Buffy found herself with a new sister, who was key to the villain's plans.
The season opened with the world's most famous vampire visiting Sunnydale in the hopes of seducing Buffy to the dark side. Dracula's effort was largely a failure, but he was just successful enough to get Riley to feel a little jealous.
Harmony fancied herself to be a major villain and collected a few minions in order to kill Buffy. After failing miserably and nearly being killed by the minions, she concluded that she was now Buffy's arch-nemesis and fled to Spike for protection.
A demon named Toth came next and decided to split Buffy into her slayer and human halves in order to destroy both by killing the weaker, human half. He ended up splitting Xander instead. Xander's stronger half was able to get a regular job and a nice apartment, allowing him to move out of the basement. Unfortunately, the two Xanders were merged before Anya could do what she wanted to do with them and before a second Xander could lend an extra hand in moving out.
Joyce started getting headaches and eventually went to the hospital for observation. While there, Dawn played with a stethoscope and discovered that Riley had an excessively rapid heartbeat. Riley resisted all attempts to help him and forced a desperate search until he finally relented.
Buffy began to suspect that her mother's illness might have a supernatural cause, so she put herself into a trance to see any spells that might have been cast. She saw no evidence that her mother's illness had supernatural causes, but she did see that her sister, Dawn, was not what she seemed to be. After barely rescuing a monk from an entity called "The Beast" (a.k.a. Glory), he told her that his order disguised a ball of energy called "the Key" in order to keep it from Glory. It was currently in human form and placed with Buffy so she would protect it. It was her sister.
Tara had serious questions about whether she should be part of the group. The reason became clear when her relatives appeared to take her away. They had convinced her that the women in her family had demon in them, and the demon manifests itself when the women are 20 years old. Buffy, Dawn, Giles, and Xander all made it clear that they would not let Tara's relatives take her against her will. Afterward, a punch in the nose from Spike determined that Tara was human.
A close call with a vampire made Buffy wonder what mistake other slayers made when they themselves were slain. The only person Buffy knew who was around when a slayer was killed was Spike. Spike was not inclined to be cooperative and rambled on about his past before telling Buffy that every slayer had a death wish. Buffy's was latent only because she had friends and family.
Meanwhile, Joyce's health took a turn for the worst. She had to go back to the hospital where it was discovered that she had a brain tumor. After a very tense time, she underwent an operation that removed the tumor.
Unfortunately, Buffy neglected Riley while she was distracted with her mother's illness. He had started to go to vampires to suck some of his blood, and Buffy was not happy when she found out about this. When the military wanted him back, she was ready to let him go. A last minute lecture from Xander convinced her to try to convince him to stay, but she was too late.
Giles went to England to find information about Glory in the Watchers Council library. While he was gone, a squabble between Willow and Anya accidentally caused the release of a troll. This troll caused serious destruction to the Bronze, the Magic Box, and Xander's arm before it was banished to what Willow hoped was the land of trolls.
Soon after Giles returned, a group of watchers arrived. They said that they had information for Buffy if she was deemed worthy. If she failed, they would arrange for Giles to be deported immediately. After a few tests and some interrogations of her friends, Buffy called their bluff and said that she would let them participate in exchange for their information. The most important piece of information was that Glory was a god, not a demon.
Finally, Buffy decided to tell Willow, Xander, Anya, and Tara about Dawn's true nature. During yet another ill-advised birthday celebration, Dawn sneaked out of the house and discovered the secret that was being kept from her. She was very upset and cut herself before running away. She ended up at the hospital where she unadvisedly told an intern, Ben, that she was the key. Ben soon turned into Glory, who threatened her until the others came to her rescue.
For some time, Spike had realized that he was in love with Buffy. Eventually, Dawn figured this out and told her. Buffy was quite upset about this. Meanwhile, Drusilla came to town in order to get Spike back and complicate matters. Spike decided that he wanted Buffy, but he merely succeeded in alienating her, Drusilla, and Harmony.
A robot, April, came to Sunnydale in order to try to find her human boyfriend, Warren. She had a hard time in part because Warren was making every effort to avoid her. He created April to be a girlfriend but never fell in love with her. Instead, he fell for a real human. He abandoned April hoping that her batteries would run out. This eventually happened, but only after April attacked the human girlfriend and Buffy. Spike liked the idea and commissioned Warren to build him a robot Buffy, for checkers, of course.
