhears. Glory decides Ben is secretly working against her, and refers to herself and Ben as "us".
Joyce goes on a date with Brian who she met at work. Buffy returns home to find Joyce dead.

Analysis:

Once again the whole robotics thing just doesn't fit into the plausibility of the Buffyverse. Demons and gods I can buy because it isn't based on current technology or anything, but robots? No! Also really not happy about Spike getting a Robo-Buffy built.
Once again, why doesn't Buffy or Giles just stake Spike? He's proven himself to be totally deranged and a threat even if he can't harm humans. He could betray them to a demon or Glory like he did to Adam. He certainly can't be trusted anymore to protect Dawn or Joyce (if she's still alive). Why is he still alive!
Looks like Buffy is beginning to become infatuated with Xander! Anya won't be happy about that...
Nice to see Anya being with Tara alone and them getting along. Anya's mention of success at online trading sounds like they're setting something up. Anya's either about to become very rich or very poor.
Ben comes to wearing Glory's dress in Glory's apartment. He must know without a doubt that he shares a body with Glory then, and we see Glory knows this too (in previous episodes it seemed as if Glory didn't know this).
I predict that Glory will set a date with Buffy pretending to be Ben, and use it as a setup.
Is Joyce really dead?! If so my prime theory is that Glory snapped her neck. She raced in at super speed so that before Joyce could flee at the sound of the magic spell alarm, Glory was already there (we've already seen her move faster than the eye). She threatened to kill Buffy's friends and family three episodes, I think she's starting to deliver on that promise now.
The other theory is that Joyce's tumor killed her and it wasn't successfully removed after all. If that's so, it's very likely that Joyce knew she was dying all along but kept it secret from Buffy and Dawn. This would explain why she finally went out on a date, she wanted to have some romantic company one last time before she died.

FOREVER Plot Points:

After Joyce's funeral, Dawn attempts a spell to resurrect her. Willow secretly shows her a book that helps her. Spike catches her in the act, and helps her. He takes her to Doc who gives her the information in return for nothing, and fights a demon to retrieve the necessary egg for the resurrection spell. The spell works, but Buffy discovers it and confesses her feelings to Dawn, who breaks the spell just before Joyce arrives at the door.
Jinx tells Ben that Glory wishes him to date Buffy for more information on the Key. Time is running short. Ben and Glory know they share the same body. If Glory finds the Key, lots of people are going to die. Ben accidentally lets slip the Key is "an innocent" and stabs Jinx, who survives to tell Glory.

Analysis:

It's more probable that Willow gave the book to Dawn not to resurrect Joyce, but just to see information about it to ease her mind. Of course, there have been previous points that Willow has a potential for evil in her magic.
Was Doc's aid to Dawn really free? At the end he shakes her hand, and his eyes turn black, and Dawn yanks her hand back. Did Doc do something to her as part of their deal unbeknownst to her?
It does seem ridiculously easy to resurrect someone, of course the question was whether they truly return normal or not.
Was Ben really that stupid to let that slip about the Key, or was Glory subconsciously affecting him? Or does he subconsciously wish to have Glory find the Key so they can return home?
And how idiotic was Ben to stab Jinx but not confirm him as dead?! Or was he beginning to change into Glory at that point? Notice that Jinx has the time to stumble up to Glory's apartment before Glory finds him, but s/he can move super fast of course.

INTERVENTION Plot Points:

