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2.21 Becoming (I)

Spike: "Let me guess. Someone pulls out the sword..."
Angelus: "Someone worthy."
Spike: "The demon wakes up, and wackiness ensues."

Who is Angel, really? He is, in effect, four different people in the four distinct stages of his un-life:

(1) a bratty, irresponsible party animal when he was a living person;
(2) a smirking, soulless, cruel and perverse monster as a vampire;
(3) a depressed, harmless, homeless lost soul with a soul; and finally,
(4) Buffy's brooding, gorgeous boyfriend and incipient superhero, which is the only persona we don't get to see here.

This episode also showed us how all of the major changes in his life involved his relationship with a woman.

Darla is first, of course, as she is the one that changed him forever. And it's pretty clear that her reason for bringing him over was because she was attracted to him. (Darla said "Close your eyes" to Angel right before she bit him. See my note at the end of my review of part two.) It was Angel's cruelty toward women, specifically the gypsy girl, that moved him to the next stage in his un-life. We don't really learn much about the gypsy girl (and there probably isn't much to know), but we do get a serious representational look at his cruelty toward poor Drusilla.

Buffy herself was responsible for Angel's third major change, as Whistler led Angel to watch "destiny-free" Buffy dealing alone with becoming a superhero at fifteen. Interesting that this was the only major change in his life that Angel chose for himself. Whistler told him, "You can become someone. A person. Someone to be counted." And Angel did.

There was a powerful scene in the library when the gang fought about whether or not Angel deserved to be cured. Xander said to Buffy, "The way I see it is, you want to forget all about Miss Calendar's murder so you can get your boyfriend back." There was certainly some truth in there. But were Angel's crimes truly his fault? Angel has never had any control of his un-life. The only real choice he ever made was to become a "real person" to help Buffy. The "real" Angel that we've come to know in the past two seasons would never choose evil, under any circumstances, and we know it. He never asked to be freed of his curse.

Bits and pieces:

-- Was this Apocalypse number three?

-- Willow is taking on Jenny's role in the group in almost every way. Except for being Giles' honey, of course.

-- As evil vamps go, Spike is actually more likeable than Angelus is. And Spike delivers his lines with such bite. "It's a big rock. Can't wait to tell my friends; they don't have a rock this big." "Let me guess. Someone pulls out the sword, the demon wakes up, and wackiness ensues."

-- I really, really hated to see Kendra go. And it was funny and touching to have Kendra inadvertently bequeath Mr. Pointy to Buffy.

-- Angel. Irish accent. No.

-- The 1996 flashback scenes were reminiscent of the original, not so good BtVS movie.

-- We don't see Buffy's father Hank, but we hear his voice in the 1996 flashback.

-- Giles was using an Orb of Thessela as a paperweight. In "Passion," the shopkeeper said he'd been selling them as paperweights.

-- One of my favorite moments in this episode was the cafeteria scene where Xander slayed the fish sticks. This may be a sly reference to last week's episode, "Go Fish."

-- Obligatory dog reference: Whistler: "Dog me. Mustard."

Foreshadowing:

-- Giles told Willow that if she tried to replicate the curse, she would be channeling potent magicks through herself and that she might be opening a door she couldn't close.

-- Demonic good guy Whistler was much like the character of half-demon Doyle in the spinoff series "Angel."

Inconsistencies:

-- How did Whistler get Angel to Los Angeles? And wouldn't a ragged guy in a blacked out car in front of a school be noticed? Plus, there's something a bit statutory-rape-y about Angel lusting after a fifteen-year-old girl.

-- Dates for Angel's lifetime events don't quite match up with previous episodes. But they're consistent with future date references.

Quotable quotes:

Cordelia: "I think it's great to do that before you go out and fail in the real world. That way you're not falling back on something. You're falling... well, forward."
Xander: "And almost sixty-five percent of that was actual compliment. Is that a personal best?"

Snyder: "These public displays of affection are not acceptable in my school. This isn't an orgy, people. It's a classroom."
Buffy: "Yeah. Where they teach lunch."
Snyder: "Just give me a reason to kick you out, Summers. Just give me a reason. (leaves)
Cordelia: "How about because you're a tiny, impotent Nazi with a bug up his butt the size of an emu?"

Spike: "It's a big rock. I can't wait to tell my friends. They don't have a rock this big."

Buffy: "And you're sure this was the tomb of Alfalfa?"

Willow: "I don't want to be our only hope. Uh, I crumble under pressure. Let's have another hope."

Willow: "This means I can't help you study for tomorrow's final."
Buffy: "I'll wing it. Of course, if we go to Hell by then, I won't have to take 'em. (pause) Or maybe I'll be taking them forever."

Kendra: "In case de curse does not succeed, dis is my lucky stake. I have killed many vampires wit it. I call it Mr. Pointy."
Buffy: "You named your stake?"
Kendra: "Yes."
Buffy: "Remind me to get you a stuffed animal."

Angelus: "Hello, lover. I wasn't sure you'd come."
Buffy: "After your immolation-o-gram? Come on, I had to show. Shouldn't you be out destroying the world right now, pulling the sword out of Al Franken or whatever his name is?"

Four out of four stakes,

Billie





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