During season five, a younger sister, Dawn (Michelle Trachtenberg), suddenly appears in Buffy’s life; although she is new to the series, to the characters it is as if she has always been there. Buffy is confronted by Glory (Clare Kramer), an exiled Hell God who is searching for a “Key” that will allow her to return to her Hell dimension and in the process blur the lines between dimensions and unleash Hell on Earth. It is later discovered that the Key’s protectors have turned the Key into human form – Dawn – concurrently implanting everybody with lifelong memories of her. The Watcher’s Council aids in Buffy’s research on Glory, and she and Giles are both reinstated on their own terms. Riley leaves early in the season after realizing that Buffy does not love him and joins a military demon-hunting operation. Spike, still implanted with the Initiative chip, realizes he is in love with Buffy and increasingly helps the Scoobies in their fight. Buffy’s mother Joyce dies of a brain aneurysm, while at the end of the season, Xander proposes to Anya. Glory finally discovers that Dawn is the key and kidnaps her. To save Dawn, Buffy sacrifices her own life by diving into the portal to the Hell dimension and thus closes it with her death.

After season two and three, season five is the show at its very best. It’s a great improvement over season 4 and we get to see the beginnings of Buffy venturing into adulthood. Throughout the whole season there are these references to her higher purpose and what it really means to be The Slayer and it’s ultimately her sacrifice at the end of the season that makes her the true hero she was meant to be.

The addition of Dawn could’ve easily been a “jump the shark” moment but that story arc proves to be very strong and actually solidifies Buffy truly becoming an adult since she has a younger sibling to look after and protect. The other characters go through their fair share of changes as well. Giles sees the growth Buffy is experiencing and begins to ponder if she really needs him anymore. Willow and Tara grow more as a couple and Tara in particular becomes more fleshed out and feels like a part of the group officially. Xander and Anya continue to be a couple worth rooting for and Spike’s transition from villain to someone hopelessly in love with Buffy proves to be very interesting as well.

Perhaps the biggest emotional blow is the death of Buffy’s mother Joyce (Kristine Sutherland) in an episode called “The Body”. There is a realness to the episode that makes it a tough one to watch and the reason it resonates so much is because Buffy has fought off so much evil and saved so many lives but the natural death of her mother is something she couldn’t prevent. There was nothing to stake or vanquish, it was a stage of life she had no control over. It’s moments of reality, such as this, that makes the show more than your run of the mill genre programming.

Season five was a turning point for the series as a whole because after 5 seasons, the network that became shaped by Buffy’s success, would no longer be its home. In the 2001–2002 season, the show had moved to UPN after a negotiation dispute with The WB. While it was still one of their highest rated shows on their network, The WB felt that the show had already peaked and was not worth giving a salary increase to the cast and crew. UPN on the other hand, had strong faith in the series and picked up it for a two-season renewal. UPN dedicated a two-hour premiere to the series to help re-launch it. The relaunching had effect, as the season premiere attracted the second highest rating of the series, with 7.7 million viewers. While I’m very happy that UPN carried the show on, The  WB was always the true home of the show and things were never quite the same once it made the transition. It didn’t really mess with the quality of the show, but The WB  marketed the show stronger and with the exception of the relaunch, it felt like UPN thought the show could just promote itself. From a storyline aspect it’s fitting that Buffy’s death closes the door on its time on The WB while her resurrection begins its time on UPN.

At the beginning of season six, Buffy has been dead for 147 days, but Buffy’s friends resurrect her through a powerful spell, believing they have rescued her from the Hell dimension. Buffy returns in a deep depression, explaining that she had been in Heaven and is devastated to be pulled back to earth. Giles returns to England because he has concluded that Buffy has become too reliant on him, while Buffy takes up a fast-food job to support herself and Dawn, and develops a secret, mutually abusive relationship with Spike. Dawn suffers from kleptomania and feelings of alienation, Xander leaves Anya at the altar (after which she once again becomes a vengeance demon), and Willow becomes addicted to magic, causing Tara to temporarily leave her. They also begin to deal with The Trio (Danny Strong, Tom Lenk), a group of nerds led by Warren Mears (Adam Busch) who use their proficiency in technology and magic to attempt to kill Buffy and take over Sunnydale. Warren is shown to be the only competent villain of the group and, after Buffy thwarts his plans multiple times and the Trio breaks apart, he becomes unhinged and attacks Buffy with a gun, killing Tara in the process. This causes Willow to descend into a nihilistic darkness and unleash all of her dark magical powers, killing Warren and attempting to kill his friends. Giles returns to face her in battle and infuses her with light magic, tapping into her remaining humanity. This overwhelms Willow with guilt and pain, whereupon she attempts to destroy the world to end everyone’s suffering, although it eventually allows Xander to reach through her pain and end her rampage. Late in the season, after losing control and trying to rape Buffy, Spike leaves Sunnydale and travels to see a demon and asks him to “return him to what he used to be” so that he can “give Buffy what she deserves.” After Spike passes a series of brutal tests, the demon restores his soul.

Season 6 is as dark as the show has gotten, at least from a realistic standpoint. While I have issues with season 4, a lot of fans have issues with the doom and gloom of the sixth season. Sarah Michelle Gellar herself has stated on numerous occasions that she didn’t like the direction the character was taken and felt things got too dark.

