Review of "The Gift" May 22, 2001

Collection of Multiple posts post on WB/UPN/WB Boards in June-August

A.   What to Watch For in Buffy Season Finale Rerun Tonight

Things to watch for:

1.  Will it be the same version or one of the alternate scenes versions supposedly made ? (Same)

2. Buffy's brutal threat to kill Giles if he got near Dawn.

3. The elaborate Buffy/Buffy-Bot clothes-changing charade (2 white tops, 2 leather jackets, gray
     pants  v/s black)

4. The immense amount of screen time devoted to Glory telling Dawn and Giles telling Buffy
    that only Dawn's death/cessation of her bleeding would close all the portals...

5.  Followed by Buffy and Dawn ignoring it all and having Buffy's suicide dive close the portals,
    even while Dawn was still bleeding from the cuts to her torso.

6. The total lack of physical injury to Glory from the troll hammer and their slugfest on the tower.

Plus their apparent WWF-tag-team-style cooperation in setting up the hit by the wrecking ball.

7.  The inexplicable facial bleeding of Glory ONLY AFTER being hit by the wrecking ball and
      disappearing into the next room where she and Buffy were out of sight of the others for a time.

8. This in spite of the entire season having repeatedly demonstrated that Glory was physically
    invulnerable in her own godly form.

   Q. How does being hit by a wrecking ball compare to Glory falling  to the ground from a half-mile
        over Sunnydale after Willow/Tara's teleport from the hospital and being totally unaffected ?

9 The Doc/Dawn/Buffy Charades-on-the-Tower. How does Doc get on the guarded tower anyway ?

10. Willow's unwanted interference with the Charades-on-the-Tower by FORCING Spike to climb the
      tower.

B. Here are Martin's scathing comments from the expanded TVtome.com (Buffy) expanded review of the
     season finale:

RE: Martin's Critical Remarks  2001-06-27 19:12:21

We share Martin's misgivings about many things in The Gift.

Some of us just don't believe Joss Whedon's "We planned
 it this way seasons ago". But if you run with that premise,
than you wind up shaking your head at some of the things
in the finale, The Gift. Early on we posted the above titled
article assuming that the writers actually had a plan and
left hooks in the episode to hang the 6th season on.

However, it still would not surprise us if they just
marched Glory back in and showed us what really happened.

Martin's paragraph makes a good lead-in to our long
posting from some weeks ago. Nothing has changed that
 invalidates the article.

 MARTIN:

"After previous season finales (a la Graduation Day) you
kind of expect a strategy to defeat the villain.  Instead
what we got was the writers realising they'd indulged their
own pretenciousness too long and now only had one episode
to tie things up in.

 "The Scooby Gangs resulting plan was "lets just punch Glory
until she dies."  If this was their plan by the way, why
didn't they do it weeks ago, rather than wait until the
last moments before (yawn) another mystical ceremony.

 "They had the Troll hammer half a season ago, the latest
addition was the robot Buffy, and even that they had weeks
in advance, it just didn't make sense."

Of course, that leads us right to the heart of the Glory postings:

"Gift- Plot Deception and Misdirection in the Buffy Season Finale"
6/12/01

REV A-

Plot Deception and Misdirection in the Buffy Season Finale

SUMMARY: Since Joss Whedon said publicly that Buffy was dead
and rotting in her grave, but would be back in her body (not a dupe
or other dimension body) in the UPN 2-hour season opener (or later ?),
obviously what we saw was plot deception designed to pave the way
for a must-see Season 6.

This post is an evolution of a number of posts made on WB Talk
5/23-24/01 exploring what was real and what was plot deception
by Joss Whedon in the Buffy season Finale. I was soundly
thrashed there for some errors that I acknowledge and  later
verified this weekend when I had time to track them down.

Hopefully this is less a problem now.

As near as I can determine, the Finale (The Gift) took place over one
night in two main pairs of plot threads that came together in the
climatic battle at the tower. Dawn was apparently a captive of Glory
the day following her capture, and the Finale lasted from early
evening of the that night until dawn (appropriately) of the following
morning:

1. Buffy & Spike threads

- Buffy has returned from her morbid catatonia to formulate a plan
with inputs from the others, primarily Anya.
- Spike has found the box at Doc's with info that gives them the time
of the ritual (Tara leads then to the location).

