The Gift (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

"The Gift (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)"

"The Gift" is episode 22 in season 5 of the TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the 100th episode of the series. It was the last episode to air on The WB network and therefore, the network called it the series finale. The TV series was then picked up by rival UPN for its sixth and seventh seasons.

Plot synopsis

File:Buffthegifty.jpg

Buffy and Dawn.

Summary

Buffy faces Glory as the ritual commences.

Expanded overview

Buffy slays a vampire to save a teenage boy in an alley. The Scooby Gang, knowing that Glory has the advantage over them, make plans to try to avert the apocalypse that will result if her plans succeed. None of them have any ideas apart from killing Buffy's sister Dawn, which Buffy refuses to consider. Xander reluctantly suggests killing Ben as, although he is an innocent, his death will destroy Glory. Giles however points out that it's unlikely Ben will resurface before the ritual. In the end Anya suggests the use of two items that had been found earlier in the series: the Dagon Sphere, which is supposed to repel Glory, and the hammer of Olaf the Troll God. It is also surmised that Buffy doesn't have to kill Glory, only stop her from performing the ritual as if Glory misses this window of opportunity then she won't get another one. They then try to find out where Glory's plan might be occurring, and as still-insane Tara suddenly tells everyone that it's a big day and she needs to be somewhere, meaning that when the gang are ready to face Glory then Tara can lead them there as all of Glory's victims who had been turned insane instinctively knew where Glory was performing the ritual and were drawn there to assist. Buffy later trains with Giles and the two muse that even though they've only faced the apocalypse a few times, it feels like they've saved the world a hundred times before. Buffy admits to Giles that while on her vision quest, the First Slayer told her that death was her gift, and she doesn't like the idea that death is all she can offer people. After admitting she wishes her mother was there, Buffy also notes that she killed Angel despite loving him with all her heart, but if Dawn dies then it will be too much and she is will be finished as the Slayer.

Xander and Anya search for the Dagon Sphere in the Magic Box's basement; Xander proposes to Anya but she tells him to give the ring to her again, "after the world doesn't end." Buffy heads back to her house with Spike in tow. She invites him back into her house, and they both let one another know they respect each other. Buffy asks Spike to protect Dawn, and Spike tells Buffy he knows she'll never love him, but appreciates her for treating him like a man. Meanwhile, Dawn is tied up at the top of a tower that Glory's minions have constructed for the ritual to open the gates between dimensions, allowing Glory to return home but setting all hell loose on Earth in the process.

The group prepares to leave, waiting until sundown with the aim of delaying the ritual that will dissolve the barriers between dimensions long enough for Glory's window of opportunity to pass, if not to kill her. As Tara arrives at the tower, she is accosted by Glory who demands to know what she is doing there. Glory is then ambushed by Willow, who performs a of spell that restores Tara's sanity, confuses and dazes Glory, and throws all three of them backwards violently. Glory, still dazed, decides that she needs a brain to psychically feed on and sees Buffy. She orders her minions to guard the path up the tower.

Buffy brandishes the Dagon Sphere and tosses it to Glory, who is obviously in pain holding it. Glory manages to crush it in her hands. In this time Buffy runs up and attacks her, initially gaining the upper hand. Giles, Spike, and Anya attack the minions at the base of the tower, with the hope of breaking through to rescue Dawn. Glory regains her senses during the fight with Buffy and throws a punch that is hard enough to knock Buffy's head off, revealing that she was actually fighting the Buffybot. The real Buffy sneaks up behind Glory and strikes her with Olaf's hammer. Glory is thrown backwards into a wall by the force of the strike. Buffy then forces her way past Glory's minions and attempts to climb the tower. However, Glory again regains her senses and quickly catches up with Buffy. They fight on the path up the tower and Buffy desperately tries to climb higher, but is hindered by Glory, eventually resulting in both of them falling off the tower to the ground. The hammer lands several feet away from Buffy and Glory confronts her before she can retrieve it. Glory is knocked off her feet, however, by a wrecking ball that Xander is using. Buffy picks up the hammer and sets about beating a dazed Glory repeatedly with it. Glory reverts back to the form of the mortal Ben, and Buffy tells him that Glory's missed her chance and demands he leave Sunnydale and never return, noting that if he or Glory ever come near her or her friends she will kill him. She then leaves to try and rescue Dawn. Giles approaches a panting Ben and Ben admits he thought Buffy was going to kill him. Giles tells Ben that Buffy would never do that as she's a hero... unlike him. Giles then kills Ben by suffocating him to prevent Glory ever returning, knowing that Glory would eventually return and make Buffy pay for her act of mercy.

