Reviews
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
"Chosen"
Original Air Date: 5/20/03
** SPOILERS **
Yes, I will be giving up everything that happens on this episode! If you haven't seen the episode, stop reading now!
As I've explained elsewhere on this site, I started watching Buffy around season 3, and became a fan for life. Thanks to FX reruns (this was before the DVDs came out), I was able to go back and watch the first couple of seasons I'd missed along the way. So, like so many fans of the show, by the time it came to an end, I'd seen every episode, had been along for the whole ride. When you've been with a show for seven seasons, watching its final episode ever has to be an event.
And it was, for us. My friend Russ decided to have a little get-together at his house and invite some people over. We had a pretty nice little group, a good mix of both male and female fans. I really hadn't sat down and talked with other fans of the show before, besides my usual group of TV buddies. Chatting with them, I really got a feel for just how many fans--and what a great diversity of them--the show had. This show really affected people, something I'm sure the WB--not to mention Joss Whedon--had never expected when the mid-season replacement first started showing. It became a sensation. People dearly loved all these characters and the world Joss had created for them to run around and risk their lives in. And aside from just talking with my fellow Buffy party people, I'd checked out the internet a little the night before to see what other people were saying about the show's farewell. I found the same thing there. This was a sad night for people. They weren't just watching their show end. They were saying good-bye to friends.
Granted, it would have been a lot harder to say good-bye if the show had ended, say, after season three, or four...even five, where, frankly, it could have ended just fine with that amazing "The Gift" episode Joss gave us to end the show's run on the WB. And I found, reading on the internet, that most fans, loyal though they were, seemed to agree that the show really started its downhill run when it moved over to UPN. I'd been happy with season six when it began. Heck, we got the musical, one of the top five Buffy eps on my list, and the amnesia episode right after it--"Tabula Rasa"--was a kick, showing promise that the show still had its legs, even though Giles was taking off. Then after that? Hmmm. I kept watching, and I tried to get into it. But season six was one dark, depressing, slit-your-wrists-and-gargle-Ajax episode after the next. It was kind of a relief when it was over. Season seven? Showed more promise. It seemed to actually have a story arc again, one of Joss's big fingerprints. But it still wasn't quite working. Buffy, I was sad to realize, should have pulled a Seinfeld and gotten out while the getting was good. Instead, it pulled an X-Files, giving us a shadow only of what first made us love it, keeping us hanging on out of loyalty. So when the big announcement came that Sarah Michelle Gellar was in fact walking away from the show at the end of the season, and that Joss had played it smart and decided that this was his cue to close the curtain (can you say "X-Files without Mulder?"), there was a certain sadness among fans...but I think that little sigh of relief, too. We all knew that if it kept going, it was going to get downright bad. It was time to let Buffy go. And the good news was, Joss was going to be the one writing and directing the big good-bye.
I'd had high hopes for the last several episodes, actually. I read that the final five episodes were to be one big story, and that sure sounded like old school Joss to me. And I was even more excited when I found out that the final five would guest-star Nathan Fillion of Joss's already-deceased attempt at a space show, Firefly (may I say again, I freaking loved that show, and Fox is really starting to piss me off), who I'd become a big fan of. But, unfortunately, the final four before the finale ended up being more of the season seven same. Kind of meandering, not really focused, giving us some character moments that didn't really work, and showcasing more of the slayer potentials (the wanna-Buffies) that were almost all grating and annoying. My hopes were dashed a bit after these. So I found myself nervous when the big night came around. I knew that every one of the Joss-directed eps of the series had been among the best, and I was pretty sure he wouldn't let us down with the last ever episode of the show that made him famous. Call it the fatalist in me, but as the episode began, and we all huddled around Russ's really big-ass TV, I started to imagine the tragedy the night could be if not even Joss could resurrect a final bit of the old glory to end things.
And thankfully, I was proven wrong, and was oh-so-pleasantly surprised. Joss nailed it, and made me wonder how I could have doubted him. This was the last hurrah for Joss and all the actors that had become his best friends, and he wasn't going to let them, or us, down.
