3.22 - Graduation Day Part II

Graduation and Ascension.

***

Oh boy. Deep breath. And Spoilers.

While the Mayor finally has shown some range of emotion after Faith's butt kicking at the hands of the Buff, he quickly reverts back to (irritating) form soon after.

But we had lots to keep us going here. Buffy letting Angel feed on her so that he would be free of the poison was hard to watch. She played it well. The way the gang reacts to Angel when he tells them what has happened was also kind of hard to watch, but very realistic.

Cordy and Wesley acting on their passion was hilarious.

The battle, when it came, was pretty awesome. Seeing EVERY graduating student of Sunnydale ready to fight against the Mayor in his huge snake/dragon form was moving, and important, considering that some students lost their lives.

Larry looked like he got hurt, maybe even killed, but I hope he's okay. (edit: I checked IMDB. He ain't coming back. And Jane Espenson says in a commentary that he died here. Curse you, Whedon!)

Cordy got to stake her first vampire, and even Jonathon got to do tackle a vamp. It was great to see everyone banded together.

I am deducting two points for the Mayor/Snake saying "well gosh" right before he got blown up. That's as bad as Darth Vader's girly man "noooooooo!" scream in episode III.

At the end, when Angel and Buffy make eye contact through the smoke, I was, for some reason, okay with what was taking place. Maybe this season prepared me for it. I was ready for the decision that had to be made. It doesn't hurt that I knew even then that Angel was getting his own TV show and I would now have 2 hours a week of Vampire Slaying goodness.

In the end, the moment that I love most about this episode is when it;s all over. The school is in shambles. The Library completely destroyed. The Mayor dead. Our heroes sit across from the school and look onto the ruins when one of those wonderful character moments occurs.

Oz says "Take a moment to deal with this. We survived."

When Buffy talks about how tough the battle was, he says "not the battle. High School. We're taking a moment."

In silence, they look at the school, remembering everything.

"And we're done."

As they turn and walk away into the night, the camera pans down to the debris on the street, and we see a beat up yearbook that says "Sunnydale High 99" and below it...

"the future is ours."

and slowly, we fade to black.

If that's not the way to end this season, saying goodbye to not only our memories of high school but of the memories we've had of this part of the show, I don't know what is. It moves me just to type it. For one door to be opened, another door must be closed. So long Sunnydale High. I'm gonna miss ya.

Rating: 9/10