Overall Rating: 8.7 Matt: 8.7 Eric: 8.7 Writer: Steven S. DeKnight Director: James A. Contner Cast : Sarah Michelle Gellar as Buffy Summers, Nicholas Brendon as Xander Harris, Alyson Hannigan as Willow Rosenberg, Emma Caulfield as Anya, Michelle Trachtenberg as Dawn Summers, James Marsters as Spike, Anthony Stewart Head as Rupert Giles. Main guest stars : Amber Benson as Tara, Clare Kramer as Glory, Charlie Weber as Ben, Todd Duffrey as Murk, Justin Gorence as Orlando, Wade Andrew Williams as General Gregor. Original broadcast date : May 8, 2001 My one-line description: How much can a Slayer take before she goes off the deep end? Tara’s revelation that Dawn is the Key has left the gang is very dire straits.. Buffy and Dawn run for their lives, shoving students out of their way as they flee the dorm. A wall explodes behind them, and Glory becomes a red blur as she moves faster than humanly possible. Buffy and Dawn run to a park, where they run into… Glory. The Slayer can’t beat the hellgod… but that big eighteen-wheeler which slams into Glory sure can slow her down. As the god goes flying, Buffy and Dawn run away. Glory lands onto a car, where she morphs back into Ben. At Xander’s place, Dawn enthusiastically recounts how her sister beat Glory, but Buffy modestly admits that a truck hit her. A guilt-ridden Willow makes sure the gang knows Tara didn’t mean to put Dawn in danger; the gang tries to come up with a plan to defeat the hellgod. Buffy is the one who provides the best plan – run before Glory starts knocking. The gang is shocked, but Buffy warns that if they stay, they die. At Glory’s place, Ben slips back into his own clothes as a minion laments the damage to the hellgod’s red dress. The minion asks if Ben remembers seeing anything right after he reverted back to himself – say, a Key in human form? Ben tells him that even if he had, he’d never tell. He goes on to deplore the fact that Glory has stolen his life, and that once she uses the Key, he goes into oblivion. The minion tells him to accept his fate, but Ben promises that no matter how he came to this existence of his, he intends on keeping it. The Scoobies – minus Buffy and Dawn – are nervously waiting on a curb with some luggage. A beat-up Winnebago pulls up and screeches to a halt – Spike, wearing dark goggles, is at the wheel. As Dawn helps the gang into the thing, Giles mutters unhappily, but Buffy insists they need Spike. Xander tries to object, but Buffy angrily silences him – Spike is staying, period. Grinning at Giles and Xander, Spike puts the Winnebago into gear, and the gang drives off… At the hospital, two Knights of Byzantium check Orlando, the Knight drained by Glory, out of the mental ward. They lead him through a forest, where they meet up with General Gregor, the Order’s superior officer. Gregor embraces Orlando, welcoming him home and promising his sacrifice will not have been in vain. He turns to leave, but Orlando suddenly mutters about the "shiny little girl", the "shiny little Key". Gregor whirls around and realizes that the Key is human… He gives orders for his troop – some 30 Knights – to prepare to advance. In the Winnebago, where Giles has taken over the wheel – much to Spike’s chagrin – the gang tries to pass the time. Xander goes to sit next to Giles, who admits Buffy does have a point about Spike – he’s strong enough to defend Dawn if push comes to shove. In the back, Dawn sits next to Willow, who is researching spells to help them fight off Glory. Anya breaks out snacks, and suddenly Tara jumps up and opens the blinds, scorching Spike. Willow quickly closes the blinds and scolds Tara, who starts crying like a little girl. Willow and Dawn – and even Spike – try to comfort her. "Dark… all dark…" Tara babbles. "Dark… all dark… whisper the mental patients at the hospital. Elsewhere, two minions cast some stones and conclude that the signs are in alignment… In the Winnebago, Dawn thanks her sister for everything, but Buffy isn’t sure she’s doing a good job. Actually, she’s on the verge of collapse; she comments that everything just keeps coming – Riley, Glory, Mom… Dawn replies that at least things can’t get any crazier… or can they? An arrow slams into the rear of the Winnebago. The Knights of Byzantium, on horseback, are in chase. Giles tries to stay calm as arrows continue slamming into the vehicle. He calls for weapons, and Spike points out that he’s driving one. Buffy tells Giles to aim for the horses, but despite his efforts, the Knights avoid the Winnebago. A Knight manages to grab on to the vehicle and climb onto the roof. He plunges a blade into the vehicle, and Spike grabs it, effectively holding the Knight into place until Buffy can climb onto the roof. Spike screams in pain as the Knight finally pulls out his sword, but the guy can’t celebrate long – Buffy knocks him off the vehicle. As Dawn tends to Spike’s heavily bleeding hands, a gloved hand smashes through a window, followed by a Knight’s head – Anya clobbers him with a frying pan, making him lose his grip. On the roof, Buffy battles two more Knights, and successfully dispatches them. There seem to be no more attackers… until Giles turns back to the road and spots a Knight galloping straight at them. The Knight hurls a spear at the Winnebago, and the weapon crashes through the windshield and impales Giles… The Winnie swerves off the road and keels over on its side, throwing Buffy off the roof onto the ground, hard. The vehicle comes to a stop. The Gang abandons the wrecked vehicle and moves towards an abandoned gas station. Buffy and Xander carry Giles inside the station and lay him down on the counter; Willow moves to his side to inspect the wound. Buffy decides the gang will stay here a bit, and then move on. Willow calls to her, with news that she’s slowed Giles’ bleeding, but… THUNK! Flaming arrows start slamming into the gas station’s walls. Outside, the Knights are attacking. As Xander tears the arrows off