End of Days

End of Days
Season 7
episode 21
Air date	May 13, 2003
Written by	Jane Espenson Douglas Petrie
Directed by	Marita Grabiak
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
← Previous	"Touched"
Next →	"Chosen"
Angel
← Previous	"Home"
Next →	"Conviction"
Cast
Starring	Sarah Michelle Gellar — Buffy Nicholas Brendon — Xander Emma Caulfield — Anya Michelle Trachtenberg — Dawn James Marsters — Spike Alyson Hannigan — Willow
Special guest starring	Anthony Stewart Head — Giles Eliza Dushku — Faith Nathan Fillion — Caleb
Guest starring	David Boreanaz — Angel Tom Lenk — Andrew Sarah Hagan — Amanda Iyari Limon — Kennedy Christine Healy — Guardian
Co-starring	Felicia Day — Vi Dania Ramirez — Caridad Lisa Ann Cabasa — Injured Girl
Uncredited	Kristy Wu — Chao-Ahn Erik Betts — Uber-Vamp #1 Melissa Barker — Buffy Double

"End of Days" is the twenty-first episode of the seventh season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer television show, and the one hundred forty-third episode in the series. Written by Jane Espenson and Douglas Petrie, and directed by Marita Grabiak, it originally broadcast on May 13, 2003 on UPN.

Synopsis

MOMENTS LIKE THESE — As Buffy takes the scythe from Caleb and the First, the potentials and Faith suffer losses from the bomb trap left for them. With Faith knocked unconscious, it's up to the girls to make their way out of the sewers, but thankfully Buffy arrives in time to save them from attacking Ubervamps and reclaim her role as leader. Willow and Giles attempt to find more about the origins of the scythe and Buffy has a mission involving Dawn for Xander. Andrew and Anya head to the now deserted hospital to pick up medical supplies for the wounded SiTs, and Caleb merges with the First to refresh his source of power.

Summary

Buffy effortlessly pulls the Scythe from the stone, leaving Caleb amazed. He is willing to fight her, though probably outmatched now that she has the Scythe. But The First (as Buffy) tells him to let Buffy go, and tells her that she will have to hurry to save her friends in the sewer.

Back at the Summers' residence, Andrew has just acquired food, while Dawn, Willow, Xander, and Anya return, having been looking for Buffy only to come across an empty house. Giles informs them that Faith and the others have not returned.

The Potential Slayers who survived the bomb blast — Kennedy, Amanda, Vi, Rona, and Caridad among others — start dragging the unconscious Faith and their other wounded towards the surface when they are ambushed by three Turok-Hans. Kennedy assumes command. All hope seems lost, though, until Buffy shows up with her new weapon and rescues them, killing all three Turok-Hans. Back at her house, the Potentials and Scoobies declare Buffy the leader again.

Willow and Giles look for references to the Scythe on the Internet. During their research, Willow confesses to Giles that she is not sure if she can do real heavy magic, even if she must. They find symbols that suggest a connection to scythes and Ancient Egypt.

At Buffy's insistence, a reluctant Xander renders Dawn unconscious with chloroform and drives off with her, away from Sunnydale for safety. When Dawn wakes up, she gives him a shock with a taser and then drives them back.

At the vineyard, Caleb meets with the First as he spouts his frustration over having to let Buffy leave with the Scythe. The First tells Caleb that his strength is waning and, in order to increase it again, merges with the preacher and lends him its power. Caleb is left with black eyes and declares that he is ready to take Buffy on again.

Buffy and Faith make up. Faith admits to Buffy that she was jealous of her friends, and lets it slip that she and Principal Wood have had sex. They both reflect upon how lonely they are as Slayers, and that they are the only ones in the group who truly understand what it feels like to be a Slayer. Buffy then has a personal discussion with Spike, in which they admit how much they feel for each other.

Andrew and Anya head to the hospital to retrieve supplies for the wounded, and have a heart-to-heart about humanity's desire to fight for good. They also have a wheelchair fight.

