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Season 1: Prophecy Girl

With the help of Angel, Giles discovers an ancient prophecy which foresees that Buffy will die if she fights The Master. Upon hearing of her doom, Buffy is met with the biggest decision of her young life.
When vampires attack a group of students at the school, Buffy decides to face her destiny. Unfortunately, the prophecy is deceiving and it is actually Buffy who frees the Master when he feeds on her and gains the power to break through the barrier.
Buffy falls unconscious into a pool of water and drowns but Xander and Angel arrive in time and Xander performs CPR to bring her back. Buffy wakes and is stronger after the encounter and the three head to the school to stop the Master, while the rest of the gang have their hands full fighting off the Hellmouth.

Extras:

• When this episode was filmed it wasn't known if the series was going to be renewed for a second series. It gives the final scene with the characters walking out the library an added poignancy as this could have been the last time we saw our heroes. Luckily, for everyone, a second was eventually given the go-ahead.
• According to Alyson Hannigan, there were two versions of the murder-discovery scene. One was a tame version which appeared on the screen. The other had blood all over the walls and door which the crew thought they might be able to get away with in Europe. However, they didn't.
• This episode marks the first (and thus far only) time when Nerf Herder's opening credits theme is played during the show.
• The Master's bones are seen on screen. This is a specific plot point for Season 2, as vampire's bones have always been dusted when death occurs.
• This is the first aired Buffy episode to be directed by Joss Whedon.

Season 2: Becoming (Parts 1 and 2)

Angelus' origins from being vamped by Darla in 1753, vamping Drusilla in 1860, being cursed by the Gypsies in 1898, and meeting a demon named Whistler in New York in 1996 who shows him a better way of life are revealed while Angelus prepares to awaken Acathla, an ancient demon that will suck the Earth into the Demon Dimension.
Buffy and Willow find the spell to restore Angel's soul and Willow declares that she knows enough about magic to perform it. The gang almost come to blows when Xander tells Buffy outright that she doesn't care what happened to Ms Calendar, she only cares that she can get her boyfriend back. Kendra returns to Sunnydale because a dark power is rising and comes bearing a sword blessed by the knight who first slew Acathla.
Angelus tries to awaken the demon but fails. Needing someone to help him with the ritual, he distracts Buffy while Drusilla goes to collect Giles. Drusilla and her friends attack the rest of the gang but only Kendra is there to defend them, and the stakes are high.
After Drusilla's attack on her friends which resulted in the death of Kendra and Giles' abduction, Buffy is arrested for the murder but escapes from the police. She heads to the hospital where she learns that Xander has a broken arm and Willow is left in a coma. They all realise that Giles was taken by Drusilla and Buffy prepares herself to face Angelus. After being stopped by another cop, Spike comes to her aid and convinces her that he wants to be rid of Angelus too and they form an unusual alliance.
Buffy is forced to slay a vampire in front of her mother and tells her the truth but she does not want to accept it. When Buffy tries to leave to fight Angelus, Joyce tells her that if she goes she better not bother coming back. After retrieving Kendra's sword from the library she heads toward Angelus' mansion.
Meanwhile, Willow wakes up and decides to try the spell again and Xander runs to Buffy's aid. Drusilla uses her psychic powers to make Giles reveal the secret of the ritual to wake Acathla, and Angelus begins again. Buffy arrives and fights him while Spike takes Drusilla and leaves and Xander escapes with Giles. Acathla begins to awaken as Willow completes the spell and Angel returns.
Unfortunately it is too late and Buffy must send Angel to hell to stop Acathla's vortex. Devastated, Buffy returns home only to pack her bags and leaves Sunnydale on a bus.

