"Let's go to work" strikes me as this hollow battle cry.
I know we're not talking about the comics, but: this is exactly what bothered me when I saw that was Buffy's last line at the end of S8 (issue 40, after she's fought back an entire circle of her own sister Slayers and reaffirmed herself as THE Slayer.) I've also read from DH that they are trying to bring the worlds of AtS and BtVS closer together and the whole thing reads terribly wrong to me.) Buffy (the character and the series) was never about nihilism. Chosen ends in the light (without, I think, being sentimental, which I think gets overlooked a lot) filled with hope; NFA ends in hopelessness - to me, it's essentially a pissing contest.
What I found interesting was that when I first began reading about the series online, at The AV Club's well-written reviews, a lot of people thought NFA was "cool" and a better ending than Chosen. My impression was that a lot of people at that forum were "reading it straight" (but this group also included people who thought dark Buffy in S6 was horrible while dark Wesley was the MOST AWESOME character arc in the Buffyverse.
Yeah, I have to say I'm less than pleased with how the merging of BtVS and AtS has affected the hopefulness of the Buffy side.
I think NFA is a better series finale, actually, at least in how it brings the character arcs to a close and what's more, allows the group to interact with each other and draw things to a close. Chosen really needed to be a 2-hour finale to do justice to the relationships between the Scoobies, imo. The reunion after Buffy being kicked out, after the season-long distance between them, it all felt too abrupt. So in that regard, NFA is better. But as a for a better ending? As in preferable for the world to go on existing? As a better message to take away? Chosen all the way. NFA is a great finale in such that its a great tragic ending.
Full disclosure: I haven't watched AtS beyond a couple of episodes *shifty eyes* I've read a good bit about it (aka spoilers don't bother me) and I've been encouraged to watch it; I even contemplated it when I watched one or two and thought that Cordy was becoming an interesting character (which had started in btvs s3 for me); THEN I read about what happens to her character, and Darla stakes herself, and Fred's soul is destroyed and there are no women at the end of the series in the fight - and you know what? I'll take a pass for the moment. I grew up with movies and tv that were entirely male-dominated so really, rather not. (I give you props for doing so, though.)
Chosen really needed to be a 2-hour finale to do justice to the relationships between the Scoobies, imo. The reunion after Buffy being kicked out, after the season-long distance between them, it all felt too abrupt.
Very true, but in some ways AtS got to benefit (more than once, I think) from the fact that it was following in Buffy's footsteps; the writers could correct for missteps and so on. Or maybe they were more interested in telling Angel's story at that point than Buffy's *glares at comics*
I think S7 could have used a few more episodes, if anything. I get that it probably wouldn't have made anyone completely happy because there were so many boxes to tick off, so to speak. but not dealing with kicking her out was yes, very abrupt. I can deal better with the event itself than the complete lack of follow-up. Which isn't out of character for Buffy - she's terribly forgiving, as we know. And she's focused on the mission. And the phrases "I'm sorry" "I forgive you" and even "I love you" are pretty rare on the show, not just from Buffy - they are often said in different ways "I'm proud of you" (School Hard) or shown through action as you well know. But still - it's pretty glaring.
As a better message to take away? Chosen all the way. NFA is a great finale in such that its a great tragic ending.
And I usually eat tragedy up with a spoon. *shrugs* But there's something about "What is Hell but the absence of Hope?" (Anne) that is very present in Chosen; of course Buffy, Spike, Faith, Willow et al destroy the Hellmouth because Hell cannot exist in the presence of Love. Which sounds sentimental when I write it that way but the show manages most times to avoid cheap sentimentality.
LOL to those and their TEH AWESOME reactions.
Srsly, right?
Oh, and happy birthday, Emmie! I hope you're enjoying your day and being good to yourself.
I know we're not talking about the comics, but: this is exactly what bothered me when I saw that was Buffy's last line at the end of S8 (issue 40, after she's fought back an entire circle of her own sister Slayers and reaffirmed herself as THE Slayer.) I've also read from DH that they are trying to bring the worlds of AtS and BtVS closer together and the whole thing reads terribly wrong to me.) Buffy (the character and the series) was never about nihilism. Chosen ends in the light (without, I think, being sentimental, which I think gets overlooked a lot) filled with hope; NFA ends in hopelessness - to me, it's essentially a pissing contest.
What I found interesting was that when I first began reading about the series online, at The AV Club's well-written reviews, a lot of people thought NFA was "cool" and a better ending than Chosen. My impression was that a lot of people at that forum were "reading it straight" (but this group also included people who thought dark Buffy in S6 was horrible while dark Wesley was the MOST AWESOME character arc in the Buffyverse.
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I think NFA is a better series finale, actually, at least in how it brings the character arcs to a close and what's more, allows the group to interact with each other and draw things to a close. Chosen really needed to be a 2-hour finale to do justice to the relationships between the Scoobies, imo. The reunion after Buffy being kicked out, after the season-long distance between them, it all felt too abrupt. So in that regard, NFA is better. But as a for a better ending? As in preferable for the world to go on existing? As a better message to take away? Chosen all the way. NFA is a great finale in such that its a great tragic ending.
LOL to those and their TEH AWESOME reactions.
Reply
Chosen really needed to be a 2-hour finale to do justice to the relationships between the Scoobies, imo. The reunion after Buffy being kicked out, after the season-long distance between them, it all felt too abrupt.
Very true, but in some ways AtS got to benefit (more than once, I think) from the fact that it was following in Buffy's footsteps; the writers could correct for missteps and so on. Or maybe they were more interested in telling Angel's story at that point than Buffy's *glares at comics*
I think S7 could have used a few more episodes, if anything. I get that it probably wouldn't have made anyone completely happy because there were so many boxes to tick off, so to speak. but not dealing with kicking her out was yes, very abrupt. I can deal better with the event itself than the complete lack of follow-up. Which isn't out of character for Buffy - she's terribly forgiving, as we know. And she's focused on the mission. And the phrases "I'm sorry" "I forgive you" and even "I love you" are pretty rare on the show, not just from Buffy - they are often said in different ways "I'm proud of you" (School Hard) or shown through action as you well know. But still - it's pretty glaring.
As a better message to take away? Chosen all the way. NFA is a great finale in such that its a great tragic ending.
And I usually eat tragedy up with a spoon. *shrugs* But there's something about "What is Hell but the absence of Hope?" (Anne) that is very present in Chosen; of course Buffy, Spike, Faith, Willow et al destroy the Hellmouth because Hell cannot exist in the presence of Love. Which sounds sentimental when I write it that way but the show manages most times to avoid cheap sentimentality.
LOL to those and their TEH AWESOME reactions.
Srsly, right?
Oh, and happy birthday, Emmie! I hope you're enjoying your day and being good to yourself.
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