The seventh and final series of Buffy the Vampire Slayer begins with a mystery: someone is murdering teenage girls all over the world and something is trying hard to drive Spike mad. Buffy is considerably more cheerful in these episodes than we have seen her during the previous year as she trains Dawn and gets a job as student counsellor at the newly rebuilt Sunnydale High. Willow is recovering from the magical addiction which almost led her to destroy the world, but all is not yet well with her, or with Anya, who has returned to being a Vengeance demon in "Same Time, Same Place" and "Selfless", and both women are haunted by their decisions.

Haunting of a different kind comes in the excellent "Conversations with Dead People" (one of the show's most terrifying episodes ever) where a mysterious song is making Spike kill again in spite of his soul and his chip. Giles turns up in "Bring on the Night" and Buffy has to fight one of the deadliest vampires of her career in "Showtime". In "Potential" Dawn faces a fundamental reassessment of her purpose in life.

Buffy was always a show about female empowerment, but it was also a show about how quite ordinary people can decide to make a difference alongside people who are special. And it was also a show about people making up for past errors and crimes. So, for example, we have the excellent episodes "Storyteller", in which the former geek/super villain Andrew sorts out his redemption while making a video diary about life with Buffy; and "Lies My Parents Told Me", in which we find out why a particular folk song sends Spike crazy. Redemption abounds as Faith returns to Sunnydale and the friends she once betrayed, and Willow finds herself turning into the man she flayed. Above all, this was always Buffy's show: Sarah Michelle Gellar does extraordinary work here both as Buffy and as her ultimate shadow, the First Evil, who takes her face to mock her. This is a fine ending to one of television's most remarkable shows. --Roz Kaveney

Reading some of these reviews is just laughable, and as someone else said, its annoying how a lot of it is lost on the teen viewers who dont understand it properly.

You are entitled to your own opinions obviously but I must protest.

Iv read things such as the last episode was rubbish...and things such as what was the point in the scythe/amulet etc.
Did you not watch the episode...?

Heres my analysis of the season...

It started out superb with "Lessons" and showed us we would go back to the roots of the show..."Its about power"...being the last line from the premier and getting us ready for the final season.

The killings of random girls continue and although the second episode was slightly weak it was still a change and the budget and effects were great.

From the second episode we were barraged with great one offs. "same time same place" was amazing, with a creepy demon and a good brain teasing plot and the return of one of the most loved characters after her near destruction of the world.
And then the touching "Help" which was another episode with a strong message...you cant save everyone...
And then possibly one of my favourite episodes..."Selfless"!!! The constant change of time periods into anyas past to her original village town then to the russain revolution etc was like watching a mini movie and was simply stunning and incredibly important to the character of anya and understanding what she has been through.

Episodes continue with a humourous break with "Him", very funny and "conversations with dead people"...I would have loved Tara to have been there but there is no point moaning about the writers mucking it up when it was Amber who refused to come on the show not the writers who decided to actually bring her in.

things to droop a little with the next two but instantly improve with the emerge of the uber vamp and the potentials. Yes the potentials were annoying but took the show into a new direction which I thought was unique and original...people moan about hem but can you honestly see the scoobies, a band of roughly 5 or 6 defeating the first evil by themself! I think not!

other highlights come with "Get it done", another episode which looks to the roots of the show and its message. I dont understand how people can say this seaosn was so radically different from the others when quite frankly it was the one that delved into the shows mythology and past the most!!

And I disagree...Caleb was needed. With the last few episodes we needed someone who they could be pitted against who would give them a physical battle. Yes it would have been nice to see the first evil take physical form but you could say it did as it did the ritual with Caleb to endow its powers to him...so techinically speaking it was fighting physically against the scoobies and band of potentials.

And then there was "chosen"...wow...yes the scythe was needed as they needed that for the spell to endowed all the potentials with slayers skills...without the scythe they wouldnt have been able to do this.
Yes the amulet was needed as it was the thing that destroyed the hellmouth and the thign that killed the left over turok han.
And Anyas death seemed needless because death is needless.
Its like wesleys death in the angel finale.
Death is not this huge glorious thing. It strikes when you leats expect it and dont know when it will happen...and in this way anyas death hit home more than her commiting some huge selfless act...

So to sum up...these are my reasons to why the final buffy season hit all the right notes and yes it hit a few dull ones but what season didnt??

Don't get me wrong, early Buffy was great TV, but it seemed as if the series died when Angel got his spin-off, strange because at the time I didn't even like the character.

But although Seasons 4, 5, & 6 had occasional high spots, the show plumbed new depths in Season 7.

Suddenly Spike the most one-dimensional and poorly written char in the show was the focus for some crazy reason. Then the unconvincing Principal Wood was introduced, and the bad guy turned out to be the First Evil that was about as effective as Casper the Ghost.

Add uneven characterisation of the main chars in Buffy, Willow, Xander, and Giles (the true Scoobies), an awfully contrived finish, and a complete misuse of a returning Angel and a pointless return for the gorgeous Faith, and the thing looked like Whedon had given the keys to Mutant Enemy to one of the web's worst fan fiction writers.

This series of Buffy has had me crying and laughing on many occassions.
This series introduces "The First" the ultimate evil. Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar)along with Willow (Alyson Hannigan), Xander (Nicholas Brendon, Dawn (Michelle Tractenberg), Spike (James Marsters)a reluctant Anya (Emma Caulifield) and a fresh young group of potentials - including the loveable Kennedy played by Iyari Limon - she must battle the evil if she is going to save the lives of her loved ones.
This series will make you laugh and cry, this far outways any of the previous series - come on it is about the ultimate evil - which can be any person it wants (dead or alive.)
Give this series a go I promise you that you will not be disappointed.

AT ITS BEST

The final season of the Buffy is great the whole slayer thing but the only thing that makes it worst it episode Seven No Tara i fell Tara should have been Ressurected and brought back. Sarah is amazing once again playing Buffy Bufy is fabulous.

Reading the some of the reviews on here only serves to convince me of my long held suspicion that Buffy is wasted on the teens that watch it.

Sure S7 has its problems; the faceless nature of The First as the series villain, a more than normally non-sensical story arc, too much sitting around talking (so they can save up budget for the big finale) and the hugely irritating Jonathon. But a betrayal of what has gone before? No Way.

I've been watching Buffy since S2 and has always been as much about the characters than the demons and the fighting. One of its great strengths is the way it has moved on from series to series as the characters have grown (up).

S7 is about moving on, Tara is dead - grieve but life goes on - and Willows relationship with Kennedy was just right and well handled, and S7 is about redemption most notably Spikes. These are familiar Buffy themes; keeping going and trying to do what's right is fundamentally what the show is about.

In the end all the sitting around was worth it for the climactic (explicitly feminist) and hugely satisfying conclusion. A perfect ending.

Farewell to perhaps the best TV series of the last 10 years it was fun.