I’ve always wanted to ask, when a vampire is slain, why do the clothes disappear? Convenience. We didn’t want to be picking up clothes all the time. We imagine that it creates a sort of temporal field that sort of turns everything to dust around it. We thought about it.

How do you make each unstoppable monster unique and threatening? We got into a problem with that. We kept saying, “This monster can’t be killed.” It’s like, “Well, have you used violence?” It was never about the unstoppableness. It was never about the monster. It was about the emotion. The monster came from that. We didn’t always make them unique. We tried as much as possible, but what was important was how they related to the characters and that’s what made them unique.

So how does that apply to The First and Caleb? It’s been playing on everything they’ve ever gone through very specifically and that’s why it’s a good series ender of a monster. That’s what makes it interesting. What makes it unstoppable, I can’t really say.

How is this season lighter than last? Well, last season was very much about Buffy doubting herself and the concept of power, sort of hating herself and fantasizing about relinquishing power and getting into a really unhealthy relationship because of that. This season is about coming to terms with power and sharing it and enjoying it. So, in that respect it’s been lighter.

In the finale, will Giles have more to do than just argue? Yes, in the season finale, he will bicker.

Did the decision to end the show cause you to back off from any subplots you might have explored? It was my decision to end the show. We don’t resolve every single subplot completely because that’s not the way life works. You also want to leave doors open for other things one day. But basically, it wasn’t like somebody told me, “You’re going to stop.” I knew I was going to stop. So, we knew this season finale was going to be the most final.

What should fans do now that they’ll have an extra hour free in their schedule? What should they do with that hour? Write fan fic.