Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Recap/S5/E19 Tough Love

Glory discovers the identity of the Key.

"Xander: Whatever you choose, you've got my support. Just think of me as ... (nervous laugh) as your ... (frowns; Buffy looks curiously at him) You know, I'm searching for supportive things, and I'm comin' up all bras..."
 * Action Dress Rip: Glory tears off her dress after it gets sliced by a shattering mirror.
 * All Men Are Perverts

"Buffy: Me, the grown-up. The authority figure. The strong guiding hand and the stompy foot that is me."
 * Bait and Switch:
 * Beware the Nice Ones: Giles and Willow both show their sinister sides.
 * Bath Kick: Glory as Loofah Girl.
 * Black Eyes of Evil / Power Floats / Shock and Awe / Mind Over Matter: Darth Rosenberg makes her debut.
 * Buffy-Speak

"Willow: (very upset) Over? How can it be over? I just found her! Giles: The quarrel is over. Willow: (quieter) Oh. Yeah."
 * Call Back: Glory's house starts to shake and she asks, "Did anyone order an apocalypse?" Earthquakes heralded The End of the World as We Know It in "Prophecy Girl" and "Doomed".
 * Cliff Hanger
 * Comically Missing the Point: Sadface!Willow is upset over her first domestic quarrel. Giles seeks to comfort her by saying it's over now.

"Glory: Know what they used to do to witches? (brings up her other hand with a dagger) Crucify 'em. Buffy: (grabbing Glory's wrist) They used to bow down to gods. (punches her) Things change."
 * Conveniently-Timed Attack From Behind: Glory shoves Willow against the wall.

"Buffy: What about all those times I asked you how school was, and you said fine? Dawn: Well, it was. You didn’t ask me if I was in it when it was fine."
 * Corner of Woe: After their fight Willow sits alone on a pile of pillows in a corner of the Magic Shop. Tara sits alone on a bench at the Culture Fair.
 * Cry for the Devil: The look on Glory's face when she describes what it's like to be insane -- she's clearly talking from experience.
 * Dissonant Serenity: Giles interrogating Slook.
 * Don't Split Us Up
 * Door Judo: Giles suddenly yanks open the door to the Magic Shop, then slams it into the face of Glory's minion Slook as he falls inside.
 * Everything's Better with Chocolates, Mimosa and Bubble Baths: Glory
 * False Reassurance: Buffy finds Dawn has been playing hooky.

"Spike: Hey, chin up, Platelet. Don’t get scared. Maybe Glory doesn’t want to kill you. Maybe it’s something--
 * Fate Worse Than Death

Dawn: Worse?"

"Glory: What's this, bag of tricks? Willow: Bag of knives. (a dozen daggers lift out of the bag and fly at Glory)"
 * Finger-Lickin' Evil: Glory licks the blood off Tara's fingers.
 * Flechette Storm / Mind Over Matter: Willow breaks a mirror with telekinesis and sends the shards flying at Glory. When that doesn't work, she breaks out the little black bag.
 * Flechette Storm / Mind Over Matter: Willow breaks a mirror with telekinesis and sends the shards flying at Glory. When that doesn't work, she breaks out the little black bag.

"Oh, this is nice. Just hanging out, just us girls. You like that sort of thing, don't you?"
 * Foe Yay: Glory (naturally) to Tara

"Tara: Oh, but you're way beyond me there! In just a few-- I mean ... it frightens me how powerful you're getting. Willow: (frowns) That's a weird word. Tara: (nervous smile) "Getting"? Willow: It frightens you? I frighten you? Willow: Well, I took Psych 101. I mean, I took it from an evil government scientist who was skewered by her Frankenstein-like creation before the final, but I know what a Freudian slip is."
 * Freudian Slip

"Tara: I trust you. I just ... (looks down) I don't know where I'm gonna fit in ... in your life when... Willow: When ... I change back? Yeah, this is a college thing, just a, a little experimentation before I get over the thrill and head back to boys' town. (pause) You think that?
 * Gayngst

Tara: Should I?

Willow: I'm really sorry that I didn't establish my lesbo street cred before I got into this relationship. You're the only woman I've ever fallen in love with, so ... how on Earth could you ever take me seriously?"

"Willow: I have to look after her [Tara]. She's my girl. Buffy: (stroking Dawn's hair) I know what you mean."
 * Gory Discretion Shot: Giles does something in the instant the girls turn away that reduces Slook to quivering terror. All we hear is a Sickening Crunch.
 * Incest Subtext: Especially given that a doctor earlier assumed Tara was Willow's sister.