At the top of the tower, Dawn is nervously watching the battle raging below. She is surprised to see Doc at the top of the tower and, unaware that he is working for Glory, cries to him for help. He instead pulls out a knife and advances on her.

Giles, Anya, and Spike are not making any progress through the minions and fall back, until Spike notices that there is someone at the top of the tower along with Dawn. Willow communicates telepathically with him and tells him to run to the top of the tower and rescue Dawn, and then she and Tara use magic to knock all the minions down. Spike sprints to the top of the tower and when Dawn sees him she calls to him. Doc turns round and Spike advances on him. The fight is short-lived however, as Doc proves to be far stronger than suspected and throws Spike from the tower, giving himself time to initiate the ritual. He makes two shallow cuts on Dawn's stomach.

Buffy runs to the top of the tower and nonchalantly pushes Doc from the top of it. She unties her sister but some of Dawn's blood has already dripped down and activated the portal. The portal expands and all manner of demons emerge from it. Knowing that the portal won't close until her blood stops flowing, Dawn makes like she is going to jump into the portal, but Buffy stops her. Suddenly, Buffy has a flashback of several points in the season-- Spike saying that it has always got to be the blood, Buffy telling Dawn they both shared "Summers' blood", Buffy's proclamation that "the monks made [Dawn] out of me" and the spirit guide (in the form of the First Slayer) telling her that "death is [her] gift". Buffy realizes that if she throws herself into the portal it will close. After exchanging brief words of encouragement with Dawn, Buffy throws herself into the portal, closing it. Her battered body is found at the bottom of the tower, as the sun is rising.

"Dawn, listen to me. Listen. I love you. I will always love you. But this is the work that I have to do. Tell Giles... tell Giles I figured it out. And, and I'm okay. And give my love to my friends. You have to take care of them now. You have to take care of each other. You have to be strong. Dawn, the hardest thing in this world... is to live in it. Be brave. Live. For me." - Buffy

Buffy's friends grieve — Spike weeps — and the last scene of the episode is Buffy's grave bearing the epitaph:

BUFFY ANNE SUMMERS

1981-2001

BELOVED SISTER

DEVOTED FRIEND

SHE SAVED THE WORLD

A LOT

Acting

Starring

• Sarah Michelle Gellar as Buffy Summers/Buffybot
• Nicholas Brendon as Xander Harris
• Alyson Hannigan as Willow Rosenberg
• Emma Caulfield as Anya Jenkins
• Michelle Trachtenberg as Dawn Summers
• James Marsters as Spike
• Anthony Stewart Head as Rupert Giles

Guest starring

• Clare Kramer as Glory
• Charlie Weber as Ben
• Amber Benson as Tara Maclay
• and Joel Grey as Doc

Co-starring

• Todd Duffey as Murk
• Craig Zimmerman as Minion #1
• Josh Jacobson as Teen
• Tom Kiesche as Vampire

Production details

Music

• Christophe Beck - "The Tower"
• Christophe Beck - "Losing Battle"
• Christophe Beck - "Apocalypse"
• Christophe Beck - "Sacrifice"
• Christophe Beck - "Sacrifice" (Alternate version)

Translations

• Italian title: "Il dono" ("The gift")
• German title: "Der Preis der Freiheit" ("The price of freedom")
• French title: "L'apocalypse" ("The Apocalypse")
• Spanish title: "El regalo" ("The gift")
• Czech title: "Dar" ("The gift")
• Japanese title: "ギフト" ("Gifuto" - "The Gift")

Themes

In an essay on the ownership of evil, Erma Petrova argues that Giles murdering Ben is comparable to Willow murdering Warren - both victims are human, and their deaths are necessary to prevent further suffering. Although the moral ambiguity of killing Ben is discussed earlier in the episode, as well as Ben's innocence ("I know he's an innocent, but...not like 'Dawn' innocent"), Giles is never shown to have feelings of guilt afterwards; he did what needed to be done. Contrast this with Willow's guilt over murdering Warren, a theme that persists until the end of the series. Petrova feels the difference for Giles is that killing Ben is his only option - the police wouldn't understand the danger, Buffy is morally unable to take a human life, and leaving him alive presents too great a risk. Willow, however, had other options available and yet chose to murder Warren anyway.

