Overall Rating: 9.5 Matt: 9.5 Eric: 9.5 Writer: David Fury Director : James A. Contner Cast : Sarah Michelle Gellar as Buffy Summers, Nicholas Brendon as Xander Harris, Emma Caulfield as Anya, Michelle Trachtenberg as Dawn Summers,James Marsters as Spike, Alyson Hannigan as Willow Rosenberg. Main guest stars : Anthony Stewart Head as Rupert Giles, Danny Strong as Jonathan, Tom Lenk as Andrew. Original broadcast date : May 21, 2002 My one-line description: Giles sums up the whole season in one moment of hysterical laughter. Willow sits up and starts to taunt Giles, telling him that she¹s surely in trouble now that daddy¹s home. He softly tells her that she has to stop what she¹s doing, and tries to keep her down on the floor with his magic. Buffy asks her to listen to him, telling her that she doesn¹t want to fight her anymore. "I don¹t want to fight you either", Willow answers. "I want to fight him." Reminding him about the fight they had after she brought Buffy back, where he¹d called her a "rank, arrogant amateur", she tells him to buckle up, because she¹s turned pro. But before she can do some damage, Giles binds her in a ring of energy; she resists, then goes limp, floating a foot above ground. After offering his sympathies to a weakened Willow, Giles notices Buffy has cut her hair. Overcome by emotion, she hugs him, as does Anya. He then explains to them that a powerful coven in Devon sensed the rise of a dangerous power fuelled by gried in Sunnydale, and endowed him with magics to try and take down Willow without killing her. In the training room, Giles asks Buffy what¹s happened in Sunnydale. She grimly fills him in on Willow abusing the magics, Xander leaving Anya at the altar, Anya becoming a vengeance demon again, Dawn being a kleptoŠ and her sleeping with Spike. He stares at her, stunned, then breaks into a fit of hysterical laughter. Buffy gives him a disbelieving look, then starts laughing herself. Out in the store, Willow manages to telepathically force Anya to break the binding spell. Buffy, now laughing as hard as Giles, is telling him about her stint in an asylum (Normal Again). The two get serious again when Giles asks her if she can forgive him for leaving. She tells him he was right to leave, then confides that it took a long time for the feeling that she wasn¹t really there to go away. She wonders why she came back, and what it is she has to do in the world. Then she asks him what is going to happen to WillowŠ Giles admits that she might not be the same afterwards, and wonders how she¹ll be able to live with having taken a human life. Speaking for herself, Willow answers that she¹s living with it fine. She¹s standing in the doorway, magically holding up a hovering and unconscious Anya. Tossing Buffy aside, she sends weapons hurtling at Giles, but he magically blocks them with a training dummy. He then sends Willow crashing through a brick wall in the front room. Walking in the street, Xander mourns all that¹s happened, and Dawn says they should go back, that it¹s what Spike would do. Xander cynically refers to Spike¹s attempted rape of Buffy. Dawn is astounded and doesn¹t want to believe Xander. In the cave in Africa, Spike, increasingly damaged, pants and tells the demon that he can take whatever he can throw at him. He should have been careful what he wished for ­ legions of huge beetles swarm over him, as he howls in fury. In Sunnydale, Giles tries to tap into Willow¹s emotions by asking her what Tara would think of what she¹s doing. However, Willow just suggests that he go ask her, and sends him crashing in the bookcases. Buffy intervenes, much to Willow¹s displeasure, who tells her that her habity of always saving everyone is « kind of pesky ». She then gets rid of Buffy by magically sending a ball of fire to kill Jonathan and Andrew wherever they are, forcing the Slayer to run after it and try to save them. Alone with Giles in the Magic Box, Willow slams his body repeatedly on the ceiling and on the floor, while lecturing him on how she used to think she had so much to learn from him, but that now she realizes he was jealous of her power. He interrupts her by using a last bolt of magic on her, but far from stopping her, it infuriates her enough to suck the magic out of him. Giles¹ magic gives her a headrush, and causes her to be able to feel all her friends¹ pain. Horrified, she decides she has to put an end to all that suffering ­ permanently ­ and disappears. In the cemetery, Xander, Jonathan and Andrew try to break some crypts open, presumably to take cover. Then they see Willow¹s fireball hurtling toward them; they¹re saved in the nick of time by Buffy, who tackles everyone out of the way before the fireball crashes into the ground. The aftershock knocks Xander out and opens a hole in the earth, through which Buffy and Dawn fall. Terrified, Andrew and Jonathan take all of this in and decide that Mexico is actually not so bad an idea. In the ruined Magic Box, Anya comes to and finds Giles lying on the