Chosen

[carynb]

That was completely satisfying for me.

The high points:

- Welcome back, Buffy. I've missed you. I actually liked you in this episode, from your "cookie dough" conversation with Angel, to the fact that you floated an idea/plan to the Scoobies and asked for opinions. This is the Buffy I've been missing for the last two seasons. The one who could laugh at herself, a little, and the one who knew that her friends could help her, and trusted them to do so. Yes.

- The Scooby conversation in the school hallway. Just the four of them, as it was in the beginning. The echo from "The Harvest" was really neat - they even staged it pretty much the same.

- Faith and Wood. I liked this pairing this week. When it first started a couple of weeks ago, I was kinda "meh" - I want me some on-screen Faith/Wesley, dammit! But, I think Wood's got her pretty much figured out, and knows how to keep her interested and challenged. He'd be good for her. Here's hoping they make an appearance or two on Angel over the next couple of years.

- Anya. Oh, Anya. I keep remembering her speech from "The Body", and it just breaks my heart that she was the one to die. She'd finally gotten the whole mortal thing just about figured out, and she had to go and get killed. Damn.

Other stuff:

- Spike. I'm a little ambivalent about his sacrifice. If I didn't know that he's a cast regular on Angel next year, I'd probably be a little sad. Without that knowledge, my reaction to him turning to dust would have been "Wow. He really did get that soul thing down. Dusting himself for the good of the world. Impressive". There's still some of that there, but my main thought was "I wonder how they'll bring him back next year on Angel" It's the only time that I can remember where a spoiler of sorts really changed my reaction to something on-screen.

- I'm not sure how collapsing the hellmouth defeated the first evil. Sure, its army is gone, but it's still out there, right?

- So all potential slayers are actual slayers, now. That strikes me as - short-sighted, I guess. It's fine for the potentials with Buffy, but the watchers did serve a purchase, as did the fact that slayers were usually in their teens before being activated. A three year-old (or even a seven or eight year-old) with Slayer strength is a scary thought. And does this apply for every potential born from now on, or just the current ones? How does a parent deal with a young slayer having a temper tantrum?



Sigh. I'll miss this show.

I'm really going to have to make myself a Buffy icon - this post sooo needed one.