Family (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

"Family" is the sixth episode of season 5 of the television show Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Plot synopsis

Summary

Tara’s family makes a surprise visit to Sunnydale, and she does not seem eager to see them.

Expanded overview

Buffy tells Giles that Dawn is the key that Glory is hell-bent on finding. They decide to protect Dawn without telling others about it. Buffy moves back to her house with the help of her friends, whom Willow reminds about Tara's birthday party.

At the hospital, Ben enters the locker room. A moment later, Glory is there and captures a Lei-Ach demon, who tells her that Buffy is the Slayer. Glory sends it and its friends to kill her.

While researching Glory in the magic shop, Buffy and Xander admit that they do not really know Tara, though they both agree that she is definitely "very nice." They wonder what kind of a present to get for Tara. Meanwhile, in his crypt Spike fantasizes about fighting with Buffy while having sex with Harmony (assuring her that he was only thinking of her). Xander explains that he doesn't really know Tara; the only thing he knows that she likes is Willow, and "she already has one of those." Giles enters their conversation, asking how they could sit in a magic shop and not have a clue what to get a witch for her birthday, finally concluding that they are "profoundly stupid." A hick comes into the Magic Box and disparages magic. He reveals himself as Tara's big brother, who has come to town with Tara's father and a cousin for Tara's birthday. While Tara is clearly not thrilled at their presence, she agrees to have dinner with her family that evening.

Tara returns to her room to find her father there. He expresses disappointment that she has not quit magic and berates her for being out of reach for months. He tells her she is going home before her friends find out about her evil self. After he leaves, Willow returns and wants to repeat the demon location spell that Tara had secretly sabotaged before. Tara fakes fatigue, so Willow returns to the magic shop. Tara follows her and casts a spell to prevent her friends from seeing manifestations of evil.

Meanwhile, Riley is drinking heavily in Willy's old demon bar after another argument with Buffy. Sandy hits on him, but he recognizes her as a vampire. Harmony returns to the crypt and tells Spike that the Lei-Ach demons have been summoned to kill Buffy. Spike leaves, saying he wants to catch a decent seat.

Tara's cousin finds her on campus. When Tara refuses to go home, her cousin derides her for being selfish, leaving her father and brother to "do for themselves", and realizes that Tara has cast a spell on her friends. She tells Tara to tell her friends before she does.

Thanks to Tara's magic, the Lei-Ash enter the Magic Shop unseen. They search for the Slayer and attack everyone in their path. Giles hides Dawn under a desk. Only Buffy manages to put up a decent fight. Spike gets there and defends her, too. Since he was not present when the spell was cast, he was unaffected and can see all the demons.

Tara reaches the shop and quickly ends the spell. Now visible, the demons are quickly beaten. Tara tries to explain her mistake when her family arrives to claim her. They tell the Scoobies that the females in the family turn evil when they become adults. Willow, hurt that Tara had not told her about this situation, asks Tara if her love has been deceitful the whole time, but Tara emphatically denies it. When Tara's father insists on taking her away, Buffy leads the Scoobies in stepping up for Tara, with Dawn stepping up second, then Giles and the rest. Although Spike initially declares that he does not care what happens, he is the first to see through Tara's father's deceptive actions. He taps Tara on the shoulder and, when she turns to face him, he hits Tara in the nose. The punch hurts them both, proving that there is no demon in her. Spike correctly accuses Tara's relatives of making up the story in order to control the powerful women in the family. Tara, clearly relieved by the revelation that she is not part demon and empowered by the strength and support she has just experienced, stays with her new "family."

Riley arrives at the birthday party and kisses Buffy. Willow saves Tara from Anya by asking for her dance. They embrace on the dance floor and begin to levitate.

Writing and acting

Buffy continues her habit of keeping secrets from the others. Giles goes along with it.

Tara's family is the stereotypical southern family, right down to the accent and the demented brother.

It also becomes clear why Tara botched the attempted "detection spell" in season 4. She was afraid she was a demon, and that Willow would discover this when she lit up on the map.

Cast and crew

Production details

Music

Melanie Doane - "I Can't Keep My Eyes Off You". - Plays whilst Tara and Willow dance at the end of the episode.
Motor Ace - "American Shoes"
My Vitriol - "Cemented Shoes"
Yo La Tengo - "Tears Are In Your Eyes"

Quotes and trivia

"Be still my heart." — Riley continues a Buffy tradition. See Teacher's Pet and The Prom

"Only losers drink alcohol." — Dawn reminds us of the moral in "Beer Bad"

"Evil is Evil." — Tara's father.

There's a conceptual goof in this episode, most probably a Tara's mistake about the effect of her spell. Spike is completely invisible to Scoobies, even though, as every vampire, he's just half demon. If the spell worked as Tara's thinking, Buffy & Co. would see just his human side, but they'd see him anyway.

Dawn brings Tara a new broom as a present, an obvious witch joke.

Melanie Doane's "I Can't Take My Eyes Off You" plays at the end as Willow and Tara dance.

This episode reveals Tara's surname to be Maclay.

The way that Buffy kills one of Lai-Ach demons disturbingly resembles the way Derek Vinyard kills a black gang burglar in American History X.

Translations

Italian title: "La famiglia" ("The family")
German title: "Familienbande" ("Family ties")
French title: "Les liens du sang" ("Blood Ties")
Spanish title: "La familia" ("The family")

Continuity

Arc significance

"Family" answers questions raised about Tara in previous episodes and Tara is accepted as a true Scooby; by the end of the episode, she has mostly lost her stutter. Spike's crush for Buffy intensifies, as does Riley's despair about being kept at a distance. We find out that Riley has a dark secret. Glory now knows who Buffy is, another step towards finding the Key.

Sandy, the vampire Riley was talking to in Willy's Place, was the girl Vampire Willow bit in Season Three's "Doppelgängland".

Timing

Stories that take place around the same time in the Buffyverse:

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External links