Buffy the Vampire Slayer S07 E21 – Callback Feels

Previously: Buffy’s shitty treatment of the gang was vindicated by Faith doing more of the same and Buffy finding an uber weapon while Faith found a bomb.
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End of Days

Sweeney: This episode title is a liar because there’s one more episode! It’s JUST BEFORE the end. Silly title. This episode begins immediately where we left off. Faith tells everyone to get down and the bomb blows. Buffy eyes her prize as Priest-ion comes downstairs, gloating about how she can’t pry it from solid rock and she easily lifts it up. It’s a nice callback to the time it was assumed that the troll hammer couldn’t be wielded and Buffy lifted it all NBD. Wolf howl.

Kirsti: Buffy’s insta-pull and Priest-ion’s face made me giggle.

Sweeney: After the credits, Priest-ion makes empty threats to get Buffy to give him the weapon but First!Buffy tells him to just let her go because she has to go save her friends, adding that he can go back for it later when her back is turned. Buffy takes off to make with the saving.

It’s A Trap! Tunnel. Amanda calls out for everyone and gradually finds the other girls. Eventually they find Faith face down in some incredibly shallow water. (Like the first time Buffy died!) (L: FEELS.) The girls hear a monstrous gurgling noise so a few of them carry Faith and they all take off running. The noise turns out to be an OG Vamp and the girls decide that the dozen of them can take the one OG Vamp.

Chez Summers. Andrew has just returned from a grocery store run and everyone, Giles included, flails over all the sugar. This is what I imagine carrying a bag of junk food into Snark HQ will look like, one day, when it’s a real and actual thing that exists in the physical not-just-my-head world.  (K: YES. Also, Giles gushing over Jaffa Cakes is the best. Never underestimate how magical it is to see treats from home when you’re overseas.) (S: Absolute truth. If you’re away long enough you start flailing over things you wouldn’t normally bat an eyelash at.) Xander, Willow, Giles, and Dawn return, telling the group that their locator spell took them to an empty house from which Buffy had already moved on. Giles drops the bad news that Faith & co. still haven’t returned, so they resolve to go find them.

It’s A Trap! Tunnel. The girls are losing their battle with the OG Vamp. He has Kennedy by the neck, which is  Buffy’s cue to drop in from the ceiling, about three stories above the ground. She defeats the OG Vamp and tells the girls it’s time to get the fuck out.

Chez Summers. A still unconscious Faith is being carried upstairs and Potentials (especially Kennedy) are panicking. Buffy is asked about the Deus ex Machina Scythe and she nonchalantly says she swiped it from Caleb and it might be important. Amanda speculates that they were punished for choosing Faith.

Upstairs, Buffy has a much-needed meeting with her generals about the scythe while Faith lays in her familiar coma state. Buffy’s not sure why it’s important, but she knows that she feels something when she holds it and that it’s time to make with the research because this scythe is pretty much their only asset.

K: NGL, I love the Deus Ex Machina Scythe because it’s just so spectacularly badass.

Lorraine: It looked kind of cheesy at the end of last episode, but it’s definitely growing on me.

Sweeney: It still looks super cheesy due to its exceptional shininess. I still appreciate it anyway.

Downstairs, Anya and Andrew are tending to the wounded and getting their drink on with the wound-sterilizing alcohol because, as Anya says, “What does it matter?” Andrew suggests that they go raid the hospital, which is likely as abandoned as the grocery store. Anya gets really excited about the idea of going on a mission instead of sitting around confronting everyone’s imminent demise. She figures Kennedy will be much more comfortable with that because she’s tough.

Kitchen. Xander is resisting Buffy’s plan because he feels like she’s putting him out to pasture, and references an eyeless cow in his explanation of this metaphor. Buffy insists that she’s not protecting him, and that she needs someone she can count on for this task. He forlornly says that he always thought he’d be there with her for the end. FEELS. I always thought the Scoobies would be a more cohesive unit come the end too, Xander.

