Buffy and Angel Rewatch part 52 (BtVS Season 7/Angel Season 4)

I must admit I'm pretty sad to start this season of Buffy as its the final one, though thankfully after these seasons are done I have one Angel one to ease the pain of finishing Buffy!
NB I've deviated from the list I've been following a little watching this season as some of the continuing episodes weren't placed together in the watching order.

B7.01 Lessons
I didn't really remember much of this episode from when I first watched it, but its an impressive way to kick off the final season. The episode gets right into introducing the Big Bad in a way that no other season (bar the first) has done. Building the High School again is beautifully poetic and its the perfect setting for Buffy to fight the final battle. Plus Dawn makes sure that she's linked with it again.
I liked that Dawn is now getting trained to fight, she's nearly 17 and Buffy, Willow and Xander had been fighting demons for quite a while by then, so Dawn really needed to get in on the action. The main story of the manifested spirits was a nice one, mostly because it was simple, creepy and a neat call back to the classic high school days.
There was a lot of mystifying/overlong dialogue though elsewhere, with Spike obviously and with Willow and Giles, which seemed to go on a little.
My favourite scene though has to be the final one. Bringing back all the dead Big Bads was a stroke of genius and honestly it was nice to see the history of Buffy in this way. (9/10)

A4.01 Deep Down
There was a lot of loose ends and cliffhangers to deal with in this episode and mostly they were well dealt with so the season could get going. The Wesley stuff was the most interesting. To see how dark he had become, especially with keeping Justine was a little horrifying but it was reassuring to see that by searching for Angel he still had some heart. How more evil other half, Lilah also had some enjoyable scenes in which she thankfully dispatched on the annoying Linwood, in a very entertaining way!
Angel's hallucinations varied, the first was the strongest and most fun to watch, bu they increasingly became more boring, however significant they were to Angel's hopes and fears. The Gunn/Fred and Connor stuff was probably the weakest of the episode. However Fred's tearful speech to Connor was very well done as was Angel's own and was a nice capper to the episode. (8/10)

B7.02 Beneath You
This is a bit of a mixed episode. The Spike going mad stuff is rather good. James Marsters pulls off the mood swings and the crazy so well and its a very enjoyable performance, especially the final scene. The main story was less enjoyable however. The girl with the worm ex boyfriend was a bit of an ungrateful bitch; she never really thanked Buffy or Xander for saving her life and she didn't even check on her ex after he had been stabbed. It was difficult to sympathise with her which made the story less enjoyable. I did like seeing Anya working as a vengeance demon though. The confrontation scene at The Bronze was pretty funny, but I would've liked to see demon Anya go up against Spike rather than Buffy again. (7/10)

A4.02 Ground State
When I first watched this episode I didn't really like Gwen. Her dalliance with Angel felt a little bit too much of a betrayal to Cordy, but as a character she has definitely grown on me. As the opening flashback showed, she is just a lost little girl, whose powers have kept her from being close to anyone. This obviously makes her a wonderful thief. Her story and the quest to find the Axis of Pythis was an interesting one, but again, the Wesley and Lilah stuff was probably a little more interesting. The ending was a bit of a downer with the group just accepting that Cordy was where she belongs (opposite of the Scoobies in Buffy in season 6), more so as the team is so small at the moment and it doesn't feel right somehow. (7.5/10)