Previously on Buffy the Vampire Slayer: First Evil, Caleb, Faith, Teen Slayers, Buffy kills Caleb and smooches Angel while Spike and First Evil watch. Merge into presently where Buffy and Angel get caught up before Caleb pops up like a comic book character jack in the box. More fight and credits.
After the credits Buffy kills Caleb again and tells Angel to return to LA to start the second front in case she fails. He leaves her his research (one pathetically skinny file folder) and an amulet for your basic 'champion with a soul who is more than human but not Buffy because it is somewhat dangerous so give it to someone expendable', which kind of narrows the field down. Buffy goes home and updates everyone and gives Spike the amulet. She and Spike have some cuddle time and then the First comes to taunt her. As usual the First goes too far and gives Buffy a brilliant idea.
Next day Buffy outlines the plan which Giles thinks is brilliant and scares the bejesus out of Willow. They spend the rest of the day preparing and the night not sleeping.
Part one of the plan is to open the Hellmouth and deal with the Uber Army before it overruns Middle Earth. The Teen Slayers, Spike and the Chosen Two head down to the seal, spill some blood and open the sucker up. Down the steps they go, into a huge cavern overlooking Uber Central. Willow prepares a spell with Kennedy waiting to kill her incase she goes all dark roots and veins. The six 'civilians' cover the three exits to make sure nothing escapes. Willow does the spell.
Through montage, voice over/flashback retro and brains, we see part two of the plan. Screw the 'in every generation there is one' prophesy crap. After all, we have two now so why not more? Willow uses the axe as a conduit and gives every Potential on earth the power. Suddenly the basement isn't filled with two Slayers and a bunch of wannabes. It's full of thirty, preteen, mad as hell and we're not going to take it anymore Slayers. [insert multiple Slayer kicking multiple Uber Vamp butt scene].
Battles do, of course, have casualties. A couple of Teen Slayers, including apparently Amanda, go down. Woods gets stabbed through the stomach. Anya is cut down from behind as she tries to go toward Andrew. Buffy gets stabbed through the back and, strength failing, she passes the axe to Faith. The battle continues.
The First, moron that it is, comes to taunt Buffy some more. I think The First predates the whole brains being handed out thing plus a failure to do any homework about what happened to the previous Big, Middle and Little Bads who taunted Super Ball Buffy. Up pops Buffy, snorting like an engine, turns the tide back to the good guys and the slugfest continues.
It's about now that Spike's amulet kicks in. An energy blast blows open a skylight and Spike and the Amulet act as a giant mirror, reflecting the light through the cavern and triggering earth tremours. Faith starts to evacuate everyone and they head for the conveniently abandoned school bus that we last saw in the establishing shot of the high school. Buffy lingers for a last word with Spike before doing a Crouching Tiger kind of thing across the rooftops. The bus drives with a massive CGI following it. And then it stops.
All that's left of Sunnydale is a giant crater.
The Scoobies gather at the crater edge, amazed that it's over, that they can sleep, that they can't shop because all the malls are gone so they might as well start looking up all those young girls who are now Slayers rather than just Potentials.
Because there's no such thing as retirement.
Fade to black.
RANDOM THOUGHTS
Okay, maybe it's just me, but the lameness of the kite/kite string analogy from "Touched" is nothing compared to the horror of the cookie dough analogy.
I must say that having Willow just releasing the power of the axe was a lot quicker than going the Flatliner route.
However. Buffy said they had a choice. What choice? They got the power if they wanted it, didn't, didn't even know about it. If the choice was to use it fight in Sunnydale or use it to run like a bunny; that wasn't said.
Someone asked me why Buffy hadn't decapitated Caleb at the end of "End of Days". This was second part of the reason.
You know, I can't count the times that the bad guy would have won if they'd just kept their mouth shut. Being mute the Bringers, of course, had the best chance.
I think, very much, that Joss wanted the message of Buffy to be that montage.
Just to put in the obigatory Xena reference. Gabrielle chose the way of friendship. Kennedy chose the way of Willow.
Have I mentioned how much I really dislike the retro-explanation of the plan? I hate it. Loath would actually be a better word. Like we couldn't tell what was happening what with all the wind machines and slow motion and soft lighting and suddenly confident baseball players?
Spike died and Faith lived. Totally did not see that coming. Anya died and Andrew lived. That one, I saw.
Amanda died too. Which ticked me off but in retrospect didn't surprise me because Larry lived and died much the same way.
I have no idea what Andrew yelled. Sounded like either Faramir or Fafhrd. The first is Boromir's brother from Lord of the Rings, the second a warrior from the Fafhrd and Gray Mouser novels by Fritz Leiber. Either work as to what Andrew wants to be.