Lor: I watched this scene and tried to remember who our Xander/Buffy shipper in comments is because, however you choose to interpret their love, you can really see it between them in this scene. Plus, it was about this point where I started getting super, super feelsy about this being the penultimate episode. FEELS.

Sweeney: This scene is wonderfully heavy with the SEVEN SEASONS OF HISTORY feels. Xander adorably backpeddles, saying that the eyepatch is just throwing her off and he’s still totes optimistic. “I should be at your side. That’s all I’m saying.” Buffy promises that he will be, that he’s the reason that she made it this far, and that she trusts him with her life. When he agrees, she then cracks jokes about his one-eyedness which he takes good naturedly, but I still say that calls for a TOO SOON. He defends implying that she was going to die, by adding that if she dies he’ll just bring her back to life because that’s just what he does. YES. MORE CALLBACKS PLEASE.

K: Callbacks and feels and callbacks and feels and OH GOD I CAN’T HANDLE IT THE NOSTALGIA IS STARTING.

Sweeney: Upstairs Willow and Giles are getting their research on, Willow with the internet and Giles with old books. CALLBACKS! They’re not getting anywhere, though, because they have no idea what they’re looking for. She picks it up, but she doesn’t sense the power. Giles suggests she tap into magic, but Willow is still afraid. (L: Weird, because of all that magic she did in LA…) (S: Crossover magic is odd that way; there isn’t the time or space to explain all the things a character has been through on their own show, so much if it seems to be reduced.) She sits down and then conveniently does a, “WTF is this?” over something on the screen which sends Giles into a National Treasure status frenzy of A = flower = stairs = SOLUTION! Except not actually ending at the final solution. It’s early, yet. There’s still a pagan temple and some burial rituals to investigate.

Outside, Dawn and Xander are looking for a crossbow. Xander goes on a rambly spiel about his new one-eyed life, probably because Dawn’s the only person who would listen to this stuff right now, what with the apocalyptic concerns. Xander’s mostly just annoyed that the jokes are so obvious. That’s probably why he didn’t feel Buffy’s you-can’t-handle-weapons jokes were taken so well – points for originality! This sweet scene is interrupted when he smothers Dawn until she passes out, before shoving her in the car and driving off, carrying out that all-important mission. Well , shit.

K: Well, now I’m worried about Miss Kitty Fantastico. I mean, she did vanish mysteriously somewhere in season 5. I guess I just assumed she ran away when Glory ripped the front of the building. But now…

Lor: RIP Miss Kitty Fantastico. I hope you are with Tara.

Sweeney: THANKS FOR THAT ADDITIONAL, UNNECESSARY DOSE OF FEELINGS.

Evil Command Central. Priest-ion is smashing some wine barrels, which is how I know he’s truly evil. That’s so wasteful. First!Buffy tells him to chillax because they’ll get B later, plus his strength is waning because they have a merging thing to do. It’s a major tragedy that they wasted The First by having it be Buffy all the time, but SMG is great at this. Her mad skills are interrupted by some Terrible Special Effects Team work, in which she bursts into a glowy like demon thing. His eyes and vocal cords get a demonic makeover as he says he’s ready to serve it.

K: Priest-ion looked a little…….happy……..about that whole……..merging………thing. I kinda want to break out the Eyebrows of Innuendo.

Sweeney: Chez Summers. Faith is awake and holding the weapon. She feels the epic power that B felt, adding that it feels like it belongs to her. Then she awkwardly sets it down, adding, “Which I guess means it belongs to you.” Poor girl. Technically, isn’t Faith the current, “Slayer comma the,” what with Buffy being more of an anomaly? Irrelevant, because the point of this conversation is that Faith doesn’t actually care much about who the Slayer-in-charge is, and now Buffy doesn’t either. Faith jokes that Chao-Ahn should be voted in, figuring it would be hard to lead people into a deathtrap if you don’t speak English. Buffy assures Faith that she didn’t screw up because “war is about death – needless, stupid death.” Then they have a heart to heart about how Faith was always jealous of Buffy’s friends, but when she suddenly found herself leading people it was the most alone she’d ever felt. Even more than prison? Really? Also, this happens:

Delightful.

