Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 5 Episode 22

Joss Whedon originally planned this episode to be the series finale at the beginning of season five. He knew he was going to kill off both Joyce and Buffy and didn't know how the Dawn character would be received. Midway through the season he received an offer to move the show to the UPN network. Whedon decided that there was still a lot of things he could do with the show and accepted the offer. Buffy ran for two more years on UPN after season five.

In the scene where Spike lands on the bricks after being thrown from the tower, stuntman Steve Tartalia landed in an awkward position and ended up having a piece of brick collide very hard against his testicles.

The gates of the demon dimension will close when the Key's blood stops flowing, ie the Key is dead/consumed. Even if Buffy and Dawn share the same blood, Buffy's death should not stop Dawn's bleeding.

When Buffy asks Giles how many apocalypses there were, he answers 6, but it feels like a 100. This seems appropriate, since it's the 100th "Buffy " episode.

The "Previously on..." episode recap showed scenes from the previous five seasons. Included were the original introductions to the main characters, plus when Buffy was called.

While this recap is not on the Season 5 DVDs, you can find it as an easter egg on the Season 7 DVD set.

This is the second time that Buffy has officially died, but not the second time that we've seen her dead. The first was in "Nightmares", where she was turned by the Master, then in both "Prophecy Girl" and "The Wish" she was killed by the Master. This death would make four, and it could be debated as whether or not she died in "Villains", as she flat lined.

When Buffy asks how many apocalypses this makes, Giles replies "Six, at least"; they are referring to the ones that were stopped in "The Harvest," "Prophecy Girl", "Becoming (2)", "The Zeppo", "Doomed", and this one.

The outfit that Buffy wears in this episode is the same outfit that she wears for most of the Angel episode called 'I Will Remember You'.

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.

Earlier in the season, it was rumored that the entire town of Sunnydale would be sucked into the Hellmouth in the finale. Although it has never been completely confirmed, Joss had another plan for the season. The original idea was to have Anya die in the rubble, Xander be Glory's other half (instead of Ben), Willow was going to become evil after Tara's death and join forces with Glory, and Dawn was to be bled by Evil Willow in the end, and Sunnydale was supposed to be completely destroyed by the Hellmouth.

Spike's invitation into Buffy's house (rescinded in "Crush") is re-issued in this episode when the two go there to gather weapons.

When Tara walks out of the magic shop, she yells to Giles "You are a killer!" In the end, when Glory is weakened and morphs into Ben, Giles kills him.

Spoiler haters in the UK had a understandable reason to complain before this episode aired, as it was nearly impossible not to be informed of what was going to happen. One national newspaper ran a "Buffy Dies" special and the normally dependable Sky One kept showing trailers with Buffy's grave, the first trailer running directly after The Weight of the World.

This is the last original episode to air on the Warner Bros. Network. Because of this, the WB promoted this episode as the "series finale" and not the "season finale" since the show will air on UPN for season six.