Forever

Previously on Buffy: Joyce died. Dawn cried. Ben finds out that Dawn's the key and reveals his close relationship with Glory.

Buffy wanders around a darkened coffin-filled room while vaguely threatening music plays. But they're not foolin' you guys, are they? She opens a coffin to revealNOTHING. Enter Giles, Dawn, and an annoying Funeral Home Guy. Buffy tells him that she wants the coffin that she's standing by and FHG toadies, "It's a fine choice. It speaks deeply of your feeling for the deceased." Shut up, FHG. Her mother died. She shouldn't have to listen to your insincere prattling. Giles feels the same way I do, and he starts to lead FHG away. Dawn doesn't follow, but instead stands in the middle of the room, staring at the coffin. Buffy notices this and asks Dawn if she doesn't agree with Buffy's choice. Dawn dithers that Joyce might prefer a different coffin, and Buffy apologizes for bringing her along, saying that Dawn "shouldn't have to deal with this." Annoying FHG wonders if they'd like a few more minutes, but Buffy decides that they will stick with her original choice, and Dawn looks upset by the briskness of Buffy's manner.

Credits. My, how I have missed the rockin' theme song.

Buffy and Giles sit at the dinner table making arrangements for the funeral while Xander and Willow have a bite to eat. Dawn fiddles with a bouquet on the sideboard and finally sits in front of her untouched plate. Buffy questions how to word the announcement that there will be no gathering after the funeral and explains, "Mom didn't like them. She said that potlucks were depressing enough." Dawn wants to know when Joyce expressed that view, and Buffy gently tells her that they had a talk before she went in for the surgery, "in case." Dawn seems upset that Joyce didn't say anything to her, and Xander tries to comfort her with the thought that Joyce didn't want to upset her before prodding her to eat some of her dinner. Buffy concurs, and Dawn teenagers back, "Why should I? You're not." They're interrupted by the phone, which Giles answers at Buffy's behest. We learn that she still hasn't been able to get in touch with her dad, and I know that Joss seems to have a Bad Dad thing, but this is a little much. I'm thinking something's not right. What's that you say? The Buffyverse is a wonderful place filled with bunnies and happy little ponies that prance around all day long and everything is tinged with rainbows? Yes, I know. I'm probably just tired. I'm sure everything is just swell. While Buffy works on the wording of the funeral announcement, Dawn wonders what they will do afterwards. No one pays much attention to her, and her feelings are obviously hurt, so she asks Willow if she can hang with her after the ceremony. Willow tells her to ask her sister, and Buffy absentmindedly agrees.

Willow and Xander walk onto the front porch and decide to stop by Willow's to visit her mom before going home. Xander catches sight of Spike with a bouquet of bedraggled daises in his hand. Xander incredulously asks Spike if he thinks that this is the way to win Buffy's affections, but Spike retorts that he wants to pay his respects to Joyce. Xander ain't buyin' it. "I liked the lady," Spike over-enunciates. "She was decent. She didn't put on airs. Always had a nice cuppa for me. And she never treated me like a freak." "Her mistake," grits Xander. Disgusted, Spike throws down his flowers and stalks off. Willow picks up the abused blooms and points out that Spike didn't include a card. I really didn't get that line the first time around, because I thought Spike was going to knock on the front door and hand the flowers to someone in the house. Subsequent viewings have lead me to revise my theory; Spike was going to drop the flowers off, and not including a card indicates he wasn't looking for credit. But would a vampire really be concerned with social niceties like those small cards you put with bouquets, anyway? Especially considering that those flowers look like he found them in a Dumpster behind the local Italian restaurant. Xander looks after Spike with a thoughtful expression, but if you recall it was not too long ago that Spike kidnapped Buffy, chained her up in his basement, and threatened to let his ex eat her if she didn't admit that she liked him, so I can see how Xander would think that maybe Spike shouldn't, uh, come around the house. Oh, and Spike? What with you being eeeevil and all, maybe you could knock over a florist for some decent stems to pay your respects instead of pilfering ragweed off of other people's graves? Thanks.

