Would my suspicion that only Joss was giving Dawn lines like that, and that later get cut? Cause if not, she not only didn't get any decent storylines, but cheated out of being a cool side-line commentator. Damn - I know MT could deliver those kind of lines no problem.

I was discussing the finale with a friend after it aired, and we both thought that there was stuff cut from the episode, and it needed 90 minutes. Seeing these cut lines really drives it home.

I went back and read the end of the last thread. Don't really feel the need to go back and comment on the AR again, though I'll note I'm in the camp of people that felt like Spike's actions were totally in character and they did a very good job of shooting it so it couldn't be seen as romantic (ala Luke and Laura and "Rise"), but brutal and a violation.

I'm starting to think of S7 as similar to S4. Because there were serious problems with the arc, but really a number of excellent eps separate from that arc. Conversations with Dead People, Selfless, and Storyteller were all great great episodes. Up to the highest standards of anything in the series. Witty and dark and smart. Throw in the arc episodes that worked (for me) and you get Lessons, Same Time, Dirty Girls, End of Days and Chosen. It's hard for me to see the huge decline people were talking about because...look at the quality there. It's no more uneven or incomprehensible than S4 was. I think S6 actually had a great arc, with the only end-of-season run comparable to S2 where it built and built and built right to the end. I always felt like S3 crapped out in Graduation Day. Big snake. Whoop de doo.

warning, gripe ahead.

If they hadn't wasted so much of the previous damn episode with talky meat... they could have put lots of stuff in there.

but i did love the finale. it really made me so happy the unhappy thoughts just floated away... okay, they're still floating around my head but i'm trying to ignore them.

swats away botox eye

which reminds me, i have a wank.

lots of other demony/hellmouthy things were acting up b/c of the FE, right (all that stuff at the school, whatever drove everyone out of the dale). so that poltergeist/demon/whatev in the summers casa was NOT the FE, it was just a FE associate (do you get dental w/ that?). does that explain what the eff joyce was talking about? nope. "You know I do all this planning. I'm in charge here, even though I am really not at my best- " t /grad day II

eta

see, i thought the big snake was cool but i had just started watching and hadn't seen reptile boy or the other snake demon or the one glory raised -- no, shit, that came LATER.

plus the whole class being armed gave me quite the thrill.

oh, and daniel c? those eliza dushku caps got DOMM -- drool on my monitor. what are the chances her show won't suck?

sigh

With the exception of his opinion on season 3's ending, what Hec said. I actually think the end run of episodes for season 7 holds up pretty well - Dirty Girls through Chosen seemed pretty strong.

Huh, I think a re-watch is in order. I know I felt even better with season 6 going back and watching Hell's Bells through Grave in one big block.

Ya know, I've thought this before, and now I'm convinced: I think the wonky scheduling due to sweeps, etc is incredibly damaging. I suspect when watched in whatever timeframe that one desires, the episodes aren't quite as draggy (or "not moving the plot forward" or ...) as everyone seems to think. There's just the foreknowledge that "shit - this is the second to last episode before a six week gap and they are wasting my time with t insert personal bugaboo here !!!"

Ken, I think that you are correct about the scheduling and our perceptions of the season. I know that I've had the sensation - after a 3 or 4 or 5 week gap - of 'and this is all I get after all that waiting?', which I might not have felt had there not been the gap.

DH keeps saying that most of the shows he and I tend to like, including all the Jossverse stuff, would be both more popular and have better narrative flow under something more like the British system--fewer episodes, but run one after the other without the bizarre sweeps-induced gaps.

I'm starting to think of S7 as similar to S4. Because there were serious problems with the arc, but really a number of excellent eps separate from that arc. Conversations with Dead People, Selfless, and Storyteller were all great great episodes. Up to the highest standards of anything in the series. Witty and dark and smart. Throw in the arc episodes that worked (for me) and you get Lessons, Same Time, Dirty Girls, End of Days and Chosen. It's hard for me to see the huge decline people were talking about because...look at the quality there

Wrod. My list of quality eps for the season is somewhat longer, but even this list more than justifies (for me) the season. And I'll regret the 8th season that wasn't because I'd willingly accept a dozen weak episodes to get a handful of really great ones. I don't, after all, have to watch any episode I don't like again, but the ones I love I could watch forever on DVD.

Edited to add, I did love Graduation Day (yes, a computer snake, but the Mayor's speech, Snyder getting eating, the student body rallying behind the scoobs, the final take a moment scene). Also, interesting point about the schedule.

.

Elena, the Canadians got Firefly, right? And in U.S. broadcast order? Did you see it and enjoy it?

Well, currently (and if you've been posting over there forgive for not remembering - it does get confusing who posts where) the Firefly thread is mostly the province of the U.K.ers right now as they are just getting the show. In the appropriate order. And if anyone had any doubts about how fast they fell for the show, the U.K.ers seem to be proving that it's even easier when the shows are actually broadcast in the order they were supposed to. I feel the same way about waiting between episodes. I remember the good old days when it was mostly just start to finish new episodes for the season.

And, completely unrelated, I just heard a loud "cookie dough" from my TV. Hee.

Remember the First Evil's blog? The Blog stopped in February, but some of his friends and Sunnydale characters kept posting:

[link]