Buffy came home to find that her mother died. Naturally, she, Dawn, and the other characters were devastated. It appeared that there was a complication from the surgery to remove her tumor that caused an aneurysm. Dawn tried to raise Joyce from the dead, but backed out at the last second.
Spike finally received the Buffybot that he ordered. He enjoyed it for a little while until Glory's minions kidnapped him thinking that he was the key. Buffy's friends saw the bot and were worried about Buffy until they saw the real slayer. Eventually, they all went to rescue Spike and found that, despite torture, he refused to tell Glory any information.
Glory figured out that Spike was not the key. However, due to a slip from Ben, she knew that the key was human. She decided that Tara was the key because she was the newest member of the group. Glory soon figured otherwise but decided to suck Tara's brain anyway. Willow tried to get revenge, but did not accomplish much and needed Buffy to rescue her.
In her brain-sucked state, Tara recognized Dawn as the key in Glory's presence. This forced the characters to try to flee town. Unfortunately, the Knights of Byzantium—a group of nutcases in chain mail dedicated to destroying the key—intervened and serious wounded Giles. The characters hid in an abandoned gas station, protected by a magical barrier that Willow created. However, Buffy called Ben to provide medical help for Giles. While there, he turned into Glory, who promptly ran off with Dawn.
Spike and Xander recovered information about the ritual that Glory was to perform. In order to return to the hell dimension from which she had been exiled, she was going to bleed Dawn at the right time and place. This would allow Glory to return while causing all sorts of bad things, which would continue until Dawn stopped bleeding. That is, until she died.
Buffy would not hear of this and insisted that if the ritual started, it would be allowed to cause all the bad things. Anya pushed toward preventing the ritual from starting in the first place and came up with some good ideas. At the right moment, Willow, the Buffybot, Buffy, Giles, Spike, Xander, and Anya all attacked. Willow managed to reverse Tara's brain sucking and the Buffybot and Buffy managed to keep Glory occupied. However, Doc, another Glory worshipper, managed to start Dawn bleeding. Buffy died in Dawn's place to stop the bad things from happening.
As far as the big picture is concerned, this may be the most coherent season of the show. For example, the finale drew upon what looked like throwaway aspects from "No Place Like Home," "Triangle," and "Intervention." It included themes introduced in "Fool for Love" and "Intervention." I am aware that the writers do a lot of making things up as they go, but this season felt like even the details were planned in advance.
This season might have the best writing staff of any season of the show. Furthermore, starting with "Triangle," it also had the strongest cast of the show.
Starting with this season, we start to see more inconsistencies in details. In "Buffy vs. Dracula," Joyce did not know the nature of Willow and Tara's relationship. In the next episode, "Real Me," she knew about it for quite some time. Buffy went from studying the Crusades in one episode to studying the French Revolution in the next. This is not necessarily that bad a thing. This is probably the first season in which Joss Whedon completely trusted the writing staff. As a result, he probably read through the scripts less carefully and was more likely to miss these little details.
Glory was a more interesting villain than Adam was, but this is not saying much. She seemed to be more of a throwback to the entertaining but shallow Master than the more interesting villains like Spike, Drusilla, Angel, Mayor Wilkins, and Faith.
This season focused less on external threats than most previous seasons did, so there was not as much action. In fact, Buffy had only five kills in the entire second half of the fifth season, and one of those kills was herself. Standout action scenes include:
There were a number of light moments in this season, much of which came from Anya, Glory's minions, and a couple of robots. Comedic highlights included:
This was definitely one of the most dramatic seasons of the show. The characters went through a lot of pain throughout the season and the summer does not look like it is going to get any better. Dramatic highlights include:
Buffy, Willow, and Xander started the season with people who were very good for them, and two of the three managed to hold on to their partners. Key romantic moments included:
Buffy made it her mission to learn more about what it meant to be a slayer after she met Dracula. This mission started with meditation and study. Later, it involved interrogating Spike on how he was able to kill two slayers. Spike taught her that all slayers had a death wish because death was the only escape that they had from their calling. The mission climaxed with a quest in which a guide told her that death was her gift, a gift that she received at the end of "The Gift."
Family issues also played a role in Buffy's life during the fifth season. She spent much of her time worrying about her mother's health. This concern led indirectly to the end of her relationship with Riley. Later, after she believed that her mother was healed, Buffy found her mother's dead body in the house. Also, much to her surprise, Buffy found out that she did not have a sister for most of her life. Instead, the person she thought was her sister was potentially universe-destroying energy disguised as a sister so that Buffy would protect it. She did, and received her "gift" in the process.