Buffy is reluctant to return to Slaying, fearing that it is making her cold and emotionless. Giles takes her on a Quest for answers to a sacred place in the desert. Giles is not allowed to know where it is, and performs a Swahili ritual to transfer guardianship of Buffy to a Guide. Buffy is led by a cougar to the sacred place, which she visited in "Restless", where the First Slayer visits her. The Guide says "you are full of love.. that's why you pull away from it.. love is pain and the Slayer forges strength from pain.. love will bring you to your gift.. death is your gift".
Glory fears she's loosing control of Ben as he grows stronger. The Sacred Glorificus is "a God in exile, far from the Hellfires of home, and sharing my body with an enemy". She orders the demon monks to recon Buffy to find someone new and important to her, who must be the Key.
Tara does the Glory alarm spell on Xander's apartment while Dawn stays with Xander and Anya, but the demon monks do not trip it.
Spike gets his robo-Buffy from the designer and has lots of sex. Robo-Buffy slays with Xander and Anya before Spike finds her. The demon monks (also Xander and Anya) see Spike and Robo-Buffy having sex.
The demon monks capture Spike thinking he's the Key. Glory says a vampire can't be a Key because the Key is pure, and she can't even brain-suck vampires. Glory tortures Spike for information but he refuses to talk; he would die before giving up Dawn.
Buffy returns for the Spike sex intervention from Xander, Willow, and Anya. They search from where Buffy killed the cobra demon. Spike angers Glory into breaking him loose and barely manages to escape where he is rescued by Buffy, Xander, Giles, and Robo-Buffy, who is broken in the fight. Willow could fix it. Buffy kisses Spike to thank him.

Analysis:

Apparently Buffy hasn't done any Slaying since Joyce died. This has been about two weeks. Even with Giles, Xander, Willow, Anya, and Tara patrolling, the demon population must be getting out of control by now!
While the first half of the season did show Buffy becoming increasingly dark, then trend abruptly stopped when Joyce got sick and Riley left. Her concerns for it here seem a tad abrupt, except for Dawn's accusation last episode (which was just a misunderstanding).
Watchers aren't allowed at the Sacred Place, which echoes the First Slayer's disdain for Watchers in "Restless".
Giles' ritual is performed in Swahili, an East African language, which tracks with the First Slayer coming from Africa as a predecessor of modern man. But why is the Sacred Place in the California desert?! Is there just a Sacred Place in every region in the world?
So what exactly was the Guide (which only took the form of the First Slayer)? And what is the significance of Giles having to perform a transfer of guardianship ritual? Has that transfer now reverted? Is the Guide some kind of Slayer God?
The Slayer credo is death is a gift and comes from love, which Buffy disagrees with. But we've already seen that slaying is a sexually exciting thing, and that her power comes from darkness, so just how truthful is her denial?
So Glory considers Ben her enemy. How did they get stuck together then? Was it a punishment? An accident? Glory said she is a God in exile, which suggests someone forced her into this position as punishment for an action.
Why is Ben getting stronger while Glory apparently gets weaker?
Now that the gang fought Glory's demon monks, can the Glory alarm spell be widened to include them as well?
How does Glory know that the Key must be pure? Just because Ben said it was innocent? In any case Glory once again proves the point that vampires are not redeemable without their soul, they are impure. Spike's action of protecting Dawn and Buffy is just another symptom of his perverted obsession with Buffy, not out of love or caring.
Why can't Glory brain-suck vampires? Because they don't have souls? So she's specifically stealing souls.
Robo-Buffy could be useful in a fight. Perhaps she'll be reactivated for the big final showdown with Glory.
Here's hoping Buffy kissing Spike doesn't mean she's secretly falling for him... But this much can be said for Spike's actions in this episode. He's proven himself no longer stake-able finally by refusing to reveal Dawn despite horrendous torture.

TOUGH LOVE Plot Points:

