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Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Episode 6.22, "Grave"
Directed by James Contner
Written by David Fury
Love conquers all. It's the ultimate answer. It lies at the core of every decent human being that's ever lived. True, unconditional love is a rare thing, and it's what lies at the heart of the Willow/Xander relationship. It's a relationship that has changed over the years with its one constant always being love. They're friends; they're family.
"Grave" opens up where "Two to Go" left us hanging. Giles had returned showing a power heretofore unseen. It's a power that was great enough to knock Willow on her back. It's borrowed power that a Coven in England imbued him with for the specific purpose of coming back to Sunnydale to fight a dark force fueled by vengeance, namely Willow. Giles promptly places Willow in a containment field seemingly neutralizing the threat. There's a brief exchange between Buffy and Giles as he comments on her hair and gives her a hug. Anya then very cutely hordes in on the hug. It's a brief glimpse at the parental guidance and comfort that's been sorely missing over the past year in Giles' absence. It's a welcome return.
Buffy then proceeds to let Giles in on all the action that has been going on in Sunnydale since he left for England. Cue the dramatic music as Buffy tells Giles everything: "Xander left Anya at the altar; Anya's a vengeance demon again; Dawn's a total klepto; money's been so tight that I've been slinging burgers at the Double Meat Palace; and I've been sleeping with Spike." What's Giles's comforting response to all these hardships? He bursts into uncontrolled laughter in a very gratifying scene. It's a not-too-sly wink and nudge to the audience that at least David Fury understands how poorly the soap opera style of the past season was handled.
Shortly after this little exchange, Willow enters the room with an unconscious Anya. She had apparently been able to use Anya to get herself free. What happens next is a fight very different from the physical exchange between Buffy and Willow in the previous episode. It's less frenetic and far more focused. Very little actually happens, but there's a much greater sense of danger as magic is Willow's element. Giles runs the very real risk of dying here. The verbal exchanges between them shed far more insight into the characters as well. With her face cut up, Willow says that healing herself is "nothing. It's all nothing." Willow's state of mind is much more clearly seen here than it was in the last episode. Where "Two to Go" focused on Willow still seeking vengeance for Tara's death, "Grave" is showing Willow has grown so detached from the world around her that everything is nothing to her. It's an important look into her way of thinking that explains her motives for what she does later in the episode.
Xander, Dawn, Jonathan, and Andrew meanwhile are still running. Xander is apparently leading the group, but he admits to not knowing where he's leading them to. He is unusually down on himself in this segment saying that he can't even run away right. He's been blaming himself for everything that's been going on lately and is seriously downtrodden. They ultimately end up in a graveyard trying desperately to find somewhere to hide. The logic behind why Xander would want to hide in a graveyard in Sunnydale escapes me. As they're trying to break into a hiding place, a giant fireball flies through the air toward them. Willow had sent the fireball to chase down Jonathan and Andrew. It was designed to kill them and anyone helping them, but in reality it was merely a diversionary ploy to get Buffy to leave her and Giles alone. Buffy comes running through to the graveyard just in time to tell everyone to move out of the way. I guess they couldn't have figured that one out on their own. In any event, the ball of fire tears into the ground and creates a deep pit that leads into various underground caverns. Buffy and Dawn fall into it and are trapped. Xander gets knocked unconscious. Jonathan and Andrew escape to run to Mexico.
The fight between Giles and Willow, meanwhile, has boiled down to Giles being very beaten and Willow ranting about how he is "such a hypocrite" as he is using magic to stop someone from using magic. Her point is pretty solid, but it doesn't take into account that Giles is using 'pure' magic and Willow is using 'evil' magic. While Willow is ranting, Giles takes the opportunity to deliver one last magical attack that is apparently more powerful than it appeared. Giles then tells Willow that she's not as strong as she thinks she is. She's running low on power. Willow promptly does to Giles what she did to Rack: she takes his magic from him to recharge. The result here is far more dangerous as Giles's power is more formidable than anything Willow had ever tasted. In fact she goes so far as to say "no mortal person has ever had this much power, ever." The downside to gaining so much power, though, is that Willow begins to feel again. She not only feels her own pain more strongly, she feels all the pain of everyone in the world. "It's too much." She now wants to end everyone's suffering. Willow's now gone from feeling nothing to feeling everything, and the results are catastrophic.
