The Gift pisses me off.

[The Ferg]

Well, yes it's a great episode, no doubt. But the whole battle at the end is so friggin annoying. If every Scooby did what they should've done there would've been no way that anyone would've had to die. Some examples:
Buffybot: Why the hell did she throw Glory the Dagon's Sphere. If someone would've just held on to it, everything would've gone a lot smoother.
Buffy: She spent WAY too long hitting Glory with the Hammer.
Willow: You've got to be kidding me. Throughout the whole battle she was just sitting with Tara. I guarantee if it was her instead of Spike that went up to stop Doc, she would've wupped his ass.
Dawn: Did she even try to get out of the ropes? Granted, they were probs really tight, but she could've tried ya know?

Anya, Xander, Spike, and Giles I feel did everything that they could've done. (Well, Xander could've gotten more fighting in, but whatever).

 

[Urgent Power]

Don't know about the rest, but with Buffy, her job was to keep Glory away from Dawn untill the end of the... ritual of the portal, to stall. But I don't think she had a plan for who's gonna untie Dawn. Am I wrong?

 

[Blondie Bear]

^ They didn't think they needed one. Nobody counted on Doc going up there and doing the ritual FOR Glory.

 

[The Ferg]

^ Yes, but after Willow and Spike figured out that Doc was up there they should've alerted Buffy right then so they could all team up on him.

Oh, and also, when Buffy started running up the scaffold thing, she should've called for Spike and they could've both fought to save Dawn.

 

[BuffyElevated]

Awww, I don't see anything wrong with "The Gift". Granted, in hindsight, some things could have been done differently, I'm sure, but it was good TV. 😉

 

[Bluebird]

Awww, I don't see anything wrong with "The Gift". Granted, in hindsight, some things could have been done differently, I'm sure, but it was good TV. 😉

Haha, yeah. More logic = less dramatic tv. And I like the drama. 😉

 

[Crazy Flakes]

Well, yes it's a great episode, no doubt. But the whole battle at the end is so friggin annoying. If every Scooby did what they should've done there would've been no way that anyone would've had to die. Some examples:
Buffybot: Why the hell did she throw Glory the Dagon's Sphere. If someone would've just held on to it, everything would've gone a lot smoother.
Buffy: She spent WAY too long hitting Glory with the Hammer.
Willow: You've got to be kidding me. Throughout the whole battle she was just sitting with Tara. I guarantee if it was her instead of Spike that went up to stop Doc, she would've wupped his ass.
Dawn: Did she even try to get out of the ropes? Granted, they were probs really tight, but she could've tried ya know?

Buffybot: The Scoobies probably thought that, if she touched the Dagon Sphere, it would have weakened her more. They only discovered otherwise after Glory crushed it.
Buffy: She had to spend that long doing it. As far as she knew, Glory could have recuperated in a matter of seconds. That's why she had to wait for Ben to resurface.
Willow: She was unconscious for quite some time in the beginning, and after that, she was probably drained. Plus, she didn't have any dark magic books or anything with her, so the most she could do to help Dawn was to clear the way for Spike. As for Glory herself, there really wasn't much she could have done and Buffy seemed to have her under control.
Dawn: Yep. She was yanking on the ropes a lot, particularly in the beginning.

^ Yes, but after Willow and Spike figured out that Doc was up there they should've alerted Buffy right then so they could all team up on him.

Buffy was fighting Glory at the time, so I can assume she had her hands full.

Oh, and also, when Buffy started running up the scaffold thing, she should've called for Spike and they could've both fought to save Dawn.

If memory serves, both Spike and Buffy were in the middle of fights. Spike was trying to hold off hoards of crazies and minions while Buffy was trying to escape Glory (and she was caught after about a second.) Besides, Buffy was a little too high up for the people below to hear her, even if she did call them.

Regardless, I think we're probably overthinking things because most of us have watched and analyzed the fight quite a few times. On the other hand, the characters were there and were just focusing on their next moves. Besides, it made for some great TV, so I'm not complaining.

 

[Lindsey McDonald]

Yeah, it was a rather chaotic battle, and it was the culmination of a series of chaotic desperation. The scoobies needed a plan, because otherwise it wouldn't have been good TV, but they couldn't go in with a surefire method like in S4. That would have seriously cheapned the effect of Glory's insurmountable power that they had built up since the start of S5. We're just coming of the back of Spiral and The Weight of the World, remember? These characters were completely drained, forced into a corner, and were acting entirely on instinct. I'm just amazed they pulled together what they did, and that was what made it such an inspiring fight for me.

 

[atticus]

Doc was the guy who messed up the plan, everything else was thought out well, Buffy had to stop Glory, she did. Always thought Buffy would have finished her off sooner, if Dawn didn't keep distracting her by screaming Buffy's name, every two seconds. Would have loved if Buffy had shouted up at her " Look, i'm fighting a hellgod, just shut up for a minute"

 

[LittleMissLikesToFight]

the one and only thing that irks me about this episode is how Spike is so easily tossed aside by Doc. i mean, wtf? it was, to me, a half assed scene. there was barely a fight, just a dodge of a knife and oh hey, is behind spike and throwing him over.

