And on with the article we go...

Well, we’ll never top last week’s topic. But this week is still a new week...and thus breeds a new article. It’s really too bad I can’t just change a few things around from last week and make it into this session’s babble-fest in an attempt to recycle my own fresh thoughts. But for the sake of originality, we will strive forward.

Oh, well. Let’s get to it.

Regret. Longful wishes. These are not the way of the Jedi. But they are the way of the fan left astray. That hopeful bit of optimism left banging within our minds that leads us all to asking the same question of ‘what if’ again and again...some countless million times. And since our show is no longer on the air...we will never have these wishful flames extinguished...nor farther brightened whichever your preference may be.

But what am I speaking of? Well, to be more specific, I’m talking about events in the Buffyverse that will apparently never be settled. Persons and places which will never be visited again. Of course, this is really all dependent on whether or not the Angel series decides to dabble into these issues farther...or simply use former guest stars from Buffy as completely new characters for their own program as they have done so many countless times in the past. It seems everyone in Sunnydale has a twin living off somewhere in LA.

So, what are these thoughts and concerns more specifically? To begin, I should state that I will not be discussing all of them here. Only a few. Only a couple. I simply don’t have the time to go into detail of every portion of unfinished business left by our scoobies. But we will begin anyhow and see how far it is we can get on this trek before the article series is canceled.

Number one. Oz. Whether he should have ended up with Willow in the end, or whether he simply should have just offered a helping hand in the very end...he still should have in some way been a part of Buffy’s finale. Anything from The First pretending to be him...and us finding out he had died somewhere along the way...to him simply coming back home and having yet another memorable dialogue with Willow. Regardless, it would have been nice to have had more clear direction on where he had been these past three seasons. It is a portion of unfinished business, and one which is definitely of the highest bid.

Number two. Ethan. What happened to him? After he disappeared in Season Four, we never really saw the old bean again. It would have been nice to either end his character with a heated battle between Ripper and his former friend...or maybe even have Ethan go full circle and aid the Scoobies in their final battle. Anything but the way they left it would suffice for me personally. Or maybe him going out in the blaze of glory...or disappearing in the mix-up of the final hour. Yes, uncertainty indeed seems to be the greatest way to have ended Ethan’s character.

Number three. Jesse. I may be the only person on the planet who was hoping for this, but it would have been nice to have heard someone mention something about Jesse after all this time. It seems that after the pilot had aired, everyone on the show had forgotten this guy ever even existed. Yet by watching the pilot over and over again, it seems as though his relationship with Xander and Willow was one that would have been at least recalled once. I read a rumor someplace that said the actor who played Jesse was being considered for the episode “Conversations With Dead People” to bring back Jesse by way of The First in a conversation between himself and Xander...which would have replaced the one between Willow and Cassie. This, of course, after Amber Benson wasn’t able to make the list. Don’t know about you guys, but to me that would have been a whole lot more effective for the episode. A character who hasn’t been mentioned in seven years coming back to the fold...ah, yes. What a lovely idea that would have been.

Number four. Relationships. They just kinda ended, didn’t they? I mean, we were built up to these great possibilities between characters...and then they kinda just went flop. The only main cast character who had a surviving relationship in the very end was Willow. Yet we were sort of anticipating the Xander and Anya thing...or maybe even a Spuffy future. But aside from these, what about Giles? There were many people who were hoping for a Joyce/Giles hook-up for a while back in the day. But in truth, Rupert’s love life has been held in only C-Stories ever since his untimely loss of Jenny Calendar.

And in these past few seasons, Giles in romance hasn’t even really been dabbled with. It’s hard to say why...but it’s just the way things went apparently. I’m certainly not saying that every character should have had a relationship in the end, but I do wonder about the case of Giles and where it is he might be a few years from now. I honestly don’t know whether his character would ever find true love again or not. And that is something that is truly unresolved. Meanwhile, I have no doubt about Xander and Buffy. Both are sex-craving sociopaths...so they should be just fine by now.

Number five. No lead-ups. In this last season, the writers may have missed out on something extremely important. You see, they were actually fortunate to know that this would be their last season of writing for Buffy. But it seems to me that a good many of them neglected one of the most important things about ending a story...and that is leading it on to its next level.

For instance, a simple talk between characters about goals or aspirations would have actually worked well in this instance. Something to give us an idea as to where each character is headed. Whether it be something cheap and to the point, such as “Soon as all this craziness is done, I’d like to blah blah blah...” or something more complicated and hidden, such as a conversation using metaphors in place of the actual subject text. Think of the cookie dough speech for reference.

But instead, we received little to nothing in this regard. We were basically left standing without any direction. Things ended, sure. But they ended in such a way that without that direction we have no idea whether those characters are better off or worse off. It’s unfinished, you see. Which is why it has made the list. Finally I think people are catching on.

In many ways, this season looked like it was building up to the last episode with a number of episodes that just resembled each other too gosh darn much. How many Buffy speeches did we get out of the season? And how many of those speeches were the exact same thing played over and over again, draining as much the script as possible to fit it all into a forty-four minute time-space? It almost looked as though the writers knew how they wanted to end their show...but had no intention of building us up to that moment. More-so, it felt as if we were being dragged along for the ride...promised a great finale and told that as long as we endured the rest of the season we would eventually get there.

There were many fans asking “Are we there yet?” by the end of that trip. And most of them were tired and starving. And it sometimes was a bumpy ride, sure. Not to say that the season wasn’t enjoyable, because it was. But honestly, the lead-ups would have done the show much greater justice. And that’s just a fact we’ll have to live with.

Number six. Angel Investigations. Come on. Admit it. The last few hours of Buffy would have been so much better had we had Cordelia and Wesley come back to Sunnydale...being as how they’ve both changed so much. In Cordelia’s case, it might have been a harder fix, but surely Wesley could have managed the trip. Just seeing him interact with the old crew there would have been a blast beyond any capable means of comprehension. The possibilities would have been endless, and perhaps that’s why the powers who be chose not to make this into a reality.

So, these are just a few of the many unfinished topics of the Buffyverse. Mostly revolving around Season Seven, this list gives out a list of those things I would have liked to have seen at the end of this series. Things that were built-up but without any clear resolve. Don’t get me wrong. It’s not as if we were completely left astray to fend for ourselves. A lot is up to the imagination, and that’s respectable. And besides...it gives those optimistic and hopeful wishers the chance to continue such wishes on into Angel’s finale episode. Angel, I’m sure, will have a list completely all its own anyhow.

Well, until then, keep the dreams a’flowin and the wishes a’comin. I’ll see you all again back here next week for yet another edition of the Weekly Ascension. Bye for now.