"Empty Places" is the 19th episode of the seventh and final season of the television series ''

Buffy the Vampire Slayer ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' is an American supernatural fiction, supernatural drama television series created by writer and director Joss Whedon. The concept is based on the Buffy the Vampire Slayer (film), 1992 film, also written by Whedon, a ...

''. The episode aired on April 29, 2003 on

UPN The United Paramount Network (UPN) was an American broadcast television network that operated from 1995 to 2006. It was originally a joint venture between Chris-Craft Industries (later sold to News Corporation)'s subsidiary, United Television, ...

Plot

The citizens of

Sunnydale Sunnydale is the fictional setting for the American television drama ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' (1997–2003). The series creator Joss Whedon conceived the town as a representation of a generic California, Californian city, as well as a narr ...

flee en masse to escape the Hellmouth and Sunnydale becomes a ghost town. Buffy spots Clem in his car on his way out; he urges her to leaves town for this particular apocalypse. Giles and

Willow Willows, also called sallows and osiers, of the genus ''Salix'', comprise around 350 species (plus numerous hybrids) of typically deciduous trees and shrubs, found primarily on moist soils in cold and temperate regions. Most species are known ...

go to get information from the police on

Caleb Caleb ( ; , Tiberian vocalization: , Modern Israeli Hebrew: ) is a figure who appears in the Hebrew Bible as a representative of the Tribe of Judah during the Israelites' journey to the Promised Land. Following the Israelite conquest of Ca ...

, with Willow using some mind control to convince the officer that they are with Interpol.

Spike Spike, spikes, or spiking may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Books * ''The Spike'' (novel), a novel by Arnaud de Borchgrave * ''The Spike'' (Broderick book), a nonfiction book by Damien Broderick * ''The Spike'', a starship in Peter ...

and Andrew leave to pursue a lead. They discover an engraving on a plaque that states that the power they are searching for is to be wielded by "her" alone. At the deserted school, Buffy is confronted by

, who grabs her by the neck and throws her through a window into a wall, rendering her unconscious. After she awakens, Buffy returns home to discover that Faith has taken

Dawn Dawn is the time that marks the beginning of twilight before sunrise. It is recognized by the diffuse sky radiation, appearance of indirect sunlight being Rayleigh scattering, scattered in Earth's atmosphere, when the centre of the Sun's disc ha ...

and the Potentials to The Bronze for a night of relaxation. After they run into trouble with the police, who threaten to kill or injure Faith, and briefly hold Dawn and the Potentials' hostage at the Bronze, Buffy confronts the group, minus the absent Spike and Andrew, and demands that they make better choices, and reveals her plans for another attack. But at this point, the Potentials, as well as Dawn, Willow,

Xander Xander is an abbreviated form of the name Alexander and pronounced like "Zander". Alexander is the Latin form of the Greek name "Alexandros". The name's meaning is interpreted from "alexein" which means "to defend" plus "andros" which translates ...

Anya Anya, Ania or Anja is a given name. The names are feminine in most East European countries and unisex in several African countries. Origins and variant forms * Anya (Аня) is a Russian diminutive of Anna. * Ania is the spelling in Polish ...

, Giles and Principal Wood, tell Buffy that they no longer trust her leadership. At Dawn's request, Buffy leaves the house and Faith reluctantly becomes the new leader.

Continuity

This episode is the final appearance of the night club "The Bronze", which had appeared regularly since the first episode. The band playing there is "Nerf Herder", who wrote and performed the show's theme music throughout: their connection to the series was further acknowledged by this dialogue:

Kennedy Kennedy may refer to: People * Kennedy (surname), including any of several people with that surname ** Kennedy family, a prominent American political family that includes: *** Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. (1888–1969), American businessman, investor, ...
: "What kind of band plays during an apocalypse?"
Dawn Dawn is the time that marks the beginning of twilight before sunrise. It is recognized by the diffuse sky radiation, appearance of indirect sunlight being Rayleigh scattering, scattered in Earth's atmosphere, when the centre of the Sun's disc ha ...
: "I think this band might actually be one of the signs."

Reception

When it first aired,

Nielson Ratings Nielsen Media Research (NMR) is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre, films (via the AMC Theatres MAP program), and newspapers. Headquartered in New York City, it is best known for the Nielsen rati ...

reported that "Empty Places" attracted an audience of 2.3 million. In 2023, ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

'' ranked all episodes in honor of 20th anniversary of the show ending. This episode was ranked as number 136 out of the 144 episodes, described as "a real low point in Season Seven".

References

External links

* {{Buffy episodes Buffy the Vampire Slayer season 7 episodes 2003 American television episodes Television episodes written by Drew Z. Greenberg