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Episode 2.18: Killed by Death | Episode 2.20: Go Fish
Characters:
| Buffy | Angel | Xander |
| Willow | Giles | Cordelia |
| Spike |
Overall (9/10)
Buffy:
Here we finally come to an episode to deal with Buffy's guilt over what happened with Angel. Willow actually starts the ball rolling at the beginning when she tells Buffy that what happened with Angel wasn't her fault.
Buffy, however, believes that it is. We see in this episode that she sees herself as having been the aggressor in their relationship. And she believes that she should be punished for giving into her passions in having sex with Angel. It was this, after all, that effectively killed the Angel she knew and started the rein of terror that is Angelus.
Buffy does live in the land of denial, though. At first, she was able to redirect the blame towards Miss Calendar. Now that Jenny is dead, she's left with nobody to blame but herself. The spirit of James picks up on her guilt and her need for forgiveness and targets her in his hauntings.
But while Buffy may need forgiveness, she doesn't think she deserves it. Her intense hostility towards James and her refusal to view him in any sort of sympathetic light gives us insight into her own feelings toward herself. The guilt of having been responsible for killing her lover is overwhelming.
It is revealed at the end that James' murder of Grace was an accident. Yes, he had a gun pointed at her, but it went off accidentally. Just like Buffy, he never intended to kill the one he loved. However, the despair upon doing so leads him to suicide.
Fortunately, James picks the right couple. Angel, being a vampire, can't be killed by a gunshot wound. He is able to continue channeling Grace's spirit and give James the forgiveness that he needs. Grace also assures him that she continued to love him until her last breath.
This is an interesting parallel. Buffy (while channeling James) states angrily that a person doesn't just wake up and stop loving somebody. That's exactly what happened with Angel, though. The show has made it clear that there is no trace of the loving Angel that Buffy knew once his soul is lost.
It's refreshing that, at the end, Buffy still doesn't understand. This isn't an episode that tidily clears up her guilt issues. Yes, it makes her more aware of them. But, as she tells Giles, she still doesn't understand how she can be forgiven.
Angel:
Angel's channeling of Grace's spirit is rather interesting. She is the older, presumably more responsible one in the relationship with James. And, like Angel, she allows a romance to develop against her better judgement. In the end, both Angel and Grace wind up being killed by their lovers. Grace being literally shot. Angel by having his soul taken away.
However, it is with Grace's forgiveness of James (and can we stop to reflect on the aptness of her name?) that we realize that a souled Angel would do much the same with Buffy. Whether Buffy is able to admit it or not, the Angel she fell in love with would gladly forgive her for her part in the loss of his soul, and would reaffirm his love for her.
But we have the unsouled Angel now, and he's none-too-happy about the "violation" of his body. Kinda strange that he doesn't have any wound on his body when we see him shirtless at the end. I know vampires heal quickly, but I thought a gunshot wound would take a bit longer.
Xander:
Xander, as usual, provides us with some much-needed comic relief. However, he also gets to show his understanding side in the scene before Buffy goes back to the school. He informs Buffy that James can't just live with what he did...cause he's dead. While his comment frustrates Buffy, it also reminds us of the overall situation. James has been and is still being punished for what he did. Buffy, in her mind, hasn't been.
Let me get the bad out of the way. Why the hell is Willow still teaching Jenny's class? I'm sorry, but it's just a bit too unrealistic to have a student teaching a class through the end of the year. I always thought it was very odd.
But moving on. Willow finally gets into the witchcraft thing. Going through Jenny's stuff has piqued her interest. As we see here, though, she's still a novice. It's not explained exactly why the exorcism doesn't work, but it could easily be the fact that Willow is inexperienced and missed something important. Regardless, this starts one of the major story lines as Willow delves into the magicks.
