There's a nice, brief little eulogy to Buffy in the NY Times today.

Aw Betsy. *sniff*

At the very end, I really expected a human Spike to crawl out of the pit of Sunnydale.

And, knowing this board, I bet a naked crawling human Spike would have been preferred.

Of course, my tastes run toward a naked Anya, but the narrative would suffer.

I read EVERY ONE of the posts, and to prove it here is a Monster Meara. This will also 'sum up' for those of y'all who skipped.

I swear one of those vampire guys was actually in Ferenghi makeup.

Principal Snider!

ROAD RULES SUNNYDALE!

The continuity nods were amazing.

The shout outs to just about everything.. unrelenting

And for the first time all season, I heard every character voice, pitchperfect, simultaneously.

contented sigh

ayup.

I cried. Of course I did. Girls killed things. Girls got the power to kill things. I'm tearing up right now thinking of the girl that's going to hit that stupid softball right out of the park and she doesn't know why.

Ita is a browner more ass-kicking straighter version of me.

Was I the only one who thought that Andrew was going to get slayer powers also?

Heh.

Deena: OK, then The husband has asked me to report that the First Evil has indeed come to Cleveland and has currently set up shop in Terminal Tower, downtown.

He further asked me to report that FE is using his nightmares to terrorize innocent shoppers in Public Square. I say there are no innocents in Public Square, but that could be my anti-city thing.

Go raptorgirl, go!

I decline to accept the end of man.... I believe that man will not merely endure: he will prevail. He is immortal, not because he alone among creatures has an inexhaustible voice, but because he has a soul, a spirit capable of compassion and sacrifice and endurance. The poet's, the writer's, duty is to write about these things. It is his privilege to help man endure by lifting his heart, by reminding him of the courage and honor and hope and pride and compassion and pity and sacrifice which have been the glory of his past. The poet's voice need not merely be the record of man, it can be one of the props, the pillars to help him endure and prevail.

B/c it's true, bears repeating, came from a Southern writer, and makes me sniffly.

she was never going to win. she was always going to win.

define win.

buffy is dead. long live buffy.

Damn, bam bam. Well put.

Schmoopy of me, but I'm picturing Joyce and Spike enjoying a nice mug of hot chocolate with marshmallows in a heaven dimension somewhere. With Tara, too.

I love the schmoop.

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

Does that make Mimi a slayer or his minion?

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?"

“I remember her scent pretty well.”

edited to make all of bam bam's quotedness quoty

Hmm. Katie, I never felt it was for me to claim any of the slayerhood. It was (and still is) other.

Oh, that's interesting. See, I always saw it as... was it here or on lj someone was talking about part of the gift the new Slayers got with their power being confidence? So I saw Buffy's physical power as a metaphor for all of our internal strengths - men and women, for what that's worth.

monster meara part II (i miss you meara!)

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.

I don’t remember seeing SMG snarl before (sure to be corrected). She has pouted, cried, snarked, moue'd, smiled, grinned, etc. The snarl was fabulous. Want screencap (Daniel?).

We had Blood Oranges, (s)Layer Cake, Angel Cake and Bloomin' Onions. Also averaged more than one bottle of red wine per person.

Oh, NICE. I had, uh, pizza and fruity drinks.

Spike is going to become human! Or maybe a drag queen.

Spike as drag queen. Priceless. He’d dress as Dru and still sing “My Way” the same, but break down at the end. Spoilery spec And Lorne will comfort him.

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

This is my desktop. Joss bless screencaps.

I *loved* it that all the potential Slayers were activated. Somewhere, probably in Cleveland, a mugger is going to go after what he thinks is an easy mark and is going to get his ass kicked by an 87-year-old (who aged out in the late 1930's) in really cute orthopedic shoes.

Hee and yes!

Wrod on both parts-she loves him but she isn't in love with him (whether she realizes that or not) so he was being honest, and selfless at the same time.

::nods vigourously::

I don't know if they had sex-and I like that I don't know.

::again with the noddyness::

I loved the pretty bowknots on the ends of things, and I love the things left undone, to supply imaginative ramblings.

::would have lost my head already if i was lilah::

One of the things I wanted for Buffy for the entire run of the series was for her to be on her own,

wrod.

but I have to say that I've snuggled with lots of people when neither of us were in love or even in danger of getting nookie, and I feel like you're saying that my snuggling with freinds is somehow "using" or "bad" or "something to teach your kids never to do."

t snuggles up to sean

I have fanwank! I suspect that the FE "empowered" the first UberVamp we saw, much as it did Caleb, so it was a bit tougher than usual.

That's great! We need to collect all the best fanwanks into a big ol' ficwank.

The montage of the Chosen Few made me think "I'm not one of those girls," though. Which was obviously not their intent.

See, this made me think “We are all those girls.” Go now and slay likewise. However you feel about Jossian feminism, I felt like it was his way of saying -- take what you've learned and kick some ass. And that the slayer will live on in all of us, if we so choose. And 46 other flavors of schmoopiness. xposty goodness w/ katie m

Now that I've explored all the ways to agree in a post, here are a few random thoughts.

I thought Chinese slayer revived, kicked ass, and made it to the bus.

It seemed to me like on some level Spike was horrified at his connection to the Turok Hans. I'm not able to really articulate this right now, so I'll let someone else do it for me.

Are people just waiting for the grieving period to end to remark on the Xander/Andrew HoYay? I mean, I know it was sad that Anya died, and Andrew always had this special thing for Anya and Xander. And Andrew's little fib felt right. But I was waiting for a little more between the two of them. Andrew grabbing him in a hug or something.

As for the other potentials suddenly empowered, part of it was the Dark Horse slayers, as mentioned earlier. Part of it is the fact that the FE was wrong. That there was never a finite number of potentials. That it would have to keep fighting slayers for-bloody-ever.

And I would hope there is an age limit. The little Girl on the baseball team being the cut off age. She also might look younger, because she so small... :)

This also leads to more potentials being out there when they get to baseball!Slayer age.

And you know? Somebody has to teach them all what they can do with their new power. It is going to take all the resources and the Watcher's bank accounts in Geneva to do this.

And Giles is the man for the job. And the slayers. And the scoobs.

Wes could be helpful, too....heh

I had to skip a bunch, or I'd never be able to participate in the conversation. But I did catch victor's list of season endings & thought of another way to resolve this one:

Season Five: Buffy dies/Buffy gets to live her life for real.

Buffy chooses to no longer be THE Slayer.

At the very end, I really expected a human Spike to crawl out of the pit of Sunnydale.

Whoa. No idea who said this (because hello! skipping!) but I pictured the exact same thing. And yes, Daniel, I tried out both the unclothed options.

Turok Hans

I'm not sure they really thought the implications of this name -- I mean, when we thought it was just one Turok Han, he was a primitive nasty-looking hard-to-kill vampire. But in the plural? He's all that, but he's also Bavarian.

I love the schmoop.

Me too. As long as it's been earned. Joyce and Spike have definitely earned some schmoop. Especially for the reaction when Spike brought flowers after her death.

But I was waiting for a little more between the two of them. Andrew grabbing him in a hug or something.

I don't see Andrew being that assertive. Now, Xander literally crying on Andrew's shoulder, I could see.