Buffy drops out of school for the semester to take care of Dawn. Buffy takes a tough stance on parenting Dawn. If Dawn doesn't attend school, Buffy will be found unfit to be Dawn's legal guardian and she'll be taken away.
Ben is fired from the hospital after a two week absence. Ben was a normal mortal until Glory came along and robbed his life.
Glory has her monks report their surveillance on Buffy's friends and decides Tara is the Key. The monks keep tabs on Buffy and company while Glory moves. Giles catches one and interrogates him with brief off-screen torture to reveal Glory's target.
Willow and Tara have a fight over Willow feeling left out of the grieving game, Tara fearing Willow's power, and Tara fearing Willow's lesbianism won't take.
Glory grabs Tara in public and crushes the bones her hand to lick her blood, which tells her she isn't the Key. Glory asks who the Key is, but Tara refuses. Glory describes the brain-suck as being trapped inside your own mind, powerless. Willow arrives just as Glory brain-sucks Tara and leaves. Tara is insane and has to spend a night in the psych ward.
Willow stocks up on dark magic and goes after Glory. Her eyes are all black and she uses telekinesis, lighting, and transmogrification. Glory is able to shrug off the attacks and Willow soon runs out of strength. Glory's skin is bullet and knife proof. Buffy arrives and briefly fights a weakened Glory before escaping with Willow.
Buffy, Willow, Dawn, and Tara are at Tara's place. Willow will take care of Tara, with her on medications and restrained at night. Glory rips open the wall of the building. Tara reveals that Dawn is the Key, "the light, it's so pure, such pure green energy".

Analysis:

Given Dawn's forthcoming absences from school as Glory goes after her, how will Buffy prevent the state from taking her away?
This episode seems to say Ben was just a normal guy working at the hospital until Glory invaded his body... but in "Listening to Fear" Ben was said to have called on the demon to kill Glory's insane victims, how could he do that if he was just some guy, unless he gains knowledge from Glory?
Just by having the monks watch Buffy and her friends for a night, how can they find out that Tara recently joined them? Besides, Tara has been around for almost a year and a half now, while Glory knows the Key was made in human form only about eight months ago.
Just what did Giles do the monk to get him to talk? No doubt something very unseemly from his Ripper days.
Apparently Glory needs to taste the blood in order to tell whoever the Key is.
Glory describes the brain-suck like it's happened to her. Perhaps that was how she got stuck in Ben's body. Her enemies in her dimension brain-sucked her and tossed her soul into Ben's mortal body.
Is Tara's insanity permanent? Perhaps when Glory is killed or returns to her dimension, her stolen souls will be returned to her victims, and Tara will be restored.
Willow displays astonishing power here, and she doesn't even seem to have any ill aftereffects from it like she did when she and Tara teleported Glory in "Blood Ties"! Where did all this ability come from? Was it because she used 'dark' magic as opposed to 'white' magic? Will there be repercussions for this? Willow could have probably killed Buffy with that kind of power!
Looks like Glory's skin can't be pierced by anything. This means something as simple as decapitation won't work. Presumably Willow was throwing the knives and glass with super strength via telekinesis, somewhere close to Buffy's strength levels.
Glory must definitely know that Dawn is the Key now. Though it's also possible that she'll think Buffy is the Key *and* the Slayer, since Tara was looking in the direction of Buffy and Dawn.
How are they going to escape Glory there? She's got them cornered. Perhaps Giles or Xander will show up in a car and speed them away, but even so Glory has displayed faster than the eye speed before.

SPIRAL Plot Points:

