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Episode 2.21: Becoming Pt. 1 | Episode 3.01: Anne
Characters:
| Buffy | Angel | Xander |
| Willow | Giles | Cordelia |
| Spike | Oz |
Overall (10/10)
Buffy:
The first part of this two-parter was All About Angel. This part is All About Buffy. Whereas with the first part, we saw how Angel went from being a drunken loser to being a evil vampiric loser who's planning to destroy the world. In this episode, we see how Buffy, who at first has everything, swiftly loses it all and becomes nothing.
We've established throughout this year the things that set her apart from other Slayers are the attachments to the world that she has. Her family, friends, school, etc. And in What's My Line? Pt. 2 we find out the importance she places on Angel to her Slayer-identity. Indeed, it is because of her Slayer-identity that she meets and starts up her romance with Angel. The two are intricately linked. When the episode opens, she's willing to kill the unsouled Angel as she's already come to terms with the fact that she's not getting her Angel back.
That's where we start.
Throughout this episode, each part of Buffy's life is stripped away.
Her mother discovers that she's the Slayer. Buffy tries to hide her identity to the very end, but when she dusts a vamp in front of her mom, she doesn't have any choice but to reveal herself. This actually plays out like a gay teen coming out to their parents, especially in Joyce's reaction.
Unfortunately, her mom finds out at the worst possible time. With the world in danger, Giles having been captured, and an enemy offering a helping hand, Buffy doesn't have the luxury to discuss the Slayer thing with her mom.
Does Joyce react badly? Well, she doesn't take it perfectly. But she reacts realistically, which is important. She wants answers. The police are after her daughter. She's hearing about people dying. She's hearing about her daughter planning on killing her ex-boyfriend. And she's suddenly hearing about vampires. It's a lot to take in, and Joyce reacts as well as she can.
After a tussle, though, Joyce tells Buffy that if she leaves, she shouldn't come back. You can tell as soon as the words leave her mouth that she regrets this. Buffy, though, knows that saving the world comes first. So she leaves the house.
Family? Gone.
With a plan with Spike in place, she goes to retrieve the sword from the school library and comes across Snyder. Given the murder charges she's coming up against, Snyder finally has a reason to expel her.
It's never explicitly stated, and you can't help but wonder if Snyder knows she's the Slayer. It seems that he does.
But that's besides the point. Buffy has always tried to integrate school life with her Slaying. And, suddenly, she has that taken away from her.
School? Gone.
She then goes to visit Whistler, our resident deus ex machina. I already commented on the character in the previous episode review, so I won't repeat myself.
Buffy is informed as to how to kill Angel to defeat Acathla. His blood starts the whole process. The only way to close the portal is to kill him and send him through to hell. This is a mechanism remarkably similar to the use of the Key in S5. Indeed, there are a lot of parallels between S5 and S2 (which I'll go into more in depth in S5).
She then goes for the final battle. But not before Whistler mentions (to us, as Buffy's already gone) that she has one more thing to lose.
Which is?
Angel, of course.
She meets up with Xander who's going to get Giles out. She arrives at the mansion. Spike gets his revenge. And Buffy works on taking out the lackeys. Because of Drusilla attacking Spike, Angel is able to get away and open the portal to hell.
At that moment, it's inevitable that Angel will die.
Buffy's friends quickly leave so that she, alone, faces Angel. But as he has her cornered, he taunts her about how she has nothing left. But he's wrong at this point. She still has herself and her conviction. Even without school, her mom, the support of her friends, she's still the Slayer. And she still is firm in her ability to kill Angel.
Until the curse works, and Angel regains his soul. That is the pivotal moment for Buffy. Buffy finally gets back her boyfriend. She hadn't considered the possibility that that could happen.
But by the time his soul is returned, it's too late. The portal is open, and Buffy knows what she has to do. She has to kill the man she loves and send him to hell.
This is probably one of the single most defining character moments for Buffy. Her decision to kill Angel here forever stays with her. It affects her future relationships. It affects her future decisions while Slaying. And it even affects her relationships with her friends.
