Favorite Season Finale

[burkle25]

Whats your favorite season finale?

[Anya]

The GIFT. One of the very few episodes that's made me cry.

[Nikki]

Can we please have a bit more of a discussion going on in here, not just naming your favourite (or just starting the poll).

If you read the rules, posts should add to a discussion, so please try and give a bit more than just one line.

[?DarkWillow?]

The Gift. No matter what I do, I always cry. That episode is just flawless, really.
Restless is very good too, but I don't think it's as good as The Gift, though.

[kassyopeia]

"Becoming", both on its own merits and as the conclusion of the Angelus arc. I like season 3 better than season 2 on the whole, but "Graduation Day" is a mediocre conclusion, whereas "Becoming" is, basically, perfect. Listening to Whistler's commentary on the moment at which everything seems to have fallen apart completely gives me goosebumps every time. A flawless Phoenix moment.

Second would be "Grave", again both as an ordinary episode and as the conclusion to the "Dark Willow" arc. It's very soppy and predictable, but beautifully executed.

[OkinawanSteel]

"Graduation Day", no question. Flawlessly executed finale to the best season-long arc the show had. Second for me would be "The Gift". It packs a big emotional punch, but isn't quite as flawless (for example, seeming ret-con about the power of the troll hammer etc. Things like that take me out of the story a little, but certainly don't ruin it). I like the Glory/Key arc too, but it's just not on par with the Mayor/Faith.

"Becoming" and "Restless" are great episodes too, but one is a stand-alone, really, and the other doesn't have as strong of a series arc behind it, so the payoff isn't as great.

[lara]

For me it's "Grave", followed by "The Gift", I was shocked in both and cried my eyes out!!

[Amuk]

Becoming, hands down. Simply an amazing hour of TV. Buffy sacrificing Angel despite knowing he's been ensouled again is stunning beyond belief.

[Rexx Raul]

Easily Grave for me. I agree that on some level it's rather trite to go the whole "defeat the evil just by talking to it" route, but there are two factors that make it work here. First is the fact that it's referenced by Willow's dialogue on the bluff, but second in that it would've been easy for the writers to put Buffy in the position to talk down Willow, but putting Xander in that role worked so, so, much better. In addition to saving Willow, it redeemed Xander, and, only through it being someone else to do the talking it invigorated Buffy. She was once again fully happy to be alive.

Restless is the only other finale that really seemed to be so important to the three main characters, but the stakes didn't feel high enough in that episode, and it has it's own set of problems.

[Revan]

Grave. It was a perfect ending for the season. it carried the message perfectly about the big bad for the season life. That was developed throughout the season and further developed it. With buffy realising that she did not want to protect dawn from the world rather show it to her.

And it had the new rebirth and coming back from the problems life might throw at you. Perfect.

And it didn't have buffy saving the day as usual but instead xander who, let's face it has been rather undeveloped up till this point. It gave a new beginning to the show. And set up the next season well by giving spike his soul.

[NimNams]

This is a tough one, but in the end, I had to go with "The Gift." The very idea of Buffy dying is such a crazy direction that it deserves the accolade.

[LaJaula]

I've somewhat recently switched to liking Graduation Day more than Becoming. Those were always top two for me (Honestly, I don't really much care for any of the other season finales), but I think GD beats out Becoming, even though the emotional impact of the latter is greater.

But this episode has the perfect mix of comedy, drama, angst, romance, action, nostalgia...everything I could ask for. It's also the perfect goodbye to the first three years of Buffy-- it's so awesome to me that the entire school fights back against the Hellmouth, because this really shows that although Buffy is the Slayer, the rest of the students are very familiar with the trials and troubles of living in Sunnydale as well. And as cheesy as Oz's line is ("We survived."/"It was a hell of a battle."/"Not the battle. High school."), it's also very true.

But for my favorite comedy moments-- Angel, deliriously mistaking Oz for Buffy. Oz's plan to attack the Mayor with hummus. Cordy's plan to attack him with a box labeled "Ebola". Xander's desire to be "Key Guy". Cordelia and Wesley's failed attempts at kissing. Buffy and Willow's horrified reactions when they realize that the Mayor's going to give the whole speech.

