This episode should have been carefully thought out, several times and with careful consideration to the fans and the heart of the series.<br /><br />I almost wish I had never seen this last episode. If you haven't, it could be an alternative not to see it and just imagine the end you would like to see instead.<br /><br />Long before I saw this last episode, I was a bit afraid that the writers might use up most of the episode's runtime on the final battle.<br /><br />In my opinion, the final battle should have taken up maybe 50% of the episode. So that the last 50% could have been used to clear things out and to round up a good and satisfying ending to this great series.<br /><br />Instead, my worst fears got answered, and then some. 90% involves the final battle, 5% is left for some social substance before the battle and 5% at the end, after the battle.<br /><br />Of course, it's not all bad. There is -one- scene in it that is nice. The scene is of course when Buffy and Spike are talking at the end of the battle, and Buffy reaches for Spike's hand, their hands embrace and a magic flame bursts out from their hands, in my interpretation; "the flame of love". This is also where Buffy finally tells Spike: "I love you". And I'm almost crying of joy and the intensity of the moment, only to get a "slap" in the face 2 seconds later, when Spike replies; "No, you don't... But thanks for saying it".<br /><br />I could not believe my ears; Buffy finally admits that she loves him, and then Spike replies that she does not and is only trying to be nice, giving me the impression that Buffy might be lying. Then he tells her to go, she goes and eventually Spike begins to die/burn up and finally dies.<br /><br />Not only was his rejection of Buffy's sincerity in her love for him a painful anti-climax, having been built up for so long and we, the fans of their relationship, had been waiting impatiently for, for so long, but he dies as well! Then we have the completely unnecessary death of Anya, which I could have been able to accept if Spike had survived, answered something different to Buffy, and they had ended up together.<br /><br />But now, this was just something completely unnecessary. To me, the characters of the principal and Willows new girlfriend, Kennedy, would have been much better candidates for the obligatory deaths in a battle of this magnitude.<br /><br />Xander is also very indifferent when he hears of Anya, the love of his life's death. This is also somewhat of an anti-climax.<br /><br />At the end, when the survivors are standing around, looking at the big hole in the ground, not much is cleared out.<br /><br />I was devastated when the episode ended. I was angry, sad, disappointed, frustrated and I felt a bit empty and deceived. This is not how I wanted to feel the night of December 24:th.<br /><br />Now, in retrospect, I have been able to interpret Spike's reply in a different way. I believe he told Buffy that she does not love him, just because he knew that he would die and he wanted her to leave so that she would not die as well. He also wanted her to be able to love somebody else, and not love him. So she was sincere and he knew that.