Older and Far Away

"Older and Far Away"
Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode
Episode no.	Season 6 Episode 14
Directed by	Michael Gershman
Written by	Drew Z. Greenberg
Production code	6ABB14
Original air date	February 12, 2002
Guest stars
Amber Benson as Tara Maclay Kali Rocha as Halfrek Ryan Browning as Richard James C. Leary as Clem Laura Roth as Sophie Elizabeth Cazenave as Teacher
Episode chronology
← Previous "Dead Things" Next → "As You Were"
List of Buffy the Vampire Slayer episodes

"Older and Far Away" is the 14th episode of season 6 of the television show Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Plot synopsis

Buffy apologizes to Dawn for having to leave and hunt down a dangerous demon, promising that they'll soon spend time together. In the cemetery, Buffy fights the demon and stabs it with its own sword; it appears to be sucked into the blade and she takes it with her. At the magic shop, the gang talk about Buffy's upcoming birthday party. Dawn goes shopping for a birthday gift at the mall, and returns with a brand new leather jacket hidden underneath her own coat. The next day at school, Dawn is called to see a guidance counselor, who tries to get her to reveal her problems. Dawn says she wishes that people would stop leaving her.

While Anya finishes preparing food for the birthday party, Buffy lets Tara in and the two talk secretly. Buffy explains that Spike wasn't invited because he wouldn't behave around her friends, however, having heard about the party from Willow, Spike shows up with beer and Clem, the loose skinned demon with whom he plays kitten poker. Before Buffy can address Spike's presence, Xander introduces Richard, a friend from work, who he and Anya invited to the party for Buffy.

Buffy opens her birthday presents, which include a portable back massager from Willow and the shoplifted leather jacket from Dawn. Buffy spots the tell-tale security tag still attached, but as Dawn nervously tries to explain, Xander and Anya's gift - a custom weapons chest - is wheeled into the room and distracts Buffy. Sophie, a young friend of Buffy's from work, arrives at the party, further taking Buffy's attention from her disgruntled sister who angrily closes the door. As the door closes, the guidance counselor steps out of the shadows and reveals herself as the vengeance demon Halfrek saying, "Wish granted."

The party continues into the following morning, and the partygoers gradually realize realize they're physically unable to leave the Summers house. The gang discuss the dilemma, anxious about missing classes and work. Dawn snaps at them all, hurt and angry that they all want to leave. Suspicious, the Scooby Gang asks Dawn if she has anything to do with the situation, which she angrily denies. Magic is suggested to fix the problem, but Tara, who doesn't have any supplies with her, is the only one who can do it. Willow reveals that she still has a few items that she kept following the cleansing; a displeased Tara requests the materials but makes it clear that Willow must keep her distance from the spellcasting.

Tara performs a spell intended to release them from the house, but instead it releases the demon from the sword Buffy brought home. It attacks the group and Richard takes a cut to the chest before the demon retreats into the walls. While the wound is tended, noises can be heard in the walls and Anya begins to show signs of claustrophobia. Xander comforts her, then is also attacked. Buffy and Spike fight the demon back into hiding; Xander, though injured, shows more concern for Anya's state of shock than his own physical harm. Buffy and Dawn finally talk. It appears that only Willow's magical skill can save the day. Xander and Anya both press her to act, but Tara is opposed, and Willow expresses her fear that if she starts using magic again, she may not be able to stop. Upset that no one is willing to do anything productive, Anya goes upstairs to find her own solution to their problem. Dawn reveals to her sister that she recently talked to a guidance counselor and may have made a wish to the woman. In Dawn's room, Anya, convinced that the girl has something to do with their entrapment, searches her belongings. Dawn enters the room with her sister and is freaked out by the invasion of her privacy, but Anya uncovers Dawn's secret stash of stolen jewelry and objects from the Magic Shop, which stuns everyone.

Dawn tries to bolt, but Anya delivers her a stern lecture on theft, particularly upset that Dawn has stolen from the Magic Shop. Buffy tries to place the blame on the guidance counselor and Anya puts the pieces together. Realizing Halfrek is responsible, Anya summons her because only Halfrek can lift the spell. Halfrek appears, but is stabbed by the demon and falls. Spike, Anya, and Buffy battle the intruder, and Buffy plunges the sword straight through the wall into the demon, trapping it in the sword again, then breaks the sword over her knee. With it gone, the only problem left is destroying Halfrek's pendant so they can be freed. Halfrek, only slighrtly harmed, explains that vengeance demons aren't limited by the type of vengeance wished for, though some tend to "specialize" in certain types of vengeance (Anya's was exacting vengeance for scorned women; Halfrek's is "bad parents"). She informs the Scooby Gang that Dawn's pain and silent but desperate plea for attention was something she hadn't seen so severe in a long time, and the gang was completely oblivious to it. According to her, the whole gang deserve to be cursed and confined to the house together for all eternity. Halfrek tries to leave, but falls victim to her own curse and is forced to lift it in order to escape. As Tara clears up the remains from her spell, she and Willow talk. Tara understands why Willow kept some magical supplies and is proud that she didn't fall for the temptation of using magic even in a desperate situation, but makes it clear that Willow has to make it without the safety net from now on. Richard is escorted outside and to the hospital while most of the remaining gang depart for freedom from the house. Dawn stays behind, but is both surprised and overjoyed when instead of leaving like the others, Buffy shuts the door and stays in the house.

Cultural references

• Xander alludes to The Twilight Zone episode "It's a Good Life ", in which a child with god-like powers isolates his small town from the rest of the world on a whim, and anyone who defies or annoys him is sent to a mystical cornfield.
• The title is taken from J. G. Ballard's Empire of the Sun, where at the end of the story a young man comes to this realization about his current relationship with his family. The Empire of the Sun connection is further stressed in the scene before Dawn meets the "guidance counselor" as the teacher's line about "things Jim lost during his years in Shanghai and things he gained" implies that Dawn's class is studying the book.
• Richard, with his red T-shirt, his wounding and his subsequent non-appearance, echoes the redshirts from Star Trek, disposable characters brought in to fall victim to perils in place of a main character. This is intentional. ^[1]

Continuity

• Halfrek is obliquely revealed to be Cecily, who rejected Spike while he was human (shown in the episode "Fool for Love"), although neither is willing to acknowledge their past acquaintance.

Arc significance

• When Dawn screams for everyone to leave her room she does in the exact fashion from when she told Buffy and Joyce to leave her room in episode 13 of Season Five ("Blood Ties").
• Dawn's kleptomania and abandonment issues are revealed to the Scoobies at large.
• This episode marks the last time that Buffy's birthday is celebrated in the series. Spike comments in the episode that because supernatural events have a history of occurring on Buffy's birthday she should probably stop celebrating them. It is possible that because of this history Buffy does not celebrate her birthday in Season Seven. Buffy traditionally celebrates her birthday around the 12th or 13th episode of each season: her birthday takes place in episode 13 of Season Two ("Surprise"), episode 12 of Season Three ("Helpless"), episode 12 of Season Four ("A New Man"), and episode 13 of Season Five ("Blood Ties"). Buffy's birthday is also not shown celebrated in Season One (it presumably occurred before the beginning of the half-long season).

References

1. ^ Buffy the Vampire Slayer Magazine (34). June 2002. "That was totally on purpose. It wasn’t just me - a group of us said, ‘Hey, a red shirt would be cool!’" 

External links

• "Older and Far Away" at the Internet Movie Database
• "Older and Far Away" at TV.com