I find it hard to put into words just how disastrous this episode was; it’s more than just a poor instalment, because coming at this point, the pivotal moment for Buffy after a season long buildup, it’s downright devastating to the plot and the series as a whole.

However did Joss manage to make such a hash of things? I remain completely baffled and frustrated, but the fact remains that he has, and spectacularly so.

Let’s get the positive out the way first; Joss isn’t directly responsible for this debacle, that ignoble credit goes to Jane Epstine and Douglas Petrie, two apparently skilled writers who must’ve been taking some serious gear when they somehow managed to pen the sorry excuse for a script, and Martia Grabiak, quite possibly the single worst director I’ve ever had the displeasure to watch on Buffy. This raises the immediate question why Joss didn’t write and direct the episode, considering that it’s the penultimate instalment of the entire series, but for some reason he didn’t, and this is the result. And what a result.

Honestly, it was crying out to be a brilliant episode; all the ingredients were there –apocalypse, enchanted weapons, unstoppable villains and tons of potential for angst and drama – but they’ve been squandered on the one of the worst-paced pieces of hackery imaginable. A Skoda where we needed a Porsche, soap opera where we needed cinema. It all starts well enough with a massive explosion from last week’s bomb, but shoots rapidly downhill from there. Caleb lets Buffy go with the weapon on the instruction of the First, who then swiftly saves Faith and all the Potentials (who’ve miraculously survived the explosion) from the Uber Vamps … the thousands-strong hoard now reduced to three dodgy S&M wannabes who are dispatched without Buffy breaking a sweat. And then, for most the remainder of the episode, we’re stuck in Buffy’s house. Yep, that’s right, the penultimate episode of the series, and we have to endure one turgidly written exchange after another, barely seeing Caleb or the First (the one scene where they appear is excellent and over in an instant). And we get a nice surprise of Xander knocking Dawn unconscious and driving her away on Buffy’s orders (Dawn subsequently tasers Xander and heads back), but mostly, it’s just trite, tedious, nauseous dialogue from characters who are suddenly wholly out of character. By the time I watched Anya and Andrew stealing supplies from the abandoned hospital for “the coming fight” we’re already supposed to be in the middle of and end up in a wheelchair fight, I was screaming at the screen like a docker with touretts. Why had Joss let these bunch of two-bit armatures handle the first part of the grand finale? I was watching them cackhandedly trash the entire season before my eyes.

Eventually, we got a confrontation between Buffy and Caleb, who kills an ancient mystic Buffy is conversing with, but it’s directed with all the panache of an EastEnder’s brawl, on a tiny and cheap-looking set. Angel appears out of nowhere, which works, then Caleb is defeated and killed with ease, which doesn’t. Caleb wasn’t even armed, for pity’s sake! The shock ending, with Spike watching on as Buffy and Angel kiss, being goaded by the First, is about the only good thing to come out of this rotting dungheap of a show. The writing stank, the directing stank, the budget looked non-existent and no exposition or closure of note happened. Nothing really happened until the last ten minutes, and then it happened badly.

Half the finale has now been needlessly piddled away, leaving Joss a mere 45 minutes to do a job that should already be half done. I pray he can achieve it (and if he’s any sense, fire everyone responsible for this episode), but these dismal 45 minutes may just have wrecked Buffy’s entire final season.

So a big congrats to all the sorry suspects!

(Edited by Byron 14/05/2003 06:21)