how cool would it have been to see an Saudi or Congolese girl get the power and overcome some really serious repression? Yeah!

"Genital mutilation, my ASS!!!!"

"Burqua? I'll show you what I think of your burqua...."

Yes, this. Anya has been my favorite character from the get-go, and watching her die, and then abandoned by Xander...

Hey! He didn't abandon her. He couldn't see her. If Xander had seen her corpse, he would have died trying to get her out. I'm suddenly glad for the eyepatch.

Oh! Now the scene of Buffy sharing her power to help Willow heal (in ST,SP) has a new layer!

Buffy *sharing* her power.

Dude.

Yeah, I dug it. Must re-watch. A couple little things:

I think the Uruk Hai or whatever were weaker -- that's why they were still down there, not up above ground kicking ass -- they weren't ready yet.

(Were we supposed to think they had The Sex?)

Not before the scene of them in bed fully clothed, I'm thinking.

Is it valediction time already? I suppose it is.

Six years (over here) I've been watching this bloody show. It was the first thing I talked on the Web about (to ita and Betsy, IIRC), the first thing I Googled....

For me, the show breaks into 2 phases - Buffy Mk1 runs from WTTH to Graduation Day. It was cheaply made, badly lit, the costumes and effects were mostly lousy - remember the same 4 graves for 2 years? - and no-one took it seriously. It was just some kids' show, Party of Five with monsters. Meanwhile, by embracing all that, it became, if not the best show I've ever seen ( Twin Peaks, Sopranos and GBH are equally good), the most lovable. Every episode was charming, sad, funny and scary, and they took the metaphor further and further, extending the myth, breaking the boundaries. Sometimes they fell flat on their faces, with actors who just couldn't cut it (Kendra) sometimes actors grew into their roles (Faith, Angel) and sometimes they had flat out brilliance from the start (the Awesome Foursome-as Joss calls them now- JM, Oz).

Then GDII brought down the curtain on that show. The whole high-school-is-hellthing had reached it's limits, and Joss knew the danger of dragging it out - M*A*S*H lasting longer than Korea.

Buffy MkII was slick, expensive, expansive. It was a lead show, people wrote reviews and articles and books. It got DVD releases. It pushed out the limits of TV form, inspired platoons of feeble imitations, had hordes of fanatical fans. It was brilliantly written, directed, acted and designed. Joss's courage in letting the show grow up with Buffy, making it as depressing and confusing and contradictory as being twenty is, pissed a lot of people off, but made Buffy MkII a serious cultural milestone (when I say that Charles Shaar Murray wrote a piece about how great it was, those who know the name will know how far Buffy arrived, even over here). Somehow, though, for me, it wasn't as adorable as the original show. It carried weight and seriousness. Still funny, not lighthearted any more.

And now it's over. Sunnydale is gone. I'd thought for years about how Joss would end it, but he exceeded all my expectations. Every major theme of the show was resolved - Buffy learned how not to be alone, Willow managed to resolve the power/evil struggle of this year, Anya faced down her two greatest fears, Buffy and Angel resolved the relationship, Giles found a role again. And, of course, Spike's transition from trickster to champion was complete. BTVS was never just about Buffy, so it's right that the finale wasn't. Most of all, it brought the metaphorical core of the show - girl power - back in the best way I can imagine. if Buffy began with a victim turning predator on a horror level (darla), it ended with hundreds of girls all over the world feeling their power. It ended with a revolution.

He also brought in every riff and running gag the show's ever had - Bunnies, inappropriate Xander, Spike as comedy Angel retread, flip comments at the gates of Hell, the deadly serious dialogue/silly game bait and switch.

WTF was Buffy wearing when she gave the "I'm ending this NOW" speech? Guess the costumers had to get one last atrocity in.

I honestly thought is was a plot point for a second. They were all standing around her saying "I don't know if this is a good idea" and I thought she was in some sort of disguise.

What, btw, is Wenda's un-sayable "U word"? (if it isn't spoilery)

And speaking for the Spoiler Virgins (preferred to phobes, imho) please do keep it out of here. We know something is going to happen casting-wise and the more you refer to it in the more contexts the more clear it becomes.

So, now down to brass tacks (w/ever that means) - POST-SEASON ANALYSIS. This what the Buffistas do best - put the Anal in Analysis (interpret that as Porny or not, as is your inclination):

Joyce in CwDP? I'm thinking not the FE. So was Buffy not choosing Dawn when Xander tried to get her out of town, or the fact that, since she wasn't a potential, she didn't get a share of the power?

Oh, and on Xander leaving Anya behind, what Cindy said.

Oh! Now the scene of Buffy sharing her power to help Willow heal (in ST,SP) has a new layer!

(giggles) Yes, I had noticed that when I read the script.

Not before the scene of them in bed fully clothed, I'm thinking.

I think there's an intentionally ambiguous scene before the school bus. Which is to say, I know there's a scene, I think it was intentionally ambiguous.

I have my own belief about that, which amych knows, and that might surprise some of you. Were I not lazy, I'd pull it from my chat logs.

What, btw, is Wenda's un-sayable "U word"? (if it isn't spoilery)

There was a little conversation in spoilers Monday & Tuesday, where Buffy was called a manipulative bitch, and then that got downgraded to user, which is the U-word to which Wenda's referring.

The doctors told me to stop talking about it, in order to avoid popping any more blood vessels.

I think Joyce in CWDP was a plot point they dropped, frankly. Just a cache of foreshadowing in case they needed it.