atheneum

Wow. That "previously". It just rocks, man. If you haven't seen it for this episode, I recommend you go out and find someone who's got it, or try to download it somewhere. It starts off with the very first famous scene from "Welcome to the Hellmouth", with a very british Giles telling Buffy she is the chosen one. Into each generation a slayer is born. Then we get a quick flash or two of everyone being introduced, including Cordelia and Angel. Then flashes from season one episodes, then season two. Season three, season four. All the big moments. Then faster and faster into season five, so that you can hardly tell one scene from the next (unless, of course, you've got it on slo-mo ;), ending in a flash, leading us into "The Gift." Wow. I'm close to tears already. And I've watched this "previously" dozens of times. This episode is special because it marks the end of an era. It is the 100th episode of Btvs, and also the final episode ever aired on the WB. * sniff *

We open on a guy running through the alley, trying to get away from a vampire. He gets trapped in a dead end, in the alley outside the Magic Box. A door in the wall opens and Buffy steps out. She plays dumb blonde for a minute, and then tells the vampire she's the slayer. He's never heard of her. Buffy pummels him a bit, and then finally stakes him, leaving the guy he was chasing very confused. Buffy remarks that it's been a long time since she met one who didn't know her. The guy asked how she did that, and Buffy replies that it's what she does. He says she's just a girl, and she says "That's what I keep saying."

Back inside, Buffy asks Giles for more information on the ritual. He says they've been over it already, but she insists he go over it again. He goes over again the way the key will open all dimensional portals, and Glory will use that time to get back to her hell dimension, not caring that all of the dimensions will bleed into each other, causing chaos and death and destruction. The portals will only close again if / when Dawn (since she's the key) is killed. Xander wants to know why it's got to be about Dawn's blood; why this has to be fatal. Spike says it's always about the blood. It's what keeps you warm, it's what keeps you alive.

Buffy says what they have to do then, is to just keep Glory from starting the ritual. She refuses to talk about what happens if they get there too late, and Giles snaps, saying that they have to talk about it. Buffy dares him to tell her to kill her sister, and Giles reminds her that Dawn isn't her sister. Buffy says no, she's more than that. She says that she's her. The monks made her out of Buffy (see Flaws, below). She says it's not just the memories the monks built, it's physical. Giles reminds her that every creature in existence will suffer unbearable torment and death if the ritual is started, including Dawn. Buffy says then the last thing Dawn will see is Buffy protecting her. Giles proclaims that she will fail. She'll die; they all will. Buffy says she loves them all, but she can't do what Giles wants her to.

Anya takes charge of the group, asking for ideas; suggestions. She asks Willow for some kind of spell ("turn her into a hoppy toad? hit her with a hammer?"), but Willow's got nothing. Xander says what about Ben? He says sure, he's an innocent, but he's not like "Dawn innocent." He says "we could kill a normal guy." He then lets himself realize how awful that is, and says "God." Willow points out that they don't actually have to kill Glory, just keep her occupied until after the time she has to perform the ritual by. Anya wants more ideas, and Spike and Giles kind of jump on her, saying she's not coming up with anything herself, so why doesn't she shut up? She remembers the Dagon Sphere, from "No Place Like Home", and says it was supposed to repel Glory. They have it in the basement.

Struck by another idea, she goes over to where the Troll hammer from "Triangle" is on display, saying they can use that also to fight Glory, since it's got mystical properties and stuff. Giles says this is great and all, but they still have no idea how to find Glory. Suddenly Tara bursts out with some more crazy talk, saying it's the "big day", and she has to be there. Everyone looks at each other.

Cut to the control room. Ben enters with a gown Dawn has to change into. He's apologetic about turning her in to save his own hide, but he's not gonna change his mind. Dawn can't even stand to look at him, and goads him until he changes into Glory. Glory asks what her deal is, and Dawn says that Ben is a monster; at least Glory is up front about it. Glory tells Dawn that he just wants to live, and it's probably his influence on her that's kept her from killing Buffy and her friends so far. That little twinge of humanity that makes her go for the hurt instead of the kill. Dawn says maybe it's just because Glory can't take her, and Glory throws it back in her face that she's been there for a few hours now, but Buffy hasn't come galloping in to save her yet. She hurts Dawn by telling her how the portals won't close until after Dawn's dead, and says that if Buffy ever gets there, since she's not really her sister, it might not be to save her. The seed planted, Dawn cries.

In the training room, Buffy kicks the crap out of the punching bag. Giles comes in and says they have to wait until the last minute; if they go in too early and Glory defeats them, they won't have had any chance to keep her from missing her window. Giles thinks that Buffy must hate him now, and says he loves Dawn. Buffy says she knows, and Giles says that he also has sworn to try and protect this world, even if it means doing things that others can't, or shouldn't have to. Buffy knows that too, but says if he tries to hurt Dawn she'll have to stop him. He knows.

