Oh, god, that was perfect. It totally upset all my expectations, and brought the show back to the core narratvies: Buffy, Girl Power, High School, the Hellmouth.

Timelies, everyone. Now begins the part of the post-show discussion I like best--the focused analysis.

why is Spike the one to make the ultimate heroic sacrifice of the episode?

I've got an idea on this one that might tie in to some of the other themes we've seen kicked around throughout the years. Spike has been a sort of dark reflection of the Buffster throughout the years, so his sacrifice was as a sort of substitute-Buffy. Killing Spike was as close as Joss could get to killing Buffy a) without getting the "been there, done that" feeling, and b) leaving Buffy alive and empowered, and able to enjoy her no-longer-alone life.

Here are the bare bones of my Spike/Buffy (but not Spuffy) analysis.

S1. Spike is not there, and in a way, neither is Buffy. She starts out in quasi-denial of her Slayerosity and the sacrifice/hardships it demands. By the end of the season, that has changed to a large degree.

S2. Spike shows up, and so do all of the big issues with Angel--for both characters. Spike is dismayed that Angel has gotten a soul, Buffy is dismayed when Angel loses his soul. Both characters are psychologically tormented by Angelus. Both wind up leaving Sunnydale in wake of a bitter victory. Buffy has lost her true love, and so has Spike (only he doesn't realize it yet--Dru will leave him for good shortly after they get out of town).

S3. Faith takes over the role of Buffy's reflection for the most part. Still, it's significant that Spike shows up for "Lover's Walk."

S4. Spike is cut off from the vampire community just as Buffy is somewhat cut off from the Scoobies--all thanks to the initiative.

S5. Buffy gives up her life out of love for Dawn. Spike changes the most over the course of this season, IMO, nearly laying down his unlife for Buffy and her family. The alliance of necessity of S2 and the false alliance of S4 have moved aside and the two of them are truly allies, fighting for the same thing and for more or less the same reasons.

S6. Buffy and Spike connect in a truly unhealthy way as Buffy is trying to feel alive but winds up becoming more and more withdrawn into herself. The positive aspects of Spike that we saw in S5 and early in S6 vanish as Buffy's own joy in living vanishes. The AR shocks both characters deeply, deeply enough that they realize that change is needed. Buffy ends the season with a renewed desire to live that she was not expecting. Spike ends the season with a soul that he was not entirely expecting (IMO).

S7. Both Buffy and Spike are prime targets of the FE. (I'm summarizing like mad, since I have to get ready to go to work). The two of them reconnect once Buffy and Spike have both been betrayed by the Scoobies, but this time, it is in a quiet intimacy and acceptance of each other. Buffy give Spike the amulet that Angel had given to her assuming that she would be the one to use it.

Does any of this make sense? I'm still hammering out this theory.

I liked that a lot.

I suspect I won't love it until I can see it without having to squint through static or turn the volume up full blast.

Didn't cry. Did get goosebumps at the mass Slayer awakening. Did laugh out loud for ten full seconds at Spike's drawing of Angel. Was most appreciative of something rather mundane: Angel leaving during the first act. Thought the "fat grandchildren" line also hit Home for Angel. Grossly overused the implied first-person in this paragraph.

About the spreading of Slayer-dom: that was only supposed to be happening to potentials, right? Well, then, maybe when they called up the Devon coven, they should've asked them how their seers missed so many last year.

All right, I was going to post this last night, when everyone else was doing their eulogies tributes, but I couldn't finish it before the show started, and it didn't seem right to post during the post-and-watch.

My junior year in college my boyfriend tells me, "You've gotta watch this show with me sometime. You'd really like it." I'm like, "Buffy the what? Wasn't that a movie? And didn't it suck?" But I keep hearing about this show--from him, on the Internet, etc. I remember hearing the radio ads for the "Two Night Event." I remember reading a MSTing of a Buffy fanfic, which was tricky considering I had only vague ideas of the characters. And finally, just to shut the poor boyfriend up, I started watching.

I don't remember exactly my first episode. I came in during the reruns after Angel went bad, which was disorienting because in one episode Angel would be bad, then in the next he'd be good. Jenny Calendar was dead, then alive, then dead. Boyfriend had to fill me in on a fair amount of backstory. But it didn't take me long to really start enjoying the show. It was fun, funny, and made me think.