Willow spent most of the fifth season improving her magical powers. She grew to the point where she could send Olaf the Troll to a troll dimension, teleport Glory well above Sunnydale, create a barrier that kept the Knights of Byzantium away for hours, and explore Buffy's mind. She also spent much of the season trying to make Anya feel unwelcome in the group, most particularly in "Triangle."
Giles felt that he was not longer needed in Buffy's life at the beginning of the fifth season. He was prepared to leave Sunnydale when Buffy decided that she needed his help to discover what it meant to be a slayer. He also found something else to do when he bought the Magic Box. Later, Buffy got him his old job back as a watcher. His "Ripper" persona manifested itself occasionally, such as when he tortured a Glory minion for information in "Tough Love" and when he killed Ben in order to kill Glory as well in "The Gift."
Xander had grown beyond his lost phase during the fourth season. In "The Replacement," he managed to get a permanent job and move out of his parents' basement. He even learned skills that made him someone worth having around after a crazed robot attack. His relationship with Anya also developed to the point where he proposed marriage to her.
Spike discovered that he had fallen in love with Buffy. This was quite disconcerting for someone better known for killing slayers, but he did attempt to pursue something with her. He helped her against the lei-ach demons in "Family" and helped guard Dawn and Joyce in "Checkpoint." Unfortunately for Spike, Buffy found out about his attraction in "Crush" and turned him down. He briefly sought solace in a Buffybot, but that did not last long. He earned her trust, if not her love, in "Intervention" by not disclosing Dawn's identity as the key despite severe torture. By "Spiral," he was a semi-trusted member of Buffy's group.
Dawn had a very stressful season. She did not even exist as a human until near the end of the first episode of the fifth season, despite everyone remembering her being around longer. She appeared to be a typical bratty sister until Buffy discovered that she was really universe-destroying energy disguised as a young girl. Her troubles started when her mother fell ill. They got worse when Riley left town just as she was starting to bond with him. They got even worse when she found out her true nature. When her mother died. Dawn tried to bring her back but backed off. Finally, Dawn had to deal with people close to her like Tara and Spike being hurt because Glory thought they were the key. Eventually, Glory captured her and tried to open up a portal. Dawn was ready to kill herself to save the world, but Buffy did so in her place.
Anya seemed focused on money during much of the season. In the beginning, she was running out of money. Fortunately, Giles needed an assistant in the Magic Box and hired her. While earning wages, and during games of Life, she learned to love money. She was very good with money and managed to triple her wages by investing in companies that supply basic components to tech companies. She also had tensions with Willow throughout the fifth season, most notably in "Triangle," when she admitted that she was afraid that Willow would try to take Xander away from her.
Tara started the season feeling that she was not part of the main group, probably because she believed that she had demon in her. Her relatives came to take her away before the demon manifested itself, but Spike revealed the story to be a fraud. Afterward, she felt more like part of the group. Later, Glory threatened to suck her brain if she did not tell Glory about the key. Tara did not, so she spent the last three episodes as one of the crazies until Willow cured her in "The Gift."
Joyce influenced the fifth season mostly through her health. She started with mysterious headaches that turned out to be caused by a brain tumor. This caused a lot of stress for her daughters until she had a successful operation to remove the tumor. Unfortunately, a complication of the operation caused an aneurysm that killed her. Before the removal of her tumor, she had moments in which she was able to see that Dawn was not what she appeared to be. Still, she accepted Dawn as her daughter and made sure that Buffy would protect Dawn after Joyce died.
Glory was simply a wayward soul looking for a way home. It did not seem to upset her that her chosen route would bring suffering to all living things in various dimensions. She was supposed to be so evil and cruel that other evil and cruel hellgods thought that she went too far and exiled her. We never saw evil of that level, but that was probably because Ben's goodness leaked into her. By the end of the season, she did manage to recover the key that she needed to get home, but Buffy, Giles, and the other characters managed to stop her. On this dimension, Glory was very vain and self-centered. Buffy's description of her being like Cordelia was quite accurate, although Glory was more like first season Cordelia than the character we saw later.
Ben had the misfortune of sharing a body with an evil hellgod. If it were not for Glory, he would have been a decent person who wanted to help people and perhaps romance the daughter of one of his hospital's patients. However, in a relationship between a god and a mortal, the god is usually the more powerful partner. Glory sabotaged his career as a doctor. Even worse, her evil slipped into him, which caused him eventually to work with Glory to imprison Dawn.
