I'm pretty sure that The First Evil was Joss' plan from the beginning, and I kind of like The First.
Rewrite season 7
- Thread starter Wesley Pryce
- Start date
I'm pretty sure that The First Evil was Joss' plan from the beginning, and I kind of like The First.
YummySushiPJs
Scooby
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Really? Then why is he just a seemingly one-off monster of the week in season 3, who is absolutely never mentioned again until season 7? Joss loved his foreshadowing and long slow burning arcs, so surely there would have been more hints or even appearances from the First before season 7 if this was the case? Restless for example would have been an ideal episode for a bit of foreshadowing, not to mention many of the other opportunities.
If it really was the plan all along but he was for some reason keeping it a secret, then... why? It's not like it was a massive twist. It's not like we were jumping for joy over the reveal that this long forgotten, failed to make much of an impression baddie was back.
The First being the Big Bad of Season 7 has always seemed like a last minute idea to me. In planning Season 7 Joss came up with the idea of having an all encompassing evil rising to tip the scales between good and evil. Then it suddenly occurs to him in the early stages of developping this idea, that he already introduced a character similar to this in season 3. So he decides to just make it The First.
brooke2707
Townie
1. LESS SPIKE! This season really killed his character. Dull through season 6, painfully boring in 7!
I always seem to have the less favorable opinion but,
I loved the potentials, maybe could have fleshed some more of them out a bit. Like Vi or Amanda.
Dawn - LOVE DAWN!! I was initially annoyed that she wasnt a potential slayer but then after i see why not. But i would have liked her to take more of an active role in the Scoobies!!
Principal Wood wouldnt have been seen once for me 🙂
I always seem to have the less favorable opinion but,
I loved the potentials, maybe could have fleshed some more of them out a bit. Like Vi or Amanda.
Dawn - LOVE DAWN!! I was initially annoyed that she wasnt a potential slayer but then after i see why not. But i would have liked her to take more of an active role in the Scoobies!!
Principal Wood wouldnt have been seen once for me 🙂
thetopher
[No message]
Can we change one thing from season 6? Meaning, who needs Spike as a poor man's Angel.
Next, let's do away with the whole wipe out the slayer line crap. Ever notice the one huge flaw with that premise and the rest of season 7? No new slayer after Buffy dies at end of season 5. Why? The slayer line runs Kendra, Faith, and then whoever is called after Faith. And so I screamed at the TV every time Buffy or someone else would say, wipe out the potentials, then kill Faith, and then finally, Buffy. Sorry, but that's not the order of things. Even worse, with the slayer line running through Faith, nobody ever worries about her until late in the season 7. I understand that Eliza may have had other commitments, but they could have ran it through Angel and simply had word come back that Angel was doing his all to protect Faith. Or something like that.
But if we must have an army, let's be consistent. Recall here Buffy's speech about how they all became an army and that no one is stronger than them. She then proceeds to undercut, entirely, the premise of that speech by taking on the uber vamp herself. And did I mention that since, well, for all the Joss Whedon is deity crowd, he leaves much to be desired. Recall the end of season 3. Another army. With flamethrowers. You'd tend to think that one of those would have come in handy against the uber vamp. Or an army of flamethrowers. I could see not having the entirety of the rest of the series, after season 3, with Buffy hauling around a flamethrower, but given this was indeed an uber vamp....
Lastly, if you can grant me the first change, i.e., no Spike as a poor man's Angel, then Spike instead has the chip out and his memory is wiped of any fond memories of Buffy. He's the big bad for season 7. And in the last episode, he takes out slayer no. 3 aka Buffy. Leaving us with our final scene with a rehabilitated Faith as our slayer... Oh, and as the one soul mentioned, I'd have Wood as well, and as the soul related, he comes to town already knowing the score and looking for Spike. Oh, and no matter what happens, no one is going to try and drown Spike, as the First did, since as Angel related to Xander at the end of season 1, vampires have no breath (so they can't be drowned...did the writers of Season 7 not only forget Angel's words to Xander in season 1 but also that part of the Angel where Angel is in the cage underwater....jebus, lads, but try some friggin' continuity). As I've said, with a few exceptions, season 7 should be taken out back and burned. For the one exception, I'd keep the Anya part, i.e., Selfless, etc.
For a bonus freebie, I like season 6, given what there was to work with, but fact is, the Buffy ship started taking on water when Spike got that chip in his head. To use the phrase, that's when the show jumped the shark. Some of you like Spike a little too much, meaning, they had basically run out of ideas for him as he was, and so they made him into the absurd.
