Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Recap/S5/E12 Checkpoint

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


The Watchers Council comes to Sunnydale to tell Buffy what they know about Glory, on condition that she proves herself worthy. A Knight Templar order called The Knights of Byzantium also arrive to destroy The Key.

Watcher: The boy? No power there.
Buffy: "The boy" has clocked more field time than all of you combined. He's part of the unit.

  • Blatant Lies: A Watcher asks Willow and Tara if they're registered as witches. They answer "Uh... sure." He then asks what level they're registered as, and Tara blurts out "Five!" As he writes it down, we see Willow mouth "Five?!?" and Tara responds with the internationally recognized Shrug Of I Have Absolutely No Idea What I Just Said.
  • Brief Accent Imitation: Xander talking English instead of plain Buffy-Speak.

"Allo, Buffy; here's some stuff we know, pip pip."

Buffy: Mr. Giles will stay here as my official Watcher, reinstated at full salary...
Giles: (cough) Retroactive.
Buffy: ...to be paid retroactively from the month he was fired.

Giles: Buffy's come very far recently. She's acquired a remarkable focus.
(Cut to Buffy yawning in class)

Spike: Maybe your beauty's fading. The stress of slaying, aging you prematurely. Things not as high, not as firm.

Glory: Had a long day at work, sweetie?

Glory: I'll kill your mom, I'll kill your friends ... and I'll make you watch when I do.

Glory: Buffy, if I were here to fight, you could tell by the being dead already. So play nice, little girl.

Travers: Uh, Rupert? When we inventoried your shop, we found a bottle of single malt scotch behind the, uh, incense holders.
Giles: Well, it's, it's not, you know, during working hours...
Travers: I think I could use a glass.

  • Leaning on the Fourth Wall: After the mailman gets mind-sucked, he looks in the direction of the camera and says, "I know you're all always looking at me. I can tell."
  • Not Helping Your Case: The physical test involves a blindfolded Buffy protecting a training dummy from an axe-wielding Watcher. She ends up breaking the Watcher's ribs and axing the dummy herself.
  • Percussive Therapy: After being publically humiliated by her history lecturer, Buffy takes out her frustrations on a random vampire.

Buffy: 'Some of us are here to learn, professor!' 'Maybe you'd like to teach your own class!'
Vampire: (confused) Who are you talking to?

Nigel: Well, I need to know a little bit more about the Slayer. And about both of you. Your relationship, whatever you can tell me.
Tara: O-ou-our relationship?
Willow: We're friends.
Tara: Good friends.
Willow: Girlfriends, actually.
Tara: Yes, we're girlfriends.
Willow: We're in love. We're... lovers. Lesbian, gay-type lovers. [She puts her hand on Tara's leg.]
Nigel: [Deadpan] I meant your relationship with the Slayer.

  • Shame If Something Happened: Quentin Travis threatens to have Giles deported if Buffy doesn't co-operate with their review. Glory threatens to kill Buffy's loved ones if she doesn't hand over the Key.
  • Shaped Like Itself: Glory complains that Ben drives her insane; "Do you know what I mean?" Jinx thinks about it and suggests, "He drives you insane?"
  • Shut UP, Hannibal: Buffy delivers one back to Travis for all the Hannibal Lectures she's been getting recently.
  • Spy Speak: "Clocked field time" is Riley Speak.
  • Super Senses: Dawn enters the room behind Glory, then tries to sneak out when she realises who Glory is. She's almost out the door when Glory asks her to join them.
  • Suspect Is Hatless: Jinx describes the Slayer thus; "She's short, symmetrical, hair on top?"
  • Suspiciously Specific Denial: Anya is definitely not an ex-demon.

Quentin: Excuse me miss? Do you work here?
Anya: Yes I do. Ever since I moved here from South-Eastern Indiana where I was raised both by a mother and a father!
...
Anya: (in a later interview) Anya Christina Emanuella Jenkins, twenty years old. Born on the fourth of July, and don't think there weren't jokes about that my whole life, mister, 'cause there were. "Who's our little patriot?" they'd say, when I was younger, and therefore smaller and shorter than I am now.
Watcher: (taking notes) So, you spell it A-N-Y-A, yes?
Anya: (sheepishly) Yes.
Watcher: Fine, now we can get to the questions.

Nigel: This is beyond insolence--
(Buffy hurls a sword into the wall by his head)
Buffy: I'm fairly certain I said no interruptions.

Glory: Oh. Sweet lumpy minion. You're the only one that understands. Probably cause I haven't sucked your brain out yet.

Quentin: Well, that's the thing, you see. Glory isn't a demon.
Buffy: What is she?
Quentin: She's a god.
Buffy: Oh.

Ooh, I like her. She's sassy.

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