History Recap / BuffyTheVampireSlayerS7E22Chosen

* PersonAsVerb: [[GreenEyedMonster Angel]] is going all [[DawsonsCreek Dawson]] on Buffy.

* LetThemDieHappy: Attempted. Spike is saving the day but also burning up in the sunlight. As he's dying, [[AnguishedDeclarationOfLove Buffy says she loves him]]. Spike responds, "No you don't, but thanks for saying it."

[[caption-width-right:284:"I just realized something, something that really never occurred to me before. We're gonna win."]]

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Originally, Angel was supposed to mention [[SecondLove his relationship with Cordelia]] and his son Connor in Buffy's final conversation with him, but this was cut so as not to alienate any viewers not up to speed on Series/{{Angel}}.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Originally, Angel was supposed to mention his relationship with Cordelia and his son Connor in Buffy's final conversation with him, but this was cut so as not to alienate any viewers not up to speed on Series/{{Angel}}.

-->'''Buffy:''' OK...[[WhyDontYouJustDie how many times do I have to kill you?]] Ballpark figure.

-->'''Buffy:''' OK...how many times do I have to kill you? Ballpark figure.

* ShoutOut: As everyone walks into Sunnydale High, Wood tells the Potentials there's one rule: "[[Film/TheWildBunch If they move, kill them.]]" Also, ine the game of D&D that Andrew is running, Giles ends up facing [[WebAnimation/HomestarRunner Trogdor the Burninator]].

->'''Spike:''' ''"No, you don't. But thanks for saying it."''

A bloody Caleb rises and Buffy finally kills him with the Scythe by slicing him in two from the crotch up. Angel gives Buffy an amulet intended to be worn by someone ensouled, yet more than human. He tells her he will fight alongside her, but she turns him down, asking him to instead organize a second front with his team in case she loses to The First. They discuss Spike, his soul, and Buffy's feelings for him. He shows obvious jealousy and annoyance about the fact that Buffy has feelings for Spike. Buffy in turn, annoyed by his childish and possessive attitude he has towards her, questions his maturity, asking "Are you twelve?". When Angel asks about the future, and if he has a place in it(which is basically asking if they will ever get back together.) Buffy explains that she still needs to grow up, using a cookie-baking analogy. As he walks into the shadows, echoing his very first appearance, Buffy tells him there might be a future for them, but it will be a long time coming, if ever. He walks off after saying "I ain't getting any older."

Back at the house, Dawn angrily kicks Buffy's leg for having Xander try to take her away from Sunnydale in the previous episode. Spike is in the basement, working out his anger on a punching bag with a crude drawing of Angel's face on it. Buffy arrives and sees this, causing her to be irritated, stating they someday she should put them in a room and let them fight out their problems and that she has "had enough jealous vampire crap for one night." He asks for the amulet, whose exchange he had witnessed from the shadows, and she explains that it is very powerful and meant only for a champion. She then hands it to him. Buffy tells Spike coyly that Faith still sleeps in her bedroom and she has nowhere to sleep. Spike says he doesn't want Buffy downstairs with him, because he still has his pride. When Buffy starts to walk upstairs, he says he doesn't have any pride at all when it comes to her and he says she can stay.

Later that night, Buffy finds herself unable to sleep and paces the basement as Spike sleeps. Suddenly the First appears to her in the guise of Caleb, unhappy that she killed its lieutenant but notes that there's an army of the undead waiting to rise. Once it does, and the forces of evil outnumber the good the scales will tip in the First's favor and it will become corporeal. The First then shifts into Buffy's form and taunts her, reminding her that she's the slayer, and she's alone as there is only ever one Slayer in the whole. The First disappears as Spike wakes, and Buffy tells Spike she's realized something she hadn't considered... they're going to win.

The next morning, Buffy unveils her plan to the potentials off-camera. Afterward, Willow expresses her concerns about using magic again to Kennedy. She says this is the most powerful magic she will have attempted and asks Kennedy to kill her if it turns bad. Faith and Principal Wood also have a discussion while preparing the school for the battle. Wood demonstrates that he understands her defensiveness over getting emotionally involved with men and asks her to give him a chance after the battle. During the night, Buffy goes to the basement, where she apparently spends her last night with Spike.

