BUFFY: 4.20 ‘THE YOKO FACTOR’

Giles sings Freebird

WRITER: Doug Petrie

DIRECTOR: David Grossman

WHAT’S THE SITCH?

Buffy gets back from her troubling visit to Angel in LA. Meanwhile Spike, recruited by Adam with the promise of removing his chip, hatches a dastardly plan to weaken the slayer: he intends to separate her from her friends by spreading rumours and lies amongst them. This proves very successful, putting the Scoobies at each others throats. Then Angel turns up, looking to find Buffy to apologise for how things went in LA, but he has a run in with a jealous Riley. Eventually the pair face off in front of Buffy who enforces a peace. She makes things right with Angel, who then leaves for LA. Buffy must then put things right with Riley…and break the news to him that she saw Adam kill his friend Forrest in an earlier run in she had with the big lug, one which Buffy barely survived. Shocked, Riley storms off alone. Later, Scooby Gang infighting comes to a head at Giles’s place (no pun intended) and an angry and distraught Buffy, worried about Riley, walks out on them all, heading off to fight Adam alone. Meanwhile Riley has found Adam, and the two of them, alone, face off.

WHAT’S THE SITCH BENEATH THE SITCH?

Complicated relationships, group dynamics, the darker side of human nature – resentment, anger, jealousy. It all comes in to play here. Spike does his part to ferment it but the tensions were already there bubbling away under the surface.

WHO’S GIVING US THE WIGGINS THIS WEEK?

Adam and Spike

WHY IT ROCKS

Bad Spike. The platinum one gets to have a ton of fun messing with the Scoobies, sewing not-so-subtle seeds of discord amongst them. My personal favourite is how he gets Giles to degenerate in to a sulky drunk with the use of just a few well chosen words – observations about how Buffy treats her one time Watcher. Thing is, Spike is not too far from the truth. What’s best, though, is the one huge flaw in Spike’s plan that Adam identifies near episode’s end. Oops. Poor William.

Miss Kitty Fantastico. Tara and Willow get themselves a kitten who they call Miss Kitty Fantastico. She’s very cute and would make a good familiar. Shame she pretty much disappears after this season.

Angel. Unlike his last visit to Sunnydale, this one is really cool. Angel's fight with the Initiative guys and then with Riley is well done and pretty intense, as is his eventual confrontation with Buffy, after which the pair sorts out their issues and come to a peace. Boreanaz is great. Scowling, long black coat billowing, his brooding intensity is ramped right up to the max. Now THAT’S Angel. Plus his childish smirk to Riley after Buffy appears to take his side is perfect. Angel always had that slightly childish, petulant side to him. Great stuff.

Lots of plot. A ton of stuff happens in this episode. Lots and lots of character dynamics/exploration of relationships. Also a moving forward of Adam’s (still unknown) plan of action which seems to involve getting lots of demons in to the Initiative and also having Buffy lead the fight against them all. There’s not a moment in this ep that isn’t working flat out on character or plot. Nice work Doug Petrie.

Clown pants. Poor Riley is forced in to borrowing some of Xander’s less stylish clothes. Ugh!

WHY IT SUCKS

Um, nothing I can think of. This episode’s pretty much all-round great.

IT’S BUFFTASTIC

The current boyfriend and the ex-boyfriend smack down.

DIALOGUE TO DIE FOR

Xander (about the clothes he's letting Riley borrow): “Try those on. You'll feel like a new man.”
Riley: “Would this man have a bright red nose and big floppy feet?”

Spike (startling Giles): “You know, for someone who's got "Watcher" on his résumé, you might want to cast an eye to the front door every now and again.”

Anya (hitting Xander in the chest): “You're joining the Army?!”
Xander: “OK. (to Anya) One. Ow! (to Spike) Two. Where'd you get that idea? (to Anya) Three. Ow! (to both) I'm not joining the Army!”

Angel (angrily to Riley): “Don’t test me, boy!”

Buffy (to Riley about Angel): “He's... not bad.”
Riley: “Seriously? That's a good day? Well, there you go. Even when he's good, he's all Mr. Billowy Coat King of Pain, and girls really....”

Willow (fighting with Buffy): “We have to face it, you can't handle Tara being my girlfriend.”
Xander (to Buffy and Willow): “No! It was bad before that! Since you two went off to college and forgot about me. Just left me in the basement to… Tara's your girlfriend?”
Giles (drunk, off camera): “Bloody hell!”

AND ANOTHER THING

When Spike comes "bursting" into Giles', his reflection can be seen in a mirror behind Tara and Willow. Oops.

That’s really Tony Head playing an acoustic guitar and singing Lynrd Skynrd’s ‘Freebird’ right before he’s rudely interrupted by Spike. This was the second time Giles is caught singing. The first was in ep. 18 ‘Where the Wild Things Are’ when Willow, Xander, Tara and Anya walk in on him singing ‘Behind Blue Eyes’ at the Espresso Pump. Tony Head is a veteran of musical theatre. He had a brief role in Tim Burton’s film of Sweeny Todd (most of it was cut) and had a starring role in Darren Lyn Bouseman’s recent musical horror film Repo: The Genetic Opera.

HOW MANY STAKES?

Spike’s mixing it up. 4.5 (out of 5)

BUFFY: 4.08 ‘PANGS’

A bear! You made a bear! Heh.

WRITER: Jane Espenson
DIRECTOR: Michael Lange

WHAT’S THE SITCH?

It’s almost Thanksgiving and in his latest menial job, Xander is helping excavate the ground at Sunnydale U for a new faculty building, only to fall through the ground in to what is the lost Sunnydale Mission, buried in an earthquake years and years ago. Unfortunately Xander’s accident also unleashes the vengeful spirit of a Native American Chumash warrior who infects Xander with all the illnesses the original European settlers infected his people with. The spirit then moves on to start taking murderous revenge on local people of status for the slaughter of his people centuries ago. At the same time, Spike, hunted by Initiative commandos, is wandering the town, miserable and starving, staring longingly through windows at other vampires having happy blood feasts. Poor chap. Meanwhile, Buffy is feeling the need for some homespun Thanksgiving food and general cosiness and decides to lay on a big meal at Giles’s house for the gang. But circumstances are gonna make Buffy’s meal harder and harder to prepare for. First, Willow is anti Thanksgiving. She sees it as a celebration of the massacre of an indigenous people. She is also against ‘slaying’ the Chumash warrior because he is rightfully upset by what was done to his people. This leads to her falling out with Giles who remains insistent that they must stop the warrior at all costs. Second, Xander turns up sick as a dog, finding out he now has several diseases including syphilis. Third, Spike turns up out of the blue seeking sanctuary and with info about the Initiative. Third, Buffy feels a strange invisible presence around her. A presence we soon find out is actually Angel who’s secretly been helping her after Doyle received a vision back in LA of Buffy in mortal danger. So, can the Chumash warrior be stopped before he kills anyone else? Can Spike be trusted? Can Xander’s syphilis be cured? Can Buffy get the turkey on the table in time for a nice cosy Thanksgiving dinner?

WHAT’S THE SITCH BENEATH THE SITCH?

It’s all about Thanksgiving and what it means. Not being an American Thanksgiving means virtually nothing to me. But I understand there seems to be a debate about it in the US of which Willow takes one side: that it is a nasty sham - a ‘yam sham’ which is really all about the massacre of indigenous peoples. I do like how Giles, and to a greater degree Spike, (both Brits like me) take a far more hard-nosed and practical view of the whole thing. Anyway, as with all things there’s always more than one side, and at least this episode of Buffy, though very charming and very, very funny, makes an effort to expose some of the darker truths.

WHO’S GIVING US THE WIGGINS THIS WEEK?

Hus, the Chumash spirit warrior

WHY IT ROCKS

Big funny. Pangs is hilarious. The great Jane Espenson ™ wrote a wonderfully funny script that deals with the whole Thanksgiving issue nicely while playing up some great character beats and producing plenty of laugh out loud moments – many of which are to do with Spike. And speaking of…

Spike. Yep, once again James Marsters rocks! This is the start of Spike becoming an unwilling part of the Scooby Gang. Its needs must for poor Spike. He can’t get blood from people anymore so is starving while also being hunted by the Initiative commandos. So he seeks refuge with his sworn enemies hoping they won’t hurt him, as he’s all helpless and fangless. Putting Spike at the centre of the group dynamic works a treat. He sits there, tied to a chair, giving blunt acidic commentary on everything going on around him. He is the truth teller. He spells it out like it is. This role was originally taken by Cordelia and will soon be taken by Anya seeing as how Spike is limited in what he can do and where he can go by that darned daylight. But he will from now on remain an integral part of the Scooby Gang whether he or they want him to or not.

Sickly Xander. Poor chap. He gets various diseases all at once including (gulp!) syphilis. His pasty pathetic state is very, very funny.

A Buffy bear hug. Buffy wrestles a bear and it looks so silly but manages to be (intentionally) hilarious and made all the better by Spike’s reaction.

The ‘cavalry’ charging to the rescue…on bicycles.

The end Thanksgiving dinner scene and Xander’s faux pas. And Spike’s smug look.

WHY IT SUCKS

The whole Angel sneaking around thing is pointless and contrived. It is only there to get Buffy to go visit him in LA in the following episode of Angel. Still, its cool seeing Captain Forehead mixing with the gang again.

IT’S BUFFTASTIC

Spike’s horrified reaction to the Chumash warrior turning in to a bear.

DIALOGUE TO DIE FOR

Buffy (about construction-working Xander): “Very manly. Not at all Village People.”

Willow (angrily to Giles): "You know, I don't think you want to help! You just want to slay the demon and go 'la, la, la.'"

Spike (on his implant): "I'm saying that Spike had a little trip to the vet, and now he doesn't chase the other puppies anymore."

Spike (shocked): "A bear! You made a bear!"
Buffy (timidly): "I didn't mean to!"
Spike (panicking): "Undo it! Undo it!

Xander (looking ill and worried):”Can we come rocketing back to the part about me and my new syphilis.”

Giles (dryly): “Yes, I’m always behind on terms. I'm still trying not to refer to you lot as 'bloody colonials.'”

Spike: “What part of 'help me!' do you not understand?”
Buffy: “The part where I help you.”

Anya: “So this is Angel. He's large and glowery, isn't he?”

HOW MANY STAKES?