Extras:

• Richard Riehle guest stars as Merrick, Buffy's first watcher; a role that was portrayed by Donald Sutherland in the feature movie.
• The character of Whistler was originally intended to be Angel's sidekick in the planning stages of the spinoff Angel, but the actor wasn't able to commit to the series so the character of Doyle was created.
• James Marsters will work with Max Perlich again in the 1999 horror House on Haunted Hill.
• Giles mentions that the orb of thessela he has is being used as a paper weight, a clever take back to "Passion" where the magic shop owner said he had sold some orbs as new age paperweights.
• In the comic/movie Blade, Blade is a half-vampire who kills other vamps (kinda like Angel) and has a mentor named Whistler.
• When Buffy fights Angelus in the cemetary, she figures out that she was being distracted away from the library so that Druscilla could capture Giles. In the first episode of he season, the Master's minions used the same trick on Buffy to capture Willow for the resurrection ritual. Angelus says to her when she leaves for the library: "And you fall for it every time!"
• When Drusilla is about to kill Kendra she says "Be in me" hypnotizing Kendra. This same line is used by the vampire in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie.
• The situation where Angelus is distracting Buffy so Drusilla can capture Giles, is similar to the season seven episode where Giles distract Buffy, so Principal Wood could kill Spike.
• James G. MacDonald reprises his role as Detective Stein from 'Ted' when the police are searching for Buffy. He will investigate Buffy once more in 'Consequences'.
• The "Grr Arg" at the end of the credits was altered for this episode. Instead of the trademark grunt the monster says "Oooh, I need a hug".
• It was during the filming of "Becoming Parts 1 & 2" that Joss Whedon first came up with the idea for a spin-off on Angel.
• From this episode and on wards, Willow becomes a witch, using magic etc.
• Armin Shimmerman and James G. MacDonald previously appeared in the 'Star Trek: Deep Space Nine' episode, 'Little Green Men' together.
• The both times that Angel dies he hears is: "close you're eyes". It's the last thing Darla said to him before she killed him and turned him into a vampire in the flashback in the episode "Becoming (1)." And it`s also the last thing Buffy says to him before she kills him in this episode.

Season 3: Graduation Day (Parts 1 and 2)

The gang receive some valuable information from old enemy Anya who has actually witnessed an Ascension. She reveals that the Mayor plans to transform himself into pure demon, something that has not been seen for thousands of years. When Angel is poisoned by Faith to distract Buffy, Buffy faces Faith for the final time in order to get the only cure to the poison: Faith's blood.
After their ultimate 'Fight-to-the-Death' Faith escapes from Buffy, albeit in a coma, so Buffy offers her own blood to Angel to rid his body of the poison. When she recovers the gang finally devise a plan to defeat the Mayor, rallying the students and asking for their help in fighting the resulting serpent demon before Buffy leads him into the library which has been rigged with explosives.
 

Extras:

• Angel quietly leaves Sunnydale at the end of this episode, allowing the character to go of to LA and his own spin-off show, which had got the green light at around this time. Cordelia and, later in the season, Wesley, would also make the move to the spin-off series.
• Ironically as it's the final school-based episode, Principal Snyder meets his doom when eaten by the Mayor (in giant snake form) in this episode.
• The "Grr Arg" Mutant Enemy slogan at the end of the credits was altered for this episode. The monster wears a graduation cap.
• The season finale was delayed by the WB Network because of the attack on the school. The decision came about as a result of the recent shootings at high schools at the time. The episode 'Earshot' was also delayed for this reason (though for a much longer period of time).
• This episode marks the final appearance of Charisma Carpenter (Cordelia) on Buffy, however David Boreanaz makes several guest appearances during the next two seasons.
• This is the last episode to feature Wesley on Buffy as he prepares to leave for England after Buffy quits the council. He instead is fired by the council and become a "rogue" demon hunter, leading him to LA to become a regular on Angel.
• This is the second time that Buffy has used modern methods to dispose of an enemy that was previously invincible. The first was the Judge's disposal using the rocket launcher in Season 2's "Innocence".
• This episode marks the first time Cordelia stakes a vampire.
• The explosion scene was filmed at 5am in Torrence, California where the show had been filmed for outdoor scenes the past three years. The sound and vibrations from the exploding set woke up many residents and set off car alarms, causing the town to disallow future Buffy filming in Torrence, California from this point on, according to Marti Noxon's Season 2 DVD Commentary in which it is mentioned.
• In the Buffy Sunnydale High yearbook, in the Senior Class Poll, Cordelia and Jonathan are voted Most likely to be famous, which both of them do in Season 4 "Superstar" Jonathan is really famous for starring in The Matrix, having his own book, etc. Cordelia is famous in Angel Season 4 episodes "Shiny Happy People" and "Peace Out" for giving birth to Jasmine.
• Larry dies in this episode, and Larry Bagby III never comes back, he is one of the only named people that died that didn't come back. The Mayor, Snyder, and Harmony all came back.
• The DVD commentary indicated that "7-3-0," as said by Faith, was a countdown to Buffy's death, i.e. 730 days (two years) until her death. Buffy did die on the fifth season finale, two years later.
• In the original teleplay Xander said "Guys, we blew up the school! It's the best day ever!" As funny as that is, it was cut do to it's lack of politically correctness and length.

