“The Gift” written by Joss Whedon is brilliant episode from start to finish. From the moment Buffy fights the vampire in the alleyway to the end where we see Buffy’s tombstone, Joss Whedon takes us on an emotional roller coaster that leaves a viewer speechless at the end.

The start of the episode starts out innocently enough, well for this show, with a teenager being chased by a vampire through the alleys of Sunnydale. When the reach a dead end, and the vampire is about to kill the kid, Buffy comes out of the Magic Box, and interrupts the killing with her typical wit. After defeating said vampire, the kid asks Buffy how she could kill the vampire, because she is “Just a girl,” and Buffy replies “That’s what I keep saying.” This has been a theme that has been prevalent through the series. Buffy is the Slayer and always will be the Slayer, but she wants to be seen as a normal girl. For the longest time before this moment, Buffy was first known as the Slayer, but not as a girl.

The next scene is just completely powerful because Giles is about to say something that Buffy doesn’t want to hear, and he doesn’t want to say. Giles couldn’t come up with the words on how to stop the ritual, which was the only way to stop the ritual once it starts, is to kill Dawn. Buffy and Giles nearly come to blows over this, Buffy will not kill Dawn in any circumstance, and because she is the only family she has left. This is killing Giles because he loves Dawn, so he tries to tell Buffy that Dawn is not her sister, trying to make it easy on Buffy.

Xander and Anya have inappropriately timed sex, and afterwards Xander proposes to Anya, not because they are going to die, but that they are going to live. It seems that Xander is the only one that is confident that they will stop the apocalypse, which is not surprising because in Season 5, Xander has matured and is confident in his place in the world. He manages to soothe Anya enough so, she will not be nervous when it is time for the battle.

In a heart wrenching scene in the training room, Buffy and Giles discuss how many apocalypses they have fought in and other things. Buffy is mad a Giles for even considering killing Dawn, but she knows that Giles is trying to do the best for the world. Buffy and Giles have a conversation where it revealed that if Dawn dies, and the world survives, Buffy will quit slaying. To me, this is not surprising because the reason why Buffy slays is not duty to her duty, or the fate of the world, it is because of her family and friends. Buffy slays for them, to protect them, and to make sure they are happy and alive.

This all refers back to “Fool for Love”, when Spike tells Buffy that the reason why she is still alive is because of her family and friends. They tie her to the world, and they are the ones who make her fight her death wish that all Slayers have. I will come to this point later in the review.

That’s why Buffy understands why Willow hasn’t been focusing on how to defeat Glory, because Willow is more focused on curing Tara. Buffy knows this, because she is doing the same thing with Dawn. Other Slayers who don’t have that connection to the world would be angry, but Buffy understands. However, Willow has found a way to weaken Glory and cure Tara.

With the scene at Buffy’s house, where she invites Spike in, shows how much Buffy has grown to respect and trust Spike, because in “Intervention”, did not tell Glory what the Key was. I think that proved to Buffy that Spike’s feelings were in fact real, and that’s when she started treating Spike like a man.

Now, it’s time to talk about the big fight scene with was really well done. I liked the Scoobies’ rope-a-dope strategy that they pulled off on Glory. First, with Tara getting into Glory’s fortress, which allowed Willow to get close enough to Glory to weaken Glory and save Tara. This in turn allowed Buffy to get close enough to start fighting Glory. After, a few minutes of a beautiful fight scene. Glory was able to get the upper hand, and kill Buffy. But once again Glory was fooled again, when it was the Buffybot that was actually fighting Glory, and weaken her. Buffy was right Glory, isn’t the sharpest god in the heavens.

Before recapping the Buffy and Glory fight, we see Willow and Tara together again, and share one of the most beautiful exchanges in Buffy, where Tara says, “I got so lost.”, and then Willow coming back “I found you. I will always find you.” That made my heart stop for a second, because it shows how pure their love really is.

The fight scene between the real Buffy and Glory kept me on the edge of my seat throughout. I give credit to Sarah Michelle Gellar, Claire Kramer, and their stunt doubles making it work so effortless. I do like that they used the troll hammer in helping defeat Glory, with the help of the Dargon Sphere. When it seems that Buffy loses her advantage when she loses the hammer, Xander comes out of no where with the wrecking ball, and helping to weaken Glory even more, which allowed Buffy to close down on Glory and finally defeating her, when Ben reappears.

Buffy can’t kill Ben because he is an “innocent” human in her eyes, so she tells Ben to leave and to take Glory with her. Giles knows that Glory will not let this end if she ever reappears, so he kills Ben because he knows that is the only way to keep everyone safe. Giles is the only one willing to kill an “innocent”, because it has to be done. Even when Xander recommended it in the beginning of the episode, he knew that he couldn’t go through with it.

