on her shoulders. Production details Originally the series finale was planned as a two-hour event. However, UPN only ordered 22 episodes instead of the required 23. This was why stories were so rushed at the end, according to Gellar. Writing Season seven explores the fundamental separation between the Slayer and other people, which the series finale turns upside down. As J. Lichtenberg points out in her essay on heroism in the Buffyverse, Buffy is a hero because she makes her own rules. "Finally an adult, Buffy rejects the fate laid out for her by the Council of Watchers and a couple of old men millennia ago," Lichtenberg writes. "She finally achieves her goal of normality - not by changing her own nature, but by making others like her." In a BBC interview before this episode aired, writer/director Joss Whedon said, "If nobody cries... then I've definitely failed. It's really emotional - you're supposed to laugh, cry and gasp with excitement - as well as take away a beautiful feminist message." He acknowledges that the magic unleashed from the scythe in this episode is "somewhat convenient" and that the Turok-Han vampires are far easier to kill in this episode than in previous episodes (in which Anya noted their tough chest bones make staking them extremely difficult), but as a writer, it was more important for him to get to the show's message of empowerment by showing what Willow's magic and Buffy's status as the Slayer means to each of them. As opposed to Spike's "perfect, noble" death, Whedon wanted another character to die in a "real middle-of-the-battle death" and to have it done "brutally and suddenly and never really pay it off". Emma Caulfield stated at the beginning of season 7 that this would be her last season on Buffy, even if the show was renewed for another season, and so Caulfield was fine with having Anya be the character who was killed. In the DVD commentary, Whedon says that he wanted Angel to exit the show exactly like he entered, backing out into the darkness behind him. Reception "Chosen" attracted 4.9 million viewers on its original run. SFX, a British sci-fi magazine, listed "Chosen" the 8th best episode of Buffy (number one was "Hush"). The episode was nominated for both a 2003 Emmy Award in the Category of Special Visual Effects for a Series, and for the 2004 Hugo Award