Season 4: Restless

Buffy, Xander, Giles and Willow sit down to watch videos after defeating Adam. They enter a bizarre dream world where they are pursued by a primitive force that they released via their enjoining spell. The force turns out to be the spirit of the first Slayer who speaks through Tara in their dream world and is confronting each of them with their deepest secrets and fears before killing them. Buffy eventually dispatches the primitive girl by ignoring her and they all wake up.
 

Extras:

• Giles sings "The Exposition Song" backed by Four Star Mary and Chris Beck. Four Star Mary is the real band behind Dingoes Ate My Baby.
• After Buffy rips off Willow's "costume", the dress she is wearing underneath and her long, straight hairstyle is exactly the same as in the series premiere 'Welcome to the Hellmouth'.
• This episode breaks with previous seasons patterns in that it is another story after the big 2-part climax that ties up the running story of the season. Previous seasons have finished on the big explosive 2-parters.
• In the last scene of the season, Buffy is walking along the landing upstairs, and stops to look into the spare bedroom when she hears the "You think you know. What's to come. What you are. You haven't even begun." This room later becomes Dawn's bedroom, which is the "what's to come" bit of the speech.
• When Buffy is leaving the house in her dream to find her friends, Tara says, 'Make sure your home before Dawn' which has a double meaning, since a new character - Dawn - in series 5.
• Joss Whedon announced in an interview that the Cheese Man means nothing, as he wanted something in the dream that was unexplainable. Despite this, some people have published some theories on the web.
• When Buffy tells Tara that "Faith and I just made that bed" is a reference to one of Faith's dreams in "This Year's Girl."
• While talking to Xander in the ice cream truck in Xander's nightmare, Anya tells Xander, "I've been thinking about getting back into vengeance." In Season 6, after Xander leaves her at the altar, Anya does in fact turn back into a vengeance demon.
• It was rumored this episode was to guest star many past recurring characters. Willow's classroom dream was to feature Larry Bagby III (Larry), Charisma Carpenter (Cordelia), and Elizabeth Anne Allen (Amy). Robia LaMorte (Jenny Calendar) was to be pushing the baby carriage instead of Olivia, followed by having Phina Oruche (Olivia) crying in Spike's crypt. Eliza Dushku (Faith) was going to appear in Buffy's bedroom telling her to "be back before Dawn," while David Boreanaz (Angel) was to have appeared in the desert as the voice of the First Slayer. Unfortunately Joss Whedon was only able to recruit Seth Green (Oz) and Mercedes McNab (Harmony) to return for this episode.
• In Giles's dream, Willow says, "If we don't know what we're fighting, we don't stand a chance." That is a main problem throughout Season 7, when nobody, even Giles, knows much of anything about the First.
• Buffy looks through a hole in a door talking to her mom in "School Hard" which is very similar to when she looked in a hole in a wall in this episode to Joyce.
• This episode marks the final appearances of Seth Green as "Oz" and Armin Shimerman as "Principal Snyder" on the series.
• This episode features no teaser before the opening credits.
• In Xander's dream, where he speaks with Buffy (sitting in a sandbox) we see another Xander at his ice-cream truck. There are children standing in a queue. When the camera moves in, we can see that children are queued towards the right side of the screen. But on the left side, out of the queue, there is a long brown haired girl standing,-a bit too much looking like Dawn...
• During the taping of this episode, Sarah Michelle Gellar brought Michelle Trachtenberg to the set, she arrived at 7:30 am, sharp. The 7-3-0 fits beautifully with the "counting down to 7-3-0" line and strangely, Michelle also came to the set when her name was first mentioned in the series. Joss commented on the event in the season 4 audio commentary of "Restless", he said it was fate that brought her to this role. Poetic.
• This is the only episode in which George Hertzburg ("Adam") appears out of his character's makeup.
• On the DVD Commentary, Joss mentioned about the part where Joyce was in the wall, was basically a metaphorical hint as towards Joyce's illness in season five. Buffy wouldn't be able to get to her, or save her, was what the metaphor was saying.
• What Willow writes on Tara's back in the dream sequence is actually the ancient Greek Lesbian poetess Sappho's fragment the first, which roughly translates as "Immortal Aphrodite of the broidered throne, daughter of Zeus, weaver of wiles, I pray thee break not my spirit with anguish and distress, O Queen. But come hither, if ever before thou didst hear my voice afar...".
• The First Slayer took broke Willow's spirit (Spiritus), took Xander's heart (Heart), Giles's brain (Mind) and went hand-to-hand combat with Buffy (Manus). This is what they called upon to do the spell.
• Michael Harney (Mr. Harris) and Amber Benson (Tara) will also both guest star together in an episode of Cold Case about 4 years after the airing of this episode.
• The clock in Buffy's dream is at 7:30. These numbers were mentioned once in Buffy's dream in Graduation Day (2), in which Faith said "counting down from 7-3-0."

