Previously: Buffy got a fun new toy and Angel showed up SQUEE.
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Chosen
Kirsti: Holy shit balls, you guys. We made it. Episode 144. It’s been a long time coming – I mean, we started this whole crazy trip at the start of July 2012 – and I think the three of us have been anticipating this moment for months now. And now that it’s here, I don’t quite know how to deal with it. Sure, we haven’t always loved the show, and sometimes recapping it twice a week has been indescribably painful. But I’m not sure how to adjust to life without Buffy recaps. Seriously – I wrote S07 E22 up there in the title and immediately teared up.
Sweeney: There’s going to be a lot of that. It’s been a long road and it’s surreal to be here. MANY FEELS.
Lorraine: Just chiming in to say, “YEP.” Perhaps I wasn’t as ready to say goodbye as I thought I would be. For that reason, I should also warn you that things get very capslock-y and SQUEE-y in the recap below. I’m not even sorry that I’m not sorry. No apologies; feels abound.
K: No kidding. BRB, dragging my ottoman over to the Couch of Feels so we can get on with this thing.
After the previouslies, Buffy and Angel are still kissing. He pulls away after a second or two and they just look at each other. “Well, I guess that qualifies as happy to see me,” he says. They smile at each other for a minute before she asks why he’s there. He heads over to an alcove and grabs the folder that Lilah gave him. Buffy tells him that he has to go on account of That One Time The First Tried To Make Him Commit Suicide By Sunshine, and he tells her that he already knows, and that the First failed once… He’s interrupted by Priest-ion, who jumps up and whacks him across the back of the head with a statue. Priest-ion stares at Buffy, black goop leaking from his eyes – OF FUCKING COURSE – and nose, and yells “Are you ready to finish this, bitch?” Our very last Wolf Howl (sniff tear sob nostaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaalgia).
Sweeney: OMG IT IS. IT IS THE LAST WOLF HOWL. #FEELS #MANYFEELS #FEELSONFEELSONFEELS
Lor: #FEELSINCEPTION.
K: After the credits, Buffy and Priest-ion resume their fight. He slams her into a couple of walls, she knocks him down a few times, blah blah blah. Eventually, he stands facing her. “You can’t stop me. You don’t have the ba-“, he says. He’s interrupted by her twirling the scythe and slamming the blade into his groin. I cackle as his eyes widen in horror. “Who does nowadays?” Buffy asks before she yanks the scythe upwards, slicing Priest-ion completely in two.
Angel, who’s regained consciousness, leaps up and says that he’s pissed and where’s Priest-ion so he can do some fighting. Buffy glances pointedly at the two Half!Priest-ions on the floor and says, “he had to split” with an adorable snort laugh (S: SO PRECIOUS), which is totally understandable because that is hands down the worst pun she’s ever made. Off in the darkness, Spike watches with a glower. Angel grabs the folder and pulls the ugly amulet from his pocket. He tells her that it has some kind of purifying power when worn by the right person – an ensouled champion. DOUBLE SHOTS!!
Sweeney: Crossover drinking game magic!
K: The best kind!
Spike slinks out of the tomb while they’re distracted.
Angel says that he’ll wear the amulet, but Buffy refuses. She needs him to run the second front in case the First gets out of Sunnydale. He demands another reason, and she says there isn’t one as she walks out of the tomb. Outside, he asks if this is about Spike, because she smells like him. “You vampires. Did anybody ever tell you the whole smelling people thing’s a little gross?” Buffy says. YES. THE SNARK LADIES. EVERY SINGLE EPISODE. (S: They never listen.) (L: BUT AT LEAST THERE WAS ACKNOWLEDGEMENT RIGHT BEFORE THE END. I squeed.) (K: Me too, Lor.) Anyway, Angel does the jealous ex thing, doubly so when Buffy tells him that Spike has a soul now. He mutters to himself about how he did it first, before everyone else jumped on the bandwagon. Okay, Hipster!Angel.
Sweeney: Hipster!Angel is my second favorite Angel, beaten out only by Angel when combined with art. I’d like to see hipster-art-aficionado!Angel. That would be my actual favorite. “You know, I started it. The whole ‘watching Summer Glau do ballet.’ Before it was all the cool new thing.”
