"Chosen" held in a high esteem should not be surprising. The last episode on a beloved show has a big final battle, sacrifices and, basically, is "out with a bang", but is it really great? Unfortunately, no, it isn't great, fortunately, it is still good.
The episode is well-paced and has enough time for all it wants. And it isn't just big dumb action fun. Our heroes prepare themselves for the final battle and go where they want it to be fought so they can have a strategic advantage to compensate for their lack in numbers. Plus, they do involve some much needed magic. And some of them will not be coming back, and someone may as well tear up in front of that screen. Spike has come a long way. When he first appeared on the show, he wanted to kill Buffy, and he was a monster, and now, so much later, with so many events to have influenced him, he's in love with her, and now dies to save her and pretty much everybody everywhere. He may have been a monster some time ago, but he is a hero now. When Buffy sacrificed herself in "The Gift", they all cried, but none looked as devastated as Spike when seeing her dead body. Now that Spike sacrifices himself, there isn't a body to even see. And there isn't anyone to cry for him but Buffy herself. That is an interesting comparison to "The Gift", by the way.
There is a lot of devastation involved in the end, and those visuals don't all look good. The idea of there now being a great many vampire slayers all over the world isn't brilliant. Come to think of it. There are now plenty of girls with basically the strength of ten human individuals out there, and what if some of them are even worse than Faith when she was the villain here? The life of a vampire slayer is insanity proven by what Buffy has had to go through, and it would be interesting to see some new system presented to fight the vampires, but that would be innovative and complicated, and it wasn't done. The screenwriters don't want you to see a revolution, they just want a big fight and to be done with it. Speaking of the big fight again, "The Initiative" exists on season seven, and they could have been useful here, but again, no.
The Hellmouth has been closed now, and that is good. The Hellmouth has been very significant throughout the whole show, and now, it has been finally dealt with for good. But there is a detail that undermines the accomplishment. You see, Giles says there's another one in another place. So, the Hellmouth wasn't unique, it wasn't special, and closing it wasn't really a special thing to do then, right? A slight detail you may as well miss, but it is a disadvantage and it does weaken the episode. Also, the shot of our heroes looking at where Sunnydale was minutes ago, before falling through the ground, that was a good shot, make no mistake, but it also has a detail that weakens it. That sign that says "Welcome to Sunnydale" falling in a comic way during such a moment. That was misplaced. Again, just a detail, but it is there and there's nothing you can do about it. Finally, Buffy gets stabbed through the side with a sword and it does not influence her fighting, running or jumping. Unlike what a similar, but a smaller wound did to her once on season five. I'm glad Buffy's alive and well, I'm glad most of the heroes are, I'm just saying the finale could have been even stronger. It needed to be more careful, precise and daring. But it's just good, not more.
The episode is well-paced and has enough time for all it wants. And it isn't just big dumb action fun. Our heroes prepare themselves for the final battle and go where they want it to be fought so they can have a strategic advantage to compensate for their lack in numbers. Plus, they do involve some much needed magic. And some of them will not be coming back, and someone may as well tear up in front of that screen. Spike has come a long way. When he first appeared on the show, he wanted to kill Buffy, and he was a monster, and now, so much later, with so many events to have influenced him, he's in love with her, and now dies to save her and pretty much everybody everywhere. He may have been a monster some time ago, but he is a hero now. When Buffy sacrificed herself in "The Gift", they all cried, but none looked as devastated as Spike when seeing her dead body. Now that Spike sacrifices himself, there isn't a body to even see. And there isn't anyone to cry for him but Buffy herself. That is an interesting comparison to "The Gift", by the way.
There is a lot of devastation involved in the end, and those visuals don't all look good. The idea of there now being a great many vampire slayers all over the world isn't brilliant. Come to think of it. There are now plenty of girls with basically the strength of ten human individuals out there, and what if some of them are even worse than Faith when she was the villain here? The life of a vampire slayer is insanity proven by what Buffy has had to go through, and it would be interesting to see some new system presented to fight the vampires, but that would be innovative and complicated, and it wasn't done. The screenwriters don't want you to see a revolution, they just want a big fight and to be done with it. Speaking of the big fight again, "The Initiative" exists on season seven, and they could have been useful here, but again, no.
The Hellmouth has been closed now, and that is good. The Hellmouth has been very significant throughout the whole show, and now, it has been finally dealt with for good. But there is a detail that undermines the accomplishment. You see, Giles says there's another one in another place. So, the Hellmouth wasn't unique, it wasn't special, and closing it wasn't really a special thing to do then, right? A slight detail you may as well miss, but it is a disadvantage and it does weaken the episode. Also, the shot of our heroes looking at where Sunnydale was minutes ago, before falling through the ground, that was a good shot, make no mistake, but it also has a detail that weakens it. That sign that says "Welcome to Sunnydale" falling in a comic way during such a moment. That was misplaced. Again, just a detail, but it is there and there's nothing you can do about it. Finally, Buffy gets stabbed through the side with a sword and it does not influence her fighting, running or jumping. Unlike what a similar, but a smaller wound did to her once on season five. I'm glad Buffy's alive and well, I'm glad most of the heroes are, I'm just saying the finale could have been even stronger. It needed to be more careful, precise and daring. But it's just good, not more.