Chosen: A Look At the Final Episode
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| Title: | Chosen: A Look At the Final Episode |
| Creator: | Annie Sewell-Jennings |
| Date(s): | early 2000s? |
| Medium: | online |
| Fandom: | Buffy & Angel |
| Topic: | |
| External Links: | Chosen, Archived version |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Chosen: A Look At the Final Episode is an essay by Annie Sewell-Jennings.
It is one of many essays at Octaves, a Buffy and Angel website.
"Annie takes a careful look at what "Chosen" means for all the characters in the Buffyverse."
Excerpt
I thought "Chosen" was absolutely flawless.When you're looking at a series finale, I think there are several things you want to see accomplished. I think you want to see all of the major threads wrapped to conclusion. You want justice to be done to the run of the show, and you want the overall message to be preserved and celebrated. And with BTVS, you want to see the season arc tied up. But most of all, you want something to be there that will make you not only feel that the show is over, but make you want to go back and rewatch every single episode over and over and over again.
Joss did all this and so, so much more.
Every major plotline throughout the years had closure. Every character came full circle. Every relationship was given its dues. Every message ever presented in the Buffyverse was celebrated. And the best part was that after watching "Chosen", you didn't just feel that the show had come to a satisfying end -- you felt as though it came to a satisfying beginning. And that's tough.
Overall, this season has been one of the weaker seasons. Has it been the weakest? To me, no, but I'm one of those odd people who find S4 the weakest (and I say that because that season did not emotionally resonate with me the way that, say, S5 or S6 did). There were certainly some flaws, and there was definitely a loss of momentum towards the end. The characterization seemed flat, and there was definitely a feeling of "is any of this going anywhere?"
Well, Joss certainly pulled a neat trick last night -- not only did he make the show come alive again, he also made the rest of S7 suddenly make sense. And yes, it did. It really, really did. He did his show justice, and he did the characters justice.
We've been watching this magnificent show for seven years. Seven years of struggle and screaming and laughing and crying. And last night was the final chapter on the Buffy story -- so, how did it fit with the other pieces of the story? How did it bring them all to a close? How do we connect "Chosen" with everything else ever presented to us in Buffy philosophy and mythology? Why is this such a satisfying ending?
Let's start with the characters, from minor to major....