No Place Like Home

Season 5, Episode 5, Aired
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Episode Summary

When doctors cannot determine why Joyce is sick, Buffy is convinced that the cause must be supernatural. When she tries a spell to let her see magical influences, Buffy sees far more than she had planned.
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Fan Episode Reviews (18)

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  • Here's Glory!

    8.0
    "Great"
    By joxerlives, Jan 20, 2012 Report Abuse
    The Good;
    First appearance of Glory and she's a kick in the head, love her exaggerated creeping up on Buffy and her rambling madness, panto style. Also clever the way Dawn is actually a little menacing when remarking to Buffy that Joyce will be home soon, is the tea she offers her mother poisoned we wonder for a moment? But the very last scene is beyond beautiful, Buffy stroking Dawn's hair for the first time, the way the Summer's girls seem to express physical affection for one another. Giles' wizard outfit and Anya's skill as a salesgirl are also great. Like the little Anya/Giles moment when they reminisce about the sorcerer. Spike has a small role but it's fried gold.

    The Bad;
    Not much although it seems to be mighty convenient that the building just collapses on Glory.

    Best line;
    Spike; (explaining why he's outside the Summer's house in five words or less) OUT-FOR-A-WALK....BITCH!

    Women good/men bad;
    Nope, female villain time. In fact couldn't Buffy have made a little more effort to make Riley feel needed? Riley's slow fall is agony to watch. Ben comments that Buffy has some serious muscles for a girl.

    Jeez!;
    Brainsucking for the first time and it's HORRIBLE!

    Kinky dinky;
    Spike starts stalking Buffy. Joyce wonders if a 14 year old Dawn could be pregnant? When Dawn asks what Buffy is doing in her room she replies 'My boyfriend'!!!! Glory thinks the stutter is sexy (look out Tara?)

    Captain Subtext;
    Joyce comments that Buffy is so grown up, we'll she's going to need to be.

    Guantanamo Bay;
    The poor monk tied to the chair and tortured

    Scoobies to the ER;
    No but Buffy goes to get Joyce's medication.

    Apocalypses; 5,

    Scoobies in bondage:
    Buffy: 8
    Giles: 4
    Cordy: 5
    Will: 3
    Jenny: 1
    Angel: 4
    Oz: 1
    Faith: 3
    Joyce: 1
    Wes: 1
    Xander; 1
    Dawn; 1

    Scoobies knocked out:
    Buffy: 15
    Giles: 10
    Cordy: 6
    Xander: 8
    Will: 5
    Jenny: 2
    Angel: 6
    Oz: 3
    Faith: 1
    Joyce: 3
    Wes: 1
    Anya;1

    Kills:
    Buffy: one vamp for Buffy so 86 vamps, 29 demons, 6 monsters, 3 humans, 1 werewolf, 1 spirit warrior & a robot
    Giles: 5 vamps, 1 demon
    Cordy: 3 vamps, a demon
    Will: 4 vamps
    Angel: 3 vamps, 1 demon, 1 human
    Oz: 3 vamps, 1 zombie
    Faith: 16 vamps, 5 demons, 3 humans
    Xander: 5 vamps, 2 zombies, a demon, a demon
    Anya: a demon
    Riley; 12 vamps + 7 demons

    Scoobies go evil:
    Giles: 1
    Cordy: 1
    Will: 2
    Jenny: 1
    Angel: 1
    Oz: 1
    Joyce: 1
    Xander: 3

    Alternate scoobies:
    Buffy: 6
    Giles: 3
    Cordy: 1
    Will: 2
    Jenny: 2
    Angel: 3
    Oz: 2
    Joyce: 2
    Xander: 3

    Recurring characters killed: 9
    Jesse, Flutie, Jenny, Kendra, Larry, Snyder, Professor Walsh, Forrest, McNamara

    Sunnydale deaths;
    83;

    Total number of scoobies: 7
    Giles, Xander, Willow, Buffy, Anya, Tara, Riley

    Xander demon magnet: 5(6?)
    Preying Mantis Lady, Inca Mummy Girl, Drusilla, VampWillow, Anya (arguably Buffy & Faith with their demon essences?), Dracula?

