Was it a good idea to have the students of Sunnydale High involved in the last battle

They were still young and innocent.
They also had no idea about what was going to hit them.
I'm sure if they really knew what was going down, they would have stayed home.

I'm pretty sure Buffy didn't sugarcoat anything. Morally, I don't think she'd do that.
Notice how when the big snake appeared, no one ran? Screamed? Hid? They all rose up to the challenge. They had to know there would be deaths, but had they stayed home, and Buffy failed to eliminate the Mayor, they ALL would have died.
 
It just occurred to me that this is EXACTLY what Buffy did at the end of Season 7 with the Potentials/Slayers, except that the high school students used flame throwers and explosives in addition to axes, swords, and stakes. Too bad she didn't remember that in "Chosen."
 
The Mayor and his vampires didn't count on the students turning on them! While a couple got killed and the Principal got eaten (sadly) they saved the town.
 
I think it was smart. Had the Mayor succeeded, they pretty much all would have died anyway. And had Buffy warned them and they stayed away from graduation, the Mayor would have known something was up, I doubt with the lack of man power from the graduating class, plus the heads up the Mayor got, that the Scoobies could have succeeded in killing him.

Besides...I LOVE this episode. That moment where the whole class stands up, takes off their robes and reveals their weapons gives me goosebumps every time.


I thought it was a great strategic move, the element of SUPRISE helped them defeat the Mayor and his Minions.

Plus it was a military style organized attack.

they never saw it coming.
 
Right... And I have the feeling that the Scoobies let them know the risks when they talked to them. It was a "fight or be eaten" kind of thing.
 
Right... And I have the feeling that the Scoobies let them know the risks when they talked to them. It was a "fight or be eaten" kind of thing.



I'm sure Buffy and the Scoobies told them how REAL the threat was.

which made their choice to STAND THEIR GROUND and fight even more awesome.

Jocks, Cheerleaders, Geeks fighting side by side to defeat evil.
 
BuffyElevated
BuffyElevated
AMEN! Preach it sista!
Maybe she shouldn't have got them involved. I remember the Mayor saying to his vampire flunkies that when he changes that they've not to snack on the students as he needs to eat them, he said that this early part was a very important part of the ascension. So maybe if everyone left town, there would be no eatables for the Mayor and it might fail? Idk!
 
For some reason Buffy always played her Big Battles smarter than Angel did.

vs. the Mayor, Adam, Glory and the First she pulled out all the stops, maxing out her team's strengths and random allies and bobbles.

Compare that to Angel's

vs. the Beast Angel used a stake and sword. Wes had modern weapons, but overall they didn't do enough prep and lost because of it (rooftop battle).

vs. the Black Thorn, they brought in Lindsey, but no other tricks. He foolishly stacked Wes up against the world's most powerful Wizard and got him killed. If I were him, I would have at least brought in Gwen and Faith, not to mention Team Buffy if they were willing.

I happen to like Angel better, but Graduation Day is a good example of Buffy planning a battle better than Angel.
 
B
BillyidolwannaB
But beast would have beaten Ai and Scoobys and all the students. He was virtually invincible.
B
Big Damn Hero
Don't forget that Angel is the master of dumb plans! :p
I think its kind of symbolic, bring all of these different cliques and social classes and groups together to take down the greatest evil in town.
 
B
Buffyverse Fan
I wouldn't call the Mayor "the greatest evil in town," like Xander said, the guy just wanted to be a snake! Cordy was waaay more evil ;) Imagine the deals she made to look that good.
I think it was great all the student fighting for the high school,but i didnt get how all the parents ran away and left the children.I was like OMG how could you lol 😉!
 
Yes, they did. Now when people see their burned diploma on the wall, they can honestly say "I earned it".
Though I probably would have prefered the giant mayor-snake than actually doing all of the homework...
 
Didnt like that idea. probably because what heppened with columbine massacre and weapons and kids +school 2months prior. i don't know just my opinion.
 
Yeah, it was right that after suffering and being the victims for so long they finally fight back, you feel like cheering!
 
I liked it because it was sort of epic and I'm a sucker for an epic battle. The kids were not going to get out anyways, so might as well have them fight and then they have a chance of getting out alive. I don't think the Buffster and scoob crew could have done it alone.
 
I agree with all points, but it's a bit surprising that after "Graduation Day", no one wanted to join the Scoobie gang. Having realized the danger posed by powerful, evil demons, wouldn't any of Buffy's classmates been motivated to help out for the greater good? Maybe it takes a certain kind of crazy.

My guess is that any metapatriotism would be dulled severely by the seventy-five foot snake that swallowed several of them. Not exactly top pick at the career fair.

---------- Post added at 02:01 AM ---------- Previous post was at 02:00 AM ----------

Didnt like that idea. probably because what heppened with columbine massacre and weapons and kids +school 2months prior. i don't know just my opinion.

Actually, the ep was delayed several weeks because of this.

It was written before. Bad luck unfortunately.
 
In a nutshell 'Yes', Buffy and the gang had been saving them from the vamps and demons. The others knew of their exsistance but used selective memory to forget (just Joyce!). So, it was about time that the school helped, after all they would've been eaten any way!
 
I think that it was a great way to end life at Sunnydale High. After being victims for all their lives to the forces of darkness, Buffy rallied to students and got them to stand up and fight. It went a long way to show that Buffy really isn't alone in her fight and that there are many others who will battle evil when they're called to.
 
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