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.

Exactly Burrell, we're all heroes of our own story. Seeing all the potentials coming into their own power shows us that. They may not know about vampires and demons, but they know about their own personal demons and that they now have the power to triumph over them.

And when my army outnumbers the humans on this earth the scales will tip and I will be made flesh.

By destroying Caleb (current source of bringers), the Uruk Hai, and the Hellmouth, I think she's dented his plan.

And her army is much more able than before.

Well, is the FE even dead?

I don't think that you can eliminate evil from the world.

I had another point, but I can't remember it. Move along, nothing to see here.

Just looked at the picture of Xander. I didn't realize Anya was on his blind side. He'd have seen her otherwise.

Or, in other words, (*sob*)

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 couldn't be another Becoming because of the theme (or point, or something). The point to this season was that the slayer shouldn't be "the" slayer; all this power and weighty responsibility should not rest on the shoulders of one girl/young woman; that we shouldn't isolate, but lean on and support each other and work together. Buffy did defeat the real biggest evil, and that was her aloneness. Spike just got a shiny, killing moment, that's all.

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.

There's no longer a power imbalance with one slayer having so much more power than any other human, so the FE is not dead (because it is the essence of evil), but the imbalance that allowed it to visually manifest is gone.