K: I love this scene so much. We’ve spent so much time in the past few seasons – hell, pretty much since Joyce was diagnosed with a brain tumour – watching “Buffy Is Alone And No One Can Understand Her Pain” stuff. That’s basically Spike’s entire argument as to why they should be together, because she kept ending up alone and in the dark with him. Half of the getting-kicked-out-of-the-house stupidness was “Buffy Is Alone And No One Can Understand Her Pain” stuff. But now, at the end? She sees that there IS someone who gets it, that she’s not alone any more. 

Lor: I loved it so much. I think it’s the dichotomy of being a Slayer, and a little bit of what Anya picked up on when she called Buffy lucky during the coup. From the outside in, most people just see the hot chick with superpowers portion of it. Perhaps even us, as the audience. No one gets the feel the true burden of the Slayer except the slayers and even so, they each feel alienated from each other. Rough.

Sweeney: Agreed on all counts. It’s a lovely scene and as we head into the finale it’s probably the most efficient way of dealing with Buffy’s longstanding isolation and loneliness. We’ve got to pull her back into the fold quickly and while much of it is just about everyone getting over it because there’s an apocalypse at stake, this was a fantastic way of saying, “Yes, this is what that is.”

This show is trolling me because of course my delightful moment is followed up by Buffy going downstairs for dimly lit Spuffy chat. Except it’s all awkward turtle, “Let’s not talk about it,” about last night. Buffy explains that she’s heading off on a mission to find out the secret of the scythe. Then she indignantly decides that she can’t let all these flickering candles go to waste. The orchestra of feels swells to set the mood as she and Ramen Noodle Head spill their powder-flavored guts (K: A+). They both have feels for each other that I don’t care enough about to recap. It drags on forever but eventually Spike decides that they should go be superheroes instead. Good plan.

Lor: My only input about the scene is that I did like how it was shot. It’s very tight and zoomed in on their faces. The camera flips from one to the other. It feels like you are truly prying in on an intimate moment. Of course, I don’t want to be because EW, but like, good job with that!

Sweeney: Abandoned Hospital. Anya makes a Jaws reference and Andrew decides that Anya is totes the best forever.

They start making with the hospital robbing. Andrew then says that this is going to be bad. He wonders why Anya doesn’t just go. She says that she did during this other apocalypse. She was new, then. Now, though, she’s been around for a while and she goes on a tangent about people, about how they do all this awful stupid shit. “And yet here’s the thing: when it’s something that really matters, they fight. I mean, they’re lame morons for fighting, but they do! They never…they never quit. So I guess I will keep fighting to.” Then Andrew teases her for loving humans. It’s a perfect little moment, especially because insightful!Anya was giving me feels and this was welcome comic relief.

Andrew then speculates that he’s not going to get a chance to tell anyone. Anya’s been in the world for a thousand years, but Andrew doesn’t have a whole lot going for him. He’s come to terms with it, though, deciding that he’d like to finish being one of those “lame humans trying to do what’s right.” This feels interlude is interrupted by a wheelchair fight.

K: This scene. THIS SCENE. You want to talk about redemption arcs in season 7? Look no further than these two characters. We get another one of those brilliant Anya speeches – much like her not understanding Joyce’s death – that Emma Caulfield delivers so brilliantly. And we get a wheelchair fight. It’s that same old blend of feels and fun that BtVS has done so well over the years.

Lor: Andrew, more than Anya, gets a great treatment in season 7. Anya had the wonderful Selfless, but after that, she’s been downgraded. I really like the idea that she’s struggling with mortality, though, because of that call back to The Body. I like that we got this moment with her. I want to squeeze them both.