In killing Angel, though, she also kills her Slayer-identity. She did what she had to to save the world, but she destroyed herself in doing so. In the end, she has nothing, so she leaves town.
I have to give major, major kudos to SMG for her absolutely wonderful acting in this episode. I always love her acting, but she particularly shines in episodes such as this one, and she deserves a mention for it.
Angel:
We finally get to see some of that torture that Angel is so famous for. He gets Giles good and bloody, but the guy still won't talk. Surprisingly, Spike is the cool hand of restraint in preventing Angel from seriously hurting Giles (course, Spike has incentive for protecting Giles at this point).
Angel very nearly succeeds in his destiny to destroy the world, but Buffy keeps that from happening. He does revert to his souled-self though and promptly starts with the confused puppy-dog routine. The worst part about his death is that, no, he doesn't remember anything. Poor guy.
Xander:
"Kick his ass."
Okay, we know what this section is going to be about. It's the moment that gets lots of fan-attention, but very little attention in the actual show. Indeed, it isn't until S7's Selfless that this is even brought up.
Willow decides to try the spell again. Xander goes to help Buffy and get Giles out, and he's supposed to pass along the message of what Willow's doing to Buffy. What do we get instead?
"Kick his ass."
Let's look at motivations first and foremost. There are primarily two possible reasons behind Xander's lie.
One. We saw in the previous episode that Xander is all for Angel dying. He does have complex reasons behind that, but one of the deciding factors is jealousy. Check out my review of Becoming Pt. 1 to see my take on Xander's thoughts here.
Two. It's a strategical maneuver to keep Buffy from being distracted during the big fight.
This is Xander. Unfortunately, explanation numero uno makes more sense. Xander isn't one for strategy. And Buffy is able to think with an amazingly level-head during a crisis situation. Notice her decision in the previous episode where, yes, she asks Willow to go ahead with the curse, but it's only as a last resort. She's not one to get distracted, and Xander knows it.
No, Xander's lie is because Xander believes that he's right about Angel deserving to die. He makes the decision for Buffy to kill him.
Now let's look at the results of the lie. Would it have made any difference if Xander had told Buffy the truth? That's the big question.
Perhaps, if she'd known that Willow was working on the curse, she wouldn't have wasted time on the minions and would have immediately gone after Angel to keep him from taking the sword. Perhaps everything would have gone exactly as it had. It's impossible to say.
However, regardless of whether it affected anything, it was information that Buffy deserved to know. Even if it didn't change anything. Even if Angel still took the sword and the portal opened, Buffy would have known that his soul might be restored so she could have at least prepared herself emotionally for it. If she had had a chance beforehand to consider the possibility that she might have to kill a souled-Angel, she might not have been left as devastated as she was.
As it is, it's one of those "what-if" scenarios that we'll just never know.
Xander gets a severe black mark in my book for this, though. The lie was told because of his own arrogrant belief that his viewpoint concerning Angel is the valid one and his refusal to accept that Buffy would need that information. It was selfish and completely unjustified. And, unfortunately, we have to wait 5 seasons to even hear about it again.
On a side note, now that I've completely bashed Xander, I found his scene with an unconscious Willow to be very sweet. And, no, I don't think he was talking about a romantic love when he told her that he loved her. It seemed to be more of a best friend love to me. Notice his little smile as he leaves the room to get the doctor after she wakes up. He's just glad to have his best friend back.
Is Willow's crush on Xander over? While waking up, she mumbles Oz's name, not Xander's. I would like to say that, yes, she's over him, but events in S3 prove me wrong, dammit.
Now in this episode, Willow works the serious mojo. Very advanced for a girl who just barely got into witchcraft. Most fans believe she was possessed by the spirit of Jenny or someone similar to complete the spell. That certainly seems likely.
It could just be Willow's own power, though. As we find out later on, Willow is an incredibly powerful witch. She may not have the skills now, but it's possible that the powers took her over and the restoration spell was done completely on her own.
That's one of the eternal BtVS mysteries, though.