Lor: A+. This was an adorable moment and it even featured my third favorite Angel, awkward Angel. You can almost tell he’s shuffling his feet. It’s a good thing this is so precious because jealous ex-boyfriend is not a good look on anyone.
K: My favourite Angel, as we established in Orpheus, is Disco!Angel. But this isn’t far behind.
Buffy eyerolls at him, and he sulks some more. “Are you just gonna come here and go all Dawson on me every time I have a boyfriend??” she asks, which I mention only because OH MY GOD, DAWSON LEERY WAS THE WORST AT THAT. “Joey? No, I have no interest in dating Jo…she has a boyfriend? MINE, WANT, GIMME!!” Angel sasses about her and Spike being bound to end well (dude, you have NO idea), and she tells him that their relationship was hardly picture perfect. She goes on to say that maybe she’s not meant to make relationships work, because she’s not ready yet.
Sweeney: +1
K: 3/3 Snark Ladies agree on this OTP.
He hands her the amulet and walks away. She calls after him that she does sometimes think about the future, but that her settling down will be years away. “I ain’t getting any older,” he says with a shrug as he walks into the darkness.
Sweeney: The Bangel stuff is a little jarring in the context of watching Angel. I don’t know how to explain it, but he feels oddly light-hearted here, given everything that’s happened.
Though I suspect the pause after the grandchildren comment is meant to evoke something for crossover viewers, but DB’s expressionless face doesn’t do much to sell that.
Lor: I think Buffy brings this light-hearted side out of him, even in the midst of an apocalypse. The more likely explanation is that Crossover Magic doesn’t actually do a good job at recognizing what’s happening in the other material.
K: I think it’s another one of those “written by different people” problems that so often plagues Crossover Magic.
Chez Summers. Buffy walks in the front door and comes face to face with a very pissed off Dawn, who promptly kicks her in the shin and calls her a dumbass. Buffy looks into the dining room to see Giles, Willow, Xander and Anya. Xander tells her that it’s a Summers thing and he’s staying out of it. “If you get killed, I’m telling,” Buffy tells Dawn, concluding the fabulous sister moment. She tells the Scoobies that Priest-ion is dead, and Xander excitedly replies “Hey, party in my eye socket and everyone’s invited!” They all turn to stare at him in disgust.
Lor: Anya’s head patting really sells it.
K: So much.
Basement. Spike’s going to town on a punching bag. Buffy walks down the stairs, and he asks her where Angel is. She rolls her eyes and asks if it’s the creepy smelling thing again. But no, he informs her that he used “my enhanced vampire eyeballs” (because Whedon hates me) to watch them kissing. He proceeds to get jealous. She looks over at the punching bag to see that there’s a caricature of Angel taped to it, and rolls her eyes.
Lor: Let’s estimate how many times the fanfiction of Angel and Spike in a room wrestling with oil has been written…
K: I’d rather not.
Spike asks for the amulet because he’s pretty sure it’s his now. She tells him that Angel said it was for a champion, and he stares at the ground. She crosses the room and places it in his hand. He looks at her in amazement. She says coyly that Faith still has her room. Spike says that he has his pride and that she has Angel breath, and she definitely can’t stay. She nods sadly and heads to the stairs, but he stops her and says it was all a dirty lie and please can they snuggle now. She sighs with relief and cradles his face with her hand.
Sweeney: The champion/amulet/REDEMPTION hand-off was sweet. I liked that. Less liked what followed.
K: Cut to them snuggling sometime later.
Lor: NICE. I like the ambiguity, but I’m ready to admit that it’s mostly because of my feelings toward that relationship. I’ll be over here thinking that they just held each other through a montage again. La la la la…
K: She fondles his hand a little and he rolls over in his sleep. Buffy stands and wanders around the basement in the dark. She stares out the window, and First!Priest-ion appears from the shadows. They have a sass off for a while, and he says that once his army outnumbers the humans on the earth, he’ll be corporeal. She says that she’s not afraid, and he replies that no one can help her, because none of the Potentials will ever know real power unless she and Faith die. First!Priest-ion morphs into First!Buffy, and gives the “One girl in all the world” speech, emphasising the “alone” part again.
