Luke’s Review of ‘Into Each Generation’
So, 5 seasons and two webisode series later we are finally at the end. Can the series finale live up to the expectations set by previous season finales such as Vertigo and Ask Me Again and the stellar season that has come before it? There’s only one way to find out...
I’m still thinking that the choice Sofia mentioned to Greg will be whether they want to be slayers or not. They will use the scythe and the Orb of Enchantia to give every slayer the choice of whether they want the power. When Buffy made all of the potentials slayers in Chosen she doomed a lot of girls to death as they were simply unprepared for the forces that would come after them so I think it will be awesome if this is the plan they go with, give these girls a choice that Buffy or the Shadow Men never did.
I can’t believe Mela actually killed Fran. I was expecting her to have a change of heart and tell Fran that she loved her too and then Celeste was going to kill Fran but no, your way is so much better than that!!! I wasn’t a big Fran fan, I found her annoying a lot of the time and her and Mela have really irritated me this season but I think this was a great way to end her story. It was over with quite quickly too but I think this was a good thing, like Anya’s death in Chosen, that highlights how something so big can go almost unnoticed in a battle as huge as the one we have here. Obviously Fran’s death had a huge impact on the episode but it was over so quick and the girls didn’t have any time to react to it which was a little heartbreaking.
So the plan is to create the biggest hellmouth ever and open it to destroy the world. I’m liking that the show is going back to it’s roots and this episode is essentially a ‘close the hellmouth of the week’ episode and is set in what everyone was demanding back in those first seasons, more stories set at the academy.
I’m a little sad to see Delaney break her no killing rule, even though Mela fully deserved it. I think it would have been awesome to have her finish the series having stuck to that. Celeste’s death was pretty decent, bringing into play those scenes between Lady Huang and Sofia that mostly bored me.
I think it’s safe to say Tori has kicked the bucket. Then again, you never know with this show, she could survive it somehow or the bad guys could keep her body and use her to get to our girls like Hamish tried to do with Rachel.
The closing of the hellmouth seemed a little easy if I’m being honest, Frankie did a spell and then whatever almost managed to get out got crush by the school. It all seemed a little rushed. Then again, there’s so much to get into this episode that some things were always going to feel that way.
Delaney having both the power of all the slayers and the coven inside her and not being able to handle it is a great climax of her story of not knowing whether she’s a witch or a slayer primarily. The fact that she tells Winstone that she is a slayer and a with says that she is finally comfortable and acceptant of being both. That’s my opinion anyway.
I reckon that Frankie will have chosen not to have the slayer power, she has proven to everyone, and more importantly herself, hat she doesn’t need it to be strong. She is amazing at doing what she does. Sophia too will deny the power. I think this is the end of her journey as a slayer. Will she appear in Ragnarok? Almost certainly. I think that she is ready to choose her successor and will choose Belle or Reiko.
No, no, no. Why did you have Frankie kiss Dade?!?!?!?! It just doesn’t feel right. It should have been Reiko kissing Dade. We only get Barbara back for a little cameo in a scene towards the very end. I’d have liked her to come back in the previous episode with Catherine et al or leading the cavalry that Winstone called for but this is better than nothing. I liked the ending, I think it closed both the episode and the show nicely.
I would have liked to have seen Emma again. She’s probably the only character that I missed in the episode. I think it would have been nice to have Sophia and Frankie stood next to what’s left of the academy and when you showed the building in all it’s glory have Emma, Alita and Skye appear next to them before showing all the other characters that we have lost. That would have been a nice touch.
This may just be me being stupid and I have no evidence to back me up as I can’t remember what made me think this but I thought in the past it was mentioned that Reiko was the true slayer? With that I expected her to play a bigger part in the finale of the show. Like I said though, I don’t recall where this comes from.
Well, I don’t think anyone can say that Slayer Academy went out with a whimper! The academy itself is destroyed, the coven is gone, the activation spell from ‘Chosen’ was improved, several character deaths and some great visuals. Definitely a fitting finale to an awesome show.
There have been high points over the years: Frankie’s amazing transformation; Skye’s development from sarcastic sidekick to full on leader; Delaney and SNAFU to name but a few. There have been low points: too many characters; Debbie (a general opinion, not mine) and poor male characters. One things for sure though, you guys were amazingly resilient. Not only did you take on a fair bit of criticism and stuck with the show, but you have turned it into a rather decent series and brought it to what feels like a natural conclusion. You could have quickly written an ending for season three and called it quits but you stuck to your guns and told an amazing story. Thank-you.
