Just Re-watched Season Two

[fitri]

I never really thought much of Becoming (1) at first, I'd much rather prefer the other half. But after re-watching it, I can't help but rewind and repeat that very last scene where Buffy runs through the school's hallway, and everything just went slow-motion. She enters the library, sees Kendra's corpse and starts breaking down. The music was very right for the scene, and it brought a very high emotional level for it. Then, as Whistler ends his narrating speech... "Freeze!"

Don't get me wrong, still prefered the second half, but I'm no longer underrating Part One.

[NileQT87]

i actually prefer part one (i'm glutton for flashbacks) just slightly. although i love buffy sending angel to hell... my angsty little heart goes pitter patter... but i think darla's version of the "close your eyes" (and of course buffy's) just pushes it ahead. the two "close your eyes" lines are very possibly my favorites in both parts.

similarly, i almost have more fondness for surprise over innocence (angst factor pushes innocence over, but i am super fond of buffy's dream sequences, dru's dance and the buffy/angel segments) and what's my line?, pt. 1 over pt. 2 (the ice-skating/vamp-face kiss pushes it over--though pt. 2 has dru torturing angel and our first glimpses of angel using his angelus personality).

[KingofCretins]

Basically two flawless hours of television, even though they have different tones. I couldn't choose between them. But "Becoming, Part I" is a very special episode, definitely.

• "Yeah, well Jenny's dead" -- I think that the fact that Xander and Giles nearly come to blows in this episode makes it amazing. It's a group of real people, not cartoonish figures, a supergroup that always sticks together just because. They choose it every day, they put it on every day, and that means real conflict can take shape.
• Whistler's voiceover -- Max Perlich did a great job adding the depth of the episode's messages in a role that Joss wrote for himself. Joss made the write choice in hiring an actor to come in and do it. "Becoming, Part I" is, even more than "Lie to Me", the first lesson Buffy has to teach its audience about real life. You can't choose the big moments.
• Kendra -- this is also the first genre show in a long time that had the guts to flat out kill a character like this so cavalierly, to just use her up and throw her out. It felt more like a movie than television.
• Buffy under arrest -- It was the 33rd episode of the series, and that whole time the tension was building about Buffy's secret life, both from her mom and from the civil authority. That moment plays so well, like it all catches up with her. Again, about the realism -- Buffy is, in practical terms, a vigilante.

[vampmogs]

I actually enjoy the middle of Becoming Part I more so than parts of Becoming Part II. I love seeing the flashbacks of Angelus and Dru. It was very creepy when he says "god is watching you" and places his hand up against the grate. And I adored seeing Buffy being called and the revelation that Buffy was Angel's motivation to get off his ass and become somebody. But as King said, it's two episodes of flawless television, I couldn't think of one thing wrong with any of it.

And IMO both work best when you view them together than individual episodes. The parallels between Darla's "close your eyes" and Buffy's "close your eyes" is marvellous. Angel was tricked twice by a woman he fell for from first sight, one showing him this world, the other sending him away from it. And I agree with King, the lead up and tension to Buffy's identity being revealed was gripping television. Too bad they blew it so badly with the "oh you're not wanted for murder anymore" of season three, which is really one of my very few complaints about that season.

[buffyholic]

Those two episodes are just perfect television. I think Becoming I might be a little overlooked because of how famous part 2 is. But part 1 is just amazing, we see how Angel, Dru and Buffy became major players, we see Xander and the gang almost coming to blows and of course the cliffhanger, that is just perfect with the voiceover.

[litzie]

I love Becoming pt 1 because of how many parallels there are with When She Was Bad...I like a rounded season. The whole idea of Buffy going off, by herself, to what everyone acknowledges is likely a trap - Giles and Willow being put in jeopardy because of Buffy's choices - Xander so concerned with Willow's well-being...and yet so much had changed over the course of the season. I really enjoy that.

