I find it to be a pretty average Season. Not necessarily bad, but not that amazing either.
Things I Liked:
Something I find important is having a clear storyline in every Season. Season 5 definitely had that, and enough plot twists to be interesting.
The development. This was how we got to the events in S6, and the beginning was fun to watch.
Spike realizing he's in love with Buffy. Nice new story arc for BOTH characters.
Glory. She was a pretty cool "Big Bad", and the fact that she was the only female big bad on the show ever was interesting. Buffy was used to kicking the evil guys' behinds, demonstrating her female empowerment, and then comes along a pretty woman with WAY more power than Buffy had.
Riley leaving. That just needed to happen. Although I did enjoy the Spike/ Riley interactions.
Also, I started slightly liking Riley in S5. He was pretty much part of the gang, like family. But he still needed to go. 😀
Joyce dying. OK, OK, I know that sounds awful, but IMO not having responsible adult figures around makes characters act crazier, and therefore more interesting. 😀
Things I didn't like:
It was kind of boring, nothing particularly exciting ever happened.
The entrance of "Dawn". She acts like a nine year old with all her tantrums over absolutely nothing.
Having Riley AND Dawn in the same season. Yikes.
Spike before (and sometimes after) Crush. Don't get me wrong, I love Spuffy, but his attempts to woo her with romantic gestures and his shrine was really, really, creepy. And pathetic. It was actually embarrassing to watch him humiliate himself. But they had some OK moments.
Ben. He was just so annoying and boring. In the I Was Made To Love You commentary Jane said that she tried to make him as charming as possible, but I don't see it. Everything he said was dull, dull, dull. And the way Buffy acted around him with the awful fake laughter was quite distracting.
There weren't any fabulous episodes, IMO. I like The Body, but it definitely isn't one I would watch for fun. I also liked Crush and Fool For Love, but not as much as many other episodes throughout the Series.