On the other side of the room, Spike wakes with a start, and First!Buffy disappears. Spike asks if Buffy’s okay, and she says that she’s just realised something: “We’re gonna win.”
Sweeney: I love that moment. It’s one of the memorable bits of the finale.
K: And an excellent callback to season 5!
Sweeney: The next morning, she’s just finished explaining the plan to the gang and they’re all trying to process. Faith says it’s pretty radical. Giles stammers about how it flies in the face of everything they’ve ever known – “to every generation” – and finishes, “I think it’s bloody brilliant.” Buffy asks if he’s sure and he smiles adorably when she confirms that yes, she is asking for his opinion.
Lor: A small reconciliation. I love it.
K: HAYFEVER. SO MUCH HAYFEVER.
Sweeney: HIS FACE. HE’S SO HAPPY.
Willow interrupts this enthusiasm because there’s major magic involved and she feels un-prepared. There’s an oral sex joke in there that gives Giles an awkward face and Buffy too when Dawn gets it about 30 seconds later (K: A callback to Willow’s “THAT’S what that song is about?!” in Lie to Me?). Buffy assures Willow that she believes in her and knows she can do this. They all leave, with Dawn adorably calling herself Watcher Jr., and Buffy dramatically hands Willow the Deus ex Machina Scythe.
Downstairs it’s time for one of Buffy’s last general speeches and it’s decent. It’s not as good as the-mouth-of-hell’s-gonna-choke-on-me, because we’re still too early in the episode to rouse the troops to that level. (Also that’s one of the best lines of the season.) The plan involves her opening the hellmouth tomorrow, headed down into the mouth of hell to do this apocalypse for realsies.
Basement of Don’t Go In There 2.0. Faith and Wood are boarding up all sewer access to drive OG Vamps into Sunnydale HS proper, because where else could the last stand take place? (L: FANTASTIC.) Then they get to have relationshippy chatter. Faith explains her no-attachments approach to sex, which Wood says is isolated Slayer bullshit. He also jokes that the sex was just #meh and Faith takes that as a challenge. He tells her to slow her roll and only asks that she give him the opportunity to surprise her if they live through this.
K: He also delivers one of my favourite Wood lines: “Oh please, I am SO much prettier than you.“
Sweeney: Chez Summers. Willow is prepping for the big spell and warning Kennedy that if Willow loses control, Kennedy may have to kill her. Kennedy reminds her of Buffy’s faith in her. “Have you met Buffy? Sweet girl, but not all that bright.” I used to get touchy about implications that she of the 1430 was stupid because of her lack of booksmarts, but now it’s nostalgia-feels-funny because it’s been so long since that’s been a thing. But remember when it was? #feels Kennedy goes on to say that she’s kind of a brat (yup) who has always gotten her way, which means that Willow has to survive.
Lor: You have to survive… FOR ME. What was she saying about being a brat?
K: SIGH. After all that’s happened, Kennedy still doesn’t get it.
Sweeney: Downstairs. War Room. It seems, at first, that Giles and Xander are planning, but we realize that they’re actually playing D&D with Andrew and Amanda, who appears to be doing very well because she’s a boss. Anya’s passed out at the table. That has been me more times than I’d like to admit.
The next day, the gang arrives at New Sunnydale High School, marching in. Wood leads the way, “Welcome to Sunnydale High. There’s no running in the halls, no yelling, no gum chewing.” Inside they meet up with Buffy and Spike. Faith, Spike, and the Potentials are sent downstairs. Willow is to perform her spell from Wood’s office, directly over the seal. Kennedy goes to set up her stuff so that Willow can stay for the remainder of the orders-giving, which mostly amounts to final posts for the “civilians.” Xander with Dawn, Giles with Wood, and Anya with Andrew. Andrew pulls out a speech and tears up, but Anya cuts him off.
Dawn goes to guard her post and Buffy tries to stop her, but Dawn tells her not to. “Don’t. Anything you say is gonna sound like goodbye.” #SISTERFEELS. Dawn goes, to make room for the greatest feels of all: #SCOOBYFEELS. It’s just Buffy, Willow, Xander, and Giles left standing in a circle. “So, what do you guys want to do tomorrow?” They rattle off normal person answers like “the mall” before the trio walk down the hall and Giles mutters, “The Earth is definitely doomed.” Quite possibly my favorite callback in the episode. (Of course, there’s still about 16 minutes to go.)