Giles recognizes that Buffy, as a hero, lives by a more demanding moral code than most people. Her unique role and abilities confer special responsibilities, including moral rules by which Giles is not bound. When Ben marvels, "She could have killed me", Giles disagrees: "No she couldn’t. Never... She’s a hero, you see. She’s not like us." However, in an essay on the ethics in this episode, C. W. Marshall claims that Giles actually exhibits heroism, as his murder of Ben serves a greater good and protects those he loves.

Quotes and trivia

• This episode was criticized by the Parents Television Council for showing a character commit suicide. This ignored the context in which Buffy's self-sacrifice occurred.

• As Giles and Spike leave to take on Glory, Spike comments on Buffy's curt final words to the team, "Well, not exactly the St. Crispin's Day Speech, was it?" This is a reference to Shakespeare's Henry V, in which Henry delivers the St. Crispin's Day Speech to inspire his army. Giles responds with the most famous quote from the speech, "We few, we happy few," and Spike replies by parodying the speech's next line ("We band of brothers") into "We band of buggered."

• The "Previously on..." portion of this episode was different in that rather than show the story leading up to this episode as usual it started with clips from the first episode, showing Giles giving the "Into every generation a Slayer is born" speech, then with all the main characters from the first episode introducing themselves (including Angel and Cordelia), then showing clips from almost every previous episode, getting faster and faster until every clip only lasted one or two frames.

• As mentioned by Joss in the commentary for both this episode and "Chosen," this episode was originally written to serve as the series finale, and several ideas that were used in the real finale were originally written for this episode.

• Originally Sunnydale was supposed to be destroyed by the Hellmouth in this episode but it was decided to save the idea for the series finale, "Chosen".

• Joss Whedon joked at the Noctural convention in 2001 that Anya was originally supposed to die in this episode, however, he had to keep her alive because Emma Caulfield kept moving as Xander was carrying Anya.

• Giles would have later confessed to killing Ben in Season 7, "Lies My Parents Told Me", but the scene was cut right before it aired.

• Olaf's hammer is used to injure Glory; it had been previously used against Xander.

• Buffy's statement to Dawn, "The hardest thing in this world, is to live in it", is repeated by Dawn in "Once More, with Feeling".

• When the group first sees the tower, Xander says "Shpdoinkle". This is a slang term first used in the student film directed by, and starring, the creator of South Park, Trey Parker, Cannibal! The Musical.

• When the group is leaving to go fight Glory, Tara turns to Giles and shouts, "You're a killer!" foreshadowing Giles's murder of Ben later in the episode.

• Willow demonstrates the ability to communicate by telepathy with Spike, which she will later use to give orders to the group while hunting vampires in the Season Six premiere. This ability will also be utilized later on in the Season Seven episode "Showtime".

Continuity

Arc significance

• Spike is invited back into Buffy's home after being barred in "Crush". His invite is not taken away even after his attack on Buffy in season six.

• Spike's statement to Buffy on the staircase that she will never love him mirrors his last words to her in "Chosen".

• Crossover with Angel: Willow goes to Los Angeles to let Angel, Cordelia and Wesley know Buffy is dead in "There's No Place Like Plrtz Glrb".

• Buffy dies for the second time.

• Dawn being the Key becomes a nonissue after this episode; from here on characters will mention that she "was" the Key, (past tense) though Dawn herself says later that she's "still the Key, I just don't open anything anymore".

• Glory is defeated, ending her reign as the "Big Bad" of season five.

• This was originally intended to be the series finale, but UPN picked the show up for two more seasons.

External links

• "The Gift" at IMDb
• Template:Tv.com episode