Buffy and Angel
We open right where we left off last episode, where the surprise (yeah, unless you have access to the internet) appearance of Angel heralded the apparent killing of Caleb (the mysterious all-powerful country preacher guy played by the aforementioned Nathan Fillion) by Buffy. I felt a little twinge of nervousness here, as the previous episode was, like the last few, kind of so-so, and picking right up at the same spot suggested we'd be in the same mediocre boat. But the minute the Buffy/Angel conversation starts, it's all Joss, and we feel like we're right back in the first couple of seasons. As we also saw at the end of last ep, when the big Buffy/Angel kiss happened, Spike is there and watching the whole thing, and the First (in case you missed out, the First is the big evil being fought, which actually appeared once before back in season three in the remarkable Christmas episode) is behind him, goading him about Buffy really loving Angel, and not him. We get a little worried here because it would be a bit of a cheap piece of manufactured drama to turn Spike murderously jealous here, after his getting his soul back and all, so there's a lingering fear as he disappears from the scene.
Buffy and Angel banter a little more, and he explains he brought not only information and an enigmatic trinket she's supposed to need (we saw him get handed this on the season finale of Angel over on the WB...nice tie-in), but that he's there to fight by her side. Buffy barely has a chance to tell him he's not going to when Caleb's up again, not dead as presumed. He knocks Angel for a loop, and then he and Buffy have their final battle, where Buffy...um...splits him up the middle and in half with her new slayer scythe. A classic Joss moment happens here when Angel jumps up and asks where Caleb is, and Buffy tells him "He had to split", and loses it laughing at one of her worst puns ever (of so many).
Outside, it's the final Buffy and Angel scene together. I had mixed feelings when I realized that this was, in fact, the end of Angel's appearance. We'd been led to believe that he was in the last two episodes of the series, and I assumed that meant he'd be a major player in the story right to the end. But on reflection, I realized that wouldn't have been right. It wasn't his show anymore. It belonged to the cast members that had hung around and grown together after he left the show, so it turned out to be perfect. It's a great scene where she explains why she can't have him around, and that he needs to be back in L.A. setting up the second front in case she fails, and comes clean on the Spike relationship. It's all handled quite maturely (excepting the part where Angel pouts about being the one who'd started the whole vampire with a soul thing first, which again is vintage Joss writing), and Angel makes his exit. Buffy lets him know that it may be years before she makes any kind of romantic decision, to which he smiles and says, "I ain't getting any older" as he disappears into the darkness.
Back at the house, Buffy finds her (sort of) sister Dawn has returned, though Buffy had sent Xander to take her away from the fight (we got to see Dawn realize this, use a stun gun on Xander, and drive them back home last episode). There's a nice sisterly moment where there's tense silence on Buffy's entrance, then Dawn kicks her in the shin and calls her "dumbass". Buffy, accepting that Dawn's not going anywhere, says, "You get killed and I'm telling". The gang gets to find out that Caleb's dead. Buffy then heads downstairs to find Spike working out his frustrations on the punching back in his basement bedroom, with a crudely-drawn picture of Angel's face (big forehead and all) taped to it. I was relieved to see there was to be no secret Spike brooding and plotting and going evil. They talk the Angel thing out, in-character, since it's Joss writing them, and end up in a tender moment where they spend the night together downstairs. In a very poignant moment, Spike asks for the necklace Angel brought. He'd heard Angel say it was for someone who had a soul yet was more than human, and he assumed that must mean him. Buffy hesitates, saying Angel added it was meant to be worn by a champion, and then places it in his hand.
We get one last appearance of Caleb, sort of, when Buffy's up, not able to sleep, and the First appears wearing his guise. As the First is apt to do, he/she taunts Buffy with self doubt. In a great moment that harkens back to the first season, the First becomes Buffy and gives the speech we used to always hear before the show opened, about how into each generation a slayer is born, one girl who can fight against the vampires and demons. The First uses this to remind Buffy that she's all alone, that all the other slayers-to-be can't help her. See, as those of us who watch the show know, there's one slayer at a time, and then another is called and gets the power only when that one dies (well, there's Faith, but that's a long story...). Instead of being emotionally defeated by this, though, Buffy apparently comes to a revelation upon hearing it, one that she realizes will help them win this.
Buffy lets the main gang in on the plan (though not us, at this point), which is apparently pretty crazy, has never been tried before in history, and somehow involves Willow using serious magic. Everyone agrees to it, and Buffy then turns to the slayer potentials and gives them the big speech about what's coming. But we only get half of the speech. The rest we'll find out later. Regardless, the following morning, they're going to open the seal on the Hellmouth, in the basement at Sunnydale High, and go in. They're no longer going to wait for the First or his/her demon army. They're going after them.
Willow and Spike
We have our night-before-the-battle collection of scenes. Faith and Principal Wood, recently carnally-knowledgeable, are at the school sealing up exits so the vamps that are sure to come from the Hellmouth are driven right up into the school halls for easier fighting. There's a great scene with the two of them here, where Wood tries to break down some of Faith's emotional walls, and says if they make it though this, he'd like the chance to surprise her. This Wood character really grew on me this season, starting as a mystery guy you couldn't quite trust, and turning out to be the son of the 70s slayer that Spike killed in the brilliant season 5 Spike origin episode "Fool For Love". Willow and Kennedy are in Willow's room as Willow gets the spell ready, and we get a tender moment that further feeds Joss's really obvious lesbian fetish. Something nice happened in this scene...I realized that Kennedy, who I'd at first found attractive, then grew annoyed with when her voice and her overpronounciation of words really started to bug, was less annoying than normal. This happened, as it turned out, with all the slayer potentials in this episode. I'd just assumed they were all bad actresses, but with Joss writing and directing them, they really shined. Which was great, because they were able to become of part of the whole of the finale for me instead of a distraction. The final cap on the night scenes, though, was perhaps one of the best moments in Buffy history--Giles, Xander and Andrew (and one slayerette) playing a late night D&D game, with Andrew being the dungeonmaster while hooded in Buffy's Little Red Riding Hood cowl (remember that from back in "Fear, Itself" in season 4?). All the Joss comedy, right there. And let me say, too, by the way, that the character of Andrew was probably the best part of the final season. Most people I talk to about this agree. A wimpy and neurotic nerd seeking redemption for the bad stuff he'd done while under the influence of the First (not to mention the stuff he did back with his two other geek buddies last season), he provided the best comedy moments of the year, and dead-on pop culture references when you least expected them (I won't get into what he thought a vulcanologist was). And as this calm before the storm segment reminded me, we were promised characters were going to die in this episode, and I was getting the feeling it was going to be Andrew. And that I'd actually be bummed about that.
Morning comes, and in a great moment, Principal Wood leads all the slayers into the abandoned high school, giving a "Welcome to Sunnydale High" speech in a very Jim Belushi "The Principal" kind of manner. The teams split off. The girls are going down to the basement with Buffy, Faith and Spike to enter the Hellmouth. Willow and Kennedy are headed for Wood's office so Willow can do whatever this big spell is, as his office is right over the Hellmouth. The rest pair off--Xander and Dawn, Wood and Giles, Anya and Andrew--to cover the three possible areas of vampire exit. As people start to head off, we're left for a moment with just the original Scooby gang--Giles, Buffy, Xander and Willow. They look at each other and smile, absorbing the moment, just like those of us watching. They break into a play speech about going to the mall afterward, falling into their old high school roles one last time. It's touching, and we feel, then, have far we've all come with them. These scene was a gift for us, yes, but I think more a gift Joss gave to his actors.
Buffy, Spike, Faith and all the girls descend into the Hellmouth, and find themselves over a huge cavern with hundreds, if not thousands, of vampires below. Beautiful computer graphics here, and it's really obvious--and I'm not complaining--that Joss watched the Lord of the Rings films a few times. The vampires might as well have been orcs. They all spot the girls and charge, flooding their way up toward them. This is when Willow's spell goes off, and we find out--through a flashback to the second half of Buffy's speech to the slayer girls--what it's all about. Buffy has Willow working this incredibly powerful spell through the slayer scythe, and is using it to essentially activate every potential slayer on Earth. Every girl who could become a slayer suddenly does become one, and gains the slayer powers. In a beautiful series of shots under the Buffy voiceover, Joss shows us girls around the world getting the power, the two best shots being the girl who's getting beaten by a boyfriend stand up and grab his fist, and the little girl behind the plate at a baseball game, about to swing, who suddenly looks up and smiles. But the important part of this spell, of course, is now all 30 or so of those slayer potentials down with Buffy have slayer powers now. The vampires attack, and the girls are ready. It's a major, major battle, well worthy of some of the great martial fights we've seen on the show over the years. It's more than that. It's epic, complete with a musical score that's gloriously theatrical. It's a scene of empowerment and courage, and again, all those potentials that had gotten on my nerves all year were fantastic.
Some vampires do get past, as expected, and swarm into the high school, where our other characters are waiting. Xander and Dawn fight them with swords in the arboretum, where they yank away the skylight covering to bake their foes in the sunlight. Giles and Wood, both serious ass-kickers, kick serious ass in a really manly sort of way, until Wood gets a blade through the gut and seems mortally wounded. The big shocker moment, though, comes with Andrew and Anya. As the sound of the approaching demons comes to them, Anya talks about how afraid she is. Andrew, shaking himself, tells her to try to think of happy things...like a pond, or bunnies. Those of us who've been around since Anya showed up know how she feels about bunnies, and the thought rouses her to battle readiness. It's a cheer-inducing character scene for her...and it turns out to be pretty much her last. As we watch, one of the Bringers (servants of the First) gets up behind her with a blade and slices Anya pretty much in two. Wow. There was the character death we were promised. The room I was in was pretty shocked. In a good way. A finale like this doesn't mean anything if the stakes aren't high enough, and Anya got to go out fighting.
Anya
Downstairs, we have a scary moment right before a commercial, where Buffy is calling out battle orders in the thick of the fight, gets a sword right through the guts, and falls face down. Hey, when you know it's the final episode, you start to think anything might happen. Bleeding and down, she watches as the girls fight on, and a couple of them die. She passes the scythe on to Faith and tells her to hold the line. Again, here, if you know all the history, this scene has a lot of weight. Once mortal enemies, these two are fighting side by side, to the death. Faith gets some use out of the scythe, and when overwhelmed, passes it to another slayer, and it gets tossed like that in a nice little symbolic we're-all-slayers-now thing. The First shows up in the Buffy guise, taunting her again, saying that she almost won, but now it was all over. Buffy stands, regaining strength and resolve, and catches the scythe and goes on a sweet demon-slaying rampage. The apex of the group battle is here, and it's Braveheart, Rings and Gladiator all in one.
And it's just then when the necklace finally starts overtaking Spike. He staggers back, confused, and says "Oh, bullocks" as energy rips through him, blasts up through the basement, through the school, and through the roof. Sunlight is channeled through him and the necklace and starts exploding every vamp in sight, and collapsing all the caves in the Hellmouth. The girls start to pull back and run--everything's coming down. Buffy tries to get Spike to follow, but he knows its his job to finish this. He's come full circle now, the once evil vampire, re-souled, redeemed and now going out as the champion. Buffy takes his hand (which looks pretty painful since it's on fire), and they have a final look into each other's eyes. She says I love you. Spike smiles, and says no you don't, but thanks for saying so. He makes her leave, saying he wants to see how it all ends, as the Hellmouth is coming apart all around him.
Upstairs, everyone's running out as the school's coming down around them. It's right here that I thought, "Oh, Joss is going to blow up the high school, just like before." I felt I was okay with that, but he had done it once already. Turns out I was getting ahead of myself and underestimating him. We see Xander run by, calling for Anya, and we see her body out of his line of sight as a slayer girl yanks him out. Everyone starts loading into a waiting school bus as the ground shakes all around. Downstairs, Spike is laughing as we see the light finally consume him and turn him to dust, and the Hellmouth properly explodes. See, here's the only problem. We just saw Spike die--and die quite heroically too--and that should have been a huge moment for us. But we'd all just gotten the announcement a few days before this episode that James Marsters had signed on to be a regular over on Angel next season, so we knew this death was only going to be temporary. Sadly, that took away a lot of its weight. There's a downside to this internet thing, too, I guess.
The bus is racing away, with the school coming down behind it. We see Buffy running through as falling debris is blocking her way, and she's driven upstairs. As the bus speeds off, we cut to an overhead shot of her running across the school roof as the building comes down behind her, being sucked down into the Hellmouth. She leaps from the roof as it goes down, and keeps running, because the next building is going down, too.. We realize that Joss isn't just blowing up the school this time. The whole of Sunnydale is being sucked right down into the Mouth. Buffy manages to leap from a building at the last moment onto the roof of the bus, and we watch as buildings, streets and neighborhoods are sucked down into the Earth. The bus manages to stay ahead of it all, and finally stops outside of town. Buffy jumps down, and, in a clever Joss moment, looks first ahead of the bus, down the wide-open road that now symbolizes her future, before looking back with the rest of the gang. There's a huge pit where Sunnydale used to be, with the "Welcome to Sunnydale" sign at the edge of it. After a moment, the sign slowly falls backward into the pit. While being a funny sight gag, it's more meaningful (another gift) to those of us who are Buffy regulars. That's the third time a Sunnydale sign has gone down. The first was when Spike first arrived in Sunnydale, when he drove his car over it. The second was his return to Sunnydale in season 3, when he again drove his car over it (but drunk this time). And now, in the final episode, it's Spike, in the end, that downs it for the last time.
Dawn and Buffy
The gang collect themselves while looking at the spectacle. Inside the bus, Wood is in bad shape, bleeding from his sword wound. While talking to Faith, he appears to die, and we figure he's another character death. As she reaches up to close his eyes, he gasps, still alive, and shocks her. Smiling weakly, he says "Surprise". Xander stops Andrew and asks if he saw what happened to Anya. Andrew says she fought bravely, and died saving his life. Xander smiles and accepts this, saying "That's my girl. Always doing the stupid thing." Now, as for Anya actually saving Andrew's life? It's possible. It's pretty hard to tell if he's just saying that or if it really happened. I get the impression the actual moment was lost in editing. And I understand there was a lot of editing, by the way. Apparently, to keep news leaking out of how it all ended and who actually died, Joss filmed a number of alternate endings and scenes. I sure hope when the final season DVDs come out, we get to see the alternate death scenes.
In the end, our main characters stand and look at the former Sunnydale. There are poignant words, and, because it's Joss, a few well-placed jokes. They talk about how there are now slayers everywhere--Willow can feel them. She says they need to find them all, and I believe it's Giles who says "We will", giving a suggestion of the future for these characters. In the final moment, while we slowly zoom in on Buffy, she's asked how it feels to know that she's no longer the one and only chosen one, and that now she can just live a normal life if she chooses. The final words of the series are Dawn's, asking, from off-camera, "Yeah, what are we going to do now?" In response, Buffy smiles, realizing that for once, the future is wide open for her, and her choices are finally her own. And we fade to black. And an era of television ends.
I'm amazed what Joss Whedon can do with an hour of television. I really am. His other big finale, "The Gift", was very much like this one, with the first half being most of the "final" character moments, and the last half being the great epic battle. He did it again, and at just the right time. He did exactly what he needed to do with this episode. After a season of most of us thinking it was probably a good thing the show was going to end, he came back for one hour at the end and made us all miss the show. I really have no complaints, except for possibly us never really seeing the First die (that would have been nice closure), but it's implied. And, again, there's the non-death of Spike making me wish I'd walked into the episode truly blind. But any gripes are minor. It was exciting, touching, action-packed, funny, cataclysmic...in short, everything that the Buffy series has been for us these past seven seasons. It's tough to see a show like this go. But it makes it a lot easier when it goes out with style, and when fans are given a proper good-bye. Thanks, Joss, for a wonderful final episode, but more so, for showing television that you can still break the rules and create something original and memorable and amazing in the medium. I know you've inspired many to follow in your path. And I can't wait to what the new generation of Whedon potentials come up with once they get their power.