Wesley Pryce
selfless is a top favorite
Silverspike
Scooby
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Never knew he was. 😀
For me any changes would be not having so many potentials flood the latter half of the season and for that matter any 'Big Bad' would have been preferable to the First evil who I thought was utterly useless.
Lord even Caleb just on his own would have worked for me at least.
Still a Scoobie
Nocturnal Lurker
Silverspike
Scooby
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I think the show summed him up when Buffy called him "The Taunter". Being incorporeal didn't make for the most interesting of villains imo.
Still a Scoobie
Nocturnal Lurker
Which is why Caleb or an equivalent should definitely have been introduced far far earlier, to be the First's physical presence. The First's lack of form makes it more interesting than any other villain, it can't be stopped by normal means and it has to be an expert in headology to make its mark. It is different to most other monsters in the genre and if the final season had been more about the First's mind games and less about Buffy making endless speeches to a bunch of character-less blobs, the First might have shone as one of the best big bads, which it had the potential to do.
Wesley Pryce
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Silverspike
Scooby
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Still a Scoobie
Nocturnal Lurker
Silverspike
Scooby
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Oh I dunno. Hatred of all women maybe? 😀
Maybe he could have worshiped the first and wanted to bring it into existence but without having to waste many episodes actually involving said waste of space.
Maybe he could have worshiped the first and wanted to bring it into existence but without having to waste many episodes actually involving said waste of space.
Fuffy Baith
2017 (and 2016) Cutest BB member
So many things are wrong with season 7, but for some reason I still enjoy it. One change to season 6 would be not to reveal Spike got his soul back. Make us think he got the chip removed. Then he could have came back after a few episodes under the First's control, making the Scoobies and audience think he's gone bad again. Then we could have had sleeper and it be revealed that he has a soul, with a flashback of him getting it. I agree there should be less Spike and less Buffy caring for him. The ending of him is fine though.
The whole idea of season 7 was to go back to the beginning, I think the Master even says that at the end of Lessons. And that is what Joss' original plan was. So I think they should have gone back to more a a season 1, 2 or 3 story arc. More monster of the week episodes. the First could have played out kind of like the Master or the Mayor. The Master couldn't do anything until Prophecy Girl but he had minions and would pop up with his plan here and there. Same thing with the Mayor, after Bad Girls he couldn't be killed, but his plan was slowly being revealed. This could have been done with the First as well. Instead what we get is the First trying to manipulate people and it never really goes anywhere. We don't even find out its plan til the last episode. There just doesn't feel like much of a threat, especially since the Turok Han can be killed by anyone it seems. Turok-Han could have been used more as a threat or not at all. Caleb could have showed up earlier to create more of a physical threat. If Buffy has Spike chained in the basement the First could have triggered him again to create more suspense and mess with Buffy.
The potentials needed to be fleshed out more. Had they gone with a monster of the week theme we could have had them working with the Scoobies and more training with Buffy, this would have given us more time to get to know them. A potential the we knew and cared about could have gotten killed off screen out patrolling and then replaced by the First instead of what we get in Showtime. Or had they built up the Chloe character not to be weak but strong it would have made the First seem more threatening when it got her to kill herself. The fact that the First got a vulnerable, weak, scared girl to commit suicide is not impressive. I feel like it could have been anyone, had they said the wrong thing to her, that got her to kill herself. Or better yet it could have been Kennedy.
While I'm on Kennedy, I could have done without the Killer in Me episode. I do like the idea of Amy showing up and causing trouble like Ethan Rayne, but we don't need more Warren and Kennedy's magic kisses. just cause Kennedy is a lesbian doesn't mean Willow has to be with her. We could have had Kennedy crushing and flirting with her but Willow turning down her advancements. Could have been funny and maybe by the end we see Willow develop feelings after Kennedy does something good.
Yea sorry for the rant, but there's a lot of season 7 I would change. I know we couldn't get more Faith without changing what happens on Angel but I would have liked more interaction with Buffy, maybe even a fight scene one last time. Could have been them training together like old times. Principal Wood? eh, his arc is stupid but it's not what bothers me the most so I'll leave it. Mostly I think a lot of inconsistencies or problems could have been solved with just some dropped lines of dialogue. The First gave the First Turok-Han power like Caleb and that's why it's tougher than the rest. Also a lot of stuff gets dropped and never brought up again. Like that eye of whatever thing Anya and Giles talk to. It's these little things that could have been easily fixed that bug me most. Also maybe less Andrew since he doesn't do anything. And a Xander episode would have been nice since he doesn't do much either. Definitely more moments with the Core Four. I still like a lot of episodes from this season though. It's just there is so much potential and nothing gets executed right.