    Scoobies shot:
    Giles: 2
    Angel: 3
    Oz: 4
    Riley; 1

    Notches on Scooby bedpost:
    Giles: 2; Joyce & Olivia, possibly Jenny and 3xDraccy babes?
    Cordy: 1?
    Buffy: 3 confirmed; Angel, Parker,Riley, 1 possible, Dracula(?)
    Angel: 1;Buffy
    Joyce: 1;Giles, 2 possible, Ted and Dracula(?)
    Oz: 3; Groupie, Willow & Verucca
    Faith:2 ;Xander, Riley
    Xander: 2; Faith, Anya
    Willow: 2;Oz and Tara

    Questions and observations;
    Glory whines about having to live in our reality. Well if you don't like it you can go to hell baby! (or go back there?). That said I think Clare Kramer does a wonderful job as Glory especially when she's acting insane (apparently she's a great friend of ED although they never have any scenes together much as Marc Blucas was a good friend of Christian Kane) Joyce refers to Dawn as 'little-pumpkin belly'. Buffy never had a pet name (except for Sleepyhead?) and never got piano lessons either (Will can play). Anyone else think that the monk on the run from Glory looks an awful lot like a young Lance Henrikson (Aliens, Terminator)? Dawn seems to have inherited Xander's big mouth. Buffy wears a very demonic looking t-shirt? Glory asks Buffy 'Can you fly?', the same words Angel uses in his pilot (and in Robocop)
    Marks out of 10; 8/10
    moreless

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  • No Place Like Home

    9.5
    "Superb"
    By TrueTvWatcher, Oct 26, 2010 Report Abuse
    No Place Like Home was a great episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. We are introduced to the Beast, and find out that Dawn is not all she seems. This episode also saw the Grand Opening of the Magic Box under Giles's ownership. I really enjoyed watching this episode as there was a lot of plot and character development. There were some interesting twists and turns that answer and ask questions. I look forward to learning more and seeing what happens next. Buffy also discovers a mysterious orb which is meant to repel Ancient Unspeakable Evil, so it should be fascinating to find out more about that as well!moreless

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  • "You’re not my sister" - Buffy

    9.5
    "Superb"
    By rachel_london, Jun 28, 2010 Report Abuse
    Buffy finally gets the "big surprise" that she was "in for". I'm glad that there have only been three episodes since the badly bewigged monks made the key into the whiny brat at the exact same moment Buffy walked into her room. To drag out the not knowing until the middle of the season would have been tedious

    So this week's mystical MacGuffin is a paranormally glowy ball which Buffy comes to suspect is harming Joyce. The other thing she thinks is hurting Joyce, or at least Buffy's relationship with her mum, is Dawn. She is left out and annoyed at Joyce & Dawn's book-club and pet names and li'l sis taking credit for Buffy's breakfast. Despite Willow's "natural empathy" with another "big spazz", Buffy is only irritated by Dawn and her big mouth (telling Riley that Buffy thinks he's "cute" when he's all "weak and kitteny") and her dyspraxia. She complains that she wants to be an only child, a hint towards the conclusion of the episode.

    The B-story is the wholly successful opening of the magic shop. Despite our expectations that it will fail, Giles soon finds out that he preferred it "when demons would just crash in here and tear the place apart. It was much simpler". At least he didn't have to wear the magician's coat the whole day Buffy's silent admonition of him is funnier than any quip. Fortunately he has a saviour in "bitter" Anya who, despite having replaced "Have A Nice Day" with "Please Go" in the shopgirls' lexicon, has discovered, via the Game of Life, that money is fun and is turning into the Mr Krabs of Sunnydale. Also providing the comic relief is Spike who has either taken up chain smoking or has been hanging 'round the Summers' residence for a good few hours on his way from "one part of town to another". His sweet 'n' shy "Hi Buffy" is compounded by his teen-insults: "I never liked you anyway. And you have stupid hair". He remembers that he has to keep up appearances and insult the slayer; when she asks him to explain his presence in five words, he tells her: "Out for a walk. B*tch. This delicious slice of Spike shows that he is not fighting his new feelings for Buffy, as well as pointing the way forward for their burgeoning non-relationship.

    Meanwhile, Buffy is investigating her mom's illness as she gets it into her head that the blethering brain-sucked security guard has given her a clue: a demon is attacking Joyce remotely in order to get to the Slayer. Buffy's monstrous ego, once again. This of course lets the viewers, who know Dawn shouldn't be there, think that it's Buffy's fake sister who's distressing Joyce. This leads to Buffy's trip, skilfully shot and brilliantly revealing. Her druggy spell is similar to mental illness as she sees how things ought to be she views her life as it was in Seasons 1-4, before Dawn was photoshopped into the family portraits. Interestingly, we don't see Dawn removed entirely from Sunnydale life, but flickering in and out; the two possible worlds. The duality is also shown in there being two possible explanations for Dawn's behaviour from this point. On one hand, she is a malevolent presence, trying to interrupt Buffy's spell, telling Buffy "do you really think I care you're the Slayer?" making threats about Joyce coming home and bringing a cup of Evil Tea to her mom. On the other, she is just a brat, a typical teenager, which is what Buffy discovers when she visits the abandoned warehouse and finds the monk who provides the big reveal Dawn has a bigger purpose than Buffy, but she knows nothing about it; she is an innocent, a child, someone who above all is to be protected. She doesn't know that she is the key to unlock the door between this world and Glory's.