K: LOOK AT THEM ALL. They’re so grown up! With their good fashion choices and their good hairstyles and OMG I HAVE SO MANY FEELS BECAUSE THEY’RE BACK WHERE THEIR FRIENDSHIP BEGAN OH GOD.
Sweeney: IT’S SO BEAUTIFUL.
They walk down the hall, with Willow heading off her way first, and then Xander, a lovely conclusion to this moment and build up to the distinct, important tasks that they all must perform.
Downstairs, Buffy slices her hand open first before Faith and all The Potentials (minus Kennedy) follow suit, blood dripping into the seal to open it. Upstairs, Willow is all set up and ready to get her magic on.
Inside The Actual Mouth of Hell. Spike is complaining that his Champion Medallion looks tacky as hell. Faith non-comforts him by reminding him that it’s irrelevant if Willow’s spell doesn’t work. They look down off a cliff and spot thousands/millions/a-fuck-ton of OG Vamps. As Buffy is assuring everyone/herself that she’s totes calm, the OG Vamps spot them up there and charge.
They’re mega-high-up, though, so we’re probably going to have time for a speech! A good one, too, but there’s a Not Break first, so that seems like proper time to make the final Buffy hand-off. Bring it home, Lor.
Lorraine: For the last time.
Sweeney: 
K: A+, Sweeney.
Lor: And of course, 1430.
The OG Vamps keep charging and Buffy whispers Willow’s name, which is our cue to jump upstairs. Willow is touching the scythe, saying something under her breath, when suddenly she is overcome with power. This takes us to another cut, this time back to the Summers’ living room. We get to hear the plan now, as told by Buffy to the Potentials. She tells them they have to make a choice: what if they could have Slayer power now? Before, one slayer was born into every generation, “because a bunch of men who died thousands of years ago made up that rule.” They were powerful men, but Buffy points to Willow and says she’s more powerful than all those men combined.
Buffy, now in voice over, says that her power is their power. We watch Kennedy, Felicia Day, Rona and Amanda all smile and breathe deep, apparently receiving said power. We next see a montage of different girls around the world, from a young girl playing softball to a girl in a school hallway to a girl sitting with her family at dinner to a girl suddenly able to stop the fist of a man who was about to slap her. They all tap into the power as Buffy voice overs, “From now on, every girl in the world who might be a slayer will be a slayer. Every girl who could have the power, will have the power… can stand up, will stand up. Slayers… every one of us. Make your choice. Are you ready to be strong?”
Sweeney: I love this. I understand the issues with the MAJOR misogyny of the Slayer origin story and for some this isn’t enough to tip that. I get it. Your issue is valid. For me, though, I love this because that’s deliberate. The legit point here is, “WE’RE LITERALLY GOING TO SAVE THE WORLD BY DISMANTLING THE PATRIARCHY.” The misogynistic assholes created a broken world. Empowering girls the world over will save it.
K: YES. Whedon doesn’t always do girl power and feminism right, but this is one of the moments when it’s pretty much flawless. Any time I see a gifset of this scene on Tumblr, I flail a little bit. Because the cuts between girls all over the world make it so abundantly clear that this isn’t about Buffy, this isn’t just about stopping the immediate problem in front of them (although it’s definitely a factor). This is about changing the world forever. And it’s fabulous.
Lor: In Wood’s office, the Deus ex Machina Scythe glows white. In hell, Felicia Day confidently says that the OG Vamps are dust. They attack and the big fight ensues, and we see all the girls now wielding their super strength, from Amanda who stakes an OG Vamp through the heart, to Felicia Day who beheads one.
Back upstairs, Willow is glowing white, ecstasy written on her face. The Deus ex Machina Scythe stops glowing, and then so does Willow. Kennedy calls Willow a goddess, who calls her a slayer in return. She hands over the scythe and tells Kennedy to get it to Buffy. Kennedy runs out and Willow falls over, calling her latest magical experience, “nifty.”
