History Recap / BuffyTheVampireSlayerS7E22Chosen

* AnyoneCanDie: Anya and MauveShirt Amanda are killed in the battle.

* RealityEnsues: The finale is pretty much a WarArc come to it's conclusion and, as with any war, not everyone is going to make it out alive. Among which are Anya, Amanda and Spike (though he gets better on ''Series/{{Angel}}'').

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

* RoofHopping: Buffy chasing the bus, with the buildings collapsing behind her as she runs.

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: The cookie analogy
-->'''Buffy''': I'm cookie dough. I'm not done baking. I'm not finished becoming who ever the hell it is I'm gonna turn out to be. I make it through this, and the next thing, and the next thing, and maybe one day, I turn around and realize I'm ready. I'm cookies. And then, you know, if I want someone to eat — or ''enjoy'' — warm, delicious, cookie me, then that's fine. That'll be then. When I'm done.

* IAintGotTimeToBleed: After being stabbed in the guts with a sword, Buffy still masters enough HeroicSecondWind to slay a bunch of ubervamps, outrun the collapse of Sunnydale, and leap onto a moving bus.

* OnlyAFleshWound: Buffy. Sword. Gut. RoofHopping.

* 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." Whether she actually meant it is subject to WildMassGuessing and ShrugOfGod, so there's that.

** Spike saves the whole world...and dies. Though he gets better later.

** Buffy complains about Angel turning up and acting jealous whenever she has a boyfriend, which also happened with Riley Finn in "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS5E22TheYokoFactor The Yoko Factor]]".

* CollapsingLair

* DoubleEntendre

* IronicEcho

* KilledMidSentence: Caleb

* BigBadassBattleSequence

* BookEnds: The conversation between Buffy, Xander, Giles and Willow before the final fight mirrors one at the end of "The Harvest", and that conversation is the first time that all four of them have been back to Sunnydale high since Season 4. Likewise Angel backing away from Buffy into the shadows, as he did after their first meeting in "Welcome to the Hellmouth".

** In the AlternateRealityEpisode "The Wish" (in which Buffy never came to Sunnydale) Giles phones up Buffy's Watcher to try and get her help. The Watcher complains that Buffy is very busy, what with UsefulNotes/{{Cleveland}} being a hotbed of demonic activity; Giles and the Watcher end up arguing over whether there's a Hellmouth in Sunnydale too. At the end of "Chosen" the Scoobies rejoice over having closed the Hellmouth, to which Giles dourly replies there's another one in Cleveland.
** The opening of the series finished with Giles saying, "The Earth is doomed" in response to the Scoobies less-than-serious attitude to their task. Here the Scoobies act in a similar matter, causing Giles to say, "The Earth is definitely doomed."
* BringMyBrownPants: As the cast march into Sunnydale High for the final battle, Xander tells the Potentials where the bathrooms are. If they don't have to go, he suggests they picture what they're about to face -- an army of Ubervamps under the Hellmouth. "Better to go now." Later one of the Potentials regrets not taking his advice when seeing what's facing them.

* CallBack

** Andrew thanking his brother Tucker for inspiring him to raise demons ("The Prom").
** Buffy complains about Angel turning up and acting jealous whenever she has a boyfriend, which also happened with Riley Finn in "The Yoko Factor".
** Buffy, Faith and the Potentials charge into the Hellmouth, and then a flashback to what the plan was, similar to the end of Season Five when we find out what Buffy said to Dawn just prior to jumping in "The Gift".
** 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 "just friends".

* DareToBeBadass

* DeadPersonConversation

* {{Foreshadowing}}: The Angel/Spike rivalry continues in Season 5 of ''Series/{{Angel}}'', and the two eventually do fight it out in "Destiny" (oil is ''not'' involved).

* GrandFinale

* HypocriticalHumor

* ImmortalImmaturity

* TheLegionsOfHell

* LittleGirlsKickShins: Buffy comes home and is confronted by her little sister who was supposed to be packed off with Xander. Dawn {{Death Glare}}s at Buffy, then kicks Big Sis in the shin.

* MeaningfulEcho: In the Season 6 episode "Dead Things" it's Buffy who replies "No you don't" to Spike's "I love you".

* OhCrap

* OutsideTheBoxTactic

* RedemptionEqualsDeath: Averted; Andrew is stunned that he didn't die as expected.

* RuleOfCool: Joss has specifically cited this as the reason why all of the ubervamps suddenly start dying a lot easier than in "Bring On The Night", even when being fought by normal humans.

* SaveTheWorldClimax

* 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 defense, though, Buffy asks him to lead a second front (presumably alongside Wes, Gunn, Fred, and Lorne) from Los Angeles in case she fails.