2. Glory/Ben/Dawn threads

- Ben has accepted Glory's deal for immortality and Glory is in control
of the ritual plans.
- Dawn is convinced that Ben is a monster worse than Glory.

3. VIEWER FACTS

The major fact that the viewers know is that Buffy is dead, confirmed
by Joss Whedon. This is a plot deception for resolution later, based on
some facts known to the writer (Joss wrote & directed the Finale,) but
not to the viewers.

Ben appears to be dying, but we do not see this to the end. Joss says that
Glory is dead. Viewers are left to speculate if this is another plot
deception also.

4. OTHER OBVIOUS PLOT DECEPTIONS

Several other plot deceptions that created viewer surprise were usually
understandable, in hindsight, by actions as far back as the initial
appearances of the Dagon-sphere, the enchanted  troll hammer and the
Buffy-Bot.

This indicates either pre-planning from the beginning or, at
least, wise use of prior episodes to build on. History seems to indicate
Joss Whedon plans plots far ahead, at least in major content, with
details that may be flexible.

There were posts that said that multiple endings were shot for the
Finale. It is possible that some of the plot deceptions are actually
continuity artifacts of that.

Since Joss both wrote & directed the episode, they are probably
deliberate.

5.  BUFFY/BUFFY-BOT PLOT DECEPTIONS

5.1 THE BOT

The Bot was wearing the pink top and a black leather jacket
with brass-like button decorations from around the collar down both edges
to the waist, when found in the cellar by Xander/Anya. The Bot's hair was
loose and flowing.

The next time we see the Bot she is insulting Glory & tossing the
Dagon-sphere to her.

But she has changed clothes. She is now wearing an almost smooth
white top, a different leather jacket with no decorations and with a full
collar. Her hair is pulled back like Buffy's was in the Magic shop all the
time before the others followed Tara and Buffy said she'd be with them
shortly. The smooth white top & black body suit visible at the neckline
are also Buffy's clothes.

Backtracking to the arrival at the tower, the "Buffy" that tells Willow
she's up, is wearing the same clothes the Bot has when she appears
in front of Glory about a minute later. This implies that Buffy may
have separated from the gang following Tara at some point and
obviously entered the area separately.

Q. When did they change clothes and tie up the Bot's hair ?

- Obviously this plot deception was leading up to the dramatic moment
when Glory beheaded the "Slayer" and was astonished that it was a robot.

- But this indicates a lot of action took place out of sight of the viewers'
version of the plot. The Bot also was programmed with information that
only Buffy or Dawn could have provided (blurry superspeed from the campus
encounter or the  slaughter of hundreds of knights in less than 30 seconds
when Dawn was taken through Willow's barrier by Glory).

5.2  BUFFY

The real Buffy appears with the troll hammer after the Bot is beheaded by
Glory. But she has changed clothes also. She is wearing a wide-ribbed white
top with gray pants. Her hair is now loose and flowing.

Q. What's the purpose of all the clothes changing ?

- Once the Bot is beheaded, viewers realize what is going on. Both could be
naked and we'd still know. (One trivial response that is not relevant, but
true, is that Buffy's stunt double in the gray pants has a bigger butt than Sarah
does).

- From that time until were see the body of Buffy, there are no more hair or
  clothes changes.

6. GLORY/DOC/DAWN PLOT DECEPTIONS

Ignoring the concept that "Buffy and Glory made a deal"  before  the Tower
Battle for the moment, since that seems to infuriate some, there are still a couple
of apparent plot deceptions that warrant discussion.

6.1 GLORY

The most obvious and glaring is that Glory was bleeding BEFORE she morphed
into Ben and was apparently then smothered by Giles, in RIPPER mode.

