I've been meaning to post my thoughts as I rewatch S7 but it's taken me a long time to get round to it. But voila! I have begun!
'Lessons' is a great opener - one of the strongest across both BtVS and AtS and it doesn't waste any time throwing us right in. The opening chase is a deliberate callback to the show's original premise but establishes much higher stakes by making the scale of the threat a global one and of course, by reversing the outcome: this time the girl can't fight back and doesn't survive. It's a chillingly effective set up for the season's Big Bads as misogyny and patriarchy. The hooded figures are more ambiguous than the concrete demons of season 1: with their homogeneity (identical black robes, shadowed faces) they represent a threatening patriarchy in its unseen yet pervasive form. We then cut to Buffy in a cemetery, teaching Dawn to slay. 'It's about power', she says over the cut, bridging the two scenes and giving us a big, fat, bell-ringing clue as to this season's theme. (It's great, though the more the word comes up, especially with the 'who's got the power' convo, I can't help thinking this:
But that's just my brain being strange...)
Anyway it's also a nice echo Buffy's first vampire slaying from 'Becoming part 1' where Merrick tells her 'You see your power?'. The difference is that this time its not a stuffy bloke from an archaic institution throwing a young girl into her 'destiny', it's an experienced Slayer teaching her sister how to fight, 'cause that's the world they live in. It's about sharing her power. Crucially, Buffy eventually beheads the vamp with a sword rather than staking him, thus foreshadowing the emergence of the ubervamps.
The Willow/Giles scenes were great. They're some of the most beautiful moments between these two - all set against the rolling hills of the English countryside. Yay for greenery!

Visually it also ties in nicely to the 'fresh new beginnings' feel of this season opener. There's a fairly decent recovery of the failed magic/drugs metaphor when Giles says 'This isn't a hobby or an addiction. It's inside you now, this magic. You're responsible for it'. I take it as an acknowledgement of what her S6 arc
should have been about - power. I love Giles here, especially when he rides in on that horse like a pro - a wise and sexily duster-clad pro, so I'm not looking forward to what becomes of him later in the season.
I love the nostalgic return to high school MotW horror. I've always felt the series' handling of horror tropes and themes was one of it's strongest aspects because there was almost always an element of playing them straight even as they undercut them and it's refreshing to get that back even a little. Accordingly, Dawn and her new friends have an obvious Scooby Gang: The Next Generation vibe. I can't remember if we do get to see more of them over the season, but it would be a shame if not.
The actual plot is rather weak - the talisman is just there, no word of how it got there or why - but I suspect that's intentional. High school's not any more and Buffy's seen it all. She's older, wiser, stronger and just as the place feels 'smaller', the scaries are not so scary. I like how she deals with them in a matter-of-fact way. Again it shows how far she's come, accepting that she can't save everyone. However, it's also the first sight of practical General Buffy, and this unsympathetic side of her will return in a not-so-refreshing way later. For now though the spooks are mainly a device to bring Buffy into the basement (basements will be a recurring feature from now on) where she will encounter
Justin Timberlake Spike. Of course he's gone round the twist and Buffy is naturally unsure of what to make of him. Thankfully she remains focused on the task at hand, which is saving Dawn and we postpone the Big Soul Reveal for later.
The best part of the episode by far is the return of the Big Bads. The First actually seems like a viable threat here with its fabulous split monologue, and the indication that this season is the last could not be any clearer (NOOOOO!). We're missing Angelus
because the network would never have let him come, so Dru takes his place as the S2 Big Bad representative. But really, he should have been there since we are on a Hellmouth and out of all of them he probably came the closest to destroying the world. I also think the last bit of The Master's line would have suited him perfectly (though it would require a rejig of the monologue to work): 'Look at you. Tried to do what's right. Just like her, you still don't get it. It's not about right. It's not about wrong.' It reminds me of : ''You really don't get it. Do you? You tried to kill her, but you couldn't. Look at you. You're a wreck!" (Innocence) and "You never learn, do you? This wasn't about you...And you fall for it every single time" (Becoming Part 1). Nevertheless, the Master is fab!
The only weak-ish part for me was the Buffy/Spike interaction. Not the fact of Spike's actual return, but just that they saw each other in this very first episode. I was just getting into the basement horror vibe and I feel their scene disrupts it because then my mind turns to 'ooh what'll happen between Buffy and Spike now?' I felt pulled out of the moment, especially since their interaction doesn't serve much more purpose than for her to know he's there behaving strangely and for him to provide the clue to quickly resolving our Plot A basement-ghoulie problem (though the 'talisman' mention also foreshadows the 'Seal',). I think it would have worked better if they had staggered Spike's return/reveal similar to how they did Angel's. He could have returned in Ep 1, but only known to the viewer, in Ep 2 we'd have had Buffy come across him in the basement, then Ep 3 would have been 'Beneath You'. It's probably a sign of how much they're going to try and fit into this final season.