ground. She tries to tend to him, but he tells her that he¹s dying. He also informs her that he can feel Willow, and that he knows what she¹s up to ­ preparing to end the world. Buffy tries to climb out of the very deep hole, holding on to surrounding coffins sticking out of the earth, but fails. Xander comes to and calls to the girls; Buffy sends him to get some rope, then resumes her efforts. Dawn suggests that they may be close to one of the tunnels Spike uses, and that they try to punch into his crypt. Buffy mutters that it¹s not a place she wants to be right now. Dawn confronts her about Spike¹s attempted rape, and asks her why she didn¹t tell her. Buffy answers that she needs to protect Dawn, but Dawn angrily retorts that she can¹t protect her. As they argue, Anya appears and tells Buffy about Willow¹s intention to drain the Earth of its lifeforce and burn it to a cinder, using the temple on Kingman¹s Bluff. Buffy mentions that there¹s no temple on Kingman¹s BluffŠ On the Bluff, Willow is magically resurrecting a satanic temple that was buried in the quake of ¹32. In the hole, Anya leaves, informing Buffy and Dawn that Giles doesn¹t have a lot of time left, and that she ought to be with him. Buffy doesn¹t intend to stay inactive, though; but Willow hears her and tells Buffy telepathically that although she can¹t stop her, she should go out fighting. "It was me who took you out of the earthŠ well now, the earth wants you back", Willow comments, before bringing decomposed zombies to life in the hole where Buffy and Dawn are stuck. Anya returns to Giles¹ side and pleads with him not to die, that it was good of him to come to their aid, although he ended up giving Willow even more magic. In the hole, Buffy is fighting the zombies with her sword, but she quickly realizes that she¹s outnumbered. She asks Dawn for her help, and tosses her another sword. "I got your back", Dawn answers, unspeakable pride in her eyes. On the bluff, Willow begins working her magic on the temple, making the ground shake all over town. However, Xander steps in front of the temple and interrups the energy flow between it and Willow. He tries to get to stop, but she tosses him aside with a magic bolt. As he crashes to the ground, she looks shaken, unsure of herself. "ThereŠ", Giles whispers in the Magic Box. As Anya looks questioningly at him, he softly tells her that it¹s not over. One of the zombies attacks Dawn, who calls out to Buffy. The Slayer disposes of her own zombie and prepares to come to her sister¹s rescue, but Dawn rallies and slays the zombie with some very crafty moves. "What, you think I never watched you?", Dawn asks her astounded sister with a sly grin. On the bluff, Xander once again steps into Willow¹s magic flow and interrupts it. She tells him he can¹t stop this, and he answers that he knows that, but that she¹s been his best friend his whole life and he wants to die close to her. He tries to appeal to her emotions, reminding her of the time she cried in kindergarten because she¹d broken the yellow crayon, telling her that he loved that Willow and also loves scary, veiny Willow. Willow tells him to shut up, and throws a bolt at him, ripping his cheek open. He tells her he loves her once again, and she angrily sends him to the ground with another bolt of magic, again telling him to shut up. But Xander rallies, and tells her again and again that he loves her, moving closer and closer to her as her magic bleeds out. Willow realizes her power is gone, and starts pounding Xander¹s chest with her fists in frustration, finally falling to her knees in tears as all the emotions and grief engulf her. Xander holds her in his arms, gently telling her he loves her; as she cries on, her hair reverts back to its normal red. In the Magic Box, Giles, no longer dying, sits up and tells Anya that the magic he received was actually intended for Willow to steal, so it would tap into her remaining humanity. Anya is astounded to learn that Xander saved them all by getting to that humanity in time. In the hole, Dawn tells Buffy that it¹s over, that the world is safe. Sitting on a coffin, Buffy breaks into convulsive tears, and asks if they¹re happy tears or not. She¹s not sure whether Buffy wanted the world to end or not. Buffy realizes that she¹s gotten it all wrong ­ she doesn¹t want to protect Dawn from the world, she wants to show it to her; she wants to live to see her friends happy again, and to see Dawn grow up in a powerful and beautiful young woman. For a second time in a year, Buffy Summers climbs out of a grave. Only this time, she¹s with her sister, and the two of them, hand in hand, walk away toward the beautiful world, illuminated by a gorgeous sunrise. On the bluff, Xander continues to comfort a crying Willow, and in the Magic Box, Anya helps Giles to his feet. In Africa, Spike, exhausted and wounded, lies in the cave. The demon informs him that the test is over, and that Spike has earned what he came for. His soul. Summary by OttsFiveByFive.