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oh boy oh boy here we go! end of season 2!

little schedule update discussed in the beginning but i'll toss it here in writing form too!
-part 2 will go up tomorrow (oct 20)
-season 3 episode 1 will be delayed 2 days and will go up oct 28 (thursday)
-and we will resume tuesday postings again for season 3 ep 2 :)

appreciate the understanding! enjoy!! 

Files

Buffy Season 2, Ep 21 - Becoming Pt. 1

Vidyard video

Comments

Claire Eyles

Fantastic reaction as always. <3

Jessica Roth

I should point out that I LOVE this episode, that IMO it's the best "Part One" to date. That it has so much good stuff, from an absolutely classic Buffy/Willow scene to David playing SIX different versions of Angel. I just got ranty above. Sorry. (In the script, before Angel reveals that he's just decoying Buffy away from the Library, he calls her "Little Miss Ego". I really wish that had stayed in, because…as much as I love Buffy, that's pretty much the perfect description of her. Plus it would have set up a great "mirror" with 2.10 and Xander joking [after meeting Kendra] "I knew all this 'I'm the only one!' stuff was just an attention-getter." Sigh. Poor Kendra. I'll cry for you, girl.)

ghostofdurruti

Well, we finally got to see Dru fighting... and all it cost was a Slayer. They say this show loves to give you what you thought you wanted in the worst possible way. Going to keep my thoughts short this time and wait till tomorrow to make a longer comment with the context of the entire two-parter. For now I'll just say that I love this finale and how the flashbacks in this first part flesh out the backstory. Funnily enough, here we are in the finale of the second season of a vampire show, and I think the opening flashback with Darla and human Angel is actually the first time we've actually seen the process of someone being turned into a vampire! Angel's declaration that he wanted to "become someone" in order to help Buffy would come across as a lot sweeter if he never developed a romantic interest in her and just hung around to help out, though. Just saying. I didn't catch this until a rewatch, but when Angelus exclaims to Buffy "And you fall for it every single time!" he's referring to the season premiere, in which the Annoying One's vampire gang drew her away from the library by letting her know that they had Cordy in order to kidnap Willow and Giles.

Melissa

I could never have enough self-discipline to wait to watch lol. The ending of Part 1 is one of the best endings in any show. The slow motion, Buffy's coat willowing heh, Whistler's voiceover, and the score - just so, so good. By the way, I had no idea until last night when I rewatched the ending of Part 1, (after rewatching over the weekend because I wanted to, after rewatching for my rewatch a month or so ago (obsessed?me? hah!) that there was a version like we saw here with Angel doing the voiceover in the beginning. I had only ever heard Whistler and I was like, what are they talking about? I guess it works for the origin story part of the ep, but I was really glad it was still Whistler (aka Leather Jacket Guy) at the end. It is hard to side with Xander even though like you rightfully pointed out he does make some good points. He's just such an asshole about it. Spike really has some great lines - "Someone wasn't woooooorthy" and the one with the morning paper. And the one before Angel says he never learned his history where he says it's a big rock and he would go tell his friends lol. The other funny line was Buffy confusing Acathla with alfalfa. Loved getting to see Darla again and how she sired Angel. Slightly bizarre seeing Buffy as the shallow type. Ah, Kendra. We hardly knew ye...

charlie ray

this reaction just pulled me out of a hung over depression! thank you xxx

Jessica Roth

The Angel voiceover was the original version, but they changed it to Whistler for the DVDs. I hate to lose Angel (what's your video source, Darcie?) but I guess it makes sense for it to be one voice and unlike Angel's ruminations on "passion" before, this really can't be framed as ANGEL wanting to instruct the audience. I'm not so hugely thrilled with the voice-overs here, to be honest. "You'll see what I mean" seems a bit TOO much "tune in next week!", IMO. Perhaps a different final v/o, with Angel doing his "every step has led me here" riff while we have the contrast of Buffy rushing back into the Library to discover how badly things have gone? Idk.

Jessica Roth

DARCIE (as Drusilla enters the Library): Where's Rupe? ME: On the floor. Unconscious. As usual. (We saw the "Captain Picard" vamp [bald, red/black shirt] kayo Giles before Kendra pulled him off and threw the vamp through the office window. And to be fair, Xander and Willow are also knocked out by now. Kendra dies alone, essentially, Sigh.)

