Top 10 Episodes of Buffy The Vampire Slayer

2. The Gift (5×22)

I would have to say that “The Gift” and my number one choice are really a tie.  I love that this episode would only really work as a series finale at the time, due to the theme and power of the fifth season.  If they tried to do this in Season 7, it wouldn’t work as well thematically.  “The Gift” is about the gang’s final assault against Glory to stop her from doing a ritual and killing Dawn.  The opening of the episode goes back to the show’s roots and has Buffy fighting a normal vampire.  The team contemplates how to slow Glory down and Buffy finally reveals to Giles that she has learned that death was her gift and she is against it.

The episode has a very kinetic energy all the way to the very end where Buffy finally realizes what her gift meant and she sacrifices herself for her sister and her friends.  When you see her tombstone read “She saved the world – a lot” you give a chuckle but also realize that, finally, her job was done.  There are some touching tidbits in the episode, such as Spike telling Buffy that he knows she will never love him but thanks her for treating him like a man and not a monster.  The darkest moment comes when Giles does the one thing Buffy would never be able to do: kill a man so Glory will cease to exist.  It’s a shocking moment that I feel was needed in this episode.  Overall, it is one of the best episodes of television I have ever seen.