Grave (Buffy episode)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode | |
|---|---|
| “Grave” | |
 |
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| Episode no. | Season 6 Episode 22 |
| Guest star(s) | Anthony Stewart Head (Giles) Danny Strong (Jonathan) Tom Lenk (Andrew) |
| Writer(s) | David Fury |
| Director | James A. Contner |
| Production no. | 6ABB22 |
| Original airdate | May 21st 2002 |
| Episode chronology | |
| ← Previous | Next → |
| "Two to Go" | "Lessons" |
"Grave" is the 22nd and last episode of season 6 of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. See also List of Buffy the Vampire Slayer episodes.
Contents |
[edit] Plot synopsis
[edit] Summary
While Xander and Dawn whisk away Jonathan and Andrew for an unknown sanctuary, Anya and Buffy take on the very evil Dark Willow at the Magic Shop using Anya’s newfound demon powers and Buffy’s Slayer abilities, until Giles suddenly appears back in town after learning of Willow‘s turn towards evil, where he takes her on and subdues her with some borrowed magicks of his own. But Willow has a few tricks up her sleeve and gets Anya to help her escape.
At daybreak, the final conflict approaches. While Jonathan and Andrew take advantage of the chaos to slip away, Buffy finds herself fighting side-by-side with Dawn against underworld demons conjured by Willow to kill them, while she rallies her dark powers on the ruins of a Satanic temple to bring about the end of the world and every good person in it once and for all.
Meanwhile, Spike’s African sojourn comes to a climax when he endures hours of physical and mental pain in his demon fighting opponents and at the end gets his wish… of a soul.
[edit] Expanded overview
Willow starts to recover from Giles's attack, but Willow's not interested in his attempts to help. He tries to keep her down, but she's persistent and he's forced to bind her and her magic with his powers. Buffy and Anya embrace Giles, who then offers his sympathies to Willow and then catches up with Buffy. Giles reveals that he was given power from a powerful coven to take down Willow. Buffy fills him in on everything he's missed and Giles reacts by laughing hysterically at what has happened. At the same time, Willow communicates with Anya telepathically and tells her how to end the binding spell. Buffy and Giles continue to laugh about the luck of their lives and then talk about Buffy's feelings about being alive in the world. The subject goes back to Willow and Giles explains that the coven is trying to extract Willow's powers without killing her. Willow appears in the doorway, holding an unconscious Anya, and reveals that she's free of the binding spell.
Willow magically tosses Buffy aside and sends weapons flying at Giles. He blocks them though and sends her flying through a brick wall into the main room. Meanwhile, Xander and Dawn talk about what to do next, and Xander lets it slip that Spike tried to rape Buffy, but Dawn is not quick to accept that.
In the cave in Africa, Spike wins another round in the cave and asks for whatever else the demon can dish out. He gets it when his body is suddenly covered in beetles.
After several rounds that destroyed the Magic Shop and weakened Giles, Willow is confident in her strength and Giles tries one last attempt to hurt Willow by bringing up Tara and what her thoughts on the situation might be. After Buffy saves Giles from Willow's rather detructive response, Willow creates a fireball that she sends off to find and destroy the remaining Trio. Buffy rushes off to try and stop the fireball before it hurts Jonathon & Andrew, as well as Xander and Dawn. Willow lectures Giles while she slams his body repeatedly against the ceiling and the floor. He interrupts her with some magic but she doesn't let that stop her. She sucks the power from Giles's body and revels in the overflow in her body. The magic she took from him though is accompanied by an emotional burst that makes her feel so much that she decides it has to end; there's too much pain in the world and she must end it all.
Xander, Jonathan and Andrew try to break into crypts at the cemetery looking for a place to hide, but they're interrupted as the giant fireball heads directly for them. Buffy races through the cemetery and tries to get everyone out of the way before they're hurt. After the fireball hits, Xander is knocked out, the ground shakes and opens up and Buffy and Dawn fall into a large hole. Andrew and Jonathan take the moment to escape and head for Mexico. At the Magic Shop, Anya finally comes to and finds a weakened and dying Giles on the ground. He can feel Willow's presence and knows that she's going to end the world. Buffy tries to climb out of the hole but struggles and tries to pull coffins out of the surrounding dirt walls to stack and try to escape on. After Xander comes to, Buffy sends him to find some rope to help them get out.
Dawn questions why Buffy didn't tell her about what Spike did and tells her sister that she can't protect her from the world. Anya appears in the hole and updates Buffy on the situation with Willow. On a bluff elsewhere in town, Willow raises a temple out of the ground to help her with her plans. Anya explains how Willow is going to end the world and that Buffy cannot do anything to stop her. She leaves with the parting information that Giles is short on time. Xander, standing at the top of the hole, overhears this and runs off. Willow talks to Buffy telepathically and Giles can also hear her as she speaks. Willow wants Buffy to die fighting and creates earth elementals for her to battle. Buffy tries to fight the elementals as best as she can and, outnumbered, Buffy asks Dawn to help.
Willow begins her magic on the cliff and the earth starts to shake all over town. Xander arrives and finally breaking through his self-pity, steps into Willow's way and tries to force her to stop the magic, but she tosses him aside. Giles wakes up and realizes that there is still hope. After one of the elementals attacks her, Dawn slays it with some pretty crafty moves, which she credits to watching her sister in action. In the cliff, Xander starts to talk to Willow and appeal to her emotions by reminding her of her past and telling her that he loves her and he'll stick by her side no matter what she does. She uses magic to physically wound him every time he tells her he loves her until he finally gets through to her and her powers drain away. Willow tearfully breaks down in Xander's arms as the dark magic drains from her and she returns to her usual red-haired appearance.