Season 5: The Gift

Another imminent apocalypse is at hand in Sunnydale. Buffy must square off against a true God when Glory prepares to use Dawn to break down the walls between the dimensions and unleash all Hell on Earth but she needs Dawn's blood before her home dimension portal can be opened. Buffy, Xander, Willow, Giles, Anya, Tara and Spike go to battle with the knowledge that they may not all survive.

Extras:

• NOTE: Buffy's epitaph reads: Buffy Anne Summers 1981-2001 Devoted Sister Beloved Friend She Saved the World A Lot
• The "Previously on..." segment at the beginning of the episode contains images from all five seasons of the show.
• Fifth season finale and 100th episode.
• This is the last original episode to air on the Warner Bros. Network. Because of this, the WB promoted this episode as the "series finale" and not the "season finale" since the show will air on UPN for season six.
• Spoiler haters in the UK had a understandable reason to whinge before this episode aired, as it was nearly impossible not to be informed of what was going to happen. One national newspaper ran a 'Buffy Dies' special and the normally dependable Sky One kept showing trailers with Buffy's grave, the first trailer running directly after 'The Weight of the World'.
• When Tara walks out of the magic shop, she yells to Giles "You are a killer!" In the end, when Glory is weakened and morphs into Ben, Giles kills him.
• Spike's invitation into Buffy's house (rescinded in "Crush") is re-issued in this episode when the two head to gather weapons.
• Earlier in the season, it was rumored that the entire town of Sunnydale would be sucked into the Hellmouth in the finale. Although it has never been completely confirmed, Joss had another plan for the season. The original idea was to have Anya die in the rubble, Xander be Glory's other half (instead of Ben), Willow was going to become evil after Tara's death and join forces with Glory, and Dawn was to be bled by Evil Willow in the end, and Sunnydale was supposed to be completely destroyed by the Hellmouth. Of course, this plot was never used and aspects like Willow turning Evil and Tara dying were fleshed out through season 6, and Anya dying and Sunnydale being swallowed by the Hellmouth will be used as the real series finale in Season 7.
• After Buffy swan dives off the plat form and into the portal, her body is then deposited on some bricks. Well look at Buffy/Sarah's face, your see that she is smiling (that speaks for itself).
• It was rumoured that this episode was going to be a two-hour television event called "Centenary" and to feature almost every single character from previous seasons including the entire Angel cast.
• The outfit that Buffy wears in this episode is the same outfit that she wears for most of the Angel episode called 'I Will Remember You'.
• When Buffy asks how many apocalypses this makes, Giles replies "Six, at least"; they are referring to the ones that were stopped in "The Harvest", "Prophecy Girl", "Becoming (2)", "The Zeppo", "Doomed", and this one.
• The touchy feely song from this episode is on entitled Sacrifice.
• This is the second time that Buffy has officially died, but not the second time that we've seen her dead. The first was in "Nightmares", where she was turned by the Master, then in both "Prophecy Girl" and "The Wish" she was killed by the Master. This death would make four, and later on we would see her go braindead in "Normal Again", though not dead, and it could be debated as whether or not she died in "Villains", as she flatlined.

