Blood Ties is another nice arc episode that moves us closer to this season’s
towering finale. As a born-again Dawn defender, I think the episode is a little underrated,
based purely on my anecdotal impressions of the fandom. We’re just past the season's
centerline and still have a ways to go but, as per Mutant Enemy standards,
there are still plenty of wonderful little details here too easily overlooked.
The episode opens with the gang planning Buffy’s birthday party. Given how her
previous birthdays have gone, Sunnydale had better have an emergency plan in place. Xander catches
up any of us that forgot to set our DVR. 00:21 “We’re going up against a god. An
actually mightier than thou god.” When the Scoobs suggest spending
time figuring out who the key is, Buffy and Giles inform everyone that they already know.
“You should have said something.” “Giles, they deserve to know.
They’re going to be risking their lives.” I’m a little ambivalent on this point,
one way or another. I get the “feeling-left-out” but I’m not sure there is a strategic argument
that THEY know what the key is. They should be aware that Buffy and GILES know so they
don’t waste their time but the episode proves to be an argument for either why Buffy and Giles
not telling them in the first place was a good idea or why they should have started with Dawn.
Meanwhile the Knights of Potassium firm up their link as the religious symbol this season.
“The link must be severed. Such is the will of God.”
Glory’s minions show up for a fight and I like to think this minion executing the world’s most
unnecessary rope-swing-entrance is named Sunny, saying “WHEEEEE” under his breath,
and thinks the other minions take their Glory-worship a little too seriously.
Glory appears and brain-sucks the survivors. Tara and Willow immediately prove Giles and
Buffy right for not having told them about Dawn, promptly making things
weird with Dawn. Xander and Anya make it weirder “Xander needs help with his thing.”
I love that that is essentially the Anya-version of half the jokes on Buffy.
Dawn makes a mental note of Giles’ watcher journal,
something nicely setup in ‘Fool for Love.’ Dawn gives Buffy a heartfelt present from
before she existed and everyone reacts with deep melancholy. The Scoobs are terrible at
keeping secrets. Having had enough, Dawn breaks out to go get Giles’ journal with Spike in tow.
The two of them finally put the pieces together. 16:15 “The key is also susceptible to animal
detection. Particularly those of serpent or canine construct.”
Wonder if Oz would’ve seen Dawn as a glowy green ball of light?
She takes the news of her key-ness-ness…uhh…poorly.
Buffy figures out Spike was with her, takes her anger out on him, and I actually
love the way he sticks up for himself. “How could you let her find out like that.”
“I was just along for the ride.” It wouldn’t be a season 5 episode without
Dawn overhearing something she shouldn’t. She hulks out, sets her journals on fire,
and runs away. As the team searches, Xander Xanders things up a little.
G: People have brought armies to control the key. X: You KNOW, she kind of has a crush on me.
G: Your POINT being? Okay, look. I get the
WAY in which this line was supposed to be cute. Xander regularly feels
insignificant so having an ancient and powerful anything thinking he’s neat is
a nice boost to his ego. I’m just going to say that it has aged poorly...and weirdly.
Leaving it at that, Dawn finds her way to the hospital to ask Glory’s victims what
she is. One of the Knights sees her and confirms what Dawn fears. Ben finds her and Dawn lets slip
that she's the key. Ben freaks out and turns into the femme god. The gang shows up and stalls until
Willow teleports her…someplace. Glory: “Oh shit…”
I love the sound design for the magic spell. It’s a cool moment.Though,
in the realm of quibbles and now that I’m thinking about it, why didn’t they send her to the same
realm as olaf? Some non-earth dimension? Maybe that’s a longer spell with a lot of gourd shaking…
Giles: “Magic…gourd…” Sorry, magic gourd shaking or something.
And the episode ends with Buffy reassuring Dawn that, whatever
came before, the two of them are connected. “It’s Summers’ blood. It’s just like mine.”
Blood ties is a nice gentle plot-i-sode, the most Dawn-centric since ‘Real Me’. As I’ve mentioned in
previous videos, the more I’ve watched Buffy, the more Dawn has grown on me. On a show steeped so
heavily on themes of identity and self-discovery and in this season that represents the end of
adolescence, Dawn’s plight makes a certain sense. I’m not sick. I’m not anything.
I know there are Dawn detractors among us but, If anything I’ve realized that whatever
exhaustion I feel with her arc stems mostly from just how hard the plots have leaned on
the tired cliche of having Dawn hover outside a room where the Scoobies are
indelicately discussing her situation. Episode Montage: “I always feel like,
somebody’s watching meeeee….” I TRIED to make peace with it last
episode, and her shirt here might be a subtle reminder of the Pink Panther reference from
‘Checkpoint,’ but hover-Dawn happens TWICE in this episode, alone. There has to have
been a more clever way of building the tension over whether she was going to find out or not.
More on Dawn in a minute but, at least after this one, everything is on the
table - and this is still a solid plotisode with plenty of memorable moments. Sarah and
Michelle’s chemistry continues to be stellar. D: I just think you're freaking out because you
have to fight someone prettier than you. B: Glory is evil.
And powerful. And, in no way prettier than me.
As usual at this point in any season, there isn’t a lot we can get into yet
without spoiling. But, there are a ton of odds and ends to highlight, that also…you
know…might be relevant later on…maybe. Spike is always a fun character to
have lurking in any episode… 12:50 “I wasn’t lurking. I was
standing about. It’s a whole different vibe.” But, with the exception of the sensational
‘Fool for Love,’ it has felt like he hasn’t had that much to do this season OTHER than stand
about…looking…so…s…sexy BUT, things are about to change. Spike’s arc during the show raises
a ton of interesting questions about the show, its lore, and its themes. The chip
is not a soul. The chip is not a conscience. And he has proven his ability to go around it
in episodes like ‘The Yoko Factor,’ and ‘Out of My Mind.’ I have suggested that the soul
acts as the moral compass - the conscience of the characters and, lacking one, vampires are
incapable of altruism and real change. Altruism, meaning acts of selflessness - which is distinct
from kindness which we’ve seen Spike exhibit with Druscilla many times before.
