Buffy the Vampire Slayer: End of Days Rewatch
May 26, 2016 8:46 AM - Season 7, Episode 21 - Subscribe
Buffy uses her new weapon to save the day and get back in the gang's good graces, and meets a powerful guardian who tells her it was forged for her to use in the end times. Buffy and Spike admit the night they shared was something special, but a surprise visit from Angel may get in their way.
I remember watching this episode and saying "oh look, the FRAY axe. Does this mean the final installment will be delayed over half a year with no explanation?"
posted by phearlez at 8:00 AM on May 31, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by phearlez at 8:00 AM on May 31, 2016 [1 favorite]
Yeah why do they call it a scythe when it's clearly a shiny red axe/stake combo. I'd say the prop department screwed up and they didn't notice and change the script, but this thing was integral to the preceding Fray comics. An odd error in a season full of 'em.
posted by yellowbinder at 12:28 PM on May 31, 2016
posted by yellowbinder at 12:28 PM on May 31, 2016
But the stupidest moment has to be that last moment with Spike. Spike sees Angel and Buffy kissing, and the first proclaims "That bitch". URRRGHHH! Nothing comes of this, other than a snarky comment from Spike next episode, so why include it? Just for a cheap cliffhanger? This show should be better than this.
Honestly, that moment makes absolutely no sense. None. Having just done a rewatch of both this and the interspersed scenes from Angel, it is like a tacked on scene for no purpose other than to make people who shipped Buffy/Angel get to have a bit of surprise joy.
1) In the Angel timeline, Angel has gone and fallen in love with Cordelia, who has /very recently/ been put into a coma from which no one is sure if she will wake. In the episode immediately before this episode, timeline wise, in the episode where Wolfram and Hart tells Angel he has to get to Sunnydale, they play the moment of Cordelia in danger and have him fighting to save her. While I never bought the Angel/Cordelia romance, they did spend two seasons playing it up, and so the idea that Angel would see Buffy and immediately start making out with her is like....whaaaaat?
2) Buffy is also shown having mostly moved on from Angel, whether or not you buy the Spike romance, there's a lot of 'it's done' that also makes it make less sense. Yes, she kissed Angel after her mom died, but that was a really vulnerable moment, this is a triumphant one, they are far less emotionally resonant.
tl;dr that moment made me want to throw something at the screen, but I guess at least it's almost over now.
posted by corb at 12:52 AM on February 28, 2021 [2 favorites]
Honestly, that moment makes absolutely no sense. None. Having just done a rewatch of both this and the interspersed scenes from Angel, it is like a tacked on scene for no purpose other than to make people who shipped Buffy/Angel get to have a bit of surprise joy.
1) In the Angel timeline, Angel has gone and fallen in love with Cordelia, who has /very recently/ been put into a coma from which no one is sure if she will wake. In the episode immediately before this episode, timeline wise, in the episode where Wolfram and Hart tells Angel he has to get to Sunnydale, they play the moment of Cordelia in danger and have him fighting to save her. While I never bought the Angel/Cordelia romance, they did spend two seasons playing it up, and so the idea that Angel would see Buffy and immediately start making out with her is like....whaaaaat?
2) Buffy is also shown having mostly moved on from Angel, whether or not you buy the Spike romance, there's a lot of 'it's done' that also makes it make less sense. Yes, she kissed Angel after her mom died, but that was a really vulnerable moment, this is a triumphant one, they are far less emotionally resonant.
tl;dr that moment made me want to throw something at the screen, but I guess at least it's almost over now.
posted by corb at 12:52 AM on February 28, 2021 [2 favorites]
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There are some great moments in this episode. The fight with Caleb is good, Angel turning up is pretty fun and feels earned at this point. The bit where Buffy bursts in and butchers the uber vamps, saving the day? Yeah, the show needed more of those moments.
And hey, the scene with Andrew and Anya in the hospital is fun, but it's clear that the show is killing time here. Same with the Dawn and Xander detour (and both acts of violence, the chloroform and tasering, come across as really weirdly startling and not something the other should really get over so quickly. For a plot line that doesn't mean anything, it's quite much).
We also have that absurd research scene, where
a)everyone keeps calling something that is clearly not a sodding scythe a scythe.
b)They somehow have power and the internet?
c)They genuinely just stumble across an obscure answer by sheer chance.
And of course we have that silly immortal lady who has been hanging out in a crypt in Sunnydale for thousands of years, waiting until someone happens to find the scythe. Which is not a scythe.
But the stupidest moment has to be that last moment with Spike. Spike sees Angel and Buffy kissing, and the first proclaims "That bitch". URRRGHHH! Nothing comes of this, other than a snarky comment from Spike next episode, so why include it? Just for a cheap cliffhanger? This show should be better than this.
posted by Cannon Fodder at 1:07 AM on May 31, 2016 [1 favorite]