The first episode to really, really grab me was "I Only Have Eyes For You". The juxtaposition of the student/teacher story with Buffy and Angel's situation, the guilt, the way it all fit together perfectly, "Bitch!", and oh god, that song...

Then it was onto the heartbreaking perfection of the season finale, and how could it get better than this? But it did--Faith, the Mayor, the slayer's dark side.

Buffy graduated high school when I graduated college (except, of course, my ceremony wasn't postponed until mid-July) I've been watching since, inspired at times, disappointed at others. But always glad to have it, and Angel, in my life.

I've been stalking lurking with y'all since TT. My then-boyfriend, now-husband (Hi, Hobgobble!) have watched every Tuesday. Thank you, Joss, for all the fun.

"Did laugh out loud for ten full seconds at Spike's drawing of Angel."

And I loved the way the camera kept the Angel-as-target sketch visible in the upper left-hand corner when focusing on Buffy. Hilarious.

Hoya Saxa's great big idea to ponder over the long summer: Spike could be Angel's biggest headache next season on Angel. Could be very interesting. They are natural rivals. I envision a renegade faction of W&H pulling off a Darlafication to thwart A&W&H.

Oh, one other thing -- it would have been rich, and perhaps even vicious, if during last night's Angel jealousy huff about Spike, Buffy says: "And where in your heart is Cordelia, Angel?"

Coming from lurkdom and reading a long threadsuck to say I loved this episode. But I'm suprised that no one's mentioned the biggest shock from this episode:

That Caleb's now bisectual.

runs away quickly before things can be thrown

That Caleb's now bisectual.

t wipes monitor with tissue to remove Diet Coke

I thought that the way Buffy dispatched Caleb was wonderful, if wince-inducing. What a perfect way to take out the misogynist.

First, R.I.P. Jenny, Larry, Joyce, Jonathon, Amanda, Anya.

My grades for the Season overall:

Lessons B+ A good intro to the year, but glad Dawn's classmates got dropped.

Beneath You A+ Shakespearean Buffy.

Same Time, Same Place B+ The gnarl demon was eh, but Willow's return was otherwise well-played.

Help B Cassie was great, but a little too Afterschool Special

Selfless A+ Where Ultimate Drew became Ultimate Drew

Him B+ Uneven, but the funny stuff very funny

Conversations with Dead People A The Dawn parts don't hold up perfectly on rewatch, which is the only reason this isn't an A+

Sleeper B Enjoyable but not memorable.

Never Leave Me B+ The Andrew stuff earns it the +

Bring on the Night C

Showtime C These two were the low points of the season for me, but still get a passing grade (if only just)

Potential A The scene at the end is classic.

Killer in Me B This and FD solid but not special.

First Date B

Get it Done C I remember little about it, never a good sign.

Storyteller A+ Another Season high.

Lies My Parents Told Me A- Spike grows up.

Dirty Girls A Caleb arrives and things kick into high gear.

Empty Places B And then shift down a bit. It felt rushed, but did move things into position.

Touched B+ And I might give it an A- on rewatching.

End of Days A - Gathering speed for...

Chosen A+ A fitting end.

And if a cadre of newly-annointed slayers could instantly poof an army of ubervamps why did it take Buffy several weeks to figure out how to kill one even with all her skill and training?

RL! Hi. On the above - I think it was because they chose to be in the fight this time, as did Buffy. To me, that was the point. Choosing to fight, choosing to use their strength, their power to fight evil, had as much to do with making them strong as Willow's magicks.

To me, that was the point. Choosing to fight, choosing to use their strength, their power to fight evil, had as much to do with making them strong as Willow's magicks.

This is why I like the episode's title so much. Because it shows the two opposite uses for the word chosen, as in being chosen, passively, and in making a choice, actively and consciously.

"In every generation there is a Chosen One" - being chosen by outside forces, not having anything to do with that in and of herself, no choice of the slayer, the person, in it. And as opposed to that, the choices that the characters got to make: Buffy's choices throughout 7 years to act through that power given her, her friends choices to stay in Sunnydale and face the dangers of the world (Willow in the S3 episode "Choices"), and, finally, the choice of all the SiTs to accept the power and use it, completely different from when Buffy had no choice but accept it ("I don't have a destiny. I'm destiny-free, really." and the tears in front of the mirror in "Becoming").