    Also interesting is the fact that Buffy is wrong about Joyce. The Dagonsphere isn't harmful, a demon isn't hurting Joyce, and Dawn is not evil. This, and Joyce lying prone on the sofa, is a foreshadowing of Joyce's death and Buffy being unable to do anything about it. Joyce tells Buffy that she is "still the mom", but Buffy feels responsible for Joyce and by the end of the episode, she is responsible for Dawn as well - as a big sister and as a Slayer. Buffy always felt the dichotomy between being the chosen one and life as a teenage girl, but now we see that she must deal with other responsibilities besides her slaying duties. Her slayer-sense telling her that something wasn't right coupled with her antagonistic feelings towards Dawn made her believe that Dawn was the new bad, but now she must learn to be a sister and we have the first of many hair-stroking sessions.

    As the monks quiver before the Beast, we are finally introduced to this Season's Big Bad - a valley girl with a predilection for red dresses and ultra-violence. She is the good cop and bad cop in one, she is hysterical solipsism in action; she is the 50 foot woman. She is also copied wholesale at the end of Angel S4 which also had an un-named Goddess from another dimension who needed to suck people dry to survive. The chick-fight that Buffy can't win is only halted by Glory breaking a heel and the warehouse floor. Will she back? I reckon so.moreless

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    1 0

  • Season 5, Episode 5.

    9.5
    "Superb"
    By Wanted23, May 04, 2010 Report Abuse
    Buffy is confident that there is a supernatural source behind her mother's illness after doctor's cannot determine what is wrong with her. When she tries a spell to let her see magical influences, Buffy sees far more than she had planned.

    Sarah Michelle Gellar, once again, looked hot in this episode. Emma Caulfield looked good too, as did Alyson Hannigan. This was a very good episode with appearances. Anyway, I liked when Buffy cast the spell and saw all of Dawn's pictures disappear. I liked Buffy flipping out on Dawn because she thought she was evil. Great episode. I'm surprised Buffy hasn't staked Spike yet. Great episode. Dawn is the Key! And not really Buffy's sister! Amazing episode! :)moreless

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    0 1

  • An outstanding episode; the truth about Dawn is revealed and we are introduced to the season's big villain, Glory.

    9.5
    "Superb"
    By TwistedConverse, Oct 30, 2008 Report Abuse
    No Place Like Home is a brilliant episode and vastly underrated. It contains a lot of shocks, surprises and some fantastic acting. The season really begins here and from now on doesn't slow down once, making it my favourite seaoson of TV ever.

    The start of the episode is a bit slow and that is perhaps the only downside. The fight was quite good with some nice puns from Buffy and the introduction to the Dagon Sphere. This little crystal ball may seem quite insignificant now but it is eventually used in the war against Glory later on in the season. I actually like it when little things come into play during big events, as it really makes you feel that the writers really know what they're doing.

    The Joyce arc is continued a little bit here with Joyce still suffering from terrible headaches. I really love this arc as it's so sad and the fact that it really happens in the real world makes it all the more hard hitting. Buffy tackles big problems brilliantly as always.

    However, the Dawn/Glory arc really kicks off here and it does so excellently. Seeing huge metal doors being kicked down and a small, slender, beautiful woman comes walking forward with a big smile on her face was a shock, as we are expecting a huge monster. Some people didn't like Clare Kramer as Glory but I thought she was magnificent. She could do funny one moment and then slip into complete madness the next. I do wish she had done things a little more crazy but I'm for the most part happy with her performance.

    Glory screaming for The Key was good scene and there was really no doubt about who or what The Key is. The bit where Glory starts rambling on and on and then eventually brain sucks the guard was great. Clare Kramer played the madness just right and the way Glory just reverted back to normal personality right after was a good touch also.

    Buffy's trance sequence was an amazing scene. The effects were done extremely well; it actually looked like she was in a trance. The beautiful singing in the background worked very well and the quiet whispers really gave the scene a great mystical feel. Buffy walking slowly around in a daze was good and the bit where she sees the photos of her, Dawn and Joyce and Dawn is fading away in them was really awesome. It is one of my favourite scenes of the entire show.