Maybe it’s because I think dark stories can bring about the best storytelling but I think Season 6 is strong because it goes to these really dark places that the show hadn’t gone to before. Considering what everyone goes through after season 5 and the start of season 6, it’s easy to see why the characters would be in the dump they’re in. Buffy was finally at peace and even though he friends thought they were helping her by resurrecting her, it proved to rip her away from her only moment of true happiness. This causes her to make rash decisions and nothing is more rash than her affair with Spike. It’s a wonderfully dysfunctional union but somehow you root for them. He doesn’t understand how to express his desires for her without it turning into somthig violent and she uses him to make herself feel better. Even though it’s grounded in this dysfunction, there is also some mutual admiration that comes through in the middle of all disaster.

They’re not the only characters to be at their lowest. Xander’s insecurities get the better of him and he leaves Anya at the altar which sends her back to her evil ways. It’s a bummer to see them pulled apart but these character traits have been Xander since season one and it was interesting to see him questioning his manhood and ability to really be there for her because of what he thinks he lacks as a man. Another relationship on the rocks is the union of Willow and Tara which is damaged by Willow’s growing addiction to magic. The drug metaphor is a bit heavy handed but the payoff is worth it as it leads to a dark season finale that caps off these season very well. It also allows Alyson Hannigan to go dark in the best way which is something she hinted at in “The Wish” during season 3 when she got to play a vampire in an alternate reality.

There is some levity during season 6. The reason Trio is the big bad of season 6 is because life and its many complications was the real villain of season 6. The trio and all the bumbling ideas was mostly for comic relief and it works when the show really needs it. The only one to go unhinged is Warren and that set up is well played because he clearly is the one from the start who seems more serious about their evil intentions. Season 6 also features the musical episode “Once More, With Feeling” which proves to be a very fun episode but also a well written hour of television that propels the narrative forward. Musicals are all about truth through song so it’s only right that Buffy’s friends learn they yanked her out of heaven during this pivotal episode. By the end of season 6, everyone is in a strange place but also in a place for growth and redemption which sits up the seventh and final season.

During season seven, it is revealed that Buffy’s second resurrection caused an instability that is allowing the First Evil to begin tipping the balance between good and evil. It begins by hunting down and killing inactive Potential Slayers, and soon raises an army of ancient, powerful Turok-Han vampires. After the Watchers’ Council is destroyed, a number of Potential Slayers (some brought by Giles) take refuge in Buffy’s house. Faith returns to help fight The First Evil, and the new Sunnydale High School’s principal, Robin Wood (D.B. Woodside), also joins the cause. The Turok-Han vampires and a sinister, misogynistic preacher known as Caleb (Nathan Fillion) begin causing havoc for the Scoobies. As the Hellmouth becomes more active, nearly all of Sunnydale’s population – humans and demons alike – flee. In the series finale, Buffy kills Caleb, and Angel returns to Sunnydale with an amulet, which Buffy gives to Spike; the Scoobies then surround the Hellmouth and the Potential Slayers descend into its cavern, while Willow casts a spell that activates their Slayer powers. Anya dies in the fight, as do some of the new Slayers. Spike’s amulet channels the power of the sun to destroy the Hellmouth and all the vampires within it, including himself. The collapse of the cavern creates a crater that swallows all of Sunnydale, while the survivors of the battle escape in a school bus. In the final scene, as the survivors survey the crater, Dawn asks, “What are we going to do now?” Buffy slowly begins to enigmatically smile as she contemplates the future ahead of her, ending the series on a hopeful note.

Season 7 is benefitted by the fact that the show knew it was most likely ending that year. Even though Sarah Michelle Gellar announced her desire to not sign on for season 8 while season 7 was airing, she had had talks with Joss Whedon before production started so he knew that he had to make season 7 endgame for the series. Sarah Michelle Gellar stated this at the time to Entertainment Weekly:

“When we started to have such a strong year this year, I thought: ‘This is how I want to go out, on top, at our best.”

In many ways she is right, Season 7 isn’t my favorite but it really gets a lot of the characters back to their roots and it’s considerably lighter than season 6. You actually get to see some of your favorite characters laugh again. There is a joy that it all ends before the show began to spin its wheels. It seems like the show always had a logical beginning, middle and end and you don’t feel cheated by how Whedon wraps things up for all involved. Buffy the Vampire Slayer aired its 144th and final episode on May 20, 2003 and ended an era of great genre programming as we knew it.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer ending was my first time watching a show from start to finish and feeling that emotion of “wow, this is actually over now.” I was the guy who recorded the episodes so I could have copies on VHS and once the DVDs rolled out I bought all of them and they continue to stand prominently on my shelf. Angel, which is a strong show in its own right, lasted one more season after Buffy ended and once that was gone, it really felt like a bit of a transition into other type of programming for myself. What shows would I fan out over now? I do know that almost every show I get into is compared to Buffy in some way. Joss Whedon is a strong writer and he’s someone I truly admire so I use him a lot as my standard, especially when it comes to shows that are similar in tone. Eventually I discovered other shows that took my fandom by storm but I can honestly say that no other show before and after, has stuck with me as much as this one has. It really was and still is something really special. Joss Whedon caught lightning in a bottle when he finally got to tell the story his way and it’s a show, and character that continues to be iconic.