I give thanks every time I watch this episode. 4 (out of 5)

An American Slayer in London (and a brooding vamp too)

Gotta love these Jo Chen covers.

Buffy Season 9 starts proper very soon. Yay!

But before it does, Dark Horse have just published issue 1 of Angel & Faith, a separate title under the Season 9 banner that will run concurrently with the main Buffy title.

Angel & Faith sees disgraced and traumatised vampire with a soul Angel living in London with reformed one time psycho slayer Faith. Now, I don’t wanna spoil things too much for those who haven’t read Season 8 yet, but…

Oh what the hell!

Rupert Giles, stalwart and true Watcher and father figure to Buffy Summers, is dead. He was killed at the end of the big Season 8 showdown. And his killer was none other than a certain heavy-browed, brooding bloodsucker, who’d been under the influence of a nasty mystical force amusingly named Twilight. To make things even worse for poor Buff, having witnessed her soul mate murder her ‘father’, in his will Giles then goes and leaves all of his worldly goods to… Faith! For some reason Giles thought Buffy didn’t need any of it, but that Faith did. Faith’s inheritance includes a house in London, all of the remaining Watcher files/records, and an estate somewhere in the country with horses and stuff. Faith, forever in Angel’s debt for having stuck by her and helped her through her own personal darkness, takes the catatonic-with-guilt vampire with her to London in order to help him along what will now be an even harder road to redemption.

As Angel & Faith starts, Angel is out of his catatonic state and is helping Faith carry on Giles’s work. Using the Watcher files, the dynamic duo are battling evil on the streets and in the homes of Great Britain - starting with trying to finish a job Giles had begun months before: fighting to remove a monstrous, tentacled demon from a scared little girl.

Angel & Faith no.1 is great stuff. Highly enjoyable. Both A & F are in character with plenty of brooding from Angel and sexy sarcasm from Faith. It was great to start the story with a flashback to Giles in good old fashioned demon fighting form before cutting to Faith and Angel continuing and then finishing the exact same fight. The plotting is intriguing, seeing the return of Whistler, the demon who was once Angel’s mentor, who first showed him Buffy before she was called as the Slayer, who convinced Angel to come out of the gutter and be someone. Here, now, Whistler seems to be taking on a possible Big Bad role, recruiting a pair of truly nasty demons who used to work for Twilight. Then there’s Nadira, an angry, sexy, two-fisted Brit slayer who is friends with Faith (they seem a lot alike) but who is also out for blood after her slayer squad were all killed by Twilight’s people. Knowing now that Angel was Twilight, Nadira’s determined to find Angel and kill him, unaware that the big guy is actually being looked after by Faith. And then there’s the doozy of a revelation at the end of the issue, about what Angel is planning to do.

The UK setting gives the book a nice atmosphere, though it perhaps has a few too many British-isms wedged in to characters mouths, hammering home that they are indeed British. And I'm not too sure about the Buffy timeline anymore but I'm guessing this takes place 2/3 years after Chosen, making it circa 2006. If so, then Brit characters talking about public spending cuts and austerity measures would be about four years to soon. But, hey, it's no big deal as it's the characters and the story that I care about. And in that respect, A&F shoots and scores. Christos Gage’s script is tight, witty, emotional and very well structured. His new character of Nadira is instantly likeable. The art by Rebekah Isaacs is also very good. She captures the likenesses of the original actors better than Georges Jeanty manages in the main Buffy comic. Don’t get me wrong, Georges stuff is fine, just a bit more cartoony.

All in all, Angel & Faith no.1 is a very promising start to the future adventures of everyone’s favourite brooding vamp and bad girl slayer. Y’know what I really hope for though in this book? I hope that Oz turns up sometime. Cuz then we can have a Joss version of An American Werewolf in London. Heh. Roll on issue 2.

Meanwhile, on a related (and very cool) geek note:

The other day I had a brief twitter chat with Angel & Faith’s writer Christos Gage. I asked him if there was any chance the duo, while living in the UK, would come to my part of the world – to the west country - seeing as how back in Buffy season six Giles said he kept a flat in the city of Bath. Christos said maybe, and asked if there were any country estates with horses around there. Of course, being the huge Buffy geek that I am, I told him yes, there are loads, including the one shown in Buffy episode 7.1 with Giles and Willow in England, which was actually filmed by Joss at Tony Head's real home in Westbury near Bath in summer 2002. Christos then came back to say that Faith’s inherited country estate will now officially be just outside of Bath. And she may well be visiting soon. So...YAY! I may have contributed in a very, very tiny way to the continuing Buffyverse canon.

BUFFY: 3.22 ‘GRADUATION DAY – PART 2’

Short WB promo

WRITER: Joss Whedon
DIRECTOR: Joss Whedon

WHAT’S THE SITCH?

With Faith gone all hope for curing Angel seems lost.

Because of this, and without telling her friends, Buffy makes a potentially deadly decision. She goes to Angel and forces him to drink from her.

A now cured Angel rushes an unconscious Buffy to the hospital where she undergoes an emergency blood transfusion. At the same time in a neighbouring hospital cubicle the Mayor is watching over a comatose Faith when he overhears talk of another young girl having been brought in. He goes and finds Buffy lying unconscious. Losing control he tries to smother her. Angel appears and stops him just in time, forcing him to leave. While unconscious, Buffy shares a dream with Faith who seems to give Buffy some vital but cryptic information about the future. Buffy wakes up. Feeling revitalised and knowing that the Mayor is to be the keynote speaker at their graduation ceremony, she lays out her plan to the gang, and to Wesley who turns up offering to help. There are tasks for everyone and time is short.

A few hours later and as the class of 1999 gather outside Sunnydale High for what should be an important right of passage, the Mayor begins delivering his inspiring keynote speech. But he is soon interrupted when the sun goes suddenly dark, thus signalling the beginning of his ascension. In front of the horrified gathering, the Mayor begins his long planned transformation in to a huge snake-like demon, his gang of vampires arriving under cover of the new darkness to keep the gathered students (needed as demon food for the Mayor) from escaping.

This is the moment Buffy’s plan goes in to action.

The scoobies have forewarned and forearmed all of the students against what the Mayor has planned for them. Xander takes immediate control, turning the Class of 1999 in to an instant army complete with hidden flame-throwers, swords, axes and flaming arrows. The students valiantly and successfully fight off the vamps with the help of Angel, while Buffy taunts the now fully demon Mayor in to chasing her deep in to the school. They crash through walls and doors, until they eventually reach the library. Buffy then leaps through a window, escaping, just as the demon Mayor notices explosives packed everywhere. As Buffy leaps clear we see Giles push down on a plunger…

And Sunnydale High School explodes in a huge fireball. It is destroyed utterly, killing the Mayor in the same way the demon from long ago was killed under the volcano.

Later, as the emergency services put out the fires and tend to the wounded, Buffy spies Angel. For a time the vampire and slayer just look at each other in silence. Eventually Angel turns and disappears in to the smoke, leaving behind Buffy and Sunnydale for pastures new.

Exhausted, the gang (minus Angel) reunites outside the smouldering wreckage that once was their school. Together they take a moment to savour the fact that they survived, as Oz points out, not just the ascension, but high school itself. Moment over, they wander off chatting and joking.

WHAT’S THE SITCH BENEATH THE SITCH?

Same as in part 1. It’s all about moving on, graduating, and ascending to new levels in life. Angel literally moves on, away from Buffy and Sunnydale, while the Mayor also moves on, just not quite how he’d hoped. And, of course, the gang and the entire class of 1999 move on from high school for pastures new. And they do it the only way they could in the Buffyverse: they destroy the school thus putting the past firmly behind them, literally burning their bridges to childhood. The future awaits them. Life awaits them. The adventure continues.

WHO’S GIVING US THE WIGGINS THIS WEEK?

The Mayor (human and demon) and a bunch of nasty vamps

WHY IT ROCKS

All the same reasons that part 1 rocks, plus you get the epic pay off with a big school-based students vs. vamps smackdown and a huge snake demon eating people left right and centre. What’s not to love?

A lot happens. As with part 1 there is a lot of story being crammed in here. But it works and nothing feels rushed or extraneous. It all fits seamlessly together to bring our characters to where they all need to be for the big actual and thematic showdown. Joss is the grand master of this. His season finales burst with intelligent drama, action and humour, all underpinned by real thematic foundations.

Sex. There are two sex scenes in this episode, both played very differently. First, we see Buffy and Angel go at it. Well, not really. When Buffy forces Angel to drink from her in what is a beautifully directed sequence, it is played as if Angel is making intense love to her, lying on top of her, her legs spread with him between, Buffy moaning, reaching out to crush a fallen jug in ecstasy/pain. Of course this ‘sex’ almost kills her, thus highlighting how impossible and dangerous their relationship really is. It is all based upon pain, suffering and death. The second sex scene is an implied one between Willow and Oz who get it on together in Oz’s van right before the graduation ceremony. They are so happy together that they can’t help but make love in the face of likely death and destruction. Their relationship is based entirely on comfort and mutual support and adoration. It is all good and healthy, unlike the doomed relationship between Buffy and Angel.

Wesley and Cordy realising they are not meant to be together after sharing one of the most awkward and funny screen kisses ever put on film.

The Mayor and Faith. The Mayor grieving for Faith at the hospital and then his subsequent attempt to kill Buffy is brilliant. It adds depth to the already wonderful character. He truly loves Faith and like any father would, he wants to lash out at the person who hurt his ‘daughter’.

The Buffy and Faith dream. While both slayers are unconscious in hospital together they share a dream where Faith imparts some cryptic words to Buffy, trying to tell her things. At the time this was a huge deal amongst the fans, wondering what it was al about. It turned out that Joss was layering in elements for future seasons with major clues being given to major developments two years after this episode aired. Way to go Joss. Now THAT’S forward planning.

Principle Snyder. This is the last time we see Snyder. And Armin Shimerman is typically brilliant. His opening remarks to the gathered students at the graduation are most amusing. Shame he has to go and get eaten by a giant demon. We’ll miss him. Farewell Principle Snyder, it was fun.

The final battle. This is a pretty big scale fight involving a couple of hundred people using flame throwers, swords, bows and arrows and numerous other weapons. It also includes Buffy leading the demon Mayor through the school, knocking down walls and causing mass destruction before trapping him in the library then blowing the whole place up. It’s big. It’s exciting. And it’s so very cool.