 Let's see:

- Glory was teleported several thousand feet over Sunnydale, fell to the
   ground and was unhurt.
- Glory ran thru a campus interior wall to chase Buffy/Dawn and was unhurt.
- Glory was hit by a fuel truck going 20-30 MPH and was unhurt.
- Glory took a crossbow bolt at 10 paces and it bounced off.
- Glory took a crowbar to the head and she was unhurt.
- Glory only had a memory of Ben being hit by Dawn's chain. She was unhurt.
- Glory killed hundreds of armed and armored knights in less than 30 seconds
   while apparently dragging Dawn along. Glory was unhurt. - Glory and Buffy fall several stories from the tower and both got up still
   trading insults.

So Glory is physically unable to be hurt while in her form, per Gregor,
Giles, the Council  and all the prior episodes. Granted, she weakens,
but bounces back in seconds, as occurred at the tower.

Q. So why is she bleeding from her mouth and nose ?

Ah, you say, the combination of the hole from Willow's retrieval of Tara's
mind,  plus the enchanted troll hammer, was too much for Glory.

- A review of the entire fight shows that Glory recovered quickly and beheaded
  the Bot  with little effort. The troll hammer was the only thing that allowed Buffy
  to battle Glory to a draw. It only moved her around, and did not make her bleed.

- I was quite surprised to discover that Glory was completely un-bloodied
  and still  insulting Buffy, until after she was hit by the wrecking ball and pushed
  thru the far wall into the very room with the writing desk where Dawn had been held
  captive.

- Backtracking, there is no signal to Xander as to where Glory is to hit her
  thru the outside wall with the wrecking ball. In fact, Buffy actually pushes
  Glory to the wall area and the ball is already on its way, based on Buffy's
  facial/eye movements.

Q. Since the wrecking ball is not magical, how can it make a perfectly viable Glory
     suddenly be bleeding on the face, considering that she is invulnerable
    in her form ?

Let's see - How many wrecking balls does it take to equal a moving fuel truck ?
                     - How many wrecking balls does it take to equal a fall from half a mile onto a
                        parking lot ? (note the 'sounds' of car alarms in the on-line text of this episode)

This is undoubtedly the lamest error/copout in Buffy history, fully justifying Martin's scathing
     remarks earlier:

     "After previous season finales (a la Graduation Day) you
     kind of expect a strategy to defeat the villain.  Instead
     what we got was the writers realising they'd indulged their
     own pretenciousness too long and now only had one episode
     to tie things up in.

    "The Scooby Gangs resulting plan was "lets just punch Glory
     until she dies."  If this was their plan by the way, why
     didn't they do it weeks ago, rather than wait until the
     last moments before (yawn) another mystical ceremony.

     "They had the Troll hammer half a season ago, the latest
     addition was the robot Buffy, and even that they had weeks
    in advance, it just didn't make sense."

6.2 DOC

- Earlier, how did Spike make the non-obvious deduction that the box held
  something important ? Was he just bluffing ? It was a bit convenient, though.

- Earlier, how can the Doc survive a broadsword to the chest ?

- How did Doc get to the top of the tower to bleed Dawn, while the base was
  guarded and Buffy & Glory were fighting on it ?

- How did Doc gain 'blurry super speed" for his attack on Spike on the
  tower?

- Why does Doc call Dawn 'kid' (a term Glory used when first meeting Dawn) ?
  Previously, he called her girl, or pretty little thing.

- Why does Doc start off the tower platform on his own & not try to stab
  Buffy  ?

- Why does Buffy merely assist Doc off the tower with her left hand
   fingertips and make no attempt to hit him ? Why does she never take
   her eyes off Dawn the whole
time ?

6.3 DAWN

- Dawn never stops bleeding, yet the portal, which is open for about 3
  minutes, closes after Buffy dives in.

- Both Giles & Glory went to great pains to explain the whole business about
  how it would stay open (with all the others), to Buffy and Dawn, respectively.
  Only Dawn's death would have closed it Glory specifically told Dawn.

- No amount of "Buffy as a template for Dawn" can explain why the portal
  closed for Buffy while Dawn was still bleeding. We are not being told something here.
  Buffy could open her veins and bleed to death on the tower and it should have no effect
  on the portal. Only Dawn is the Key.

7.0 Theories to be bantered about:

-Joss will open the UPN season with Buffy falling and show her body,
 then the screen will flash:

   "Three Hours Earlier"

....and we will see what really happened.