Following the Egyptian lead, Buffy takes the Scythe to a small pyramid that she discovers right outside one of the gates of the same cemetery that she has patrolled for the past six years. Inside, a woman claims to be the last of the Guardians, a secret female order that has watched the Watchers since ancient times tells. She tells Buffy that the Scythe is a powerful weapon forged for the final battle. Suddenly, Caleb shows up from behind the woman, kills her, and almost has Buffy bested when Angel steps in to save her. However, Buffy insists on fighting Caleb alone and slices his abdomen with the scythe. Caleb laughs for a moment, then changes expression and falls, seemingly dead.

Buffy gives Angel a kiss. Unbeknownst to them, Spike is hiding in the shadows with the First by his side. In Buffy's form, it tells him: "That bitch."

Continuity

• Spike does not appear until midway through the episode as, when he woke up and found that Buffy had gone, the sun had already risen and he had to wait until nightfall before leaving the house.
• Anya recalls the events of "Graduation Day, Part One" when she fled before the battle, and demonstrates how she has grown as a human by explaining why she has chosen to stay around since.
• When Dawn and Xander are in the car looking for her crossbow, she mentions that she doesn't leave it around ever since an incident with Miss Kitty Fantastico, Willow and Tara's cat, which has not been seen since the end of the fifth season.
• Xander tells Buffy: "Besides, if you die, I'll just bring you back to life. That's what I do," alluding to his role in resurrecting her in both "Prophecy Girl" and "Bargaining, Part One".
• When Anya and Andrew are in the hospital, Andrew says Anya might survive, but he won't. In actuality, in "Chosen", Anya dies and Andrew survives.
• This episode is a crossover with the Angel episode "Home", in which Angel learns of the apocalypse Buffy is facing and comes to help, arriving just in time to save her from Caleb. However, Angel's outfit when he arrives in Sunnydale is different than the one he was wearing when he left L.A.
• This is the first time Buffy and Angel have met face to face since their off-screen meeting between the events of "Flooded"/"Carpe Noctem" and "Life Serial"/"Fredless".

Appearances

Individuals

• Amanda
• Angel
• Caleb
• Caridad
• Chao-Ahn
• First Evil
• Rupert Giles
• Alexander Harris
• Anya Jenkins
• Kennedy
• Miss Kitty Fantastico (Only mentioned)
• Willow Rosenberg
• Sineya (Only mentioned)
• Spike
• Buffy Summers
• Dawn Summers
• Violet
• Andrew Wells
• Injured Girl
• Last Guardian

Organizations and titles

• Guardians (Only mentioned)
• Harbingers of Death
• Potential Slayer
• Scooby Gang
• Shadowmen (Only mentioned)
• Slayer
• Watcher
• Watchers Council (Only mentioned)
• Witch

Species

• Old One (Only mentioned)
• Human
• Turok-Han
• Vampire

Events

• Ambush in the sewers
• Duel in the Guardian's crypt
• Duel at the Vineyard

Locations

• Sunnydale
  • 1630 Revello Drive
  • Guardian's crypt
  • Shadow Valley Vineyards
  • Sunnydale Memorial

Weapons and objects

• 3PCE187
• Axe of Dekeron (Only mentioned)
• Black Knight's Hatchet (Only mentioned)
• Bringers' knife
• History of the Axe
• Mʔ
• Reaper of the Tigris (Only mentioned)
• Seal of Danzalthar (Only mentioned)
• Search
• Sword of Moskva (Only mentioned)

Death count

• Two unidentified Potentials, killed with the explosion.
• An unidentified Potential, killed by a Turok-Han.
• Three Turok-Hans, dusted by Buffy with the Scythe.
• The Last Guardian, killed by Caleb.

Behind the scenes

Production

• Marti Noxon was originally due to write this episode. However, she was already working on a pilot for the Fox television network, Still Life, and was unavailable to do so. As a result, Espenson and Petrie, the next two writers with the most seniority on the show, co-wrote this episode.^{[citation needed]}
• This episode was filmed before "Touched", even though it aired after, because Eliza Dushku needed time to film her pilot for Tru Calling.^{[citation needed]}
• This episode features the actors who play the lead characters in all of Joss Whedon's television shows. Sarah Michelle Gellar as Buffy, David Boreanaz as Angel, Nathan Fillion played Malcolm Reynolds in Firefly, and Eliza Dushku played Echo on Dollhouse.