 

[BuffyElevated]

the one and only thing that irks me about this episode is how Spike is so easily tossed aside by Doc. i mean, wtf? it was, to me, a half assed scene. there was barely a fight, just a dodge of a knife and oh hey, is behind spike and throwing him over.

Maybe by being Glory's special right-hand minion, she gave him a bit of her God strength.... Who knows.

 

[AgentX7k]

Buffybot: She threw it to her because it was the only way it could do damage to her.
Buffy: She had to hit her that many times to turn her into Ben, it took as long as it took
Willow: I just assumed she used most of her power by that point and couldn't do any more.
Dawn: Maybe she tried off screen?

 

[Fake Shemp]

this ep rocks... leave it alone!!

everyone can do things better in hindsight but please! i gotta agree willow would be drained and buffy needed to keep glory away from dawn until the time she could do the ritual was up.

THE GIFT ROCKS! and would have been a great end to the show.

 

[Shadow Angel]

Hm, you know, I really liked Season 5 mainly because of Glory, but you´re right, The Gift wasn´t THAT spectacular.

The thing that really pisses me off is when Spike arrives on top of the tower, Dawn screams "SPIKE!", she messed it all up >__>

 

[Librarian Giles]

Hm, you know, I really liked Season 5 mainly because of Glory, but you´re right, The Gift wasn´t THAT spectacular.

The thing that really pisses me off is when Spike arrives on top of the tower, Dawn screams "SPIKE!", she messed it all up >__>

lol!! I so remember that, and remember thinking "Dawn you twit". Even tho i think that demon dude would of sensed Spike walking towards him, but still. I love The Gift, i thought it was a very good season finale. The end always gets me teary eyed, just how you know what's going to happen and when Buffy looks and you see that beautiful sun rising, man it was so sad.

 

[Fusions2]

the one and only thing that irks me about this episode is how Spike is so easily tossed aside by Doc. i mean, wtf? it was, to me, a half assed scene. there was barely a fight, just a dodge of a knife and oh hey, is behind spike and throwing him over.

I thought it was right for Spike to get thrown off, he was the second strongest fighter after Buffy. I think it was meant to throw you off that not even the best fighters can save the day all the time. When Buffy got up there and threw Doc off it made it all the more better and led up to a better ending knowing Dawn's blood had opened broken the barriers between dimensions and the only way it would stop was for either Buffy or Dawn to die.

Plus it made Spike a little bit more human in his feelings in season 6 as he was racked with guilt he couldn't save Buffy and that every night he'd dream of doing something better and more heroic to save her. Well something along those lines lol.

 

[BuffyElevated]

lol!! I so remember that, and remember thinking "Dawn you twit". Even tho i think that demon dude would of sensed Spike walking towards him, but still. I love The Gift, i thought it was a very good season finale. The end always gets me teary eyed, just how you know what's going to happen and when Buffy looks and you see that beautiful sun rising, man it was so sad.

I actually yelled back at the TV when Dawn screamed. I was like "SHUT UP, crackhead!!! He's coming to save you and you ruined it!" LMAO


I know, it always makes me cry at the end when they're showing all the reactions.... Spike's gets me every time. 🙁

 

[fly on the wall]

the one and only thing that irks me about this episode is how Spike is so easily tossed aside by Doc. i mean, wtf? it was, to me, a half assed scene. there was barely a fight, just a dodge of a knife and oh hey, is behind spike and throwing him over.

That bugs me every time.
Spike, Big Bad, killer of two slayers, William the Bloody, terrifying bad-ass vamp....gets barely tapped aside by a little old man with a frog tongue?
Irritating.

Buffy, though, was supposed to have been hitting Glory for a long time with the hammer. She was stalling her from going up to do the ritual. They weren't really concerned with getting Dawn down...just keeping Glory and her minions from going up, and they succeeded with that. Doc is what screwed with things.

 

[Fake Shemp]

little old men are scary! hehe

looks are deceiving in strength on buffy i liked the old dude, as annoying as he was, he coulda gave spike a mighty twisty arm burn (sw)

 

[IdiotJed]

That's the only part of it that pisses me off is the Spike part. I know it made the story flow better, but I think that scene could've been done better. Doc has his arm twisted behind him and he just stared at Dawn for like ten seconds when logically he could've whipped Doc around and threw him off of the scaffold. Other than that, ended the season awesomely. It wasn't so much Buffy's death that bothered me but the subsequent reactions from everyone that made me tear up. And then I get all deep or whatever and think of seasons 1- just then and see what all Buffy had done to save the world and how she went out like that... then I tear up even more. 🙁