All the Way (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

Plot

On Halloween, Anya has the gang working at the Magic Box. Buffy goes to the basement and meets Spike, who suggests they patrol, but Giles notes Halloween is inactive for evil creatures and keeps Buffy bagging products. An elderly man named Kaltenbach hums "Pop Goes the Weasel" while carrying groceries home; he peers at costumed children and pulls out a large knife. The Magic Box has its busiest day, and Xander announces his engagement to Anya.

The group goes to Buffy's house to celebrate, where Willow conjures decorations, but Tara shares Giles's concerns about Willow's magic use. Dawn tells Buffy she is sleeping at Janice Penshaw's house but instead meets Janice and two older boys, Justin and Zack. Attracted to Justin, Dawn joins them at Kaltenbach's house, where she smashes a pumpkin on a dare. Kaltenbach invites them inside; Justin volunteers to help in the kitchen, then drains the old man as a vampire.

Justin returns and says they must flee because he stole the wallet. At the Summers home, Xander grows nervous after Giles talks to him about future plans, and Anya chatters about the wedding and children. On patrol, Buffy finds a corpse left by Zack during a car theft. Spike tells her that Dawn misled the adults, and the gang searches for her. At The Bronze, Willow wants to use a risky spell to locate Dawn, but Tara stops her, leading to an angry argument.

Reception

In 2023, Vox ranked the episode at #131 on its "Worst to Best" list of all 144 episodes, calling it the weakest of Buffy's semiannual Halloween episodes and noting it spends time on Dawn's teen angst, which is an underdeveloped arc, while wasting Amber Tamblyn. Rolling Stone ranked the episode at #137 for the 20th anniversary of the show's ending.