Buffy 05/12/03 - End of Days (spoilers)

Cafe Society
1

If only the rest of the season had moved along, the way this episode did.

That said – on with the spoilers:

[spoiler] Why was this episode OK, while the one last week sucked? Basically, it’s just the same story line that continues. Maybe because we’re not side-tracked so much. Maybe because things are getting tied together.
That’s not to say it didn’t have flaws and some truly contrived moments. But after the abysmal thing that was last week’s episode, this felt like a breath of fresh air.

Research into what that axe thing is. People not running around to the same extent. Buffy back in the Summer house. Giles acting in character. Some action and some (lame attempts at) fun stuff.

Pro:
Buffy and Faith sharing a moment. Very good acting from both girls, and a little further insight in the slayer’s mind.
Giles and Willow sharing a moment. Always good.
Buffy and Xander sharing a moment.
Buffy fighting three Übervamps.
Some insight to what Caleb and TFE has got together.
Weel-chair fight! (Hey, it appeals to my childish sense of fun)

Con:
Buffy sharing a moment with Spike. Awkward much? I guess it was meant to be that embarrassing moment when you meet the other person after the first night of sex. But it didn’t fit in. And it certainly didn’t fit with the cliff-hanger (more later)
Almost everything Anya says.
Kennedy surviving. Kennedy being bossy, when Faith is MIA.
[/spoiler]

Cliff-hanger (complete info – you have been warned):

Angel shows up at the last moment, when Caleb is ready to kill Buffy. He stops Caleb, giving Buffy a chance to get up and get in some serious blows to Caleb who dies. Angel stands watching and smiling. When the fight is over, says Angel to Buffy: “Don’t I get a thank you?” She embraces hem, kisses him. And the camera pans to Spike, lurking in a corner, looking mighty pissed off. TFE!Buffy says to him: “What a bitch.” Roll end credits.
Now, WTF was that? Why? Just half an hour earlier, Buffy, in her shared moment with Spike, says he gave her the strength to fight Caleb and get the axe thingy. So Buffy hasn’t seen Angel in a couple of years and two minutes after he walks into her life, she’s smooching? And considering the last time they met, in that time loop, and her sentiments towards Angel for a long time – it really doesn’t make sense. And it brings down my score for the whole episode. This felt so contrived. Caleb is dead, we need something for a showdown for the final episode, so let’s take Buffy totally out of character to piss Spike off and make him jealous. And the episode was fairly good up until that very last frame.
:shrugs: and :sighs:

One thing, that doesn’t have to do with the story, but I’m curious. The copy I got had – as usual – bad sound. It gets hard to hear at times. But I thought I heard something that surprised me. I’ll put it in a box, since it involves a line, from one of the characters. But as I said, not plot related at all.

Did I hear right? When Andrew comes back with food, did he really say ‘fucking town’? Isn’t that word totally banned from network tv?

All in all: 6/10. That’s twice as high as last week.

2

Was there any mention of what W&H gave Angel in last week’s finale of his show?

3

belladonna
Do you really want to be spoiled?


Nope. Not a word. Angel just walked into the crypt where Buffy and Caleb were fighting. And at the exact moment Caleb is about to chop Buffy’s head off.

4

Re: The Cliffhanger

When I got the script, I screamed, i cried, I nearly puked, I cried, I drank, and then I cried some more. It took me about 2 days to work it through my system.
Now I’ve reached a Zen-Like State of acceptance. Also, I think Buffy looks like a real bitch.

5

Pepperlandgirl

[spoiler] Dr Kbler-Ross’ list: Anger, denial, bargaining, depression, acceptance. That sums it up, huh?
Yes, as TFE said: “What a bitch!”.

It still doesn’t make sense to me; She was so over Angel. And went from resting with Spike to making out with Angel. It’s just plain confusing.
Oh, and since you’ve read the script. Is Andrew saying ‘fucking town’?
[/spoiler]

6

Gaspode Not in the script, he’s not. Tom Lenk may have just slipped it in there. I’m at work right now, so I don’t have the script. I’ll double check when I get hom to make sure

7

Gaspode, I lied.

I was able to track down the script here, and Andrew says “in this funky town”

8

Angel came to Sunnydale in Forever, which was in Season Five. They kissed in that episode.

9

You thought this was a con? I just DLed it and watched it and it made me cry. I thought it was extremely touching and saw and awkward and lovely. It moved me.

10

Pepperlandgirl

Yes, it was awkward in that angst-ridden way it was supposed to be. But why was it in the same episode as that cliffhanger. It doesn’t make any kind of sense. That’s why it’s a bad scene, when viewed in contaxt.

11

I could have sworn we saw an amulet in the Sunnydale file that Lilah gave Angel. We don’t know what the amulet is, exactly, but I’m pretty sure we saw it.

12

jeevmon

Yes, I thought so too. Amulet, pendant, medal, seal… something like that. No sign of that either when Angel showed up. Just snogging(sp?)

13

Ah, see I read the question as asking whether we knew what it was Angel was given, not whether we saw it.

14

You know, if a certain blonde walks away with the most boring man on television, I Shall Be Pissed.

15

He might be a boring man. But the show is the best thing on television. I can’t make that make sense. But I agree that he’s boring.

16

JohnT, I really don’t think Spike is that interested in the Great Poofter. :wink:

17

LOL!!!

18

I liked this episode quite a bit.

My prediction for the finale based off this episode?

After seeing Buffy and Angel kiss, Spike will decide to use the amulet Angel brought from L.A. to end the apocalypse. This will cause him to become fully human, thus fulfiling the prophecy about “a vampire with a soul ending the apocalypse and becoming human”.

This means that…(SUPER MAJOR SPOILER IF i’M CORRECT SO I’M CREATING A SECOND SPOILER BOX)

Angel could have become human to fulfill the prophecy, but Spike does it instead. Then, Spike is free to join the cast of Angel next year. It won’t be the lame “two vamps with a soul concept”, but will instead be “a vamp with a soul and a former vampire”. Could be cool.

Then again, I could be completely wrong and all of this is just plain silly.

19

Fairly good - I have no problem with the ending in theory, although the acting and score was a bit off.

20

I agree: so much about the character interactions just seemed… off. It felt like important lines were missing, the timing was off, jokes weren’t funny (Andrew’s first scene was just lame, and so was the whole Xander riff about dumb eye jokes). I really liked the idea of a bunch of character interactions, but whoever wrote this is far from my favorite writer at the moment. I really liked Spike and Buffy’s moment, though I agree the ending was a little goofy rather than shocking.

Also, the whole scythe mythology thing was just terrible: especially the decrepit old woman who refused to just come out and say she was really ancient. And was it me, or did they cut out wherever they explained how they found the temply thing? How did Angel, Caleb, and Spike even know how to get there (presumably Spike followed Caleb: but Angel?)? How come they’ve never gone in it before? How fricking big is the graveyard in Sunnydale?

Was it me, or did Dawn say something about Kitty Fantastico?