Just wanted to say that I think this will really help me. I'm tending toward The First being my behind the scenes villain, and it was so muddled in Season 7 that it's sometimes difficult to figure it out. I really like the corruption part, and the whole concept of getting what it wanted, dovetails with the plot bunny I've had that I had wanted to use -- namely, that I too had thought that it was a distinct possibility that The First did get what it wanted in Chosen. That it actually wanted a all the Slayers activated at once.