WWDD: S2E22 “BECOMING PART 2”

Dawn hears the scrape of Buffy’s window sliding open. Relieved, she tiptoes into Buffy’s room only to find Buffy gone and a powder-blue jacket heaped on the floor. Before she can think, Detective Stein rings the doorbell. When he leaves, Joyce rushes to find Buffy, telling Dawn to stay put while Dawn decides to dig up the charm.

Joyce returns as Buffy arrives with a man with cool hair and a cool leather jacket. Watching from the stairs, Dawn gasps as a vampire explodes! Buffy is SO busted! Buffy rushes upstairs to change clothes while Dawn slips inside with the charm. “I found the cross you were looking for.” Buffy takes the necklace, asking, “Why does it smell like Thanksgiving?” Dawn shrugs innocently. Buffy swaps the smaller cross she’s been wearing for the larger one and relief washes over Dawn. The charm is complete.

As Buffy prepares to leave again, Dawn begs her to stay. Buffy, frantic and overwhelmed, tells her to go back to her room. Hurt, Dawn blurts that she wishes she didn’t even have a Slayer sister and slams the door. She only comes out when raised voices drift upstairs, catching the end of an argument: “You walk out of this house, don’t even think about coming back!” Dawn’s stomach sinks. She rushes down to find Joyce with head in hands near the open door. Before Dawn can ask what happened, Joyce tells her to go back upstairs.

The next morning, despite Dawn’s pleas to wait for Buffy, Joyce takes her to school. Dawn finds Cynthia, who assures her the charm is going to work. Their carefully researched spell will bring Buffy home unharmed. During their final goodbye, Cynthia hugs her and hands her a slip of paper with her LA address—171 Oak St.

When Dawn gets home, the house is impossibly quiet. Joyce sits on the couch clutching a note in Buffy’s writing. Dawn stops cold and runs upstairs. Even before seeing the empty room, the ache in her chest tells her what she already knows: The charm didn’t matter. Buffy is gone and she’s not coming back.