Angel leaves. The last we see of Angel is perfect. Across a smoke filled parking lot, crowded by emergency vehicles, he and Buffy share a silent goodbye before he turns and disappears in to the smoke.

WHY IT SUCKS

The big snake demon the Mayor turns in to is not all that impressive. It’s big, sure, but is it really that powerful and scary? Also the CGI is a bit lacking.

IT’S BUFFTASTIC

The beautifully directed sequence where Angel drinks from Buffy. Deeply erotic and kinda scary.

DIALOGUE TO DIE FOR

Oz: “Any change?”
Willow: “He’s delirious. He thought I was Buffy.”
Oz: “You too, huh?”

Buffy:” I’m gonna need every single on of you on board. Especially you, Xander. You’re sorta the key figure here.”
Xander: “Key? Me? Okay, pride. Humility. And here’s the mind numbing fear.”

Cordelia: “Well, that was the most fun you could have without having any fun.”

Giles: "There is a certain dramatic irony attached to all this. A synchronicity that borders on predestination, one might say."
Buffy (exhausted): "Fire bad. Tree pretty."

AND ANOTHER THING

The original US airing of this season finale was delayed by almost two months due to ongoing worries about recent violence in US high schools (the fact that students blow up their own school here being the main problem). Eventually Graduation Day – Part 2 aired mid-July 1999 in the US, though it had aired much earlier in Canada prompting mass bootlegging across the border between fans. Joss, hating the US delay, openly encouraged this practice much to the dismay of the WB.

The Sunnydale Class of 1999 yearbook has the phrase “The Future is Ours” on it’s front. This was the same slogan used by Nazi Germany. Also the logo accompanying it is remarkably similar to Nazi symbolism. Not sure what Joss was trying to say here. Maybe because Snyder acts as a bit of a fascist and had been called a Nazi by Cordy it was thought he’d use some Nazi terms and iconography for his big school event. Dunno. But it is kinda odd.

For the third time (see "Becoming, Part Two" and "Amends"), we get a special "Grr...argh" at the end of the credits. This time the little monster is wearing a graduation cap.


HOW MANY STAKES?

Buffy graduates with honours. 5 (out of 5)



And thus sees the end of my Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 3 review. I’ll move on to season 4 sometime soon. But in the meantime, stay “Five by Five.”

BUFFY: 3.21 ‘GRADUATION DAY – PART 1’

The last 5 mins of this episode inc. the Buffy/Faith fight.

WRITER: Joss Whedon
DIRECTOR: Joss Whedon

WHAT’S THE SITCH?

Buffy is investigating the murder by Faith of a seemingly innocuous vulcanolgist. Both she and Giles are suspicious of why the Mayor would order the rogue slayer to do such a thing. What is the secret the Mayor needs to keep hidden? In the process of her investigations Buffy runs in to Angel. The pair, now uneasy around each other, soon begins to argue - an argument that is shockingly interrupted when from up on a nearby rooftop Faith shoots Angel with a poisoned arrow, sending the vamp in to a slow and painful demise. As Willow and Oz look in desperation for a cure for Angel, Giles and Xander discover what the Mayor was trying to hide: the unsuspecting vulcanolgist had found remains of an ancient demon killed long ago by a volcanic eruption. This gives the gang the clue they need as to how to kill the Mayor should he ascend. Giles also discovers the type of demon the Mayor will become…something very, very big. Wesley is unable to get any help from the Watcher’s Council to help cure Angel. This prompts a furious Buffy to take a stand and formally quit the Watchers. Then, just as all hope for Angel seems lost, Willow discovers the one and only cure: draining the blood of a slayer. Her mission clear, Buffy takes Faith’s knife and heads to the dark slayer’s apartment, literally out for blood, the only blood that can cure Angel. Arriving at Faith’s, the two slayers face off and engage in one heck of a vicious and bloody battle; a battle that wrecks the apartment and ends up out on the roof. After much violence is done, Buffy gets the upper hand and stabs Faith in the gut with her own knife. But Faith, bleeding to death and knowing she’s done, still won’t let Buffy win. And so she throws herself off of the roof, landing in a truck that drives her away from Buffy, taking away a horrified Buffy’s one and only hope for curing Angel.

To be continued.

WHAT’S THE SITCH BENEATH THE SITCH?

Again, it’s all in the title. It’s all about growing up, moving on to the next stage in life, taking on responsibility. Buffy and the gang are graduating, not just from school, but from being kids; they are starting to take charge of their own lives, their own destinies. Willow and Oz move on to the next stage of their relationship, and the Mayor hopes to move on as well with his Ascension. But the theme is shown most poignantly perhaps in the tremendous scene in which Buffy tells Wesley in no uncertain terms that she quits the Council and that he needs to pack up and go home. He calls it mutiny. She says she prefers the term graduation.

WHO’S GIVING US THE WIGGINS THIS WEEK?

The Mayor and Faith

WHY IT ROCKS

Those magic words ‘Written and Directed by Joss Whedon’

The script. This is essentially the set-up for the big payoff in part 2. And so much occurs here. Not just big Ascension related stuff either but wonderful character stuff too. As always Joss has an almost supernatural grasp of his characters, of what makes them tick, and how to use them perfectly to tell a layered story that blends subtle depth, high drama, big laughs, tender emotion and some kick-ass action that leaves the audience desperate for more. Three scenes here are season highlights:

1. Oz and Willow finally making love: a wonderfully sweet, typically dry and witty way for the taciturn werewolf to finally make his move.

2. The Mayor confronting Buffy and the gang on their own turf: a chilling and intense scene perfectly sold by Harry Groener and by Tony Head who gets very angry with a sword.

3. Buffy quitting the Council: our girl faces down Wesley and tells it like it is. She’s had enough. And they can all go to hell.

Faith and the Mayor. As if we didn’t think these two were great enough, Joss gives us a lovely scene in which the Mayor gets Faith to try on a pretty dress for the Ascension and then listens to her with such great affection as she tells him about something that happened to her when she was a kid. The bond between these two is tangible and powerful. They are the bad guys but we don’t wanna lose them.

Anya. The brilliant Emma Caulfield as Anya has been playing a bigger part over the last few episodes. It is clear she is becoming a regular and will likely provide the plain speaking replacement for Cordy after she leaves for Angel. And thank heavens for Anya. What a great character she is, expertly played by Emma. Blunt, rude, hostile, but also naïve and charmingly cute. Xander’s gonna have his hands full. Lucky guy.

Eliza Dushku. She’s been a powerful, memorable presence since first arriving in Sunnydale back in 3.3 ‘Faith, Hope and Trick’. Her character journey has been fascinating, providing the essential core to this entire season, making this my personal favourite of all Buffy’s seven seasons. And here, in what is pretty much her final appearance of the season, she is wonderful. She’s both vulnerable and sympathetic as well as an evil kick-ass bitch from hell.

Slayer vs. Slayer…to the death (or not): the epic fight between Buffy and Faith at Faith’s apartment is a thing of brutal beauty. The choreography is fast, agile, creative and bone crunching and the direction and editing is perfect. Joss pulls the camera back and just lets them go at it.

WHY IT SUCKS

It doesn’t

IT’S BUFFTASTIC

It has to be that fight. So damn cool.

DIALOGUE TO DIE FOR

Xander (to Anya): "Yes, Men like sports. Men watch the action movie. They eat of the beef and enjoy to look at the bosoms. A thousand years of avenging our wrongs and that's all you've learned?"

Joyce: "You know, Buffy, looking back at everything that's happened, maybe I should have sent you to a different school."

Buffy (to Joyce): "I wish I could be a lot of things for you. A great student, a star athlete ... remotely normal. I'm not. But there is something I do that I can do better than anybody else in the world."

Angel: "Are you mad at me for being around too much or for not being around enough?"
Buffy: "Duh, yes!"

Cordelia: “What's her saga?”
Xander: “She's freaking.”
Cordelia: “About what?”
Xander: “The Mayor's gonna kill us all during graduation.”
Cordelia: “Oh. Are you gonna go to fifth period?”
Xander: “I'm thinking I might skip it.”
Cordelia: “Yeah, me too.”

Wesley: “This is mutiny.”
Buffy: “I like to think of it as graduation.”

Xander (seeing a picture of the huge demon the Mayor will become): “We’re gonna need a bigger boat!”

AND ANOTHER THING

Recently I caught a bit of a TV show here in the UK where actress/celeb Amanda Holden tries out some of her dream jobs. In the episode I saw she wanted to be a stuntwoman so she went to Hollywood and hooked up with Sophia Crawford who was SMG’s stunt/fight double on Buffy for the first four seasons. Sophia is actually English and is married to Jeff Pruitt who was the stunt co-ordinator on the show. Anyway, after training Holden up, Sophia and Jeff re-staged the ‘Graduation Day – Part 1’ Faith vs. Buffy fight move for move with Holden as Faith and Sophia as Buffy. They even dressed up in similar outfits. And it looked really cool. A great and totally unexpected geekout moment for me.

HOW MANY STAKES?

Blood, Faith and tears. 5 (out of 5)

BUFFY: 3.20 ‘THE PROM’

Short promo

WRITER: Marti Noxon
DIRECTOR: David Solomon

WHAT’S THE SITCH?

Buffy and the gang are looking forward to their school prom. However this being Sunnydale nothing is going to go smoothly. Firstly Angel has heartbreaking news for poor Buff. He breaks up with her, as he knows they have no future together. He also tells her that after the Ascension he will be leaving Sunnydale to make things easier (plus he has his own TV series to get to in LA). As well as Buffy’s personal pain there is also the small matter of a bunch of vicious and human-brain-hungry hellhounds to deal with. They’ve been bred by a disaffected student and trained to kill anyone in formal wear. Determined that her friends will get their perfect high school prom, Buffy takes it upon herself to single-handedly hunt down and kill the beasts before they can start their high school student brain feast.

WHAT’S THE SITCH BENEATH THE SITCH?

Hmm, nothing too obvious. The hellhound stuff is just a daft action-orientated hook to hang this episode’s important end of season story points on e.g. Angel’s decision to leave and Buffy being recognised and trusted by her fellow students as ‘Class Protector’.

WHO’S GIVING US THE WIGGINS THIS WEEK?

Nasty student Tucker Wells and his vicious hellhounds. And possibly Angel for being pretty darn insensitive to poor Buff with his timing.

