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Underground > Film, TV & Theatre >

I've just seen the Buffy finale...

  
 
Tom Coates
22:34 / 19.05.03
Oh. My. God.

I didn't think it would be any good, but it kind of was. It kind of was good. Good Principal Wood / Faith stuff. Epic, epic battle. Bunnies. And that's all I'm telling you until the people in the states have seen it...
 
 
Foust is SO authentic
01:24 / 20.05.03
Bunnies kill Anya! Too perfect!

Just guessing here, of course. No intentional spoilage.
 
 
Foust is SO authentic
02:01 / 20.05.03
Guesses don't count as spoilers, right? 'Cause I don't know why Tom mentioned bunnies.
 
 
Bear
12:37 / 20.05.03
Yeah I thought it was pretty good too, everything will be tied up nicely in Angel next season.

Yay Buffy
 
 
FinderWolf
13:43 / 20.05.03
Dammit, Foust, you had better make it clear that the bunnies thing was clearly a fun joke/guess on your part. I know you sort of say so in your 2nd post but it still seems unclear -- or maybe like you listed a spoiler and then backpedaled like "Oh, I mean, um, that was just a *guess*, I actually have no idea where bunnies come into it, really I don't, umm..." Your phrasing is vague enough to be suspect PLEASE don't post anything remotely resembling a spoiler until this is aired.

Anyway, all hysterical fandom aside, the concept that this finale might actually redeem the show's last few shitty episodes fills me with childlike glee. Bring it on!!!!
 
 
ONLY NICE THINGS
13:53 / 20.05.03
It was a lot better than the previous episodes, although the cast had just become too damned big to make caring about most of them very easy at all, due to the the sheer lack of face time. There are more interesting narratives than Spike and Buffy kicking around. You know, Xander, Willow...those characters who appear to have been largely forgotten by the writers in favour of Andrew (He's nerdy! He's geeky! He knows about magic! He's Xandiles!) and Kennedy (She's a lesbian! She's tasty in a rumble! She's sassy! She's Willaith!). Some good twists, mind. I'll be interestewd to see how the backwash into Angel goes...and some nice shoutouts to classic Buffy, albeit somewhat meta. I was genuinely excited by it in a way that I hadn't been by the soupy mess of the last couple of episodes, at least...
 
 
Tamayyurt
14:21 / 20.05.03
yay, I'm so glad to hear it was good! I was getting worried.
 
 
ONLY NICE THINGS
14:33 / 20.05.03
I'm not sure about "good"....certainly *better*, though. and I found the Faith/Wood scenes absolutely excruciating, but hey....
 
 
Bear
15:22 / 20.05.03
Less of the Andrew bashing you!

The Faith thing did seem a little over the top, lets see what everyone thinks tomorrow though...
 
 
ONLY NICE THINGS
15:33 / 20.05.03
Oh, I *like* Andrew. I think Tom Lenk does a fantastic job, and he's provided some of the funniest moments of the series. But Buffy used to be about four people - Buffy, Xander, Willow and Giles - who liked each other, had their differences but worked together to improve the world. Without that centre, which you can't really recover the way they tried to in "Chosen", BtvS seems to me far less interesting, especially when you have about a dozen characters vieing for screen time *and* a disproportionate amount of time spent on Spuffy...it's bad scriptwriting to introduce a new character every time you want to explore a new angle.
 
 
Bear
15:45 / 20.05.03
I think the show works better with all the characters rather than just the four but they left it too long before starting the final arc for each of them, Buffy and Xander stopped being favourites a long time ago for me, it's all about the others now (something it seems Sarah Michelle Gellar couldn't understand) - better leave it before I say anything spoilery..

Everyone in the Bronze is going mad, many salty nerd tears will be shed tonight, Christopher Golden was in there today and seems very nervous no reason to be though I think it'll go down well...

Tt was good, epecially the rabbits
 
 
Seth
19:51 / 20.05.03
I never thought it was a problem of too many characters, more the case that they don't know how to write for such a large cast. DS9 had about thirty recurring characters at one point, and the vast majority were well defined with enough screen time. Xander's had practically nothing to do for seven years, so it's hardly a problem confined to the last season.
 
 
Foust is SO authentic
00:09 / 21.05.03
It's aired in the US now, so now to make this into a spoilerific thread...

Spoilers
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I liked it. I really liked it. I loved the shots of the potentials around the world getting their power. The abused daughter stopping her father's hand. The smile on the batter's face.