No longer on the edge of death, Giles wakes up and tells Anya that the magic he received was intended for Willow to steal. It tapped into her remaining emotions and gave Xander the chance to reach her humanity. Anya is shocked to find that Xander saved the world. Buffy starts to cry happy tears and Dawn questions whether she wanted the world to end. Buffy's sure that things are going to get better and she's now really ready to live. Buffy and Dawn climb out of the hole and check out the horizon while Xander continues to comfort Willow, the nerds get a ride to Mexico, and Anya helps Giles to his feet and out of the destroyed shop. In Africa, a severely bruised and bloodied Spike lies on the ground of the cave as the demon approaches him and announces that Spike has successfully endured all the required trials to grant his request. The demon places his clawed hand on Spike's chest... and he returns the vampire's soul.
[edit] Writing and acting
Xander's importance to the "gang" is explored as he prevents Willow, as a powerful witch on the rampage, from destroying the world by trying to get across to any part of the humanity Willow has left inside her. He tells her stories of their childhood, and says he loves her no matter what she does to him, which includes slashing his face and arms, to which he replies "I still wanna hang". His love eventually breaks through as she breaks down crying in Xander's arms, reverted back to the old Willow.
At the beginning of the episode, Buffy comments to Giles that she feels that when she crawled out of her grave, she left part of herself behind. At the end of this episode, she must once again crawl out of a grave, this time with Dawn. The first time, she was disoriented, it was night time, and Sunnydale had been overrun by demons. This time, it is morning and she is with Dawn, and they look out over a beautiful forest. It is a chance for her to start over, and really live for the first time since she was brought back to life.
[edit] Production details
[edit] Music
- Sarah McLachlan - "Prayer of St. Francis" - As Buffy climbs out of the ground with Dawn. - The song, appears in the U.S. version of the Radio Sunnydale (12 songs), but not in the UK one (21 songs).
[edit] Quotes and trivia
- The Magic Box is destroyed in this episode.
- The incident Buffy and Giles are laughing at occurred in "Normal Again", in which a demon's poison made Buffy believe she was in a mental institution for dreaming up Sunnydale.
- The running gag of Andrew being unimportant and unknown is continued with Willow's line, "You probably even think you're buying escape time for Jonathan and the other one."
- This is the only Buffy season finale not written and directed by Joss Whedon.
- As the camera pans across the destroyed Magic Box, and comes rest on Willow's boots, one of the books on the floor is a novel by William Shatner
- The legend of the Slayer says that when one Slayer dies, another takes her place. This happened the first time Buffy died, resulting in two slayers. However, when Buffy died at the end of Season 5, no slayer replaced her at the beginning of Season 6 as before. No mention of this is made at all in season six until Buffy says "But it was my time, Giles; someone would have taken my place", and even then it's only a sidelong reference to an event that didn't happen. No explanation is given as to why another Slayer never appeared at Buffy's death. Some believe that the lineage was passed along to Faith. This is supported when, during Season 2, Kendra first appeared. Giles distinguished between Buffy and Kendra by saying that Buffy was simply "a Slayer" and Kendra was "the Slayer", indicating that the lineage had already passed from Buffy to Kendra.
[edit] Continuity
[edit] Arc significance
This episode brings to an end the "Big Bad Willow" story arc. The deep friendship between Willow and Xander is shown on a new level. Meanwhile, Buffy's own grief, which started in the middle of Season Five with Joyce's death, is finally resolved as she completes the process of accepting life that she began in "Normal Again". Dawn proves herself to be a capable fighter, which will become important in Season Seven. Andrew and Jonathan are on their way to Mexico. Finally, Spike receives a soul, an event that will significantly impact both Buffy in Season Seven and Angel in Season Five of that show.
[edit] Timing
- Stories that take place around the same time in the Buffyverse:
| Location, time (if known) |
Buffyverse chronology: January 2002 - Spring 2002 (non-canon = italic) |
|---|---|
| Sunnydale, 2002 | B6.13 Dead Things |
| L.A., 2002 | Angel book: Fearless |
| L.A., 2002 | A3.13 Waiting in the Wings |
| Sunnydale, 2002 | B6.14 Older and Far Away |
| L.A., 2002 | A3.14 Couplet |
| Sunnydale, 2002 | B6.15 As You Were |
| L.A., 2002 | A3.15 Loyalty |
| Sunnydale, 2002 | B6.16 Hell's Bells |
| L.A., 2002 | A3.16 Sleep Tight |
| Sunnydale, 2002 | B6.17 Normal Again |
| L.A., 2002 | A3.17 Forgiving |
| L.A., 2002 | Angel comic: Spike: Old Times |
| Sunnydale, 2002 | B6.18 Entropy |
| L.A., 2002 | A3.18 Double or Nothing |
| Sunnydale, 2002 | B6.19 Seeing Red |
| L.A., 2002 | A3.19 The Price |
| Sunnydale, 2002 | B6.20 Villains |
| Sunnydale, 2002 | Buffy books: Wicked Willow |
| L.A., 2002 | A3.20 A New World |
| Sunnydale, 2002 | B6.21 Two to Go |
| Sunnydale, 2002 | B6.22 Grave |
| L.A., 2002 | A3.21 Benediction |
| L.A., 2002 | A3.22 Tomorrow |
