Some belated thoughts, as threatened promised:

Buffy's still a hero. (She's still my hero.) And this is still her journey.

Spike would never have done what he did without the Buffy-effect. That tells me a hella lotta about Buffy, and her journey.

My problem with the climax isn't so much that Spike got to share the hero's journey (although I do have one). I had the same problem with "Grave," and I don't begrudge Xander his triumph the way I begrudge Spike his (and that latter is My Personal Issue): despite the strength of the ensemble, this is a show about an individual's hero's journey, and I think--as a *structural* reinforcement for the emotional themes of the season--that individual should get the action climax of the season, and in fact the action and emotional climaxes should be the same.

This is why "Becoming 2" works so well for me, and why as much as I love S3, "Graduation Day 2" doesn't work as well as "Graduation Day 1." In "Becoming 2," *everything*--emotional, thematic, action--climaxes in that cross-cut Buffy/Angel - Willow-spell - Xander rescuing Giles scene. In GD1, the emotional/action/thematic climaxes are all in that Buffy/Faith confrontation. In GD2, the emotional climax is the Buffy/Angel drinking scene and the action/thematic climax is the graduation. It's weaker than I expected (and those weeks waiting for my bootleg probably hurt it as well).

In "Chosen," the thematic and emotional climax of the season is the "Every girl is a Slayer" montage. But the action climax, it feels to me, *isn't* the girls fighting the ubervamps, it's Spike destroying Sunnydale. And it makes me grumpy (still!) because in a show called Buffy the Vampire Slayer, I want Buffy to get the Big Moment. In a show that ends with a vision of female empowerment, I want the Big Moment to be that empowerment--and not the male destroyed happily by channelling someone else's power.

Unrelated: thanks to Quotable, I've been thinking about Buffy's big speech. "I hate this. I hate being here. I hate that you have to be here. I hate that there's evil. That I was chosen to fight it. I wish, a whole lot of the time, that I hadn't been. I know a lot of you wish I hadn't been either. This isn't about wishes. This is about choices."

I like the implicit contrast between what the vengeance demons (specifically Anya) did and what Buffy is doing, the contrast between the horror that came from wishing but being unable to claim power and the hope that comes from being able to choose, to do so.

Does that make the original UberVamp the Turok Han Solo?

Snerk

Was anybody else afraid for a second when Buffy said "I love you" that Spike was going to say "I know"?

Was anybody else afraid for a second when Buffy said "I love you" that Spike was going to say "I know"?

No but I thought of Riley.

"But she doesn't love me."

Spike's glowy death may have been a big emotional moment, and pretty, too, but in bigness of action, Buffy, all on her own, outrunning the implosion and leaping tall buildings in (almost) a single bound is literally larger.

Trudy, OMG, that's frickin' hysterical. No I didn't, but kinda glad about that. I can enjoy the snerk now, but it would have distracted me then.

ETA What Scrappy said.

bigness of action, Buffy, all on her own, outrunning the implosion and leaping tall buildings in (almost) a single bound is literally larger.

Sure. But it's not an action that defeats the villain of the season or Its minions, which is why I consider it "denoument" rather than "climax."

Emphasis on the *I*, because while denoument and climax may have objective definitions as ideas, pinpointing their occurences in individual works will always be a somewhat subjective endeavor.

I liked the end, with Buffy just smiling. It had the feel of Scarlett at the end of GWTW saying, "I'll think about it tomorrow" (or whatever exactly it was). Buffy is in a good place for her emotionally. Spike's question in "Beneath You" has finally been answered and, yes, they can both rest. (In peace in Spike's case, sniff).

Well, is the FE even dead? I doubt it. Just it's current plan is spoiled, and now it's a much bigger problem to go around trying to pick off the slayers. Spike didn't really have much to do with that, he just took out the immediate threat - the hellmouth. Not that that's nothing, but not necessarily the be-all-end-all. And of course, he had nothing to do with making Caleb biscectual. In a sense, it was Willow who was the big hero, if it was anyone.

Wasn't part of the point that it's not about THE Hero anymore? There's plenty of heroic to go around, some of it big--Spike--and some of it small--Anya--but none of it meaningless.

Yes, Burrell, exactly that. Which is why the FE is mostly frelled.