Sweeney: Many hugs. Much feels. As you said, Anya’s development has been sacrificed in favor of comic relief fodder for much of S7, but I deeply appreciate moments like this one.

Cemetery. Buffy takes her shiny new-old scythe to a small pyramid-shaped building. She kicks the door down and looks around. Inside, an old woman says she’d forgotten how young Buffy would be because she’s been waiting a long ass time. Buffy’s confused but trusts her, handing over the weapon. The woman says she was one of the people who put the scythe in the rock – her and her former witchy companions put it there to hide from the shadow men. She takes a beat to ask for Buffy’s name and does a, “Wait, really?” Buffy just shrugs. (L: I’m calling that a CALLBACK.) Keeper of the Scythe informs Buffy that the Shadow Men are the ancestors of The Watchers and the Keepers of the Scythe were “Guardians.” The scythe was used to drive the pure demons underground so that society could flourish and become a thing.

K: Man, I really like the idea of the Guardians – a secret girl-power society that kept an eye on the Watchers. SO WHY WOULD YOU INTRODUCE IT IN THE SECOND LAST EPISODE, WHEDON?!?!?!?!

Lor: Somewhere. Joss Whedon is cackling and he doesn’t truly know why.

Sweeney: Buffy wants to know how the fuck it took so long for them to find all this out. Guardian says that they were hiding, but now they’re done with all that. She promises she’s the last surprise, though. This lady is really bad at TV. We still have five more minutes of this episode and a finale. Just as she’s explaining to Buffy that she maybe-possibly can win with her shiny new toy, Priest-ion appears and snaps her neck.

Dude, I Kidnapped Your Sister Road Trip. (K: A+) Dawn is coming to and Xander explains that he knocked her out with chloroform. Xander hands her a note from Buffy, insisting that this was all her idea because she wants to protect them. Buffy says that she promised to show Dawn this beautiful world but before Dawn gets to the end of that sentence she tazes Xander and seizes control of the wheel, turning them around. She doesn’t appear to actually get out and push him into the other seat or anything, which doesn’t seem like a very sensible way to drive. Also, Angel recently taught us to be very concerned about your gas tank when traveling to/from your nearest apocalypse.

Guardian Pyramid. Buffy and Priest-ion get their fight on. Priest-ion does some villain gloating about how he can do this shit all day. The fight is very long. Lots of punches and kicks and near victories and all the things that happen in fight scenes. I could never write a fight scene. PUNCH! KICK! BOOM! It’s interrupted by the arrival of crossover magic when ANGEL is played in by the orchestra of CHAMPIONS. (Truly, go back and listen.) (This is infinitely less amusing if you’re not watching Angel with us.) He says he figured she could use a hand, but when he realizes that this is one of those finish-it-yourself things, he stands off to the side and watches. He snarks a bit as he watches.

K: I find it oddly fascinating that I’ve hated pretty much every (non-Orpheus) second of Angel season 4, and have been decidedly UGH towards him throughout BtVS, but when he appeared here, I squeed like an idiot and bounced in my chair. 

Lor: OH MY GOD ME TOO. I even squee’d on Twitter for a while. True story. I have a Tweet from last Saturday that’s all, “ANGEL! ANGEL ANGEL ANGEL” or something like that. Even though we saw what we saw in LA, with the file and pendant, I’d managed to forget about it before he turned up. AH. ANGEL.

Sweeney: Because crossover magic. CROSSOVER MAGIC. This, though, was the final NOSTALGIA! blow in an episode littered with callback feels.

Now that B has an audience and a second wind to accompany her shiny new-old scythe, she manages to off Priest-ion. She turns to Angel, “See, under control.” He jokes that she could at least say she’s glad to see him so they make out, and the orchestra keeps doing its thing. It’s been strangely aggressive through Angel’s entire presence. Maybe the crossover magic brings the other show’s musicians too. Crossover magic = orchestral double down!

