Buffy the Vampire Slayer # 5: The Gift

Season 5, Episode 22
First Aired May 22, 2001

This is the second season finale to make the list, and I assure you, there will be more. Unlike many shows, Buffy didn't always wait for the season finales for major events to happen; people could die unexpectedly at any time, and huge plot developments could occur in any random episode. However, the season finales were usually pretty awe-inspiring; they were the culmination of all the huge events throughout the season, so although I don't want this list to be "The Season Finales of Buffy the Vampire Slayer", the ones that are on the list are here for a reason (strangely, although many of Angel's season finales were contenders for that list, not a single finale made the final Angel list).

I think that Seasons 2, 3, and 5 are my three favorite seasons of Buffy; I'm not quite sure how to rank them because each of them brings something different to the table. I liked Season 5 because it helped transition the show into a metaphor for life itself (the high school seasons were incredible, but high school ends, and Whedon embraced that idea with the later seasons) and Glory, the Big Bad, was incredible. Her story was mythic (she was a goddess) and personal because of Dawn. Even though Buffy and Dawn weren't actually sisters, the feelings that go with having a sibling were still present for Buffy, and an attack on Dawn was an attack on her. "The Gift" was the series' 100th episode, and the writers feared it would also be the last, so they decided to throw in as much greatness as possible.

The entire season comes together in this episode, and some things that seemingly were meaningless suddenly become important. Olaf's troll hammer becomes an integral part of the battle against Glory, as does Warren's Buffybot. All of the crazy people who were victims of Glory's "brain sucking", including Tara, lead Buffy and her friends to the kidnapped Dawn. Doc, played by Joel Grey, reveals his true intentions, and the First Slayer's message to Buffy, that "death is [her] gift" is given its true meaning. The fight with Glory is fantastic, but Buffy's gift is what fans remember about the episode. In order to save both the world in general and her sister in particular, Buffy makes the ultimate sacrifice: herself. By throwing herself into the portal opened by Dawn's blood, Buffy is able to close it, which stops all the destruction that it was causing (and the only other way to close it would be by killing Dawn). One other thing I want to mention is the way Giles finally ends the threat posed by Glory. The only way to kill her was killing Ben, her human host body, but because Ben is (for the most part) an innocent, Buffy couldn't bring herself to do it. She made a choice that showed how much she valued human life; even though killing Ben would likely prevent future death, she couldn't possible kill in the name of the greater good. But Giles can...

Up next: Buffy # 4...