How Joss Whedon Foreshadowed Buffy's Death In Buffy The Vampire Slayer Season 5
"Buffy the Vampire Slayer" is remembered for many things: transcending genre, witty dialogue, creating one of TV's greatest female icons, and complex plot lines built on monstrous metaphors, to name a few. These days, creator Joss Whedon may be best known for his abusive behavior on set, but there was a time when his feminist credentials seemed unimpeachable. Despite the revelations about Whedon's actions, his magnum opus remains my favorite series of all time. Although my relationship with the show may be a bit more complicated now, I will never love it any less.
Whedon plotted out "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" seasons well in advance and there are allusions to upcoming storylines scattered throughout the series. One particularly fascinating trail of breadcrumbs leads directly to the death of our hero, Buffy Summers (Sarah Michelle Gellar). The character was killed off in one of the show's best episodes, the season 5 finale "The Gift," after jumping into a portal to save the world — she saved the world a lot. Buffy was resurrected for the season 6 premiere, but her sacrifice was planned out at least two years ahead of time.
Counting down
The penultimate episode of season 3, "Graduation Day, Part 1," sees Buffy and Faith (Eliza Dushku) have a knock-down, drag-out fight that ends in the former stabbing the latter. Ultimately, both slayers wind up in the hospital in "Graduation Day, Part 2" — after a dying Angel (David Boreanaz) nearly drains Buffy dry. Despite their differences, Buffy and Faith are two sides of the same coin. They understand each other in a way no one else can. Plus, slayers have that whole prophetic dream thing going on. So, it makes sense that the two share a dreamscape while both fighting for their lives.
While that dream sees Faith help Buffy figure out how to defeat Mayor Wilkins by reminding her of his human weakness, there is another piece to this puzzle, one that sets up Buffy's eventual demise. Faith says to Buffy, "Miles to go. Little Miss Muffet counting down from 7-3-0." Cryptic to be sure, but packed with meaning. The first part, of course, refers to the Robert Frost poem "Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening" and everything Buffy still has to do before she dies.
We'll come back to the Miss Muffet part, but let's talk about the number 730. Buffy dies two years after Faith says these words to her, roughly 730 days. In fact, it would have been almost exactly that many had the season 3 finale not been pushed back a couple months in the wake of the Columbine shooting. Whedon has spoken about how Buffy's season 5 death had been planned since the end of season 3.
It's so late
That isn't the only reference to Buffy's death. Season 4 finale "Restless" sees the Scooby Gang fighting for their lives while the First Slayer tries to kill them all in their dreams. Buffy's dream, in particular, has plenty of clues about what's to come. While Buffy is talking to Tara (Amber Benson), there is a digital clock that reads 7:30. Buffy says, "It's so late," and Tara responds, "Oh, that clock's completely wrong." It is because, by this point, the time until Buffy's death has been cut in half.
Much of this foreshadowing is known by longtime fans of the show, but there is one possible reference that only the most observant viewers have noticed. In the season 4 episode "Who Are You?" when Faith is in Buffy's body, she steals a credit card from the Summers' home and books a flight. The expiration date on the card is, you guessed it, 05/01, the month and year of Buffy's death. Coincidence? Perhaps, but knowing how far ahead of time Whedon was planning the slayer's demise, it seems probable this was intentional.
Be back before Dawn
Now let's discuss the other major event foreshadowed in that "Graduation Day" dream sequence: Dawn Summers (Michelle Trachtenberg). Miss Muffet is used in reference to the arrival of Buffy's sister, something the show calls back to in the season 5 episode "Real Me," when one of Glory's victims shouts the phrase "curds and whey" at her. There's another mention of "someone sits on a tuffet" by Glory a couple of episodes later in "No Place Like Home," and we know the hell god was looking for Dawn, though she didn't yet know it.
Faith also alludes to Dawn in a dream sequence in the season 4 installment "This Year's Girl," saying to Buffy, "Little sis is coming." Then, when Tara and Buffy are talking during Buffy's dream in "Restless," Tara tells her to "Be back before Dawn." Dawn would go on to debut in the season 5 premiere.
One of the wildest things about the introduction of Dawn is how the show just had Buffy's little sister show up like she'd always been there. She may appear at the end of season 5's first episode, but her presence is not explained until its fifth installment. This was weekly television, giving fans nearly a month to speculate about what was going on. We'd always known Buffy was an only child, but there was no way to really go back and confirm that in the year 2000. It was pretty cool that the series let that mystery unspool across multiple episodes, just long enough to make viewers question their own memories.
Death is your gift
Buffy's death is one of the show's most heartbreaking scenes and it still brings me to tears even though I've watched the series countless times — Christophe Beck's lovely score is forever etched into my memory. It's pretty incredible that the plans for that moment can be traced so far back. There are certain plot points that pay off much better because the seeds were sewn earlier in the series. Would Buffy suddenly having a sister have worked out so well if so much planning hadn't gone into it? Look, I've never been a Dawn fan, but season 5 is one of the show's best. It feels well thought out because it was.
For as much hate as season 6 gets, I've always appreciated that there were real consequences for what happened to Buffy. Without that, the show's stakes would've disappeared completely. A lot of us get lost in early adulthood, so in keeping with the show's themes, it's appropriate that the Scooby Gang struggled to find their way. These characters remain unforgettable so many years later and it's due to all the work that went into their arcs, as well as the fantastic cast who made them so lovable.
"Buffy the Vampire Slayer" is a series that still means so much to so many people. No one can change that. Not even Joss Whedon. It's impressive when you consider how much care went into crafting the show's narrative and it's a damn shame that Whedon couldn't put that much care into treating people with respect behind the scenes.