The whole idea of season 7 was to go back to the beginning, I think the Master even says that at the end of Lessons. And that is what Joss' original plan was. So I think they should have gone back to more a a season 1, 2 or 3 story arc. More monster of the week episodes. the First could have played out kind of like the Master or the Mayor. The Master couldn't do anything until Prophecy Girl but he had minions and would pop up with his plan here and there. Same thing with the Mayor, after Bad Girls he couldn't be killed, but his plan was slowly being revealed. This could have been done with the First as well. Instead what we get is the First trying to manipulate people and it never really goes anywhere. We don't even find out its plan til the last episode. There just doesn't feel like much of a threat, especially since the Turok Han can be killed by anyone it seems. Turok-Han could have been used more as a threat or not at all. Caleb could have showed up earlier to create more of a physical threat. If Buffy has Spike chained in the basement the First could have triggered him again to create more suspense and mess with Buffy.
The potentials needed to be fleshed out more. Had they gone with a monster of the week theme we could have had them working with the Scoobies and more training with Buffy, this would have given us more time to get to know them. A potential the we knew and cared about could have gotten killed off screen out patrolling and then replaced by the First instead of what we get in Showtime. Or had they built up the Chloe character not to be weak but strong it would have made the First seem more threatening when it got her to kill herself. The fact that the First got a vulnerable, weak, scared girl to commit suicide is not impressive. I feel like it could have been anyone, had they said the wrong thing to her, that got her to kill herself. Or better yet it could have been Kennedy.
While I'm on Kennedy, I could have done without the Killer in Me episode. I do like the idea of Amy showing up and causing trouble like Ethan Rayne, but we don't need more Warren and Kennedy's magic kisses. just cause Kennedy is a lesbian doesn't mean Willow has to be with her. We could have had Kennedy crushing and flirting with her but Willow turning down her advancements. Could have been funny and maybe by the end we see Willow develop feelings after Kennedy does something good.
Yea sorry for the rant, but there's a lot of season 7 I would change. I know we couldn't get more Faith without changing what happens on Angel but I would have liked more interaction with Buffy, maybe even a fight scene one last time. Could have been them training together like old times. Principal Wood? eh, his arc is stupid but it's not what bothers me the most so I'll leave it. Mostly I think a lot of inconsistencies or problems could have been solved with just some dropped lines of dialogue. The First gave the First Turok-Han power like Caleb and that's why it's tougher than the rest. Also a lot of stuff gets dropped and never brought up again. Like that eye of whatever thing Anya and Giles talk to. It's these little things that could have been easily fixed that bug me most. Also maybe less Andrew since he doesn't do anything. And a Xander episode would have been nice since he doesn't do much either. Definitely more moments with the Core Four. I still like a lot of episodes from this season though. It's just there is so much potential and nothing gets executed right.
Still a Scoobie
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thetopher
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Still a Scoobie
Nocturnal Lurker
That's a bit too on the nose isn't it? A bit too obvious a monster metaphor? And just a little bit corny? I mean, don't get me wrong, Buffy's never exactly shied away from the odd bit of corn but even so...
No matter what problems there are with the First (and I'll admit there are a few) the big epic villain's motivation being hatred of women would be a much bigger one.
And Caleb trying to bring forth the First but not being very successful is not a storyline I'd like to try and drag out over a season, particularly if I'm trying to make Caleb seem powerful and scary.
thetopher
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AnthonyCordova
By suffering, learning
I just finished Season 7. Bear in mind that I've only seen everything once. My initial reaction to some of the ideas mentioned in this thread:
Getting rid of the potentials altogether: After thinking about this a little, I think I agree. They weren't a compelling idea for me and it spread the attention and focus of the season way too thin. People are saying we should have gotten to know the potentials better...but with so many, that would be impossible. You would need multiple seasons to have the time required to develop even rudimentary feelings/attachments to all of the potentials. Even if we just focused on a handful of them (or just made the overall number of potentials fewer) you would still need more time than a single season would allow to develop all of them. And if instead we are just going to have a handful of them to focus on, why not just kill the idea entirely? (especially with the time it would take to address the unresolved issues from prev. seasons and big bad development etc.) I'm kind of leaning that direction for now. Drop the potentials idea wholesale and go a completely different direction...and if you still like Kennedy or one or two of the other individual potentials so much, than introduce them as individual characters in the season and as something other than potentials. I just don't see how you can have the massively ambitious potentials idea in the storyline while also having the necessary time in one season to develop them so that the audience can care about them. And cutting Spike's screentime isn't enough. The potentials idea is too ambitious. Get rid of it.
