The Gift

It's the music that gets me the most. It always is!

haha.

Oh yeah and when Spike starts crying, :'(
 
I haven't seen this episode in years, but one thing that always sticks with me is the final scene between Buffy & Dawn and that whole speech she gives her.
 
I thought I had posted in this thread already, but I guess not. This episode was one of my favorite of the series. The battle was pretty epic, with all of the Scoobies playing their part (and Giles killing Glory/Ben was a pretty big surprise the first time I saw it, since he isn't the killing type). Buffy's final speech and her swan-dive off the platform were both very emotional, as was the gathering around the grave.
 
Buffy: "Dawn, listen to me. Listen: I love you. I will always love you. This is the work that I have to do. Tell Giles I... tell Giles I figured it out, and I'm o.k. 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."

That speech is so true life is hard and this ep is bloody amazing it beat any ending of the whole buffyverse.
 
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. 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.
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)
 
Ah, gorgeous episode. Just the moment it clicked into place and the whole graceful quality about it-the way she just leaps off, the pretty light thing engulfing her (or whatever it did), and the music, and the sunrise.
It just made it seem happy .. well, not happy, but kinda sweet and peaceful. Not a violent death. A kinda beautiful death.
 
She looked, yeah I guess happy. Like she's finally free. Her mind was empty, and she knew everythings going to be ok. She died protecting the people she loved, they are safe now. I remember, season 5 here was showing around past 2 am, and I was like 12 and it was to late for me so I had to tape it. It was Sunday afternoon right before big family lunch, I've watched it and I cried my eyes out. I didn't even eat. I just ran to my room and stayed there whole day 🙁
 
I'm glad the series didn't end there. I also want Buffy to live to be a little old lady, not die young. I hope someday she gets something like a normal life (then she can see how boring it is, ha ha).
 
I think a bit of boring would be just fine with Buffy, this is a girl who's life is so exciting she fantasises about sitting at home watching TV, doing her homework and phoning her friends
 
Terrific and yet very sad episode. Buffy comes out of her nervous breakdown and she is gonna protect Dawn no matter what. I liked how everyone helped her. YAY for the Scoobies and Willow's power.

I just wanna say something. I really liked Willow in season 5 because she actually helped Buffy but I could stop hating her after Bargaining. Anyway, i am gonna post a few things in season 6 forum .

Buffy feels "finished" and complete like she said to Spike in season 6. There was no way she would sacrifice her sister. She loved her and also she gave a promise to Joyce. Maybe she needed to rest. She saved the world. AGAIN. And she went through hell to do it. Almost everyone was searching for the damn Key. She completed her role as a sister and as a Slayer. That's why she had to rest. That's why I hated Willow for what she did in season 6.
 
This is something I didn't know that I just came across.
It was rumoured that this episode was going to be a two-hour television event called "Centenary" and to feature almost every single character from previous seasons including the entire Angel cast
 
While "Death is your gift" might mean that for other Slayers - for Buffy it meant giving life to her sister, who was supposed to die. She saved her life, and her friends as well as the World by giving up her life. It was quite beautiful - the symbolism behind Buffy's last look; she just knew.
 
This episode is pretty good 😛

I like the "Oh sweaty naughty feelings causing one!" from the minion 😀

I just posted in the sacrifice or suicide thread about the Death is your Gift riddle and how it's often forgotten that "Love will lead you to your gift" is the bit before that on the quest.

here though i wanted to say that there's something disatisfying about the way it worked out. Buffy realises she can close the portal in Dawn's place because it's all "Summer's Blood just like mine" but i always think it's a bit foolhardy of her not to realise that the blood hasn't stopped flowing. Really it should take both of them to jump to stop the blood from flowing if Buffy has any part to play in it at all. I think she shouldn't have because Dawn's blood is imbued with 'Keyness', not Buffy's.

I can gloss over it because it is a great episode otherwise, so if someone can refute my logic I will be happier for it 🙂
 
This episode can be described in one way. Using the title. It is a gift from Joss Whedon to us as viewers. There is NOT a bad moment in this episode, and all the characters have their moments. Each character has one quote which just works, and most of them are able to tug on your heart strings at least once.

This episode can make me cry like only 2 other episodes can. (Those being The Body and Chosen. Passions is an honorable mention though) "The hardest thing in this world to live in." Isn't only a quote that works for the show, but resonates so well in reality, We all have troubles and stuff in our lives that we have to deal with, Buffy has a lot of them and the hardest thing for her in this world, is having to deal everyday with being the slayer. It would be horrible.

So, why am I commenting on this episode? This is the BEST episode of Buffy for me, Once More With Feeling has a happy side to it among the music and even if the secrets and the reveals that happened make you sad, it doesn't do it to you the way The Gift does. We see a show of Ripper, yet all too late to kill Ben and Dawn's already bleeding. Buffy gets up there and throws the guy off of the tower, which was AWESOME. The whole season comes into culmination here, "Death is your gift." Death is Buffy's gift. It's her gift to the world. She closed the portal. She gave all of her friends the chance to come back and live.

"She saved the world, a lot."
 
when i saw the first time ''the gift''.....i came too late to my work....
i thought its over with buffy, the last 2 season that i bought with buffy on the cover i thought she's only an memory....

later on the work. when my boss cam to me and asked for an explenation why i came too late.... i could only say....buffy died🙄

lucky for me. his wife was an big BtVs fan either. so it left by a warning:spin:

and her quote about life.... i still use it today...

i'm sure Josh gave the TV-show a sole.........

and why she trade the place for dawn?
i believe buffy would give dawn a chance...
to grow up, and i think sisters love is stronger than any other thing thats exist.

and of course, i think buffy hates to be the slayer. all she wanted was to be normal, but as earlyer she said...she cant live without hiding under the bed. after she all seen those things what she saw in her life since she was an slayer
 
Buffy jumping doesn't make me cry, or even sad really. It's what she says to Dawn. About Giles, her, everyone. It's amazing. Her sacrifice to save her sister, and the world... There aren't words made for it.

Willow's reaction got me more than Spike's. Probably because I don't really care how Spike feels.

Xander just stares.

All in all, I love this episode. It's one of those that makes you feel what the characters are feeling.
 
Willowmylove said:
Buffy jumping doesn't make me cry, or even sad really. It's what she says to Dawn. About Giles, her, everyone. It's amazing. Her sacrifice to save her sister, and the world... There aren't words made for it.

Willow's reaction got me more than Spike's. Probably because I don't really care how Spike feels.

Xander just stares.

All in all, I love this episode. It's one of those that makes you feel what the characters are feeling.
Click to expand...

I am in total agreeance about what she said being the sad thing, but it coupled with her jumping just tugs my heart strings 😛
 
i think pictures say more then words...

Giles:
Foto-BIBR64MV.jpg


Willow & Tara:
Foto-XNGUKB3I.jpg


Anya & Xander:
Foto-BGJGR3RB.jpg


Spike:
Foto-NSGM8KT6.jpg


and not forgotten, Buffy's sister.....
Dawn:
Foto-IKUS7EDX.jpg


and i believe i don't need to ask what this did to us🙁
Buffy..................:
Foto-YPHBAF6G.jpg


i can say, the gift was the whole best episode of the buffy-world..
 
M
Ms.Trick
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