Riley became very cynical after his experience with the Initiative. As a result, he refused to undergo essential medical treatment because he feared what would happen to him. When he relented and underwent the needed treatment, he ceased to be the fighter he used to be. This, and jealousy over Dracula, has led him to believe that he was not good enough for Buffy anymore. When her mother's illness distracter her, he sought comfort with vampires. He eventually decided to go back to the military rather than work out his issues with Buffy.
Harmony had grown as a vampire to the point where she could be a threat to Xander. Unfortunately, she overestimated her growth and believed that she was capable of taking on Buffy. When she could not keep her own minions in line, she fled to Spike for protection and resumed her relationship with him. She managed to find enough backbone to leave him when he became to obsessed with Buffy and Drusilla.
The following characters earned MVP awards in the fifth season:
The following characters received consideration for MVP awards in the fifth season:
Buffy earned fewer MVPs this season than she has since the first season, when there were only 12 episodes. This was a great year for Willow who earned as many MVP's as she did in the first four seasons combined. Xander continued his poor pace, earning fewer MVPs in the third, fourth and fifth seasons combined (66 episodes) than he earned in the first season (12 episodes). Giles also had a really bad season. He had no MVPs and did not receive consideration for an MVP until "The Gift."
Buffy is still in the lead with 28 MVPs. Xander is still a distant second with 12. Spike moved ahead to third with eight. Faith, Giles, and Willow are tied for fourth with six each.
The following characters used their brains the most in the fifth season:
The following characters also received consideration in the fifth season:
Like with the MVPs, this award was also spread out among many characters this season. Buffy won only four times but still managed to win more than any other character. Dawn was quite impressive by winning three in her very first season on the show. Giles won only two awards, his worst showing in any season so far.
Despite a weak showing, Buffy still managed to extend her overall lead in this category by two with 26 awards to Giles's 22. Xander is third with 11, and Willow is fourth with seven.
The following characters did the most to hinder their own cause during the fifth season:
The following characters also received consideration in the fifth season:
Not only did Buffy do poorer than usual in earning the two desirable awards, but she also doubled her Goat count in the fifth season alone. Like the fourth season, the mortality rate for Goats was lower than in the high school years. Only four Goats died in an episode in which they received the Goat (Toth, Sandy, General Gregor, and Glory).
Nobody is still in the lead with eleven Goats. Buffy has moved into a tie for second with Willow with six Goats each. Spike, Giles, and Angel each have four Goats.
"I'm sick of this crap. I'm sick of being the guy who eats insects and gets the funny syphilis. As of this moment, it's over. I'm finished being everybody's butt monkey." Xander ("Buffy vs. Dracula")
"[Tara] and Willow are both witches. They do spells and stuff, which is so much cooler than slaying. I told mom one time I wish they'd teach me some of the things they do together, and then she got really quiet and made me go upstairs. Huh, I guess her generation isn't cool with witchcraft." Dawn ("Real Me")
"I'm burdened with a husband and several tiny pink children and more cash than I reasonably manage." Anya
"That means you're winning." Xander
"Really?" Anya
"Yes, cash equals good." Xander
"Ooo, I'm so pleased. Can I trade in the children for more cash?" Anya ("Real Me")
"There comes a point where you either have to move on or just buy yourself a Klingon costume and go with it." Xander2 ("The Replacement")
"Maybe we shouldn't do this reintegration thing right away. See, I can take the boys home, and, you know, we can all have sex together and then, you know, just slap 'em back together in the morning." Anya ("The Replacement")
"I'm well aware of how lucky I am, like lottery lucky. Buffy's like nobody else in the world. When I'm with her, it's like I'm split in two. Half of me is just on fire, going crazy if I'm not touching her. The other half is so still and peaceful, just perfectly content. Just knows, this is the one, but she doesn't love me." Riley ("The Replacement")
"I read a magazine that some women think a man's real sex organ is his brain. Yuck, no contest. I mean, look at it. It's so pink and wriggly looking." Harmony ("Out of My Mind")
"What are you doing here?" Buffy
"Look..." Spike
"Five words or less." Buffy
