Buffy ep by ep; rewatch and reviews

[saturn5]

THE GIFT
The Good;
The final battle especially the bait and switch with the Buffybot and the Dawn/Buffy scene at the end. Also like the way Buffy casually announces to the gang she killed a vampire and they treat it like no big deal. Love the Scooby strategising session and Anya's gameshow hostess introduction of the troll hammer. Best ever Minion toadying 'Oh groovetastic one' and 'Oh sweaty naughty feelings causing one'.
The Bad;
Doesn't anyone notice Glory's tower? Since when was Olaf a troll 'god'? Some of the minion makeup doesn't look so good, one rather looks like Michael Myers from the Halloween series. WHY NO COMMENTARY? Especially as this could have been the last ever Buffy ep.
Best line;
Minion 1; This shall be our day of Glory!
Minion 2; Nicely put!
Minion 1; Well it just cried out to me! (takes crossbow bolt in the chest) Ugh!
Women good/men bad;
The guy she saves (who resembles Jonathon a lot) says she's "Just a girl". Yeah pal and the ocean is 'Just water'.
Jeez!;
How heartrending is it when Dawn folds her clothes up before she is to be sacrificed, like Joyce taught her? Just as Buffy wishes that Joyce was still there. Doc cuts Dawn.
Kinky dinky;
Xander and Anya have a world in peril quickie. Then he proposes. Anya and Xander call each other pervert.
Captain Subtext;
Tara's back, hooray! "I got so lost". So you can restore Glory's brainsucking. She also tells Giles 'You're a killer' before he kills Ben. Dawn asks Ben to turn into Glory as she prefers her, Glory refers to Buffy as sweetcheeks. Xander observes 'Smart chicks are so hot'. "You couldn't have figured that out in 10th grade?" asks Willow ruefully (another mark in the bi column). Xander however doubts that Willow thinks of Buffy like that but what does he know, he never noticed Tara and Willow and Spike did. Buffy once again hints that the connection between her and Dawn is deeper than just sisters, she describes it as physical and says that she is closer to Dawn than anyone (as the final scene with the Summers' blood will prove). Spike quotes Henry V, William the Bloody sensitive poet still in there somewhere.
Guantanamo Bay;
Giles kills Ben/Glory. The right thing to do but still ruthless as hell. Would Xander have done it if Giles hadn't? It's him who comes up with the idea in the first place. Giles proposes killing Dawn. Too much to ask of Buffy but there are millions of Dawns all over the world, sacrifice one to save them all? Buffy tells Giles that if Dawn dies the council can get someone else (Faith?). But could she ever walk away from all those other Dawns?
Scoobies to the ER;
All pretty banged up, I heard a rumour that season 6 would see Anya in a wheelchair but it never happened.
Missing scenes;
Apocalypses; 6 oh yeah, here's where Angel gets his dragon
Wheldon Cliches (with kind permission from Boo)

Scoobies in bondage: Dawn for the third time
Buffy: 8
Giles: 4
Cordy: 5
Will: 3
Jenny: 1
Angel: 4
Oz: 1
Faith: 3
Joyce: 1
Wes: 1
Xander; 1
Dawn; 3

Scoobies knocked out:
Buffy: 16
Giles: 10
Cordy: 6
Xander: 8
Will: 5
Jenny: 2
Angel: 6
Oz: 3
Faith: 1
Joyce: 3
Wes: 1
Anya;1
Kills: Buffy kills one more vamp, I thought it might be her 100th for the 100th ep but just short. Does she kill Doc? He can survive being stabbed so could he survive the fall? Giles kills Ben/Glory and at least one minion as does Spike.
Buffy: 96 vamps, 32 demons, 6 monsters, 3 humans, 1 werewolf, 1 spirit warrior & a robot
Giles: 5 vamps, 2 demon, 1 human, 1 god.
Cordy: 3 vamps, ½ a demon
Will: 6 vamps
Angel: 3 vamps, 1 demon, 1 human
Oz: 3 vamps, 1 zombie
Faith: 16 vamps, 5 demons, 3 humans
Xander: 5 vamps, 2 zombies, ½ a demon, ½ a demon
Anya: 1 vamp and ½ a demon
Riley; 18 vamps + 7 demons
Spike; 2 vamps and 2 demon

