Buffy: No Place Like Home (5.5)

Watching season five again, I'm surprised at how similar the Dawn concept is to last season's Superstar. Both stories involve things happening that we as an audience know just aren't right. Things have changed, and yet nobody is acknowledging it. It's like an elaborate joke played on the viewer, sitting there waiting for somebody to stand up and ask 'huh?' The revelations about Dawn's true identity are played really well, with the gorgeous vision-quest scene with her presence fading in and out, and later the terrifying-then-quickly-tender monologue where the monk explains what has happened.

So Dawn isn't evil. She's an ordinary girl who's unknowingly part of a horrifying end-of-the-world scenario, and Buffy has been magically positioned to keep her safe. It's a genius idea, and Sarah Michelle Gellar performs the whole thing excellently. There's that initial anger and disgust that this thing has been thrust into her family, until that feeling quickly turns into something deeper and driven more by morals. It parallels Buffy's own destiny as the slayer, something so wrong and unfair, but something that needs to be accepted and embraced.

Then there's that mysterious lady in the red dress. Clare Kramer is immediately nuts in the role, a perpetual valley girl who is ruthless, sadistic and cray-cray. It really shouldn't work, but somehow it does. I think it was her secretly teetering behind Buffy that won me over. All that great mugging. She's batshit, that girl.

Elsewhere, there's the opening of the Magic Box. There's Giles in his wizard costume (one of the greatest sight-gags in the entire Whedonverse), and a greater purpose for Anya. She's hilarious here, and there's some nice continuity there since she always had a thing for money. I also love that nobody can really stand her, which is understandable. She is pretty obnoxious, but at the same time awesome.

I also need to bring up Spike's little scene. When did he suddenly become so adorable? He's completely in love with her, and I loved Buffy's puzzled expression when she spots the dozen used cigarettes on the ground.

No Place Like Home is another risky episode that could have fallen to pieces if handled badly. It kind of sets the benchmark for the next couple of seasons, too, in that it feels like just one chapter of an elaborate season-long story that ends up stretched way too thin, but at this point things are really impressive. "Out - For - A - Walk... Bitch." B+

Credits
Guest stars Clare Kramer (Glory); Charlie Weber (Ben); Ravil Isyanov (Monk); Kristine Sutherland (Joyce Summers)
Writer Douglas Petrie Director David Solomon