"Out-for-a-walk-bitch." Spike ("No Place Like Home")
"The girl belongs with her family. I hope that's clear to the rest of you." Mr. Maclay
"It is. You want her, Mr. Maclay? You can go ahead and take her. You just gotta go through me." Buffy ("Family")
"This is insane. You people have no right to interfere with Tara's affairs. We are her blood kin! Who the hell are you?" Mr. Maclay
"We're family." Buffy ("Family")
"Every time... Even when I'm at my worst, you always make me feel special. How do you do that?" Tara
"Magic." Willow ("Family")
"I see you. A man surrounded by fools who cannot see his strength, his vision, his glory. That, and burning baby fish swimming all around your head." Drusilla ("Fool for Love")
"Death is your art. You make it with your hands day after day, that final gasp, that look of peace. Part of you is desperate to know. What's it like? Where does it lead you? And now you see. That's the secret, not the punch you didn't throw or the kicks you didn't land. She merely wanted it. Every slayer has a death wish, even you. The only reason you've lasted as long as you have is you've got ties to the world: your mum, brat kid sister, Scoobies. They all tie you here, but you're just putting off the inevitable. Sooner or later, you're gonna want it, and the second, the second that happens, you know I'll be there. I'll slip in. Have myself a real good day. Here endeth the lesson. I just wonder if you'll like it as much as she did." Spike ("Fool for Love")
"I still don't get why we had to come here to get info about a killer snot monster." Xander
"Because it's a killer snot monster from outer space. I did not say that." Giles ("Listening to Fear")
"Alone time always translates into 'get Dawn out of the house, so we can have loud, obnoxious sex.'" Dawn
"Oh, does that mean we can't?" Anya ("Into the Woods")
"Sometimes, I envy you so much it chokes me, and sometimes, I think I got the better deal. To be that close to her and not have her, to be all alone, even when you're holding her, feeling her, feeling her beneath you, surrounding you, the scent. No, you got the better deal." Spike ("Into the Woods")
"You've been treating Riley like the rebound guy when he's the one that comes along once in a lifetime. He's never held back with you. He's risked everything, and you're about to let him fly because you don't like ultimatums? If he's not the guy, if what he needs from you just isn't there, let him go. Break his heart, and make it a clean break. But if you really think you can love this guy—I'm talking scary, messy, no emotions barred need—if you're ready for that, think about what you're about to lose." Xander ("Into the Woods")
"I gotta say something, 'cause I don't think I've made it clear. I'm in love with you, powerfully, painfully in love. The things you do. They way you think. They way you move. I get excited every time I'm about to see you. You make me feel like I've never felt before in my life, like a man. I just thought you might wanna know." Xander ("Into the Woods")
"Money, did you hurt the money? Money good? She endangered the money!" Anya
"Of course, that's what she cares about. 'I like money better than people. People can so rarely be exchanged for goods and/or services." Willow ("Triangle")
"I'm not sampling, I'll have you know. Look at all these lovely blood-covered people. I could, but not a taste for Spike, not a lick. I knew you wouldn't like it." Spike ("Triangle")
"I need to know a little bit more about the slayer and about the both of you, your relationship, whatever you can tell me." Nigel
"Our relationship?" Tara
"We're friends." Willow
"Good friends." Tara
"Girlfriends, actually." Willow
"Yes, we're girlfriends." Tara
"We're in love. We're lovers. We're lesbian, gay-type lovers." Willow
"I meant your relationship with the slayer." Nigel
"Just good friends." Tara ("Checkpoint")
"No review, no interrogation, no questions you know I can't answer. No hoops, no jumps, no interruptions. See, I've had a lot of people talking at me the last few days. Everyone just lining up to tell me how unimportant I am, and I finally figured out why: power. I have it; they don't. This bothers them. Glory came to my home today..." Buffy
"Buffy, are you..." Giles
"Just to talk. She told me I'm a bug. I'm a flea. She could squash me in a second. Only she didn't. She came into my home, and we talked. We had what, in her warped brain, probably passes for civilized conversation. Why? Because she needs something from me, because I have power over her. You guys didn't come all the way from England to determine whether or not I was good enough to be let back in. You came to beg me to let you back in, to give your jobs, your lives, some semblance of meaning." Buffy ("Checkpoint")