Lor: Kissing! Kissing! Kissing!

Sweeney: The camera pans over to reveal Spike shadow lurking the fight/makeout sesh. First!Buffy stands beside him. “That bitch,” it says, goading Spike.

And that’s a wrap. I quite enjoyed this episode, although the word count is telling me that I sped through it a bit. Maybe there’s a relationship. Kidding. Sort of. Not Kidding because the fact that I didn’t pause for a certain crunchy-headed individual probably helped me along a bit. Otherwise, though, this was a good one. Fast-paced and all of the major players had stuff to do and The Potentials had very little presence. The fact that there were so many distinct plot threads meant that some of them wound up being a little short, but it was all very well paced, which has been a rarity this season.

I love that we got to see all these little making up and coming together moments. Even the one I didn’t pay attention to fit nicely with that theme. Buffy and Xander, Giles to Willow, Buffy and Faith – that was probably my favorite. (K: There was also a cute split-second moment in there when Giles is busy disapproving about something, and Buffy and Willow share a little “there he goes again…” look and a smirk) Their relationship has been so fraught and I enjoyed this moment of reconciliation. That scene also feeds nicely into the finale, but I can say no more because spoilers. I didn’t expect to have a reason to say that in this episode, but how weird is it that this is the last time? There is but 40-some-odd minutes of SPOILER! remaining in this little journey. That’s a trip. And I like this episode because much of it felt the way thinking about that feels. At the same time, they still managed to work in a big action-filled showdown. Lots of feels and a few BAMF Buffy moments makes are a winning combination.

K: I really liked this episode. Between a new awesome weapon, numerous callbacks to past episodes, some Scoobie bonding, and a delightful dose of crossover magic, it was far more like the show we knew and loved pre-season 6. Which, YAY. And not only was it good, it was ENJOYABLE. Which, as we’ve established, is not always the case (see also: The Body).

Lor: I think there were moments that definitely slowed down the whole episode, like Giles and Willow doing research, but because of the nostalgia associated, I can’t even hate. I could’ve watched them doing research for many more minutes. I think it was smart to fill this episode with such moments, and to sort of pay homage to what was before diving into the very end. God, I have so many feels. I wasn’t expecting this.

I’ve been thinking a lot about Faith/Buffy and the bomb/scythe. I felt very weird about how it worked out for Faith. I think, though, it plays well into the theme of the season. Think back to “Help.” One of the first things that this season taught us is that you try, but you can’t help everyone. We’ve been told and told again that casualties are a guarantee and swapping one Slayer leader for another didn’t change that.

I think there is a certain understanding here, between all the characters. I would’ve liked it to be addressed out-rightly, seeing as how Buffy comes in and there doesn’t seem to be any tension between her and the other characters. I mean, Xander says he always pictured himself next to her in the end… but he was part of kicking her out of the house. I didn’t think about it until the end, because of all the set-up before the end. It truly feels like (finally) there isn’t time for anything but the mission.

Sweeney: I hated the whole fight-kicking-out bit in the first place and certainly would have appreciated some blatant, “Here’s why we were all wrong,” acknowledgement. As you say, though, skipping that is a way of saying, “None of that even matters.” I’d only add that it’s not just about “the mission is what matters.” The falling out is unimportant because of that, yes, but also because they are still family to one another and they all accept that they just need to come back together and get shit done. That was the subtext of most of the Scooby scenes. It wasn’t, “I’m setting aside my grudge for the mission,” so much as, “The mission is what matters and we are the mission.” These relationships are part of what makes the world worth fighting and dying for.

In short: the one before the end was quick and feelsy, which are things I approve of. A good way to set us up for the big finish.

 

Next time: It’s the end, dear friends. Join us for the last episode, Buffy the Vampire Slayer S07 E22 – Chosen.