Buffy's Last Stand

Over the past seven years, Buffy Summers has brought the world back from the brink of destruction and closed vortices that would have sucked the Earth into a hell dimension, only dying twice in the process. But this time, the apocalypse is real. On Tuesday, May 20, Buffy the Vampire Slayer will dust her final vamp and battle her last demon. And then the world will end.

For almost seven years now, I've spent nearly every Tuesday night watching Buffy and the Scooby Gang kill vampires, demons and even a hellgod or two. I've spent more hours than I care to count repeating Buffy witticisms, detailing blow-by-blow accounts of action scenes, critiquing the cast's style in clothing, and agonizing over their broken hearts. Buffy night became a ritual in my various apartments, wherever that happened to be. As a recent college grad, interning at an entertainment magazine in Los Angeles, my roommate and I turned down movie screenings, red-carpet openings and record-release parties because they were scheduled for a Tuesday at 8pm. Upon moving to the Central Coast, Buffy night evolved to take-out food, a bottle of wine, chocolate and like-minded Slayer friends.

I'll admit it: When Sarah Michelle Gellar, who plays Buffy, announced that Season 7 would be her last as Buffy, the proverbial stake was driven through my heart.

At first I didn't believe all the end-is-near talk. It's not like Buffy hasn't died before. And it's not like Buffy and crew haven't fought off an apocalypse or six in their seven-season run. When you live atop a hellmouth -- as they happen to do -- it kinda comes with the territory. But this time, it's looking pretty eternal. R.I.P, Buff. You'll be missed.

The vampire slayer got her start on the big screen. In 1992, 20th Century Fox produced a movie about a high school girl named Buffy Summers, cheerleading prom queen by day, Vampire Slayer by night. Written by Joss Whedon, "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" was a brilliant story, with witty one liners (and the brilliant Donald Sutherland as Buffy's Watcher) but critics said the direction was less-than divine. And while it quickly became a favorite of my cheerleading friends and me, the movie was hardly a dazzling success.

Lucky for Whedon and fans, "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" was reborn in 1996 as a television show, this time with Whedon in control of the production.

The TV show was scary, sexy and smart. It's butt-kicking, sex-kitten heroine slayed the old horror-movie cliché of the cute girl as helpless victim. Buffy was one tough-as-nails chick. On the small screen, Whedon's creation was pure genius.

Unlike many teen-genre shows, Buffy acutely depicted the drama and heartbreak of the high-school-into-twenty-something years. The vampires Buffy fought were often dramatizations of the real monsters we all face: death, separation, alienation, and the horror that is high school. Sometimes they were more vaguely horrific, like the Gentlemen -- tall, thin, toothy undertaker-looking floating demons who steal the voices of everyone in Sunnydale in an attempt to harvest their hearts.

During its seven-season run, Buffy's clever pop culture references and raw emotion resonated with teen audiences and adults alike. At the height of its popularity, 5.3 million viewers tuned in every week to watch Buffy destroy all sorts of evil with her tae kwon do moves and deadly wit -- not to mention her keen fashion sense.

Not only did Buffy destroy the vamps, she did it in style. Anyone with a wooden stake and a decent arm could stick it to the undead most of the time, but fighting in tight designer jeans and stilettos revealed real skill.

Sure, it's a cliché, but at critical junctures in my life I often find myself thinking, what would Buffy do? And what would Buffy wear? At its core, Buffy told a coming-of-age story. The heroine fell in love with Angel, a centuries-old vampire. Unlike most blood-sucking demons, however, Angel was a good vamp. He had a soul. When Buffy had sex with him for the first time, he lost his soul, became a monster, tried to kill Buffy's mom, and opened a vortex that would suck Earth into a hell dimension. It's every girl's worst nightmare. Eventually he got his soul back, but by then it was too late. Buffy had to drive a stake through Angel's heart to close the vortex. Bummer.