Other worthy season 5 eps. (IMO) - Intervention, The Real Me, Tough Love, Forever, No Place Like Home (I think that was what it was called), Checkpoint & the Replacement. The rest of the season was soooo weak. I didn't mind Riley going dark, just the way they ended it. But the arc stuff was painfully slooooooow. It makes sense in retrospect (because Glory was Ben a lot), but Ben was such a fount of anti-charisma that it didn't matter. Plus, this was all happening during the beige-Angel arc, so it was a stark contrast.

Damn, I've still got to work up my how to fix season 5 summary.

I love Crush. I love the Gift too. I gather the plot crevasses bothered some peole, but it felt like a season finale. Even a series finale. To me, Season 7 was only a season finale, and not a great one.

Hey, votes on season finale episodes, by how they affected you? S3 S5 S2 S1 S4 S7, is mine. (I'm excluding season 6 on purpose, this time, cause I didn't see it.)

Favorite season finales...

2, 4, 3, 1, 6, 5, 7

The first three are really tightly bunched, though. Becoming and Restless are so different it's tough to compare them, and Graduation Day is the best series ending that didn't end a series ever. (I realized a few weeks after Chosen that in a lot of ways it's just Graduation Day all over again - there's a definite circling back there.)

Oooh. Are we ranking finales? Here is mine:

Becoming I&II
Chosen
Two to Go/Grave
Restless
Prophecy Girl
The Gift
Graduation Day I&II

This, BTW, does not match my season ranking which is right now: 2, 6, 3, 4, 7, 1, 5

My finale rankings:

Becoming I&II
Two to Go/Grave
Chosen
Restless
Prophecy Girl
Graduation Day I&II
The Gift

But that's a TOUGH decision.

And when he gets flustered when he realizes he has opened the door for her.

Yes, this part! And when she calls him on whether he thinks they're on a date and he's all bluster and then, "Do you want it to be?" So William.

Looking at that list....I want to put Graduation Day above Prophecy Girl. Because of the Faith vs. Buffyness of it. But then The Gift would be last and there is so much good there. Do I dare put Prophecy Girl last?

Must ponder.

Seasonal rankings: 3,2,4,1,5,6,7

Season finale rankings: 2,1,4,5,3,6,7

What about season premieres? My order:

When She Was Bad
Bargaining 1&2
WttH/The Harvest
Anne
Lessons
Buffy vs. Dracula
The Freshman

And when she calls him on whether he thinks they're on a date and he's all bluster and then, "Do you want it to be?" So William.

Yes, Crush makes my IHEARTSPIKE meter go all wonky. Season 5 was great in that it was one long Spike-love-a-thon for me.

Season Premieres:

Bargaining I&II (I'm feeling a silly amount of out-of-nowhere Spike love today - and it is JM's birthday. Freaky.)
Anne (100% because of the Ghandi joke)
Lessons
WTTH/The Harvest
The Freshman
When She Was Bad
Buffy vs. Dracula