7.21 End of Days

[Clare]

7.21 End of Days - Episode #143
Armed with her new weapon, Buffy takes on Caleb and help arrives from an unexpected source. Meanwhile, the other Scoobies tend to their injured following a sewer tunnel explosion.


"Well, at least you could tell me you’re glad to see me."

[partcynic]

Rating = 2

21 eps into the season, and it turns out that practically every show since “Him” has been a waste of time. Our heroes have basically twiddled their thumbs all year and whined about how scary the First is, and then just as it’s convenient, a secret weapon drops into their hands with no foreshadowing or decent explanation at all. So what exactly was the point of most of the year? Anyone?

What I Liked about “End of Days”:
- Dialogue was a touch better. A few witty lines.
- Xander, Buffy, Willow, Faith and Giles actually said things you’d expect those characters to say, and behaved appropriately. It’s a sad state of affairs when not messing the characters up warrants mention in the positives, but it was nice to see.
- Kennedy at the start. Her determination to find Faith and rallying the troops against the Ubervamp was great.
- The minimum of potentials, and no Principal Wood. Good to see these useless characters discarded, although Andrew needed to be removed too.
- A few drips and drabs of Buffy/Spike; Faith, and Anya development. Nothing amazing, but nice to see a tiny bit of character insight.
- It didn’t drag quite as mercilessly as most of the S7 episodes.

What I Disliked about “End of Days”:
- The do-nothing bomb at the start. No significant fatalities or injuries. The Bringers must really suck with their explosives.
- The come-out-of-nowhere Ubervamps. When were they summoned?
- It’s great to see the stupidity of “Lies My Parents Told Me” and “Empty Places” ignored, but it’s still inconsistent within the narrative. Mixed feelings here.
- The First just lets Buffy and the scythe go. Why? Because it’s not time yet? That’s one of the biggest TV clichés in the book.
- Xander getting unhappy with Buffy for sending him away. His character has completely flip-flopped in the space of two episodes, with no real reason. Was this what Joyce meant when she told Dawn Buffy wouldn’t choose her? Why do Xander and Buffy think it’s okay to drug Dawn rather than sitting down and just explaining things to her? Since when did Dawn carry a taser on her person? And she thinks it’s a good idea to knock out the driver of a car going fast on a freeway?
- Giles/Willow magic conversation. A snoozer, although parts of their research scene were cute.
- The Buffy/Spike shipper fanfiction scene. A couple of nice lines, but Spike really needs to re-grow his male parts. Unrealistic, and emotionally false.
- Very slow scene with Anya and Andrew at the hospital. The wheelchair fight was good and there was some okay development, but it was a pointless addition to the episode.
- The whole back-story of the scythe and altering the mythology of the show in the penultimate episode. The super-secret yet really obvious temple that no-one’s ever heard of or seen before, despite seven years of patrols. The stupidity (and awful acting) of the old lady of goodness and light, who seems to have just sat around for thousands of years. Why didn’t she contact Buffy about the scythe before, instead of just hoping she’d randomly find it and show up? If she’s been there all this time, why didn’t she tell Buffy about it years ago? Wouldn’t it have helped with all of the other apocalypses?
- Despite only having one entrance, Caleb, Angel and Spike all manage to make ‘surprise’ entrances at the temple. Silly. How does Caleb (and especially the just-arrived-in-town Angel) know where Buffy is?
- Buffy knocks Caleb down with the axe, and doesn’t make sure to finish the job. How dumb is she?
- The obvious Buffy/Angel shipper kissing. The characters really aren’t in that place anymore. Father Time has not treated David Boreanaz well at all, either.

I mostly got the impression that this ep was about treading water. With the exception of the old lady scene, there was nothing truly painful here, but the bulk of it just isn’t worth spending any time on.

[Clare]

Repost: buffytvsliveson.proboards7.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=sseven&thread=1349