Season 6: Two To Go/Grave

After exacting revenge on Warren for Tara's death, an extremely powerful and vengeful Willow now vows to go after the other two members of the trio, Jonathan and Andrew, forcing Buffy into the unlikely role of nerd-villain protector. After freeing the Duo from jail and escaping from Willow, the expanded group runs to the Magic Box to find a protection spell.
While all this is going on in Sunnydale, Spike undergoes a fierce challenge given by an African demon in order to become what he once was.
Willow, drained of her power, finds Rack and draws his energy into her, killing him in the process. At the Magic Box, Willow catches up to them all and takes on Buffy and Anya, who is doing her best to keep a magical barrier up around Willow. Buffy is no match for Willow's power, but eventually she is drained again and they escape while she is down.
Willow regains her strength and brings down Anya's barrier, tossing both her and Buffy aside. Willow heads out of the shop intent on completing her mission when an old friend magically appears in her way, willing to challenge her power....
Giles's new-found power brings Willow down momentarily and Giles magically binds her and leaves to catch up with Buffy. Willow telepathically controls Anya and gets her to break the binding spell. Willow draws Giles's energy into her and is hit by a sudden burst of emotion. Willow feels so much pain and hurt in the world and she decides to end it all.

Extras:

• The title is a clever little continuation from episode 20, where the last line of the episode is, "One down."
• Like the opening episodes of this season, the finale
2-parter initially aired as a single 2 hour episode.
• Anthony Stewart Head is not credited in the guest cast list for reason to keep the viewers surprised to see Giles back.
• When Willow drains Rack of his power, she says "I just wanna take a little tour". He said exactly the same thing to her in 'Wrecked'.
• Willow threatens to turn Dawn back into the Key, which suggests that Dawn could still be used to open the portal that Glory attempted to open in "The Gift."
• Buffy says to Willow "I don't want to hurt you," and then says "That doesn't mean I won't." This is reminiscent of what Spike says to Drusilla in Becoming 2.
• Willow gives a hint on how to bring her back to her normal self. She tells Buffy that Tara was the only one who really saw the real Willow, from the inside perspective, and she says that that kind of love won't ever happen again, but in the next episode, "Grave", Xander reminds Willow of the true Willow, the "yellow crayon Willow", and that was the key on defeating Dark Willow and bringing Willow back to normal, which was having someone realizing Willow from the inside point of view, from the heart.
• NOTE: The song playing at the end of the episode is Sarah McLachlan's 'The Prayer of St. Francis'. She also sang "Full of Grace" at the end of "Becoming Part 2".
• Like this season's Season Premiere, this episode did not have the opening credits since it was following of "Two To Go"
• The grave Xander attempts to enter has the last name Alpert, after one of the producers, Marc David Alpert.
• In the U.K., on its first broadcast, the season finale was split into its two parts and so 'Grave' had opening credits (naming Anthony Stewart Head as a special guest star). In a subsequent broadcast, it was shown as a two-hour special and- like Bargaining- only had one set of credits.
