Buffy approaches one of her professors and apologizes for not being in class.  She then has him sign her withdrawal slip, as she won't be able to attend the rest of the semester, due to the whole Glory situation, and needing to take care of Dawn and all.  At the hospital, Ben comes in late to work, only to find out that he's been fired.  He's stunned to learn that he hasn't been to work in two weeks.  He goes into the locker room and starts packing his stuff, yelling at his inner Glory that these are his choices; this is his life, and she has no right to screw it up.  Suddenly he stops as he can feel she's about to take control of him again.  He fights for control, but morphs into Glory anyway. Glory goes back to her apartment and takes a bubble bath, and instructs her minions to tell her everything they saw when they were spying on Buffy and her friends.  Cut to Buffy and Dawn in the Principal's office at school; turns out Dawn's been skipping school.  Cut to the Magic Box.  Anya gives an entirely pointless speech about capitalism, and then Buffy and Dawn come in.  Buffy's kind of down about the drop out thing, and Xander says he supports her no matter what her life decision is.  Buffy goes off to talk to Giles alone, and tells Dawn to stay out in the main room and study.  Back in the training room, Buffy tells Giles that she's not "grown up" enough to take care of Dawn, and wants him to be Dawn's authority figure.  Giles tells her that Dawn needs Buffy right now; she's the only family she has left.  Buffy sees his point, and they go back out to the front of the shop to find Dawn and the others acting out Dawn's homework.  Buffy kinda flips out and goes all authoritative when she thinks they're goofing off.  Willow jumps in and tries to defend Dawn, but Buffy's not hearing it and takes off with Dawn to go home. Cut to Glory in the apartment, ecstatic because she has figured out who the key is, based upon the minions' descriptions of Buffy's life.  Back at Willow and Tara's, Willow's bitching about how disciplinary Buffy was being earlier, and Tara sticks up for Buffy, citing her own experiences when her mom died, and says she understands where Buffy's coming from.  Willow gets all snippy, but then tries to forget the whole conversation.  Tara doesn't want to let it go, however, and they end up talking about it.  Willow says she knows she can't know how Tara and Buffy feel, since she's never lost her mom, but she feels like her opinions suddenly means nothing.  Tara wants to know if that means she thinks Tara acts like she knows everything.  Willow basically says yes; that Tara's been doing everything longer than Willow has.  She's been "out" longer, she's been doing magic longer, etc.  Tara interrupts and says that Willow's way beyond her in the magic category, though, and sometimes she's frightened of how powerful she's becoming.  Willow takes offense to the "frightened", and thinks that Tara doesn't trust her.  At this point Tara tries to end the subject and wants them to just go to the fair they were on their way to, but Willow won't drop it.  She wants to know what part of her Tara doesn't trust.  Tara says that Willow's  just changing so fast, and Willow takes that to mean that Tara thinks she's just an experiment in Willow's life, and when she's done being a lesbian, she'll go back to the way she was before, and Tara won't have a place in her life.  She gets mad at Tara and storms out.  At the Summers house, two of Glory's minions spy in from the window as Buffy folds laundry at the dining room table, and Dawn does homework.  Buffy tries to outline a new plan to get everything done around the house, but Dawn has an attitude about it.  She says she's not real, and basically that she shouldn't have to do anything; shouldn't have to go to school, etc.  Buffy reveals that if Dawn doesn't continue to go to school, Buffy won't be found fit to be her legal guardian and they'll take her away from Buffy.  Dawn is stunned. Cut to the multi-cultural fair; Tara's sitting alone on a park bench thinking about Willow.  Willow's siting on some throw pillows at the Magic Box thinking about Tara. Back to Tara on the bench, looking around hopefully to see if Willow maybe came after all.  She smiles and turns as someone takes her hand, assuming it's Willow.  But it's Glory. Back at the Magic Box, Willow tells Giles that she and Tara had a fight, and she feels really bad about it.  Giles hears a scratching sound at the back door and, as he consoles Willow, he walks over to the door and opens and shuts it really quickly, knocking out the minion that was listening on the other side of the door.  He drags the minion into the middle of the room and throws him in a chair.  He questions the minion and learns that they were supposed to keep an eye on the "slayer's people", while Glory gets the key.  Anya, Willow and Giles react with shock that Glory knows who the key is, but then the minion keeps talking and says they can't stop her; she'll get the witch.  Willow realizes Glory thinks that Tara is the key, and runs out. At the fair, Glory crushes Tara's hand when she looks for help among the other fair-goers.  She tells her if she cries for help she'll kill all of the people around them.  She smooshes her hand some more, and it bleeds.  Glory licks some of the blood off her hand and immediately spits it out when she realizes that Tara's not the key.  