WHY IT ROCKS

The script. Marti Noxon wrote a deeply emotional and beautifully affecting script. Sure, the A story is silly hellhounds looking to chomp on formal attired students, but the really important stuff is what is happening with Buffy and Angel and with the rest of the gang. Angel’s realisation and decision is a long time coming, taking Joyce’s intervention as well as The Mayor’s earlier words to finally push him to act. After all he is the responsible adult. Buffy, as her mom points out, for all her smarts, strength and power, is a young girl in love, blinded by her love and by her lack of life experience. So it’s left up to Angel to make the responsible decision.

The acting. All are great here but once again SMG brings her big game. She runs the gamut in this episode from childlike glee to utter heartbreak and devastation to tough and stoic warrior. Sarah really does encapsulate the full character of Buffy Summers here. Sure, she is smart, hugely tough and quick with a witty quip or three but deep down she remains an emotionally inexperienced and fragile child. Something her mom knows very well and something others (Angel especially) easily forget.

Anya’s hilariously blunt, rude and inept way of asking Xander to be her date for the Prom.

Tucker Wells’ use of various famous high school movies to train the hellhounds to attack Sunnydale High Prom goers.

Angel’s disturbing dream of his and Buffy’s wedding day. The effects used to show Buffy burning to ash in the sun are horribly effective. But prior to her human torching Sarah does look truly beautiful in Buffy’s wedding dress. As she does later on in her prom dress.

Xander, Cordy and Cordy’s prom dress.

Giles’s exasperation with Wesley over Cordelia.

The awards ceremony at the Prom and Buffy being given her unexpected ‘Class Protector’ award by the Prom Committee – as represented by Jonathan. This could so easily have been extremely corny and daft. But luckily it is written, performed and directed with restraint and with genuine heart and doesn’t for a moment go in for needless sentimentality. It is simply a beautifully poigniant and perfectly charming scene. And it works because we all know that Buffy has truly earned this. And also it plays a major role in allowing to happen what needs to happen in the season finale. It’s emotional and character driven but also plot driven as well.

Buffy gets her one perfect high school moment right at the end, though it is tinged with sadness with the knowledge that all things – school, relationships, (favourite TV shows) etc. - come to an end.

WHY IT SUCKS

The hellhound plot serves as nothing but a functional element to add some action and monster mayhem to the story, though you could argue it hammers home the award Buffy gets and that people have noticed her and do appreciate her.

The hellhounds look rubbish. Just guys in silly rubber costumes prancing around on all fours.

For a guy who’s been around 240-plus years Angel sure can be a thoughtless inept tool at times. His timing for dumping Buffy is truly terrible. Couldn’t he have at least waited until after the Ascension as odds on they’d all die anyway so problem solved? Yeah, I know this wouldn’t have worked well dramatically or plot-wise seeing as how it has to be set up that Angel is leaving for his own series. But still, you can’t help but curse the guy for doing what he does when he does.

IT’S BUFFTASTIC

Buffy becomes ‘Class Protector’ in one of the series’ most perfect scenes.


DIALOGUE TO DIE FOR

Anya (asking Xander to the Prom): “Men are evil. Will you go with me?”
Xander: “One of us is very confused, and I honestly don't know which.”
Anya: "Look, I know you find me attractive; I've seen you looking at my breasts."
Xander: "Nothing personal, but when a guy does that, it just means his eyes are open."

Giles (to Buffy regarding her break-up with Angel): "I understand this sort of thing requires ice cream of some kind."

Giles (to Wesley, regarding Cordelia): "For God's sake, man, she's eighteen. And you have the emotional maturity of a blueberry scone. Just have at it, would you? And stop fluttering about."

Buffy (to the gang, determined): “I'm gonna give you all a nice, fun, normal evening if I have to kill every person on the face of the Earth to do it.”
Xander (looking worried): “Yay?”

Jonathan: “We have one more award to give out. Is Buffy Summers here tonight? Did she....um...This is actually a new category. First time ever. I guess there were a lot of write in ballots and the prom committee asked me to read this. "We're not good friends. Most of us never found the time to get to know you. But that doesn't mean we haven't noticed you. We don't talk about it much, but it's no secret that Sunnydale High isn't really like other high schools. A lot of weird stuff happens here."”
Student: “Zombies!”
Student: “Hyena people!”
Student: “Snyder”
Jonathan (continuing): "But whenever there was a problem or something creepy happened, you seemed to show up and stop it. Most of the people here have been saved by you. Or helped by you at one time or another. We're proud to say that the class of '99 has the lowest mortality rate of any graduating class in Sunnydale history. And we know that at least part of that is because of you. So the senior class offers its thanks and gives you, uh... this." It's from all of us. And it has written here, Buffy Summers — Class Protector.”

AND ANOTHER THING

The movies that Tucker used to train the hellhounds were: Prom Night, Pump Up the Volume (which Seth Green and Juliet Landau were in), Prom Night IV, Pretty in Pink, The Club, and Carrie.

Buffy's wedding dress in Angel’s dream was designed by famous fashion designer Vera Wang.

Sarah didn't actually get to go to her own prom. She was at the Emmy Awards instead.

The lovely song that Buffy and Angel dance to at the end is called Wild Horses and is performed by The Sundays (available on the first Buffy the Vampire Slayer soundtrack). It is actually a cover of a song by The Rolling Stones.

HOW MANY STAKES?

It’s all very PROMising for the big finale. 3.5 (out of 5)

Buffy: 3.17 ‘Enemies’

Writer: Doug Petrie
Director: David Grossman

What's the sitch?

A demon approaches Buffy and Faith offering to sell them the Books of Ascension which will tell the gang everything they need to know about the Mayor’s plans. Secretly working for the Mayor, Faith goes back, kills the demon and takes the books. Faith is also making nice to Angel pretending she needs his help to deal with what she’s done. Really she is conspiring with the Mayor to turn Angel back to Angelus so as to be her perfect partner in evil. Her plan to seduce Angel and give him a happy in order to take his soul doesn’t work so the Mayor contacts a powerful sorcerer who, in front of Faith, appears to remove Angel’s soul thus bringing back Angelus. After a brief tussle the bad pair makes a truce and head off to see the Mayor, who, much to Angelus’s delight, instructs them to find, torture and kill Buffy. Faith and Angelus lure Buffy to the mansion where Faith then reveals her true evil colours to her sister slayer. Buffy, horrified at Faith and the return of Angelus, is knocked out. She awakens chained up, with Faith about to begin torturing her with lots of very sharp implements, Angelus looking on gleefully.

What's the sitch beneath the sitch?

The nurture vs. nature aspect of Buffy and Faith comes to a head here as Faith reveals her true colours to everyone. She is an immature child who is so full of rage because of the dreadful life she’s had. And that rage is only made the worse when seeing all that Buffy has – family, friends, love, a sense of normality and stability (though Buff would probably disagree with those last two). This just seems to rub Faith’s nose in her own short comings and makes her focus all of that inner rage of hers entirely on Buffy. Of course this is utterly unfair to our girl. Faith’s problems go back way further than Sunnydale and slaying. She’s lacked the unconditional love and support and role model of a strong parental figure her entire life. And that’s something she still very much needs and craves, which is why she latches on so hard to the Mayor, an apparently loving and supportive father figure. Plus when Faith first arrived in Sunnydale Buffy was rather threatened by her and seemed to want to keep Faith out of her circle of friends. This reaction only stored up even more enmity in the dark slayer towards Buffy. So while Buffy isn’t responsible for Faith’s behaviour and actions she didn’t exactly contribute to improving Faith’s chances for a better life.


Who's giving us the wiggins this week?

Faith, Angelus, The Mayor, and a freaky glowy eyed sorcerer.

Why it rocks

The script. ‘Enemies’ is a well constructed script by ace Faith writer Doug Petrie. It simultaneously delves deeper in to Faith’s character and her deep-seated troubles, explores the continually fracturing relationship between Buffy and Angel, and pushes the season’s main arc plot in to the beginning of its epic final act.

Eliza Dushku. As always Eliza is great as Faith. Here she gets to let rip and be the full-on nasty psycho Faith we know she truly is. Her vitriolic outburst to Buffy about why she hates her so much is wonderfully delivered. You can almost feel the waves of hate radiating. Her jealousy of Buffy and Angel is also very well played, as is her dangerous seduction technique with Angelus. And speaking of…

Angelus. Always good to see Boreanaz getting to have a ball as Angelus. The actor knows nothing of subtlety in this role…but then neither does Angelus, a monster that is gleeful in causing pain and suffering, so it works out fine.

Buffy and Angel exiting the movie theatre at the start, confused and shocked by the sexually explicit art house film they’ve just seen.

The sorcerer. He is one weird and creepy dude with his blue face and glowy eyes all wrapped up in black robes.

The reveal.

Giles the supernatural matchmaker. lol

Why it sucks

Buffy’s overreaction to what Angel did at her request regarding Faith feels a tad too much. Get over it Buff.

Why didn’t Giles and Buffy fill everyone else in on their plan especially poor Xander?

Well, Faith is officially playing for the bad guys now. Not suckage, just a bit of heart sinkage for the dark slayer cuz you know it ain’t gonna end well for her. :(

It's Buftastic

The moment when trickery is revealed:
Faith (to chained up Buffy): “What can I say, I'm the world's best actor.”
Angel (to Faith): “Second best.”

Dialogue to die for

Giles: “Demons after money. Whatever happened to the still-beating heart of a virgin? No one has any standards anymore.”

Buffy (on Faith's apparent intimacy with Angel): "You're right. Faith would never do that."
Willow: "Faith would totally do that. Faith was built to do that. She's the 'do that' girl!"

Xander: “And on the day the words flimsy excuse were redefined, we stood in awe and watched.”

Xander: “Yes. I feel so much better knowing that he broke my face in a good way. It's a good bruise.”

And another thing

The sexually explicit art house movie Angel and Buffy see is called "Le Banquet d Amelia." Don’t go looking for it. It’s not a real movie.

Oz's ever-changing hair colour is back to being blond again.

How many stakes?

The truth hurts. 4 (out of 5)

Buffy: 3.15 ‘Consequences’

Writer: Marti Noxon
Director: Michael Gershman

What's the sitch?

