5x06 “Family”Episode Rating = 5
A nice recovery after two so-so S5 episodes, “Family” is a typically reliable offering from Joss Whedon that nonetheless falls below his typical standard. Having more in common with workman eps like “Amends” and “The Freshman” than auteur material like “Innocence” or “Hush”, this ep gives the impression of Joss being in one of his less inspired moods, with only one or two great scenes and the rest being watchable, but unremarkable. Still, an episode that’s sub-par for Joss is still very good by the show’s standards, and “Family” has humour, emotion and a meaningful theme, as well as progression for a number of character and plot arcs. In short, it has exactly what I want from a standalone story; and the odd bland scene or questionable development fall by the wayside of the likeable majority.
What I Liked about “Family”:- It’s nice to learn a little more about Tara, who has so far been rendered more as an adjunct to Willow than an individual character.
- Buffy and Xander’s discussion of Tara is interesting and explores a subject that needed to be dealt with. It made sense that they were willing to accept her as Willow’s partner but still didn’t feel like they knew anything about her, and that made it all the more powerful when they took her side during the final confrontation.
- The basic plot is fine, and put a new spin on the overused ‘magic goes wrong, with horrible and/or hilarious consequences’ story.
- The Lei-Ach demons look cool, and I like how Glory’s bizarre appearance in the men’s locker room makes sense when you know about her link with Ben. The scene of her interrogating the demon is very humorous, and I’m able to enjoy the character despite disliking the actress who portrays her.
- The Riley/Xander dynamic continues to work well, and I enjoyed the numerous continuity references when the former visited Willy’s Place (though I’d like to have known what actually happened to Willy). In addition, Riley’s chat with Buffy at the Summers house was good (at least prior to Dawn’s arrival), and it’s easy to envisage them as a suburbanite couple.
- Harmony’s dialogue is really funny. If you’d told me at the end of S3 that I’d eventually find her to be one of the most refreshing characters, I’d have been sceptical, but she’s filling a comedy void and doing so by virtue of her natural personality.
- The theme of the people who love you unconditionally being your true family is an excellent one, and it overlaps nicely with the metaphor of magic/’the Wiccan lifestyle’ for homosexuality.
- Everything about the Magic Box scene with the Scoobs and Maclays is great. It’s one of the show’s all-time uplifting moments, and I loved seeing everyone contribute to defending and protecting Tara, from Buffy’s refutations to Anya’s comments about the variation of demonic temperaments.
- The Willow/Tara scenes are uniformly sweet. It was cute to see Miss Kitty one last time, and the conversation they have while dancing at the Bronze is heartwarming.
- This is the first ep of the season that hasn’t closed with a cliffhanger or a downer ending, and it feels more satisfying because of it.
What I found to be a mixed bag about “Family”:- Spike’s scenes had more of a place in this episode than his token appearance in “No Place Like Home”, but the dream-fight ate up time and wasn’t particularly constructive. And to be honest, I just don’t like being reminded of the Spuffy arc.
- The Buffy/Dawn dynamic continues to be odd. The presentation of their relationship was improved from last week, but still portrayed the message that Buffy’s caring is the result of fake memories, duty and obligation rather than who Dawn is as a person. This comes across especially bizarrely given the theme of this episode. I guess that its message should be amended to ‘family are the people who truly love you, not just those you’re genetically linked to... unless you’re Buffy, in which case it’s all about whomever a bunch of monks randomly decided to force into your life’.
- The Maclays are too thinly drawn for me to have any real opinion about. They seemed to be fairly generic stereotypes (redneck; prissy girl; overbearing father), and the lack of depth (or even the slightest, prior hint as to Tara’s family issues) made it hard to find them intimidating or troublesome. Considering that this is supposed to be a big moment in Tara’s growth, it would have been cool for the antagonists to have characterisation beyond ‘they suck’.
- I’m still undecided as to whether or not Tara actually got any development here. While we have heard her mention her feelings of being useless to the Scoobs, we haven’t seen her make any attempts to get to know them either, and have had no hint of any frostiness or uneasiness between she and the wider group (partly due to the writing snafu in “Superstar”). I understand that Tara is shy and nervous about befriending her girlfriend’s closest allies, but this ep basically made her a passive bystander to her own development. As a result, it almost felt like the gang accepting her was the big progression, when anyone would have seen that coming miles away. Telling her family to leave was an admittedly good start, but I would have preferred to see and feel more of Tara’s sense of isolation, and for her to grow as a person by taking some kind of action and becoming a true Scooby.
What I Disliked about “Family”:- The moving out scene felt a bit pointless, as we hadn’t been given any prior indication of Buffy choosing to board at the university again. They should have also put a different number on the door – it’s 214 at Stevenson Hall, which was Willow and Buffy’s address last year, and referred to a completely different room.
- Speaking of rooms, I wouldn’t mind some clarity on a few things. Willow now appears to have her own place at the dorm (why didn’t she and Buffy opt to live together again?), and Tara has kept her old one. If Buffy was okay with not being Willow’s roommate for a second year, wouldn’t Willow have asked Tara if she wanted to share?
- This may sound weird, but I disliked Tara’s shirt (the green one with the cannabis leaf insignia). While I could get the likes of Ripper or Fred smoking up a storm, I just can’t envision Tara doing the same, so seeing her sport that top felt strange.
- Riley’s blow-up at Buffy was annoying, and waiting for his inevitable departure is getting tiring. I used to feel mildly positive about the character, but now he’s been reduced to throwing fits and being unsympathetic, I want him gone.
- Clare Kramer’s acting is still weak. She wasn’t as bad as in “No Place Like Home”, but her strained performances let down what are otherwise good scenes.
- If Tara’s family are so misogynistic and insistent upon women being subservient, why would they (apparently willingly) let Tara go to college in the first place? Isn’t it a bit unproductive to potentially pay for two years of tuition and accommodation, only to then force her out of college and have it all be for nothing?
- Willow and Tara floating at the end was incredibly cheesy, and spoiled what should have been a romantic moment.
Do I like this episode more or less than the last time I watched it?A little more, though I think my original grade was spot-on. “Family” is a charming and heartfelt episode that tells a respectable single story while simultaneously pushing multiple mini-arcs forward. It’s a nice change of pace for the underused Tara to spend some time in the spotlight, and the theme and plot work together to produce some lovely scenes. That said, this still feels curiously flat for an episode written and directed by Joss Whedon, and some debatable moments compromise the story as a whole. Due to this combination of strengths and flaws, I’m awarding “Family” an ‘average for “Buffy”, but good for TV’ score of five out of ten.
). I give this episode a low 7. 
Was this really her final appearance?