"You're watchers. Without a slayer, you're pretty much just watching Masterpiece Theater. You can't stop Glory. You can't do anything with the information you have except maybe publish it in the Everyone Thinks We're Insaneos Home Journal, so here's how it's gonna work. You're gonna tell me everything you know. Then, you're gonna go away. You'll contact me if and when you have any further information about Glory. The magic shop will remain open. Mr. Giles will stay here as my official watcher, reinstated at full salary..." Buffy
"[Under a cough] retroactive." Giles
"... to be paid retroactively from the month he was fired." Buffy
"Glory isn't a demon." Quentin Travers
"What is she?" Buffy
"She's a god." Quentin Travers ("Checkpoint")
"[Holds a dress that Tara gave Buffy] It's just so lovely! Oh, I wish it was mine. Like you weren't all thinking the same thing." Anya
"I'm fairly certain I wasn't. I've got one just like it." Giles ("Blood Ties")
"Look, it's blood. It's Summers blood. It's just like mine. Doesn't matter where you came from or how you got here. You are my sister. There's no way you could annoy me so much if you weren't." Buffy ("Blood Ties")
"It can't end like that 'cause all of Quasimodo's actions were selfishly motivated. He had no moral compass, no understanding of right. Everything he did he did out of love for a woman who'd never be able to love him back. Also, you can tell it's not gonna have a happy ending when the main guy's all bumpy." Tara ("Crush")
"Tin soldiers put funny little knickknacks in your brain. Can't hunt. Can't hurt. Can't kill. You've got a chip." Drusilla
"Right, so you've heard. Poor Spike's become a cautionary tale for vampires, right? 'You better be good, kiddies, or else they might wire you up someday.'" Spike
"I don't believe in science, all those bits and molecules no one's ever seen. I trust eyes and heart alone, and do you know what mine is singing out right now? You're a killer, born to slash and bash and, oh, bleed like beautiful poetry. No little tinkertoy could ever stop you from flowing." Drusilla ("Crush")
"I can see it. Little bit of plastic spiderwebbing out nasty blue shocks, and every one is a lie. Electricity lies, Spike. It tells you you're not a bad dog, but you are." Drusilla ("Crush")
"You can't love without a soul." Buffy
"Oh, we can, you know. We can love quite well, if not wisely." Drusilla ("Crush")
"Oh, Spikey, and you can say good bye to this [points at her rear end] because you're not gonna see it anymore, unless you run into me somewhere, and it's me walking away from you, but even then, I'll probably just, you know, back away." Harmony ("Crush")
"She practically had 'genuine molded plastic' stamped on her ass. Just trying a little spicy talk." Tara ("I Was Made to Love You")
"Is she dangerous." Buffy
"She's only programmed to be in love." Warren
"Then she's dangerous." Buffy ("I Was Made to Love You")
"We can be strong." Tara
"Strong like an Amazon?" Willow
"Strong like an Amazon, right." Tara ("The Body")
"I don't understand! I don't understand how this all happens, how we go through this. I mean, I knew her, and then she's... There's just a body, and I don't understand why she just can't get back in it and not be dead anymore. It's stupid. It's mortal and stupid, and Xander's crying and not talking, and I was having fruit punch, and I thought, 'Joyce will never have any more fruit punch, ever, and she'll never have eggs or yawn or brush her hair, not ever,' and no one will explain to me why!" Anya ("The Body")
"Life goes by so fast. If you don't write stuff down, it just gets lost, and I wanna remember." Willow
"Down to every last bagel." Tara
"Down to every last thing I do with you." Willow ("Forever")
"You are full of love. You love with all your soul. It's brighter than the fire, blinding. That's why you pull away from it." Guide
"I'm full of love? I'm not losing it?" Buffy
"Only if you reject it. Love is pain, and the slayer forges strength from pain. Love; give; forgive. Risk the pain. It is your nature. Love will bring you to your gift." Guide ("Intervention")
"Angel's lame. His hair grows straight up, and he's bloody stupid." Buffybot ("Intervention")
"Death is your gift." Guide ("Intervention")
"The key, here's the thing. It's that guy, on TV, what's his name?" Spike
"On the television?" Glory
"On that show, the price show where they guess what stuff costs." Spike
"The Price Is Right?" Murk
"Bob Barker." Jinx
"We will bring you Bob Barker. We will bring you the limp and beaten body of Bob Barker." Murk ("Intervention")
"We're safe, right, and Spike built a robot Buffy to play checkers with." Dawn
"It sounded convincing when I thought it." Tara ("Intervention")
"Spike, you're covered in sexy wounds." Buffy ("Intervention")