Following on from the events of the last episode, Buffy is keeping quiet about what happened - namely Faith killing a human being – though doing so is eating her up inside. She wants to tell Giles but Faith won’t hear of it. The dark slayer is acting as if nothing happened, as if what she did had no effect on her at all. But the man Faith killed was the Deputy Mayor and the police are intent on nailing his killer. Clues eventually lead them to questioning Buffy and Faith separately with both girls claiming to know nothing. But it’s all too much for Buffy and she breaks down to Willow telling her friend what happened. Willow tells Buffy she has to go to Giles, which she does…only to find Faith already there having told the ex-watcher that it was Buffy who killed the Deputy Mayor. Giles pretends to believe her but after Faith has gone he reveals to Buffy he knows Faith is the real culprit. Giles thinks she first has to admit what she’s done before she can be helped and he doesn’t intend to tell the Watchers Council. Unfortunately new Watcher Wesley secretly overhears this and heads off to make his own plans for Faith. Meanwhile Buffy has asked Angel to intervene, to try and reach Faith. Angel captures Faith and takes her to his mansion in a kind of forced intervention…only to have Wesley and some Watchers Council goons interrupt and snatch Faith away in order to take her to England for a tribunal. But Faith goes and escapes from the hapless Council goons and heads to the docks to catch a freighter out of the country. Buffy finds her there just in time only for Mr Trick and some vamp heavies working for the Mayor to attack and try to kill both slayers. As the battle starts going badly for Buffy, Faith is forced to make a choice – flee and let Buffy die at the fangs of evil vamps or stay and saver her sister slayer. Luckily Faith saves our girl and Mr Trick, that coolest of cool cat vamps, is dusted. Later, Buffy and Giles confer and Buffy says she thinks Faith may have a chance at being helped and that she won’t give up on her. But at the same time, across town, Faith goes to see the Mayor, this season’s big bad, and offers him her services.

What's the sitch beneath the sitch?

It’s all there in the title. All actions have consequences. To deny that only serves to make things worse. Faith’s selfish code of “Want. Take. Have” has all of its own unforeseen consequences and is not a sustainable way to live. It’s a very teenage thing. Live in the moment, do what you want, forget about what might come. Life is forever and you are invincible. Only age and experience counters this. And experience if not age is something Buffy has over Faith. Buffy dallied with Faith’s philosophy for a bit. It seemed exciting, freeing. It wasn’t. Quite the opposite. Actions and their consequences are a running theme in Buffy forming the basis for Angel’s character arc as well as Faith’s throughout the rest of Buffy and in to Angel and beyond.

Who's giving us the wiggins this week?

Faith, Mr Trick and his vamp goons

Why it rocks

It’s an effective part 2 to what began in the previous episode and nicely draws the distinction between the sort of slayers that Buffy and Faith are.

Buffy is put through the emotional wringer. You can feel the huge weight on her tiny little shoulders, her big eyes full of fear and pain all the way through. When she finally breaks down to Willow it is a well-earned release and you feel real sympathy for her. SMG does a great job.

Eliza Dushku. As always Eliza is great as Faith. She is effectively bullying Buffy all through this, forcing our girl to keep quiet and tow the line. She is also clearly coming unhinged. The scene where she almost kills Xander after he comes to offer her help, first forcing herself on him sexually, then throttling him, is pretty chilling stuff. And she really does sell it. She’s gorgeous and sexy but she is also one scary girl. Luckily Angel shows up just in time or the Xan man would have been history.

Harry Groener. As The Mayor Harry Groener is so much fun to watch and so darn good. He can do warm, funny, chilling, goofy, evil, all in the same scene, sometimes in the same line of dialogue. This is why he was and will always remain my favourite Big Bad of Buffy. He’s an evil monster, but you can’t help but love the guy.

Faith and The Mayor. This episode marks the very beginning of what is one of the best and sweetest relationships in the entire Buffyverse: Faith and The Mayor. Yes, they are the villains, but they also form such a close and caring father/daughter relationship mirroring that of Buffy and Giles that is genuinely charming and affecting. Not many shows will invest this much time and real sympathy in its villains.

Why it sucks

Where’s Oz?

Major continuity gaffs. The day after the Deputy Mayor’s murder (in the previous ep.), Buffy went to Faith's (in bright daylight and a clean outfit). This episode begins with Buffy in her pyjamas, waking up from a nightmare. She then goes to school meaning this is at least the second day since the murder. But the detective questioning the witness at the scene of the crime says, "You heard the man scream at about what time last night?" Later that night, Buffy says to Faith, "Less than 24 hours ago, you killed a man."

In the Dock fight it is fairly plain that it is SMG’s stunt double in a lot of the fight. The director didn’t hide the fact very well at all.

How did Wesley get the key to free Faith from Angel’s chains?

What exactly led the police detective to go question Buffy and Faith? It’s a bit of a dramatic leap. Sure, they found wooden shards in his wound but the cops don’t know about slayers. Or do they?

Mr Trick, that super cool vampire dude, goes out like a punk, staked in the back. What a waste of a great character. Boo!

It's Buftastic

It has to be the scene in Faith’s motel room where she molests and assaults poor Xander and almost kills him. Chilling.

Dialogue to die for

Willow: "I've been letting things fester. And I don't like it. I want to be fester-free."

Willow: "Oh, Buffy! Don't cry! I'm sorry. I was too hard on you. Sometimes I unleash, I don't know my own strength. It's bad. I'm bad. I'm a bad, bad, bad person!"

Buffy: "Oh."
Giles: "Oh!"
(They all look at Willow.)
Willow: "I don't need to say 'Oh.' I got it before. They slept together."

Cordelia (seeing Wesley): “Check out Giles: The Next Generation. What's your deal?”

And another thing

Kathleen Wilhoite, who sang the featured song in this episode, is also an actress. One of her notable roles was the recurring character Chloe Lewis on ER.

How many stakes?

Bad Faith is good. 3.5 (out of 5)

Buffy: 3.10 ‘Amends’

Some of Christophe Beck’s lovely score for ‘Amends’.

Writer: Joss Whedon
Director: Joss Whedon

What's the sitch?

It’s Christmas Eve and victims from Angel’s evil past are haunting him, trying to convince him to give in to his true nature, to give in to his need for Buffy and ultimately to kill her. The vampire with a soul is slowly being driven insane by these ghosts of the past and by his guilt and his barely contained passion for Buffy. Meanwhile Buffy is doing her own guest spots in Angel’s nightmares and is scared that they are losing him again. In desperation, Angel turns to Giles for help. Giles discovers that what is actually persecuting Angel is The First, the first ever evil, the original being that all other evil then sprung from. And The First wants Angel evil again and the Slayer dead. Feeling unable to resist anymore, Angel decides there’s only one way out – to kill himself by waiting for the coming dawn. Buffy defeats The First’s minions who are doing the ghostly conjuring and then rushes to stop Angel from committing suicide in the Christmas Day sun.

What's the sitch beneath the sitch?

It’s pretty much in the title. This is all about guilt and making amends. It’s about taking the hard path to trying to put things right and not taking the easy way out, about living a better life. Joss is basically channelling Dickens here with a hefty dose of A Christmas Carol as ghosts arrive to terrify and taunt Angel showing him what a terrible life he has led. The Buffy twist being that, unlike Dickens, the ghosts here don’t want to make Angel a better man. No, they want him evil again. It falls to Buffy to try and convince him about taking the hard path to becoming more than he was, to being a good and worthwhile man.

Who's giving us the wiggins this week?

The First and it’s blind Bringers.

Why it rocks

It’s a Joss episode. Need more? Okay…

The tale is very Dickensian in theme, tone and style. This is helped enormously by the beautifully put together flashbacks of a snowy Dublin in the 1800’s. These must have cost a small fortune what with the many, many extras, snow machines, period costumes, horses and other props. But worth every penny.

The cast. Everyone of them is great but especially David Boreanaz who does a very good turn as a confused and tortured soul gradually coming apart. Shame though about his Oirish accent. Yikes!

The score. Christophe Beck provides a beautifully haunting score for this episode especially in the flashback sequences.

Evil Angel. The scene where evil Angel menaces and then murders a young housemaid in old Dublin as she pleads for her life and that of her child. Despite the silly wig and terrible tash on Boreanaz it is wonderfully chilling stuff.

Willow’s continual reminders to her friends that she is Jewish and doesn’t partake in Christmas.

Willow’s attempted seduction of Oz using the music of the late great Barry White.

Faith coming over to Buffy’s for Christmas Eve with her “crappy” presents.

The First Evil. In season 3 Joss already appears to be setting up the ultimate Big Bad for the final ever season of Buffy four years later. Great advance planning or just coincidence? Knowing Joss I go for the first (or First).

Robia LaMorte. She’s back as Jenny Calendar…kinda, and does sterling work.

The little Mutant Enemy guy wearing his Santa hat in the end credits logo.

Why it sucks

David Boreanaz should never, I repeat NEVER be allowed to do an Irish accent. Brrr.

Angel’s dodgy 1800’s wig and awful matching moustache. Oh Joss, what were you thinking?

Despite the numerous mentions of how hot it was, many characters are wearing coats and warm clothes.

The Angel/Buffy confrontation on the hillside as the sun is about to rise becomes a bit too overwrought for my tastes with some unusually ripe dialogue for a Joss script.

The snowfall over Sunnydale blocking out the sun is very, very cheesy and the actual snow in Sunnydale looks rubbish. Unlike in the Dublin flashbacks it looks like what it is – white foam sprayed on stuff.

It's Buftastic

The fantastic scene (one of the best of the whole season) of a guilty and nervous Willow trying to seduce Oz with candles and Barry White. It’s immensely sweet and very funny. Oz looks wonderfully uncomfortable and the two actors play the scene to perfection. If you didn’t love Oz before (and why not?) then you surely will after this.

Dialogue to die for

Buffy: "You're weak, everybody is. Everybody fails ... Angel, you have the power to do real good, to make amends. But if you die now, then all that you ever were was a monster."

Angel: “Um... I'm sorry to bother you.”
Giles: “Sorry. Coming from you that phrase strikes me as rather funny. 'Sorry to bother me.'”
Angel: “I need your help.”
Giles: “And the funny keeps on coming.”

Joyce: “So, angel’s on top again?”
Buffy (shocked, looks to her mom): “What?”
Joyce (holding up an angel and a star): “Angel or star for the tree?”

Xander: “Angel? Weird? What are the odds?”

