Faith and the potential slayers lunge
for the floor as the bomb goes off. Meanwhile Caleb jumps into the room
down below and doesn't think Buffy can pry the weapon from solid rock
before he kills her. Buffy proves him wrong and with a quick flick of
her wrist, the powerful weapon is immediately in her hands. He begins to
back away from her and the First tells Caleb to let Buffy go, he can get
it later. After the bomb disaster, the remaining potential slayers try
to make their way out from the rubble, carrying Faith on their
shoulders. They're suddenly attacked by ubervamps and they quickly lose
control of the situation. Back at the Summers' residence, no one has
been able to locate Buffy and Faith hasn't returned with the potential
slayers, and everyone is beginning to worry. Back in the tunnels,
Kennedy is about to be strangled to death when Buffy appears and quickly
disposes of the ubervamps with the scythe, saving all of their lives.
They quickly evacuate the tunnels and return home. The Summers'
residence becomes jam-packed with bleeding potential slayers and they're
rapidly trying to bandage everyone's wounds. The potentials question
Buffy, wondering if she's back for good. She tells that that she doesn't
know but that they should all get ready because all their time is up.
Later on, Buffy shows Giles and
Willow the scythe, telling them that she can feel something when she
touches it, as if it belongs specifically to her. Willow and Giles begin
their research on the scythe, promising to find out whatever they can
about the mystical weapon. Downstairs, Anya and Andrew are taking care
of the wounded. Andrew decides to go to the deserted hospital to get
extra first aid supplies and Anya joins him. Buffy and Xander are
talking in the kitchen and Xander very much doesn't want to do what
Buffy's asking of him. He feels like he's being put out of the fight,
which he really doesn't want because he's always wanted to be there for
the final fight. She tells him that she trusts him with her life and
he's brought her this far, but she needs him to do this for her.
Upstairs with the research, Willow discovers that the vineyard used to
be a monastery. She tries searching for the axe itself and doesn't seem
to find much. Willow picks up the scythe and tries to feel for the power
that Buffy felt but comes up empty handed. She continues her research
and comes across a scthe called m?. After Giles takes a look at it he
begins to remember something regarding hieroglyphs that seems to be
representing a sickle or a scythe, he encourages her to go back and look
for more info about it. Outside, Dawn and Xander are trying to look for
a crossbow in his car when Xander suddenly covers Dawn's mouth and
throws her into the car. He gets in the driver's seat and drives off
with her passed out beside him.
Back at the vineyard, Caleb is
extremely pissed off that the First made him let Buffy escape. She
comments that he's gotten weak, especially since they haven't been
merged as one in a long time. The First is elated, because as soon as it
wins this battle, it'll be able to enter every man, woman and child on
this planet. As the First and Caleb merge, Caleb becomes infused with
the evil power of the First. Back at home, Buffy gives the scythe to
Faith to hold. Faith opens up a little to Buffy and tells her that she's
always been alone her whole life and that she's been jealous of Buffy's
life. But when she finally got to lead the group of potential slayers,
she admits to never having felt so alone in her entire life. Faith
thinks that maybe the reason they never got along is because they're not
supposed to exist at the same time. Buffy walks downstairs and runs into
Spike and she apologizes for running out on Spike the other night. Spike
promises not to make a big deal about it, which Buffy thanks him for.
She tells him she's going to the vineyard and he says he might swing by
later to check on her. He's about to head off when Buffy stops him,
insulting his intelligence, she tells him that because of the strength
he gave her she was able to get the scythe from Caleb. He admits that
holding Buffy last night was the best night of his life because he'd
never been close to her before then. They agree to leave it for now and
they head off on their own paths for the night.
At the hospital, Andrew and Anya load
up with supplies. Andrew asks Anya why she's still around. She answers
that even though humans are unbelievably screwed up in their mental
processes, that they continue to fight to the end even though they all
might die, she still admires them because they fight for something that
matters to them. They never give up, and for that she thinks that she
should keep fighting too. Andrew jokingly accuses Anya of loving humans
to which she denies, but if he dares tell anyone, she threatens to kill
him. Andrew is afraid he's going to die, but he's accepted it and wants
to go out fighting like the rest of them.
Over at the graveyard, Buffy walks in
on a special tomb that looks like a pyramid. An old woman with long
white hair surprises her, telling her that she's surprised how young she
is. The old woman has been waiting for quite some time and informs Buffy
that she looks good for her age, hinting that she's been around since
the Old Ones walked the earth. As she looks at Buffy's new scythe, she
tells her that she was one of the ones who put it in the rock. They
forged it in secrecy and hid it from the shadowmen. This woman belong to
a group called the guardians who watched over the Slayers and the
Watchers. This weapon was put on earth to kill the last pure demon to
walk the earth. She advises Buffy to use it wisely and that it can only
mean an end is truly near. Suddenly Caleb reaches out from behind the
curtain and snaps the old woman's neck, killing her instantaneously.
Meanwhile in the car, Dawn wakes up and asks Xander what the hell is
going on. He gives her a note that Buffy wrote, she wanted them out of
town because she wanted them to live in case she dies. Angered, Dawn
holds a taiser to Xander's neck and knocks him out cold. Dawn grabs the
wheel and turns them back around towards Sunnydale. Meanwhile Buffy and
Caleb go at it violently, beating each other down repeatedly. They each
gain the upperhand at times, but then immediately lose it as the other
gains control. Just as Caleb is about to hit Buffy with a killing blow
using the scythe when Angel appears out of nowhere and stops Caleb from
doing so. He offers her a hand but she insists that she needs to do this
on her own. As Angel watches on, Buffy and Caleb brutally bang each
other around. Buffy uses the scythe to her advantage and manages to run
the blade end across his stomach. He falls down dead. Angel then asks
Buffy if she's glad to see him, to which she answers with a kiss. Unseen
from around a corner, an angered Spike watches on as the First taunts
Buffy, calling her a bitch so that Spike may hear.
For the second to last episode... I was definitely
expecting a lot more. It was better watching it the third time round,
however I still think that they left way too much for the finale.
They've left a lot of ground to cover and I don't even know if it's
going to be possible to squash all of that in to 43 minutes of air time.
What absolutely killed me (hysterical laughing-wise)
was when Andrew and Anya got into that wheelchair fight at the hospital
and Andrew yodelling (or doing his best impression of Xena's battle
cry.) Absolutely hysterical. hehehe
One thing I found incredibly stupid was Xander and
Dawn running away. Since they turned around, those two scenes were just
a waste of time. They could have used that time up in a much more
efficient way.
I was kind of surprised that they started explaining
so much mythology about Buffy so near to the end, however late is better
than never. But at this point everything that's explained just seems
like it was thrown in just for the sake of the story and that it hadn't
been thought of before at all.
However, nothing prevented me from breaking into an
almighty grin as soon as Angel appeared on the screen. I don't like how
they left it for the very end, however I am not going to complain about
that. I'm just happy to have him back. And did you SEE the look on
Buffy's face? God... I haven't seen her that genuinely happy in a long
time. And then they kissed! BOOYEAH! And before anyone jumps on my back
and says that maybe Angel was just a reincarnation of the First, don't
even bother, we actually saw their lips kiss and Buffy wouldn't have
been able to kiss him if he was the First because she'd pass right
through his non-corporeal ass. Oh happy day!
Next week is the finale. FINALE. SERIES FINALE. It
just feels so very weird.