Broadcast

• The DVD version of this episode is actually missing a scene. Since the Region 1 DVDs do not contain the "Previously on..." segments, the editor made a goof in cutting out the actual scene that included seeing the girls being blasted right before cutting to Buffy grabbing the Scythe. The other region DVDs contain this scene.

Deleted scenes

• This line was cut:

Willow: "It doesn't have any markings. Would it be so hard to include a little sticker? 'Hello. My name is Blank of the Blankthuselah, consult operating instruction before wielding'."

Pop culture references

• Spike congratulates Buffy for finding "the Holy Grail... Or the Holy Hand Grenade". This is a reference to Monty Python and the Holy Grail, which features the "Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch".
• Buffy mentions having "King Arthured" the scythe from the stone, referring to the legend of King Arthur and the sword in the stone.
• Buffy mentions that the Guardian's temple has a Luxor Casino theme.
• Anya banters with Andrew about killing a large monster by detonating an oxygen tank in its mouth, such as in the film Jaws (1975).

Goofs, bloopers & continuity errors

• When the Potentials are backing away from the third Turok-Han, a Potential can be seem being grabbed by a Turok-Han. In the next scene, the same Turok-Han jumps down and grabs the same Potential. 
• During Buffy's fight with the Turok-Han, right after the last Turok-Han hits her, the actor's blue underpants can be seen as the vampire lands.

Music

• Robert Duncan — "Recap / the Scythe"
• Robert Duncan — "Escape the Wreckage"
• Robert Duncan — "Buffy Saves the Girls"
• Robert Duncan — "The Wounded"
• Robert Duncan — "Xander Grabs Dawn"
• Robert Duncan — "Faith the Loner"
• Robert Duncan — "Spike and Buffy"
• Robert Duncan — "Angel Arrives"

International titles

• Armenian: "Աշխարհի վերջը" (End of the World)
• Czech: "Poslední dny" (Last Days)
• Finnish: "Päiväsi ovat luetut" (Your Days Are Numbered)
• French: "La Fin des temps — Partie 1" (The End of Time — Part 1)
• German: "Das Ende der Zeit — Teil 1" (The End of Time — Part 1)
• Hungarian: "A napok meg vannak számlálva" (The Days Are Numbered)
• Italian: "La Fine dei Giorni" (The End of Days)
• Japanese: "時代の終わり" (End of an Era)
• Polish: "I stanie się koniec" (And It Will Be Over)
• Portuguese (Brazil): "Final dos Tempos" (End of Time)
• Romanian: "Sfârșitul zilelor" (End of Days)
• Russian: "Конец света" (Doomsday)
• Spanish (Latin America): "Fin del Día" (End of the Day)
• Spanish (Spain): "El Fin de los Tiempos" (The End of Time)

Adaptations

• The book Chosen: The One includes a novelization of this episode, along with all season 7.
• Two Deluxe action figures were produced based on Buffy and Faith in this episode, as well as a Tooned Up maquette of Buffy.

Other

• At the time the episode was first announced, many fan sites claimed that executive producer Marti Noxon would play the Last Guardian, which proved to be false.

Gallery

Promotional stills

Behind the scenes

Quotes

Dawn: "I told you, I don’t leave crossbows around all willy-nilly. Not since that time with Miss Kitty Fantastico."

Spike: "Found the holy grail. Or the holy hand grenade, or whatever the hell that is."

Caleb: (Preparing to kill Buffy) "I was hoping it would be this way."

Angel: "Hey!" (Punches Caleb in the face) "I never was much for preachers."

Angel: (Watching Buffy fight) "God I missed watching this."

Andrew: "I think I'd like to finish out as one of those lame humans trying to do what's right."

Anya: (Sighs) "Yeah."

Andrew: "So... wheel chair fight?"