One thing I've been remiss in not mentioning so far is US.
...the 'Buffy' fandom itself.
And there are two things the show does very well that are relevant in this two-part episode:
divide the fandom
...and then crush its soul equally.
Significant moments are spread throughout all seven seasons that we the fandom are STILL arguing about going on twelve years and counting.
You can see some of that represented here in the Guide’s comments.
Certainly one of the biggest lightning rods for controversy is 'Season 2' Xander.
I say specifically 'Season 2' Xander because once certain departures occur
in 'Season 3' he seems to mellow out a bit
....though not completely.
As a fan myself, I obviously have my own opinions about these controversial moments
and you've been subjected to them for months now.
But just because I have a deep man-a-rific voice and far too much time on my hands doesn’t mean that my personal opinion is more relevant than yours.
If you disagree with me I invite you to keep giving it to me in the comments.
That said 'Becoming (Part 2)' features one of the most fandom bifurcating moments in the series.
I’m going to attempt to not spend too much time on it because it is just a single brush stroke in a much more significant composition,
the conclusion to 'Season 2'.
While 'Season 2' is at times wildly inconsistent
it is certainly one of the most emotionally engrossing in the entire series.
And in 'Becoming', everything comes together.
['When the Lights Came On']
*Becoming (Part 1)
Sometime in the past, young Liam is being tossed from a bar in Ireland.
He meets a good looking woman in an alley who looks an awful lot like
the drawing from the pages of the Watcher diary Buffy and Willow stole in 'Halloween'.
It's Darla.
Darla offers to show Angel the world.
He closes his eyes and…
It’s our first glimpse of Angel’s origin.
I’ve read plenty of hate over David Boreanaz’s Irish accent.
I don’t really have much to say about it other than it’s not that it’s not Kendra BAD
"Chiiiick fight?"
It sounds like the accent of someone who has spent a few hours listening to recordings of Colin Farrell,
"You and your dirty mind."
...got SOMETHING down and is now kind of lapsing in and out of it as he tries to remember his lines and blocking.
The funny part is, most of the episodes that require Boreanaz to do it
(and there are a few, including 'Angel')
are so well written that I rapidly just kind of shrug it off and get caught up in the story.
In present day, as school finals are approaching, Giles is brought in to consult on an ancient relic recently dug up.
The rest of the gang is sitting around the lunch table watching Xander’s fish stick reenactment.
[Fish monster scream]
Ewww...
In true Whedon form, this is one my favorite scenes in the episode
and it’s just a bunch of people sitting around a table talking.
In flashback, we see Angelus meeting Drusilla.
Drusilla discloses her abilities, leading to Angelus’ initial interest.
Drusilla has had a vision of something terrible coming.
Willow is teaching Buffy when Buffy’s pencil slips off the desk into an unseen crevice on the floor.
She digs around and finds the yellow disk with Angel’s soul restoration spell on it
that dropped in 'Passion'.
Our flashbacks catch up to Angel’s soul being restored for the murder of a gypsy daughter.
Buffy and Willow share Jenny’s found curse with the rest of the gang.
Xander is non-plussed and Giles isn’t sure he has the ability to invoke the spell.
Willow says she thinks she might be able to do it.
Pay particular attention to the phrasing Giles uses.
"Channeling...such potent magic through yourself it could open a door that you may not be able to close."
It isn’t simply that Willow executes a card trick and is done with it.
Casting magic involves channeling the magic through the caster
and Giles’ phrasing seems to indicate that once the caster has done so,
the spell cast is with them forever.
As in a door unable to be closed.
Because of that then the nature of the magic cast is incredibly significant.
In this pair of episodes, what I have portrayed as Xander’s irrational hatred of Angel,
as well as his total unwillingness to distinguish between a being with a soul and without, comes to a head.
Xander simply wants Angel dead and perhaps that is justice of a sort.
His method for making his point in this scene is brutal and ugly, even to Giles.
"--wish"
"Yeah, well Jenny's dead."
"DON'T YOU EVER..."
--"SPEAK OF HER IN THAT TONE AGAIN!" Xander: "CAN'T YOU HEAR WHAT I'M SAYING!" Buffy: STOP IT!
Willow: "Xander."
"STOP IT!"
I want to note and acknowledge though that Xander believes he is behaving rightly.
While I think his bitterness and spite towards Angel developed for selfish reasons
and colors his interpretations in ways he doesn’t account for,
that does NOT mean I think he is acting deliberately toward Angel’s end simply so that he can “have Buffy all to himself”.
Xander is a... let’s say good soul for lack of a better term.