Buffy and Dawn are still trapped underground. Xander wakes up and tries to find a rope when Buffy orders him to. Anya teleports down to the cave where Buffy and Dawn are trapped. She had woken up to find Giles apparently dying after Willow took his magic. She informs Buffy and Dawn that Willow is going to a satanic temple on King Man's Bluff. Buffy remarks that there isn't a temple on King Man's Bluff. Cut to Willow raising a spire from the ground on the bluff. Back in the cave, Anya tells Buffy that "no magic or supernatural force can stop her."
As Willow is preparing to begin the destruction of the world, she senses that Buffy is trying to come after her. She says that Buffy should go out with a fight and summons monsters from the earth to keep her busy. During the fight, Buffy realizes that she is outnumbered. She turns to here sister and asks her to help. She hands her a sword both symbolically and literally bringing Dawn into the Scooby Gang fold.
So Giles lies dying on the floor of the magic shop while Anya, Buffy and Dawn fight for their lives underground, and Willow is preparing to end the world. Someone's missing. Willow shoots out bursts of energy from her chest into the temple, charging it up. Xander steps in the line of fire. The energy dissipates as it hits him. Xander quips, "Hey black eyed girl. What you doing?" Willow zaps him in anger. Xander pulls himself up again stepping into Willow's energy transfer. He tells Willow "Where else am I gonna go. You've been my best friend for my whole life. World gonna end, where else would I wanna be?" Willow snaps back, "Is this the master plan, you gonna stop me by telling me you love me?" While Willow dismisses it that is exactly what he does. Xander tells Willow in all its simplicity "I love you." Willow struggles; she hurts Xander to make him stop saying it. Xander perseveres and doesn't stop showing the true strength of his character. Willow ultimately breaks down in tears being held in Xander's arms. Her hair fades from black to red and the two just hold each other.
The episode draws to a conclusion as a musical montage shows the four groups of people coming to grips. Jonathan and Andrew ride with a trucker to Mexico, Willow and Xander hug, Giles and Anya leave the rubble of the Magic Shop, and Dawn and Buffy walk from the graveyard into a flowered park. All is right in Sunnydale. In Africa, however, things are much different. Spike has passed his trials. He lays on the ground battered but has survived. "Give me what I want. Make me what I was so Buffy can get what she deserves," he commands. "Very well," the demon responds, "we will return. your soul." Spike screams in torment and the season ends.
Okay, first of all, this episode's premise was fairly simple. Willow fights Giles, takes his magic, and wants to end the world. While there wasn't much there, the journey the characters make in getting there adds a lot to it. Toward the middle of the episode, the characters are divided into groups of two's: Dawn/Buffy, Giles/Anya, and Willow/Xander. This works very well as each group of characters have issues that need to be resolved. David Fury pulls together quite a powerful, largely character-driven episode. There's no big fight to take up a lot of the screen time. Even when Giles and Willow do fight, it's intermixed with dialogue that let's us know these characters even better. The script was well-penned and managed to keep the characters in character.
Contner's direction, also, was good. As with Norton last episode, he allows the characters to stun us rather than some snazzy camera work. It's a good choice in an episode like this. I especially loved the scene at the end when Buffy walks away from the cemetery into the floral scenery. It was a subtle visual reminder that it's what Buffy has been trying to do all year. Well, she finally has pulled herself from the grave and readied herself to live again with a new lease on life.
Once again, my only real complaint with this episode is the lack of importance that the show's title character played in it. She had no part in saving the world, and very little part in fighting Willow. The scene where she and Dawn were given enemies to fight by Willow seemed like it was tacked on to give Buffy something to do. While that very scene allowed Dawn and Buffy to bond even more, it just didn't feel right. Buffy should have played a larger role.
With all that said, however, this episode is definitely one of the best Buffy's I've ever seen. It doesn't quite reach the proportions that Becoming Pt. II reached, but it's so close. This is a finale for the books.
Episode rating: 9.5 out of 10
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