Buffyverse Dialogue Database - EPISODE: 'The Gift'


Season: Episode 22 of Season 5
Original Air Date: 05/22/2001
Written by: Joss Whedon
Directed by: Joss Whedon

Notes:

Glory is defeated.
Plot Highlights:

Buffy refuses to kill Dawn, even if it will stop the apocalypse. Anya offers helpful suggestions. Dawn prefers Glory to Ben. Willow is Buffy's big gun. Xander proposes to Anya. Spike promises to protect Dawn. Buffy & crew follow Tara to the ritual tower. Willow reverses Glory's brain-suck of Tara. Glory fights BuffyBot. Glory fights Buffy. Spike fails to save Dawn from Doc. Buffy beats Glory. Giles kills Ben. Doc starts the ritual, gets killed by Buffy. Buffy takes Dawn's place by swan-diving off the tower to her death.
Quick Review:

Up front, I have to say that on an intellectual level, I found the idea that Buffy's death would spare Dawn's life doubtful. Even if you accept that the monks made Dawn out of Buffy, and thus her blood was an equivalent substitute for Dawn's (which you can only do by mumbling about Slayer Intuition and what not) wouldn't that mean that BOTH she & Dawn would have to die to stop the portal opening? Till there's no more blood, right? Okay, that said, I'm going to go on to say that, you know what? I don't really care. And I don't care because on an emotional level it felt inevitable, sublime, perfect. Not only does it reverberate way back to the first season with Buffy's temporary death at the Master's hands, to the second season with her being forced to kill Angel to save the world, and to the third season where Angel needed her mystical slayer blood to live, but it's clearly the climax this whole season has been building up to. Not to mention that the path that leads up to this monumental grief-filled catharsis was amply stocked with the wonderful interpersonal moments that make all the strongest Buffy episodes what they are (see Memorable Moments below). In short, break the tab on the video tape and shelve it in a safe place (with a box of kleenex)... this one's a definite keeper.
Memorable Moments:

Anya thinking Xander's only proposing to her because they're going to die.
Spike unspoken but palpable gratitude at being re-invited into Buffy's house & his heartfelt promise to protect Dawn till the end of the world.
Giles & Spike quoting Shakespeare (Henry V's Saint Crispin's Day speech) with Spike's "band of buggered" substitution.
Willow facing off against Glory & her later reunion with the restored Tara.
Giles quietly killing Ben so that Buffy won't have to.
Buffy's words to Dawn over scenes of her swan-diving to her death; the gang's reactions to finding her in the rubble, esp. Spike's breakdown.

Transcript Source:

Download from http://www.studiesinwords.de/100thegift.html
I modified text from Rayne's shooting script to match televised version & my formatting.
(If the link above doesn't work, try looking here, under multimedia.)

There are 25 clips for this episode

AKAs

Spike referred to Xander as lackbrain

Glory referred to Scoobies as Buffy's little cartoon pals

Xander referred to Buffybot as Spike's sexbot

Buffy referred to Willow as the big gun

Spike referred to Xander as a glorified brick-layer

Spike referred to Scoobies as band of buggered

Glory referred to Willow as little witchbitch

Buffy referred to Glory as not the brightest god in the heavens

Giles referred to Buffy as a hero

characters

Story Arcs

NOTES ON EPISODE ART: CREATED 07/2001 ~I've recently acquired a new computer with video capture, and it occurred to me that image capturing is just not that much fun unless you go on to do something with the captures, and soon thereafter inspiration struck and this collage was born. Took me 2 or 3 hours, but the time just flew... The large jpg version is quite detailed, and works quite nicely as a desktop. (FEB 2002) In celebration of my finally completing a collage for each season 5 ep, I decided to go back and do another version of my very first collage. I still really like the original version I just thought it would be fun to experiment and see if I could make a new version that would be very different and yet still very similar, incorporating techniques I've learned in the last 6 months... so I crowded the captures closer together, substituted a few alternates in and played with the colors/sharpness to produce the new version.

Notes: Glory is defeated. Plot Highlights: Buffy refuses to kill Dawn, even if it will stop the apocalypse. Anya offers helpful suggestions. Dawn prefers Glory to Ben. Willow is Buffy's big gun. Xander proposes to Anya. Spike promises to protect Dawn. Buffy & crew follow Tara to the ritual tower. Willow reverses Glory's brain-suck of Tara. Glory fights BuffyBot. Glory fights Buffy. Spike fails to save Dawn from Doc. Buffy beats Glory. Giles kills Ben. Doc starts the ritual, gets killed by Buffy. Buffy takes Dawn's place by swan-diving off the tower to her death. Quick Review: Up front, I have to say that on an intellectual level, I found the idea that Buffy's death would spare Dawn's life doubtful. Even if you accept that the monks made Dawn out of Buffy, and thus her blood was an equivalent substitute for Dawn's (which you can only do by mumbling about Slayer Intuition and what not) wouldn't that mean that BOTH she & Dawn would have to die to stop the portal opening? Till there's no more blood, right? Okay, that said, I'm going to go on to say that, you know what? I don't really care. And I don't care because on an emotional level it felt inevitable, sublime, perfect. Not only does it reverberate way back to the first season with Buffy's temporary death at the Master's hands, to the second season with her being forced to kill Angel to save the world, and to the third season where Angel needed her mystical slayer blood to live, but it's clearly the climax this whole season has been building up to. Not to mention that the path that leads up to this monumental grief-filled catharsis was amply stocked with the wonderful interpersonal moments that make all the strongest Buffy episodes what they are (see Memorable Moments below). In short, break the tab on the video tape and shelve it in a safe place (with a box of kleenex)... this one's a definite keeper. Memorable Moments: Anya thinking Xander's only proposing to her because they're going to die. Spike unspoken but palpable gratitude at being re-invited into Buffy's house & his heartfelt promise to protect Dawn till the end of the world. Giles & Spike quoting Shakespeare (Henry V's Saint Crispin's Day speech) with Spike's "band of buggered" substitution. Willow facing off against Glory & her later reunion with the restored Tara. Giles quietly killing Ben so that Buffy won't have to. Buffy's words to Dawn over scenes of her swan-diving to her death; the gang's reactions to finding her in the rubble, esp. Spike's breakdown.
Transcript Source: Download from http://www.studiesinwords.de/100thegift.html I modified text from Rayne's shooting script to match televised version & my formatting. (If the link above doesn't work, try looking here, under multimedia.)
There are 25 clips for this episode

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