I do think that some of that laughter at the end was joy along with the obvious defiance.

I rewatched both "End of Days" and "Chosen" back to back, and it was interesting how much the idea of aloneness vs. togetherness in EoD jumped out of me. Faith's comment about being alone. Spike's "were you there with me" and Buffy's "yes."

Another thing that jumped out at me at the end of "Chosen" was one of Willow's final comments. [paraphrase] "We didn't just save the world, we changed the world." The Slayer no longer has to fight alone. Women no longer have to play by/be victimized by the old rules.

The more I think about it, the more the idea of togetherness/sharing of strength crops up throughout the seasons of Buffy.

It is mentioned several times throughout the seasons that Buffy is unique among Slayers in that she has a group of friends fighting alongside her. Off the top of my head, I can recall Spike's comments in S2 about the friends thing being a bit of a shock. Then there was his whole analysis of the situation in "Fool for Love." Buffy has friends who give her a reason to keep fighting and who give her the strength to keep fighting. The First Slayer in "Restless" was quite put out about Buffy having friends and sharing her power.

Season by season, the together/alone thing plays out in the final arcs in different ways.

S1: Buffy should have died, end of story, but Xander's being there with the CPR saved her life. The simple lesson is that your chances of survival are better if you've got someone there to cover your back.

S2: At the time, Angel's speech about "what do you have left?" and Buffy's reply of "Me." seemed hella empowering, and in a way, it was. It's also very sad. When her back was to the wall, she was able to fight back, but the end of S2 was a hollow victory in many ways. It ended with an emotionally devastated Buffy leaving Sunnydale with no word to her friends about her fate. She saved the world, yes, but it hardly seemed worth it.

S3: Buffy was acknowledged as class protector, in what was probably one of the very few times a Slayer was acknowledged for the work she had done. Also, rather than the Slayer and a chosen few going up against the big bad, the entire Class of 1999 was in on defeating the big evil.

S4: The biggest threat to the group was when they nearly tore themselves apart from within, and they found their greatest strength when they did the joining spell, using each of their unique gifts to make something greater than the sum of the parts.

S5: Spike changed greatly and let himself be tortured by Glory out of love for Buffy. Willow's love for Tara pushed her into taking on greater--and more dangerous--magical power. Dawn tried to resurrect Joyce even though she knew the consequences might be terrible. Buffy's love for Dawn led her to making the ultimate sacrifice. This season took the whole "love makes you do the wacky" and pushed it to its limits.

S6: Buffy's whole emotional arc was based on her emotional deadness, and climaxed in the grave with Dawn, where she finally felt the need to be part of Dawn's life and to be a sister to her, not just a zombified caretaker. Willow went dark and destructive because of the grief and deadness she felt over losing Tara. In a way, Buffy and Willow shared much the same arc in S6--Buffy's feeling of loss and sadness (one of the things she mentioned about heaven was how loved she felt) played out in indulging in a self-destructive sexual relationship with Spike. Willow's feelings of loss manifested more as outward destruction. Both were brought back to reality by the love of someone who was a close family member. (Xander counts as family as far as Willow is concerned, IMHO).

S7: The hard part of being the Slayer is revealed as not being the whole responsibility schtick, but as the fact that it is a burden that's borne alone. The power of the Slayer was not diluted by being shared--it seemed to be radically increased. A lot of those girls were pulling moves that would have put S1 Buffy to shame, IMHO.

One other thing that struck me: Willow's hair went white as she shared out the power vs. the blackness that manifested as she sucked power out of the books and out of Rack. It seemed to me that she felt pleasure while using the dark magic, but it was a twisted sort of pleasure. The white-haired magic at the end also seemed to be pleasurable, but it read to me as being more of a giddy sort of joy and elation.

Sorry if any of this seems rambly, obvious, or facile. I'm doing my best to avoid packing or working on the stuff I brought home from work.

Beautiful post, Anne.

t preens

Thank you, Nilly.

The other thing I realized is that "What Can't We Do If We're Together" from the OMwF really could be the anthem for the series as a whole.

Didn't they cut it in the short version? Crazy.

I always thought the very end of Same Time Same Place was foreshadowing Buffy sharing power at the end of the series. Why? Because it wasn't organic to the episode. It seemed like it was deliberately included for a reason.

I had a theory all season that the problem of the Slayer was like "Marie Curie syndrome"--the idea that women can succeed and be powerful/intelligent, but they are special, exceptional, unusual. And when they are presented as such, it's not really empowering to the women and girls out there who might some day pursue similar interests, and it's also damaging to the "Marie Curies" who are told they are special and thus isolated.

Damn, I can't find the original, but I wrote this in December on a Spike list in response to the idea that Buffy might end the series without superpowers:

"I wrote a post a few weeks ago about female exceptionalism. It's all well and good for Buffy to be the Slayer, a strong woman etc., and example of female power, but hell, she's the only one. Or one of 2 slayers. :) Female exceptionalism--the idea that only the extraordinary women can have that kind of power.

Well, with the advent of the SiTs, and Buffy training Dawn, maybe we're seeing that the "potential" to be extraordinary is in everyone, even those without superpowers/superstrength. And I think for Buffy to be the only girl in all the world to fight vampires is, in fact, limiting--for Buffy and for all women in the world. How is that feminist? What Joss may be going for is to recognize that you don't have to have superpowers to be extraordinary, to be able to fight the demons in your life. How is it feminist for Buffy to have to save all the women in Sunnydale? What's feminist is for them to realize they have the power to fight back for themselves, even if they are not Slayers.

Anyway, if that's the case, then Buffy ending the series as a superpowerless human--alongside a shanshu-ed/human Spike--is not a negative thing. She might see that she can share her power with all women. Slayer power is girl power. Or grrl power.

Is it about power? Or is it about empowerment?"

Just realizing, too, that this fits in with the idea of Get It Done, an episode I hated when I first read the script, but worked myself up into a state of respecting it before it aired. That episode was about Buffy being tired of having to do all the saving. Why couldn't the others take care of themselves? They had skills, reserves, powers. And when she went off to the Shadow Men, sure enough, they found that even without Buffy they were able to figure out how to deal.

And that's why I don't mind Spike keeping the coat. It symbolizes a dark side that he draws power from. It's the same thing as Willow doing her magic, even though her previous use of powerful magic led to flayed Warren.

I think Spike keeping that coat was an important symbol of the purpose of Lies My Parents Told Me. To free himself of the trigger, Spike had to stop denying his past, and come to terms with it; he had to accept that his past is part of what makes him who he is today.

I always thought the very end of Same Time Same Place was foreshadowing Buffy sharing power at the end of the series. Why? Because it wasn't organic to the episode. It seemed like it was deliberately included for a reason.

I knew it was important when I saw it. I wrote an essay about it. But why do you say it wasn't organic to the episode?

Nice post, Anne.

Cindy, because there was nothing in the episode that led to the idea that sharing power was a resolution to the theme of the episode. The episode was about Willow feeling alienated from the others, punishing herself. Her lack of power wasn't an issue.

Her lack of power wasn't an issue.

Well, with Willow it's been her fear of tapping into her power without losing it (could i say something more obvious?)

Still, it felt "organic" to me as an evocation of their friendship and the Scoobs' willingness to help Willow heal from her loss and her anger.

I do think that some of that laughter at the end was joy along with the obvious defiance.

I thought it was because the scrubbing bubbles tickled.