More scoobie interaction: This is kind of related to the potentials idea above. How can the scoobies really spend quality time with each other as a fully functioning unit if there are so many potentials around? Everywhere you turn in the Summers house you bump into 5-6 potentials at a time. And when the scoobies were getting together trying to make a decision or to talk about things the entire potentials group was present and the writers divided the spoken lines for those scenes and gave precious speaking opportunities to various potentials instead of main characters. When you have to divide up the time and lines that many ways everything suffers. It was too much. I agree that the scoobies should have gotten more screentime and the blame seems to fall on the potentials idea again. To make room for more scoobie time something has to go, and cutting Spike isn't enough. Eliminating the potentials seems like the natural answer.
More Angel/Buffy crossovers: I like this idea a lot. The whole time while I was watching Season 4 of Angel, I kept thinking 'why don't they connect the Beast's master with the First from Buffy S7?' It didn't seem like a leap at all; actually, the two villains seemed perfectly compatible. It could have been easy to draw a connection of some kind between what was happening in LA and what was happening in Sunnydale. More ambitious crossovers between the two shows along this line would have been nice. But Connor meeting Dawn? Why? Just because they are a similar age doesn't mean that they should meet; and just because they are of similar age doesn't mean there is potential chemistry there. They share absolutely nothing in common with each other, except their close age. I don't see any potential chemistry there to build a relationship at all. That seems like a pointless ship to try and make happen. Or whatever the reasoning behind it is.
Miscellany: Don't kill off the watchers. I liked the watchers as a general story possibility and/or plot device. Now that they are all gone, those possible roads are forever closed and unavailable.
Getting rid of the potentials altogether: After thinking about this a little, I think I agree. They weren't a compelling idea for me and it spread the attention and focus of the season way too thin. People are saying we should have gotten to know the potentials better...but with so many, that would be impossible. You would need multiple seasons to have the time required to develop even rudimentary feelings/attachments to all of the potentials. Even if we just focused on a handful of them (or just made the overall number of potentials fewer) you would still need more time than a single season would allow to develop all of them. And if instead we are just going to have a handful of them to focus on, why not just kill the idea entirely? (especially with the time it would take to address the unresolved issues from prev. seasons and big bad development etc.) I'm kind of leaning that direction for now. Drop the potentials idea wholesale and go a completely different direction...and if you still like Kennedy or one or two of the other individual potentials so much, than introduce them as individual characters in the season and as something other than potentials. I just don't see how you can have the massively ambitious potentials idea in the storyline while also having the necessary time in one season to develop them so that the audience can care about them. And cutting Spike's screentime isn't enough. The potentials idea is too ambitious. Get rid of it.
More scoobie interaction: This is kind of related to the potentials idea above. How can the scoobies really spend quality time with each other as a fully functioning unit if there are so many potentials around? Everywhere you turn in the Summers house you bump into 5-6 potentials at a time. And when the scoobies were getting together trying to make a decision or to talk about things the entire potentials group was present and the writers divided the spoken lines for those scenes and gave precious speaking opportunities to various potentials instead of main characters. When you have to divide up the time and lines that many ways everything suffers. It was too much. I agree that the scoobies should have gotten more screentime and the blame seems to fall on the potentials idea again. To make room for more scoobie time something has to go, and cutting Spike isn't enough. Eliminating the potentials seems like the natural answer.
More Angel/Buffy crossovers: I like this idea a lot. The whole time while I was watching Season 4 of Angel, I kept thinking 'why don't they connect the Beast's master with the First from Buffy S7?' It didn't seem like a leap at all; actually, the two villains seemed perfectly compatible. It could have been easy to draw a connection of some kind between what was happening in LA and what was happening in Sunnydale. More ambitious crossovers between the two shows along this line would have been nice. But Connor meeting Dawn? Why? Just because they are a similar age doesn't mean that they should meet; and just because they are of similar age doesn't mean there is potential chemistry there. They share absolutely nothing in common with each other, except their close age. I don't see any potential chemistry there to build a relationship at all. That seems like a pointless ship to try and make happen. Or whatever the reasoning behind it is.