Kennedy makes it into hell and throws the Deus ex Machina Scythe Buffy’s way. She catches it and gets her fight on. Kennedy joins the fight, very happy with her shiny new powers. Though the fight is going well, a few OG vamps manage to make it out through the open seal.
Andrew and Anya stand together, nervously holding up their swords, waiting for the approach of the Turok Han. Anya didn’t count on being this terrified. Andrew tells her to picture happy things, like bunnies, and that’s all she needs to rouse up some anger. Thank you, writers, for one last mention of bunnies. (S: +1. Many thanks.) (K: YES.)
Giles and Wood are covering an exit and the OG Vamps soon reach them.
Anya fights bravely and Andrew is easily pushed aside.
In the Hellmouth, Spike’s Tacky Necklace is activating and causing him to groan in pain. Buffy stops her fighting to give a few orders, when suddenly, she’s pierced through the stomach from behind. She looks down at the wound disbelievingly. After a second or two, she falls to the ground.
NGL: My biggest fear about the finale was that Buffy would die during it that I would have to quit life. I think I mostly abandoned that fear when she died in season 5, but this stomach wound brought up those old feelings.
After a cut to black, Faith spots Buffy. She runs over and Buffy struggles to lift her head and tell Faith to hold the line. Buffy passes the Deus ex Machina Scythe and Faith grabs it and gets to work on the OG vamps while Buffy groans in pain.
K: For me, this is SUCH a massive moment in their relationship. Buffy, for the first time, is trusting other people to do what she usually does alone. She’s trusting Faith to take charge and keep fighting the good fight where in the past, she would have sounded the retreat and called Faith reckless for not wanting to give up. She’s literally passing the baton (or scythe. Whatevs) to the next generation of Slayers.
Lor: Xander and Dawn guard their exit. Well, Xander fights while Dawn stands behind him. She comes in pretty handy, though, when she pulls a rope that opens a skylight, causing the OG Vamps to go insta-poof. There are more vamps to replace those, though, and the fight continues.
Sweeney: YOU GO, DAWNIE!
Lor: Andrew is being cornered by Bringers. Anya fights but from behind her (holy shit) a Bringer slashes her from shoulder to navel, diagonally. It happens so quickly and we cut away quickly and holy. shit.
Giles and Wood keep fighting, but Wood is badly wounded.
In the hellmouth, a group of OG Vamps crowds around Faith. She calls out and passes the scythe to Rona before she’s overcome by the vampires. Rona goes to town. (K: The music in this scene is MAGNIFICENT. Robert Duncan outdid himself.) Buffy is still down on the floor. First!Buffy shows up and mocks Buffy, a matching stomach wound on its body as well. “Ow! Mommy, this mortal wound is all…itchy.” First!Buffy goes on to say that Buffy came pretty close to smacking her down and asks what more she wants. Buffy, through gritted teeth says, “I want you… to get out of my face.” Buffy stands. Rona sees her and throws her the scythe. In one swing, Buffy takes out three OG Vamps. Faith also finds some new episode-is-almost-over wind and breaks free from the vampires. Felicia Day is owning this fight.
Mid-fight, Spike gasps and stumbles backwards. A blue light shines out of the Tacky Necklace and it breaks out of the hellmouth, through Principal Wood’s office and to the outside. The light turns orange and Spike yells, “Buffy!” and Buffy yells, “Ramen Noodle Head!” The light from the Tacky Necklace beams throughout the hellmouth, dusting OG vamps all throughout. The ground starts to shake with the sheer force of all the beautiful contrivance that has gotten us here, to this moment.
Sweeney: 1430 for everything you just did there, Lor.
K: Seriously. It was magical, from start to finish. And I apologise in advance but I HAVE to share my newfound favourite gif because I haven’t stopped laughing since I found it:
Lor: It’s truly inspired.
Faith starts rushing everybody out. Buffy runs to Spike’s side where he tells her he can feel his soul.
The fleeing Potentials run past Andrew who has managed to survive, somehow, even though a FINALE! has demanded the death of Anya.
Outside of Sunnydale High School, Giles leads everyone onto a near by school bus.
