Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Season 6

Season Six of the supernatural dramedy series Buffy the Vampire Slayer aired on UPN from October 2nd, 2001 to May 21st, 2002, spanning a total of twenty-two episodes. This season sees the return of most major cast members beginning with Sarah Michelle Gellar in the title role of Buffy Summers, as well as Nicholas Brendon as Xander Harris, Emma Caulfield as Anya Jenkins, Michelle Trachtenberg as Dawn Summers, James Marsters as Spike and Alyson Hannigan as Willow Rosenberg. Beginning with this season, Anthony Stewart Head, who plays Rupert Giles, is removed from the main cast line-up and appears as a recurring guest star.

One of the more notable plot elements of this season is the unexpected death of Tara Maclay in episode 6x19, "Seeing Red". This episode begat the "Dark Willow" storyline, which ran through the remaining episodes of the season. Amber Benson was added to the main title credits for this episode only.

Production

 * Douglas Petrie - Producer
 * David Solomon - Producer
 * Gareth Davies - Producer
 * David Greenwalt - Consulting producer
 * Jane Espenson - Supervising producer
 * David Fury - Co-executive producer
 * Sandy Gallin - Executive producer


 * Gail Berman - Executive producer
 * Fran Rubel Kuzui - Executive producer
 * Kaz Kuzui - Executive producer
 * Joss Whedon - Executive producer; Creator
 * Marti Noxon - Executive producer
 * John F. Perry - Co-producer
 * Marc David Alpert - Co-producer

Directors

 * Bill L. Norton
 * David Fury
 * David Grossman
 * David Solomon
 * Douglas Petrie
 * James A. Contner


 * Joss Whedon
 * Michael Gershman
 * Nick Marck
 * Rick Rosenthal
 * Turi Meyer

Writers

 * David Fury
 * Diego Gutierrez
 * Douglas Petrie
 * Drew Z. Greenberg
 * Jane Espenson


 * Joss Whedon
 * Marti Noxon
 * Rebecca Rand Kirshner
 * Steven S. DeKnight

Notable episodes

 * "Bargaining (Part 1)" - Giles leaves; Buffy is resurrected.
 * "Once More, With Feeling" - Musical episode.
 * "Tabula Rasa" - Willow and Tara break up.
 * "Seeing Red" - Spike attempts to rape Buffy; Warren Meers kills Tara Maclay.
 * "Villains" - Willow turns evil and flays Warren Meers.
 * "Grave" - Willow turns good again; Spike's soul is restored.

Plot threads

 * The Return of Buffy: The Scoobies try to keep up appearances that Buffy Summers is still alive and active after the finale of season five. They put the Buffybot into action as a poor substitute, while hunting down vampires on their own. Willow uses a spell to bring Buffy back to life, but something is wrong and even Spike notes, "You came back bad". Buffy eventually reveals to the group in "Once More, With Feeling", that by resurrecting her, they actually pulled her out of Heaven.


 * Dark Willow: The "Dark Willow" storyline began late in the season with the episode "Villains" and showed the character of Willow Rosenberg completely consumed by black magic after suffering the emotional shock of seeing her lover Tara Maclay brutally murdered at the hands of Warren Meers. Willow took her revenge by using her powers to strip the flesh from Warren's body. Ultimately, it was Xander Harris who managed to talk Willow down from the edge; with a little help from a returning friend - Rupert Giles.

Home video

 * Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Chosen Collection
 * Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Complete Series
 * Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Complete Sixth Season