BtVS Season 2, part 3

[emmagrant01]

Buffy diaries, S2 Episodes 17-22

First, I'm amazed that people are actually reading these posts of mine. Though I have to admit, it says a lot about this show that watching someone else watch it for the first time could be that interesting. I'm realizing that people lovelovelove this show and these characters with a passion that is unlike anything I've seen in fandom before. Maybe I just don't get "out" online that much, but my god it's nice to know this obsession I'm sinking into rather rapidly is such a damn good one. And that there is so much company to be found along the way!


[8/25/06]


Passion

I had been looking forward to this episode because several people had commented that it was one of their favorites, and I wasn't disappointed. I really, really like Angelus as a character, and I love the tension between him and Buffy. It's such a great twist on the show. This one seemed to be narrated by him as well, which I was a little confused by, as that hasn't happened on an episode before IIRC.

I guess the big thing from this episode for me is that it was shown to be possible for Angel's soul to be brought back. (Which is a bit of a duh, considering that there will be a whole series about him in the future.) It was an interesting writing choice to show that to the audience so soon after he was turned, but to keep it from Buffy and everyone else -- and then to kill off the only person who knew. That's such a little gem for the audience, and it will presumably be a while before anyone else figures it out, but yet we now will be waiting for it. Great writing!

I didn't see Jenny's death coming at all, but in the context of the paragraph above, it makes perfect sense. It had been hinted that in the past Angelus was an incredibly cruel vampire, and I love that we're starting to see little hints of that. The taunting, the leaving of little hints about one's fate, the drawings, the flowers -- you really get a picture of him as someone who enjoys the chase more than the kill. He's systematically torturing everyone around Buffy, all in an effort to get her to act out in the way he knows she will, because he knows her so very well. I love it!

It's also interesting to me that Giles and Buffy have both been gutted by Angel at this point. They have that in common, which could end up being a strength for them. I'm wondering what will happen if/when Angel gets his soul back. It's hard to imagine Buffy would ever be able to forgive him. A few episodes back, Kendra asked her how she could just overlook his past cruelty. The truth was that Buffy really didn't understand what he was capable of. Well, now she does, and I can't imagine her being able to overlook it again.



Killed By Death

I wasn't sure what to expect from this one. It seemed more like a "Monster of the week" kind of show, but then there was all that gorgeous Angel tension! The scene between Xander and Angel in the corridor in the hospital? Holy shit, the subtext was practically erupting there! There just have to be Xander/Angel fics based just on that little moment. If not, I may write one. Dude.


[8/27/06]


I Only Have Eyes For You

Two big points here. First, Principal Snyder knows the school is on a hellmouth, and the mayor apparently does as well. That's quite interesting. I thought something was probably up with him, because all "high school is hell" stuff aside, he really seems to have it in for Buffy. He wants her out of there really badly. My guess at this point is that he's some sort of demon himself. Heh, for those of you who know the answer, that probably sounds really lame.

The other big thing about this episode was, of course, the Buffy/Angel moment. I didn't see it coming until Giles commented that there weren't any men in the school for the "scene" to be acted out, and I did one of those *gasp* things, because it was suddenly completely obvious what had to happen. And oh, what a gorgeous little moment of angst that was! I really liked Angel's scrubbing himself off afterwards and complaining of having been violated. That was pretty funny.

Oh, and Spike can walk and he's plotting something! Whee!



Go Fish

This one was a bit monster-of-the-week-ish, but it was all worth it to get a glimpse of Xander in a speedo. Dear god, the man is built. I've been admiring those shoulders for quite a while now, but wow was it ever nice to get to see almost the whole package. I loved the fact that Cordelia completely wigged out over it too. Hee!



Becoming

I'm writing this after just finishing watching it, and I feel completely, utterly gutted by it. I can't imagine what it would have been like to have seen this as an actual season finale and then to have to wait months to find out what happens next. I only have to wait until tomorrow, and I don't know if I'll make it that long.

There is so much I want to say about this episode, and I fear this is going to be tl;dr as a result. But I guess if you cared about that, you wouldn't have made it this far, huh?

