I'm not a bangel anti by any means but my god I hate their reunion in chosen so much. angel is here and they kiss and we're supposed to cheer I guess? but the thing is it doesn't land.
buffy and spike had been crafting this beautiful friendship/partnership throughout the season and now, out of nowhere, angel is an option too. and the audience is supposed to go "oh, no, who is it gonna be angel or spike?" and buffy says she doesn't want to choose because she feels she doesn't know who she's gonna become yet (which is valid) but the thing is buffy already made her choice, even before that conversation and after it too. she goes to spike, she decides to spend the night with spike. by this point she has outgrown angel but the narrative refuses to let it go.
and don't get me started on angel's perspective of all of this cause it makes that whole scene even worse. like my guy you just spend an entire season pining after cordelia, why in the world would you kiss buffy and imply that you're still in love with her? it doesn't.make.sense. you two haven't been the people that fell in love for a very long time, but the writing insists on gaslighting me and it makes me so angry. the wasted potential of seeing these characters that have been through so much separately bond over their similar stories makes me so sad.
I think the issue is that the finale tries to hamfist buffy angel and spike into a love triangle when they're very much not a love triangle. buffy and angel happen at a different time in buffy's life, and buffy and spike happen at a different time in buffy's life. before this episode, its never been "ooohh who's buffy gonna choose, angel or spike 👀"
but the writers must have thought that love triangles tend to do very well in creating hype and conversation so lets end the show at that instead of giving it the definite ending we've building towards for the past season. bc before this episode its very much buffy and spike. the whole season is spent building their relationship, so this sudden appearance of angel, not just as a friend but as a potential love interest when buffy realistically would have moved on from that relationship at this point is so odd. it makes zero narrative sense.
I still think Chosen is a great finale and i love buffy's ending but *this* particular choice makes no sense.