Scoobies go evil:
Giles: 1
Cordy: 1
Will: 2
Jenny: 1
Angel: 1
Oz: 1
Joyce: 1
Xander: 3

Alternate scoobies:
Buffy: 6
Giles: 3
Cordy: 1
Will: 2
Jenny: 2
Angel: 3
Oz: 2
Joyce: 2
Xander: 3

Recurring characters killed: 10
Jesse, Flutie, Jenny, Kendra, Larry, Snyder, Professor Walsh, Forrest, McNamara, Joyce

Sunnydale deaths;
89;

Total number of scoobies: 7
Giles, Xander, Willow, Buffy, Anya, Tara, Spike

Xander demon magnet: 5(6?)
Preying Mantis Lady, Inca Mummy Girl, Drusilla, VampWillow, Anya (arguably Buffy & Faith with their demon essences?), Dracula?

Scoobies shot:
Giles: 2
Angel: 3
Oz: 4
Riley; 1

Notches on Scooby bedpost:
Giles: 2; Joyce & Olivia, possibly Jenny and 3xDraccy babes?
Cordy: 1?
Buffy: 3 confirmed; Angel, Parker,Riley, 1 possible, Dracula(?)
Angel: 1;Buffy
Joyce: 1;Giles, 2 possible, Ted and Dracula(?)
Oz: 3; Groupie, Willow & Verucca
Faith:2 ;Xander, Riley
Xander: 2; Faith, Anya
Willow: 2;Oz and Tara
Riley; 3; Buffy, Sandy and unnamed vampwhore
Questions and observations;
Lovely recap of past 100 eps, especially nice to have Cordy and Angel. The vamp in the alley goes 'Oh god'? I know it's weird but I always rather liked Glory's minions. Very clever that when we see the Buffybot it's wearing the clothes we've last seen Buffy in. SMG puts on her white jumper which later turns up in 'The Grudge'. The creatures from the transformed city hall rather resemble the bugs from Aliens especially the Alien Hybrid from Alien 4 which Joss wrote.
So what happens to the people Glory brainsucked? We know that there is a link between Glory and them, when Glory dies do they return to normal? (I remember reading one very inventive fic where Faith had been brainsucked by Glory and in the follow-up story DarkWillow cures her by brainsucking Warren before she kills him and giving Faith his mental energy. http://www.t-s-s-a.com/stories/show-story.php?story=Buffy-WhyDoWeWriteThis04.txt (18+only) But you figure if Faith can recover from her coma Slayer healing would easily take care of it?). Spike says blood is life which is what possessed Xander says in Buffy vs Dracula. Plenty of stories too where Glory enslaves the Scoobs but then things take an unexpected twist; http://www.t-s-s-a.com/stories/show-story.php?story=Buffy-BuffyConquers.txt
http://buffy.adultfanfiction.net/story.php?no=15340 over 18s only
Please note all Dawn-haters, Dawn was quite willing to commit suicide to save the world. And if Buffy's blood hadn't worked she'd have followed her off the tower, Faith would be the Slayer and the Summers girls would all be together in heaven.
A lot of people wanted Buffy to end at this point but I don't, I don't want Buffy to die young like all the other Slayers, I want her to live a long and happy life and I don't want poor Dawn to lose the mother and sister she loves within 6 weeks of each other. But still, stonking ep, if it had ended like this it would have been ok with me.
Marks out of 10; 10/10 for the girl who saved the world a lot (and still does)

 

[WillsBabe]

This episode feels like the natural end to the Buffy story to me. After this it seems to take a long time to get back into its stride (if it ever does, some might wonder).

 

[McCoy]

Dawn asks Ben to turn into Glory as she prefers her

I'll admit I've only seen this ep once, but if I recall correctly, she said this because she preferred to know what she was dealing with and was disgusted with Ben's "sympathy" towards her knowing he could/would do nothing to help. How can anyone call that subtext?

 

[saturn5]

This episode feels like the natural end to the Buffy story to me. After this it seems to take a long time to get back into its stride (if it ever does, some might wonder).

