Checkpoint

Previously on Buffy: in season three, the nasty Council of Watchers commanded Giles to drug Buffy on her eighteenth birthday so that she lost her Slayer powers. She was then locked in a house with a crazed vampire, whose ass she eventually managed to kick. The CoW fired Giles for having fatherly feelings towards the Slayer, and Buffy eventually quit working for the CoW when they wouldn't help cure Angel after Faith shot him with a poisoned arrow. Shoot that poised arrow, through my hea-aart. Cool, my eighties flashback is over now. In these past-season clips, SMG acted her little butt off and looked real purty. This season, Dawn overheard Buffy, Joyce, and Giles discussing her.

Nighttime at the Summers home. There's a meeting of the Scooby gang, and Buffy tidies the living room, apologizing for the mess; she hasn't had time to do housework as well as save the world, break up with her boyfriend, take care of her sick mother and not-sister, and worry about Glory. I think I'll forgive her -- I've used far more flimsy excuses to explain my messy house on occasion. For some reason the writers can't just let go of the Mistake That Was Riley, and scripted a little tense moment where Buffy finds one of his sweaters behind the sofa. How long has that been there anyway? It's an army-green commando sweater the likes of which Riley didn't wear after the second or third episode this season. Giles has apparently called the meeting to announce that the CoW has discovered information about Glory and will reveal it when they arrive in Sunnydale. Understandably upset, Buffy stutters her disapproval. Some blather from the gang, including what has to be a purposefully awful British accent from Xander, and Giles is moved to defend the Watchers as having the "same agenda" as the Scooby gang: "Save the world and kill demons." Mandatory worry from Anya about the Watchers being ex-demon-incompatible. Buffy asks that Giles tell the CoW not to come, but it seems they are already on their way. Uh oh, the CoW delegation will be headed by Quentin Travers, who was responsible for firing Giles; I'm surprised Giles is so sanguine about the whole thing. Buffy expositions that the CoW have tried to kill her twice, once with the eighteenth birthday test and once when she was magically trapped in Faith's body; poor Tara gets a naive line about having supposed that English people are "gentler," because she's not a demon after all, she's just a hick. And if you want to know how "gentle" the English people can be, just go ask the Irish. Willow suggests that the CoW won't try to kill Buffy this time, and Buffy protests that she doesn't want them in town to screw up the delicate balance. She almost slips up by mentioning that she's busy looking out for Dawn, and shares a glance with Giles when Xander points out (incorrectly, but he doesn't know) that Buffy has always had to do that. As Buffy and Giles continue to discuss the matter, Dawn creeps down the stairs to listen. It doesn't seem she's heard much of import when she is joined by Joyce, a headscarf covering what in the hospital was covered well enough by a tiny Band-Aid. Joyce sends Dawn back to bed, and Buffy freaks that she might have been listening. Willow: "Does it matter? I mean, is she really going to set the junior high school buzzing with 'Ooh, there's a delegation a-coming'?" Buffy tries to brush off her seeming overreaction, and Giles suggests that the Council visit will help them "get a grip on" what they're dealing with.

A sweaty, tousled Glory is lying on the floor of her apartment, panting and looking generally not well. The door bursts open, and two Dreggy henchmen throw a postman on the floor in front of Glory. As the postman struggles and screams, Dreg (I think it's Dreg, but I'm confused as to why this is the only appearance he makes in this episode) instructs the other underling to help Glory. Glory is dragged across the floor, and her hands are held up to the mailman's head so that she can sink her fingers in and do her sanity-sucking maneuver. As her mouth opens wide, we're treated to a view of her fillings. I guess even minor deities can't even get their insurance companies to pay for the tooth-colored type. Both she and the postman fall to the floor as the henchmen look victorious. Hmm, along with her insanity Glory seems to have transferred her sweaty disheveled appearance to the postman, as she herself now looks healthy and groomed. Glory admonishes the henchmen not to take so long time and instructs Dreg, "Take this mess out with the rest of the trash." Maybe that's what keeps happening to my copies of Entertainment Weekly? As Glory admires herself in a mirror, the other underling tells her she must "act quickly" if she plans to "use the Key." Hardly new news to any of us. Glory is tired of Sunnydale ("not enough retail outlets") and muses that perhaps "Mousy the Vampire Slayer" knows the location of the Key.