Willow uses telekinesis to throw Glory back as Buffy flees with Dawn. Glory runs through a building and the campus at super speed in view of dozens of students. A truck hits Glory as she stops to confront them, and she transforms into Ben.
Ben exists only because of Glory's failure. All he wants is a normal life, and became a doctor to be a part of everyday humanity. When Glory gets the Key, Ben dies. If Ben kills the Key, he survives.
The Knights of Byzantium retrieve Orlando from the hospital psych ward, who tells them the Key is a human girl. General Gregor has arrived with a massive army.
Buffy makes the gang flee down since they can't fight Glory, in an RV procured by Spike (who is needed for a fight). The Knights attack the RV on horseback. Buffy kills ten Knights and drives them off, but Giles is critically wounded in the gut and the RV crashes. The gang hides in an abandoned gas station which is soon besieged by the Knights. Willow casts a barrier spell with black eyes to protect them, but the Knights call Christian Clerics to defeat it.
All of Glory's brain-suck victims begin chanting "all dark... soon". Then they all chant "time". Orlando is killed by the Knights. The psych ward victims storm security and escape.
Buffy interrogates Gregor. The Will of God is to severe the Key/Link. Glory is a Hell God from a hellish dimension, sharing power with two others, but she grew more powerful. The other two made a pre-emptive strike and imprisoned her in this lower dimension in a mortal newborn male, Ben. Kill the vessel, Glory dies, but the Knights never learned who the Vessel was. Glory found a way to briefly escape the mortal prison before her energies are exhausted and she reverts again. The Key is almost as old as Glory, but its origins are a mystery. The Czech monks found the Key first, and thought they could harness it for good. The Key opens the dimension gates so Glory can return home, but it opens all the dimension gates, and the universe will be destroyed in the intermixing.
Buffy and Xander talk to the Knights and get them to agree to let in a medic for Giles. Buffy calls in Ben who stabilizes Giles. Gregor tells Ben to kill Dawn and end it all, which he refuses. Ben transforms into Glory, who kills Gregor immediately. Glory quickly takes out Buffy and Spike, and grabs Dawn. Glory breaks through the barrier and massacres the Knight army in seconds. Glory and Dawn are gone. Ben's car is still there. The gang makes ready to pursue, but Buffy breaks down, sobbing.

Analysis:

At this point, Willow is proving a better fighter against Glory than Buffy is! Willow can hit her with telekinesis without Glory being able to counter because of the long distance. Perhaps if Willow only used TK pushes like that the next time they fight Glory, she could hold off Glory long enough to Dawn to be rescued, or perhaps even long enough for Glory to expend her energy and revert into Ben.
Since Glory achieving dominance over Ben is a trick expending great energy, this inherently limits anything she can do. This must mean that she can only fight for a short amount of time. All Buffy et al need to do is force Glory to expend her energy and be able to follow her when she flees and reverts into Ben. Obviously she isn't going to let herself revert in front of Buffy et al since they would just immediately kill Ben- in her few remaining seconds she would race away at super speed, which could put her miles away, making an effective search highly improbable. Unless Ben willingly contacts them to have himself killed.
So at some point, presumably just in this season, Glory figured out a trick to beat her punishment, and temporarily achieve dominance in Ben's body. This trick must presumably be brain-sucking the souls of mortals. But how could she take her first soul if she was trapped in Ben's body? How does the cycle begin? Did Ben somehow suck a soul? Perhaps witnessing his first patient dying and the soul accidentally getting sucked into him? Or did Glory manage to surface once without aid to begin it?
Once again, dozens if not *hundreds* of civilians witness the paranormal at work when Glory speeds through them and crashes through a dorm building. How is this kept secret?! Why aren't these people talking?! Or was Glory actually moving faster than the eye, and it was slowed down for dramatic sake? Even so, a dozen or more students saw her crash through a building wall!
So, Ben is a mortal after all! This seems a tad out of the blue... most especially given "Listening to Fear". He summoned the Queller demon to slaughter Glory's brain-suck victims. If he's just a mortal, where did he get the power to summon it?! Was he tapping into Glory's energy or something? Did he use her or her demon monks' knowledge for the certain spell? Besides, the Queller appeared before in the twelfth century. If Ben and Glory have only been in this dimension for twenty years, who was around during that?
In any case it's now clear that the reason Ben was having Glory's victims slaughtered was because they give her some kind of power. Perhaps when the body of the victim dies, she looses that soul to empower her. Or perhaps he was just lessening her numbers of followers for the coming Key Gate ritual/spell, which apparently requires their presence.
Ben has the option of killing Dawn, which would apparently mean that Glory can never return home, but it also means she'd be stuck in his body until he naturally ages and dies, at which point she will die. This means Glory has only been in our dimension as long as Ben has been alive, which is around twenty years. But would Glory still be able to assert dominance over Ben's body? Would she continue to be an unstoppable threat on Earth for decades?
Why *did* it take so long for the Knights to arrive?! It's been EIGHT episodes since they encountered Buffy! That's about four months in Buffy time! One episode equals two weeks ("No Place Like Home").
Given the huge deal made over a Slayer taking a human life in "Ted" and "Bad Girls"/"Consequences" and elsewhere with Faith, it's pretty shocking that Buffy slaughters ten Knights here and nobody makes a single objection to it! Sure they're coming after them to kill Dawn, sure they're attacking with lethal force, but isn't Buffy strictly forbidden from this?! Wouldn't Giles object?! Or is this just an extreme case calling for it? Perhaps this it is a sign of Buffy's increasing darkness and falling to her Slayer side, but even if that's true why didn't Giles or anyone else say anything?
Willow uses her black eyes again when casting the barrier spell. This must be a general sign of extreme magical power use.
It's curious that the Knights are decidedly Christian, and even rely on Christian Clerics to break Willow's barrier spell. Is there any greater portent to them claiming God sent them to kill the Key? Are they just a bunch of humans in over their heads? Is God going to make an appearance in the Buffyverse?
For that matter, where do the Powers That Be fit into this? Or the First Evil in "Amends"? Are these just another dimension ruler, or do they exist above these individual dimensions? If Glory was really about to destroy the universe, surely TPTB would send Cordy a vision and bring Angel into the matter... maybe that's why Angel is stuck in another dimension at the moment, as an excuse to avoid this crossover.
Where were all the brain-suck victims going? Off to prepare for the spell or ceremony for Glory to use Dawn/The Key to open the gates? Are a bunch of insane mortals really going to be any use whatsoever in such a thing?
Why didn't Glory's two co-Gods just kill her outright? Overconfidence? Not willing to break some kind of taboo? Not powerful enough to destroy her, only to weaken and banish her?
The obvious solution to beating Glory is killing Ben, though that's not a very dramatic conclusion, it's really cheating out on the threat of Glory, unless we see them wear Glory down in a long fight, forcing her to revert to Ben and then killing him. But if Ben is half the lover of humanity he claims to be, surely he'll do the greater good and turn himself into Buffy or the Knights to be killed, or kill himself. He refused to kill Dawn after all, but on the other hand he was responsible for summoning the Queller in "Listening to Fear" which directly lead to dozens of deaths.
Buffy should attempt to form an alliance with the Knights. She tells them to hunt down Ben and kill him, she helps, and they don't kill Glory. Of course, even with Glory destroyed, Dawn will still prove a huge threat. The Knights may still insist on killing her. Or perhaps there will be some kind of magic spell to remove Dawn's Key abilities but keep her alive.
So the Czech monks were just a bunch of monks who knew about the Key, and had powerful magical powers. They lucked out and found the Key before Glory or the Knights, and hoped to harness it for good. But where did they get such powerful magic to begin with? Aren't they Christian like the Knights? Why do they differ in philosophies? Did any monks survive Glory's rampage in "No Place Like Home", and will they be able to convert Dawn into a non-threat? Will the monks' hoped for harness towards good be the resolution to the threat Dawn poses, and she'll get super-powers or something?
The universe will be destroyed? That's a pretty over the top threat...
Glory recognized Gregor. But if they've met before, why didn't she kill him then? How did Gregor get a scar? Surely he didn't get it from Glory, because how could he survive an attack by Glory?
So Glory runs off with Dawn at super speed, to return to Sunnydale and prepare for the ritual/spell that will use Dawn to open the gates. Presumably the escaped brain-sucks will play some role in this ritual/spell. Buffy et al (Ben's car will probably only hold Buffy, Willow, Spike, and Xander. Anya, Giles, and Tara wouldn't be any good in a fight anyway) chase after them in Ben's car, once Buffy gets her act together of course.

