Selfless (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

"Selfless"
Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode
Anya is left unconscious and impaled by Buffy's sword
Episode no.	Season 7 Episode 5
Directed by	David Solomon
Written by	Drew Goddard
Production code	7ABB05
Original air date	October 22, 2002
Guest appearance(s)
Abraham Benrubi as Olaf the Troll Andy Umberger as D'Hoffryn Kali Rocha as Halfrek Joyce Guy as Professor Hawkins Jennifer Shon as Rachel Taylor Sutherland as Villager #1 Marybeth Scherr as Villager #2 Alessandro Mastrobuono as Villager #3 Daniel Spanton as Viking #1 John Timmons as Viking #2
Episode chronology
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List of Buffy the Vampire Slayer episodes

"Selfless" is the fifth episode of the seventh and final season of television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Anya finally gets back into her old vengeance demon ways by helping a girl get revenge on an entire fraternity by having a spider demon tear their hearts out. Willow, returning to college, discovers this and she, Buffy and Xander fear the worst of Anya.

While Buffy is determined to kill Anya, Xander cannot believe she could do such a thing, as he is still in love with her. Anya, meanwhile, is feeling deep remorse about the event - even though Halfrek tries to convince her that what she did was a work of art.

Buffy and Xander track Anya back to the Frat house, where the two women fight as Xander tries to stop them. Buffy stabs Anya, seemingly killing her, but Anya's demon side prevents her from dying. Willow has called forth Anya's boss D'Hoffryn, using the amulet he gave her while trying to recruit her as Anya's replacement. When he interrupts the fight between her and Buffy, Anya begs him to reverse the spell she did - even though she knows the cost of reversing such a spell is the life and soul of a vengeance demon.

Anya is ready to die, even if Xander does not want her to, but D'Hoffryn instead summons Halfrek and kills her. He tells Anya he wants her to suffer rather than die. A distraught Anya leaves and Xander follows her. They talk and Anya wanders off alone, wondering what her purpose is now that she is mortal again.

In a flashback to the musical episode "Once More, with Feeling", two new songs are heard, both written by Joss Whedon.

In the audio commentary for the episode, writer Drew Goddard mentioned whether or not the "Mrs." scene should have been shown in widescreen for American audiences since it was a flashback to "Once More, with Feeling", the only episode of Buffy shown in widescreen in the US. Director David Solomon thought it would have been too confusing to switch between full-frame and widescreen, so it was not done.