They go and sit down on the couch together, and reflect upon how many apocalypses they've averted. Buffy says she sacrificed Angel once to save the world. She "loved him so much", but she knew that she was right. (Becoming, pt.2) She knew she had to do it. But she doesn't have that anymore. She doesn't know how to live in this world if these are the choices. If everything just gets stripped away. She doesn't see the point. She says she wishes her mom was there. She tells Giles that the spirit guide (from "Intervention") told her that Death was her Gift, and she supposes that means she's just a killer after all. Giles thinks she's wrong, but Buffy says it doesn't matter. If Dawn dies, she's done with it. She's quitting.

Back in the control room, Dawn has changed into a purple gown, and puts her folded clothes neatly on a chair, arranging her shoes underneath it. A minion creeps up to Glory and tells her everything is prepared. Glory smiles widely and orders two minions to grab Dawn, who starts screaming and fighting, calling for Buffy. They pull her outside, and Dawn looks up to see a towering structure, at the top of which is a catwalk and a platform. They drag her up the steps.

Back at the shop, Giles yells down into the basement, asking if they've found the Dagon Sphere yet. Anya and Xander hurriedly dress, after having had a quickie in the basement. Apparently they did it because Anya was nervous, and he was trying to calm her down. Ooooookay. They get back to looking for the sphere and Xander comes across the Buffybot ("Intervention"), and keep looking. Anya freaks out when she finds a stuffed bunny, and thinks it's an omen; they're all going to die. She goes on a little mini-rant about how worried she is, and how this is usually when she gets out of town, when the going gets rough, but now she's all worried that something's going to happen to Xander and everything, and she doesn't see how she could possibly be more nervous. Almost as if to prove her wrong, Xander suddenly proposes marriage, with a ring and everything. Anya slaps him, and thinks he's only proposing to her because he thinks the world is gonna end and he won't have to follow through with it. Xander says he wants to marry her because he knows the world isn't going to end, and he wants to spend the rest of his life with her. Anya's moved, and says yes. But she says for him not to give her the ring until after. When they know the world isn't going to end.

Upstairs, Buffy tells Willow that she's her "big gun". That Willow's the strongest person there; she's the only one who's ever hurt Glory at all. She needs her to at least keep Glory distracted for awhile. Willow tells her she does have an idea she was looking into as a way to help Tara. She thinks if she can get close enough she might be able to undo what was done to Tara. She promises to work on it, as Buffy goes off to talk to Xander and Anya and Giles. We don't hear their whole conversation, but we cut to them in time to see Buffy saying "that could be pivotal, thank you". She and Spike take off to her house to get some weapons. She instructs him to get some weapons from the trunk in the living room, but he stops at the door, unable to enter after the spell she had Willow do in "Crush". He gets her attention, and then says that if she wants to just hand them over the threshold he'll understand. Buffy invites him in, and Spike steps carefully over the threshold, looking as if he's savoring the moment.

He starts to gather the weapons, but Buffy tells him that "we're not all gonna make it". He says he knows, and she tells him she's counting on him to protect Dawn. He fairly puffs up and says "Till the end of the world...even if that happens to be tonight." She starts upstairs to get some more things, and in a burst of truth he tells her he knows she'll never love him, but basically says it doesn't matter. Without saying it, he tells her again that he loves her, and then sends her up to get her things.

Cut to the top of the tower, where Dawn is tied to two vertical poles on either side of her, up on the catwalk.

Back at the Magic Box, Buffy and Spike come back and get the plan in motion. Willow goes to Tara, and asks her if there's somewhere she should be. Tara kind of nods to herself, and walks out the front door.

Buffy reminds everyone of what their jobs are, and basically threatens death to anyone who seeks to hurt Dawn. They all leave, following Tara. She walks along the street, picking at the cast on her hand from where Glory broke it in "Tough Love". She finally gets it off, and keeps heading toward the tower. Everyone follows a few paces behind until they get there. Buffy's voice (offscreen) tells Willow's she's up. Inside the enclosure around the tower, Tara picks up a brick and starts to work with all of the other crazy people, but Glory suddenly stops her and asks what she's doing there. Willow grabs them both suddenly, and says "She's with me." She does some funky magic thing, and all three of them go flying.

