“Is this the master plan? You’re gonna stop me by telling me by telling me that you love me?”
The above quote hints at the flimsiness of the plot here; Giles comes back to Sunnydale, having borrowed a fair bit of magic from some old biddies in the West Country, but while trying to stop Willow he “accidentally” lets her borrow that power. Oops. Willow is this overwhelmed and decides to destroy the world and end its suffering, aided by an ancient pagan temple that conveniently appears. Except that, as Giles has apparently planned, Xander gets to save the day as per the quote; having spent the best parrot two episodes bemoaning his own uselessness, he saves the world.
And that’s it. Summarised like that it looks a bit pants and, if this were a series based on plot, plot, plot, it would be. Except the episode happens to be a bit awesome. That’s because the cheerfully rubbish plot is just something around which to hang the characters, who have always been the focus. That makes this an appropriate season finale.
We shall see how Willow heals next season, but so much else happens. The connection between Buffy and the prodigal Giles is wonderful, and joyous from the moment Giles starts laughing. They have a lovely father/daughter relationship, and father/daughter relationships are the best thing ever. It’s also lovely to see Buffy and a surprisingly capable Dawn fight zombies in a crypt, whereupon Buffy finally realised that her sister doesn’t need protecting; Dawn kicks ass. It’s also nice to see the season ending as it began, with Buffy crawling up out of a grave.
We end with loads of juxtaposed hugs- the Scooboies are battered, wounded, but together. And then, finally, we see Spike passing his trials- and having his soul returned..
A satisfying end to a season which, while not up there with the best, is on the whole rather good.
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