Hec, you BASTARD. I'm at work, stop it.

Hec! This is beyond mere allergies!

I know. This is why she had to die such a meaty, mortal death though. A very subtle tie in to "The Body" along with all her obvious riffs on mortality. Her death made the hair on my arms stand up.

As somebody noted upthead (Amber, I think), Willow turning white was my crypoint. Her story is the most meaningful to me in the 7 season path, and she's been given as much development as Buffy as a character.

Amanda, had such a great, fierce battle face. That always thrilled me - way more than the other slay-ettes. Except...Vi! Totally. Kicked. Ass. Wow, that was exciting.

Kept thinking of ita when they were tossing the axe around.

Most moved by Xander's hand squeeze to Buffy.

Most laughing, during the beautifully written and played Faith/Wood scene. God, that was good. Okay, petulent Angel was good too. Also Dawn kicking Buffy's shin. "Ow."

Hmmm, I think Jane is actually funnier than Joss on a line by line snappy basis. But nobody writes in-character-funny-with-twists like Joss. Nobody in television. Not many people in the history of writing for actors period.

I thought that the D&D was the funniest.

I thought that the D&D was the funniest.

I wasn't quite able to believe in Giles playing, so it doesn't win my award. I think that probably goes to Buffy fantasizing about Angel and Spike wrestling, covered in oil. Or possibly, for pure "aww, hee" untinged by "okay, and this scene was written to fulfill this purpose," Willow giggling and falling over. That's my Buffy right there.

I will say, the scene with the Core Four worked very well for me as a retread - because I believed that those characters knew what they were doing, and that they were doing it on purpose. I didn't notice Joss pulling the strings there.

Wow.

Haven't been around for a while, but I had to pop in and share the joy and the pain.

As someone else said, I watched the first ep on the first night and the last on the last, and I've never been sadder to see a show go.

I like the way it ended. A lot. I'm glad that Joss was able to turn his full attention to the finale and knock it out of the park.

I think the Hellmouth in Cleveland explains Drew Carey, who should be the first Big Bad on the spin-off.

After I heard of the series ending way back when, I thought it was a good time to go - I even said, "It'll be nice to have my Tuesday nights back." But the minute it ended, I wanted it to go on forever.

So weird to have, for now at least, a Joss Whedon show on only one night this fall. I'd had mixed feelings about 'Angel' this season, but next season I think I'll treasure it. I hope some of the lightness from 'Buffy' makes it over to 'Angel'.

I also hope Angel sends the Scooby gang a blank check in a W&H envelope to a temporary address. They should get a nice motorhome, not like the crappy one with bad suspension at the end of S5, though that did have the cool 'captain's quarters' in the back. Or a Learjet like Bill Bixby had on 'The Magician', not the one from 'Hart to Hart'.

Gotta do the Doyle:

"Is that it? Am I done?"

I wasn't quite able to believe in Giles playing, so it doesn't win my award.

See, but I could believe it, because of the way he methodically checked his character sheet for some stat he thought could help him. It was so Giles. And somehow, I bought that Andrew was able to talk him into playing.

Also? Connie wondered upthread if Giles new the rules before hand. As much as I would like to think it was possible, there was something about the way ASH played the scene that leads me to believe that Giles was able to scan the rulebooks within the span of about a half an hour and still come away with a full command of the game. 'Cuz he could.

I thought the white hair was the counterpoint to her hair turning black. She was getting a rush from doing *good* with magic.

It also hints at the greater abilities Willow could use now that she knows she can do good and walk away.

It was like she was feeling the joy from the light side, instead of the bitterness of evil/darkness.

And yes, to Giles having never played the game and being able to jump in. Because if Giles had played the game, he would have had the others down to penniless blind lepers, begging in the streets, hoping the next roll of the dice would put them out of their wreched miserable poor excuses for game existance.

New ending. Music comes up as Dawn speaks.

DAWN: "Yeah, Buffy. What are we gonna do now?"

Music swells as Buffy smiles...

Chorus: "Holiday roaaaooooaaaaoood, holiday roooaaaoooooaaaaoooood..."

Joss should just write everything.

And direct everything as well. Two perfect shows. The Angel finale - written and directed by Tim and the Buffy finale - written and directed by Joss. A fitting tribute to ME - long may it prosper.

Micole "Buffy 4: Grr. Arrgh." May 21, 2003 12:18:03 am EDT

Micole .... I am so in agreement with all you whited.

I was overly spoiled for this ep - so I decided to take it as a stand-alone and as such I so thoroughly enjoyed it. And was even surprised by a lot of it (especially the exceptionally sparky dialogue). This script could and would make a fine movie.