You Can't Keep Running Away From What You're Trying To Find: 5.20-5.22

Since I talked in class about the episodes 15 through 18, I'm not going to write about them here and I'm going to skip ahead to the end of Season 5.

These last three episodes begin with Buffy running from her problems because she thinks it is the only possible way to get out of the mess. In "Spiral" Buffy is literally running away with the gang in an RV when they are stopped by the Byzantium knights and Giles is badly wounded. In "The Weight of the World" Buffy is mentally running away as she become catatonic after Ben transforms into Glory and she takes Dawn to serve her purpose as the key. Buffy appears to finally be doing what she has wanted from the beginning. She has talked about what it would be like to give up her powers from the beginning and now she is not using the powers that she has. This is a very stressful period because now we can see what would happen if she didn't have her powers or if there was no slayer. In just the few hours that Buffy is unresponsive Time is wasted and all hell literally breaks loose in "The Gift" when the gates are opened. If Buffy had been using her powers from the beginning rather than running away, it is unlikely Glory would have gotten that far. However, this experience appears to have given Buffy enough of a boost to realize for herself why she is truly necessary and to come to grasp with the fact that she can make a difference in the world that no one but she can make. She is the slayer, the one chosen to protect the world. In the end she realizes that if she wants to protect the world, the best way she can live up to her calling is to sacrifice herself. This act, and the reasoning behind it gives new definition to "the slayer". She is not only 'one who slays' or 'one who protects', but she is 'a sacrifice made in order to protect mankind'. As spike said, "Every slayer has a death wish." The end of season 5 shows us the importance of that to the human race.