Blood Ties: It's revealed that Dawn's blood is the key to the ritual that will allow Glory to open the dimensional portal to return home. As the Key was energy rather than human before it became Dawn, how can this be?

Memories: Highlight of the episode is surely Spike trying to explain to the gang that Ben is Glory, only to find they are under a spell. "Glory's worked the kind of mojo where anyone who sees her little presto-change-o instantly forgets. And yours truly, being somewhat other than human ... stands immune."

This neatly explains the hospital scene in Blood Ties where Dawn inexplicably forgets seeing the transformation by the end of that episode.

Back in the house: Dean Butler, who plays Buffy's dad Hank for the first time since the start of season two, was a regular on the classic series The Little House on the Prairie. He played Almanzo James Wilder, Laura Ingalls's husband in the series, from 1979-1983.

Strange solution: With Sarah Michelle Gellar starting work on the Scooby Doo film in Australia around the time this episode was shot, writer Doug Petrie explained to us how the production team worked around her absence:

"We knew for some weeks in advance what her schedule would be like and we were all very interested in accommodating that schedule," said Doug.

"But we had the second-to-last episode of the season and no Buffy. What do you do? Joss and I were both big fans of the Dr Strange comics. Dr Strange was a mystic magician who lived in Greenwich Village, New York and could leave his body. His astral self would go off on these adventures."

Find out more in our Interview with Doug.

Young mother: Despite her demise in The Body, Joyce Summers returns in a false memory flashback during Buffy's dreams. Kristine Sutherland plays a younger Joyce in a scene where Buffy's parents bring baby Dawn home for the first time.