No, I'm gald we had the last 2 seasons as I'll point out as we go. And yes, Dawn prefers Glory to Ben, lot's of little hints of almost bonding between them in these last couple of eps, maybe Ben's side influencing her, making her more human?

 

[WillsBabe]

This episode feels like the natural end to the Buffy story to me. After this it seems to take a long time to get back into its stride (if it ever does, some might wonder).

No, I'm gald we had the last 2 seasons as I'll point out as we go.

I'm glad we had the final 2 seasons, too. I've just massively enjoyed watching the end of season 7 for instance. I just think that it "feels" like a natural end at this point, and I know there are people who would rather it ended there.

 

[Chris3123]

This episode feels like the natural end to the Buffy story to me.

Well, it was the last episode on the WB. After I watched it recently (for the first time), I just assumed they actually thought it was the last ever episode, that it was made before they knew they were going to continue on UPN. As you said, if had a very "final" feel to it, and the "previously on Buffy" segment covered the whole series.

Does anyone here know for sure when the move to UPN was decided? I can't seem to find that information.

 

[DS9Continuing]

While "The Gift" is undeniably an excellent episode, it does rely overly on the emotion of the situation to help the viewer skim over some rather chunky plot holes. And I have some other small issues too...

The final battle especially the bait and switch with the Buffybot

I think this was handled badly. Wouldn't it have been better if it looked as if Glory was beating Buffy down, was about to win, and dug her fingers into Buffy's brain, only to be electrocuted and that's how we realize it's actually the Buffybot? Instead we get her just lamely standing there starting one of her witty quips which she doesn't even get to finish before Glory kicks her head off.

Since when was Olaf a troll 'god'?

Indeed - one of the plot holes I mentioned. "Let's just try and slip this past the viewer as quickly as possible because it's important to the conclusion even though it's completely different from what we already set up."

Which is the same thing as Buffy's blood at the end - where the hell did that come from? If Buffy's blood could close the rift, then Buffy was the Key all along, and then what was the point of Dawn? It really doesn't make any sense at all, but as I said, they just use the emotion of the moment to whitewash over the total logic fail and keep barrelling on with what needs to happen.

Doc cuts Dawn.

Which is the plot's way of having its cake and eating it too. It eventually doesn't even matter whether Buffy beats Glory or not, because there's this barely noticeable background character who's appeared precisely twice before, who can pop in and do the job anyway, thus requiring Buffy's sacrifice even though she beat Glory, thus twisting the knife just that bit more in the Scoobs' guts.

It's the same thing as in "Becoming," the season 2 finale, where Willow just happens to re-ensoul Angel just at precisely the wrong moment so that Buffy can have the extra pain of having to send the good version of her boyfriend to hell rather than the evil version.

Which brings me to another point - "The Gift" is EXACTLY THE SAME PLOT as "Becoming." Somebody's blood is the "key" (Whistler even uses that word) to opening a portal to hell which will destroy the world, and that same blood is the key to closing the portal. Meanwhile, thanks to a series of coincidences, Buffy gets there just that tiny bit too late to do anything about it except for make some massive personal sacrifice.

And considering that Joss came up with the end of season 5 during season 3, and began laying seeds for it in season 3 (less than a year after "Becoming"), it's kind of disappointing that "The Gift"'s plot parallels "Becoming" so closely.

A lot of people wanted Buffy to end at this point but I don't, I don't want Buffy to die young like all the other Slayers, I want her to live a long and happy life and I don't want poor Dawn to lose the mother and sister she loves within 6 weeks of each other.

Here I definitely agree. I don't think this was the end of Buffy's character arc. She deserves to put the pieces of her life - the Slayer and the girl - together. In "The Gift" she sacrifices one of those things for the sake of the other. It's not until "Chosen" that the two halves can be united.

 

[I am not Spock]

The Body seems to jostle with Hush for pride of place as people's favourite Buffy episode. For my money this is better. Best episode of anything ever? A respectable candidate, I would say. Restless doesn't suck, either.

I'd go as far to say Restless, Hush, and The Body are the holy trinity of Buffy episodes. Loved your review, BTW! Keep it up!

 

[I am not Spock]

I'm glad we got the last two seasons too. They did add a lot to the story and mythology of the show, as I am sure Saturn will try and prove I thought the show was great from start to finish, personally.