Melissa

I'm fine with the delay Darcie, going out of the country to a tropical island to celebrate the big one(!) with my boyfriend so I won't get to see it right away anyway. 3.01 isn't my favorite episode, but season 3 is my favorite season so I'm excited for you to start it! Safe travels home! <3

Andrew Pulrang

This is a great two-part finale, and I don’t have much to add. Except a minor thing … about Angel semi-stalking Buffy. One thing to keep in the back of the mind is that despite his many talents, we now know better than we did at the time that Joss may not have a well-tuned sense of what’s noble and adorable and what’s actually pretty creepy. I think it’s questionable how much Joss even knew how Angel’s intended moral devotion and genuine love and admiration for Buffy could also be viewed as a bit gross and suspect by audiences. It’s still something of a flaw in the series. But having an outside explanation for it kind of helps me dismiss it as a sort of writing mistake, rather than something I have to actually process within the story. I don’t know if that makes any sense.

Anonymous

What I love about this first part the two parter finale is the flashbacks and the transitions to modern day. Its gold!

Jordan Haddow

I think it was supposed to be him being her guardian angel. I have no idea if his name came from that concept, but I could definitely see it being an on the nose reference. Obviously, it never really came across that way. Keep in mind though, that the show didn't really go according to Joss' original plan. Of course, we all know that pretty much everything supernatural is a metaphor for something. I've heard a number of times from various sources that Joss had never originally wanted any relationships between humans and vampires. At least, not romantic ones. Then Angel became quite popular and pressure for their relationship came down from on high. So things changed. He still didn't like it though. So, I think some of the creepiness and negativity in Buffy and Angel's relationship was born from Joss' resistance to their having a relationship in the first place and then kind of sabotaging it. There is obviously more to the story, but this point in the show isn't a great point to continue.

Jordan Haddow

Took me a bit to figure out that kayo meant KO. Interesting spelling. I've never seen it like that before.

Jordan Haddow

So, I see the Angel controversy is still hot here in the comments, so I'm going to toss my two cents in. The do we or don't we forgive Angel dilemma is actually really complicated and quite unique. At least, I think so. It's also been a bit hard to talk about until now, because this episode gave us some of the final clues to Angel's nature that we need to figure him out. I like to differentiate Angel from Angelus as a reminder that they are two separate people under the same skin. Actually, that's not really true. Angelus is a demon in a human body. In that first flashback, when Darla turns him, she killed the human Angel and the demon Angelus took over his body. Now, the scene where Angelus was cursed with a soul really gives us the detail that makes all the difference in the world. Angel's eye's glow as the soul enters him. The father of the poor dead gypsy girl (I know some don't like that term, but it's in the show, so) tells him he is cursed. If you really watch that scene and really listen to it, you'll notice that Angel doesn't know he's killed people. The father tells him that as time goes by he will remember those he killed. This actually tells us a number of things. First, the soul has the dominant nature in the body. Angel is now two beings in one body. A human and a demon. The human though is in control and the demon is pushed back into the background. Next, the human soul has no attachment to the actions the demon carried out. In fact, before being forced into the body, it had no idea of what the demon had done. As they share the mind, the soul eventually uncovers those memories and feels remorse for what the demon has done. So, when it comes to forgiving Angel, is it really cut and dry? I don't think so. Angelus is only a single being, the demon. He has no soul. If cursed again, he would again become a dual being. The demon that killed Jenny, amongst others, and the human soul innocent of those actions, but will come to remember them. Does the human soul merit forgiveness? In fact, does it require it? It's really odd when you think about it. The one requiring forgiveness is the demon, who wouldn't care if you did. The soul would hope for and would accept forgiveness, but it's not responsible. It's just cursed with intimate knowledge of the demon's actions. So there, my two cents. Obviously I would like to discuss many more things about the episode, but frankly, this is ridiculously long as it is. Plus, the next episode will quickly be upon us and most other things are linked, so they can wait.

cruzinbosco

Oh, Whistler. He is played by Max Perlich, who if you've made it that far in Gilmore Girls, you should recognize him as Jackson's cousin, Rune. Another fun character. Luke: What's a Rune? Lorelai: Oh, not that question again. ;)

Jessica Roth

They filmed the episode "Angel", where it's established that Buffy's reluctant to do her duty because she "loves" Angel, before a single episode had ever aired. Joss may not have liked the Buffy/Angel fandom becoming as virulent as it did, but it's not as if he didn't cultivate them. To claim that he was "forced" into this because David was "unexpectedly" popular is a radical interpretation of the text, IMO.

Jessica Roth

Acronyms do sometimes become words. "Okay" is a similar case: "Old Kinderhook" [Martin van Buren's nickname] became an acronym, and then it became a word.

R J Walker (FumblesMcStupid)

Ah, my favourite Buffy jacket. I want that jacket. I won't be saying much on part one except wow. And yeah, I hope nothing bad happens to Rupe ;) Poor Kendra, I really really wanted to see more of her. :'(