Pan past a wall of pictures. Buffy sitting on her bed. More pictures. Dawn sitting on hers. More pictures. Overview shot of the funeral. The gang and some other people that Joyce ostensibly knew, including the only remaining brother in Sunnydale, surround the coffin at the grave site. I may or may not be sniffling at this point. Reaction shots from the Scoobies, and then I shriek in true pain. Xander and his hockey hair and stupid dark suit make him look like he's starring in a Manitoba revival of Guys and Dolls. And Anya's hair has somehow managed to grow three feet since "The Body." Okay. Back to the angst. Everyone the world over is sad. Buffy holds onto Dawn, who cries into her shoulder as the first shovelful of dirt hits the coffin. The clergyman does the whole "ashes to ashes" spiel as various members of the assemblage comfort Buffy and Dawn before wandering off. Dawn goes to join Willow and Tara, leaving Buffy standing alone at the grave. She declines to go with them and stays, standing to the grave. The witchlets take off, and we zoom up on Buffy's face as the sky gets progressively darker. The shot changes to a view of Buffy's feet from behind, and a pair of black pants walks into the frame. Oh, right. Are we supposed to be surprised here? Yet again, this is one moment I would have enjoyed eight trillion percent more had it not been in the previews. "I'm sorry I couldn't come sooner," says Angel all gravelly-voiced. Buffy silently and without looking slips her hand into his. Aw.

Back at Willow's double-wide dorm room, she makes fish faces at Dawn to make her feel better. No. Wait. That's just me playing with the pause button. But she is trying to comfort Dawn, who is camped out on her sleeping bag on the floor. Dawn gets upset, accusing Willow of saying, "What? Life goes on and I forget Mom?" Tara very sweetly explains, "You make a place for her in your heart. Sort of like she becomes a part of you. Does that make sense?" Willow tries in vain to placate Dawn with offers of magically making a stuffed animal dance (is Dawn four, Willow? Geez.), but Dawn wants to do a spell to bring her mom back. Willow and Tara look worried at the sight of Dawn's resolute face.

Okay. Xander. Anya. Post-coital. Crappy chick music in the background. Freaky nipple shot in the foreground. Anya mentions how Joyce's death has brought her into a larger understanding of the process of life and, because she's Anya, relates it to sex. Xander isn't getting it, so Anya clarifies that sex is "about life. About making life." Xander starts to freak, saying, "Right, when two people are much older and way richer and far less stupid." Snicker. Anya tells him to relax, she's not suggesting that she get knocked up, and then says something prove that she has grown as a person. She and Xander mack some more.

Back at the double-wide. Willow and Tara are trying to explain to Dawn why resurrection spells are a bad idea. Rather, Tara is trying to explain it and Willow keeps getting sidetracked, postulating that such spells might not even be possible. Dawn counters that Wiccans wouldn't have taken an oath to abstain from resurrection if it wasn't possible, but Tara shuts her down with, "Maybe they could. But we can't." Because Dawn is fourteen and her mom just died, but mostly because she's fourteen, she takes this as a personal affront and snots, "You said you wanted to help me," and flounces over to her sleeping bag. And if sleeping bags had doors, I'm sure she would have slammed hers. Willow tries to comfort her, but Dawn turns away.

Back at the cemetery, Buffy sits under a tree with Angel wrapped around her. They're having an emotionally fraught conversation, but without him trying to badger her into expressing her emotions the way he would prefer or giving her snitty little ultimatums. Just generally being as supportive as Buffy needs, instead of whining about her not needing him enough. If you know what I'm talking about, and I think you do. In return, she's telling him about the funeral, but says that "it's tomorrow that [she's] worried about," when everyday life begins again, and she's not really sure if she'll be able to fill her mother's shoes because Joyce was so good at holding everything together. Angel reassures her that it will take a little time, but eventually she'll learn how to get the bloodstains out of her own leather pants. Buffy admits to Angel that she feels guilt over her mother's death, that she blames herself for not coming home sooner, or starting CPR sooner, and worries that she won't be able to take care of Dawn. Angel again reassures her that she's good enough, smart enough, and, most importantly, has people around to help her; she doesn't "have to do this alone." He says that he'll stay as long as she needs, and Buffy wonders if "forever works for [him]." Upon reflection, she decides that's a "bad idea." Because "[she's] seriously needy right now." Angel tells her to let him "worry about the neediness. [He] can handle it." Buffy leans in for a kiss, and I never would have thought that I would like Angel as much as I do right now. Thanks to Riley for showing me the error of my ways. They kiss more passionately but then pull away, both looking pained. "I told you," sighs Buffy. "You'd better go." Angel apologizes, but Buffy vigorously asserts, "No. I'm so grateful that you came, Angel. I didn't think I was going to be able to make it through the night." They cuddle for the few minutes remaining before sunrise.

Ben walks down the sidewalk near the hospital. He turns the corner to find Jinx, known for the purposes of this recap as Not-Dreg, standing there waiting to harass him about the Slayer. Ben is less than thrilled to see Glory's "Jawa rejects." Not-Dreg tells him that Glory encourages his relationship with the Slayer, in that it might lead to more information. I hate both these characters, so let's cut to the chase. Ben opens his mouth and lets clues fall out like the dope he is when he lectures Not-Dreg, "Let Glory understand this. I won't help her find the Key. I would never do that to an innocent" and then trails off, realizing he's revealed too much. I guess Ben defines those who are touched by madness as somehow guilty, but let's not get into that right now because he's busy stabbing Not-Dreg to prevent him from relaying the information to Glory.

morning. Willow and Tara wake Dawn before they go down to breakfast. Willow is ingratiating to Dawn. Dawn is surly in return. Willow gives Dawn an appraising look, and as she leaves, she does a bit of a finger wiggle so that a book on the history of magic slides halfway out of the bookcase. Uh-oh, Samantha! That might not be such a good idea. You know that Darren doesn't like you using your powers. He might have invited Larry home for dinner, and boy will he be mad if he comes home to a houseful of zombies. Whatever. Willow leaves, and Dawn immediately grabs the book and flips to the section on resurrection.

Der Zauber Kasten. Dawn dusts a row of books in an attempt to find the one she's looking for. In response to Anya's queries, Dawn mumbles that she "likes being useful," because it takes her mind off of things. Giles, seeing a chance to help Dawn feel better, bellows, "Then useful you shall be!" Anya says something. I'm going to ignore her. Dawn craftily asks, "Is there anything I should know? Off-limits stuff? Willow told me some of the books are dangerous." Giles points out the loft area where all the bad mojo stuff is, and tells her to point any customers needing assistance with those items in his direction. He offers to show Dawn how to use the cash register as soon as he returns from the storeroom. While Anya is assisting a customer and Giles is in the back, Dawn scurries up the loft and quickly locates Volume R of theEncyclopedia Necromancia? Demonica? Plot Deviceia? She stuffs it in her bag along with a potion and climbs back down. As she's about halfway down the ladder, Giles comes back onto the sales floor and doesn't in any way notice the large human-shaped lump in his peripheral vision. Giles! Now that they're paying you to be a Watcher again, do you think that maybe you could actually watch your surroundings and notice Dawn skulking around where she's not supposed to be?

Sometime after dark, Dawn kneels to Joyce's grave. She opens a small jar, scoops some dirt into it, and replaces the lid. Music of anvilicious foreboding plays. As she dusts off her hands, Spike steps into view, standing above her and grimly warning that if the spell calls for anything more than dirt, Dawn's "into zombie territory." Dawn attempts to protest, but Spike knows what she's up to with the "infamous" book she nabbed from Giles. Dawn begs him not to tell Buffy and quavers, "I have to get her back." Spike's expression softens a little and he assures her that he won't tell. In fact, he's going to help her. Why? Well, I've watched the episodes a number of times, and I still haven't quite figured that out. I guess one's eeeevil vampire nature naturally leads to some bad judgment calls, or poor impulse control, or something.

We see a record on a turntable and hear Cream's "Brave Ulysses," the song Joyce and Giles listened to in "Band Candy." Giles, in a wine-colored shirt, eases himself into a chair and sips his drink. His face wears a stunned expression.

Spike leads Dawn down a Sunnydale street, expositioning that he's taking her to an expert in resurrection spells. Dawn accuses him of helping her to "get in good" with Buffy, but Spike is vehement that Buffy should never hear of his involvement with the spell. Um, Spike? Buffy's bound to notice when her mother isn't DEAD anymore! How long do you think a fourteen-year-old could keep a secret under those circumstances? When Dawn wants to know why Spike is helping, he hangs his head and admits, "I just don't like to see Summers women take it so hard on the chin is all." Nice sentiment, but I'm not sure resurrecting corpses is the proper way to deal with that emotion. Spike threatens Dawn that she'll "end up in the ground" if she tells Buffy anything.

Glory flounces down a staircase in her apartment, trailed by two bumpy minions, So-Not Dreg and Nowhere-Near Dreg. Glory is ranting about Not-Dreg's failure to return. Yawp, yawp, yawp -- you know the drill. Two more bumpy minions burst in the door, supporting Not-Dreg between them. They rush him over to a delightfully tacky chair upholstered in crushed pink velvet and dump him. Glory wants to know if the Slayer was responsible, but Not-Dreg reveals that he was stabbed by Ben. This causes Glory to have a hissyfit and pull out handfuls of her hair. Shah, what a drama queen -- or perhaps "drama goddess" would be more appropriate. Luckily for Glory's raspy curly tresses, Not-Dreg interrupts to gasp out that Ben slipped up and told him the Key is a human. Glory is very excited and refers to Not-Dreg as a "robed stud," a phrase which is still turning up in my nightmares a week later. She burbles on, and when Not-Dreg finally croaks, she demands, "Get him fixed, would ya? I want to hear the whole story again, without all that annoying moaning." Are the bumpy minions fixable in the event of death? And what ever happened to the "we are legion" Knights of Borezantium? Did they lose their bus tickets? Stop for refreshments? Get sidetracked at Disneyland? Well, jot those down on my ever-growing list of "questions that will never be answered." In case you were curious, number one on the list is "Does anyone on this show kill vampires anymore?"

We're inside a dumpy house with most of the surfaces covered in stacks of books and paperwork. A black cat meows and runs away as Spike and Dawn open the front door and enter slowly. Dawn makes a disparaging remark about the place smelling like "grandpa," and Spike calls out to a figure we can see in another room. The figure, an older man wearing a bathrobe over his clothes, puts on his glasses and joins Spike and Dawn in the living room. He claims to know Spike as a guy who "hangs around down at the corner mart. Big into dominoes." Spike denies he's that guy, and Doc (for that is his name) chuckles affably and continues, "I mean, I'd swear you were that guy, I mean, your hair's a different color and you're a vampire but other than that..." He trails off, looking very confused; Dawn suggests leaving. Doc assures them that he still has "juice," and asks what they want. Spike explains about Joyce dying, and Doc offers his condolences. Spike says they're there to see "what's to be done about it," but Doc seems distressed by them wanting to raise Joyce. He tells them he'll give Dawn tonics to cure her grieving instead, and then asks if either of them are witches. Dawn and Spike just stand silently, and suddenly Doc yanks a strand of hair from Dawn's head. As she gasps in confusion, Doc takes the hair and holds it up to a lamp, claiming that he can tell her mother has strong DNA. Doc then begins puttering around the apartment, humming "Peter's Theme" from Prokofiev's "Peter and the Wolf." Did you know you can get a version of "Peter and the Wolf" narrated by David Bowie? Tempting. As Doc looks through a pile on the mantle, Dawn spots a lizard-like tail poking out of the back of his bathrobe. She turns to see if Spike has noticed, but he's busy lighting a smoke, and when she turns back to Doc the tail has been hidden again. Doc locates a large tome; giving Spike and Dawn a conspiratorial look, he shuffles over to a table, still humming. They follow, and Dawn says she has a spell but doesn't understand it. Doc tells her that she was missing a translation that explained about the Ghora demon. Apparently, the Ghora are local demons who live on the Hellmouth, and Dawn needs an egg from them to complete the spell. Dawn wants to know if she can purchase an egg, but Doc tartly explains that of course it's not that easy. He then informs her that she'll need an image of her mother, and gives her an incantation to say three times. He fixes her with his brown eyes and smiles, "It will take a while, but she will come to you." He continues that the spell can be reversed by destroying the image of Joyce. Then we get into the creepy territory, and the hair on the back of my neck begins to rise as he says that sometimes with these spells, "things get a little off." Oh man, I really don't want to see "off," zombie Joyce. Dawn seeks reassurance that the reanimated corpse will still be her mother, and Doc offers, "More or less." Dawn looks queasy at that, as do I. I can't believe she's going through with the spell after being told she'll only bring back her mother "more or less." I'd be worried about both the less and the more, y'know? Doc then tells them where to locate the Ghora demon, and Dawn tries to offer him money as they leave. He smiles gently and tells her to keep the money; he then removes his glasses and shakes her hand, asking her to keep in touch. The sentiment seems nice, if a little creepy, but then we hear a little growl and his eyes go totally black. Dawn jerks her hand back, but again Spike has not noticed anything amiss. They leave, and Doc looks thoughtful.