 

[Skellington]

I'd go as far to say Restless, Hush, and The Body are the holy trinity of Buffy episodes. Loved your review, BTW! Keep it up!

I'm glad that you liked it (; though, time being an issue, it was essentially just a repost of something that I'd put on another board some months ago ).

 

[I am not Spock]

It's funny that although people say the first three years were the golden age of Buffy, some of the eps commonly cited as masterpieces come from the latter half of the show. I think the show was great from the start, and only got better as it went on. Season one was a good, quirky and entertaining show, but it really was with season two, the introduction of Spike, and 'Surprise/Innocence' that it became the greatest thing on TV. And it never let up, IMO. It was like a constantly unfolding story arc from then on in. A novel for television.

Season five was a jewel in the collection, to be sure. An excellent season of an excellent show. The Gift was a brilliant season finale. Possibly the best of the entire show. Alongside possible contenders 'Graduation Day' and 'Becoming'. (As awesome as it is, I don't really see Restless as the finale of S4s arc. I see it as a coda, and a preview of season five, and Primeval as the finale)

 

[Forbin]

The Body seems to jostle with Hush for pride of place as people's favourite Buffy episode. For my money this is better. Best episode of anything ever? A respectable candidate, I would say. Restless doesn't suck, either.

I'd go as far to say Restless, Hush, and The Body are the holy trinity of Buffy episodes. Loved your review, BTW! Keep it up!

Stick in "Earshot" and "Becoming" for a ... um... quintity?

 

[DS9Continuing]

Well, no, not IMO. Because they are not "concept" episodes in the way the other three are. I would say the nearest thing to a concept episode before season 4 would be "The Zeppo."

But I think the two to add on to make it a five-some would be "Once More With Feeling" and "Conversations With Dead People."

 

[I am not Spock]

^Definitely. In terms of 'concept eps', Restless, Hush, The Body, Once More With Feeling, and Conversations With Dead People are the holy quintet.

Not to discount Earshot or Becoming, of course, which are both incredible. But not really concept episodes :P

 

[Skellington]

I think that our top ten episode lists would all look very similar and consist mainly of episodes written by Joss, Jane and whoever it was that wrote The Zeppo.

 

[Forbin]

Nobody said the holy trinity had to be "concept" episodes, I thought we were just talking about favorite just "great" episodes.

 

[saturn5]

For me, Buffy peaks at season 2&3 where the overall quality is just brilliant which isn't to say there aren't still some fantastic eps in 6&7 which makes them well worthwhile. To draw an analogy I think Star Wars peaked with TESB but I'm still glad we had Jedi, Wrath of Khan was the best Star Trek film but still glad we had The Voyage Home

BARGAINING 1&2
　
[FONT=Times New Roman]The Good;
SMG is just wonderful as the Buffybot, credit it to her that she can remember all the dialogue at the end of the teaser. Another nice Anya/Tara scene and Dawn and Buffy reunited is always a joy. Love the way that the Buffybot is such a hit at Dawn's parent/teacher day. Possibly the coolest Spike moment ever when he kicks the Hellion off the bike.
The Bad;
The Hellions are deeply stupid. There's only 15 of them and they appear to be killable by conventional methods (some are even human)so why don't the SDPD just shoot them? The fat vamp seems to burn awfully fast, Dru and Darla on Angel take far longer.
Best line;
Xander; "House o' chicks relax, I am a man, I have a tool!"
Women good/men bad;
Razor is nastily misogynist so Tara let's him have her axe. Good for her!
Jeez!;
Will kills Bambi! Even though she's a machine you feel so sorry for the Buffybot. The sight of Buffy's corpse is upsetting but not as much as her crawling out of her grave.
Kinky dinky;
The Hellions threaten to rape the Scoobies.
Captain Subtext;
Love the Willow/Tara house. In the comics Willow talks of the pair being tempted of just taking Dawn and the three moving out of Sunnydale, forming their own little lesbian family. Spike can't be with Buffy so he takes the closest thing he can get, babysitting Dawn. Xander appears to like the Backstreet Boys? Hmmmmm? Dawn and the Buffybot, awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww! Xander and Giles hug at the airport. Xander says he needs more male friends.
Guantanamo Bay;
Scoobies to the ER;
Missing scenes;
Apocalypses; 6
Wheldon Cliches (with kind permission from Boo)