Unfortunately, while Buffy was defeating Glory, Doc, play marvelously by Joel Grey still performs the ritual to open the portal, despite Spike’s best efforts to stop him. And the barriers start to break down, big uglies from other dimensions are pouring into earth, and causing havoc in the short time the portal is open. Buffy gets there just a bit too late, and dispatches Doc rather easily. Buffy frees Dawn from her captivity, and Dawn realizes the portal has to be closed, meaning the blood has to stop. So she is ready to sacrifice her life to stop the suffering of all.

Then it his Buffy when Dawn says blood, Buffy remembers all these events from the past realizing that since Dawn was made out of her, that it could be her blood to stop the portal. At this moment, Buffy decides it is her time to give her gift to the world which is her blood. We see Buffy and Dawn talking, and the Buffy jumping into the portal, suffering immensely, and then dying, which closes the portal.

We see everyone’s reaction to Buffy’s body, Willow is crying, Xander is in shock, a look of pride in Giles, and pure grief on Spike. This is when I realized the Spike really loved Buffy, and it wasn’t just lust. Then we hear what Buffy said to Dawn right before she jumped, which is the best monologue in the series.

“Dawn, listen to me. Listen. I love you. I will *always* love you. But this is the work that I have to do. Tell Giles ... tell Giles I figured it out. And, and I'm okay. And 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.”

What Buffy figured out is what she has been reaching for the first five years of the series. As I mentioned above, she isn’t slaying because it’s her duty, she isn’t slaying for the fate of the world, but she slays for the people she loves. Kendra wouldn’t have done this, Season 3 Faith wouldn’t do this, but Buffy would. Because of the ties she has in the world, Buffy realizes that the Gift she has is her death. Her death was the gift to the world, because it came out of love, not duty. This love made Buffy a superior Slayer, it allowed her to continue when it looked bleak, Without love, Buffy would have been just another Slayer.

One of Joss’s themes through all of his shows has been love, but in “The Gift” it really shows. Buffy’s love of Dawn allowed her to share her gift with the world. Giles went off on Buffy because he loved Buffy, and didn’t want to see her get hurt, so that’s why he said Dawn isn’t your sister. Buffy understood that love was the reason why Willow wasn’t 100 percent focusing on stopping Glory.

Another bit that I loved was in that the scene where Anya gives suggestions to how they can defeat Glory, and Xander said, “Smart girls were so hot.”, and Willow replied, “Why couldn’t you figure that out in 10th grade.”, was great because it made reference to a huge part of the show in the early seasons.

Everything in this episode was top notch, starting with the acting. They all made Joss’s brilliant script come alive. Everyone played off each other well, and understanding what was needed to get through this episode. You couldn’t have asked for more for Buffy’s 100th episode. It did not disappoint, everything was just well done.

For Xander Harris, life is a mixed bag heading into season 5. He has great friends and a beautiful woman loves him, but the rest of his life is in the dumps. He can't find a steady job, and he is still living in the basement, which as evidenced in "Restless" he fears that he will never escape. Then in "Buffy vs. Dracula", Xander becomes Dracula's "spider-eating man-bitca" which provides great comedy, but Xander had enough. He reached an epiphany, he doesn't want to be a "butt-monkey", and this becomes evident in "The Replacement."

We start out in Xander's basement, where we are subjected to hearing Xander's parents arguing above, which drives on Xander's insecurities about not being able to escape the basement and he will end up being like his parents. This drives the new Xander to decide to get out of the basement and make more of with his life. However, when Xander sees the Shiny apartment, the "Old" Xander reappears, and doesn't take the Initiative to getting the argument that leads to a big fight between Xander and Anya.

After getting split into by Toth, the "Old" Xander wakes up in the dumps, literally, signifying how he feels about his home and work life. We spend the rest of the episode following "Old" Xander's POV. The "New" or Other Xander is does everything better than the "Old" Xander. He gets the promotion, gets the apartment, and has beautiful women hit on him. And the "Old" Xander feels even worse than he normally does. It is only when the "Old" Xander thinks about losing Anya he decides to act.

The reason why I am using "New" and "Old" Xander is because looking back, that is how it is. The "New" or Confident Xander is the one who is tired of being the Butt-Monkey, and wants to be something better, as the "Old" or Lame Xander is the one who is still stuck in his parent's basement with no hope in life.

As Giles points out they are both Xander, and when we lose one, we lose the other, because they affect each other, meaning that they balance each other out. So, if "Old" Xander dies, "New" Xander will never appear. Xander had this potential that none of us or the characters saw, but it was there. All it needed to be achieved is Xander to see his true self, which only could be done by being split into two distinct halves.

Before this episode we saw Lame Xander more than we saw Confident Xander, but after this episode, especially in Season 5, Confident Xander becomes the dominant personality. This allows Xander to mature to the man he will become in the future. He still has his insecurities, and they still become a factor in the future, but it becomes less obvious.