• When Buffy and Giles were laughing up a fit, her voice was really deep, hoarse, and growly. Did Sarah Michelle Gellar have a cold during shooting?
• This episode is not the first time the 'Alpert' tomb in the graveyard has been seen. It features in several previous episodes (such as "Bewitched, Bothered And Bewildered" in season 2).
• LOOK HARD: When Buffy and Dawn climb out of the hole, we get a glimpse of the tattoo on Sarah Michelle Gellar's lower back. It is the Chinese symbol for integrity.
• When Buffy lands in the graveyard hole beside Dawn, the sword nearly falls on her head but she moves. That's just like in "Bargaining (2)," the season premiere where she did exactly the same thing, only in this episode, it's a piece of debris falling from Glory's tower after they fall from the rope.
• Giles was also called "Jeeves" by alternate reality Buffy in "The Wish."
• In Restless, Giles says in Xander's dream on a swing that "A Watcher scoffs at gravity." Willow made Giles float to the ceiling in this episode and stay on the ceiling for small periods of time, sometimes against the floor.. sometimes against the ceiling.
• On the DVD release of this episode, Anthony Stewart Head is credited twice - once right after the opening credits and again at the end credits - both as 'Special Guest Star'.
• This marks the final interior appearance of 'The Magic Box' (it was dismantled to make room for the new Sunnydale High School), though the exterior can be seen during Season Seven.
• From the DVD audio commentary, the writer had the idea of bringing in the dragon that came out of the portal in The Gift for Buffy to fight while Giles and Willow fight. However, the seasons budget had been blown of Once More With Feeling and Gone. Because dragons are expensive to use they had to settle with Buffy fighting zombies underground.
• When Xander shows up to stop Willow and starts talking to her, before Willow hurts Xander and stuff, a tear can be seen rolling down the right cheek of Willow. Alyson Hannigan said in an interview that her emotions kicked in when hearing Nicholas say his line, it was so sweet that she shed a tear but was signaled, by a crew member to hold it in.
• This is the only season finale not to be directed by series creator and executive producer Joss Whedon.
• This is the first time we find out what has really been bothering Buffy. She and Giles are talking and Buffy says "I don't understand why I am back." Giles says "You have a calling." Buffy says "But it was my time, Giles, someone would have taken my place."
• As a joke, Nicholas said in an interview that when Willow and Buffy are about to fight, he let in a real mouse onto the set, scaring both actresses in the progress.
• This is the only season without at least a guest appearance by Angel (David Boreanaz).
• According to the Commentary for this episode, the writer said that the whole underground battle with Buffy and Dawn was supposed to take place in a sewer, and wasn't even supposed to be set in a graveyard. The fireball was supposed to find them in the middle of the street, causing Dawn and Buffy to fall in a sewer. The tree/dirt monsters were supposed to be these "really cool" looking tar monsters (streets, tar, it fits) but do to budget constraints he was forced to change it to a graveyard, but the scene would have been the exact same thing, but with "cool" tar monsters. He also said there had to be a grave somewhere in the episode, due to the title.

