Finales: this is how you do it
Jun. 7th, 2010 05:35 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shah_of_blahDay 26. OMG WTF? Season finale
For this category, we have a tie for first place. You can't talk about "OMG WTF?" without talking about Lost. That's kind of their specialty. Here be spoilers for Lost season 4.
The island frakking disappeared. It doesn't get much more wtf than that. Honestly.
But that's wtf in the purest sense, the "what the hell just happened?" sense. Neither good nor bad, but just...what?
The other "OMG WTF?" season finale is the series finale of Terminator: the Sarah Connor Chronicles. Because it was "omg wtf" but it was "omg wtf awesome." And omg wtf happens now? What do you mean there's no more?
Because we learn about Weaver and John Henry's motives. Because Cameron surrenders her own chip. Because John freaking goes to the future and Sarah doesn't. Because then he meets Derek, who's all alive and smiley and "John who?" And Kyle's there too, but I don't care so much about him. And then of course there's Allison from Palmdale and the whole thing is just so mindblowy and amazing and omg wtf. Day 27. Favorite series finale
Do we still need spoiler alerts for something that aired seven years ago? Anyway, look away if you don't want spoilers for the series finale of Buffy.
Honestly, I think "Chosen" is as close to perfection as possible. Joss has so much love for these characters, and this episode is suffused with that love. I love it from beginning to end, from Buffy slicing and dicing Caleb to the good old "Welcome to Sunnydale" sign tumbling into the crater. The episode is chock full of that brilliant combination of funny and heartwarming. I mean, it's got "Oh my god, are you twelve?" and "I'm drowning in footwear" and the cannon fodder and "What would be the surprise?" And that's only, like, the first 15 minutes. I mean, seriously, they play D&D in this episode on the night before stopping ultimate evil. Not to mention Anya and Andrew being hilarious and awesome, and Willow going all white witch and Spike with the amulet, et cetera et cetera.
But more than all that, there are two things I really love about this series finale:
1. "The Earth is definitely doomed." This callback to the very beginning was so perfectly executed. As soon as Giles opened his mouth, I knew what he was going to say. I think I cheered. It just showed so much care, so much respect. Like this was the perfect bookend to a frakking amazing show.
2. Well, you know. "Are you ready to be strong?" Joss has said that he knew where he wanted to go from early on in the series, and it shows. Instead of just saving the world, they changed it. Buffy is one of the few shows I've really cared about that ended on its own terms, with no threat of cancellation. It was such a graceful ending that a part of me almost wishes they'd never resurrected the series in comic book form. I've been reading season 8, but I might not read season 9. I just don't think they'll ever be able to top this series finale. It's the only ending I ever wanted for the show. And even though I was heartbroken that the show was ending, I felt nothing but complete satisfaction with the way it ended.
For this category, we have a tie for first place. You can't talk about "OMG WTF?" without talking about Lost. That's kind of their specialty. Here be spoilers for Lost season 4.
The island frakking disappeared. It doesn't get much more wtf than that. Honestly.
But that's wtf in the purest sense, the "what the hell just happened?" sense. Neither good nor bad, but just...what?
The other "OMG WTF?" season finale is the series finale of Terminator: the Sarah Connor Chronicles. Because it was "omg wtf" but it was "omg wtf awesome." And omg wtf happens now? What do you mean there's no more?
Because we learn about Weaver and John Henry's motives. Because Cameron surrenders her own chip. Because John freaking goes to the future and Sarah doesn't. Because then he meets Derek, who's all alive and smiley and "John who?" And Kyle's there too, but I don't care so much about him. And then of course there's Allison from Palmdale and the whole thing is just so mindblowy and amazing and omg wtf.
Do we still need spoiler alerts for something that aired seven years ago? Anyway, look away if you don't want spoilers for the series finale of Buffy.
Honestly, I think "Chosen" is as close to perfection as possible. Joss has so much love for these characters, and this episode is suffused with that love. I love it from beginning to end, from Buffy slicing and dicing Caleb to the good old "Welcome to Sunnydale" sign tumbling into the crater. The episode is chock full of that brilliant combination of funny and heartwarming. I mean, it's got "Oh my god, are you twelve?" and "I'm drowning in footwear" and the cannon fodder and "What would be the surprise?" And that's only, like, the first 15 minutes. I mean, seriously, they play D&D in this episode on the night before stopping ultimate evil. Not to mention Anya and Andrew being hilarious and awesome, and Willow going all white witch and Spike with the amulet, et cetera et cetera.
But more than all that, there are two things I really love about this series finale:
1. "The Earth is definitely doomed." This callback to the very beginning was so perfectly executed. As soon as Giles opened his mouth, I knew what he was going to say. I think I cheered. It just showed so much care, so much respect. Like this was the perfect bookend to a frakking amazing show.
2. Well, you know. "Are you ready to be strong?" Joss has said that he knew where he wanted to go from early on in the series, and it shows. Instead of just saving the world, they changed it. Buffy is one of the few shows I've really cared about that ended on its own terms, with no threat of cancellation. It was such a graceful ending that a part of me almost wishes they'd never resurrected the series in comic book form. I've been reading season 8, but I might not read season 9. I just don't think they'll ever be able to top this series finale. It's the only ending I ever wanted for the show. And even though I was heartbroken that the show was ending, I felt nothing but complete satisfaction with the way it ended.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2010-06-07 10:53 pm (UTC)Buffy, too, though I never watched the whole series so I missed a lot of context. That ending was great.
no subject
Date: 2010-06-08 01:08 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-06-07 10:56 pm (UTC)I'm not going to touch Lost with a ten foot poll. You know how I feel about that. ;-)
no subject
Date: 2010-06-08 01:09 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-06-08 01:13 am (UTC)True dat.
PS I meant "pole" not "poll." I'm having issues today *looks around frantically for a dictionary & thesaurus*
no subject
Date: 2010-06-08 12:17 am (UTC)PS... look up btvschosen.com, it's the single most amazing Buffy fanfic ever written. And that, to me, is season 8 and 9 of Buffy.
no subject
Date: 2010-06-08 01:12 am (UTC)Will do. From looking at the homepage, I think I might have read at least some of it, like, six years ago. True story: I discovered fandom because I went looking for a season 8.
no subject
Date: 2010-06-08 02:58 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-06-09 04:37 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-06-11 12:44 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-06-11 04:30 pm (UTC)