Scoobies in bondage:
Buffy: 8
Giles: 4
Cordy: 5
Will: 3
Jenny: 1
Angel: 4
Oz: 1
Faith: 3
Joyce: 1
Wes: 1
Xander; 1
Dawn; 3

Scoobies knocked out: Willow
Buffy: 16
Giles: 10
Cordy: 6
Xander: 8
Will: 6
Jenny: 2
Angel: 6
Oz: 3
Faith: 1
Joyce: 3
Wes: 1
Anya;1
Kills: 1 vamp for Spike and one for the Buffybot. One fawn and one demon for Will. A demon each for Xander and Anya. Tara's first kill plus 3 demons for Buffy
Buffy: 96 vamps, 35 demons, 6 monsters, 3 humans, 1 werewolf, 1 spirit warrior & a robot
Giles: 5 vamps, 2 demon, 1 human, 1 god.
Cordy: 3 vamps, ½ a demon
Will: 6 vamps + 1 demon +1 fawn.
Angel: 3 vamps, 1 demon, 1 human
Oz: 3 vamps, 1 zombie
Faith: 16 vamps, 5 demons, 3 humans
Xander: 5 vamps, 2 zombies, 1½ a demon,
Anya: 1 vamp and 1½ a demon
Riley; 18 vamps + 7 demons
Spike; 3 vamps and 2 demon
Buffybot; 2 vamps
Tara; 1 demon

Scoobies go evil:
Giles: 1
Cordy: 1
Will: 2
Jenny: 1
Angel: 1
Oz: 1
Joyce: 1
Xander: 3

Alternate scoobies:
Buffy: 6
Giles: 3
Cordy: 1
Will: 2
Jenny: 2
Angel: 3
Oz: 2
Joyce: 2
Xander: 3

Recurring characters killed: 10
Jesse, Flutie, Jenny, Kendra, Larry, Snyder, Professor Walsh, Forrest, McNamara, Joyce

Sunnydale deaths;
89;

Total number of scoobies: goodbye Giles and goodbye Buffybot so 6
Xander, Willow, Buffy, Anya, Tara, Spike

Xander demon magnet: 5(6?)
Preying Mantis Lady, Inca Mummy Girl, Drusilla, VampWillow, Anya (arguably Buffy & Faith with their demon essences?), Dracula?

Scoobies shot: no although Razor has a gun he never uses it.
Giles: 2
Angel: 3
Oz: 4
Riley; 1

Notches on Scooby bedpost:
Giles: 2; Joyce & Olivia, possibly Jenny and 3xDraccy babes?
Cordy: 1?
Buffy: 3 confirmed; Angel, Parker,Riley, 1 possible, Dracula(?)
Angel: 1;Buffy
Joyce: 1;Giles, 2 possible, Ted and Dracula(?)
Oz: 3; Groupie, Willow & Verucca
Faith:2 ;Xander, Riley
Xander: 2; Faith, Anya
Willow: 2;Oz and Tara
Riley; 3; Buffy, Sandy and unnamed vampwhore
Spike; good or bad? (new column to handle one of the most pressing questions of the series)
Spike is fighting alongside the scoobs and taking care of Dawn but also pouring scorn on the schooling system and thinking the chaos and destruction looks fun.
Questions and observations;
Very long 'previously on Buffy', the series now very much rooted in it's own mythology. Love Tara the vamp hunter, note she feels the need to get a leather coat for her warrior princess phase. Note Giles and Spike actually share a joke together. The numbered shirts appear which I actually didn't notice first time around. Buffy looks to have put a little weight on whilst dead and it suits her. The Buffybot remarks 'I don't eat', deliberate joke? Dawn is back in touch with her dad. The Buffybot appears to be breaking her programming and almost becoming a real girl. Check out the scene where the Scoobies are saying goodbye to Giles at the airport, it looks like Spike is sitting behind Giles (JM's stand in?).
One good thing is that they kept Dawn. She wasn't that popular with the fans at this stage and it would have been very easy to write her out, she would have simply gone to live with her dad and she and Buffy could have had an offscreen reunion as Buffy and Angel do. But they kept her and the show is all the better for it. Dawn not only gives Buffy the will to live but she seems to just instinctively be able to sense that she's back and find her amidst the chaos. Once again it's implied that that there's a deeper connection between the 2 sisters.
Surely if Willow can fix a decpitated Buffybot she can fix a limbless one? So what happens to the bot? I remember reading an excellent fanfic where they repair it and leave it hooked up to an electricity supply in a remote cave, programmed to come to the rescue if anything ever happens to the Scoobs (very 'Demon with a glass hand' if you ever watched The Outer Limits). http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3046178/1/The_Sentry To judge by Buffy's appearance when she comes out of the grave she dyes her hair. You notice that the 'power shot' at the end of the opening titles isn't actually Buffy at all, it's actually the Buffybot.
Interestingly in 'How I met your mother' Alyson's character saves a goat 'Missy' from the butchers knife but I'm sure it's just conincidence.
I almost stopped watching Buffy at this point, I was so disappointed in these opening eps but I'm glad I kept with it.
Marks out of 10; 6/10
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[WillsBabe]