Anya died well. Bunnies didn't kill her... but that was a bitch of a slash. "That's my girl. Always doing the stupid thing." Almost tear worthy.

The major battle was excellent; I loved watching the potentials toss the ubervamps around. Which is of course a problem... Buffy couldn't handle one, but now they can handle dozens at a time? Eh?

And Spike. His "death" scene would have really gotten to me if I didn't know Marsters was signed to Angel. If I believed that was how he died... with the smile and then disintegration, it would have been an amazing scene, one of the best deaths ever.

I loved the four original members standing around and talking about what they'd do tommorow. Wonderful echo of the pilot episode, with the three kids walking off talking happily, and Giles lamenting "The world is doomed for certain."

Thumbs up, all around. Though I wish there had been a bit more of an epilogue. Babylon 5 gave over an entire episode to it's epilogue... I think that should be mandatory for shows with large story arcs.
 
 
passer
00:15 / 21.05.03
I think it was definetly better, but I'm still pissed that I suffered through what I can only call, ala the comic book guy, the worst season ever for it. It rather sucks the joy out of what would have otherwise been a good show. Not great, but merely good.
 
 
Mazarine
01:10 / 21.05.03
Spoilers. Of course, how many more can there be?



While most of the season was a wash in my opinion, with this episode, I laughed, and I cried, because I'm a sentimental fool. "There's another one in Cleavland."

I was really sad to see Anya go, I adored that character. I'm still snuffly, but I'm not sure how much of that is quality scriptwriting and how much is remembering sitting around with my high school best friend, eating Ben and Jerry's and having mini Buffy marathons. So in spite of the fact that I'm a sentimental fool, I can accept this as the end to the show. Not that I'd have a choice, but I could always just select a season and stop there, I guess.

I do wonder if this is going to mean a new slayer every week on Angel.
 
 
Foust is SO authentic
01:30 / 21.05.03
Exactly, Maz. I'm still not sure about the true quality of the episode, but it played me like a fiddle. My emotions were strung along exactly as every scene intended them to be. Maybe just because it was the last episode?
 
 
Harold Washington died for you
02:02 / 21.05.03
"And then Trogdor smote the Kerrek, and all was laid to burnination."

Nice to see the Whedonator digs Homsar. Great ep, great ending, great lead in to a true Buffy movie.
 
 
FinderWolf
02:14 / 21.05.03
Eeeeh. It was ok...some decent moments, but I wasn't really all that thrilled. It deserved a 2-hour finale, and the Buffy/Angel scene at the beginning wasn't very well-written, esp. considering Joss wrote it. No depth, no subtext, just a lot of silly one-liners where Joss was almost becoming a cliche of his own writing style. And Angel doesn't even show up at ALL in the end moments? I know he's setting up a second line of defense, but come on! What was he, locked in a closet somewhere going over plans?

And did it look to anyone else like Giles accidentally stabbed Wood in that fight scene? My roomate and I both thought we saw Giles accidentally run his sword through Wood after Wood was initially wounded.

MILLIE!!!! NOOO!!! THEY KILLED MILLIE!!! I really liked her.

I think the strongest sequence was when the slayer power was distributed throughout the world. The young girl stopping her abuser's first, and the Nike style "Just do it and kick ass" bit with the little girl at bat -- that smile on her face was priceless.

Not really a lot of depth to things in this final ep. Not a lot of 'show don't tell' moments (the writer's rule), just characters saying exactly what they meant, predictably so. Did Faith's street talk come off as a little forced to anyone else in the Wood talking about sex scene? "I got mad skills, yo!" Jeez..... She seemed like she was becoming a caricature of herself.

Kennedy is hot but all she did was say "I support you, Willow, I support you" and fight a vamp or two. Yawn.

One of the best lines: Dawn's line to Buffy before the battle: "Anything you say will sound like goodbye." Now THAT's a good line, also using the 'show don't tell rule' which Joss seems to have forgotten in the last several months.

Another good line: "I love you." "No you don't, but thanks for saying it anyway." A very good note to end the Spike/Buffy relationship on. And why did they have to go from Buffy being all smiley with Spike to them waking up after having sex? They couldn't kiss for two seconds? It was like a 1950s movie where they awkwardly cut from an embrace to waking up in bed putting clothes on. (And I'm not even a fan of Spuffy; it just seemed awkward as a scene.)