Credits, finally. That was long teaser.

Der Zauber Kasten. Giles speaks with a customer, but is interrupted by the arrival of Quentin Travers and at least six Watcher flunkies. Who will now be generically referred to as CoWboys or girls so I don't have to learn any of their names. None of them appears to be the ultra-thuggy "wet works"-type Watcher, though. Quentin seems resolved to be the alpha male right off the bat, and begins establishing his territory by peeing in all the corner of Giles's shop. Not really, but he does decline to introduce Giles to the other Watchers, who spread out silently to inspect the store, and also declines a tour of the shop, dryly saying, "I think I can see what you've been up to." Anya, looking very pretty in a retro wrap dress, looks agitated by the nosy Watchers as Giles babbles a little in the face of Quentin's disapproving air. Giles becomes even more flustered as one CoWboy with dark hair and an accent I can't place suggests that most things in the store are harmless "dime-store trinkets," but a few are potentially harmful. A CoWgirl of the sexy librarian genre (blonde hair in a bun, severe glasses) chimes in that Giles has a very dangerous statue that "has the power to melt human eyeballs." Oh, she has a lovely voice; I loved the way she said "eyeballs." Quentin delivers the final emasculating blow by having a CoWboy close down Giles's shop and herd out the customers. Anya finally figures out that these pesky people are the Council and attempts to make a hasty retreat. As Giles protests the CoW's tactics, Quentin asks Anya if she works in the store. She replies that she does, and, worried about her ex-demon status, she throws in a cover story about moving from Indiana where she was "raised by both a mother and a father."

Giles sends Anya away and tells Quentin he wants to discuss the "review" that has been mentioned. Boy, re-watching this episode, I'm really struck by how Quentin manipulates Giles in this whole scene. He never answers a direct question and totally manages to throw Giles on the defensive. Quentin tells Giles they'll discuss it "over here," and the biggest of the CoWboys stands threateningly to Giles until he follows Quentin over to the round table in the back of the store. Giles, in a little mockery of gaining some control, tells the Watcher flunkies, "You all stand around and look somber. [pause; eyeroll] Good job." Hee. Quentin chides Giles for his disrespectful attitude; Giles chides Quentin for firing him. Then Quentin sits, with a cup of tea provided by a CoWgirl (once again putting Giles, still standing, at a disadvantage and completely pissing me off in the process. I hate people who demonstrate their self-perceived power by refusing to get their own caffeine), and explains that he's brought very important information about Glory that won't "be handed over" until the CoW is convinced that Giles and Buffy "are prepared for it." As if his actions weren't enough. In a low voice, Giles protests that he won't let Quentin put Buffy through "another one of [his] insane tests." Quentin counters that he'll be administering a "check of her methods." "Buffy's come very far lately," sayeth Giles. "She's acquired a remarkable focus."

In one of the "humorous" segues popular this season, we see Buffy yawning widely in class; she taps, then drops, her pencil. The professor lectures that Rasputin's assassins found it "nearly impossible" to kill him, and Buffy quietly echoes "nearly impossible," which prompts her professor to rip into her. Clearly Dr. Crankypants drinks too much caffeine and needs to start filling it to the rim with Brim. Which I don't think is even made anymore, so scratch that old joke. Then there's an exchange between Buffy and the prof wherein Buffy demonstrates that she has done the reading by knowing a lot about Rasputin, but implies that perhaps he didn't die by drowning after all. That's better than I can do right now. All I can remember is the Too Much Joy song about reincarnation that contains the line, "I was Rasputin. I was all the chicks he had." The professor chides her that the "academic community" accepts Rasputin's death as a fact, Buffy makes a snotty remark about Columbus not discovering North America, and the professor gets pissy that Buffy finds "the facts" boring. Apparently, he's had problems with her in the past, namely that she has an unconventional approach to the "mysterious sleeping patterns of the Prussian generals." He mocks her quite cuttingly. This is a well-written scene, in that it implies but never blatantly states that Buffy's life with the supernatural is leading her to view the subjects taught in college in a unique light, but I think the stereotypical Paper Chase-type professor is overdrawn. At a state school, you'd probably get your ass sued by a bunch of angry moms for inflicting "mental anguish" on their poor little dears. Ask Ace -- she'll tell you some stories about state schools.