    The scenes with Giles and the gang provided some good comedic relief. Anya was hilarious as always (I love her "If you wrapped it with feet" comment) and there were some nice Xander/Anya scenes. Spike waiting outside Buffy's house for hours and his and Buffy's conversation is quite a famous moment, due to his hilarious "Out. For. A. Walk... B-tch." line.

    The fight scene with Buffy/Glory was well done as it showcased Glory's huge strength and her complete lack of caring towards Buffy. The way she just completely overpowered her and then caused the entire building to collapse by just stomping on the ground was very impressive.

    The following scenes with Buffy and the monk were great and you could see Buffy's confusion and fear perfectly. Sarah was fantastic and the last scene between Buffy and Dawn was excellent and a nice sister moment.

    No Place Like Home is a really great episode- shocking, emotional and it really advances the storylines further. The writers pulled it off perfectly and it is definitely not to be missed.moreless

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    2 0
 

Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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  • Trivia

    ADD TRIVIA
    • The warehouse lot where Buffy fights the vampire at the beginning of the episode is open and well lit, yet the night watchman acts as though he saw nothing when he walks up on Buffy seconds after the fight is over. Edit
    • When Giles first talks to Buffy at the Magic Box look at the clock on the wall behind the counter. It isn't working. The sweep hand doesn't move. Edit
    • When they're all in the Magic Box talking about what's hurting Buffy's mom, Xander and Buffy are sitting side by side with Willow standing behind Buffy. The shot cuts to Buffy up close, then widens out a little. As the camera moves back, Willow sits down next to Buffy. Where did Xander go? Edit

  • Notes

    ADD NOTES
    • Clare Kramer's character was originally meant to be called "Cherry" rather than Glory. Edit
    • In this episode we learn Dawn is not human, but an energy called the 'Key'; putting to rest all the cries of outrage from fans when they were introduced to Buffy's sister who was never seen before. Edit
    • We are introduced to Glory in this episode, although we do not yet know her name, or exactly what she is. Edit

  • Quotes

    ADD QUOTES
    • Giles: Would someone please rip that bloody bell off its hinges? Xander: Would that involve moving? Willow: My feet are numb. Xander: I'll see your numbness and I'll raise you a lower back pain. Giles: I think I liked it better when demons would just crash in here and tear the place apart. Just seemed so much simpler. Anya: You're out of crystal balls. Those babies are really popular with the amateurs. Better re-stock and raise the price 10%. Make it 15. Giles: Anya... Anya: Your cash register looks like squirrels nest in it. Giles: Anya... Anya: And the Hand of Glory packs some serious raw power. Better institute a seven-day background check for- Giles: Anya! (beat) Would you like a job? Anya: Okay. Giles: Good. Then we can talk shop tomorrow. Anya: Okay... boss. Edit
    • Anya: (smiling as she finishes a sale) Please Go! Xander: Anya, the Shopkeepers' Union of America called -- they want to tell you that "please go" just got replaced with "have a nice day". Anya: But I have their money, who cares what kind of day they have? Xander: No one. It's just a long cultural tradition of raging insincerity. Embrace it. Anya: (looks up at an exiting customer) Hey you! Have a nice day! Edit
    • Buffy: I think we should get a second opinion. Joyce: Well, we need a first opinion first, honey. Edit

  • Allusions

    ADD ALLUSIONS
    • Buffy: I want you to relax all day, keep your feet up, plenty of Oprah. The Oprah Winfrey Show is a daytime talk show hosted by Oprah Winfrey. The show started in 1984 in Chicago and started running as a syndicated show in 1986. The show and Oprah have won more than 30 Emmy Awards. Edit
    • Dawn: I tell you I have this theory. It goes where you the one who's not my sister 'cause mom adopted you from a shoebox full of baby howler monkeys and never told you 'cause it could hurt your delicate baby feelings.
      A howler monkey named Esperanzo was taken to Siglo XXI (an animal shelter in Chile) when he was found abandoned in a shoebox on the street. Edit
    • Glory: (...) until someone's gonna sit down on their tuffet and make this birthing stop!
      By mentioning "tuffet," Glory makes a subtle reference to the Mother Goose nursery rhyme 'Little Miss Muffet'. It goes: Little Miss Muffet, sat on a tuffet, Eating her curds and whey. Along came a spider, Who sat down beside her And frightened Miss Muffet away. Edit

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