5.22 - The Gift

Buffy and Glory make their final stand.

***

My lord, what an episode.

Whedon has blown me away yet again.

First, let's start at the beginning.

Buffy in an alley way, saving a kid from a vampire. It feels like ages since we've seen her slay a vampire. I think it had to have been at the beginning of the season when Riley was still around. For television viewers, it'd been months.

Now, let me tell you this before hand. Joss had contemplated ending the series here. He obviously didn't, but while he was thinking of doing that, these ideas came to him. This was the 100th episode of the show, and he wanted it to serve as the perfect ending to the journey in the lives of our Slayer and those around her.

So he started the episode where it all began in season one. A tiny girl killing a vampire. The whole scene actually gives me goosebumps for the beauty of it. She kills the vamp and rescues the kid, who says "How did you do that? You're just a girl!" to which Buffy replies, "That's what I keep saying." It's the mission statement of this series, really. The tiny girl that saves people. And in this episode, the world. Again.

So throughout the episode, we see how these characters have grown. Willow restores Tara, and they have each other again. She's also an incredibly powerful witch. Xander proposes to Anya. Giles sees Buffy as his greatest success and as a daughter.Even Spike, the once great villain, is now trying his hardest to do the right thing. We see how our characters have grown.

I am in awe of what Giles does here, realizing that Buffy is not strong enough to kill Ben, as he is innocent, but realizing that this mistake would one day come back and hurt her. So he does what she cannot do, and he says it all in his dialog. Buffy is what they can never be. She is a hero. And then he kills Ben.

So Buffy beats Glory with the help of her friends. She runs to the top of the tower where Dawn is to be sacrificed and manages to free her, but not before the gateway has been opened. It is then that she realizes that Dawn and Buffy carry the same blood, Summers blood, and that Buffy can take the place of Dawn and avert the end of the world. As she realizes this, monsters are emerging across Sunnydale. A dragon flies in the sky above. And Buffy whispers her goodbye to Dawn, turns, and jumps into the portal, closing it, and sacrificing herself, all set to the beautiful and haunting score of Chris Beck, the series' composer.

And then we have the most moving scene that I've seen since the end of season 2 as all her friends look down upon her dead body. They all are weeping openly, even Spike. Joss has completed his story. Even though there will be more to come, the tale of Buffy the Vampire Slayer had every right to end here. His work, and hers, is done.

As we see this, we hear what Buffy told Dawn.

"Dawn, listen to me. I love you. I will always love you. But this is the work that I have to do. Tell Giles I figured it out, and I'm okay. And give 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."

And then we see her tombstone.

Rating: 10/10