[buffyholic]

Who thinks that in this ep Xander acts like a jerk? I mean, this is not an easy decision for Buffy to make and he spits right in her face telling her that all she wants is to have Angel back. All I ask is for Xander to be a little more understanding of Buffy.

[Fehmina]

that slow-mo scene of Buffy just made me cry outright. i couldn't help it.
you just felt in these eps that you had to be behind her 100% as the viewer.

and yeah, i remember hating Xander for the way he acted. it wasn't until recently that i started loving his character. i'm surprised myself how long i held that grudge

x

[alexa]

and yeah, i remember hating Xander for the way he acted. it wasn't until recently that i started loving his character. i'm surprised myself how long i held that grudge
x

I actually loved him again by the Zeppo. Barring a few Anti-Angel moments.
I'm also a fan of the flashbacks in part one, it's still cool that we get to see Buffy called and slay her first vampire. Also that moment in the end of part one - slow mo - it's been described as the best moment of the entire series.. basically it all goes down hill from there. Not sure I agree with that, but I see what they mean, it's special.

[litzie]

I actually loved him again by the Zeppo. Barring a few Anti-Angel moments.
I'm also a fan of the flashbacks in part one, it's still cool that we get to see Buffy called and slay her first vampire. Also that moment in the end of part one - slow mo - it's been described as the best moment of the entire series.. basically it all goes down hill from there. Not sure I agree with that, but I see what they mean, it's special.

I dunno...that slow mo moment always makes me think - why is she wearing heels??

Usually I'm able to ignore the fact that she never dresses for a fight, but the slow motion kind of highlights the fact that it's next to impossible to run in heels like that, so why is she wearing them again?

[Fehmina]

I actually loved him again by the Zeppo. Barring a few Anti-Angel moments.

in hindsight i can see where he's coming from completely in terms of the whole bangel thing. (not really a fan anymore)
and i loved Zeppo! just pure pure btvs, definitely a top 10 ep. and xander was fantastic. i realised he was a rather underrated character, he provided alot of humour the show required, and he underpinned the whole 'kid trying to make it through high school' idea. buffy and willow had their own more obvious talents whereas he had a journey to go through and some insecurities to overcome, not too different to those a member of the audience could be experiencing.

anyway tangent.
hehe.

[Daihrin]

Part 1 does completely rock. It was the first ep I saw, and then Part 2 was on directly after it, so I was drawn in immediately. The tension these two episodes present is extraordinary, and I just can't imagine the series without them. On a related side note, when I see so many people picking 2 as one of their top ten eps or something, it drives me crazy. Part 2 without 1 just seems wrong to me, you know?

[skinless]

After rewatching season 2, I thought it was the perfect Mix of drama, comedy and horror.

Who thinks that in this ep Xander acts like a jerk?

I think Xander may have acted like a jerk, But He had problems with Angel and wasnt going to put his feelings aside for anyone not even Buffy,when it came to Angel

[Jade]

I agree. I was just glad to see him blow up at someone. He took so much stick and yet never did anything except make jokes. His character became much more interesting after that.

[Nina]

I'm rewatching season 2 as well, and I find everytime little mistakes about Angel.

Halloween:

Buffy: It doesn't say, but the entry's dated 1775.
Willow: Angel was eighteen. And still human.

We find out that Angel is born in 1727 and he died in 1753 when he was 26 years old. 1775 is 22 years after his death/siring. It doesn't make a lot of sense ...

Surprise:

"So you just forget that he destroyed the most beloved daughter of your tribe?! That he *killed* every man, woman and child that touched her life?!"

Didn't we find out that Angelus only killed the girl, who was hunted down by Darla, and her whole family was killed by Dru, Spike and Darla?

