Dawn accidentally makes a wish that seals everyone at Buffy's birthday party into the house, unwilling and unable to leave. Unfortunately, they also have a demon trapped inside with them who can disappear at will.

Now, opinion round the office was divided on this episode. Most people seemed to quite like it. Personally, I thought it went nowhere fast and I didn't really enjoy it. See, once everyone is sealed in, you're stuck having to deal with the problem and there's no chance of a subplot. The reintroduction of Spike's demon chum Clem seems a little pointless as he serves no useful purpose, a date set up by Xander and Anya for Buffy is badly wounded but otherwise likewise serves no purpose, and as for Buffy's work colleague who only has a couple of lines… what's the point?

Okay, so it does put all the characters together where things are in danger of becoming tense. Anya's attitude towards Willow, demanding she use magic to help before eventually realizing that that wouldn't have solved the problem anyway, is good and very much in character. Her scaredness in the face of danger is also very natural and shows a new side to her. Likewise, the way Tara faces Anya down shows not only her feelings for Willow but also her faith and trust in her friend to get through her magic addiction problems.

But all this isn't enough to rescue the story. The demon should kill at least three people and frankly is a little rubbish in the way it keeps getting spotted and beaten. As I've said, the guest cast are irrelevant cannon fodder who could easily be absent, and while Spike has a few great one-liners, he's underused too. On top of all this, we have Dawn's shoplifting finally coming out into the open. Now, last season Dawn came across as a pretty good and together kid. Now suddenly she's unwanted, unloved, ignored by her sister and a moany, screamy teen. I seem to recall us viewers being promised this wouldn't happen, and Michelle Trachtenberg is better than this. I feel it's a betrayal of the Dawn character and I'd rather they stepped back from it now.

Yes, there's the occasional good bit of dialogue. Yes, some of the scenes towards the end are quite moving. But overall this is an episode that takes a long time to essentially get nowhere, and as such I was very bored by about halfway through.

**

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