And the less said about the farce that is Giles in a turtleneck the better.

Hee! I kind of liked it.

Katie M., you're right, bad choice of words. I just meant it as a short hand for her essentially being the catalyst for Buffy deciding to stop trying to convince them that she was right. That sentence is so clumsy, but I can't be bothered trying to fix it.

Emlah, re tonight: just as we thought!!! Very happy for Reggie, but how gorgeous was Chrissie?

Yep, no surprises, but exciting all the same! The final three are such gorgeous people. There's something about the friendship between Chrissie and Dan in particular that just does me in - it's lovely to see people connect like that. There was a moment during all the madness on stage where they were looking at each other and I was like: "I know you're just friends, but I wish you'd get married and come be my neighbours." It surprises me how emotional I got over the show this year. The last couple of seasons I've watched for shallow, voyeuristic entertainment, but this time I got really emotionally involved.

I did not have the Authorially Approved Reaction to a lot of S7, I don't think.

Where does it stand for you in comparison to other seasons? Up until recently, I thought it was the best season since Season 3. Now I'm witholding judgement until the final.

Oh, okay, Emlah. Fair enough. I won't argue that the scene was well-done, mind you. They could've built up to it throughout the second half of the season, and instead left me spending something like eight episodes yelling at the characters "she's acting like a nutcase! Someone talk to her! Aren't you supposed to be her friends? Mindless backup when she's not being very bright isn't friendship!" So by the time they got to Empty Places, I was thinking "better late than never."

Okay, I'll give my impression of S7. No specific spoilers for anything past Empty Places, but obviously my final opinion depends on everything up to the finale:

I think it's the most disappointing of the seven seasons for me, because it could've been brilliant - it started wonderfully, and I can see how it could've been marvelous hovering just out of reach, but they didn't quite get ahold of it. I'd put S4 ahead of S7, but then in retrospect I'm very fond of S4, because it's still fun. S5 and S6... I dunno. S6 I have a lot of respect for but don't really like; S7 I probably like better but have less respect for.

Agreed with Katie. I was one of the ones arguing sort of for the upshot of Empty Places -- turns out I pretty much predicted [spoiler this] and [spoiler that], by metaphor -- but I didn't like the execution either. And I really didn't like [yet another spoiler]. Throughout, I could see the idea, but I had to hunt for it through the malapropisms of implementation.

The last couple of seasons I've watched for shallow, voyeuristic entertainment, but this time I got really emotionally involved.

I actually got emotionally involved with the first one too, but much more this time round.

That said, there were moments in the past seasons that got me. Peter's little brother running into the house to greet him last year? Colour me weepy, and I didn't like Peter at all.

Oh God yeah, me too. I'd forgotten about that! I'm such a BB crybaby though...I still tear up every damn time they show that tape where Reggie says "I don't want...to go back...to my life!"

I still tear up every damn time they show that tape where Reggie says "I don't want...to go back...to my life!"

Me too! It's so heartfelt, in that little forlorn, choked up voice.

Another thing that really got to me was when they were shown messages from their loved ones last week. And I remember getting weepy on Sunday when Dan was moved almost to tears by the video camera gifts. He and Reggie just have the kind of cryfaces that break your heart.

Season 7 -- deeply deeply disappointing to me. What Buffy the character has become makes no sense to me. This is why I now bury my head in favourite fanfiction and pretend it is realer. (This does bring up issues about `reality' for me though.) Seasons 3-5 the best for me. Big finale in NZ tomorrow night. Don't know how it can redeem itself in 44 minutes. Curious to see what they do with the previouslies though.And the Grr Arrgh. All the Grr Arrgh variations I can recall are 1) ``I need a hug'' in season 2 (was it Innocence or Becoming II?) 2) Christmas hat on his little head at the end of Amends, and 3) Sung ``Grr Arrgh'' on Once More with Feeling. Have I got them all?

Re British accents: Geordie the most gorgeous. Brum the most hideous. Introduced to the full range via Aufweidersehn Pet. Did anyone else see that great British TV series, Our Friends in the North? Set in Newcastle and introduced me to the greeting: ``What fettle, bonny lad?'' To which the response is: ``Canny fettle!'' (Scuse if the spelling is wrong -- I'm just being phonetical.)