* TheTriple

* RunningGag: Spike knocking down the Welcome to Sunnydale sign, as he did in "School Hard" and "Lovers Walk" (also RuleOfThrees). Andrew complaining that he has [[SicklyNeuroticGeek swimmer's ear]].

* LoweredMonsterDifficulty: The first Ubervamp was a tough enemy even for Buffy. By the time of this episode even Anya and Dawn manage to kill some.

* GoOutWithASmile: Even as he slowly burns down to the bone, Spike goes out laughing and smiling, having seen the fight through to the end.

-->'''Creator/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.

* GuyOnGuyIsHot: Annoyed over their mutual jealousy, Buffy suggests putting her two vampire ex-boyfriends in a room together so they could fight out their frustrations. She then adds with a certain amount of relish, "[[MudWrestling There could be oil involved]]." Note that this trope is a view held by [[YaoiFangirl much of the show's fanbase]] as well.

[[quoteright:315:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/b8782a3ba3c148551ebf78750559068c.png]]
[[caption-width-right:315:"I just realized something, something that really never occurred to me before. We're gonna win."]]

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

** A bemused Giles mutters to himself "The world is doomed". He said the same thing at the end of in "The Harvest"

** The opening two-parter of the series finished with Giles saying, "The Earth is doomed" in response to the Scoobies less-than-serious attitude to their task. Here the Scoobies act in a similar matter, causing Giles to say, "The Earth is definitely doomed."

* DyingDeclarationOfLove: As foretold by Cassie in "Help", Buffy finally says she loves Spike, though he doesn't believe her. Still, this is the first LoveConfession Buffy has made to any boyfriend since the tragic events of "Innocence" in Season 2, so even her willingness to say it [[TheFourLoves means something]].

* HeIsNotMyBoyfriend: For once not played for laughs or denial. Angel wants to know if Spike is Buffy's boyfriend. Buffy says no, but then says frankly "[[PlatonicLifePartners He is in my heart]]."

* RealityEnsues: The finale is pretty much a WarArc come to it's conclusion and, as with any war, not everyone is going to make it out alive. Among which are [[spoiler: Anya, Amanda and Spike (though he gets better on ''Series/{{Angel}}'').]]

* RousingSpeech:

* TearsOfBlood Caleb after getting knocked down the first time.

* BigOMG / OhMyGods: Willow gasps out "[[PunctuatedForEmphasis Oh...my...Goddess!]]" while turning into one.

* IronicEcho / BreakingSpeech

* LightIsGood / PowerGlows / PowerDyesYourHair: Instead of the return of Dark!Willow, Willow glows and her hair turns white.

* MadeOfPlasticine / DiagonalCut: Anya gets sliced almost in half by a Bringer armed with a short sword.

* OffhandBackhand / RoaringRampageOfRevenge: Faith after [[TakeUpMySword taking over the scythe]] from Buffy.

* SmellsSexy / TheNoseKnows: Angel gets jealous when he picks up the SignatureScent of Spike on Buffy.

* [[TalkToTheFist Talk To The Sword]]: Buffy rallying her troops is interrupted by her being [[InTheBack run through with a sword from behind]].
* [[TearsOfBlood Tears of]] BlackBlood: Caleb after getting knocked down the first time.

* UnspokenPlanGuarantee / OnceMoreWithClarity
* WakingNonSequitur / RealDreamsAreWeirder: Spike wakes up shouting, "I'm drowning in Cool Whip!"

* WorldOfCardboardSpeech: Buffy realizing (see NiceJobFixingItVillain) that the Shadow Men ''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]].

* WakingNonSequitur / RealDreamsAreWeirder: Spike wakes up shouting, "I'm drowning in footwear!" He may well have been DreamingOfThingsToCome as Spike turns up in Los Angeles, mecca of many shoe stores according to Cordelia in "Welcome to the Hellmouth".

* KarmaHoudini: The Fist. Justified because its incorporeal.

* HeroicSacrifice: Spike.

* ExecutiveMeddling: The series finalé was originally planned as a two-hour event--but UPN only ordered 22 episodes instead of the required 23.

* WhatNowEnding

* 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}}''. [[note]]This would also lead to continuity problems, because Connor [[Recap/AngelS04E22Home was erased from existence]] by this point...[[/note]]

->'''Buffy:''' ''"I love you."''
->'''Spike:''' ''"No, you don't. ...but thanks for saying it."''

* HalfTruth: Buffy says she needs Angel to go back to Los Angeles, to prepare a second line of defense if she can't hold the Hellmouth. Angel however is picking up the distinct smell of Spike, and realises she's wants him out of the way to avoid confusing the issue.