The AD&D (advanced dungeon and dragons- not accidental death and dismemberment) scene is way funny if you've ever played a roleplaying game at 2am. Trust me on that. It's also way accurate if you've ever played a roleplaying game at 2am in a vain attempt to avoid real life.
Angel calls it an axe.
Good to see Andrew use his power (and not the demon summoning) for good. Because there was no way he saw exactly how Anya died.
I don't think there are going to be Slayer Babies. Because that's just too weird. I think they're going to go back to having Potentials. Unless Joss' new show is, like, for YTV or Nickelodeon in which case, yeah, Slayer Tots. Bring it on.
The two entire exchanges both pre- and post- battle where the four Core Scoobs try to decide what to do "tomorrow" was way to long to quote and way to important to either ignore or shorten. And it too, sums up the entire seven year run in so many ways.
RANDOM QUOTES
Buffy: "Angel? What are you doing here? Don't explain, I just want to bask. [pause] Okay. I'm basked. What are you doing here?"
Buffy: "And you just get to come here and get all Dawson on me just because I have a boyfriend?"
Angel: "Aha! Boyfriend."
Dawn: [kicks Buffy in the shin]
Buffy: "Ow!"
Dawn: "Dumb ass.
Xander: "Don't look at me. This is a Summer thing. It's all very violent."
Buffy: [to Dawn] "Fine. But if you get killed, I'm telling."
Buffy: "Faith still has my room."
Spike: "Well, you're not staying here! You can't bribe me with shiny beads and sweet talk. You've got Angel breath. I'm not going to let you whack me back and forth like a rubber ball. I've got my pride you know."
Buffy: "I understand."
Spike: "Clearly you don't. That whole having pride thing was a smoke screen."
Willow: "This goes beyond anything I've ever done. Its a total loss of control and not in a wholesome my girlfriend has a pierced tongue kind of way."
Buffy: "I wouldn't ask if I didn't think you can do it."
Willow: "I'm... I'm... I'm not sure I'm stable enough."
Giles: "You can do it, Willow. We'll get the conven on the line and see how they can help..."
Dawn: "Oh! [slight pause and nod of understanding] Pierced tongue!"
Buffy: "Dawn needs to do a research thing!"
Giles: "Yes. Yes definitely.
Dawn: "Its cool. Junior Watcher to the library."
Faith: "Sorry if it seemed I was trying to blow you off but I was just trying to, you know, blow you off."
Faith: "Once I get bouncy with a guy, there's not too much more to find out about him."
Robin: "That's bleak."
Faith: "That's life."
Robin: "Oh good. I thought it was more isolationalist Slayer crap."
Willow: "You know Buffy? Sweet girl; not that bright."
Amanda: "I put a time flux on Chomp-i-dore."
Andrew: "Step down, girl friend. You can't..."
Amanda: "Ninth level sorceror and I carry the Emerald Chalice. Chomp-i-dore is frozen in time. Deal with it."
Xander: "Smack down on Red Riding Hood. This could get ugly."
Giles: "Could it get any uglier? I use to be a highly respected Watcher. Now I'm a wounded dwarf with the strength of a doily."
Principal Woods: "Welcome to Sunnydale High. There's no running. No yelling. No chewing gum. Other than that there's only one rule. If it moves.... kill it."
Anya: "So me and the Dungeon Master have the North Corridor?"
Andrew: "We will defend it with our lives."
Anya: "Yes. We will defend it with his life."
Xander: "Don't be afraid to use him as a human shield."
Anya: "Good! Yes! Thanks."
Anya: "God, I'm terrified. I didn't think... I mean, I'd always thought you'd be terrified and I'd be sarcastic about it.
Andrew: "Picture happy thoughts. A lake. Candy canes. Bunnies."
Anya: "Bunnies. [voice steels] Floppy. Hoppy. Bunnies." [holds sword up and glares through the edge with Gabrielle like resolve]
Spike: "School's over for the bloody summer."
Buffy: "I love you."
Spike: "No you don't. But thanks for saying it."
Robin: "Surprise."
Xander: "Did you see?"
Andrew: "I was scared. I didn't see..."
Xander: "No. Did you see her?"
The Storyteller: "She was incredible. She died saving my life."
Xander: "That's my girl. Always doing the stupid thing."
Faith: "The Hellmouth is officially closed for business.."
Giles: "There's another one in Cleveland. [pause] Spoiled the moment."
Dawn: "You destroyed the mall? I fought on the wrong side."