"Willow: So we made a triangle with our bodies, and that's when I called Xander "obtuse", and he got really grumpy and then Dawn said we were "acute" triangle, and, well, hilarity ensued."
 * Incredibly Lame Pun: The Scoobies explaining triangles to Dawn. Buffy is not in the mood to see the joke.

"Giles: Appalling. Almost as if they no longer think money can buy happiness."
 * Intertwined Fingers: Brutally subverted -- Tara has had a fight with Willow and is sitting alone on her bench when a women entwines fingers with hers. Tara turns with a big smile...only to find herself facing Glory, who proceeds to torture her for information by crushing Tara's fingers until they bleed.
 * Is That the Best You Can Do?: Glory to Willow.
 * It's All My Fault: Dawn over how Tara and Spike have been injured protecting her.
 * Money Fetish: Anya complains about customers 'undressing the merchandise with their eyeballs' without paying for it.

"Tara: Do ... I act like ... the Big Knowledge Woman?
 * "No" Means "Yes": Lampshaded

Willow: (weakly) No.

Tara: Is that no spelled Y-E-S?

Willow: S-O-R-T of."

"Ben: There's an explanation for this. Which I can't exactly give you. I... Can I just tell you it's not my fault? Doctor: Sure. You can also tell me that the dog ate your homework, or maybe eating Twinkies made you do it, or ... maybe yeah, that there's really a wicked demonic creature living inside you that takes control of your body and forces you to do its bidding. Take responsibility for your actions, Ben!"
 * Oblivious Mockery: Ben is fired for not turning up for work for two weeks, a fact that Ben wasn't even aware of until then.

"Glory: I'm hungry."
 * OOC Is Serious Business: Buffy blows up at Willow when she gets giggly with Dawn instead of studying, then stands over her little sister watching her do the homework. Eventually Buffy reveals that the principal has warned that Dawn will be taken away from her if Buffy doesn't show she's a suitable guardian.
 * Promotion to Parent: Buffy has to take over this role for Dawn, despite her desperate attempt to foist the task off onto Giles.
 * Pet the Dawnster: Spike reaches out to stroke Dawn's hair, but quickly pulls his hand away when she turns to face him.
 * Pre-Ass-Kicking One-Liner: I...OWE YOU PAIN!
 * Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Willow after Tara is Mind Raped.
 * Saying Too Much: An insane Tara recognizes Dawn as the Key. Right in front of Glory.
 * Some Kind of Force Field: "Thicken!" Willow uses a spell to slow down Glory.
 * Spiteful Spit: After all Willow's efforts to kill Glory fail, she resorts to spitting in the face of a Physical God.
 * Survival Mantra: Ben feels himself start to change and begins repeating "I'm Ben! I'm Ben! I'm Ben!" over and over until he morphs.

"Willow: It's a whole night. I don't think I can sleep without her. Anya: You can sleep with me! (everyone looks at her) Well, now that came out a lot more lesbian than it sounded in my head."
 * Tempting Fate: Buffy says she'll go back to college next year when she's more herself again.
 * That Came Out Wrong: Tara is being held at the psych ward overnight for observation.

"Think about it. You think your hand hurts? Imagine what you'd feel with my fingers wiggling in your brain. (Tara looks very scared) It doesn't kill you. What it does ... is make you feel like you're in a noisy little dark room ... (Glory frowns and fidgets uncomfortably) naked and ashamed ... and there are things in the dark that need to hurt you because you're bad ... little pinching things that go in your ears ... (Tara begins to cry) and crawl on the inside of your skull. And you know ... that if the noise and the crawling would stop ... that you could remember how to get out. But you never, ever will."
 * Played for drama earlier on with Tara's comments about Willow frightening her.
 * There Was a Door: Glory enters Tara's dorm by blasting away the entire wall.
 * Tome of Eldritch Lore: Darkest Magick. It even has its own lock.
 * To the Pain / Black Bug Room: Glory describes to Tara what being Mind Raped will be like.

"Glory: You know what they used to do to witches, lover? Crucify'em. Buffy: They used to bow down to gods. Things change."
 * Vehicle Vanish: Willow runs through the crowd towards Tara & Glory while trying to remember a protection spell. A Chinese dragon passes between and Glory vanishes leaving an insane Tara on the bench.
 * Violently Protective Girlfriend: Willow gets Wicca on Glory's ass.
 * Walk in Chime In: Buffy's Big Damn Heroes moment as Glory is about to kill Willow.

"Glory: This isn't over, you hear me? IT ISN'T OVER!"
 * We Will Meet Again: After Willow slows Glory down long enough for her and Buffy to escape.