It's interesting that she was resolved to do the spell again, though. I get the impression that Willow wasn't doing the spell primarily for Buffy. She was doing it for herself; to prove to herself that she could do such serious magic. This is actually another ominous sign of where this magic will take Willow. She gleefully does advanced spells simply to see if she can do them without much regard for the consequences. Xander's lie aside, Buffy would have been much better off if Willow had not done this spell.
Giles gets tortured. You'd think if he knew those details about Acathla, he would have told Buffy about it in part one. But that's a minor quibble of mine.
He holds up remarkably well under torture. It is only with the mind games of Drusilla that he gives up the information that Angel needs.
Cordy gets very little to do. She plays along with the rest of the Scooby gang.
And here we have a major turning point for Spike.
He delivers his famous "happy meals with legs" speech, proving that he is a vampire that, ironically enough, enjoys living. When he becomes a regular, we see how immersed Spike is in the world and can fully understand where he's coming from here.
However, his primary reason for allying with the Slayer is to get Dru back. Again, everything Spike does is for his love. He wants Angel dead and Drusilla back with him. And, being the opportunistic type of vamp he is, he's willing to make a deal with Buffy to get it.
Buffy and Spike's initial confrontation is a priceless example of what's to come in their relationship as they casually trade blows whilst in the middle of their conversation. They come to an uneasy truce and decide to go to her house for more privacy.
Now, Spike may have a truce with Buffy, but that surely doesn't extend to the point where he has to help lie to her mother. He helps her cover, though. And when that's blown, he sits awkwardly with her mother while Buffy checks in with her friends.
Eventually, Buffy and Spike work out a plan that satisfies both of them.
This truce will forever haunt Spike. When he comes back during S3's Lover's Walk, he says that Dru cheated on him because of this truce because she said he had gone soft as a result of it. However, we find out in S5's Fool For Love that this truce is the start of Spike's romantic obsession with Buffy. It's something that he steadfastly denies until that very same episode, though.
This does mark "the one that got away" for Spike, though. He's made a reputation for killing Slayers. And here, to get his Dru back, he lets one walk away. That turns into an obsession that eventually turns into love (much, much later on).
But in this episode, he's all about Drusilla.
He keeps Angel from killing Giles, as he promises Buffy. And he takes his opportunity to get his payback on Angel. Unfortunately, this payback is cut short when Drusilla attacks him.
He renders her unconscious (and I'm not even gonna weigh into the debate on how he managed to do that when she's a vampire) and carries her off. Interestingly enough, he leaves while under the impression that Buffy will lose. And he just shrugs it off. Despite his pretty speech about how much he likes the world, once he has Dru in his arms, he just doesn't care anymore.
He walks away and drives off, clutching an unconscious Dru possessively. I would pay good money to see what happened when she finally woke up.
Like Cordelia, Oz doesn't have a whole lot to do in this episode besides play a supporting role.
See part one? Extend out.
Angel, again.
And thus endeth the S2 arc.
Plus, we get another hint at the S3 arc with Snyder's phone call to the Mayor.
I can't praise this episode highly enough. While the first part falls short in a lot of areas, this part demonstrates everything that is great about Buffy. It picks up on threads that were in place throughout the season. And it masterfully deals with the heart of the Buffy character and the complete devastation of that character.
We get a perfect example of the tragedy that Joss is able to inflict upon our characters in this episode. And the events in this episode lay the groundwork for so much that comes after in the series. It's a pivotal episode.
Special performance award goes to Anthony Stewart Head for getting to kiss Robia LaMorte and Juliet Landau. Lucky bloke.
10 out of 10. I have no complaint.
The final fight scene between Buffy and Angel. From the moment Buffy enters the mansion to the moment she runs the sword through Angel. I'm not a fan of the Buffy/Angel romance (I know. I hide it well), but even I get teary-eyed at Buffy's loss here, and, as I mentioned above, it's an essential turning point in Buffy's character arc.
Episode 2.21: Becoming Pt. 1 | Episode 3.01: Anne
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