Wild Theories----

The "Deal" concepts are based on the magic/mojo spell that Glory had
somehow acquired that mindwarped those who saw her/Ben morphing.

The assumption is that it might be used to make people see what is not
there, like Tess does on Roswell:

Glory Cloaked as Doc

-Buffy & Glory made a deal and what we saw was magic cloaking (Glory
 was disguised magically as Doc, & vice versa), after the wrecking ball hit.
 Buffy and Glory got thru the portal, leaving Buffy's body behind. Buffy's
 motive was her being tired of the world and perhaps that was what
 Glory demanded as a price for Tara & Dawn.

Glory Cloaked as Buffy

- Buffy was magically cloaked as Glory after the wrecking ball hit and
  Glory, magically disguised as Buffy, went up on the tower, comforted Dawn
  and dove off into the portal, closing it, shedding her Buffy disguise as the
  body  we saw. Again, a secret deal between Buffy & Glory that is a win-win
  situation for both, but prevents the gang from stopping "Buffy's" apparent suicidal
  plunge, which is actually Glory on her way home. By this theory, Ben would have to
  be magically uncloaked as either the real Buffy/Doc after Giles 'kills' her/him.

- Time travel to unravel the threads and produce an entirely different
   ending where Buffy doesn't die. This is probably unlikely. Buffy's is primarily a
   linear universe.

- There must be others that meet Joss Whedon's stated  limits and might be
   plausible. It's just hard to make them fit between the events broadcast and
   Joss' conditions, and still make sense.

-Glory
(GloryGlory)

C. Spike's Role if Buffy Did Make a Deal With Glory

Tue, 12 Jun 2001

Spike's Role if Buffy Did Make a Deal With Glory

After speculating in the earlier on the possibilities of how Joss will
raise Buffy from the dead, even though she "is rotting in the grave"
as we write, there seems to be little wiggle room but fantastic variations
on the "Buffy Makes a Deal with Glory and her Mojo" and they stage
a 'play  within a play' at the tower.

GLORY BLEEDING PROBLEM

Especially since the finding in the earlier posting that Glory, who is
always invulnerable in her physical form, is bleeding immediately after being hit
by the non-magical wrecking ball.

Glory is only weakened temporarily by magic. The troll hammer inflicts no
physical damage to her until after being knocked in the other room where she and
Buffy were alone, not visible to the others, for possibly several minutes.

GLORY'S MORPHING MOJO MINDWARP SPELL

This is about the only possible place where some sort of cloaking spell
could have  been cast so that Glory could leave "as Doc" and he could fight on "as
Glory".

(Remember the almost endless scene, followed later by another with Spike and
Xander, in which the effects of Glory's morphing mindwarp spell was shown to
be both powerful and lasting. The exception was Spike, and to a lesser extent
Dawn.

Dawn's case seems a problem, until it is noted that she saw the morph for a
second time, was immediately seized by Glory and could not deny the reality
of what she saw.

OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS

In addition to the earlier post, I believe  have found the only time Buffy
and Glory could have planned the impromptu staged fight. That was when she and
Spike went to her house 'to get weapons' some indeterminate time before
Tara led them to the tower.

Some very peculiar things happened there.

First, were were reminded that Spike had been magically de-invited from
Buffy's house. Buffy had to re-invite him in, proving that she was not the Buffy-Bot
to viewers, even though 3 scenes later the Bot is wearing her clothes, plus
the leather jacket without the brass buttons, while Buffy has somehow changed
pants and top by the time she is first seen at the tower.

Buffy tells him she's counting on him to protect Dawn and that not all of
them will survive. Spike says that he will do this until the end of the world,
even 'if that's tonight'.

Then he declares his love for Buffy, who only looks at him from the stairs.

This point is the one at which Spike could have led her to the Doc's to look
for more evidence of the ritual, in a last ditch effort to find some way out
of the fight Buffy had decided would result in deaths. Encountering the still
alive Doc and forcing him to take them to Glory would have been possible. Why else
would the Doc be going there if not of his own choice, unless he went to warn
Glory of the stolen papers ?