The next morning, everyone arrives at Sunnydale High in a yellow school bus. The Potentials head to the seal in the basement while Kennedy helps Willow set up her spell in Principal Wood's office. After trying to give a farewell speech, Andrew is dragged off by Anya. Dawn leaves to set up her post with Xander, determined to see her sister again. Principal Wood leaves to wait at his post for Giles. The core four share a moment talking about going to the mall after saving the world which causes Giles to say "the earth is definitely doomed" (echoing the end of The Harvest, part two of the series' pilot episode). Xander and Willow walk down the hallway with Buffy before each one peels off, leaving Buffy walking alone to the seal. The Potentials, Faith, and Spike are waiting, and the Potentials/Slayers cut their hands to open the seal with their blood. They climb down the hole in the ground and come face to face with the army of Turok-Han. The Ubervamps spot Buffy, Faith, and the Potentials, and attack. "Come on, Will," Buffy pleads.

Willow sits in Principal Woods' office, the Scythe before her. While chanting a spell, she places her hands upon the Scythe, and both she and the Scythe light up in an ethereal glow and her hair turns white, the opposite of Dark Willow. A flashback to Buffy's final speech to the Potentials reveals that Willow is channeling the essence of the Scythe in order to activate Potentials all over the world. Defying the tradition of only one Slayer per generation, Willow's spell will raise an army strong enough to do battle with The First. As Willow performs the actual magic, Kennedy tells Willow that she is a goddess. "And you're a Slayer," Willow replies. Willow then lies on the floor, exhausted and exclaiming "That was nifty!", as Kennedy takes the Scythe to Buffy, who is deep in the fight with Faith and Spike against the army of the Turok-Han, now numbering in the thousands.

As she pauses to give orders, Buffy is stabbed through her abdomen from behind by one of the Turok-Han and falls to the ground. She passes the Scythe to Faith and asks her to hold the line. As she lies on the ground, she sees several newly activated Slayers fall, including Amanda. In the halls of the school, a few Turok-Han make it to the surface and attack the group guarding the entrances. A small group of Bringers also appear and attack. During the battle, Anya is cut down by a Bringer.

Andrew fights until he is overwhelmed. Principal Wood is brutally stabbed by a Bringer who is then killed by Giles. Xander and Dawn take on some Turok-Han who are disintegrated by sunlight when Dawn throws open a skylight window, but more follow. In the Hellmouth, The First then appears to Buffy as a mortally wounded copy of herself, sarcastically saying "Oh no. Ow. Mommy, this mortal wound is all... Itchy." It then kneels down in front of her and mocks her attempt to stop its plans: "You pulled a nice trick. You came pretty close to smacking me down.", before asking Buffy "What more do you want?" Ordering The First to "get out of my face!" Buffy arises with renewed determination and knocks several Turok-Han off the ledge. Other Slayers are reinvigorated as well. The First disappears.

Just then, Spike's amulet consumes him in blue light and blasts a hole upward into the sky. The sunlight is channeled through the amulet and in powerful rays that begin dusting the Ubervamps. The ground begins to shake and rocks tumble. The surviving Slayers start to flee. Buffy tells Spike to do so as well, but he insists on finishing it. They share a quiet moment as the world crumbles around them. With tears in her eyes, Buffy tells Spike she loves him, to which he replies "No you don't. But thanks for saying it." He orders her to leave as he has to stay and finish the job. Buffy leaves and Spike disintegrates as the Hellmouth collapses.

On the way out of the school, the Slayers find Andrew crouched in a corner. Xander yells for Anya, but doesn't see her dead and mangled body lying nearby. Dawn pulls him out. Faith is the last onto the bus and it pulls away, with Dawn looking through back for Buffy. Buffy, in the meantime, has climbed to the roof of the school and is running along rooftops trying to outrun the enlarging crater. She leaps onto the top of the bus. Watching as the bus speeds off out of town, the entire town collapses into itself.

The ground stops shaking. Everyone gets off the bus. Xander asks Andrew about Anya's death. He comforts Xander by telling him that Anya died saving Andrew. Faith looks after a wounded Principal Wood. While Kennedy, Vi, and a few others tend to the wounded Slayers, everyone joins Buffy as they look at the large crater which was once Sunnydale. Giles asks how this could've happened, since everyone either died or is alive and with them. With sad eyes, Buffy answers with one word: "Spike." A silence follows, as everyone remembers their fight. Giles mentions that they should go to Cleveland as there's another Hellmouth there and lots more work to do. An exhausted Faith responds "Can I push him in?" The Scoobies, together with Faith and Dawn, look at the devastation of Sunnydale. Then, Dawn asks "What are we going to do now?" Buffy slowly begins to enigmatically smile as she contemplates the future ahead of her.

!Tropes:

* ExecutiveMeddling: Originally the series finale was planned as a two-hour event. Unfortunately UPN only ordered 22 episodes instead of the required 23.

->''[[BookEnds The Earth is definitely doomed.]]''
-->--'''Giles'''

The final battle against the First.

->''Are you ready to be strong?''

