We see the back of a beefy fellow as he is about to strike someone -- and HER hand blocks his blow. She rises into frame, slightly bruised and bleeding, but with a cold fury in her eyes that suggests that won't be happening again.
This is totally what I saw. Stunning moment.
A twelve year old girl stands uncertainly at the plate as the power hits her: she takes it in, looking down in confusion.... then looking back up, slowly, her stance straightening and a wicked grin on her face.
I didn't so much pick up on her uncertainty at the start, but the smile on her face was so knowing and powerful it just gave me chills. Happy chills.
I'm amazed at how masterfully they did what could have been a pretty cheesy montage.
I like Joss's glee at the end of the montage in the script:
INT. CAVERN - CONTINUING
As the girls come out of slo-mo and into their own.
AMANDA
Sweet fancy moses.
Buffy and Faith beam at each other.
FAITH
You feel that?
BUFFY
I really do.
Faith looks ahead, they all steel themselves, various expressions of readiness and uncertainty on various faces...
FAITH
Everybody, hold the line...
VI
(dead cool)
These guys are dust.
And the first wave hits, the vamps cresting the edge en masse, swarming over the girls --
Sorry. "Slayers". Who take the horde and beat it back, every single one of them slicing, kicking, twirling, punching, slaying like they've been doing it all their lives.
They are taking out a bunch (Spike keeping his end up just fine, thank you), holding off others -- but the vamps keep coming, endlessly. It's brutal and dark and sweaty and bloody and I love it. I love it.
A twelve year old girl stands uncertainly at the plate as the power hits her: she takes it in, looking down in confusion.... then looking back up, slowly, her stance straightening and a wicked grin on her face.
For God's sake. That *still* makes me teary. I am a sap.
I reallyo trulyo love Joss Whedon with all the passion my sould can conjure up.
I'm just saying.
I reallyo trulyo do.
So there are already two lines I'd use as tags that got cut...
>Hey! My kill, my wordplay.
and...
>Pucker up, ladies. We're going to Hell.
Hi Hec
out of context (and not actually shown) those lines are not spoilery. So nothing really stops you from using either one. As a stand-alone line, I like the second better.
DAWN: Or, operative word "Wheeee!"
This really, really should have stayed in. YoMotherfuckerWheeee!
Liking this:
ANYA: Oh, sure y'are. You're as stable as the molecules in Mister Fantastic's uniform, am I right?
XANDER: Oh, you just couldn't have picked a worse example.
Because the Fantastic Four's costumes are made of "unstable molecules" that transform when they do and...yeah. Maybe this joke really WAS too geeky to make the cut.
Eliza Dushku on Late Night With Conan O'Brian screencaps are up.
Check Press for link
BUFFY
He had to split.
She snorts with dorkish laughter. Angel just shakes his head reprovingly. She stops after a moment.
See, this was the one off note in the whole finale for me. I can't recall Buffy ever laughing at her own post-kill one-liner jokes before, and it annoyed me, like a one-second script hangnail.
That's kind of why I liked the rest of the lines that were cut. I think Joss was doing a callback to her first season punning, and I think the cut lines sort of made that more palatable.
