Ep by ep; Grave

The Good; My all time favourite ep of Buffy is 'Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered'. My all time favourite scene is the ending of 'Forever' where Buffy and Dawn collapse into each other's arms. And my all time favourite Buffy moment is when Xander confronts DarkWillow and that first tear rolls down her cheek. And in that second you realise he's got her, that everything is going to be all right after all. Makes me cry every time. First saw it at a convention where they played Enrique Ingliseas' song 'Hero' over it and it was wonderful.

And little Dawnie swordfighting side by side with big sis Buffy, makes me cheer every time! Also love Willow's 'Fly my pretty!'. You'd think they'd have tried the whole bucket of water routine on her?

The Bad; Although there's supposed to be a limitless amount of root monsters you can see there's actually only 4.

Best line; DarkWillow (dismissively) "This is your master plan? Telling me that you love me?" (Yep and it's BRILLIANT!)

Jeez!; Spike and the beetles, urgh!

Kinky dinky;

Willow (upon Giles' entrance) "Uh oh, daddy's home. I'm in trouble now" Yes you are my dear, prepare for one magical spanking. Dawn finally learns of what Spike tried to do to Buffy.

Captain Subtext;

Andrew and Jonathon seem very wary of the trucker who gave them a lift. Check out Anya and Buffy flocking into Giles' arms like a couple of excited little girls happy to see their daddy home. Buffy says that Dawn will be beautiful and powerful. Face it Buff, she already is. Spike calls the demon a 'ponce'

Apocalypses; 7, Willow wants to destroy the world, come a long way since the softer side of Sears

Scoobies in bondage: Buffy: 8 Giles: 4 Cordy: 5 Will: 4 Jenny: 1 Angel: 4 Oz: 1 Faith: 3 Joyce: 1 Wes: 1 Xander; 2 Dawn; 4

Scoobies knocked out: Buffy and Anya knocked out again plus Xanderx2 Buffy: 19 Giles: 12 Cordy: 6 Xander: 14 Will: 8 Jenny: 2 Angel: 6 Oz: 3 Faith: 1 Joyce: 3 Wes: 1 Anya;5 Dawn; 3 Tara; 1

Kills: Spike kills 2 demons as does Buffy whilst Dawn kills one Buffy: 107 vamps, 58 demons, 6 monsters, 3 humans, 1 werewolf, 1 spirit warrior & a robot Giles: 8 vamps, 2 demon, 1 human, 1 god.

Cordy: 3 vamps, a demon Will: 6 vamps + 3 demons +1 fawn+1 human.

Angel: 3 vamps, 1 demon, 1 human Oz: 3 vamps, 1 zombie Faith: 16 vamps, 5 demons, 3 humans Xander: 6 vamps, 2 zombies, 1 a demon, Anya: 1 vamp and 1 a demon Riley; 18 vamps + 7 demons Spike; 8 vamps and 6 demons Buffybot; 2 vamps Tara; 1 demon Dawn; 1 vamp + 1 demon Scoobies go evil: Giles: 1 Cordy: 1 Will: 3 Jenny: 1 Angel: 1 Oz: 1 Joyce: 1 Xander: 4 Anya; 1 Dawn; 1 Buffy; 1

Alternate scoobies: Buffy: 8 Giles: 4 Cordy: 1 Will: 5 Jenny: 2 Angel: 3 Oz: 2 Joyce: 2 Xander: 4 Tara; 1 Dawn;1 Spike; 1 Anya; 2

Recurring characters killed: 12 Jesse, Flutie, Jenny, Kendra, Larry, Snyder, Professor Walsh, Forrest, McNamara, Joyce, Katrina, Tara Sunnydale deaths; 94

Total number of scoobies: 3-Giles is back Xander, Buffy, Giles Xander demon magnet: 5(6?) Preying Mantis Lady, Inca Mummy Girl, Drusilla, VampWillow, Anya (arguably Buffy & Faith with their demon essences?), Dracula?

Dawn in peril; yep, down the hole 11

Dawn the bashful virgin; 9

What the fanficcers thought; Liked the one where DarkWillow does destroy the world only for Dawn 'The Key' Summers to appear in front of her, glowing with green energy and putting it all right. Also liked the idea of Xander actually failing to persuade Willow who sides with the First Evil but in the follow up higher power Cordy turns up because she's the REAL love of Willow's life and she succeeds where Xander fails.

On a lighter note there's a good one showing Willow's first day at Sunnydale nursery (with teacher Flutie and little Harmony, Jonathon, Larry etc). We find out that actually frightened little Cordy snapped Willow's crayon because she was jealous of Willow and Xander's instant friendship, feeling excluded and leaving her to sit with Harmony. The_Yellow_Crayon. Weird one where Dru and Snyder sexually enslave Faith and Buffy in season 3 (I think it's literally called 'Buffy in a Slave Labor Camp'?). In the follow up story Snyder get's eaten by the Mayor at Graduation (who's then destroyed by the rest of the Scoobs)and Buffy just shrugs, breaks her chains and walks home into Joyce's arms whilst Dru falls in love with Faith and it's HER that get's her soul back so that they can be together.

Questions and observations; According to the commentary SMG finds it easier to cry than to laugh? Hmmmm? DarkWillow feeling the world's suffering is similar to what CC experienced in 'To Shanshu in LA'.

I know that Joss is an avowed aethiest but you have to wonder about a story where a simple carpenter saves the world by professing his love? It strikes you as very Christian. Love conquers all.

I must confess that even after the final revelation I didn't understand the twist in the tail. I genuinely thought Spike had gone to Africa to get his chip removed and that the demon had doublecrossed him and restored his soul instead. Someone at The Bronze had to correct me (hangs head in shame). But once again, love conquers all, it can save the world, it can save a friend, it can bring two sisters together and it can redeem a monster.

This ep contains possibly the 2 best Ganya moments, when they hug upon his return and when she sits with him as she thinks he's dying, it really adds to the humanity of the character and expands their relationship. Do we ever meet Giles' Devon coven ('Alright my luuver?') in the comics? Weird thing is after Andrew threatens Xander with his sword they let him keep it? Okay, Buffy and Dawn need one each at the graveyard but couldn't Xander have taken it? Note that one of the books on fire at The Magic Shop appears to have been written by William Shatner, I can't imagine Giles ever allowing that so presumably it's something Anya decided to stock? Now of course if you read the comics you know exactly what happened to the dragon Buffy was supposed to fight. A small note but when you see Andrew and Jonathon with the trucker at the end it's obviously the 'poor man's process' (the crew rocking the vehicle to give the impression of movement) as the trees you can see out of the windows aren't moving.
The only finale not written and directed by Joss (although he does some of the dialogue), spreading himself thin between Buffy, Angel and Firefly.

Marks out of 10; 9/10 just great