I was immensely satisfied by the Buffy season finale. Okay, I'm disappointed that Jonathan wimped out and ran to Mexico (despite showing some backbone earlier on) but all the other characters got their codas, and we get a sense that these people are finally moving on in their lives. Dawn finally gets to kick some monster butt (to the approval of her older sister -- Dawn the Vampire Slayer, anyone?). Xander ceases to feel sorry for himself and saves the day and Buffy finally decides that life is worth living. Best of all, Willow gets to be really, really scary, and Giles (sort of) saves the day. Maybe some parts were clich+d or corny (Buffy's speech to Dawn about wanting to see her grow up could have been better and shorter), but the script and the direction had Erin and I cheering. Wonderful fight scenes between Willow and Buffy, and between Giles and Willow, and Xander's climactic scene with Willow was high on emotion.
And I am going to be smug for the better part of this summer for guessing Spike's major plot twist as early as six months ago (I have the e-mails to prove it). I KNEW he was going to get his soul back! I KNEW it! This opens up some significant creative directions for the seventh season, and I'm salivating. I can hardly wait to this fall.
By all accounts, the next season of Buffy will be its last, even though the show is doing well in the ratings. I'm okay with that. At least the show knows enough to go out on top, unlike the X-Files.
Now that Buffy is ending, it might be fun to speculate on how the series comes to a close, and how it might affect its sister series, Angel. My hope? I want Buffy to have a happy ending. The girl's been through a lot, and deserves a cozy retirement. Have the Hellmouth close in Sunnydale and have her cope with being a retired Vampire Slayer on a Watcher pension. The shock of not fighting monsters night after night might be good for a couple of hours of television. Then, on the corresponding season finale of Angel, have Angel and company finally defeat Wolfram & Hart. They've ceased to be a major threat, anyway, and are just an annoyance. After the great victory, there's a rumble, and the Hellmouth opens up in Los Angeles (preferably in the basement of Angel's hotel). That would be an excellent "Oh, crap!" moment.
This opens up some creative possibilities for the next season. We could have Angel and company wondering who the next Slayer is. We could have the Watchers muscling into Angel's territory, and conflicts arising out of that. ("Hey! Our operation was here first, and we don't franchise!") It's something to think about.
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