She gets angry, but then turns on the charm and asks Tara to tell her who the key really is.  If she does, she'll let her go.  Tara doesn't say a word, and Glory starts to stick her fingers in her head.  Through the crowd, Willow has seen them and runs toward them, but some people get in between them and she's too late to stop Glory from sucking Tara's sanity.  When she gets to the bench Tara's insane. At the hospital later, Tara's hand has been bandaged, but the doctor insists that she stay overnight for observation in the psych ward.  Giles, Anya and Xander hate being back in the hospital again; hate what's been done to Tara.  Buffy runs in and hugs Willow and says she's sorry.  Tara is blissfully unaware of everything.  Buffy says she can stay as long as Willow needs her, because Dawn is safe with Spike.  Underground somewhere, Spike tries to console Dawn, who's feeling awful because people keep getting hurt or killed because of her.  She cites Tara's insanity, and Spike's own bruises and cuts from "Intervention".  She says she's like a lightning rod, attracting pain and suffering, causing the people around her to suffer and die.  She says she must be evil to be able to cause all this pain.  Spike says it's crap.  He's a vampire, and he knows evil, and she's not it.  Dawn says maybe not, but she doesn't think she could possibly be good.  Back at the hospital, a nurse takes Tara away and Willow goes off the deep end.  She tries to take off to go after Glory, but Buffy tells her now is not the time.  Willow wants to know when the time is, when it's someone Buffy cares about?  Buffy says when they have a chance of defeating Glory, not when it's just vengeance that's gonna get Willow killed.  Willow appears convinced, and says she needs to be alone and leaves.  She runs right to the Magic Box, straight upstairs to the most dangerous texts and spells, and starts collecting things. At Glory's apartment, Glory's got a buzz from mind-sucking Tara.  She telling her minions that all she's got to do is go through Buffy's friends one by one until she finds the Key.  Suddenly the ground starts shaking, and Willow comes floating through the door, with her eyes all blackened over.  She blasts Glory with some crackling blue energy; Glory screams.  Down in the caverns, Buffy comforts Dawn; tells her this is not her fault.  She wants to know how Willow is, and Buffy tells her how she wanted to go off and kick Glory's ass, but Buffy calmed her down.  Spike wonders that she's not gonna go and do anything rash, then?  Buffy says no, that she explained there was no point.  Spike isn't buying it, and makes Buffy realize that Willow was just appeasing Buffy until she could get away and go after Glory.  Buffy runs out. Back in Glory's apartment, Willow continues to inflict damage on the god.  Then Glory inflicts some back on Willow.  Fight fight, fighty fight.  Willow's getting weaker and weaker.  Glory grabs her and is about to crucify her to the wall with a knife when Buffy shows up, and there's yet more fighting.  Buffy's stunt double does that forward-cartwheel-kick thingy I remarked upon in "Intervention" again.  That's two for two, folks.  More fighting.  Glory's a little sluggish after having dealt with Willow, but she still manages to hold her own until Buffy grabs Willow and runs out.  Glory shouts after them that this isn't over. The next morning Tara, Dawn, Willow and Buffy sit in an abandoned room on campus, and Dawn feeds Tara some applesauce as Willow says that the doctors gave her some meds to keep Tara calm.  She also says that sometimes Tara's fine, but others she's more whacked out.  Willow's sad, but trying to be brave under the circumstances.  Just then the wall goes flying off, and Glory's standing there.  "I told you this wasn't over", she says to Buffy.  Buffy and Dawn jump to their feet, and Tara's attention is drawn to Dawn.  "Look at that!" she exclaims.  "Look at the light! So pure!  Such pure green energy!"   Glory grins as she realizes that Dawn is the key.   FLAWS:                       none found.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          THOUGHTS ON THE EPISODE:              Let's seefirst off, yay, Xander cut his hair!  Hee.  But speaking of Xander, I cannot even express how annoyed I was with him in this episode.  His "I'm sorry my girlfriend is so whacked, I don't know why I date her either" looks to Willow in the Magic Box drove me nuts.  It's likeeither stand behind the woman you're sleeping with, Xander, or stop taking the freebies and playing up to Willow's sanctimonious, holier-then-Anya attitude.  Bah.  'Course, it doesn't help that Anya really was being a whacko in that scene, but still. I'd also like to point out the good job MT did in her little scene underground with Spike, when she was talking about how everyone around her suffers and dies.  You really feel for her there.  Also, yay to more Spike and Dawn friendship!  I like that Dawn is really the only other member of the scooby gang that he can stand, besides Buffy.  It's kinda cute.  Let's seewhat else? This was the first of the final four episodes on the WB, which they really hyped up.  The entire episode (indeed, all of the final four, excepting "Weight of the World") has an almost epic quality to it, as we near the end of five full seasons, and the 100th episode approaches. BEST LINE: Dawn: "I may not be evil, but I don't think I can be good." Spike:  "WellI'm not good.  And I'm okay."

"Tough Love"