"Buffy—the other, not-so-pleasant Buffy—anything happened to Dawn, it'd destroy her. Couldn't live with her being in that much pain. Let Glory kill me first. Nearly bloody did." Spike ("Intervention")
"That thing, it wasn't even real. What you did for me and Dawn, that was real. I won't forget it." Buffy ("Intervention")
"I've been reading a lot about the good ole U.S. of A, embracing the extraordinarily precious ideology that's helped to shape and define it." Anya
"Democracy?" Willow
"Capitalism, a free market dependent on the profitable exchange of goods for currency, a system of symbiotic beauty." Anya ("Tough Love")
"It frightens me how powerful you're getting." Tara
"That's a weird word." Willow
"'Getting?'" Tara ("Tough Love")
"I'm really sorry that I didn't establish my lesbo street cred before I got into this relationship. You're the only woman I've ever fallen in love with." Willow ("Tough Love")
"You think your hand hurts? Imagine what you'd feel with my fingers wiggling in your brain. Doesn't kill you. What it does is make you feel like you're in a noisy little dark room, naked and ashamed, and there are things in the dark that need to hurt you because you're bad. Little pinching things that go in your ears and crawl on the inside of your skull, and you know if the noise and the crawling would stop, that you could remember how to get out, but you never, ever will." Glory ("Tough Love")
"You want to know what I'm scared of, Spike? Me. Right now, Glory thinks Tara's the key, but I'm the key, Spike. I am, and anything that happens to Tara is 'cause of me. Your bruises, your limp, that's all me too. I'm like a lightening rod for pain and hurt, and everyone around me suffers and dies. I must be something so horrible to cause so much pain and evil." Dawn ("Tough Love")
"I owe you pain!" Willow ("Tough Love")
"So pretty, can I have one?" Tara ("Spiral")
"People, how do they function here like this in the world, with all this bile running through them? Every day, it's whoo! You have no control. They're not even animals. They're just these meatbaggy slaves to hormones and pheromones and their feelings. Hate them, I mean, really. Is this what the poets go on about? This? Call me crazy, but as hard-core drugs go, human emotion is just useless. People are puppets. Everyone getting jerked around by what they're feelin'. Am I wrong? Really, I want to know." Glory ("The Weight of the World")
"I look around at this world you're so eager to be a part of, and all I see is six billion lunatics looking for the fastest ride out. Who's not crazy? Look around. Everyone's drinking, smoking, shooting up, shooting each other, or just plain screwing their brains out 'cause they don't want 'em anymore. I'm crazy? Honey, I'm the original one-eyed chicklet in the kingdom of the blind, 'cause at least I admit the world makes me nuts. Name one person who can take it here. That's all I'm asking. Name one." Glory
"Buffy." Dawn ("The Weight of the World")
"You're just a girl." Teen
"That's what I keep saying." Buffy ("The Gift")
"Blood is life, lackbrain. Why do you think we eat it? It's what keeps you going, makes you warm, makes you hard, makes you other than dead." Spike ("The Gift")
"She's not your sister." Giles
"No, she's not. She's more than that. She's me. The monks made her out of me. I hold her, and I feel closer to her than... It's not just the memories they built. It's physical. Dawn's a part of me." Buffy ("The Gift")
"Smart chicks are so hot." Xander
"You couldn't have figured that out in tenth grade?" Willow ("The Gift")
"Usually, when there's an apocalypse, I skedaddle, but now I love you so much that, instead, I have inappropriately timed sex and try to think of ways to fight a god and worry terribly that something might happen to you and also worry that something'll happen to me, and then I have guilt that I'm not more worried about everyone else, but I just don't have enough! I'm just on total overload, and I honestly don't think that I could be more nervous than I am right now." Anya ("The Gift")
"I know you'll never love me. I know that I am a monster, but you treat me like a man." Spike ("The Gift")
"She could've killed me." Ben
"No, she couldn't, never, and sooner or later Glory will reemerge and make Buffy pay for that mercy and the world with her. Buffy even knows that, and still she couldn't take a human life. She's a hero, you see. She's not like us." Giles
"Us?" Ben ("The Gift")
"Dawn, listen to me. Listen. I love you. I will always love you. This is the work that I have to do. Tell Giles that... Tell Giles I figured it out, and I'm OK. 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 think in this world is to live in it. Be brave. Live, for me." Buffy ("The Gift")
BUFFY ANNE SUMMERS
1981-2001
BELOVED SISTER
DEVOTED FRIEND
SHE SAVED THE WORLD
A LOT
("The Gift")
The following evil entities are still at large: