Synopsis of All the Way


Written by Brandee Mode

The show starts at the Magic Box. There are Halloween decorations everywhere and the store is full of customers. Xander is dressed as a pirate and using a bad pirate accent to tell a story to some children, until Giles asks for help. Anya is wearing a red shirt, red & white striped shorts and roller skates. Dawn asks what she is supposed to be. Anya says she is an angel.

ANYA: "This is a special kind of angel, called a Charlie. We don't have wings. We just skate around with perfect hair fighting crime."

Dawn thinks Halloween is lame. Anya is excited to learn a new game called "Shiver Me Timbers" (which is apparently a sexual game of some kind, but I have never heard of it.) Tara interrupts before Anya can say anymore and asks Dawn to go help elsewhere in the store. Anya asks Tara if she has ever played the game but Tara is "not much for the timber".

Willow is scolding a customer for wearing a stereotypical witch costume (ugly with warts) but she suddenly sees a little girl in a cute witch costume and changes to a softer tone, offering the girl candy. When Willow walks away with the girl, Dawn slips a medallion into her pocket. Anya tells Buffy to check the basement for mandrake root.

Buffy goes downstairs where she is surprised to find Spike.

BUFFY: "Bell. Neck. Look into it."

He there to steal burba weed to add to his blood so it will be "hot and spicy." Spike shows her where they keep the mandrake root since Buffy doesn't know where they keep it. He asks if she is going to patrol, she says she should stay. He says it doesn't matter; he had plans anyway, which turns out to be watching "The Great Pumpkin." Spike leaves. Buffy mutters to herself that Spike was "so much easier to talk to when he wanted to kill me."

Back upstairs, Buffy helps Giles at the register. Buffy asks where Xander went and Giles responds by saying that Xander kept poking him with the hook of his pirate costume so he sent him to Charmed objects.

GILES: "With any luck, he'll poke the wrong one and end up in an alternate dimension inhabited by a fifty foot Giles who squishes annoying teeny pirates."

Buffy wants to get out of the shop and suggest that she go patrol. Giles says he needs her help at the store and reminds her that demons take Halloween off. Buffy reminds him of when Ethan Rayne caused them all to turn into their costumes and little Fear Demon got loose at the frat house.

GILES: "If anything calamitous should happen, history suggests it'll happen to one of us."

Buffy gives up and starts putting people's purchases in bags.

Elsewhere in Sunnydale, an older man walks down the street, humming "Pop Goes The Weasel" while carrying a brown paper bag. When he gets inside his house, he looks out the window and says that he's going to give the kids "something special" this year. He pulls out a knife and checks to see if it's sharp.

Back at the Magic Shop, all the customers have gone and it's just the gang now. They are all sitting around, looking and acting tired. Anya is very happy about all the money they made. Giles says it's time to start cleaning and Willow suggests that she do a self-cleaning incantation, saying it would be like Fantasia.

GILES: "And we all know how splendidly that turned out for Mickey."

WILLOW: "I think I'm more adept than a cartoon mouse."

Over at the register, Anya is holding fistfuls of money, teaching Dawn how to do the "dance of capitalist superiority" while Xander stares at her.

XANDER: "I'm gonna marry that girl."

He goes to the register, puts his arm around Anya and announces that they "are getting married". Willow appears shocked. Anya tosses the money at her and turns to kiss Xander. Buffy asks Giles if he knew about it and he says no.

GILES: "Unless I've blocked it from my memory, much as I will Xander's vigorous use of his tongue." Giles takes off his glasses and begins cleaning them.

BUFFY: "Is that why you're always cleaning your glasses!? So you don't have to see what we're doing?"

The gang throws a last minute engagement party for Anya and Xander. Apparently they didn't try to invite anyone, it's just the gang. Xander and Anya are still in their costumes. Buffy apologizes for the lack of preparation and Tara promises that they will have another party with decorations.

WILLOW: "Why wait?"

Willow casts a spell and decorations appear around the room. Later in the kitchen, Willow is putting chips in a bowl, when Tara tells her that she thinks they should have used decorations from a store.

TARA: "Why use magic when you can do something naturally?"

Tara tries to explain but Willow accuses Tara of always getting on her case about using magic that "couldn't harm a fly" They start to bicker but are interrupted by Dawn; Willow returns to the living room. Buffy hugs Xander and asks what else changed while she was gone. Dawn says she got a tattoo and Buffy is shocked. Willow says they told her no and Dawn asks for "a little one". Buffy again tells her no.

BUFFY: "Over my dead body, the kind that doesn't come back."

Dawn congratulates Anya and Xander again then says she'll see everyone tomorrow but Buffy stops her from leaving and asks where she's going. Dawn says she's spending the night with a friend named Janice. Buffy is undecided if she should let Dawn go and looks to Giles for input. He says it's not his decision. Buffy agrees to let Dawn leave.

Dawn is walking down the street turns down an alley and starts hearing strange sounds but it turns out to be a couple making out. She is soon startled by her friend Janice. We learn that Janice's mom thinks she is staying at the Summers house for the night. They giggle over having tricked their respective guardians. They arrive at the park to meet up with two guys from school. Zack, who is apparently Janice's date and the other is Justin who is supposed to be Dawn's date. They are all walking down a sidewalk while talking and end up in front of the house belonging to the old man we saw earlier.

Xander and Giles are sitting at the bottom of the stairs in Buffy's house. Giles is adding to Xander's anxiety by mentioning things like buying a house and wedding arrangements.

Back to the sidewalk -- Dawn volunteers to go smash the pumpkin sitting on the porch. Just as she is about to throw it to the ground the old man grabs her arm. He invites them inside for "something special" and the four of them follow the man inside.

Zack plays with a toy while the other three sit on the couch. The old man tells how he used to make toys and how much he loved it but then he made "one little mistake" and he was fired from the job. He asks Dawn to help him in the kitchen with the "treats" but Justin volunteers to go instead. The old man shuffles off to the kitchen with Justin following. In the kitchen the old man picks up the butcher knife and turns to find that Justin is a vampire then the show goes to commercial.

Justin bites the old man and in the process the tray of rice krispie treats gets knocked to the floor making a loud crashing sound. Justin comes out of the kitchen quickly and claims to have stolen the old man's wallet. The girls run out of the house while the guys follow behind. Justin claims the old man "was rank" and Zack says that "a spritz of Dawn" would leave a better taste in his mouth. But then wonders if they should turn the girls into vampires also, instead of just eating them. They smile.

At Buffy's house, Anya is babbling about when to have the wedding and how much planning there is to do. Xander starts feeling overwhelmed. He and Buffy go sit on the porch. She tries to cheer him up. After a bit, he gets ready to go back inside but Buffy says she is "going to take Spike up on that offer to patrol".

Justin and Dawn are walking down the street. Justin gives her some money as her share of what he stole from the old man. He says something about starting her "life of crime" and she says he's too late, she hasn't "paid for lipstick since forever". Justin gives Dawn his coat because she is cold. Janice catches up to them and asks where Zack went. Justin says he went to get the car. We then see Zack pulling a body out of a car, then he gets in it.

Buffy is walking down the street and sees some paramedics. When she gets closer she sees the victim, who we assume is the person Zack took the car from and notices the bite marks on her neck.

Giles answer's Buffy phone, it's Janice's mother calling. In the living room, Xander, Anya and Willow are dancing while Tara sits on the couch. Giles comes in, turns off the music and explains that Dawn has tricked them. He sends Willow and Tara downtown to look for Dawn and Janice. He instructs Anya and Xander to stay at the house in case they show up. Giles will go to Spike's crypt to find Buffy.

The teen gang ends up in a forest type place. Janice and Zack get out of the car to go off and do who knows what while Dawn and Justin stay in the car. Dawn is nervous about being alone with a guy, but they end up kissing. She pulls back to catch her breath and he realizes that was her first kiss. She starts to babble about how she did it wrong but he tells her it was "perfect" and starts kissing her again.

Tara and Willow arrive at the Bronze, which is filled with lots of people wearing Halloween costumes. They go up to the catwalk for a better view. Willow complains that there are too many people and starts to say a spell. Tara is immediately irritated and asks Willow what she's doing.

WILLOW: "I'll just shift everyone who isn't a fifteen year old girl into another dimension."

Tara is shocked but Willow says it will be "for like just a second". Tara asks what Giles would say. Willow says a quick spell to mute the crowd. The background noises stop, music, voices, etc. but it appears that it's only Tara and Willow who can no longer hear it. Willow accuses Tara of taking Giles' side. Tara tells Willow she's using "too much magic"

TARA: "What do you want me to do? Just sit back and keep my mouth shut?"

Willow automatically snaps back that it "would be a good start." Tara says she loves Willow too much to stay quiet. Tara angrily turns to leave and reverses the mute spell as she goes.

As they are kissing, Dawn realizes that Justin is a vampire.

Buffy barges into Spike's crypt and Spike asks if Giles caught up with her. Spike explains the situation with Dawn. Buffy goes to a chest and pulls out a weapon, tossing it to Spike. She tells him they have to go find Dawn.

Giles is walking through a cemetery when he hears a scream, and he runs off in that direction. He sees that a vampire has a girl backed up against a tree. He hits the vampire with his flashlight. Giles checks on the girl and finds that it's Janice, who is now holding her neck. Zack comes back at Giles, who kicks the vampire, knocking him back to land on a conveniently placed tree branch, which dusts him.

Dawn gets out of the car and runs away but Justin catches up to her. He thought they "could hang out" and makes it seem like he's lonely. He tells her it will "only hurt for a second" and starts leaning toward her neck. She just stands there, almost waiting, for him to bite her. But Giles arrives before he can bite her and Justin quickly grabs Dawn to use as a hostage.

Giles starts to talk tough to Justin about doing things "the easy way or the hard way" but suddenly several sets of headlights. Several vampires get out of their cars and surround the three of them. Giles is startled when a hand grabs his shoulder, but it's only Spike. Then Buffy runs in and...

BUFFY: "You were parking? With a vamp?"

Dawn defends herself by saying she "just met him" and doesn't make Buffy any happier. They start to bicker, but one of the anonymous vampires asks if they can "fight now"

Fighting starts and one of the vampires tells Buffy to "die slayer" but she dusts him easily. Justin is surprised that Dawn's sister is the Slayer and says he knew "there was something about" her. Dawn kick him in the groin. Elsewhere Spike is fighting another vampire and lecturing him that they are supposed to take Halloween off. He dusts the other vampire with a mini-crossbow and but as he is reloading another vampire knocks into him, causing the arrow to show off somewhere. Buffy is fighting a vampire near a car and dusts him by slamming his head in the door, decapitating him.

Dawn is sneaking through the trees but Justin catches her and pins her against the ground. She gets tears in her eyes because she thought he "really liked" her and he said he does. He leans down to bite her but instead explodes into dust because Dawn has staked him with the wayward arrow from Spike's crossbow.

Back at the house, Buffy apologizes to Xander and Anya as they are leaving. Anya says it will give her more time to plan a bridal shower and wonders where to get male strippers. Xander is slightly offended. Anya pretends she was joking. Tara is obviously still mad and says she's going to bed. Willow goes after her.

Giles is holding an icepack to his jaw and tells Buffy that they "can't ignore this kind of behavior" from Dawn and "something must be done about it before it spins out of control."

BUFFY: "You're right. I'm glad you're here to take care of it. Don't be too hard on her."

Then Buffy goes upstairs leaving Giles with a disappointed look on his face that Buffy has not even considered talking to Dawn herself.

Giles goes in the kitchen and Dawn asks if this is the part where "you tell me you're not angry, just disappointed?"

GILES: "Pretty much. Except for the bit about not being angry."

Upstairs, Willow is trying to talk to Tara who is removing several small pillows from the bed. Tara is not in the mood though.

TARA: "Can we not do this now?"

WILLOW: "OK, let's just forget it ever happened."

This gives Willow an idea. She turns away from Tara and picks up what looks like a little dried flower and says, "Forget." The flower glows a little. Willow tucks the flower under Tara's pillow as she gets in bed. Tara immediately cuddles up to her. They talk about how "everyday should end like this" and we realize that Willow has made Tara forget about the argument.


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