BUFFY'S THREAT TO GILES

At some unknown time later, Buffy and Spike re-enter the Magic shop. Tara
is freed to go to the ritual. Buffy makes the incredible statement  "I will
kill anyone who goes near Dawn".

This is obviously directed at Giles, who had been telling Buffy in  an
earlier heated argument that Dawn must die to save the universe
before the portal is opened. (But it also serves to keep all away from the
crucial tower platform until the apparent charade is completed. Willow
screws this up unknowningly by forcing Spike to climb the tower).

Buffy then tells them to go and "they" will follow later.

GLORY'S LAST CONTACT WITH DAWN

Glory sends Dawn off to the tower quite a bit before Buffy & Spike go to her
house. This could be the time that they force Doc to take them to Glory without
seeing any  sign of Dawn.

THE DEAL

The Deal, under the posted scenario, is to get Tara's mind back, not fully
bleed Dawn, allow a mojo spell disguised Glory to bleed Dawn (as Glory
herself told Dawn SHE must do, not anyone else - Glory is the god, not Doc)
and Buffy to appear to defeat "Doc as Glory/Ben", a diversion to ensure that
Giles doesn't get near Dawn, otherwise Buffy or Spike must carry out their
threat/promises  to prevent  her death at any cost, even by killing Giles.

WILLOW'S INTERFERENCE

Willow almost blows the deal. She forces Spike to go up the tower after
she and Tara (they are holding hands) sweep the minions aside.

Spike's arrival signals an unplanned event not in the deal with Buffy.
There's some verbal dancing and a superspeed move by "Doc/Glory"
to apparently stab Spike. He is toyed with about not having a soul to
smell (Glory had sniffed him earlier and declared he was a vampire).

At some point Spike has to be thrown off the tower to allow the deal to go
on.

THE BLEEDING AND THE GLORY EXIT

"Doc/Glory" slices Dawn with several 'shallow cuts" and blood drops. Buffy's
frantic rush up the tower is now seen as her effort to fulfill her part of the deal
and to make sure that Doc/Glory doesn't kill Dawn after the unplanned encounter
with Spike.

"Glory/Doc" merely says "This should prove interesting", starts diving off
the tower without even using the knife. Buffy never takes her eyes off Dawn,
and uses her fingertips (not her fists) to assist "Glory/Doc" off the tower.

Buffy frees Dawn, but her blood has already opened the portal at about the
next lower level of the tower, the one that "Glory/Doc" could easily have grabbed
because the next level is shown later to bulge out wider that the top level. She dives
off the tower to the portal from there

Glory is now into the portal. Starts regaining her power while Buffy stalls
and comforts Dawn for almost 3 minutes. (The dragon appears from a second dimensional
portal in the sky above and to the east of the tower).

Buffy lies to Dawn that her death will close the portal. It will not. Only
Dawn is the Key.

Buffy dives into the portal per her part of the agreement. She is the only
one that Dawn identified to a skeptical Glory that could "live in this world".

And that is Glory's price for the whole thing. Making Buffy abandon this world,
showing that she cannot live in this world either.

But she will live in Glory's world.

Glory then proceeds to use her rapidly regained powers to  form a new body
for Buffy in her world and for Ben, too. Ben and Buffy's shells fall to the ground as
bodies.

Doc ends the mojo spell, gets up and wanders off, singing "Wait 'til she
gets back, boys".

SUMMARY

This speculative scenario, started in the earlier posting,  weaves its way
thru the known facts and events to an endpoint that Joss has defined, taking into
account various peculiar Finale events and probable plot deceptions and
misdirections that appear to be hooks upon which to twist the plot to that endpoint
in the Fall.

Postscript 8/25/01:

One 'key' as to the direction Joss will take is whether Clare Kramer is seen, possibly
in disguise, on late nights in August/September 2001 on the Buffy set as they essentially
re-shoot "The Gift". To do this Glory has to make at least a one episode Season 6
appearance.

(Glory/Glory)
 
 

All things identified as being from the 'Buffy-is-real' dimension are derived from the original works of Dawn the Last Slayer, not the fictional Buffy character: These are Copyright © 2001 gloryisagod.com/DS/G(G)

Glory (Gloriana)  Gloryisagod.com  -end-

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