Spike and Dawn locate the entrance to the Ghora's lair where Doc said it would be. Spike plays the protector, telling Dawn he'll get the egg himself, but Dawn insists on accompanying him. She tromps into the sewer, demanding, "C'mon," and Spike snarks, "Well, what do you know? Bitty Buffy." The Ghora appears to be a large dragon-like animal that turns out to have three heads when Spike wakes it. What follows is a disorienting fight scene made up of extreme close-ups and quick cuts. This is the director's attempt to disguise shoddy special effects and the general ridiculousness of a one smallish man fighting a massive three-headed dragon. The director's not fooling me any, but he is making me a little oogy with all the quick cuts. As Spike fights the Ghora, Dawn grabs one of the eggs (the polka-dotted shell leading me to believe that the prop guy borrowed them from Dino over on the set of the The Flintstones Go Straight to Video). As they escape, she drops the egg and smushes its glowy blue contents all over the tunnel. Spike attempts to get her to leave, but then rushes back to attack the Ghora again so she can grab another egg. Let's wrap this up, shall we? Dawn gets the egg, the Ghora chomps into Spike's side, but they get away in the end. But of course, we didn't expect anything different.

At the Summers's home, Dawn kneels on the floor in front of a cloth. Six candles burn as she spreads something on the cloth and says the chant Doc gave her. She smears what looks like blood around a bowl, against which is propped a picture of Joyce. Sniff; I miss Joyce. But I'd never, ever raise her from the dead. I've read way too many EC comics to think resurrection is ever a good idea. We see a crane shot of Joyce's grave; a strong wind begins to blow leaves across it. Dawn continues her chant.

Tara and Willow are in Willow's dorm room, and Willow really, really needs to wash her hair. I can't believe I'm starting to long for the days of her spiky shag, but even that strangeness was better than the limp, flat do she's sporting now. Willow is writing in a journal and queries Tara about what she (Willow) had for breakfast that morning. Willow says she can remember that Tara had two eggs sunny-side up, because "they were wiggling at [her] like little boobs." Snerf. That sounds like something I would say. But you guys didn't really want to know that, did you? Moving on. Willow explains that thinking about the fast pace of life has led her to want to keep a journal to remember things she does. They intertwine fingers, but then Tara notices that History of Witchcraft, the book Willow pointed out to Dawn, is missing. Willow babbles guiltily about how the book could answer Dawn's questions and her having it won't lead to any harm, but Tara replies that the book refers to "specific resurrection spells and potions." At this point, smoke is practically coming up off of Willow's ass as she covers up for her mistake. Hey, join me in a chorus of that old MBTV favorite, "Remember When Willow Wasn't A Mendacious Twit." They decide to call Buffy, but Willow won't be jumping over any telephone wires.

Buffy enters her house and rushes to answer the phone. We cut upstairs to where Dawn is still repeating the incantation. Buffy runs into the room and demands, "What have you done?" Thunder crashes outside in classic horror-movie fashion as Dawn explains that Joyce is "coming home." She runs downstairs; Buffy grabs the photo of Joyce and follows. In the front hall, Buffy expresses her alarm to Dawn and says Tara told her that "these spells go bad all the time. People come back wrong." Oh. I so don't want to see Joyce come back wrong. This episode has really got me on the edge of my seat. Buffy tells her to reverse the spell, but Dawn insists she needs their mother. We see a shot of Joyce's legs and feet walking across grass. Her feet stumble a little. Dawn tells Buffy she doesn't have anyone, and that "it's obvious" Buffy doesn't want her around. She continues that Buffy doesn't seem to care about Joyce's death, because she hasn't cried and has just been going about the arrangements like chores. At this, Buffy slaps Dawn, but instantly looks surprised and regretful. She claps a hand over her mouth and then tries to explain, "I've been busy because I have to. I have to do these things 'cause when I stop, then she's really gone." Aw, Sarah Michelle is the best little weeper in Hollywood. She manages to be moving, realistically crumply and yet still pretty. Hats off to her. I sniffled through this scene the first time around. As she resists bursting into sobs, Buffy spits out that she has to take care of them, she has to make things better. She says she didn't want to push Dawn away, but she didn't want Dawn to see her falling apart. During this speech, Dawn looks less angry with Buffy and appears to understand. As Buffy sniffles, "I don't know what we're going to do," we see the silhouette of Joyce cross past the front window. As Buffy admits she's scared, there's a knock at the door. Buffy spins and breathes, "Mommy!" She races to open the front door. Dawn scoops up the picture of Joyce and tears it in half just in time so that as Buffy opens the door, we see that no one is there. Buffy scans up and down the street. Dawn crumples the halves of the photo. Buffy finally breaks down into sobs; Dawn rushes to her, and the girls fall into each other's arms, crying.