"Buffy the Vampire Slayer"
The Gift (2001)

Director:

Joss Whedon

Writers:

Joss Whedon (creator)
Joss Whedon (written by)

TV Series:

"Buffy the Vampire Slayer" (1997)

Original Air Date:

22 May 2001 (Season 5, Episode 22)

Genre:

Drama | Fantasy

Plot:

In the 100th episode, another imminent apocalypse is at hand in Sunnydale. Buffy must square off against...

Plot Keywords:

Lesbian | Female Protagonist | Sister Sister Relationship | Heroine | Returning Character Killed Off

Cast

Sarah Michelle Gellar	...	Buffy Summers
Nicholas Brendon	...	Xander Harris
Alyson Hannigan	...	Willow Rosenberg
Emma Caulfield	...	Anya
Michelle Trachtenberg	...	Dawn Summers
James Marsters	...	Spike
Anthony Head	...	Rupert Giles (as Anthony Stewart Head)
Clare Kramer	...	Glory
Charlie Weber	...	Ben
Amber Benson	...	Tara Maclay
Joel Grey	...	Doc
Todd Duffey	...	Murk
Craig Zimmerman	...	Minion #1
Josh Jacobson	...	Teen
Tom Kiesche	...	Vampire

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour

Certification:

USA:TV-PG

Trivia:

This was the final episode broadcast on The WB before the show moved to UPN.

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: At 24:07, as the camera pulls back from Dawn, along the top edge of the screen you can see over the TransLight backdrop that is providing the cityscape behind her, into the studio beyond.

Quotes:

Xander: The glorified bricklayer picks up a spare.

Movie Connections:

References Alferd Packer: The Musical (1996)

Season 5

Season 5 of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" is not the great season of television a lot of people claim it is. The season story arc is quite mediocre, with Glory and her minions being completely unfunny and ludicrous and never feeling threatening whatsoever. Although the core cast is strong as usual the acting here is seriously problematic from the new additions. Michelle Trachtenberg grew to become a good actress, but she is simply abysmal in the majority of her episodes here, as is whoever played Ben.

Season 5 is worth recommending on the basis of its stronger episodes however, "Fool for Love", "Crush", "Intervention", and especially "The Body" are really great episodes. I for one think "The Gift" is a massively, massively overrated episode and a pretty ordinary finale.

My distaste for the 'big bad' of the season really brought down my enjoyment of it, but overall this isn't a bad season and certainly not worse than seasons 1 or 4 of Buffy.

Season average based on all episodes: 6.86/10