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 ...

Do these ideas seem to have any merit?

It's lonely at the top? It's what Buffy's been struggling with since her resurrection. I thought it was all spelled out during the musical (all those minor keys). The whole of vampdom to me is lonliness (an expansion of the catholic purgatory where one mourns the loss of the face of God ... or hell ... where one knows one will nver see the face of God again). with Vampdom .... one may never love again throughout the eternity of their existence. Evil depends on lovelessness - yes?

I got a favor to ask, could someone please nilly links to the posts (or even the articles themselves) that got posted. I was all spoilery resistant but I'd love to be able to find them and go back and read them.

Ifn you deleted because you weren't saying what you meant to say, Micole, then c'est la vie. But I hope you weren't feeling attacked or under pressure to defend yourself, because of my responses.

Hi, Julie. Thanks for checking in. I didn't feel attacked, and I appreciate your thoughtful responses to my posts. I didn't actually delete my main post; I deleted a complaint about having been inadvertantly spoiled for some key elements of the finale, which was irrelevant and, um, really bitchy. Because that was more about me being in a lousy mood than about making a contribution to the conversation.

I shall have to meara a response to a lot of the great things people have been saying later this week, because today's going to be really hectic for me. Nothing to do with feeling chased out of the conversation. I don't feel like that at all.

I'm so glad I wasn't spoiled and had no clue about Spike. There has been much discussion of the Buffy/Spike connection from the beginning. Now they are both free.

I am so content and satisfied. Thank you Joss.

Loved the finale. Not OMWF love, but it fealt good. One bit Liked was Dawn kicking Buffy in the shin. Buffy, "OK, but if you die, I'm telling."