But, Spike’s actions as the series unfolds may begin to challenge that interpretation of the
canon and we’ll examine each action as they emerge. Like what he did for Tara in Family.
*punches Tara. Spike could have hung
in the background for the duration of that scene but he chose to use the chip’s demon detectorness,
shocking himself in the process, exposing Mr. Maclay’s lie, and encouraging Tara to stick up
for herself. This one is easy but I still think it’s important to look: Was that genuine altruism?
A selfless act? Well, no probably not. Spike has a crush on Buffy and it was an opportunity to save
the day and embarrass an arrogant old man. But what about in this episode? Spike
chooses to escort Dawn to ‘The Magic Shop,’ “Lot of besties between here and there…”
And then, importantly, doesn’t go out of his way to tell Buffy about his good deed.
At least, not by the time she bursts into the crypt and rages at him. The decision to keep
it to himself is unusual, given it’s not like Spike has been subtle in his crush so far. And
later, he displays actual tenderness to Buffy when she’s punishing herself for Dawn running away.
He doesn’t twist the knife. Though, again, kindness and affection are not impossible
for vampires. There will be plenty more to discuss with Spike in the next episode.
Tara seemed particularly horrified at the thought of what Glory does to her victims,
what with the brain-sucking. It struck me that the idea might not seem to her completely dissimilar
to someone being misled and gaslit by an abuser, I couldn’t help think about what
Mr. Maclay might’ve done to her mother. 2:00 “At least vampires just kill you.”
In the realm of shattered realities though, there is nothing quite like what Dawn is going through.
There is an adoption metaphor at play here with her finding out she wasn’t born into
the Summers family, but on top of that is the more significant information that, until
six months ago she simply…wasn’t. And Michelle’s performance here,
bearing the weight of that revelation, is outstanding.
Dawn, takes a lot of crap for “Get out get out get out.”
Even I have had some fun with it in our livestreams. But, I have two things to say
about it. First, Michelle’s performance evokes in me, recollections of powerlessness when I was
that age. Everyone is older. Everyone has more say than you do. And sometimes your frustrations with
the boundaries over which you have no control bubble over into moments of rage. The panicked
freakout she has in the bedroom is probably not altogether dissimilar from moments of frustration
and rage I experienced with my own family when I was her age. And I wasn't a glowy ball of green
light that, with made up memories and a hell god trying to, for all intents and purposes,
kill me. Second, it’s a little baffling to me the hyper-emphasis on it in the fandom,
while ignoring the crushing pain and intimacy of Dawn’s moment from one scene before.
18:30 What am I? Am I real? Am I anything? Granted…there is a second appearance of
get-out get-out get-out, but we’ll jump off that bridge when we come to it.
I love the final scene between Buffy and The blood is a significant reference to
the fact that Buffy and Dawn are linked, one of several linked pairs this season. The most
obvious were the two halves of Xander but Ben refers to his sister in this episode
(presumably Glory) before he turns into her. Spike also made an accidental reference to
Buffy and Dawn’s connection earlier when referred to Dawn as a Little Red Riding Hood. When Buffy
was stripped of her powers in Helpless, she wore a red cape, and Kralik spoke to her as the wolf.
“Why did you come to the dark of the woods? To bring all these sweet to grandmother's house?”
On the surface of it, Buffy using blood to convince Dawn of anything might seem
to fly in the face of the themes from the episode ‘Family,’ where Team Tara rejected any importance
of blood when it came to familial bonds. Family: “We are her blood kin. Who the
hell are you?” “We’re family.”
That scene is a precious one to me and speaks to the power of chosen family. But,
if you look carefully, Buffy has already made the same choice with Dawn. At the beginning
of that same episode, she is explaining to Giles the revelation of who Dawn is and says…
No Place Like Home: “They sent her to me Giles. I have to take care of her. I want to.”
And, at the end of Listening to Fear, Joyce and Buffy make that choice together.
“She’s important to the world, precious, as precious as you are to me. We have to
take care of her. No matter what she is, she still feels like my daughter.”
Again, there are layers to what Dawn is having to confront this episode,
(family as WELL as her own physical reality) and I think it’s the latter which explains the
final moment between the two of them. Dawn’s crisis isn’t about family but her very nature.
“Am I real? Am I ANYthing?” And Buffy is saying to her exactly what she
needs to hear in a moment of crisis. Dawn is. “Yes, you are. It’s Summers blood.
It’s just like mine.” She’s doing so so that DAWN
can make the same choice that Buffy and Joyce already have. Family over despair.
If anything I wish the episode had gone a little deeper into the theme of memory that the plot
waves at. For her birthday, Dawn gives Buffy a picture of a memory that didn’t actually happen
and the gang silently contemplates what that means. Later Dawn burns up years of
those journaled memories. Tara’s memories of the family she grew up with were all real,
even if some of them are memories of lies her father told her.
But the point is that, real or not, memory is still just a story. What matters is what Dawn,
Buffy, Joyce, and Scoobies choose to do with them today. Right now.
For the second time in two episodes, I am reminded of a scene from ‘The Matrix.’
After learning what reality actually is, Neo reenters the matrix for the first time and doesn’t
know how to process the experience. He turns to Trinity and says, “I have all these memories of my
life. None of them are real. What does that mean?” “That the matrix cannot tell you who you are.”