Glory stands up and seems disoriented. A couple minions rush forward and offer their brains for sucking in the wake of her sudden bout of insanity, but she spies Buffy standing at the doorway of the enclosure. Glory instructs the minions to go guard Dawn, and they pull the throng of crazy people around the bottom of the stairway, instructing them to kill anyone who approaches. Buffy notes that Glory seems awfully fuzzy-headed right now, and Glory distractedly blames it on Willow. Buffy pulls the Dagon Sphere out from behind her back, however, and throws it at Glory. She catches it and does some kind of weird morphing effect until she finally gets control of herself and smashes it. Buffy attacks. At the stairs, the Giles, Anya and Spike have attacked the crazy people and minions, and there's fighting going on everywhere. Up on the catwalk, Dawn's eyes widen as she sees the fighting going on down below.

Buffy and Glory continue to duke it out, and Willow wakes up and crawls over to Tara, who's okay now. They hug. Back over to Glory and Buffy. They snark at each other a bit, and then Glory knocks Buffy's head off. Literally. It was the Buffybot. She whirls around to see the real Buffy standing there with the Troll hammer, which she promptly whacks her with. Dawn, up on the tower, screams for Buffy. Buffy looks up and sees her, and jumps up onto a point on the steps higher than the minions and crazy people guarding it. She takes off up the tower. Glory angrily throws the debris off of her from where she landed, and takes off after her.

They catch up to each other halfway up, and beat on each other. Buffy whacks Glory a few good ones, but every time she starts to try and go up to Dawn again Glory drags her back down. She loses the hammer, briefly, but then gets it back and whacks Glory again. Glory pushes her off the tower, but Buffy pulls her with her and they both fall to the ground. Standing up, Buffy shoves Glory into a corner. Glory starts to gloat, because Buffy dropped the hammer again, but just then a wrecking ball comes crashing through the wall, slamming into Glory and sending her through another wall. Xander, out in the crane, smiles. Buffy picks up the troll hammer and takes off toward Glory again.

Giles, Anya and Spike survey the situation from their fortified position behind a tank. Anya notes that they've retreated, but Giles says it doesn't matter. As long as Buffy can keep Glory occupied until after the time when the ritual had to have been started, they're in the clear.

Cut back to Buffy, beating the crap out of Glory with the troll hammer. Up on the tower, however, Dawn is startled to see Doc there. (from "Forever" and "Weight of the World") She asks him for help, but quickly realizes he's on Glory's side, as he pulls out a knife to cut her with, and start the ritual himself. Down in the enclosure, Xander joins Anya, Giles and Spike behind the tank. Giles says they haven't been able to get up to Dawn, but neither has anyone else. Spike peers up to the catwalk and sees that someone's up there with her. Xander says they have to charge the group of minions and crazy people, or something, but Anya says they already tried that.

Suddenly Spike hears Willow's voice in his head, and she asks if there's someone up there with Dawn. He says yeah, and she orders him to get up there; now. He starts to protest, because of all of the humans standing in between him and the stairs, but Willow repeats NOW!, and he throws all questions to the winds and just *goes*. Willow grabs Tara's hand and with their combined energy they violently separate the horde of people in the way, tossing them to either side and Spike cuts right through the middle, charging up the tower at speed.

Up on the catwalk, Doc's about to cut Dawn when Spike arrives. He attacks him, but Doc uses some kind of super speed trick and is suddenly behind him, stabbing him in the back. Spike screams. Down on the ground, Buffy has definitely gotten the upper hand in the fight with Glory; the god is hardly able to fight back now at all. Buffy pounds her again. Back up on the catwalk, Spike growls that Doc's not getting Dawn. Doc says he can't smell a soul anywhere on Spike, and wonders why he's bothering. Spike says he made a promise to a lady, and Doc says he'll send the lady his regrets. He tussles with Spike, and then holds him briefly at the edge of the catwalk. Spike looks at Dawn, and there are a thousand meanings in his expression, I kid you not. Most prevalent are disbelief, sorrow, shock, failure, and the knowledge that he's not going to be able to protect her. Then Doc tosses him off the tower, and Dawn screams as he falls straight down, landing with a bone-crushing thud on the pavement.

Down on the ground, Buffy pounds the crap out of Glory, until she turns back into Ben. He says he's sorry, and Buffy tells him to tell Glory it's over; if she ever comes near her or hers again, Buffy will kill him / her. He promises that they won't, and Buffy takes off. Giles comes over a moment later, and Ben says that she could have killed him. Giles says she couldn't have, because even though she knows Glory could re-emerge and make her pay for the mistake of that mercy, Buffy can't take a human life. He says she's a hero; not like them. "Like us?" Ben asks. Giles suddenly covers Ben's mouth and nose with his hand, and smothers him to death. Ooooooh, dark Giles.

Up on the tower, Doc makes a series of shallow cuts on Dawn's torso. The blood runs down off of her bare feet, and through a hole in the catwalk. It suspends in mid air, and a rip in the dimension appears where the blood stopped. Buffy comes up the stairs and summarily pushes Doc off the catwalk. She frees Dawn, and they start to head back to the stairs until they notice the blue glow that's coming from below the catwalk. Buffy realizes it's started. We get several shots of bolts of energy, like lightening, striking main street, then city hall; pulverizing everything in its path. One bolt almost blasts Xander, but Anya pushes him out of the way and falls underneath a pile of bricks in his place.

