05.21.03 - 12:03 p.m.

Buffy postmortem (heh): Now, I know that pretty-official Angel reports say otherwise, but to my hopeful eyes, it looked like Spike bit the big one. He looked pretty dust-bound with the sunlight and the charring face and skeleton poking through and all. Or maybe that was just me.

My other burning question (oh, the punnage! Stop! Aidez-moi!) is, what's stopping the First from climbing out of the big gaping pit and taking up residence somewhere else? Aren't people just going to build on top of the rubble, like they did over Pompeii and various other ancient civilizations? How does this kill the First once and for all?

This could have been a two-hour event. People CERTAINLY would have watched two hours worth of finale to get some concrete answers. Still, it was better than I feared, and I choked up a little over Anya. But why didn't Xander run over to her? Yeah, he had to get out of the building before it got blowed up real good, but it's ANYA, for cripes' sake! Her head was turned away from him! He couldn't see! She might have just been unconscious! Robbed of a final Xander/Anya moment in favor of a Spuffy scene. That, my friends, is true evil.

Gilmore, on the other hand, was a delight. Compared to last week's fiasco? Like a breath of fresh, well-written air. I watched it last Thursday but refrained from posting my comments so as not to spoil anyone's fun. Townies galore! More Luke in a suit! Only five seconds of screen time for Jess! So not everything is explained - and I STILL think Rory should live at home next year - but at least I know that Lane and Dave went to the prom.