Still inside, Kennedy helps Willow out. Dawn and Xander are also exiting, Xander yelling for Anya as he goes. From our perspective, we see her lifeless body amongst the rubble. Xander doesn’t see her.
K: OH GOD THE FEELS.
Lor: Buffy and Spike are the only ones who remain in the hellmouth. Spike tells Buffy to leave, but she wants him to come too. He won’t. He wants to finish this whole thing. Buffy grabs Spike’s hand AND THEY LITERALLY BURST INTO FLAME TOGETHER.
OH MY GOD, I CAN’T STOP LAUGHING. THIS IS AMAZING.
Sweeney: It is truly glorious in the most ridiculous way possible.
K: LOLOLOLOL. Meanwhile, Cassie’s prediction from Help came true, so…there’s that.
Lor: Buffy runs out of the hellmouth and the building explodes. Faith runs out of the cloud dust and jumps on the bus, which promptly drives away. Dawn is at the back of the bus, hopefully looking out for her sister. #sisterfeels. Buffy runs through the rubble inside the high school and finds the exit blocked, so she heads upstairs.
Spike is still burning in the hellmouth as it crumbles all around him. He’s smiling, laughing as he burns in the sunlight as well, skin singing. This moment would be better if I didn’t know he showed up on Angel. I can pretend, though. GOODBYE SPIKE. SMELL YA LATER.
Sweeney: There’s a Veronica Mars gif for that, but StayFocused tells me I’ve maxed out on Tumblr for today so I can’t find it.
K: BYE! (Seriously, this scene was so much more effective before season 5 of Angel happened.)
Lor: In all seriousness, though, I imagine that this must be a satisfying moment for fans of Spike as well. I mean, not the (non) death part, but the fact that here he is, dying to ultimately save the world. It’s what we’ve seen Buffy do before. Love or hate him for it, Spike has always operated in grand gestures.
I’m A Survivor Bus. The less injured tend to those who need it. Felicia Day tries to yell Rona into health. (“Stay awake! This is nothing!” Uh, excuse me but my gushing wounds beg to differ.) Dawn is still staring out the back window. Buffy is running along rooftops as buildings collapse as she clears them. She jumps from the last building onto the school bus. The shot widens and we see that the whole freakin’ town is collapsing. The school bus drives on for a bit until Faith yells that they are clear.
The bus stops and Buffy jumps down off the roof. Dawn rushes out and hugs her. Giles jumps out next and looks back at the missing town. He asks who did this and Buffy solemnly says, “Spike.” We see the deep cavern that used to be Sunnydale. The “Welcome to Sunnydale” sign falls backward into the pit. It’s funny that Buffy says Spike is responsible and then the sign falls, as we’ve known him to be responsible for knocking over that sign before.
K: Yeah, it’s totally a callback to School Hard.
Lor: Xander grabs Andrew and asks if he saw. Andrew can’t look him in the eye and only says he was scared. Xander asks again if he saw what happened and this time Andrew looks up and says Anya was incredible and died saving his life. Xander’s voice shakes a bit as he says, “That’s my girl. Always doing the stupid thing.”
Sweeney:
Lor: Inside the school bus, Wood is not doing well. He asks Faith, who is kneeling beside him, if they made it. She says they did. They won. He smiles but then goes still and stops breathing. Faith looks at him, clearly shaken. After a few seconds, she reaches out to shut his eyes, but he coughs and comes to again. “Surprise,” he says. Felicia Day comes over with medical supplies and Faith joins the others who are still staring at Not Sunnydale.
Faith says the hellmouth is closed for business and Giles quickly replies that there is another one in Cleveland. (K: Always an optimist. Also a callback to The Wish!!) The dialogue gets a little end of an era cheestastic now as Xander declares that they saved the world and Willow amends that they changed the world. She can feel all the newly called Slayers out there. Dawn says that they’ll have to find them and Willow assures her that they will.
Giles: Yes, because the mall was actually in Sunnydale, so there’s no hope of going there tomorrow.
Dawn: We destroyed the mall? I fought on the wrong side.
Xander: All those shops gone. The Gap, Starbucks, Toys “R” Us. Who will remember all those landmarks unless we tell the world about them?
Giles: We have a lot of work ahead of us.
