So, the Buffy finale.... Really good. Satisfying. Calls back to things in the series without hitting you over the head with it, but also allowing you to remember the journey you've been on.

I had mixed feelings about the Buffy finale. I absolutely loved it as the finale of the series (for all the reasons that you mention), but overall I found Season 7 to be incoherent and dull (are they fighting cave-vampires, the lame First Evil, the people who created the First Slayer, or what), and as the ending of that season, it worked no better.