the walls, Buffy and Spike block the front door with a soda machine. As Willow flips through a book, looking for a spell, the Knights invade the station – one of them whacks Buffy with a club, and Spike hits another but howls in pain as his chip flares. General Gregor bursts in and spots Dawn; realizing it’s the Key, he raises his sword… a flying mace, thrown by Buffy, hits his sword hand. Appearing behind him, she knocks him out cold. Hands clad in chained mail continue punching through the rotten walls, and the situation seems hopeless. Suddenly, Willow’s eyes crackle with energy as she completes a spell – a shock wave bursts from around her and sends the Knights flying in all directions. Outside, a Knight picks himself up and charges the building, but he comes up against a huge force field… He calls for two clerics, and they come forward to inspect the barrier, analysing whether it can be broken. Inside, Willow reports the field will hold perhaps half a day – or until the clerics punch through. Buffy decides to interrogate General Gregor. Tied to a pneumatic car lift, the Knight eyes Dawn and concludes Buffy is protecting the Key of the Beast. Buffy tries to explain that Dawn only remembers growing up with a sister and a mother that love her, and although the General’s eyes show compassion, he refuses to order his men to stand down. Suddenly, Tara screams. She breaks away from Willow, yelling "Time! Time! Time!" She heads for the door, claws at it and sobs. Willow and Buffy look at each other, not knowing what to do. At the hospital, the mental patients all mutter the same thing. "Time… time…" As the nurse watches in terror, they snap off their restraints and blankly walk out. One of them knocks the nurse unconscious. Outside the gas station, Orlando also mutters about "time". Another Knight, Dante, promises the Beast may have his mind, but she will not have his heart. Then he stabs Orlando through the heart, and the Knight slips to the ground, dead. Orlando calls for the clerics to take the force field down now. Inside, Buffy tries to comfort Giles. Then she steps outside and meets with Dante, asking him to let them bring a doctor to take care of Giles. He agrees. Willow casts a spell on the dead payphone, and Buffy makes a phone call… A bit later, a car arrives, and Ben steps out. He goes inside with his medical bag, looking quite uncomfortable… especially when he looks at Dawn. He redresses Giles’ wound, and comments that they need to get him out of there. Buffy makes him understand they can’t, and Ben promises to stay as long as he’s needed. Later still, Xander and Spike make small talk, for the first time (!). Spike proposes they make a run for it – that way some of them might make it. Buffy enters, and dryly tells them that everyone is getting out of this alive. She orders Spike and Xander to check the supplies, and as they exit, General Gregor laughs, calling Buffy a "poor, frightened girl". She doesn’t know what she’s gotten into. Gregor tells her that along with Glory were two other hellgods who ruled a dimension of torment – until her power grew bigger, and they grew to fear her. They decided to strike first, sparking a battle that lasted a thousand years. At the end, they had barely defeated the Beast, which they banished to this lower plane of existence, condemned to live and die within a mortal body – that of a newborn male. Buffy figures out that you kill the man, and the hellgod dies… Gregor adds that the Beast was too powerful to be completely contained, and she’s found a way to escape her mortal prison for brief periods of time. "What about me?" Dawn asks. She wants to know what the Key is. The General explains that the Key is almost as old as the Beast herself, and generations of Knights have sought to destroy it – but the monks got to it first. He explains that the Key opens a portal between dimensions, a portal which the Beast will use to return to her dimension and seize control of it. But here’s the catch – the Key will open all the gates, making the walls separating realities crumble. Realities will bleed into one another, and chaos will reign forever across the universe. Dawn is appalled at all this. She goes to stare absently out at the Knights in the desert. Buffy comes up to her, and tries to convince her sister that although the Key – destroyer of the universe – is part of what she is, it is not her. Watching Willow try to feed Tara, General Gregor calls out to Ben and asks him if he’s willing to die for these people. He tries to convince Ben to stop this by destroying the Key – by killing Dawn. Ben ponders this. Dawn stands next to Giles when Ben comes up to her. He checks Giles’ pulse, and then discreetly takes a hypo out of his medical bag, while chatting with the teenager. He lifts the hypo as he faces Dawn… and injects Giles with what seems to be a painkiller. Dawn asks if it’ll help, but Ben doesn’t reply – he can feel Glory coming. He pleads with them to let him out, and Buffy and Spike rush in, asking what’s going on. Ben screams in agony – and morphs into Glory. Glory smiles as everyone stares at her in shock. She recognizes Gregor, and hurls a hubcap into his chest, killing him instantly. The gang attacks, but they have no hope – Glory easily brushes it off, grabs Dawn and leaves, piercing through the force field. Shouting Dawn’s name, Buffy goes after her, but the hole in the field closes before she can go through. She runs back inside and demands that Willow bring the field down. The redhead is working on it – but she’s not fast enough. When the field dissipates, Buffy rushes through and finds the ground littered with the bodies of the Knights. No sign of Dawn or Glory. As Spike and Xander try to boost Ben’s car to pursue, Buffy falls to the ground, her eyes wide with horror and pain. Willow tries to get her to action again, but Buffy has gone completely catatonic. Losing Dawn was too much for her. Summary by OttsFiveByFive.