Faith: Can I push him in?
Willow: You’ve got my vote.
Faith: I just want to sleep, yo, for like a week.
Dawn: I guess we all could, if we wanted to.
Willow: Yeah. The First is scrunched, so… what do you think we should do, Buffy?
Faith: Yeah, you’re not the one and only chosen anymore. Just gotta live like a person. How’s that feel?
Dawn: Yeah, Buffy. What are we gonna do now?
I didn’t mean to quote so much at the end, but it’s with those lines that we close the series.
K: Her facial expression in that last gif causes me all kinds of hayfever.
Lor: It’s so hard to gather all of my thoughts at this moment. As I said, I thought the end would be easier. There are certainly aspects that I still feel I could not revisit, but as a whole, I’m still invested in this universe and in these characters. (Or, you know, most of these characters.)
First, I have to acknowledge that yes, a crazy amount of contrivance went into tying this story up in a neat little bow, from the amulet to the scythe. Suddenly the OG vamps are easily overcome when it took Buffy almost everything she had to defeat one. The plan to go into the hellmouth before Willow activated the Potentials was plain dumb. It almost felt like the story throughout the season ambled for so long, it was a mad race to the actual end. Of course, much of that is softened by the character moments and the hazy glow all these tears give the show. The strength in the final episode was just not the plot.
I will say that I loved the idea of calling all of the Potentials. What was Buffy struggling with this season (arguable throughout the whole series) if not with isolation? I liked that the solution, in the end was sharing her burden and empowering others. It gets tricky for me when you consider the other side of that, though. How is she better than the Shadowmen who also pushed power onto someone who didn’t ask for it? Still, the general message of empowerment was present and I at least appreciated that. Buffy offered them the choice of wielding that power in the last fight. It comes down to a message of, “you do have the power. Now, will you use it?”
Sweeney: That’s one of several flaws that I could see making this final twist insufficient for some viewers to come around on that groan-worthy addition to the origin story. Heavy contrivance is another. Still, for all the bullshit this season pulled, I’m pretty willing to set those things aside in appreciation of this finale tactic.
Lor: We griped some about the First taking on the figure of Buffy so often, but it worked for me here, where Buffy appears to be in a showdown against herself, because hello metaphor!
In the end, I felt it was a great but not perfect final entry, just as I will always feel that this series is great, but not perfect.
I suppose we’ll do the official goodbye posts next week, but I do want to end this one with a giant thank you to everyone who read along with us, through the good times and… interesting times. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Sweeney: +1. It’s been a long and crazy ride and we love you all for taking it with us. We’re going to have a big old party next week with Buffy-related posts every single day and wrapping up with a very special #snarkathon. We’re watching the Buffy movie alone-together (on Twitter) at 5pm EST (10pm UTC) on Saturday, March 8. (As always, a big movie party wrap-up with your tweets will follow that whenever we get around to it.)
We love you guys. We’re going to say it a few more times, but thank you thank you.
K: Seriously. I tried to locate a suitable Buffyverse gif to put in here to say thank you to all of you for reading. But I couldn’t find anything. And half the nothing I found was from this little website called snarksquad.com. Huh. Weird… Anyway, thank you times infinity – we love you guys like whoa.
Next week: We wrap up this whole crazy roller coaster ride.
I'm a 30-something librarian and I still live with my parents because I'm super broke. Leader of Team Heartless Cow. I have an inexplicable love for 90s television, eat too much chocolate, and read more than is good for me.
Nicole is the co-captain of Snark Squad and these days she spends most of her time editing podcasts. She spends too much time on Twitter and very occasionally vlogs and blogs. In her day job she's a producer, editor, director, and sometimes host of educational YouTube channels. She loves travel, maps, panda gifs, and semicolons. Writing biographies stresses her out; she crowd sourced this one years ago and has been using a version of it ever since. She would like to thank Twitter for their help.
I'm a 30-something south Floridan who loves the beach but cannot swim. Such is my life, full of small contradictions and little trivialities. My main life goals are never to take life too seriously, but to do everything I attempt seriously well. After that, my life goals devolve into things like not wearing pants and eating all of the Zebra Cakes in the world. THE WORLD.
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