And another thing

The weatherman, Mark Kriski, was the real weatherman for L.A.’s KTLA's morning news.

In the end credits logo, little Mutant Enemy guy wears a Santa cap, and there are bells jingling in the background.

Giles keeps a Christmas stocking in the library with his name on it. Maybe he knows the truth about Santa. I just hope it isn’t the ‘Rare Exports’ truth.

How many stakes?

Angel’s on top. 3.5 (out of 5)

Buffy: 3.8 ‘Lover’s Walk’

Cool animation to Spike’s “Love’s Bitch…” speech.

Writer: Dan Vebber
Director: David Semel

What's the sitch?

A drunken, miserable and broken-hearted Spike returns to Sunnydale after being dumped by Drusilla who went and ran off with a mucus-covered chaos demon due to not being able to get over Spike having teamed up with the Slayer to defeat Angel’s world destroying plans last season. This has gone and left our favourite platinum vamp a bitter and broken creature of the night…until he hatches a plan to get Dru back using a love spell. But for that he’ll need a witch. Luckily for Spike Willow fits the bill. So he kidnaps the red headed Wiccan along with Xander, who are both caught in the midst of their own growing mutual attraction, and locks them up telling Willow to do the spell or he’ll kill Xander. Willow agrees but needs supplies. Spike heads out to get those supplies but soon runs in to Buffy and Angel. Telling them he has Willow and Xander hostage somewhere they’ll never find, he forces the pair to help him get the ingredients he needs to cast the love spell as well as to fight off a bunch of local demons just aching for a piece of Spike’s hide.

What's the sitch beneath the sitch?

It’s all about love, baby. Well, more precisely, being Buffy it’s actually about the pain and confusion and misery of love. Home truths are told…mostly by Spike. For some reason he can see through the lie Buffy and Angel are both living regarding their relationship. They aren’t ‘just friends’ and never will be. It takes this evil vampire, a creature of confounding emotional empathy and sensitivity, to tell the truth about love and passion. At the same time Willow and Xander are fighting their growing mutual attraction and physical urges. They feel terrible about what is happening between them as they both care deeply for their respective partners and yet seem helpless to stop it. Thinking they are gonna die trapped in the old factory, they give in and engage in a passionate clinch…only to be caught in the act by Oz and Cordy who’ve come to rescue them. The episode ends unhappily for almost everyone. Buffy knows what Spike said about her and Angel is true, while Cordy is in hospital after getting injured fleeing from the sight of Xander cheating on her. Oz, meanwhile, has gone quiet and withdrawn as would be his way, and Willow and Xander are distraught but have no idea how to fix things. The only person who ends this episode happy is Spike. He had an epiphany, deciding to become the old Spike again, to forget magic and moping and to just go get Dru back the way he knows best…with evil and extreme violence. And he leaves town a cheerful and reinvigorated monster.

Who's giving us the wiggins this week?

Spike

Why it rocks

Spike, Spike, Spike… Need I go on? Okay, I will.

Spike’s drunken arrival in town knocking down the Sunnydale sign as he did in his very first entrance in season 2.

James Marsters. He’s utterly brilliant and owns this episode entirely. From his first scene crashing the car in to the Sunnydale sign ala last season’s ‘School Hard’ (only this time falling out in a drunken stupor), to pouring out his heart to Joyce over hot chocolate, to his vulnerable and passionate speech about the nature of love, the guy is a pure joy to behold.

The aforementioned scene with Joyce. It is typical of Buffy that a scene/story you think will go one way goes and takes a sharp left turn. We assume Spike is gonna attack or hurt Joyce when he goes to Buffy’s house. In fact, he just wants some motherly comfort and a friendly non-judgemental ear. Both actors play it beautifully and its almost a shame when Angel and then Buffy turn up to move the plot along. This scene is the start of what is one of the most sweet, subtle and fun relationships on the show. Spike and Joyce genuinely seem to like each other and form an odd sort of mother/son bond. It wasn’t hugely explored but it is there. And when in season 5 Joyce dies and Spike comes to the house with flowers, it isn’t an act. He genuinely liked the lady. But then as we find out later in the show Spike has some major mother issues to deal with.

The pain of love. Yep, love in Buffy is never pleasant or smooth or fairytale. It’s pain, pain and more pain. And ‘Lover’s Walk’ brings that pain mostly to Willow/Oz and Xander/Cordy but also to Buffy and Angel by exposing the lie they are both living. This of course will lead to Angel leaving for LA at the end of this season with the promise of his own successful series.

Dan Vebber. The guy wrote a great script full of heartache, pathos, pain, hilarity, violence, thematic depth and major character development. There is no big monster to slay this week or a mystical thingamabob to find/destroy, it is simply all about the characters and what they are going through. It’s brilliantly Buffy that in the end Spike can’t be arsed with the love spell and just tells Buffy where he’s stashed her friends before heading off a much happier vampire. Not many shows will go and nullify an entire episode’s plot with one line and then just let the villain walk away having been the overall winner from proceedings.

Spike leaving town in his car while happily singing along to Gary Oldman’s performance of Sid Vicious’s version of ‘My Way’. Priceless.

Why it sucks

Hardly any Giles.

Where’s Faith?

It's Buftastic

Spike’s drunken, violent arrival in town. Classic!

Dialogue to die for

Oz: "I can see why you'd be upset. Uh, that was my sarcastic voice."
Xander: "Y'know, it sounds a lot like your regular voice."
Oz: "I've been told that."

Buffy: "She saw these scores and her head spun around and exploded."
Giles: "I've been on the Hellmouth too long. That was metaphorical, yes?"

Spike: "You're not friends. You'll never be friends. You'll be in love 'til it kills you both. You'll fight, and you'll shag, and you'll hate each other 'til it makes you quiver, but you'll never be friends. Love isn't brains, children, it's blood. Blood screaming inside you to work its will. I may be love's bitch, but at least I'm man enough to admit it."

Spike: “I'm really glad I came here, you know? I've been all wrongheaded about this. Weeping, crawling, blaming everybody else. I want Dru back, I've just gotta be the man I was, the man she loved. I'm gonna do what I shoulda done in the first place: I'll find her, wherever she is, tie her up, torture her until she likes me again.”

And another thing

According to the "Welcome to Sunnydale" sign Spike runs over, the population of Sunnydale is 38,500.

That really was James Marsters’ hand on fire in the scene where Spike wakes up in the sun. They couldn’t figure out how to do it with a stuntman and keep it all in the same shot, so James volunteered. It took two takes and he received some minor burns but says he was happy to have done it.

The version of ‘My Way’ Spike sings along to is sung by Gary Oldman playing Sid Vicious in the movie Sid and Nancy – a tip of the hat to the inspiration behind Spike and Dru.

How many stakes?

Spike’s doing it his way. 4.5/5

Buffy: 3.7 ‘Revelations’

Let girl fight commence

Writer: Doug Petrie
Director: James A. Contner

What's the sitch?

A new Watcher comes to town in order to take over duties for Faith. Gwendolyn Post is her name and she is one very stiff, proper and distinctly obnoxious lady. At first Faith can’t stand her though she soon develops a grudging respect and affection for the new hard-nosed Watcher lady. But Mrs Post is also in town on another mission: to find the fabled Glove of Midigon – a device that will give its wearer enormous power – before it falls in to the clawed hands of a bunch of nasty demon types. After a fairly brief search, Buffy finds the Glove and leaves it with Angel until they can figure out how best to destroy it. Afterwards, arriving back at the library, Buffy sees that her Angel secret is now out. The gang (minus Faith) has discovered that she’s been secretly harbouring the returned Angel and they confront her about her deceit. After said confrontation, Xander, still angry at Buffy and thinking Angel is still evil, goes and tells Faith what’s happened. Equally annoyed at Buffy’s actions, our badass slayer heads off to bag herself a certain resurrected broody vampire. Meanwhile, Mrs Post has gone and discovered that the Glove of Midigon is being kept at Angel’s and heads off to retrieve it…just as Buffy finds out that Faith is on her way to slay her one time undead paramour. Needless to say she rushes off to stop her. And so the stage is now set for a major confrontation at Angel’s place.

What's the sitch beneath the sitch?

Secrets, lies and betrayal are rife here. And those secrets come back to bite. Buffy has been keeping her secret about Angel, keeping vital information about his return from everyone including Giles, and they all feel mightily (and justifiably) annoyed. Meanwhile Mrs Post is keeping her own dark secrets, secrets that may also cause a great deal of harm. And Faith is starting to feel like an outsider to the scoobies in what will be the beginning of her descent in to darkness and villainy. This descent isn’t helped by the betrayal of Mrs Post who has been conning the tough yet vulnerable slayer by pretending to forge a close and meaningful relationship with her.

Who's giving us the wiggins this week?

Mrs Post and a bunch of vampire cultists.

Why it rocks

Giles’ reactions to being constantly belittled by Mrs Post.

Xander being Xander to Buffy about Angel – genuine anger and immature jealousy mixing together.

Giles’s quietly angry/distraught chastising of Buffy for her not telling him about Angel’s return. Tony Head is fab here.

The Buffy/Faith fight – the shape of things to come.

The main theme of secrets, lies and betrayal works quite well.

The twist/reveal works quite well.

Why it sucks

Serena Scott Thomas. She’s frankly rubbish as Mrs Post. The following year she had a small role in Bond film The World is not Enough and was rubbish in that too. Older sister Kristin definitely got all the acting talent.

The main story (the Glove of Midigon) is fairly run of the mill stuff with no real explanation given for Mrs Post’s behaviour or how come the Council would allow her to carry on doing the things she’s doing.

And how come the gang isn’t including Faith more? No wonder she’s getting a bit annoyed with them. She’s been MIA for a while now. What’s she been doing all by herself?

It's Buftastic

The brief but very cool Buffy/Faith fight.

Dialogue to die for

Giles (following his first meeting with Mrs. Post): "That was... bracing."
Buffy: "Interesting lady. Can I kill her?"
Giles: "The Council might frown upon that."

Giles (to Buffy): "I won't remind you that the fate of the world often lies with the Slayer. What would be the point? Nor shall I remind you that you've jeopardised the lives of all that you hold dear by harbouring a known murderer. But, sadly, I must remind you that Angel tortured me... for hours, for pleasure. You should have told me he was alive. You didn't. You have no respect for me or the job I perform."

