Ask any Buffy fan about Season 5 and they’ll probably start by humming the "Once More, with Feeling" soundtrack—even if that’s technically Season 6—before pivoting to the absolute nightmare that was Glory. But behind every fabulous, brain-sucking hell-god is a guy in a lab coat named Ben.
Honestly, Ben is one of the most frustratingly complex characters in the entire Buffyverse. You’ve got this handsome, seemingly decent intern at Sunnydale Memorial who just wants to save lives. He’s charming. He’s a doctor (sorta). He’s the guy you’d actually want to bring home to Joyce.
Then you remember he’s literally sharing a soul—and a body—with a deity who wants to tear down the walls between dimensions. It’s a lot.
The Ben and Glory Connection (The Joke That Never Dies)
We have to talk about the spell. Seriously. One of the best running gags in the show is the fact that humans literally cannot process the connection between Ben and Glory.
You could watch Ben transform into a blonde goddess right in front of your face and two seconds later, you’d be asking, "Wait, where’d Ben go?" Spike, being a vampire and therefore exempt from the "don't notice the hell-god in the room" magic, spent half the season losing his mind trying to explain it.
"Is everyone here very stoned?"
That line from the penultimate episode "Weight of the World" basically sums up the audience's experience. It was a brilliant writing choice. It allowed Ben to hide in plain sight, interacting with Buffy and even treating her mother, Joyce, while the Big Bad was technically sitting in the same chair.
But as the ritual to use the Key (Dawn) got closer, that magical barrier started to leak. Ben and Glory’s personalities began to bleed into each other. That’s where things got dark. Really dark.
Is Ben Actually a "Good Guy"?
This is where the fandom gets into heated arguments at 2 AM on Reddit. On the surface, Ben Wilkinson looks like a victim. He was chosen at birth to be a "living prison" for Glory. He didn't ask for it. He didn't sign up to have a vain, murderous goddess squatting in his subconscious.
But look at his choices.
Specifically, look at the Queller demon in the episode "Listening to Fear." Ben literally summoned a space slug to "clean up" Glory's mess by killing the mentally ill people she had already brain-sucked. He told himself he was being merciful, but he was really just covering his tracks. He wanted to keep his job. He wanted to keep his "nice guy" reputation while innocent people were being slaughtered because of the thing living inside him.
Basically, Ben prioritized his own comfort and normalcy over the safety of Sunnydale.
The Moral Gray Area
By the time we get to "Spiral," Ben is basically a lost cause. He knows Dawn is the Key. He knows Glory needs Dawn’s blood to end the world. And yet, when he has the chance to help Dawn escape, he wavers. He chooses self-preservation.
It’s easy to judge him, but he’s a foil for Buffy. Buffy is the hero who sacrifices everything for the world. Ben is the "normal" person who is too scared to die, even if his death is the only way to stop a literal apocalypse.
The Most Controversial Death in the Series
We can’t talk about Ben without talking about Giles and the tree. Well, the meadow near the tower.
In the finale, "The Gift," Buffy finally beats Glory down. The goddess reverts to Ben. He’s gasping for air, broken, and—critically—human. Buffy, being the hero, can’t kill an innocent man. Or even a "not-so-innocent" man who isn't currently a monster. She walks away.
Then Rupert Giles steps in.
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Giles knows the truth. If Ben lives, Glory comes back. Eventually, she’ll heal, she’ll find another way, and she’ll kill Buffy. So, Giles does the "Ripper" thing. He puts on his glasses, looks Ben in the eye, and smothers him to death with his bare hands.
It’s one of the most chilling moments in the show. It’s not "Slayer" business; it’s "Watcher" business. Giles took that sin onto his own soul so Buffy could stay pure.
Why Charlie Weber’s Performance Worked
Before he was Frank Delfino on How to Get Away with Murder, Charlie Weber was doing some heavy lifting here.
It’s hard to play a character who is simultaneously a romantic interest, a victim, and a secondary antagonist. Weber managed to make Ben feel "plain" in a way that made Glory’s extravagance pop even more. You felt for him when he was fired from the hospital, but you also wanted to scream at him for being such a coward.
Takeaways from the Ben Saga
Looking back at Season 5 in 2026, the Ben storyline holds up because it deals with the banality of evil. Glory is a monster, but Ben is just a guy who makes bad choices because he's afraid.
If you're rewatching the series, keep these things in mind:
- Watch the transition scenes: The way the camera moves when Ben becomes Glory (and vice versa) is a masterclass in early 2000s practical effects and editing.
- Pay attention to the dialogue in "Spiral": Ben’s conversations with Dawn reveal just how much he’s started to resent his own humanity.
- The "Giles factor": Notice how Giles treats Ben differently from how he treats other humans throughout the season. He was always watching.
Next time you're debating who the "best" villain was, don't just say Glory. Mention the intern. Without Ben, Glory would have been unstoppable. With him, she was just a god with a very human expiration date.
To really appreciate the nuance here, try rewatching "Weight of the World" and "The Gift" back-to-back. Look specifically at how Ben's body language changes as Glory's influence takes over. It’s a subtle bit of acting that often gets overshadowed by the giant tower and the world-ending portal.