** Angel can hardly believe that Buffy is involved with Spike; the last time he saw them together in "Lovers Walk", he had to restrain Buffy from staking Spike on the spot. Whereas in that same episode, Spike expressed his disbelief that Buffy and Angel were involved, as the last time he saw them they were trying to kill each other.

* FatalAttractor: Buffy finally realises this isn't her fault, and she can concentrate on Mr Right Now as opposed to finding Mr Right.

* BondOneLiner: Subverted slightly after Buffy kills Caleb by slicing him in two. When Angel asks her where he is, she replies "He had to split", then [[BloodyHilarious breaks into nervous giggles]].

* RousingSpeech

** Subverted when Buffy meets up with Spike later and he immediately starts snarking about Angel. Buffy says, "Let me guess, you smelt him." Spike responds that he also used his "enhanced vampire eyeballs to watch you kissing him." Busted!
* SupermanStaysOutOfGotham: Angel lends only meager support in Buffy's final battle, despite evidence of The First Evil operating in Los Angeles (an assassin with a Bringer knife attempting to kill Faith in prison.) In his defence, though, Buffy asks him to lead a second front (presumably alongside Wes, Gunn, Fred, and Lorne) from Los Angeles in case she fails.

* StormingTheCastle

* WorldOfCardboardSpeech: Buffy realizing (see NiceJobFixingItVillain) that the first Watchers ''invented'' the "one-Slayer" rule, and that Willow was powerful enough to [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome change that rule, giving every potential Slayer in the world their power simultaneously]].

* RuleOfSymbolism: Buffy sharing a FriendshipMoment with the Core Four, who peel off from her one by one until she walks alone...to where the Potentials are waiting.

-->'''Buffy:''' Every girl who could have the power, will have the power. Can stand up, will stand up. Slayers, every one of us. Make your choice. Are you ready to be strong?

* ShoutOut: As everyone walks into Sunnydale High, Wood tells the Potentials there's one rule: "[[Film/TheWildBunch If they move, kill them.]]" Also, ine the game of D&D that Andrew is running, Giles ends up facing [[HomestarRunner Trogdor the Burninator]].

* ShoutOut: As everyone walks into Sunnydale High, Wood tells the Potentials there's one rule: "[[Film/TheWildBunch If they move, kill them.]]"

* HeyItsThatGuy: The lead actors from all four of Creator/JossWhedon's television shows appear in this episode. Sarah Michelle Gellar as ''Series/{{Buffy|The vampire Slayer}}'', David Boreanaz as ''Series/{{Angel}}'', Nathan Fillion as Caleb (Malcolm Reynolds on ''Series/{{Firefly}}'') and Eliza Dushku as Faith (Echo on ''Series/{{Dollhouse}}'').

-->'''Buffy:''' You have to leave L.A.

* HeyItsThatGuy: The lead actors from all four of JossWhedon's television shows appear in this episode. Sarah Michelle Gellar as ''Series/{{Buffy|The vampire Slayer}}'', David Boreanaz as ''Series/{{Angel}}'', Nathan Fillion as Caleb (Malcolm Reynolds on ''Series/{{Firefly}}'') and Eliza Dushku as Faith (Echo on ''Series/{{Dollhouse}}'').

-->'''JossWhedon:''' (shooting script) She holds out her scythe to Faith. A moment, and Faith takes it. Stabs the guy behind her without looking at him. And then goes apeshit on the fuckers.

* DidTheyOrDidntThey: JossWhedon left the question of whether Spike and Buffy have a PreClimaxClimax [[ShrugOfGod deliberately vague]].

* BreakTheHaughty: A mildly humorous example when Wood critiques Faith on her bedroom prowess, claiming to be unimpressed. Faith is clearly very taken aback and suggests going again just to prove him wrong.

* HeroicSacrifice

* KilledOffForReal: Anya and Amanda.

* MaybeEverAfter: Buffy tells Angel it could be years before she's ready to settle down permanently with a guy, but she does sometimes think that far ahead. Angel says he's not getting any older.

** Andrew giving an Oscar award-type farewell speech, only for Anya to cut him off. "Nobody cares."

* SupermanStaysOutOfGotham: Angel lends only meager support in Buffy's final battle, despite evidence of The First Evil operating in Los Angeles (an assassin with a Bringer knife attempting to kill Faith in prison.)

* TheFirstCutIsTheDeepest: Buffy tells Angel it could be years before she's ready to settle down permanently with a guy, but she does sometimes think that far ahead. Angel says he's not getting any older.

* FreudianSlip: Willow has to do some powerful magic, and tells Kennedy [[StakingTheLovedOne she might have to kill her if she turns evil]]. Kennedy retorts, "Bite me!" Willow says, "I will...I mean I do mean it."