I almost stopped watching Buffy at this point, I was so disappointed in these opening eps but I'm glad I kept with it.
Marks out of 10; 6/10

With ya all the way. In fact, in the interveneing years between the show being first aired and watching the run-through again recently, these two episodes overshadowed everything after the end of the early seasons for me. When I thought of later seasons Buffy, these two episodes were all I could think of and it kept me away from rewatching the show. I'm glad I persevered through this time.

 

[Forbin]

The image of decayed Buffy in the grave, as her flesh reformed, was quite horriffic.

 

[Skellington]

The image of decayed Buffy in the grave, as her flesh reformed, was quite horriffic.

This.

The sight of Buffy's corpse is upsetting but not as much as her crawling out of her grave.

For me, the sight of the corpse was worse. Gah!

Bargaining isn't a perfect instalment by any means. Certainly there's an element of "the shock pf the new" - Willow the scooby leader / badass witch, Spike minding Dawn, the plan to bring Buffy back - but otherwise yt seems a little pedestrian in some ways, with humdrum baddies and a Buffy stand-in in the Buffybot. Not the best Buffybot episode either.

Spike can't be with Buffy so he takes the closest thing he can get, babysitting Dawn.

Nice to see Spike of all people taking on the role of the authority figure and protector in Buffy's absence.

Ok, on to the slightly darker Willow, all ritual sacrifices and raising the dead, interspersed with the quirky light-hearted Willow with whom we're familiar. Crossing a few lines, taking some bold steps and treating it like no big deal afterwards; raising Buffy (as a living person) would no doubt tempt a person to think that they could, and should, do anything. Having a scene where Willow slaughters a fawn was kind of a bold move. This is a much-loved charatcter doing something that perhaps makes us uneasy. She appears to do it quite efficiently, too, so perhaps she's been practicing. Also, wasn't AH a vegan at the time?

Quotewise, there are some good ones.
SPIKE: Oh, poor Watcher. Did your life pass before your eyes? Cuppa tea, cuppa tea, almost got shagged, cuppa tea?

VAMP: You're ... you're ... you're, you're a machine!
BUFFYBOT: (smiles) Thank you!

WILLOW: Nobody's changing their minds. Period.
XANDER: Excuse me? Who made you the boss of the group?
ANYA: You did.
TARA: You said Willow should be boss. (Willow moves away)
ANYA: And then you said "let's vote," and it was unanimous...
TARA: ...and then you made her this little plaque, that said "Boss of Us," you put little sparkles on it...
XANDER: Valid points, all. But we ... I mean...

TARA: A-and a monster, sort of a Sunnydale souvenir we thought. Grr! Argh!

The Buffy / Dawn scene at the end is quite good, with MT once again notably on fine form, really putting her heart into it as Dawn perhaps saves Buffy's life. Kudos to SMG for her dialogue-light performance and in particular that expression on her face in the last shot.

To judge by Buffy's appearance when she comes out of the grave she dyes her hair.

SMG can be seen with her hair its natural brown colour here.

Marks out of ten: It might stretch to a seven. It could probably have done with being ten to fifteen minutes shorter.