And how did Buffy heal so quickly from the supposedly 'mortal' wound she'd received? The final lines were sort of lame too. All this talk about the mall and shit...come on, that's what people talk about who want to make fun of the Buffy show, like the first movie's camp value. Although I did like seeing Sunnydale as one big crater in the ground.

I just felt like it was sort of a letdown. It didn't really play my emotions like a fiddle, more like a $5 plastic saxophone you get at a yard sale. All the other Joss-written-and-directed episodes were so good; this one -- the FINALE, for crying out loud -- was just eeeh, so-so.

Although definitely better than the last few ep's, which unfortunately isn't saying much. I wanted to be thrilled, I wanted it to feel like a big epic event -- it just felt kinda crammed in and rushed. Not many moments of real dramatic gravity, disappointingly. Ah well. ANGEL has been terrific and I'm sure it will continue to be so next year.

SMALLVILLE kinda kicked BUFFY's ass!!

p,s, By the way , what's "Homsar"? I thought they were playing a D&D type game.
 
 
Harold Washington died for you
02:37 / 21.05.03
Homestar Runner of course! Read (see, hear, and smell) the whole damn site. Specifically Andrew's D&D character(need Flash)

The whole damn site
 
 
Yotsuba & Benjamin!
03:49 / 21.05.03
Oh my God that WAS fucking Homestar! Fucking Burnination! Wow. I wish I'd taped this because there were some seriously fantastic moments, mostly the ones where, yes, Joss showed and didn't tell. The following fantastic shots:

Buffy and Spike as Officer Kurring and Claudia
Xander not being able to see Anya behind that pillar (owww! my heartstrings!)
A fitting and noble death for a mathelete.
Our final Buffy as Claudia shot. *sigh* How fucking tremendous.

I was thoroughly blown away by the slayer dissemination concept. It was the true perfect end to the show and there's great promise for future exploration. Buffy did the best thing she's ever done. Catch fish for someone and they'll eat once, show them how to fish and they'll never go hungry. That responsibility has been eating away at her for the entire series. Now go take the rest of your life off, you wacky glob of cookie dough. You've earned it.
 
 
Bear
07:46 / 21.05.03
Hunterwolf is right about the whole Faith thing, it sounded as if my mum had written her lines and was with her taking her trousers off, she likes sex we get it

Don't think there was any need to kill Anya though, I know she said she wouldn't come back for anything else but it seemed a little pointless to me.

So when does the new Angel season start then?

And Channel 5 has picked up Angel for the UK season 3 starts in June, woot!
 
 
El Gato Was Right: the t-shirt
11:50 / 21.05.03
"What are we going to do now, Buffy?"



Movies.
 
 
anna_101
14:05 / 21.05.03
i feel basically satisfied after watching the finale last night and sleeping on it. but there are a few things i would have like to see happen differently.

spoilers within! don't read if you don't want to be spoiled for the final ep.

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the finale definitely had joss written all over it. and it was nice to see little send ups from earlier seasons...some old school buffy moments. and more sexual innuendo than usual, lots of cute one liners. but...

1. i just did not buy the buffy/angel scene. they were way too easy with each other, and he just seemed like a different character than what we see every week on 'Angel'.

2. it was great to see willow getting some control over her power, but the whole thing seemed too easy. i would have liked to see the first trying to mess with her...appearing as tara or something, and then willow overcomes the fear to grant all potential slayers their power. i wish her hair had stayed white too.

3. it would have been nice to see giles and xander have some more key part in what was happening. maybe this is not realistic with how everything has changed and progressed, but willow and spike got their moments, i would have liked to see the same with xander and giles.

4. and i would have liked to see one last big effort from the first. maybe one more morph into all the big bads like it did in the season premier.

on a side comic book note: i know wheedon is a grant morrison (kick ass comic book writer) fan, and morrison's influence shows up in the finale ep. my lover and i were talking about it afterwards, and he told me that in the final issue of the comic "the justice league", everyone in the world becomes a superhero to prevent the end of the world. what joss did with all potential slayers is different enough for me to still feel like he made it his own, which i really respect. and it is just cool to see a little send up to morrison in there.

as i said, all in all i feel satisfied. it did not feel any different from other buffy episodes, and i kind of appreciate that. and they have certainly left the buffy universe open for lots of stuff to happen with these characters. more reason to watch 'angel' next season.
 
 
anna_101
14:10 / 21.05.03
and one more thing...again spoilery!