Season 7: Chosen

Buffy and Angel's reunion is interrupted by Caleb, who is ready for a final battle. The First Evil tells Buffy that it is everywhere and it will never die, but the Turok-Han will upset the balance, making it corporeal. Buffy conceives a plan that will turn the tables on The First.
 

Extras:

• The fact of Sunnydale being destroyed by the Hellmouth was originally supposed to be used in the season five finale "The Gift" but was decided to change the end and save that idea for the series real finale.
• The Survivors: Buffy, Willow, Xander, Dawn, Giles, Andrew, Kennedy, Faith, Robin, Rona, Chao-Ahn, Vi. The Fallen: Anya, Amanda, Spike.
• Anya was originally due to be killed in "The Gift" but survived because she moved while Xander was holding her. Emma Caulfield said at the beginning of the season that she wanted to leave the show, but didn't want Anya to have to die. She changed her mind when it was announced that the series was ending and Anya's death was so Emma would never be called to appear on Angel or any other spin-off shows.
• Even the Mutant Enemy has a final farewell to Buffy viewers, turning towards the fans for his "Grrr... Arrrg..."
• The scene when Buffy was talking to them about the sharing of power was explained only in the later part of the story alike to what they had done in "Showtime".
• The scene between Giles, Buffy, Xander and Willow prior to the Big Fight Scene is a parody of the closing scene from "The Harvest", the series premiere episode. Giles' comment, "The Earth is definitely doomed" is similar to his last line of that episode.
• DYN: The exercise bag Spike is using in the basement has a hand-drawn picture of Angel, complete with nancy-boy gelled hair.
• Spike's last words (in this series at least), ironically: "I want to see how it ends."
• Giles mentions that there is another Hellmouth under Cleveland, referencing "The Wish." In that episode in the alternate reality, when Giles is on the phone talking to Buffy's watcher he says "I realize that there's a great deal of demonic activity in Cleveland."
• In the scene with the original 4 cast members (Giles, Willow, Xander, Buffy) as they are walking away, Xander says he needs a new look due to the eyepatch. Buffy then says "you could go with the full black secret agent look", which is a reference to "Fear Itself" when Xander dressed up as James Bond. Willow then suggests he could go as a pirate with a puffy shirt, from last season's "All The Way."
• There's a reference in this episode, in which Andrew brings up his brother Tucker who attacked the school at Prom night on the episode "The Prom".
• Caleb, the apostate Christian and caricature preacher, dies because of the sign of the cross: Buffy slashed him horizontally at the conclusion of "End of Days" and then bisects him vertically in this episode.
• Some of Cassie's predictions in 'Help' came true in this episode. - Buffy finally says to Spike "I love you"; Cassie told Spike "She'll tell you. Someday she'll tell you." - Cassie says "You will (make a difference)" We learn that the only way to stop The First from ever doing evil is by letting the apocalypse occur, so it may become corporeal. Since Buffy stopped that apocalypse, she definitely made a difference, but The First is still out there, with much opportunity and resources to cause more evil. - Finally, Cassie said to Buffy, "And I know that you'll go someplace dark underground..." This prediction was fulfilled when Buffy led Faith, Spike, and the Potentials into the Hellmouth.
• The amulet and files that Angel presents to Buffy at the beginning of this episode were given to him by Lilah in the Angel season 4 finale "Home."
• Buffy makes a reference to not seeing fat grandchildren in her future with Spike. Jenny Calendar/the First told Angel in "Amends" that she wanted to die surrounded by fat grandchildren. Joss wrote both "Amends" and "Chosen."
• The last scene of this episode was written at the same time as the season opener by Joss. He knew all along how the season would end, and planned for the seventh season to be the last with this conclusion.
• There is an alternate "Chosen" script floating around on the internet. You can view it at www.buffy.nu. There are many differences, including extended dialogue, Xander dying to save Dawn, Anya living to see the end, and a larger explanation as to why the First was able to act now. Dawn is also discovered to be the third slayer, and there are many extra guest stars including Kendra.
• Two episodes before filming this episode, Joss saw the title of Charmed "Oh My Goddess" and decided to use it and make Willow say it.
• Originally Joss was planning to kill off everybody in the last episode, sacrificing themselves to save the world. Joss thought that idea was too depressing and changed it.
• In the original script the conversation between Buffy and Angel was supposed to be longer making Angel reveal to Buffy that he loved Cordy and also that he had a son making Buffy the only one that knew of Connor. This was ultimately changed so not to confuse too much of Angel's storyline with Buffy's.
• This episode was nominated for a 2003 Emmy in the Catergory of Special Visual Effects for a Series.
• We find out in Angel episode "Just Rewards" that Buffy is in Europe. That episode takes place 19 days after this episode did.
• Anya's last words on Buffy the Vampire Slayer were 'Bunnies'.
• Joss Whedon wrote and filmed a scene in which, prior to the final battle, Giles and Wood share a joint, or "hand-rolled cigarette" as Whedon identified it in the script. This scene was filmed but edited out for time and content.
• After Buffy ended there where many virtual spin-off's and continuations they can all be viewed at www.pvtonline.com.
• This is the second season finale wherein the Big Bad was not killed, but the first where the Big Bad's plans were not fully stopped; The First will eventually try his plan again.
• Tom Lenk (Andrew) only missed 7 episodes this entire season.
• The "Welcome to Sunnydale" and the "Now leaving Sunnydale" signs can be spotted several times throughout the series as they have a significant meaning to the plot (like at the end of "Becoming Part 2" (2-22)). Ironically, the "Welcome to Sunnydale" sign is the only thing left of Sunnydale after the Hellmouth crumbles and devours the city. As Buffy and her friends look at what was once Sunnydale, the sign tilts and falls into the hole, marking the total destruction of Sunnydale.
• Buffy and Willow are the only two characters that have appeared in every episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Source: TVTome.com