No Place Like Home (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

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"No Place Like Home" is episode 5 of season 5 of the television show Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Plot[]

Two months prior to the events of the episode, three monks, speaking Czech, rushed to perform a ritual while a powerful force of some sort threatened their lives. In the present, Buffy stakes a vampire outside an abandoned building, and then gets caught by the night watchman, who thinks she is a teen looking for a rave. As she turns to leave, he tells her not to forget her glow-ball, an effulgent orb which Buffy does not recognize but takes to investigate.

Buffy makes breakfast for her mom, who is still suffering from unexplained headaches. Dawn takes credit for the breakfast, telling Joyce that Buffy only helped. Joyce and Dawn bond (Joyce calling Dawn "my little pumpkin belly"), which leaves Buffy feeling like an outsider. Giles' big opening at The Magic Box is less than successful at first, but eventually, the magic shop gets to be so popular that he cannot handle it all on his own. Buffy presents the orb to Giles, but Giles cannot explain it right away, though he recognizes it as paranormal in origin.

While picking up a prescription for her mother at the hospital, Buffy runs into Ben (the intern who helped with Joyce's care while in the hospital after her collapse), restraining an agitated patient to a gurney. She recognizes the patient as the night watchman from the previous night. He is unstable, but he manages to warn Buffy that she will be attacked through her family.

A monk works on a blueprint in an empty building just as the Beast smashes through a large steel door, revealing itself to be a supernatural blond female. The Beast ties him up and tortures him for information about "the Key", but he will not tell her anything. She starts to speak crazily until she puts her fingers to the head of a security guard and seems to suck the life force from him.

Buffy assumes that the danger she was warned about is what is causing her mother's headaches. Anya recommends to Buffy that she perform a spell to reveal any spells that may be affecting her family. Buffy does not want Riley to feel unwanted, so she asks him to help her with the spell. He realizes what she is doing, so they talk and agree to take care of each other.

Buffy performs the ritual in her bedroom then walks around her house to look for anything unusual. Nothing appears weird about her mother, but Buffy sees Dawn's image flashing in and out of pictures around the house. When she enters Dawn's room, Buffy sees Dawn's possessions, bed, desk, and decorations also fading in and out, as well as Dawn herself. Buffy confronts Dawn about it, and she concludes that Dawn is not her sister. Buffy physically assaults and threatens Dawn, telling her to stay away from their mother, but Buffy's supposed little sister appears truly confused and does not understand Buffy's sudden change in attitude.

Giles calls to tell Buffy about the orb, a Dagon Sphere, and its purpose of protection from an unnamed evil. Buffy returns to the abandoned building in hopes of finding more information. Buffy encounters Spike lurking outside her home and demands to know what he was doing there. Spike says he was out for a walk, though Buffy nonetheless decides to let him off with a warning, to which Spike gets frustrated and launches a bizarre rant against her before departing, leaving Buffy puzzled. Shaking her head, she proceeds to return to the warehouse as Dawn watches the whole exchange from the window. Buffy comes up against the Beast, who quickly proves to be too strong for Buffy to handle. After taking quite a beating, Buffy is able to escape with the monk. The Beast throws a tantrum, causing the room to collapse on her, which delays her pursuit. Back at The Magic Box, Giles offers Anya a job when he realizes that the job is too much for just one person and sees that she enjoys handling the money.

In his last moments of life, the monk warns Buffy that she must protect the Key. He tells her that the key is a collection of energy put into a human form, Dawn's form. They sent her to the Slayer to be protected from those looking for it. Before he dies, he tells her that her memories of Dawn were constructed, and that Dawn is now an innocent human who not only needs the protection of the Slayer, but also the love of a sister. When Buffy returns home, she apologizes to Dawn, and the two girls are able to relate on at least one subject - their concern for their mother.

References[]

External links[]

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• "No Place Like Home" at IMDb