Let me also comment on Willow's encouragement of Buffy at the beginning. She's trying to convince Buffy to date again. This is something that Willow does often and it, quite frankly, gets on my nerves. For one, it's obvious that Buffy is not going to be in a good state to date at any time in the near future. And the idea that Willow seems to have that Buffy needs to be dating someone to be happy is very annoying. It actually isn't until S5's I Was Made to Love You that this is addressed by Buffy, who realizes that she doesn't need a guy to be complete (this is also echoed by the famous "cookie-dough" speech at the beginning of S7's Chosen).
We see Giles finally trying to come to terms with Jenny's death. He is so eager to have any sort of contact with her that he jumps to the unrealistic conclusion that Jenny is the one responsible for the haunting. He's so insistent that he refuses to hear any other theories. As Buffy says, "He misses her."
Giles realizes that he's wrong, though, with some prompting from Willow. Then he goes back into Watcher-mode. I found his discussion with Buffy especially touching. He informs her that forgiveness is an act of compassion. It's not done because a person deserves it, but because they need it.
In a show that deals so much with redemption and forgiveness, this important point seems to get lost somewhere along the way. Of course, it helps that Buffy doesn't seem to quite accept this at this point. But notice her behavior towards Spike in S7 after he has gone to great lengths to better himself in atonement for his actions at the end of S6. Neither Buffy nor Spike are willing to forgive him, though, as they don't feel that he deserves it (Thankfully, Buffy is able to move past this, but one of the great faults of S7 is that the issue of Buffy forgiving Spike is never truly resolved. Instead, it's just dropped).
But I digress. For such a stodgy, tweedy guy, Giles shows remarkable insight into humanity.
Cordelia has very little to do in this episode besides provide some comic relief. She does point out to the group, and to the audience, the fact that Buffy is identifying with James, though. Just in case we missed it.
Spike looks like he's had the last straw with Angel. Thank goodness his legs are working again. It's a serious cheer-moment at the end when he stands up and kicks the wheelchair.
I'm very much amazed at Spike's patience, though. We don't know how long his legs have been working (presumably, not very long). But he manages to hide this from Angel and Dru through the next two episodes. This from the vampire who could easily be diagnosed with ADD and who has a fierce temper. I'm muchly impressed that he doesn't snap and leave his chair to attack Angel beforehand.
Your typical ghost story with a twist. The ghost story is actually a clever way to deal with the issue of guilt and forgiveness as it pertains to Buffy's situation.
Actually, there's no clear-cut bad guy. James is the "villain" in that he is responsible for people's deaths. However, by the end we see that he is a sympathetic villain with parallels to Buffy's situation.
Something of an arc episode. Truthfully, this is where the S2 arc kinda falls apart. What the hell are Angel and Dru doing now? Doesn't look like much. Angel in this episode even states that he's tired of bugging Buffy and wants to move on to other things. Okay...what other things? And why has he suddenly lost interest in Buffy?
Also, we get a bit of a teaser for the S3 arc with a mention of the Mayor to Principal Snyder. Duh duh DUM!
It's no secret that I'm not a big fan of the Buffy/Angel romance, but I do love this episode. It deals with the issues Buffy's having very well and very effectively. And I like that it doesn't have a sitcom-ish "and Buffy learns a valuable lesson" ending. Indeed, at the end, she still doesn't believe that she deserves any forgiveness.
Truthfully, the haunting stuff didn't do much for me. I've seen it all before. Not too interesting. But the heart of the episode was the story of James and Grace and how it relates to Buffy and Angel's relationship.
Special performance award goes to Alyson Hannigan for her tumble down the stairs with Anthony Stewart Head. Good job.
9 out of 10.
You'd think it would be the big scene where Buffy and Angel get taken over by James and Grace's spirits, right? Nope. For me, the best moment is before that when Giles is trying to explain forgiveness to Buffy. This scene is so very touching and heartbreaking as we see that Buffy just doesn't get it. It also can easily apply to so many other things that happen over the course of the series.
Episode 2.18: Killed by Death | Episode 2.20: Go Fish
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