Miscellany: Don't kill off the watchers. I liked the watchers as a general story possibility and/or plot device. Now that they are all gone, those possible roads are forever closed and unavailable.
SiegePerilous02
Potential
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Aside from S1, S7 has always been my least favorite season of the Buffyverse. It was just such a lame last hurrah for one of my favorite shows ever. Whereas AtS left me wanting more, this season just left me with a feeling of "well...thank God that's over."
The First Evil
My major gripe with the season was the fact that it had the lamest Big Bad ever. Adam and the Master may have been somewhat bland, but at least they had coherent plans for world domination. I've done several series re-watches, and I still have no idea what this damn thing's ultimate goal was.
Conceptually, I think the First Evil is a sound idea, even if I'm confused why Joss and co. decided to go back to a one-shot monster from season 3 for their ultimate villain. The potential for psychological horror in a villain like this is through the roof: Conversations is the best episode of the season for this very reason, but my love for that episode is lessened considerably because of the anticlimactic followups. Behind the scenes casting issues were one of the main causes: we needed more Tara, the Mayor, Kendra, Snyder, Jesse, and especially Angel to really get the full impact of what this villain was capable of. But even then, the plots themselves just weren't very good. The First sits on its ass for the entire middle portion of the season, failing to use its infinity powers to do things like, I don't know, spy on its hated enemies, and forget completely about activating Spike's trigger. Seriously, it could have wiped out all of them while they were on the toilet or something while Spike was inexplicably allowed to wander around the house.
Killing the Watcher's Council
As an alternative, I think the Watcher's Council should have been the final villain of the series. What better feminist message could the series have had than by having Buffy defeat the ultimate patriarchal organization? Plus, they could provide actual physical threats, and aren't so omnipotent that their powers need to be dumbed down/completely forgotten in order for the half-baked plots to work.
Spuffy
I will be up front about this: I hate the character of Spike, and I greatly loathe the Spuffy romance. So right off the bat, this season's preoccupation with it makes for a very unpleasant viewing experience for me. I freely admit I'm biased, but I would have the entire ordeal wrapped up in a 3-5 episode arc, where Spike decides to leave Buffy the hell alone and go out into the world and learn to live with his soul/put it to good use in a redemptive arc in another series.
The rape aftermath
We really needed some insight into Buffy's thoughts about the sexual assault she suffered. Maybe have her visit a rape counselor, discuss it with her friends, show some hesitation in engaging in another physical relationship, etc. It is a serious crime that such an otherwise feminist show failed to follow up on having it's hero nearly raped in her own bathroom and put more emphasis on the attacker's feelings.
Less potentials
Or I'd get rid of them altogether. I really like what they represent, but i can't stand them as characters. If they had to be there, I'd prefer for Buffy and Willow to only empower the ones who are with them that are able to give consent. I've always felt uncomfortable with them forcing it on all those girls around the world.
More crossovers
At the bare minimum, have Dawn or somebody watching a news report about L.A being completely shrouded in darkness. Or have one of the Potentials watch a special about Jasmine and become completely nuts about her before the power goes out. Basically, some acknowledgement of AtS would be nice. Since ideally the First and Spike wouldn't be in the finale, Angel dropping off the Deus Ex Amulet would but cut. Angel himself could still drop by though.
More ideas as they come...
The First Evil
My major gripe with the season was the fact that it had the lamest Big Bad ever. Adam and the Master may have been somewhat bland, but at least they had coherent plans for world domination. I've done several series re-watches, and I still have no idea what this damn thing's ultimate goal was.
Conceptually, I think the First Evil is a sound idea, even if I'm confused why Joss and co. decided to go back to a one-shot monster from season 3 for their ultimate villain. The potential for psychological horror in a villain like this is through the roof: Conversations is the best episode of the season for this very reason, but my love for that episode is lessened considerably because of the anticlimactic followups. Behind the scenes casting issues were one of the main causes: we needed more Tara, the Mayor, Kendra, Snyder, Jesse, and especially Angel to really get the full impact of what this villain was capable of. But even then, the plots themselves just weren't very good. The First sits on its ass for the entire middle portion of the season, failing to use its infinity powers to do things like, I don't know, spy on its hated enemies, and forget completely about activating Spike's trigger. Seriously, it could have wiped out all of them while they were on the toilet or something while Spike was inexplicably allowed to wander around the house.