Buffy: “Synchronised slaying.”
Faith: “New Olympic category?”

Cordelia: “So there's no more glove-thingy?”
Xander: “Nah, a little living fire, a little mesquite - gone for good.”
Oz: “Sounds like we missed a lot of fun.”
Xander: “Then we're telling it wrong.”

And another thing

Serena Scott Thomas is the sister of actress Kristin Scott Thomas.

This is the first episode written by then story editor Doug Petrie. He would go on to write some of the best Faith-centric episodes of Buffy.

How many stakes?

The truth hurts. 2 (out of 5)

Buffy: 3.4 'Beauty and the Beasts'

WAAHHH! I'm all veiny!

Writer: Marti Noxon
Director: James Whitmore Jr


What's the sitch?


Corpses who've been mauled to death start turning up around town and Buffy fears it might be down to Angel, who she's found in an almost mindless, feral state after his mysterious return. A return Buffy is keeping a secret, not telling anyone, not even Giles. She also has to regularly see the school’s therapist as part of her re-admittance. Meanwhile Willow fears the killer might be Oz, because in wolf mode he escaped from the library book cage (after Xander fell asleep while on guard duty) around the same time the murders happened. As it turns out neither vampire nor werewolf are responsible for the killings. The culprit is actually Pete, a friend of Buffy’s new beau, dull Scott Hope. You see Pete, a science genius, is also deeply insecure in his relationship with his long-time love, Debbie, who happens to be a platonic friend of Oz's. And so to compensate for his perceived inadequacies, Pete has invented a potion that enhances his masculine, aggressive side so as to (he believes) keep Debbie interested. Unfortunately the potion messes with Pete's mind and physically transforms him in to a strong and murderous Mr Hyde type who is also immensely abusive to Debbie. Pretty soon Oz becomes concerned for Debbie, and Pete starts seeing Oz as a threat to his relationship. So he decides to take some action against our favourite hirsute guitarist. Cue a Mr Hyde vs werewolf showdown.


What's the sitch beneath the sitch?


More of the old beast within sitch. Oz is an unwilling victim of is internal beast but he manages to control it – mostly because he loves Willow. Angel has reverted to a beast and yet somehow keeps a level of control and instinctual protectiveness of Buffy. But Pete willingly reverts to a bestial state through misguided fear of losing Debbie and is own deep insecurities. The three love struck women in the episode each has a beast of a boyfriend– Buffy with Angel, Willow with Oz and Debbie with Pete. But it is only Debbie who cannot or will not admit to Pete's behaviour. She's become far to dependent and beaten down. Basically this is your abusive controlling boyfriend metaphor given a Sunnydale twist.


Why it rocks


Seth Green. We get to see more of Oz and how he relates to others on a personal level. Turns out he's a great guy, a caring guy. Like we didn't already know.

This works quite well as a mystery whodunit. We aren't sure who is the killer until later on in the episode.

Poor Buffy. Finding Angel returned sends her whole world in to a spin. She was just recovering and now it all goes kaphlooey again. The kid never gets a break.


Why it sucks


This is a dull filler episode that goes nowhere. Feel free to skip it.

The metaphor is too glaring and the overall story just ain't very good. Pete is an idiot and a pretty rubbish beast with his blistery red face. Plus Debbie is the worst kind of simpering victim who is just there to be abused and to suffer. At least Lily aka Chantarelle, another simpering girly girl, develops and grows over time. But Debbie is the worst kind of victim - a willingly helpless one.

The new werewolf design is terrible. It's like a flat faced monkey and about as scary as a pair of socks.

Is it just me or how the heck can such a puny looking book cage hold a ferocious werewolf?

Not enough Faith.


Dialogue to die for


Xander: Oz doesn't eat people. It's more werewolf play. You know, 'I bat you around a little bit. Like a cat toy. I have harmless wolf fun.' Is it Oz's fault, that, you know, side effect, people get cut to ribbons, and maybe then he'll take a little nibble and...I'm not helping am I?

Buffy (arriving at the school shrink’s office): Buffy Summers, reporting for sanity.

Giles: Clearly, we're looking for a depraved, sadistic animal.
Oz: Present. I may be a cold-blooded jelly doughnut, but my timing is impeccable.

Giles (getting accidentally shot in the arse with a tranquilliser dart): Right! Bloody priceless...


It's Bufftastic


Giles getting accidentally shot by the tranquilliser meant for Oz. “Right! Bloody priceless...” then collapsing unconscious.


And another thing


The story uses Jack London's Call of the Wild as a touchstone with Willow reading it to Oz in werewolf form. However the passages read are not actually from the book but are paraphrased from different parts of the book.

Mr. Platt, the school shrink’s smoking reinforces the show's clear bias against smoking. Every character in the show who has smoked has been either evil (Spike and the evil Angel), doomed (Laura in "Nightmares" and the woman who was Angel's first kill after re-losing his soul) or both (Sheila in "School Hard"). And now Mr Platt.

In the locker room behind Buffy is an anti-violence poster that reads 'Most Women Aren't Attracted to Dead Guys.' Oh the irony.

Willow has a Scooby Doo lunch box. Heh.


Rating

This beast needs putting down. 1.5 (out of 5)

Buffy: 3.3 'Faith, Hope & Trick'

Clips of this episode to a song by Silverchair.

Writer: David Greenwalt
Director: James A Contner


What's the sitch?


There are two new big bad vampires in town - the ancient, cloven-handed Kakistos, and his whip smart right-hand-vamp, the sharp suited, slick-tongued Mr Trick. Mr Trick sees opportunities aplenty in Sunnydale. He wants to take advantage of modern technology and make the town their's, turning it in to a super efficient vampire haven. But the evil Kakistos is there for one reason and one reason only: he has a score to settle with a slayer. Meanwhile Buffy is being urged by her friends to move on romantically and to accept the numerous invites for a date from nice, normal (dull) fellow student Scott Hope. Buffy resists for a while. But eventually, and after a series of false starts, she caves and decides to go out with dullard Scott but not before her attempted rescue of a girl from a vamp at the Bronze backfires. Because as said girl kicks the vamps ass and then dusts it, it becomes clear that, as Oz says, “I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that there's a new slayer in town.”

Say hello to Faith the Vampire Slayer.

Cordy puts it together for us by explaining that Faith was called when Kendra died. Faith then tells the gang that she's come to Sunnydale as her watcher has headed off to England for an annual watcher's retreat. So, left to her own devices, Faith decided to take off and come find Buffy. All the gang are mighty impressed by tough, sexy, confident, streetwise Faith. Even Joyce sees her as a good role model for Buffy. But Buff is getting jealous of Faith’s effect on her friends. Plus she also smells a rat in her sister slayer's story when she sees that Faith enjoys pummelling vamps a little bit too much. It soon turns out that Buffy is right. Faith lied to them all. She is in fact on the run with her watcher dead at the cloven hands of Kakistos...but not before Faith seriously scarred the old vamp, who now wants bloody revenge on her. But this time the odds are in Faith's favour. So it's double slayer trouble for nasty old vampire dude.

This episode ends with Buffy, seemingly having now put Angel behind her, being ready to move on with her life. But after she leaves his abandoned mansion, leaving behind the ring Angel gave her for her birthday last year, a flash of light in the darkness and a falling body mark the return of a certain brooding vampire with a soul.


What's the sitch beneath the sitch?


Not much here metaphor-wise as this is primarily a plot functional episode designed to introduce Faith and reintroduce Captain Forehead as Spike would call him. Theme and character-wise, though, this is mainly about Buffy still trying to move on after Angel, while also feeling threatened when this new, hip, sexy, tough as nails slayer hits town and dazzles everyone with her hot looks, cool talk, and raucous stories.


Why it rocks


Faith. What more do you need?

After Spike, Faith Lehane is my favourite character in the entire Buffyverse and the larger Whedonverse. Like Spike, Faith is such a complex and multi-faceted character. You are never really sure where she's coming from or what she'll do next. Also like Spike, she makes for a great hero and an equally great villain. But she is always sympathetic even when doing really bad things. Faith is the flip side of the coin to Buffy. She's how our girl could have turned out without the love and support of her family and friends. Interestingly we get a glimpse of that other Buffy in the forthcoming Season 3 episode 'The Wish' that sees an alternate universe in which Buffy never came to Sunnydale. When she does finally arrive she is much like Faith – tough, cynical, battle hungry. Unlike Kendra who was born in to the world of Slaying, Faith was, like Buffy, brought in much later. But unlike Buffy, Faith came from a background of poverty, abuse and neglect. Her mother was a drug addict and prostitute who eventually died, and her father is in prison. She has no friends and no other family. She's a deeply troubled loner, a heavily damaged young girl. Of course none of this is known in this episode. Most of it comes to light in future episodes and in the excellent novel 'Go Ask Malice' which tells us Faith's story up until she takes off for Sunnydale. It is telling that Faith's reaction to becoming a slayer is the polar opposite to that of Buffy, and also of her predecessor Kendra. For Buffy, being a slayer is a terrible burden and something that is always spoiling her life. For Kendra, being a slayer was a sacred calling and an integral part of who she was. But for Faith, being a slayer is a blast! It's simply the best thing that's ever happened to her. It's one big party and gives her a sense of purpose, of power, and a way to express herself that she has never had.

Eliza Dushku. As Faith, Eliza has 'mad skills' and she's 'Five by Five'. What can I say? I love her. From our first proper introduction to Eliza in this role while slaying a vamp outside The Bronze, she has the dark sexiness and cool charismatic attitude down pat. She's gorgeous and she'll kick your ass in a heartbeat. Or if you're a guy she might just nail you whether you want her to or not. Either way you probably won't survive her. Later on in the season Xander very nearly doesn't. Eliza makes such an impact that she will forever be known primarily for this role. Whether she likes it or not she is, and always will be, Faith Lehane.

Mr Trick. Now here's a cool new take on the vampires in Buffy. Trick is not some old world monster or simple predatory demon. He's a slick, smart, organised, businessman who embraces the modern world and all it has to offer. He's also, after Kendra, the most prominent African-American character (so far) in Buffy. He does make the comment in this ep that Sunnydale is very Caucasian and not so friendly to 'the brothers' (by which he means both black people and vampires). This was something that always bothered me about Sunnydale. It is very white and Caucasian. Would it have killed Joss and co. to include a few more black, Asian, Hispanic faces in the school and wider town? So far the non-Caucasians who have turned up have had the Star Trek red shirt curse and all died – be they random vampires, or poor Kendra (mmm, Kendra). As Trick, K Todd Freeman is immediately a blast. He's a lot of fun to watch and you can't help but like the guy...even if he is a soulless evil monster.

