"Death ... IS your gift."
The inflection matters.

the way the those notes hit as the sun rises, like a gut punch every time.

YES Spike breaking down MORE than anybody else!!!

“the hardest thing to do in this world is to live in it, be brave, Live.” Buffy, the truest hero that ever lived…she saved the world, a lot! 💅🥰👑

I remember being SHOOK with how it ended. I just didn’t know how they were gonna bring her back. This is probably one of the best Buffy finales

Personally I think the hero of this episode was a gentleman by the name of Steve Tartaglia. He was James Marsters stunt double and it was his version of Spike who landed on the pile of bricks. Unfortunately one brick hit him in a delicate, painful place but he managed to hold it together until they called cut to end the scene.

Best finale for one of the best seasons of the show

15:00 OH, Ripper always has a plan.

Watching Spike in Buffy’s house give his “you treat me like a man” speech and then watching him breakdown the hardest as they stare at Buffy’s body gets me every time.

One of the best hours of TV ever made. It doesn't matter how many time I watch it, it's still amazing

Omg! Now that Buffy has battled a literal god, I'm sure that her next nemesis...es will be truly terrifying!

The final fight scene is one of my favorites. Season 5 was peak television.

One thing I think is important to point out, is that the big question for Buffy this season was what it meant to be a Slayer - this is brought up in the conversation with GIles in the training room after the big blowup. Dracula tells Buffy her power is rooted in darkness. The First Slayer tells Buffy that death is her gift, and that is interpreted by Buffy to mean that the Slayer is a killer and nothing more, something she's said she's afraid of earlier, that she feels she's turning to stone. Spike even tells her his interpretation, that all Slayers have a death wish, an interpretation that gives new dimension to death being Buffy's gift, a gift that is given to her to be able to rest, to stop the horror and the crushing pressure of having the weight of the world on her shoulders.

One thing that's overlooked a lot imo is the other thing that the First Slayer tells Buffy: that Buffy is full of love, and love will lead her to her gift. I think that there's sort of an underlying character arc for Buffy here that's often overlooked, or at least the result of it. I think the point is that LOVE lead her to her gift - it's with love in her heart that the Slayer protects the people around her, not with darkness and violence and nihilism. That's what Buffy figured out and wanted Giles to know, I like to think.

On one of the Buffy podcasts that I used to listen to, they mentioned this woman they knew who had watched Buffy with her mother growing up and it was really important to both of them but somehow they never got the news that Buffy went on for two more seasons on another network. It was many years later that as a full on adult, she found out that one of her favorite shows of all time had two more seasons that she never knew about.

She's always had a sister, she's just been outside of the camera's view. Clearly. ;)

anya as been one of my favorite characters for a long time
and yes, us "spuffies" went crazy

That was a good reaction. But yeah, WB was treating it as a series finale even though UPN had already gotten ahold of it before the last WB episode aired.

Miles to go - counting down from 730

The opening montage starts me tearing up every time still.

Best season finale!   Seen it so many times and it's still amazing.