I'm a huge Buffy fan, rewatched multiple times and even got a cameo from James Marsters for my anniversary last year (best gift ever). I know this is probably an unpopular opinion amongst fans, and S7 is seen an overall bad season.

However I think it was just in the wrong order. In previous seasons the first episode is always big, and so are the final 3 episodes, then in the middle we always have a good mix of filler episodes and big episodes. The filler episodes also have good foreshadowing for the future, and sometimes a big reveal at the end.

Season 7 has 5 big episodes to start, and then a ton of fillers and a couple of big episodes, followed by about 6 episodes that all big episodes. It makes it a difficult season to watch because every single one leads onto the next, the final filler episode (IMO) is Storyteller, but even that has some big impact to it. Faith should have been in for longer (obviously that wouldn't work with the way they did Angel too), and they should have spaces episodes 17-19 out more.