This episode may not have forwarded the main season arc to any particular extent, but damn if it wasn’t one of the best ones. And one owned totally by Dawn and Xander, too. Xander even has his biggest moment since “Grave”, and one of his best ever. That little speech he made at the end was … well, I don’t know how to describe it, but I know that it was about bloody time someone said it.

As for Dawn, I think this episode was brilliantly focused on her. For too long, she’s been sitting relatively anonymous in the background, quietly observing how her sister seems to drift farther and farther away as she becomes more and more involved with the First and the Potentials. She probebly understands that it’s neccessary, but nevertheless — it’s gotta hurt. And then, when she has the chance to be more involved in Buffy’s world, she does what is right, and returns unnoticed to her other duties. Unnoticed by everyone but Xander, of course. Awesomity.

Only minor objections can be made against this episode, and as they are dwarfed by the good stuff, I’ll just ignore them.

Oh, and I’ve started to almost like Andrew. His nerdy comments may seem redundant, but often they help to bring back the atmosphere of happier days. And I like that. Nostalgia’s fun.