Buffy The Vampire Slayer Season 5

    Season 5 begins with the residual effects of Willow's spell still affecting everyone in the group as the Initiative packs up camp and leaves town.  A new character is introduced in the second episode as Buffy is now suddenly a big sister to a bratty teenage girl named Dawn.  The character is an absolute nightmare that nearly makes each episode unbearable to watch which is too bad because this season boasts a great many things that were sorely lacking in season 4.  A new villain is introduced that is searching for an ancient source of energy to open a portal between all dimensions that threatens to destroy the fabric of all reality.  This time the villain, Glory, is an ancient God that has been banished from her world to earth and shares a body with a mortal.  The character is fantastic and the acting is brilliantly over the top making Glory the best villain since the mayor back in season 3.  As with the previous seasons the arrival of a new character means the departure of others and this time two main characters leave as Riley is drawn back into the military after falling to some dark depths letting vampires feed off of him nightly in a dank drug den type of house, and Joyce is removed from the show in a tragically brilliant episode where Buffy returns home to find the lifeless body of her mom and is forced to grow up in an instant.  The death of Joyce paves the path for the season finale in which Buffy is forced to put her life on the line once more to save humanity and gives the ultimate sacrifice as she dies once more.  Willow comes into her own in this season displaying some terrific power in the latter episodes which will once again come into play in season 6 as she loses her grasp on reality and slips further and further into the lures of dark magic.  The characters of Anya, Xander, and Tara all develop further as each grows up and Spike learns that he is madly in love with Buffy.  Overall this is a terrific season with great stories, fantastic character development and one small problem that is severely annoying every second that her character is on the screen.  A great season that should have been the end of the show but wait...  there's still two more seasons and only one of them is awesome.  Sit back and enjoy this season and try not to let the Dawn character annoy you too much.