Buffy the Vampire Slayer/The Gift

The Gift
Season 5, Episode 22
Airdate	May 22, 2001
Production Number	5ABB22
Written by	Joss Whedon
Directed by	Joss Whedon
← 5x21 The Weight of the World	6x01/02 → Bargaining
Buffy the Vampire Slayer — Season Five

The Gift is the twenty-second (and final) episode of the fifth season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the one hundredth episode overall, and finishes the Glory overarching plotline of the season. In the episode, the gang stands up against Glory's attempt to perform the ceremony only to lose one of their members.

Sarah Michelle Gellar (Buffy Summers), Nicholas Brendon (Xander Harris), Alyson Hannigan (Willow Rosenberg), Emma Caulfield (Anya), Michelle Trachtenberg (Dawn Summers), James Marsters (Spike)

and Anthony Stewart Head (Giles)

Guest Starring: Clare Kramer (Glory), Charlie Weber (Ben), Amber Benson (Tara)

and Joel Grey (Doc)

Co-Starring: Todd Duffey (Murk), Craig Zimmerman (Minion #1), Josh Jacobson (Teen), Tom Kiesche (Vampire)

Plot Overview

Knowing that killing Dawn is the only way to stop Glory's ritual once it starts, Buffy is adamant not to sacrifice her for the world. With time running out, everyone prepares to engage Glory, ready for the possibility that it may be their final battle.

Notes

Monster of the Week

• There is no monster of the week as this episode continues the Glory plot uninterrupted.

Body Count

#	Whom	By Whom	How	Where
1	Vampire	Buffy	Staked	Alley behind the Magic Box
2	Demon	Spike	Arrow to the Heart	The Tower
3	Demon	Giles	Axe to the back	The Tower
4	Ben	Giles	Suffocation	The Tower
5	Buffy-Bot	Glory	Decapitation	The Tower
6	Buffy	Herself	Jumping Off The Tower	The Tower

Arc Advancement

Happenings

• Glory: Glory is defeated when she is weakened by a combination of Willow creating the hole in her mind, the Daggon Sphere and the troll hammer. She is stopped once and for all when Giles kills Ben.

Characters

• Tara: Tara's sanity is restored when Willow performs a kind of reverse mind-stealing.

• Buffy: Buffy sacrifices suicide in order to stop the portal from expanding.

• Xander proposes to Anya and she says yes.

Referbacks

• No Place Like Home: The monks used the Daggon Sphere to repel Glory, it was used in the final battle as a ward against her.

• Triangle: Olaf the Troll's hammer is used in combating Glory.

• Blood Ties: A flashback occurs to when Buffy tells Dawn that her blood is Summers blood.

• Intervention: Spike's robotic Buffy shows up in the basement when Xander and Anya look for the Daggon Sphere. It is used in the plan but it destroyed during the battle.

Trivia

The Show

• Chronology: This episode occurs on the same day as "Tough Love", "Spiral", and "The Weight of the World".

• Apocalypses: When Buffy asks how many apocalypses they've attempted to stop, Giles answers 6. He's referring to instances in "The Harvest", "Prophecy Girl", "Becoming", "The Zeppo", "Doomed", and this episode.

• Buffy Death Count: Buffy has died twice in the series, but we've seen her die four times total. These occurrences were in "Nightmares", "Prophecy Girl and "The Wish".

• Music: The song that plays at the end of the episode is called "Sacrifice".

• Previously On: The previously on segment features scenes from episodes throughout the past five seasons. This montage is not included on the Region 1 Season 5 DVD set, but is featured as an easter egg on the Season 7 set.

Behind the Scenes

• Vote of No-Confidence: When this episode was being promoted on the WB, it was labelled as a series finale because it was the last episode to be aired on the WB, despite the series being picked up by UPN.

• Rumor Mill: There were rumors that this episode was actually going to be a two-hour event entitled "Centenary". The event would feature almost every character from the previous seasons as well as the entire cast of Angel.

• Alternative Season: Early in the season, there were rumors that Sunnydale would be sucked entirely into the Hellmouth in the finale. This plan was never entirely confirmed, but Joss Whedon did have another plan for the season. The original idea was to have Anya die in the rubble, Xander act as Glory's other half (instead of Ben), Willow would become evil after Tara's death and join forces with Glory, and Dawn was to be bled by Evil Willow in the end. The finale meant that Sunnydale was supposed to be completely destroyed by the Hellmouth.