Killing the Watcher's Council
As an alternative, I think the Watcher's Council should have been the final villain of the series. What better feminist message could the series have had than by having Buffy defeat the ultimate patriarchal organization? Plus, they could provide actual physical threats, and aren't so omnipotent that their powers need to be dumbed down/completely forgotten in order for the half-baked plots to work.
Spuffy
I will be up front about this: I hate the character of Spike, and I greatly loathe the Spuffy romance. So right off the bat, this season's preoccupation with it makes for a very unpleasant viewing experience for me. I freely admit I'm biased, but I would have the entire ordeal wrapped up in a 3-5 episode arc, where Spike decides to leave Buffy the hell alone and go out into the world and learn to live with his soul/put it to good use in a redemptive arc in another series.
The rape aftermath
We really needed some insight into Buffy's thoughts about the sexual assault she suffered. Maybe have her visit a rape counselor, discuss it with her friends, show some hesitation in engaging in another physical relationship, etc. It is a serious crime that such an otherwise feminist show failed to follow up on having it's hero nearly raped in her own bathroom and put more emphasis on the attacker's feelings.
Less potentials
Or I'd get rid of them altogether. I really like what they represent, but i can't stand them as characters. If they had to be there, I'd prefer for Buffy and Willow to only empower the ones who are with them that are able to give consent. I've always felt uncomfortable with them forcing it on all those girls around the world.
More crossovers
At the bare minimum, have Dawn or somebody watching a news report about L.A being completely shrouded in darkness. Or have one of the Potentials watch a special about Jasmine and become completely nuts about her before the power goes out. Basically, some acknowledgement of AtS would be nice. Since ideally the First and Spike wouldn't be in the finale, Angel dropping off the Deus Ex Amulet would but cut. Angel himself could still drop by though.
More ideas as they come...
Still a Scoobie
That "thank God..." feeling is horrible to have about such a great show, I totally agree.
NeonNightLight
[No message]
Still a Scoobie
Nocturnal Lurker
I just finished watching the show. And let's just say that after loving it throughout I was left very disappointed by the last season and especially the last 5 episodes.
In terms of a re-write? Well, many people here seem to have good ideas. Removing the potentials completely from the story would definitely be a start. Changing the season's ultimate bad guy altogether isn't a bad idea either.
I also concur on the Watcher's Council idea as the bad guys. Those people were such scumbags throughout the show anyway that it would have been quite easy to buy into a story line of them going power-hungry and turning against the slayer.
Season 7 did have a couple of very good episodes thanks to "The First" idea, but I would easily give those away to give the series a decent ending. What we got was just such a... I don't know how to put it into words really. I don't want to beat on Joss too much, but he really dropped the ball on that conclusion.
The saddest thing for me right now is that at the start of S7 I was very interested in getting to continue following the story in the comic books, but now after seeing the story break apart with the ending to the TV show, I don't know if I even should. I will take advice on that from the experts around here. I want to believe that the story can recover into making sense from unleashing hundreds of Slayer-Power girls to the world, but I'm sceptical to say the least.
Oh, and sorry for making my introduction to the forum essentially a complaining post. But you know, that ending...
In terms of a re-write? Well, many people here seem to have good ideas. Removing the potentials completely from the story would definitely be a start. Changing the season's ultimate bad guy altogether isn't a bad idea either.
I also concur on the Watcher's Council idea as the bad guys. Those people were such scumbags throughout the show anyway that it would have been quite easy to buy into a story line of them going power-hungry and turning against the slayer.
Season 7 did have a couple of very good episodes thanks to "The First" idea, but I would easily give those away to give the series a decent ending. What we got was just such a... I don't know how to put it into words really. I don't want to beat on Joss too much, but he really dropped the ball on that conclusion.
The saddest thing for me right now is that at the start of S7 I was very interested in getting to continue following the story in the comic books, but now after seeing the story break apart with the ending to the TV show, I don't know if I even should. I will take advice on that from the experts around here. I want to believe that the story can recover into making sense from unleashing hundreds of Slayer-Power girls to the world, but I'm sceptical to say the least.
Oh, and sorry for making my introduction to the forum essentially a complaining post. But you know, that ending...