Once again, the villain in this episode was not as the important as its use. Toth was used as a plot device to separate Xander in his two halves, which was needed to start Xander on his road to maturity.

Another thing I liked about this episode is how Willow thinks Anya is not good enough for Xander, which continues from season four, and heads all the way through Triangle.

I also feel that this episode along with “The Zeppo” show that Nicholas Brendon deserves his own series, because he can really carry his own comedy series. He has great comedic timing, and makes us laugh in any situation. Not to say that he is not a fine dramatic actor, but his strengths are in comedy.

This episode also become the starting point of the dissolution of the Buffy/Riley relationship, where Riley tells Xander that he does not feel the Buffy loves him the way that he loves her. For the most part, I disagree with Riley, but at some level I agree with him. Buffy treated Angel as her equal in phases, but sometimes Buffy did not do that for Riley. I do believe that Riley deep in his subconscious is not comfortable with Buffy's superpowers but I also think that Riley does love because he is the Slayer. His love for Buffy is a paradox, which will become evident in later episodes.

Overall, I'd give this episode a B.

Personally, I feel just horrible for George, Meredith fell of the pedestal that he had her on, and Meredith should be considered a bitca for what she did to George. However, I do believe George is a fighter and he will get back on his feet, and find someone else maybe Cally or Olivia. I think George will eventually get over and forgive Meredith, and down the road they will become friends. I don't think George will ever see Meredith in the same way again as he did before the incident. He may forgive her before the others, because he is such a nice and empathetic person. I too loved the fact he did the narration, because I think it was appropriate, and brings a different perspective to the viewers. I think that George thinks that what happened to him with Meredith is karmic retribution for what he did to Olivia earlier. (If that's the case, I hope that I don't fall down the stairs because I kind of chuckled when he fell, but that was typical George. )

I also feel bad for Meredith, and maybe this is the wake-up call she needs to get off the downward path that she is on. I do think sleeping with George will be rock bottom for her, meaning being with George was horrible, but how she acted during sleeping with George was rock bottom. I hope this incident makes her realize that her life is going downhill, and she can't treat the people around her like that. I do believe she will redeemed because she is a good person somewhere. I don't know how she will be redeemed, but she will.

Maybe George should never have sex again, because the last two times he had sex, he got syphilis and then what happened with Meredith, he should be celibate from now on.

I also felt bad for Alex for Izzie blowing him off for Denny, who is a great guy, but Alex is a great match for Izzie and does care for him.

I really enjoyed the episode even though I was dreading it because I did not want to see George hurt, and I knew it was going to happen.

When we come off the first half of the Series Finale, "Two to Go", Buffy and Willow are completely destroying the Magic Box. When it appears Dark Willow has gotten the upper hand over Buffy, Giles teleports to the 'Dale to help the Scoobies try to bring Willow down from her grief driven rage.

There is so much in the episode I loved. The scene where Giles laughs at the Scoobies' missteps, and tells Buffy that it is all apart of maturing. Giles gives Buffy some encouraging words. I reaaly enjoyed the scene where Jonathan grows a backbone and says that he and Andy need to make up for their transgressions. Of course, when Xander is knocked out cold, Andy and Johnny escpaed.

In the entire two-parter I couldn't believe it was Willow doing this at all. Willow always had a thirst for vengance, heck, we could see it in "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered.", but I could have never believed that Willow would be the type to destroy the world.

It was great plot device to have Giles be drained of his magic to make Willow feel the best aspects of Humanity. And Xander had to be the one that could tap into that humanity because he is the most human of the characters. He is the one who keeps the characters grounded. It took Xander to make Willow to realize that if she destroyed the world, she would killed her best friends. Xander's love of Willow enabled her to tap into that spark of humanity that Willow recieved from Giles's magic.

But that "Yellow Crayon" Speech is quite possibly the best written speech in the entire series. It gets me to cry everytime I see it. Xander's heart, and speaking from the heart, which is his best aspect saved the world.

This is my all-time favorite episode,and the ironic thing is that Joss Whedon didnt write it, and it is the only Series Finale he did not write. I give mad props to David Fury for writing this classic.

Other Highlights: All of Dawn's standing in the corner proved to be beneficial because she was studying Buffy's moves. She handled herself quite well in that cave.

Anya facial expression when Giles told her that it was Xander was the one who saved the worldm was classic.

And the biggest plot twist during the series came at the end, where Spike went through the trials to "Give the Slayer what she deserved." was just shocking. I never saw Spike ever getting his soul back. Joss and his group of writers will always keep us guessing.

I have to commend three actors for their wonderful preformances in this episode. Alyson Hannigan proved her acting mettle from "Seeing Red" to "Grave" as a fine actress, and it is crying shame that she never got an emmy nod. Despite being Dark Willow, we felt bad for her, because her sadness was carried across the screen, and we were heartbroken for her.