Up on the tower, Dawn looks at the carnage and says she's sorry. Buffy says it doesn't matter, but then grabs Dawn as she tries to jump off the tower. Dawn tells her she knows about the ritual; that the portals won't close until her blood stops flowing. She says she has to jump; it has to have the blood. Buffy flashes back to Spike in the Magic Box saying it's always about the blood, then back to Buffy and Dawn in the Hospital in "Blood Ties", when Buffy says "It's Summers Blood", then to herself earlier in the night when she told Giles that the monks made Dawn out of her, and then to the First Slayer in the dream quest telling her that Death is her gift.

Buffy turns and looks beyond the end of the catwalk, where she can see the sun coming up on the horizon, and it looks like a path to heaven. Suddenly everything becomes clear to her, and when she turns back to Dawn she seems to know already what Buffy is thinking. She says no, but Buffy says she has to. She then asks her to listen to her, because they don't have much time left. We pull back from them on top of the catwalk as Buffy talks to Dawn, but we can't hear what she's saying; all we can hear is the destruction and chaos going on.

Back in close up, Buffy kisses Dawn on the cheek once, and then turns and runs in slow motion off the end of the catwalk, diving into the blue energy beneath it. As she falls through the energy, seemingly in pain, we hear her voiceover of what she just said to Dawn: "Dawn listen to me, listen. I love you. I will always love you. This is the work that I have to do." Buffy finally stops writhing from the pain, and just lets go. She continues to fall, but no longer in pain, no longer conscious, and the portal closes up on itself. Down on the ground, everyone gathers around Buffy's body, lying on a pile of bricks after her fall. Giles is crying, Willow's also crying, and Tara tries to comfort her. Xander looks shell shocked, and he's carrying Anya. Spike stumbles to the ground and sobs brokenly at the sight of her body, wracked with guilt and loss. "Tell Giles I...Tell Giles I figured it out, and I'm okay. 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."

On her last words, we fade out from the tower, and fade in on a solitary grave marker, in granite, that reads :

Buffy Anne Summers

1981-2001

Beloved Sister

Devoted Friend

She saved the world

A lot.

FLAWS: As heartbreakingly good as some of this episode was, I feel like half of it was a gyp, because Joss Whedon pulled some plot points out of his ass. First off all, since when did the Troll Hammer become the "Hammer of Olaf, the Troll God"? Since when was the troll a God? That was totally new, and totally contrivance.

The other thing that bugs me is this whole "The monks made her out of me" deal. There was no proof of that anywhere, this season. None whatsoever. The closest thing to supportive evidence on that subject is Buffy's bit to Dawn in "Blood Ties", when she said "It's Summers Blood. It's just like mine." But at the time of that episode it was just meant to show Dawn the symbolic nature of the sisterhood that she and Buffy shared. Nobody ever said anything about them having the same blood for real. Plus, even if they had, that's a far cry from "they made her out of me". That was just crap, last minute crap, so Joss could get the moving end he wanted.

Also, Buffy dove face down off the catwalk...yet when everyone gathers around her body on the pile 'o bricks, she's face up.

My last beef with the episode is something Giles says to Ben. He says: "Buffy even knows that, and still she couldn't take a human life." Um...what about the ten human lives she took in "Spiral"? I mean yeah, the KoB were after Dawn, and they would have killed them all to get to her, but still. She does kill when she needs to. Awfully convenient of Joss to overlook that point.

THOUGHTS ON THE EPISODE: Okay...for the record, I don't like this entire episode. But the opening "previously", and the last ten minutes of this ep alone make it entirely worthwhile. The ending is one of the three most sob-worthy moments of Btvs history, in my opinion. Right up there with the "close your eyes" segment of "Becoming pt.2", and the "I'll never forget" segment from "I Will Remember You" (Ats). Guaranteed to make you bawl your eyes out!

But I've got to say it was an excellent note to end things on, particularly since it was their last episode on the WB. Honestly, I think this would have been the perfect note to end the entire series on.

Oh, and special mention has to go to James Marsters, for his spectacular performance. I can't even begin to adequately describe his expression on top of the tower, right before being thrown off. There are simply too many emotions in it, he truly did a stellar job. And seeing him sobbing, down on the ground, when he sees Buffy dead just rips my heart out every time. * sob *

BEST LINE

Xander: "Hey I happen to be.... "

Spike: "A glorified bricklayer?"

Xander: ".....I'm also a swell bowler!"

"The Gift"