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buffy says "and here is the part where you have to make a choice" and then tells them about willow having the power to make them all slayers. so what is the choice the potentials have to make? whether or not they want to become slayers?

i do like how that little twist turned the buffy mythology onto it's ear. good good stuff.
 
 
FinderWolf
16:13 / 21.05.03
Who are Officer Kurring and Claudia? I'm not getting your reference.
 
 
Yotsuba & Benjamin!
16:27 / 21.05.03
Sorry. Magnolia is obtuse enough of a reference without directly giving the source.
 
 
FinderWolf
18:01 / 21.05.03
Um, I've seen MAGNOLIA by P. T. Anderson. Is Officer Kurring the John C. Riley character? How are Buffy & Spike like that police officer and the drugged out girl in Magnolia he romances?
 
 
Yotsuba & Benjamin!
18:42 / 21.05.03
It was just the one shot of them on either side of the screen. Not at all thematically connected and, really, Mags wasn't the first film to do that kind of shot. That last shot of Buffy was definitely cribbed from the last shot of Magnolia though.
 
 
FinderWolf
20:51 / 21.05.03
The shot of Buffy smiling as she looked off camera looked pretty generic to me.

But who else wants to chime in about this finale? Let's not have the thread become about whether or not it's a Magnolia tribute!!
 
 
cusm
21:08 / 21.05.03
I thought it was a whole lot of nostalgia for previous seasons of Buffy. There was all the flippant humor that made the show so much fun back in the day, and I loved it. It was everything that was good about Buffy. I laughed. A lot. That's something I can't say about much of the past couple of seasons. I thought it actually ended well enough that I was satisfied with it. Enough with the torture, Buffy finally gets to live! And shop!
 
 
Simplist
17:26 / 23.05.03
I dug it. It avoided being too predictable while still being suitably apocalyptic and ending with a radical transcendence of the prior status quo that simultaneously offered a sense of closure and laid the groundwork for future stories. Didn't suck at all, IMO. I will say that the final 5-ep arc could easily have been compressed into 3 (the first few dragged a bit, I thought), but that's a complaint I've always had about Buffy (insufficiently narrative density), not specific to the finale. So thumbs up, all things considered.
 
 
Mazarine
21:18 / 23.05.03
I totally agree with cusm. One of those things that just twisted my guts up about the whole series of Buffy is that once, they used to be fairly carefree kids. All the personal tragedies ache so much more when I think about those happier, sillier times in the library, before any of them knew just how bad things could really be. Especially Buffy in the recent seasons. Looking at her so grim all the time, then thinking of miniskirt wearing Buffy who just wanted to be a cheerleader and go on the occasional date. The one who faced down vampires with "Live in the now, you look like Debarge." Willow, whose biggest worry used to be talking to boys, by season seven is so scared of herself. I was so nostalgic on their behalf for their earlier days that when the show ended, with them looking out over that place where no one can go back to now, it just broke my heart.

But as I've said before, crazy, sentimental fool with no life. I get attached to the imaginary people.
 
 
PatrickMM
03:50 / 26.04.04
I wasn't a huge fan of Chosen, mainly becuase it felt like a good end to season seven, but not the whole series. I was a big fan of Andrew, so I didn't mind him having a big part, but to put Kennedy and Principal Wood in more important roles than Xander and Giles, it just wasn't right. And, I'd have liked to see Oz turn up, and Angel in a more substantial role, just to give it more closure.

Ultimately, I think the main flaw was that they didn't take one more episode to sort things out. I'd have loved to have seen something like Restless, which served as both a summary of the show's first four seasons, and also teased about the future. The equivalent of that at the end of the series would have been great, and made it feel much more like the end than Chosen, which felt no different than any other season finale.

And, though I like him on Angel, they really fucked up Spike's character arc by resurrecting him. I love the idea of Spike going from demented killer to sacrificing himself, not for Buffy's love, but because it is the right thing to do, and then ending him there.

Though, the finale does contain probably my favorite shot in the whole series, Anya, lying dead in the foreground, as Xander looks for her in the background, and then has to give up on ever seeing her again. It was a haunting shot, just beautifully composed to say everything without saying anything.
 
 
Spatula Clarke
11:20 / 26.04.04
Just cross-linking with this thread, which contains more opinions on the last ep.
 
  
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