THE WEIGHT OF THE WORLD Plot Points:

Buffy is stuck in a catatonic state. Willow takes over as leader. Spike has to continually tell the gang that Ben is Glory since a spell makes them immediately forget the fact. Spike finds Glory's apartment abandoned, and Ben's room inside it.
Glory takes Dawn to the site of the ritual. Brain-sucks are constructing something. A demon High Priest anoints Dawn in Czech. Dawn's blood is the Key, the door is opened by bleeding her dry. Glory is becoming affected by Ben's humanity, after living trapped in his body for twenty five years on Earth. She begins to gain Ben's memories and the cloak spell masking their connection begins to break. Glory and Ben begin to flip back and forth.
Willow performs a telepathic spell to enter Buffy's mind. She's stuck in a loop from Joyce and Hank coming home with baby Dawn and offering to protect her, of the First Slayer telling her "death is your gift", and of Buffy suffocating Dawn. She failed to rescue Dawn and so is to blame for her death. Willow snaps her out of it telling her it isn't her fault.
Ben helps Dawn escape the monks. Dawn knocks him out, which restores Glory. Ben and Glory get in an argument. Ben makes a deal with Glory to help her take Dawn in return for immortality, since the ritual would kill him.
Xander and Spike see Doc for help on Glory. Doc turns out to be a Glory worshipper and fights them. Xander runs him through with a sword but he survives. They make off with a box with sacred scrolls. They say the ritual sheds Dawn's blood in a certain time and place, tearing down the walls between dimensions. It can only be stopped by killing Dawn.

Analysis:

No matter what's happened to her, Buffy going catatonic seems like a horrible act of cowardice and weakness! She's the Slayer for god's sake! She's never collapsed under pressure before! This isn't the first apocalypse she's faced! Having to kill Angel with her own hands to save the world has to be much worse than this!
So there's a cloak spell that makes any mortals forget about the Ben-Glory link. Spike is immune to it since he's a vampire (but notice that Buffy was affected by it as well, since Willow had to tell her this after she came out of the coma!). Dawn was affected by it as well in "Blood Ties". It seems very odd that Buffy and Dawn manage to be affected by it given their paranormal natures.
So Ben is 25 years old and Glory has been on Earth 25 years. How long have they been living in Sunnydale? All their life? Was this a coincidence? Or did they just move here at the top of the season, tracking down the Czech monks who created Dawn?
What were the Brain-Sucks constructing? Obviously something for the ritual, but why is this important?
If only Dawn just ran away instead of knocking out Ben, she would safe and clear!
If Glory is becoming affected by Ben's personality than it seems equally fair that Ben is affected by Glory's personality, and that's the reason why he agreed to work with her in return for immortality.
If Doc is such a powerful minion of Glory, then why didn't he recognize Dawn as the Key in "Intervention"?

THE GIFT Plot Points:

Once the Key blood stops flowing, the Gate closes and the dimension walls resume. Giles wants to kill Dawn which Buffy refuses, even if it means the universal apocalypse. Buffy says the monks made Dawn out of her, they have a physical connection, she is a part of her. They need to distract Glory from completing the ritual. Anya suggests using the Dagon Sphere, Olaf's Enchanted Hammer, and Spike's Robo-Buffy. Willow finds a way to restore Tara from Glory and thus weaken her. Buffy assigns Spike to protect Dawn.
Xander proposes to Anya, who wants it after the apocalypse is stopped. Buffy re-invites Spike to the Summers house. Spike tells her he knows she'll never love him, but she treats him like a man not a monster.
Dawn is tied to the top of a large tower constructed by the Brain-Sucks. They release Tara and follow her to the tower. Tara says to Giles "you're a killer! it's all set down...". Glory finds Tara at the tower and Willow surprises her, restoring Tara and weakening Glory. Robo-Buffy uses the Dagon Sphere on Glory, who destroys it. Robo-Buffy fights Glory. The gang fights the Brain-Sucks and demon monks. Glory gets her strength back and beheads Robo-Buffy, then gets attacked by Buffy with Olaf's Enchanted Hammer. Buffy and Glory fight their way up the tower but fall off it. Xander hits Glory with a wrecking ball.
Doc finds Dawn at the tower. Willow telepathically contacts Spike to rescue Dawn while she knocks back the minions with telekinesis. Spike fights Doc but gets thrown off the tower. Buffy beats Glory into submission. Glory reverts to Ben. Buffy makes them promise to leave them alone and leaves. Giles comes by and suffocates Ben, to make sure Glory never resurfaces, because Buffy as a hero can't take a human life. Doc cuts up Dawn and starts the bleeding, activating the Portal. Buffy arrives and tosses Doc off the tower. Dimensions begin to merge; a building is filled with demons. The ground gets ripped up. A massive dragon emerges. Dawn tries to toss herself in the Portal but Buffy stops her. Buffy decides to throw herself in since they're the same blood. She says "This is the work I have to do... I figured it out, and I'm okay... the hardest thing in the world is to live in it, be brave, live, for me" and jumps in the Portal, closing it. Her body falls to the ground.

