I watched it twice the first night and couldn't read a thing from her expression, so it was a non-ending for me. My impression was that the camera had just stopped moving onto her face when they cut to the credits, making it feel like an interrupted shot.

Okay, behold my weirdness for my picks of happy moments, but bear with me here. (Also, I'm very proud I caught up all 147 posts I was behind on in this thread without skipping.)

So, happy moments.

Angel, I think, aside from his moment of pure happiness which is a big honking "duh" for me. I think the very end of "Bad Eggs" where he and Buffy are kissing through the window, when all through that ep they were very very physical and clearly so much in love. It was a painful forshadow to "Surprise" for me.

Xander, the split second in "Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered" when he actually thought that Buffy really, truly took an interest in him. Followed by the immense saddness when he realized it was all smoke and mirrors.

Willow, another split second, when she rescues Tara from Glory, she reveled in that moment of saving the love of her life before the saddness of losing her best friend.

Buffy, I do kind of agree with the Class Protector moment, but that almost seems even lackluster next to the look on her face when Angel showed up for that last heartbreaker of a dance. But, I think her happiest was the morning she saw Angel in "Surprise" when she was worried about him and couldn't let him go, and then talking to Willow about the big It. Again with the misery on the heels.

Anya, agree with the wedding vows indefinitely...more unhappiness soon to follow.

Dawn...I'm not sure if I care what her happiest was, but I'd go out on a limb and say that it was when she realized her sister was alive.

And Giles. Yes, with the rose in "Passions," but I also think he was pretty damn blissful in "Band Candy." And at the time, I just thought his sploinking Joyce was all frivilous, until "Forever" when he listened to "Brave Ulysses" in her honor. Something in his eyes there told me that was another could-have-been for Giles. No wonder the man turned pod.

So, I guess I wasn't too different, but every one of my happys were followed immediately, or shortly thereafter of complete, utter, gut-wrenching pain. And that is what was always why I loved this show of any show because that was how I always saw life. For every up I got (and many other people I knew and cared about) there was a down that was two times more powerful. Hence all the peak happys were pounded by plummeting lows. And my oh my am I depressing.

Dawn...I'm not sure if I care what her happiest was, but I'd go out on a limb and say that it was when she realized her sister was alive.

Dawn thought that would make her happy, but she thought the same about Joyce coming back. Buffy's and Dawn's relationship was never really that positive for Dawn. I'd put Dawn's happiest moment soon after her creation, when she was first fit into the gang of Scoobies and had a mother all to herself, before "Family"s

DAWN: It's just across the street. What is the big deal, I'm just gonna go-
BUFFY: No. It's family night. (glances at Riley) And besides, Melinda's a bad influence. I don't like you hanging out with someone that ... short.
DAWN: (annoyed) I am so glad you're moving back into the house. This is the source of my gladness.

When she was "lil' punkin' belly" to Joyce and played chess with Willow and hung out with Tara. Unless those were all memories manufactured by the monks, which would be pretty sad.

(Also, I'm very proud I caught up all 147 posts I was behind on in this thread without skipping.)

Jeff started a nice discussion, didn't he? I need everything in my life to be going right to be happy, so I vote for long periods like the summer of Season Five over brief moments like Class Protector. In retrospect, Buffy will have lots of memories of white bread demon-and-a-movie dates with Riley, her last summer with her mother, and a summer vacation with her reunited circle of friends. She can only replay the Class Protector moment in her mind so much before running into the other depressing and bittersweet memories from that evening.

On giving Buffy the last line in Chosen, I don't think there is anything Buffy could have spoken that would have said more than that half-smile.

Yes, I do agree with that, ted. I just wish her last line had some substance, even if her last line wasn't the last line.

My list:

Buffy: Within the show's main timeline, I'd say after she gets the Class Protector award, when Angel walks in at the prom. But she was even happier in the flashback we saw in "Becoming," just before Merrick comes up to her.

Willow: I'd say the beginning and end of S4 were both happy times for her, because of Oz and Tara, and because she was finding a place academically and with magic. She might have been more blissful at the beginning of the season, but she was more self-assured at the end.

Xander: Right after "The Replacement."

Anya: What everyone else said -- rehearsing her wedding vows.

Giles: At the end of Checkpoint. His little girl had grown up, and he'd made his point.

Spike: At the beginning of S2, when he was just gleefully evil. Post-chip, I'd say when Buffy invites him into the house in "The Gift."

Tara: The floaty dance at the end of "Family." She'd found out somethign she believed about herself wasn't true, and learned the people around her really loved her.

Dawn: Hmmm. Maybe the end of "Grave," when she's fought side-by-side with her sister and proven her worth?

Cordelia: When she shows up at the prom in the dress Xander bought for her, I think. It's certainly her most hopeful and dignified moment.

I just wish her last line had some substance, even if her last line wasn't the last line.

Honestly, she talked so much in S7, I was glad we didn't have to hear another Buffy speech at that point. "Spike" said more to me that some 70-word answer about "We all did this, by the power of our friendship and magic and strength and blah blah blah" ever could.

And I liked the smile.

What was Joyce's happiest? End of School Hard?

That's one moment, but I'd put coming home from her date in "I Was Made to Love You" above it. She was in a place to really appreciate small things -- health, having a date, bantering with her daughters.

but I'd put coming home from her date in "I Was Made to Love You" above it

This certainly fits the ME profile of having people be their happiest right before something awful happens to them - see also Passion, Surprise/Innocence, etc.

Buffy: How about jumping off the tower in "The Gift?" She seemed pretty blissful then. Actually, everything between that moment and the end of "Bargaining 1" was probably her happiest time.

Of course, it made everyone else on the show miserable...

Dawn: Beginning of season 7. Starting high school, finally has a good relationship with her sister, accepted as (more or less) an equal in the Scoobies...actually, all of "Lessons" up until Buffy bursts into the classroom to "save" her.

Make your own William Doll

It seems to me that it could also be a Randy doll with a haircut and some product.