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").

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?

I like Cindy's explanation. Also, I think that once Buffy & Co. realized that they could defeat the ubervamps, it became psychologically easier to do so.

I'm also fond of the notion that the Slayer power became stronger when shared out amongst all of the potentials. I thought that some of the moves I saw during the last battle were pretty damned impressive for new Slayers.

Another idea, one that's more of a fanwank, is that the first Turok Han brought forth was the top-of-the-line model. The rest were the TH version of cannon fodder.

One thing I thought of this morning was the end of S2.

Angelus: Now that's everything, huh? No weapons... No friends... No hope. Take all that away... and what's left?

Buffy: Me.

Those lines were empowering at the time, but in the end, Joss turned them upside down and inside out. The First's taunting made Buffy realize that she did have hope. She went into the final battle surrounded by friends and allies, and she had a weapon that was shared by those friends--not just mystically through Willow's spell, but physically as they hot-potatoed the thing during the fight.

One other thing I loved but didn't comment on at the time was the look on Buffy's face during that last scene with the First. She looked absolutely primal in a way that reminded me of the First Slayer far more than any tricks with makeup or lighting could have done.

It was sad to see Anya go - see them all go, but all and all it was a really good ending. It was wonderful to see the four discussing plans after the battle, that one took me back a bit! I suddenly remembered the count down on the WB to the beginning and here I was at the end. What a great show this was and forever will be. Ok...my ranting is done!

Fanwankery re. Pod!Giles this season:

Giles didn't seem un-Gilesy until he got to the States with the Potentials in tow. He seemed Gilesish even in that last scene with Robson (right before the squeaky shoes). IMO, he started acting like Giles again when Buffy presented him with her power-sharing plan.

Giles' reaction to the plan was that it was completely contrary to anything that had ever been done or attempted before--by the Watchers, that is. I think that was the first time he truly realized that the power to save the world was in the hands of the Slayer, and not in the hands of the Slayer-as-backed-by-the-Watchers. Even though Giles had a love/hate relationship with the Council, I do think that he saw them, and not the Slayer, as humanity's last line of defense.

I think that he arrived in Sunnydale expecting to lose (even if he didn't realize this consciously). When Buffy outlined her plan, I think he realized that they could win, and that he didn't have to be the Watcher any more than Buffy had to be the Slayer.

Grossly overused the implied first-person in this paragraph.

Hee! This is why I like this board.

Cereal:

The idea of aloneness/not-aloneness has been brought up throughout this season.

Even as a demon, Anya was somewhat on the outs with the demon community. In Selfless, her best friend was killed in place of her, and she ended that episode not being sure of who she was or where she would go from there, only that things would change. This compares nicely to Buffy's cookie speech and Spike pulling a Sidney Carton on her behalf.

CwDP shows the core characters (minus Xander) at their most alone. Buffy is reminded of her inferiority/superiority complex. Dawn is left alone/taunted with the notion of Buffy abandoning her. Willow is forcefully reminded of Tara's absence (I know that AB wasn't there for contractual or other reasons, but when you take away the meta, not being able to see Tara was just one more reminder that she was no longer there). When kept apart from the others by the First, Spike becomes a killer again. The last word of that wonderfully creepy song was "alone," just hanging there over the closing credits.

Faith notices that even when surrounded by Scoobies, Buffy's life was terribly lonely.

There's more to say on the subject, but I really need to get some work done today. Do these ideas seem to have any merit?

Even though Giles had a love/hate relationship with the Council, I do think that he saw them, and not the Slayer, as humanity's last line of defense.

Maybe in S1, but this is not the Giles I thought I was seeing in S2-5. After S2, I always thought Giles was grudgingly to proudly on board with Buffy's unconventional way of doing things.

I just can't buy any Gileswank. To me, Giles was written as a jerk to push Buffy to Spike.

So while Chosen can't make sense of everthing that confused and angered me about the second half of S7, it did set right the things I most care about in a very satisfying manner.

KristenB!

I, too, was one of the ones that started with it, and finished with it, and it's a good feeling to have done that with a show that wasn't cancelled unrisen.

I always wanted it done in season seven. I just didn't want it over ...