Buffy Season Finale

[rfmcdonald]

It's the end of Buffy. I like the show, very much, but I can't help but feel that its final two seasons suffered from the same problem as Babylon 5's final season: The show was built around a story arc that ended just when it became apparent that the show had the fan base and network support to continue for longer, and the subsequent episodes and season(s) had a bit of a tacked-on, ad hoc quality. If Buffy had ended at the end of Season 5, with Buffy's sacrifice of herself for her sister and her friends, it would have come closer to being a single united unit. Ah well.

The season finale was entertaining, and authentically interesting. The power to be a slayer, thanks to Willow's magics, was diffused: Every potential Slayer, everywhere, is now a Slayer. Sunnydale has been, I think we can safely say, obliterated (although, as Giles reminds us, there is another Hellmouth in Cleveland). Buffy and Angel have had their reunion; Spike has martyred himself; all is, more-or-less for the Buffyverse, well in the world. It was a nice ending.

That said, there are some things I'm pissed off about, not least of which is Anya's unceremonious death, unwitnessed by anybody. And, to some extent, the way that the last two seasons went; I can't help but feel that Tara should have made a guest appearance, or something. I dunno.

Well, it's over. Now, on with things (like, will Mutant Enemy survive the end of two of its three major shows? and will Charisma Carpenter appear on Angel again?).