Nicky Brendon also proved that he is a damn fine actor mixing his comic timing while being dramatic in the "Yellow Crayon" speech, which delivered perfectly, and it is a gorram conspiracy that he never got a nod for an Emmy.

And Anthony Stewart Head did a wonderful job playing off Aly and SMG and going from comedy and drama within seconds. We thought it was the end of the world when he thought it was, but we knew that it could be saved when his face changed. Great job carring that change in emotion for ASH.

All of the other preformances were brilliant, but Aly's, NB's and ASH's were shining.

Another wonderful thing was the ending song by Sarah M., it exemplied the mood of the characters at the end of the episode, and it gets my allegies moving. I love it.

In March of 2005, I went to Best Buy to buy a Buffy Season 2 on DVD, but Firefly caught the corner of my eye. I thought nothing of this Joss Whedon series when it came to the television landscape in 2002. But I started to remember the high praise of my fellow Angel forum members and brought it. And it may have been the best decision that I ever made as a buyer.

So later that night, I popped the first disk in, and turned on Serenity. And the opening scene was interesting, and very heartwrenching with Malcolm Reynolds losing his hope when the backup for the Browncoats pulled out of Serenity Valley. And the first episode kept my interest until the moment Kaylee was shot, and I was heartbroken. The first episode got me hooked, and it wasnt not even half way through. The way that each character cared for Kaylee made me realize that this became a character driven show, and the cast was already a family. The actions of Malcolm Reynolds was brilliant, shooting that Fed, not even thinking about it, was so awesome. The way he let Simon and River stay on his ship despite the fact they will bring a world of trouble for him, let me know that he still was a caring person.

Fast forward three days later, after I watched every episode, it became my favorite show, I liked it even more that Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel the Series. It is everything about this show that makes me love it. The characters, episodes, plots, relationships, and the sets are all brilliat. The set designers in this show are geniuses, with the vivid and futuristic city scenes are a great visual opposite of the backward moons, that are terraformed.

I love each of the characters in different ways. Malcolm Reynolds is a charismatic leader, who puts up a hard from, but you can tell he is a caring person, and wants best fot his crew. He is a well-rounded character, but he still has a myseterious past, like all of the characters. The way he punished Jayne for betraying Simon and River was priceless, and he will not let that happen.

Kaylee is such a goodhearted person, you can't help but fall in love with her. She gives a picture of innocence but, the way she was introduced to Mal shows that she isnt quite so innocent. She is the like the girl next door, but doesnt live in your neighboor hood.

Then comes Zoe, who is a strong and independent woman, who could kill you in 45 different ways. Her marriage to Wash is mystifying as her motives. She may be loyal to Mal, but when it goes behind the scenes you can tell she can hold her own against Mal. She is the rock of the group.

Wash is the character that I identity myself the most with. He is the one who is always there to help you, and keeps things in perspective in his humor. He reminds me of Xander from Buffy.

Inara, aka the Ambassador, is the heart of the group, you can tell what the mood is by how her mood is. Her relationshop with Mal is dynamic and it makes you want them to get together. However, both are to stubborn to admit it.

Jayne, is the comedian in the group, like Wash. You dont know what to expect that will come from his mouth. He has no filter. In the first half of the series you could question his motives, but after Mal put him in his place, and then when Simon and River threatened him. I feel he may be the most loyal member of Mal's crew now. I believe that he will now protect River and Simon from beginning to end.

Simon, may be the weakest character of the show, but thats not an insult he more developed than most other characters on the tele. I wonder what he is thinking, he is always on the even keil, except when it comes to River. His relationship with River is the most beautiful on the show, because of how they love each other, and what they will do for each other.

Now here comes the two most myseterious characters, River and Shepard Book. Shepard Book knows too much about torture to be just a Shepard. He also seems to be well versed in the fighting manuvers to be a normal Shepard. There is a lot more that meets the eye when it comes to the Good Shepard. What is his past? He is high with the creepy, which is best evidenced in what River read from him in "Objects in Space".

And then it is River. She is very mysterious, she has some powers that the Blue Sun wants, and thats why they are after her. Why are the powers important. What is her role in the future of spaceverse? She also projects an aura of innocence, in the ramblings, and this innocence makes us mad at the Alliance or The Blue Sun Corp. for going into her brain and torturing her.

All the bit players are wonderful like Niska, Patience, Saffron, and Badger, they seem more developed than most bit players on the tele.

It is only 78 days until "Serenity" hits the theaters, and hopefully answer some of the questions that was left unanswered in "Firefly". Like, will Simon and Kaylee ever get together? Whats up with Book? Why is River so important to the Alliance? Will Inara stay? And Many more.

I am seriouslu mad at Fox for cancelling Firefly.

10/10 for the series.