• Guest star Tom Kiesche previously appeared in the Angel episode "The Shroud of Rahmon".

Allusions and References

• St. Crispins's Day Speech: In William Shakespeare's Henry V, Henry gives a call-to-arms speech that is often seen as one of the greatest speeches of the literary world, it is particularly known for the line "We few, we happy few, we band of brothers." The speech is given right before the Battle of Agincourt after Henry lurked around the camp in disguise to find what his men thought of him.

Spike: Well, not exactly the St. Crispins's Day Speech, was it?

Giles: We few, we happy few

Spike: We band of buggered

• Shpedoinkle: The phrase "Shpedoinkle" comes from the movie Cannibal - The Musical, by Matt Stone and Trey Parker, a humorous retelling of the tale of Alfred Packer. The word does not particularly mean anything, but it uttered whenever a traumatic or exciting revelation is made.

Xander: Shpedoinkle!

• Dutch Courage: The phrase "Liquid Courage" is derived from the phrase "Dutch Courage," which means a false feeling of invulnerability and, in short, courage that is only experienced while drunk. Willow's asking for courage is also reminiscent of the cowardly lion from the Wizard of Oz asking the Wizard for some courage.

Willow: I could use some courage. [Spike offers her a flask] No, the real kind.

Memorable Moments

• Xander proposing to Anya in the basement.

• The final battle with Glory and her followers.

• Buffy's heartfelt speech to Dawn about how she loves her before jumping.

Quotes

• Teen: How'd you do that?

Buffy: It's what I do.

Teen: But you're... you're just a girl.

Buffy: That's what I keep saying.

• Spike: 'Cause it's always gotta be blood.

Xander: We're not actually discussing dinner right now.

Spike: Blood is life, lack-brain. Why do you think we eat it? It's what keeps you going, makes you warm, makes you hard, makes you other than dead. 'Course it's her blood.

• Willow: (to Buffy) We'll solve this. We will. Don't have another coma, okay?

• Ben: Look, I... I wish there was another way.

Dawn: And I wish you'd fall on your head and drown in your own barf, so... I guess we're both disappointed.

• Buffy: This is how many apocalypses for us now?

Giles: Oh, uh, well, six, at least. Feels like a hundred.

• Xander: Spike's sexbot. Why didn't they just melt it down into scrap?

Anya: Maybe Willow wanted it.

Xander: I don't think Willow feels that way about Buffy. I mean, I know she's gone through a lot of changes, but --

Anya: To study it.

Xander: Right. Robotics. Science.

• Anya: You're proposing to me because we're going to die. And you think it's romantic and sexy, and you know you're not going to have to go through with it because the world's going to end.

Xander: I'm proposing to you, Anya, because it's not.

• Buffy: I need you, Will. You're my big gun.

Willow: I'm your -- No, I never was a gun. Someone else should be the gun. I could maybe be a cudgel, or a pointy stick.

• Xander: Hey, I happen to be --

Spike: A glorified bricklayer?

Xander: I'm also a swell bowler.

Anya: Has his own shoes.

Spike: The gods themselves do tremble.

• Buffy: We're not all gonna make it. You know that.

Spike: Yeah. Hey, I always knew I'd go down fightin'.

Buffy: I'm counting on you... to protect her.

Spike: Till the end of the world. Even if that happens to be tonight.

• Spike: (to Buffy) I know you'll never love me. I know that I'm a monster, but you treat me like a man.

• Buffy: I notice that you're talking, whereas in your position I would attack me.

• Glory: Wow. The Slayer's a robot! Did everybody else know the Slayer was a robot?

Buffy: Glory? You're not the brightest god in the heavens, are you?

• Spike: You don't come near the girl, Doc.

Doc: I don't smell a soul anywhere on you. Why do you even care?

Spike: I made a promise to a lady.

• Ben: She could have killed me.

Giles:: No she couldn't. Never. And sooner or later, Glory will re-emerge and make Buffy pay for that mercy, and the world with her. Buffy even knows that and still she wouldn't take a human life. Because she's a hero, you see. She's not like us.

• Buffy: (voice over) Dawn, listen to me. Listen. I love you. I will always love you. This is the work that I have to do. Tell Giles that -- Tell Giles I figured it out 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.