Season Five
Bargaining (Parts 1 & 2)
Buffy's friends try to cope with Buffy's death and are left to defend Sunnydale without her. Meanwhile a gang of marauding demons threaten to jeopardize their plan to bring the slayer back from the dead. To complicate matters, Giles contemplates leaving Sunnydale to come to terms with the loss, on the special two-hour season premiere of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer".
Written by Marti Noxon (Part 1) and David Fury (Part 2)
Directed by David Grossman
After Life
Buffy has been resurrected from the grave and although she�s a bit shaken from her return trip from a hell dimension, everything would appear to be falling back into place. Or is it? After re-associating Buffy (who we find out has been dead for one-hundred and forty-seven days) with her once familiar surroundings and friends, strange things begin happening. Did the gang bring back a tortured and evil Buffy from the grave? Or, did something else come with her? Why is Spike suddenly returning to his romantic days? Our two fave mega-witches, Willow and Tara, start hitting the books to find out why several demonic possessions are taking place within the click. What they find out is almost as shocking as Buffy�s death and resurrection.
Written by Jane Espenson
Directed by David Solomon
Flooded
Buffy's readjustment to the land of the living is not going so hot. Her basement is flooded, she's bankrupt and - oh yes - the M'Fashnik Demon is hellbent on killing her. Also: Giles returns; a trio of slackers plots the takeover of Sunnydale.
Written by Doug Petrie and Jane Espenson
Directed by Doug Petrie
Life Serial
Jonathan, Warren and Andrew test Buffy's abilities---and patience---with a secret campaign of harassment. The Slayer struggles to readjust to life in Sunnydale by attending classes with Willow and working with Xander.
Written by David Fury and Jane Espenson
Directed by Nick Marck
All the Way
In a quirky and erudite episode, a sudden announcement sends the Scooby Gang into celebration mode on Halloween, but plenty of frights come to light when Dawn disappears. Anya, who has been bugging Xander to announce their engagement for months, finally gets her wish. After Xander drops his bombshell, Buffy and company throw a party for the couple. Only then do they realize that Dawn has sneaked out with a friend. Out on the town, the younger Summers winds up meeting a teen who craves more than just mischief.
Written by Steven S. DeKnight
Directed by David Solomon
Once More, With Feeling
Series creator Joss Whedon wrote, directed and composed the music for this episode in which a mysterious force impels the Scooby Gang to burst into song. Even Buffy devotees may be hard-pressed to find an episode as off-the-wall as this, as Sunnydale denizens become players in production numbers in which cast members do their own vocals. Hear Tara sing about her love for Willow! See Xander and Anya perform a duet! Listen to Buffy croon about her lack of life direction! Who's behind the music? Dawn provides the key.
Written and directed by Joss Whedon
Tabula Rasa
Despite Tara's misgivings about her overindulgence in witchcraft, Willow tries to cheer Buffy up by making the Slayer forget the idyllic afterlife she left behind. Alas, the spell goes awry and affects the minds of all the Scoobies.
Written by Rebecca Rand Kirschner
Directed by David Grossman
Smashed
Buffy's rejection of his amorous advances gives Spike a headache that renews his primal impulses; Willow reverts a former classmate to her old self; Jonathan, Warren and Andrew pull a heist with the help of supercool new weapon.
Written by Drew Z. Greenberg
Directed by Turi Meyer
Wrecked
Buffy's tryst with Spike leaves the Slayer shaken to the core; Willow falls victim to a warlock who stimulates her craving for magic.
Written by Marti Noxon
Directed by David Solomon
Gone
Buffy's efforts to help Willow's recovery are disrupted by a run-in with an intrusive social worker and a spat with Spike. Then, she's mistakenly zapped by an invisibility ray wielded by Jonathan, Warren and Andrew. At least she gets a new hairdo.
Written and directed by David Fury
Doublemeat Palace
Buffy thinks she smells something rotten after she takes a job at a fast-food restaurant that soon has her wondering about the "secret ingredient" in the burgers. Hurting for cash, the Slayer takes a job at Doublemeat Palace, where her fellow employees don't respond well to her sense of humor. "Levity is a time thief that picks the pocket of the company," explains one co-worker. But it's Buffy's growing concern that something demonic might be going on that really turns her stomach. Also, Anya's old friend Halfrek pays an unexpected visit and questions whether Xander is the right man for her; and Willow tries her best to stay away from magic.
Written by Jane Espenson
Directed by Nick Marck
Dead Things
Spike attacks Buffy---despite the chip in his head that is supposed to defuse his violence. Then, the Slayer's framed for murder by nerdy nemeses Andrew, Warren and Jonathan.
Written by Steven S. DeKnight
Directed by James A. Contner
Older and Far Away
Lonely Dawn feels like the odd-girl out when the Scooby Gang throws a party in honor of Buffy's birthday, leading to a fateful wish that leaves the Slayer and her friends in a fix.
Written by Drew Z Greenberg
Directed by Michael Gershman
As You Were
Consumed by professional and personal disappointment, Buffy is jolted from ennui by the reappearance of her old beau Riley, who needs her Slayer skills to track down a demon called the Doctor. He also has some startling news to share about his private life. Meanwhile, Anya and Xander struggle to finalize their wedding arrangements.
Written and directed by Doug Petrie
Hell's Bells
On the day of his wedding to Anya, Xander gets cold feet about their prospective life together when an odd stranger offers him a glimpse into the future.
Written by Rebecca Rand Kirshner
Directed by David Solomon
Normal Again
A demon doses Buffy with a powerful chemical that causes her to hallucinate, convincing the Slayer her parents are alive and Dawn never existed.
Written by Diego Gutierrez
Directed by Rick Rosenthal
Entropy
Still smarting from being jilted at the altar by Xander, Anya seeks advice from Halfrek; Buffy tries to bond with Dawn while avoiding Spike; Andrew, Jonathan and Warren experiment with a talisman; Willow asks Tara out for coffee.
Written by Drew Z. Greenberg
Directed by James A. Contner
Seeing Red
Buffy's ongoing tussle with a trio of would-be supervillains intensifies in an episode packed with imaginative plot twists. Buffy goes looking for trouble in the lair of Warren, Andrew and Jonathan, the three nerds obsessed with her destruction, and she nearly falls victim to a booby trap of buzz saws. But that's the least of the Slayer's worries. With a little help from his friends, Warren acquires the Orbs of Nezzla'khan, a pair of demonic talismans that he says imbue him with "strength, invulnerability... the deluxe package," thus setting the stage for a fateful showdown.
Written by Steven DeKnight
Directed by Michael Gershman
Villains
Buffy tries to recover from an assassination attempt; Jonathan and Andrew share a jail cell; Warren seeks allies at a demon bar; Anya is confronted by a distraught Willow.
Written by Marti Noxon
Directed by David Solomon
Two to Go
In the first of a two-part sixth-season finale, Buffy, Anya and Xander race to the Sunnydale police station to try to save Jonathan and Andrew from a sorceress; Dawn persuades Clem to take her to Rack (Jeff Kober); Spike's stamina and courage are put to the test by a mysterious demon.
Written by Doug Petrie
Directed by Bill Norton
Grave
In the second part of the sixth-season finale, a magical friend helps the Scooby Gang try to stop a sorceress. But the witch still has a few tricks up her sleeve---and an unwilling assistant. Also: Spike's African sojourn comes to a climax.
Written by David Fury
Directed by James A. Contner
Season Five