He isn’t malicious.
He’s a character that genuinely wants to do good.
But his lack of self examination means
his judgement is clouded and his judgment guides his actions.
This becomes even more important in the next episode.
But the most frustrating thing about this scene is that no one articulates to him the specifics of WHAT he isn’t considering.
They all speak in generalities.
"I'm Perspective Guy."
"Angel's a killer."
"Xander..."
"It's not that simple."
As I have all season, I find this drama to be incredibly frustrating to watch because it feels so categorically incorrect to me.
Angel was VERY unambiguously a good guy and was proven so to Xander on more than a few occasions.
He helped save Buffy in 'Prophecy Girl'.
He helped storm the frat house in 'Reptile Boy'.
He saved Jenny from being turned into lime pudding in 'The Dark Age'.
And those are just the heroic acts that Xander was witness to.
And these are the actions Angel took after he had already gallivanted around Europe eating people with Spike, Drusilla and Darla.
Nor does anyone bring up the fact that Xander once turned evil,
helped tear a pig to pieces
and very nearly was part of consuming (the) school principal
were he not already distracted by...
...trying to RAPE Buffy.
While out hunting, Buffy is surprised by Kendra who is back in town because of an evil portent.
To that end, Angelus and company bring home the ancient relic from earlier in the episode.
"It's a big rock."
"Can't wait to tell my friends."
"They don't have a rock this big."
Angelus explains the history of Acathla the demon,
who opened his mouth with the intent of swallowing the world but was turned to stone before he could.
Angelus attempts to free Acathala and fails:
Spike (sing-songedly): “Someone wasn’t worthy.”
Our flashbacks return to an ensouled Angel hunting city streets for a rat to eat.
He’s found by an apparently Brooklyn demon named Whistler.
Whistler introduces a particularly important notion to the Buffyverse lore:
"A demon"
"...technically."
"I-I mean, I'm not a bad guy."
Whistler takes Angel to L.A. to see a young Buffy for the first time.
On the surface she is dramatically similar to Cordelia
and there’s a visual acknowledgment of the unspoken icky side of Buffy and Angel’s relationship.
He witnesses her first kill
(she missed the heart)
as well as the disintegrating fragments of her parents' marriage.
Angel agrees to help Buffy.
Interestingly, Whistler never states clearly whose side he’s on or who sent him.
Given he’s a demon, and a good one, perhaps they are some sort of...powers that be.
Angelus sends a combusto-gram to Buffy to get her to come to the graveyard for a fight.
Buffy agrees to keep Angel busy for as long as possible
while Willow executes the curse.
Kendra gives Buffy her favorite stake.
"I call it Mr. Pointy."
Buffy fights Angelus who sends his minions to attack the gang.
Xander’s arm is broken.
Willow is knocked unconscious
and Kendra is killed by Dru.
The remaining vamps abscond with Giles.
And Buffy arrives on the scene just in time to get caught by the police.
The score and sound design in this episode stand out to me as some of the most cinematic in the series to this point.
"Soon it will scream."
There is so much to love about this episode.
David Boreanaz’s performance feels particularly joyful as he revels in Angelus’ depravity
"And you fall for it EVERY SINGLE TIME."
...and darkens in Angel’s depression.
Accent aside, it's a wonderful performance.
By the way, in that scene he’s referring to when Buffy got baited away so her friends could be abushed.
There’s something particularly disconcerting about Angelus’ using Angel’s memories against her.
This is the first time we see Drusilla and her ambiguous powers truly in action.
She’s like the Spock of vampires.
It wouldn’t make sense for the character to indulge in an orgy of kung-fu violence.
Drusilla is more like a viper.
I love the way Whedon shoots the scene too, like a predator stalking its prey, as Buffy runs back to the school in slow motion.
Its particularly nightmarish that feeling of 'is she going to make it in time?'.
Of course, without the events of
the coming episode, it’s difficult to comment too much on this one thematically.
As nearly any Whedon written and directed episode, it has a crackling good pace.
The dialogue is crisp and the few bits and pieces of drama are all exciting and fun to watch.
As much as I criticize, I love Xander’s passion
- it's something I think the other characters often lack.
And the way he ignites that fire in the library is captivating to watch,
even if it is in the DAMN-IT XANDER kind of way.
One...more...to go...
[hallway student conversation]
[Some people can get their kicks]
[Watching Koppel and late-night flicks]
[All the movies, you'll watch them free now]
[Dramas, westerns, comedies]
[WOW]
[Videos Spot has the best selection]
[If you like porno]
[...we're your connection]
[bursting flame]