Drama-- Buffy nearly dying as Angel carries her into the hospital. Faith sleeping in her coma. The Mayor trying to strangle Buffy.

Angst-- Buffy watching Faith after their shared Slayer dream. The final moment between Angel and Buffy.

Romance-- Of course, you've got the huge metaphor!sex moment between Buffy and Angel, but there's also Willow and Oz, having "the best night of [their] life". And Cordy and Wesley's make-out session .

Action-- Buffy taunting the Mayor ("You want to get it back from me...Dick?"). Xander leading the attack. Angel kicking some vampire ass. Cordelia finally getting to stake her own vampire. School goes ka-boom.

Nostalgia-- Larry, Harmony, Jonathan and Percy coming together to fight. Packing up the library books. Seeing the Original Scooby Gang all together in the SHS library for the (I believe) first and last time. Fighting vampires again, after the first season where the Big Bad wasn't actually a vamp. Synder shouting for order one last time. "Sunnydale High '99: The Future is Ours!"

[Theresa Marie86]

Becoming!!!!
Whew! Willow was amazing working the mojo, Oz came through for willow as well. Buffy having to sacrifice her one true love to save the world knowing he was good again, and joyce kicking her out! Spike and Buffy teaming up! Whats more to love???? I had goosebumps the whole time i watched it! And of course not to mention the sign... "You are now leaving sunnydale".. profounding!

[kassyopeia]

Oz's plan to attack the Mayor with hummus.

I agree, Oz's sense of humour rules. I'm very annoyed they cut this snippet from the previous episode:

GILES
Fine. You're all suffering from
a touch of Spring Madness, if you
ask me.

OZ
Mine is more space madness. But
I'll feel better once I get used to
the weightlessness.

WILLOW
(to Oz)
Promise me you'll never be linear.

OZ
(a pledge)
On my trout.

[Pandora's_Box]

Chosen. It has everything I wanted for Buffy Finale.
An amazing fight, an awesome score, stunning visual effects, heart-breaking deaths, the "I love you" to Spike, Willow at her magic best, a deep change of Buffy's mythology with 1000 slayers and Buffy at peace, finally.

Grave comes second with the oh-so-great Dark Willow and the tear-jerking speech with Xander on Kingman bluff.

[holypotatoes]

It was a very close call between Becoming, Grad Day and The Gift but in the end Becoming won out over the other two. I mean all three are perfect but there's something about the very last minutes of Becoming that beat out the very last minutes of the other two. I think the fact that Buffy had sacrificed the person she loved the most in the world at that time was a far greater sacrifice than what she made in The Gift. Grad Day was great too but it just isn't up to par with the other two imo. Now if we were talking about which episode would've been the best series finale, The Gift easily or even Grad Day (had the show been cancelled far too early) would have worked for me.

I'm actually surprised how many people like Grave. I find that to be one of the crappiest endings tbh. Same with Chosen. Those last two finales just didn't hit me like the other's had done. Well season 4's wasn't the greatest, I tend to make Primeval that season's finale.

[urbanlegend23]

It's really hard to decide, considering how brilliant they all are. I went with The Gift - so many memorable moments and it bought the season full circle beautifully.

But it's very close. All of the season finales are some of the show's best episodes.

[ThePoet's<3]

Well, I voted for Chosen because Season 7 is my second favorite. Spike's sacrifice (although he went to Angel) was beautiful, his speech to Buffy was so sweet - so as a Spuffy fan it was filled with angsty love.

[Weredog]

Like a billion of you have said about "Graduation Day", it is definitely the best season finale in terms of tying every single loose end that were wonderfully stranded through the season. It has a perfect closure, unlike "Becoming", "Restles" and "Grave", which makes you know that had the series been cancelled after season 3, it would've concluded nicely.

I do believe that "Becoming" is a better episode than "Graduation Day", in terms of the writing and direction, however because of it's so-so season, it doesn't compare to the grandeur of "Graduation Day."

[Retrograde]

Very tough between Prophecy Girl and Chosen, but I went with Chosen - I love the empowering message it sends out and the arc leading up to it is fantastic