Analysis:

In "Spiral" Gregor said that when the Portal opens it would destroy the universe... but suddenly now the Portal is only open until Dawn's blood runs out and all the walls return to normal. So even if Glory succeeds, it's not the end of the world as was promised all this time before, all that would happen is some demons gets mixed in for a few minutes! What a cop out!
Buffy refuses to sacrifice Dawn even it means saving the universe, even though if she doesn't then Dawn gets killed anyway. What kind of warped logic is that?! I can only hope her facetious reasoning comes from the mystic bond she has with Dawn, and in her mind she has some kind of programming that refuses her from letting Dawn die, done by the Czech monks, so it isn't her free will. This makes a lot more sense, most especially since she killed Angel to save just this world in "Becoming 2"!!!
Well isn't it convenient that only *NOW* in the final episode anybody ever thinks of using the Dagon Sphere! This was introduced alongside Glory as a weapon by the Czech monks to stop her, yet it was ridiculously ignored until now. The same goes for Olaf's Enchanted Hammer and Robo-Buffy. It's absolutely artificial and ridiculous that everybody just happens to forget about these powerful weapons lying around until the last minute!
And also once again Willow just happens to find a spell that can magically restore Tara and also hurt Glory. How convenient! Hopefully Willow's magic powers won't become a cop-out solution every time with her so powerful!
So the Portal just happens to exist several stories up in the air? Or was this just for dramatic effect?
Notice that Tara says Giles is a killer and "it's all set down" minutes before Giles kills Ben/Glory. This means that the Brain-Sucks are also capable of precognition, and that in the Buffyverse everything is preordained and there is no free will (either that or she was slightly telepathic and read what Giles intended to do).
Too bad nobody brought any guns with them! Would have taken care of the Brain-Sucks pretty quickly!
How naive is Buffy to think she can just make Glory/Ben promise to leave them alone?! Good god!
Giles seems to think it's impossible for Buffy to take a human life, yet she just killed *TEN* humans in "Spiral", a fact that nobody seems to care to recall except for the massacred Knights... Three cheers for Giles in any case!
Doc sure did put up a most pitiful fight against Buffy, just walking towards her at normal speed and getting tossed off the tower, while he proved super fast and strong against Spike, how convenient...
Let's see, we have a ton of city streets ripped up, countless civilians no doubt slaughtered, an entire building transformed and taken over by demons, a massive flying dragon above the city, not to mention the countless off-screen events. Now after all this, how can the paranormal possibly be kept secret from the public! How could this possibly be covered up or explained away! If these events just get conveniently forgotten come Season Six it will be quite a cop-out...
So how will Buffy get resurrected...? Since her body is still around and looking fine it seems likely that only her soul was stolen into the Portal, so it's just a matter of performing some ritual to find it and restore it to the body. But since the Season Premiere will be three months after this episode, won't Buffy's body be in a bad state of decomposition? Or will it magically stay fresh? Or will they throw it in a freezer, hoping to find a way to restore her soul?
Now that Buffy has died, will this cause another Slayer to be awakened, or does Faith retain the Second Slayer role still? Perhaps Faith will get some addition power from this?

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