Dawn suddenly appearing?

[white avenger]

wait, what? Dawn and Spike? are you serious? oh Jesus..... i'm still in episode 2 but that was a good news actually. shocked but nonetheless happy 😀 i likey Spikey... <3

What I was referring to is the bond of friendship that developed between Spike and Dawn (and Joyce) that served as a way to ease him into the everday life of the Summers family.

As for the "Spuffy" element, I was referring to the (better) half of the Spuffy/Bangel question that has blazed since Season 5 and continued to this day.


And...sorry if I spoiled the rest of the season for you. I sometimes forget that there are still new Buffy fans popping up all over the place.

 

[Your Creamy Coolness]

I also thought Dawn's introduction was genuis! One minute they are talking about Buffy being a only child and then wham! "MOM!??!" with Dawn and Buffy both proclaming! I also thought it was Joss' way of taking the old cliche of adding someone younger to the cast to change the dynamics and help the ratings. Only with him he turned the whole thing on it's head and made her not only Buffy's sister, but The Key (excuse the pun) to Season Five. I don't worship Joss but things like this just make him seem God like! Plus, Season Five is by far my favorite. Great Villan. Great Stories. Joyce being sick mixed in with Buffy's strongest opponent yet! PERFECT!

 

[Revolver]

Joan the Vampire Slayer agrees: Well, it does make sense though. They wanted to make it something the Slayer would protect with her life; what better choice than a sister?

Right, well here is where I feel there's a plot hole- We're told the purpose of this key is open a gate into this hell dimension we'd want no part of. So you'd assume you'd either want to outright destroy the key or that there is some other purpose to it and a reason to keep it intact. Either way, making it a human is a terrible choice. If you could destroy it and end the problem there, just destroy it. BUT if there is a reason to protect the key other than keeping it from Glory, why turn it into a human? As a human, it will naturally live out it's days and die and that's the end of the key. So if you want it protected, it will essentially self-destruct itself at some point as a person.

 

[fly on the wall]

Joan the Vampire Slayer agrees: Well, it does make sense though. They wanted to make it something the Slayer would protect with her life; what better choice than a sister?

Right, well here is where I feel there's a plot hole- We're told the purpose of this key is open a gate into this hell dimension we'd want no part of. So you'd assume you'd either want to outright destroy the key or that there is some other purpose to it and a reason to keep it intact. Either way, making it a human is a terrible choice. If you could destroy it and end the problem there, just destroy it. BUT if there is a reason to protect the key other than keeping it from Glory, why turn it into a human? As a human, it will naturally live out it's days and die and that's the end of the key. So if you want it protected, it will essentially self-destruct itself at some point as a person.

We're told that the monks did not destroy it because they planned on using it for good. (There were more details that I should remember, since I just watched the episode where they talked about it today, but I don't.) However, they ran out of time, Glory found them, and they were all killed.
As for making it human, I have a theory. Many people have complained about this, calling it a plot hole, wondering why couldn't the monks have made the Key into a speck of sand in the desert or something. And well, I think the monks knew all along that Glory would find the Key. They were all prophety and whatnot, and beyond that, it's just common sense: Glory was bound to realize at some point that all the people she brain-sucked turned into Key-finders. So they needed to make sure that, if found, someone (Buffy) would die to close down the portals. They could not be sure that if the Key were anything else, Buffy would swear to protect it, keep track of it, follow it to the ends of the Earth and then sacrifice her life for it...but they could be sure of this if the Key was made from Buffy's blood, if it was a relative of hers. This was also convenient because if it was made from Buffy's blood, her blood would work in closing the portal. So all of this was foretold. The Key was never intended to be truly hidden, I believe. It was just intended to, well, ensure that someone would die, if necessary, to protect the world and defeat Glory.