History Recap / BuffyTheVampireSlayerS5E6Family

* DramaticIrony: Buffy is unaware that Spike rescued her from a Lei-Ach demon during the fighting, since the spell rendered him invisible to the gang as well.

* BetweenMyLegs: Buffy re Spike during his sex dream.

* AdultFear: Imagine that you grew up in an abusive family, who said that you would become evil unless you stayed at home forever. Despite the gaslighting, you run away, but somehow they find you on your birthday.

'''Buffy:''' She's a [[ByTheHair hair-puller]].

** Xander suggests a "cheesy CrystalBall" as a present, only to learn Giles already has one wrapped. At the birthday party we see Tara faking a smile as she unwraps the ball.

** Considering how hard and cold Spike's face goes as he says it, he might not actually approve

* PerceptionFilter: Tara casts a spell so her friends can't see her demon side. [[NiceJobBreakingItHero Unfortunately this means they can't see the demons attacking them.]]

* AbusiveParents: More like Abusive ''Family''. As part of Tara's family's misogynistic tyranny over the women of the clan, they told her she was half-demon her entire life and that if she ever left them for too long, she'd turn into a monster. Her father doesn't even need to raise her voice to terrify Tara, her cousin is a vicious bitch and her brother explicitly threatens to beat her up if she doesn't come with them.

* AbusiveParents: More like Abusive ''Family''. As part of Tara's family's misogynistic tyranny of the women of the clan, they told her she was half-demon her entire life and that if she ever left them for too long, she'd turn into a monster. Her father doesn't even need to raise her voice to terrify Tara, her cousin is a vicious bitch and her brother explicitly threatens to beat her up if she doesn't come with them.

* BadassNormal: We are reminded that Xander and Giles are both this, especially in comparison to a couple of abusive bullies who ''think'' they're tough. Donnie would have broken something trying to beat Tara down even if Buffy wasn't there.

Buffy tells Giles that Dawn is The Key that Glory is hell-bent on finding, and speaks of her struggle to come to terms with the fact that the majority of her memories of Dawn are false. They decide to protect Dawn without telling others about it. In order to be able to protect Dawn properly, Buffy moves out of the college dorm and returns to living at home, citing her mom's recent health issues as the reason to her friends. As everyone helps her with moving her stuff out, Willow reminds everyone about Tara's birthday party.

* ChekhovsGunman: Sandy was made a vampire in "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS3E16Doppelgangland Doppelgangland]]".

* EasilyForgiven: Tara only gets an extremely small scolding from Buffy and Willow for her demon-hiding spell. Justified as everyone understands why Tara did it and it's clear Tara knows she did wrong. Besides which, [[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS2E16BewitchedBotheredAndBewildered Xander]] and [[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS4E9SomethingBlue Willow ]] have both been involved in spells gone dangerously awry, so it would be hypocritical to be very harsh.

* EasilyForgiven: Tara only gets an extremely small scolding from Buffy and Willow for her demon-hiding spell. Justified as everyone understands why Tara did it and it's clear Tara knows she did wrong. Besides which, [[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS2E16BewitchedBotheredAndBewildered Xander]] and [[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS4E9SomethingBlue Willow ]] have both been involved in spells gone awry, so it would be hypocritical to be very harsh.

* HateSink: The [=McClay=] family, consisting of Tara's father and brother, are an allegory for homophobic families and abuse against their gay children, using Tara's magic as a substitute. The Maclay's claim to have Tara's best interests in heart and want to take her back home, revealing to have emotionally manipulated her with the lies that she is a demon waiting to awake. It's revealed that this is a lie the men of the family spread to the women to control them and treat them as slaves. When Tara's brother threatens to beat her down, Buffy and her friends stand up for Tara to her family and expose their lie. While Tara's cousin, Beth, seems sympathetic, she sees Tara as a "selfish bitch" for wanting to live a free life, angrily asking if she's "happy now" when the lie is exposed.

* DamnedByFaintPraise: Tara is... nice. Buffy and Xander just don't interact with her enough to say more than that.

* TheFriendsWhoNeverHang: Buffy and Xander realize that they don't know much about Tara other than her being nice.

** Xander advises Buffy to work out to get rid of her tension. Cut to Buffy fighting Spike--which turns out to be Spike working off ''his'' tension.

** Tara is stacking up books on magic "to keep up with" Willow - a throwaway line that shows how rapidly Willow`s powers are progressing. Later in the season, Tara reveals that this actually frightens her, making way for the first real argument between her and Willow (and much of Willow´s arc in the Next season).

* EasilyForgiven: Tara only gets an extremely small scolding from Buffy and Willow for her demon-hiding spell. Justified as everyone understands why Tara did it and it's clear Tara knows she did wrong. Besides which, [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS2E16BewitchedBotheredAndBewildered Xander]] and [[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS4E9SomethingBlue Willow ]] have both been involved in spells gone awry, so it would be hypocritical to be very harsh.

* EasilyForgiven: Tara only gets an extremely small scolding from Buffy and Willow for her demon-hiding spell. Justified as everyone understands why Tara did it and it's clear Tara knows she did wrong. Besides which, [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS2E16BewitchedBotheredAndBewildered Xander]] and [[Willow Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS4E9SomethingBlue]] have both been involved in spells gone awry, so it would be hypocritical to be very harsh.

* EasilyForgiven: Tara only gets an extremely small scolding from Buffy and Willow for her demon-hiding spell. Justified as everyone understands why Tara did it and it's clear Tara knows she did wrong. Besides which, Xander and Willow have both been involved in spells gone awry, so it would be hypocritical to be very harsh.

* EasilyForgiven: Tara only gets an extremely small scolding from Buffy and Willow for her demon-hiding spell. Justified as everyone understands why Tara did it and it's clear Tara knows she did wrong.

** Beth snaps, "I hope you're happy!" after Tara rejects her blood family for the Scoobies. Tara just smiles because yes, she is now.

* NonHumanLoverReveal: Played with: even if Tara is a demon Willow loves her just the same, then Spike shows that she's not.

* GoThroughMe: Just about the whole cast (except Spike) does this for Tara when her emotionally abusive family shows up. That said, when Tara's father tries to order her to leave Spike voluntarily steps in to prove that she isn't a demon by punching her in the face.