Blood Ties

Blood Ties
Written by Steven S. DeKnight
Directed by Michael Gershman

Original Airdate: February 6, 2001

Plot: Dawn learns that of her true nature as the Key and lashes out against Buffy and the rest of the Scooby Gang for hiding the information from her. She then runs away from home, causing a panic in the Scooby Gang as they try to find her.

Review

Warning: I am not going to take any great steps to hide information about the true identity of what is to come. There are major SPOILERS just ahead for the latest episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, "Blood Ties."

In short: A nice start to the February sweeps.

As I was watching "Blood Ties," the first thing that came to my mind was this phrase--so close, yet so far. This came to mind because while we got some very verification of just who Dawn is and what her role as the Key might be, we still had the biggest question go unanswered. Namely, the Key must unlock something--so what does it unlock? I was literally sitting there on the edge of my chair, trying to will Glory to tell us this information. But, alas, there have to be some mysteries left as the season progresses. And, for now, this will have to be one of them.

So close...so very, very close.

That one moment pretty much summed up the entire episode for me. It was an intense, edge-of-your-seat type of episode. Probably a great deal of this was brought about early by the fact that I'd seen the promos and knew going-in that Dawn would find out that she was the Key in the course of the episode. So, there was that anticipation building up. (Personally, I think whoever does the promos as the WB does a pretty lousy job because a lot of times the promos show things that happen in the last five minutes of a story, thus ruining some of the surprise. But that's just me).

But, there was also some anticipation built up since this episode was the first new episode since "Checkpoint."

"Blood Ties" continued the precedence set by "Checkpoint" of answering some questions, while bringing up others.

A couple of things that episode brought up:

--It gave some hints as to the nature of the relationship between Ben and Glory. It's more than we originally thought as there is apparently some kind of psychic link between them. Based on the dialogue we got from Ben with both the minion and Dawn, I have a feeling the two of them are brother and sister. I'll even go so far as to venture a guess that Ben is the older brother and Dawn the younger sister. It would seem to be a theme echoed in the Buffy/Dawn relationship. Namely, Buffy is the one charged with great responsibility--as Ben seems to be--and with keeping the younger sister in-line. Indeed, we've heard Ben make several references to "cleaning up Glory's messes" throughout the season.

--We found out that Glory can't see the Key in it's disguised form. We'd had hints of this up until now and it was one of those things you could assume based on her confrontation with Dawn in the "Checkpoint." But we now have confirmation of this.

--The keys isn't necessarily good or evil...or is it?

--There are obviously forces at work that wish to destroy the Key rather than see it fall into Glory's hands. The Knights are an interesting wrinkle to the whole plotline. Again, this brings up the question of just what exactly the Key opens and why the Knights feel it is their duty to destroy it. I hope that Joss answers some of the question as to what the Key unlocks before the end of sweeps or else it's going to be a long wait for the final run of episodes.

--Buffy's birthdays always start out with the best of intention but quickly disintegrate. Three years ago, it was the Judge and the fall of Angel, two years ago, it was the Council's test as Slayer, and last year, she had to stop the world from falling apart, yet again. Man, if I were Buffy I'd quickly want to forget I had a birthday.

--And, of course, we had Dawn discover her true nature.

Dawn's journey of discovery was really the main plot that kept the episode moving and for the most part it worked. Dawn's choice of gift for Buffy was nicely done, as was the reaction to it. I also liked the way Dawn tried to cover up an obvious moment of showing love for her older sister by saying, "Oh, I was too cheap to buy a real present." The pride that we saw Dawn display as she gave the present to Buffy and the explanation behind it, really gave away how Dawn really felt.

And it made her discovery as to her true nature a bit more powerful.

And it was certainly interesting that the one person who helped her find that knowledge was, (at least to the Scooby Gang's mind) the one person no one would have wanted Dawn to find this out from--Spike. All year long, James Marsters has consistently delivered some great performances and he continue to do so here. His entirely non-chalant attitude at helping Dawn break into the Magic Box as well as his attitude upon the revelation of who Dawn was were great. I also liked the fact that Spike felt completely justified for everything he did. In this mind, he had the best of intentions--he wanted to protect Dawn from the big nasty monsters that wander the streets of Sunnydale and if Buffy hadn't wanted Dawn to find out from someone else who she was, then Buffy should have told her. Masters walked the fine line between confidence and arrogance with Spike throughout the episode. And his later help to look for Dawn was nicely done. (Though I do wonder if at the hospital, Spike snuck off to the bloodbank for a quick drink).

Also, the dynamic that's built up between Spike and Dawn is interesting. I hope that this will continue to be shown on screen as the two had a good give-and-take and gave us some of the more amusing moments of the episode.

And while Masters and the rest of the gang was universally good, there was one great performance in the story that stood out above the rest. Michelle Trachtenberg's performance as Dawn was marvelously done. Trachtenberg got a script that called for her to run the full gamut--from disgruntled teenager to hysterical sobbing to shocked disbelief. And at ever turn, she made it work. She contributed to probably one of the most horrifying moments of the episode--if not the season--Dawn's cutting herself. That scene was intense and Trachtenberg did a great job with it.

It also brought up an interesting question--and a morbid one. Can Dawn kill herself? Obviously the powers that be meant for Buffy to protect her. But can Buffy protect Dawn from trying to do harm to herself? It's an interesting question.

Dawn's violent outbursts and moodiness were extremely well conveyed throughout the episode. And Michelle just looked pitiful at times--from her red eyes to her swollen nose.

There were quite a few minor points that this storyline got right that I liked...

--It was interesting to see Dawn go to the playground. This scene echoed the opening of "Lie to Me" with Druscilla stalking the children playing there and Angel showing up to stop her.

--As for the playground flashback, I'm not sure I buy the ages, unless it happened right after Buffy and Dawn moved to Sunnydale.

--The dynamic between Ben and Dawn was pretty good. I got the feeling of him acting as a big-brother to her. Possibly it was because he is one and his real little sister, well, we've seen how she acts.

--Dawn's reason for not liking marshmallows was great. The writers really seem to have nailed the whole older sibling/younger sibling dynamic on the show.

--In "Checkpoint" Buffy took Dawn and Joyce to Spike's as a place to hide from Glory and because she felt Spike was the best option--outside of herself--to protect them. We never saw them go home and it's obvious that the threat of Glory is still in full effect. So why weren't they still at Spike's? Or why wasn't Spike volunteering to stay at Buffy's to protect them? (This would actually make a great deal of sense based on the growing crush Spike has on Buffy. Any excuse to be near to her would probably work for him).

Well, that's about it for now. Except a few small things.

--Did anyone get the feeling at first when Buffy said she hadn't received any acknowledgement of her birthday from a male figure that it was going to be her father, not Riley?

--Emma Caulfield as Anya continues to impress me. I liked her limited, though interesting role.

How many minions does Glory have?!?

--Xander's whole reaction to the fact that a superbeing like Dawn would be attracted to him was hysterical.

--As was Giles' reaction to Xander.

So, that's it for this week. I've got to congratulate first time writer Stephen S. DeKnight on a nicely done first offering. Based on the work here, I am definitely interested to see his next story.

My rating: 8.5 (out of 10.0)

Next up: It's Valentine's Day...and crushes and former loves are coming to light.