[NileQT87]

well, holtz thinks it was angelus who killed sarah holtz, as well, even though we saw darla do it.

angelus got blamed for a lot of things that darla, spike and drusilla did. same with the slaughter of the gypsy camp. darla also was the one who captured the gypsy girl for angelus on his birthday. also, it seems that 2 brunette girls played the gypsy girl (becoming, pt. 1 / five by five) and then there was also a plump blonde girl at the borşa, romania apartment while darla and angelus fornicated in front of the fireplace (untouched)--darla's whisperings were about the gypsy girl during those flashbacks, but the flashbacks probably were before that night, but at the same apartment with a different girl.

then there's the fact that angel recognized dana's slayer ramblings as being partly in romanian... meaning that there was a romanian slayer. the gypsy girl, the favorite daughter of her tribe, almost seems insinuated there. it would support angel's comment that the girl was "dumb as a post". or perhaps it was a different girl. could have been why they went to romania--perhaps spike was trying to find a slayer, but he didn't find that one and then after losing angelus, they went off to china.

also, angelus was a bad boy with darla in budapest before they were in borşa. it seems like they were going east in the 1890s-1900 (st. petersburg--probably ties into angelus seeing giselle, frankfurt, rome, budapest, borşa, beijing... and the last time angel saw darla she was into kimonos--that's japan).

also, if you read the watcher's diary... you can read that the girl who liam dated when he was 18 (and human) was named "sarah gilfried".

angel actually also had a habitual habit of knocking 4 years from his siring date. i fanwank it as that he forgot and just took what buffy got from giles ("240 or so"--key words: "or so") and then looked it up later. he knew his age by season 2 ats (and had a habit of deleting the 100 years he spent in hell).

also, cordelia says her birthday is may 22. which means season 3 ats happens well into the summer way past its airdates. and most of season 4 ats happens in a few weeks.

buffy's birthday isn't january 19th, but january 20th. why? the scoobies would have been at school on a sunday in surprise. still happily a capricorn on the cusp of aquarius (changes on the 21st).

being that giles' books were notoriously wrong, i'd assume the watcher's council was just bad at keeping accurate records sometimes. wesley seemed to be way better than giles about knowing angel's life. wesley's books were also better. gwendolyn post even criticized giles' books.

[Nina]

I never noticed the different girls who played the gypsy girl and the girl in untouched. I always assumed that they were all the same gypsy girl. It would be nice to find out if they are playing the same girl, if one of them is a slayer and why the girl was the greatest gypsy ever.

About Angel's age;
So in season 2 they used Liam's age + the time that he was a vampire as Angel's age and they stopped with that somewhere and just used the time he was a vampire as Angel's age. I wonder why they did that.

[NileQT87]

well, i assume the two skinny brunettes were more or less like the two nikkis (i actually prefer fool for love nikki--she looks more authentic '70s to me--at least the hair was real)--same character. but the chubby blonde girl, 1) was wearing a fancy pink victorian dress rather than the gypsy outfit or the white shroud-like dress and 2) was not a skinny brunette.

it always throws me off in untouched when you hear darla talking about the gypsy by the fire and you see a chubby blonde girl in a wealthy victorian dress bound and gagged. i just assume it was two different girls and occasions--but both probably in borşa.

but yeah. anybody else think it is interesting that we never learned what was so special to the gypsies about that girl, the fact that darla actually was responsible for capturing the girl--and darla, spike and drusilla killed the camp, angel's comment of her being "dumb as a post" and the fact that dana had romanian slayer memories?

angel also had a habit of lying to people about his past or leaving things out (and was even caught on it by buffy with drusilla). we found out angel had actually killed/fed off of/sired a few people between 1898 and 1997. there were rudolf and his companions (killed), rudolf's girl (fed from, but not killed), sam lawson (sired), left the hyperion residents to be killed (not much different from the wine cellar incident), the donut shop employee (fed from), and the semi-canonical (viva las buffy) garner sidle (sired to escape a holding spell).

it seems like angelus was singled out because he was the easiest to blame and catch. holtz even said as much--holtz had no problem capturing angelus and had trouble getting the more unpredictable one, darla.