Giles the great. Giles yet again proves what a great father figure he is by subtly pushing Buffy to open up about what really happened with Angel so that she can start to heal properly. At episodes end she finally admits to them that Angel got his soul back when she killed him.

Oz. Seth Green turning taciturn in to an art form.


Why it sucks


Kakistos is a bit crap. He's supposed to be this ancient and terrifying monster...but just looks like a big balding bloke with silly hands.

Joyce yet again fails in her motherly duties to Buffy. She can't help trash talking her daughter, putting her down...this time in front of Faith.

Scott Hope. Yikes! And some fans thought Riley Finn was dull.

Does anybody actually own Angel's mansion? Despite looking like a million bucks it remains abandoned.


It's Bufftastic


Faith's introduction. Yay!


Dialogue to die for


Willow (to Buffy about Scott Hope): He wanted to ask you out last year, but you weren't ready then. But I think you're ready now. Or at least in the state of pre-readiness to make conversation. Or to do that thing with your mouth that boys like. (Buffy glares at her) Oh! I didn't mean that bad thing with your mouth, I meant that little half-smile thing that you... (to Oz) You're supposed to stop me when I do that.

Willow (to Faith): Oz is a werewolf.
Buffy: It's a long story.
Oz: I got bit.
Buffy: Apparently not that long.

Faith (handing back Buffy's stake to her after some slaying): Thanks B. Couldn't have done it without ya!


And another thing


Although Faith looks like the oldest of the youngsters on the show, Eliza was in fact the youngest. She had only just finished High School when she was cast as Faith and had just turned 18 when she started filming.

Eliza already had a career of note behind her prior to Buffy. She played Leonardo DiCaprio's little sister in This Boy's Life also alongside Robert DeNiro, and she was Arnold Schwarzenegger's daughter in James Cameron's True Lies. She temporarily gave up the acting though to concentrate on High School with Buffy being her first proper job after graduating.

The band playing in the Bronze are Darling Violetta who went on to compose and record the theme for Angel.


Rating

It's no Trick, Faith is ace. 3.5 (out of 5)

Buffy: 2.22 ‘Becoming – Part 2’

A beautifully made video tribute to the Slayer

Writen and directed by: Joss Whedon

What's the sitch?

The police arrest Buffy but she escapes and heads to the hospital to check on her friends. Xander is up and about albeit with a broken arm while poor Willow is lying unconscious with possible brain damage. Giles, however, is missing. He’s been kidnapped by Dru and Angelus to help them figure out how to awaken Acathla.

On her way home, Buffy is stopped by another policeman, who is quickly knocked unconscious by Spike. Spike wants to stop Angelus from destroying the world as he likes the world just the way it is. He proposes that Buffy and he work together to stop and then kill his grandsire. In exchange for his help Spike promises to leave town forever, taking Dru with him. And so an uneasy alliance is formed, which is soon put to the test at Buffy’s house where they kill a vamp together in front of a shocked Joyce.

Buffy finally has to tell Joyce the truth – that she is the Slayer, and that she has to leave and save the world. Again. Angry and in denial, Joyce tells Buffy that if she leaves the house now she can never come back. Buffy, with no choice, leaves and runs to the school to find Kendra's sword, running in to Snyder, who, with much relish, expels her on the spot. Buffy takes the sword and goes to kill Angelus.

Meanwhile Angelus is torturing Giles, trying to get him to tell the secret of Acathla. But in the end it is Dru's hypnotic power pretending to be Jenny Calendar that tricks Giles in to giving away the secret. The secret is Angelus himself; it is his blood which will awaken Acathla. Back at the hospital Willow attempts the spell to curse Angelus with his soul again, while at the mansion Buffy arrives…and Spike makes his move. After neutralising the other vamp henchmen, Spike takes Drusilla and leaves the house and the town, leaving Buffy and Angelus in a fight to the death. But Angelus manages to touch his blood to Acathla, and the demon starts to awaken. Time is almost up for the world as the portal to suck it in to hell begins to open. Buffy knows that the only thing that can save the world and close the portal is to kill Angelus. And then the worst happens…the curse takes effect and Angelus's soul is restored.

Angel is Angel once more. The man Buffy loves.

But it's too late.

The lovers exchange a kiss and some intimate words, and then Buffy drives the knight’s sword through Angel, sending him to Hell.

Acathla's vortex closes. The world is safe once more.

The next day the gang's back at school, battered and broken but still (mostly) in one piece. But there's no sign of Buffy. They speculate that she may have gone off with a cured Angel for some alone time and hope to see her back soon.

But Buffy is not coming back anytime soon. She watches her friends from a distance and then turns and walks sadly away. We then see that she’s left a note on her bed for her mother, a note which makes Joyce cry when she reads it.

Our final sight of Buffy is of her sat alone on a bus, heartbroken, staring out of the window as the vehicle leaves town, passing by a sign which reads ‘You are now leaving Sunnydale. Come back soon.’

What's the sitch beneath the sitch?

See part 1. But also when Buffy is forced to ‘come out’ to her mom about being the Slayer, the whole thing becomes a major gay metaphor, as if Buffy is admitting to her mom that she’s a lesbian. Her mom’s shocked reaction and then throwing her daughter out of the house only makes it more metaphorey. Heh. Metaphorey. See what I did there? I made a Buffy word.

Who's giving us the wiggins this week?

Angelus, Drusilla, Acathla and Joss Whedon, the evil genius.

Why it rocks

What do you mean why? Just watch it for gods sake.

Whedon you bastard! Television simply doesn’t get better than this. Epic drama, intimate emotion, big excitement, full-on pulse pounding action, heartbreaking tragedy, smart metaphor, pain, blood, love, loss, pain, more pain…it’s all crammed in to 44 exquisite minutes so expertly and effectively crafted you wonder how on earth anyone could do it and do it so well. But then you remember that this is Joss we’re talking about. He does this stuff in his sleep, at least it seems like that as it just feels so effortless.

Everything about this episode is stunning. Every scene fizzes and pops with energy, story, character, emotion, depth. It’s a template for how to make a truly great series finale and is my second favourite of all Buffy finales just behind Joss’s The Gift from season five.

All the cast give their all and are utterly brilliant. But in the end, this rests solely on the tiny shoulders of Sarah Michelle Gellar. And boy, does she do good. If you didn't love Buffy Anne Summers before, then I dare you not to love her after this. By the end of Season 2, Sarah and Joss were quickly firming up Buffy's place as one of the greatest heroes of modern fiction. This was always Joss's freely admitted aim. He always wanted to make Buffy a beloved icon. And by the end of the series seven year run he'd succeed in doing just that.

Favourite bits? All of it, but okay…

Spike and Joyce making awkward small talk in Buffy’s living room. “So, do you live in town?”

Spike explaining why he wants to save the world. “Dog racing, Manchester United…”

Giles calling Angelus a pillock.

Drusilla as Jenny Calendar

Buffy and Joyce arguing about her being the Slayer and Joyce’s stupid, “Well have you tried not to be?”

The epic sword fight between Buffy and Angelus.

The part in the sword fight where Angelus thinks he has Buffy and says confidently, “Now that's everything, huh? No weapons... No friends...No hope. Take all that away... and what's left?” He goes to ram the sword in to her face, to kill her, but at the last moment Buffy catches the blade between her palms and answers simply, “Me,” before smashing it back in to his face. It’s a real “YEAH!” punch the air moment.

The beautiful music by Christophe Beck titled ‘Close Your Eyes’ as Buffy kisses Angel and then kills him.

The whole sad epilogue as Buffy, heartbroken, leaves Sunnydale with the lovely song ‘Full of Grace’ by Sarah Mclachlan playing beneath.

The little Mutant Enemy guy at the end of the credits saying, “Oh, I need a hug,” instead of the usual “Grr Argh!”

Why it sucks

The hairline on Angel's stand-in during the climactic swordfight makes it obvious that it's not David Boreanaz.

It's been established in Buffy that vampires don't breathe, at least not in the "real" way that humans do. That is, they obviously can and do inhale and exhale air — it's necessary in order to talk (or smoke). But they don't actually need to. So, without that need for oxygen, the chokehold Spike puts on Drusilla should not make her lose consciousness.

It's Buftastic

Buffy catching that sword blade between her palms and striking back.

Dialogue to die for

Angelus (to Giles): I wanna torture you. I used to love it, and it's been a long time. I mean, the last time I tortured somebody, they didn't even have chainsaws

Spike: We like to talk big. Vampires do. 'I'm going to destroy the world.' That's just tough guy talk. Strutting around with your friends over a pint of blood. The truth is, I like this world. You've got... dog racing, Manchester United. And you've got people. Billions of people walking around like Happy Meals with legs. It's all right here. But then someone comes along with a vision. With a real... passion for destruction. Angel could pull it off. Goodbye, Piccadilly. Farewell, Leicester Bloody Square. You know what I'm saying?

Giles: You must perform the ritual... in a tutu. Pillock!
Angelus: All right. Someone get the chainsaw.

Xander: Cavalry's here. Cavalry's a frightened guy with a rock, but it's here.

Angelus: Now that's everything, huh? No weapons... No friends...No hope. Take all that away... and what's left?
Buffy: Me.

Angel: What's happening?
Buffy: Shh. Don't worry about it. I love you.
Angel: I love you.
Buffy: Close your eyes.

Mutant Enemy monster: Ooh, I need a hug

And another thing

The "Grr...argh" at the end of each episode was altered for this one... instead, it said, "Ooh, I need a hug." However, most of the US did not get this version after the original airing (due, apparently, to a mistake made by the WB). The altered version can be seen in syndication and on the official DVD release.

The house used as Angel’s mansion is Ennis house, 2655 Glendower Avenue Los Angeles, CA 90027. It was designed and built in 1924 by world- famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright. It was also Deckard’s house in Blade Runner and was recently put up for sale for a meagre $4m.

How many stakes?

I definitely need a hug. Poor Buffy. 5+ (out of 5)

And so ends my review/guide of Buffy season 2. Season 3 coming soon, my personal favourite season - mostly for one reason: Faith. Big smile.