The first thing to say is that all of the flashback scenes were really interesting to me. It was cool to see those little pieces of the past, but even better to see how Angel got to Sunnydale in the first place. The idea that he'd basically been a homeless bum for a century, and then seeing Buffy and wanting to help her turned his life around -- that left me all a-flutter. Of course, then I wondered how he'd pulled himself together so quickly and acquired a cool, well-furnished apartment and stylish clothes and all on a few months' notice and probably a very small budget, but hell, these things don't matter so much. (Maybe Whistler helped him with that?) Though the bum thing does help explain the brooding and the utter lack of social skills, I have to say. It also made the borderline pervy peeking through little Buffy's window bit rather fun. I haven't seen the movie since I saw it in the theater, so I have no idea how close the Buffy-in-LA scenes were to what we saw there.

The rift between Spike and Angel had been coming for a while, and Spike going to Buffy for help was just frickin' awesome. His whole speech about how much he likes the world and doesn't want it to end was quite interesting. It makes me wonder just how much of a demon he is. I guess there are different degrees of demonicness in vampires, as we've certainly seen already. Heh, that bodes well for the future seasons. Still, the sight of Spike sitting in Buffy's living room with her mom, all awkward, was just fantastic. I have to wonder if the fact that Buffy invited him in will be a factor later?

And Buffy's mom finally knows she's a slayer, though her reaction was patently stupid. That bothered me, but I guess the writers wanted to take everything away from her. Sometimes characters get sacrificed in the process. Oh, and more evidence here that Principal Snyder knows what's up. It can't be good.

My inner Buffy/Angel shipper was pretty much fucking shredded by the ending of this episode. What glorious angst to have his soul come back right at the end, just to torture her a little bit more! (And her friends did that to her, yeow.) I'm a complete angst whore, and that shit brought me to my knees. I can't manage to be so cruel as a writer, though I really love to have it done to me. Guess that makes me an angst bottom, huh?

Did Buffy know that only Angel's blood would close the hell gate thingie again? I wondered about that part. Well, obviously we haven't seen the last of Buffy or of Angel. I do wonder if his soul is back for good (should he find his way out of hell) or how the whole soul thing will figure in to the process of him coming back. I also wonder where Spike and Drusilla got off to, as they obviously aren't going to keep that promise to get out of the country and stay out.

I don't know this will happen for a fact, of course, but I would really, really like to see more canon Buffy/Angel stuff. I just need it, in a way I haven't needed a het pairing in a frickin' long time. That, or David could show up on my doorstep wearing nothing but an artfully placed bow. Either way, I'm good. Though I think I'd prefer the first one, oddly enough.

And geez, now I want to go back and watch the first two seasons again with all of this in my head! Of course, the siren call of season 3 is far too strong for that. But it's now 2:00 am, and MDH has been asleep for 4 hours, and... I should really go to bed.

My god, I'm completely obsessed now, aren't I?

ETA: Thanks to inell for this list of BtVS LJ comms!

Comments

[kerryblaze.livejournal.com]

I'm enjoying your posts because I'm remebering what it was like to see them the first time.

I started watching Buffy the first episode because David is the son of a popular local weatherman here in Philly. I had no intention of watching it, but Dave (his dad) mentioned it the night it was airing, so I turned it on to see what his soon looked like and fall in love (with David and the show).

I didn't see Jenny's death coming at all... Oh boy. The wank that happened on the boards when that happened! Memories...

Spike with Joyce in the living room is still one of my favorite scenes in the entire series!

I can't imagine what it would have been like to have seen this as an actual season finale and then to have to wait months to find out what happens next.

haha I was on a business trip when the Season 3 opener aired. I left a dinner meeting early to go to my hotel room and watch.

I'm proud to say that in all 7 seasons, I only missed one episode when it originally aired. I'm telling you I was addicted.

[madlori.livejournal.com]

My guess at this point is that he's some sort of demon himself. Heh, for those of you who know the answer, that probably sounds really lame.

Only lame in the "you are exactly right" sense. The Mayor is the S3 Big Bad, and my second favorite villain ever after Angelus (I don't count Spike as a villain, although he was one for at least two seasons).

I have to wonder if the fact that Buffy invited him in will be a factor later?

The inviting/disinviting of Spike into Buffy's house is a recurring thing from time to time.

What do you mean by seeing more canon Buffy/Angel stuff? He is in the third season, so there's plenty more in your future.

And yes, we were all shredded by Becoming. That moment when she tells him to close his eyes...gawd. I can barely think about it NOW. And I was never really that into the B/A pairing.

[letmypidgeonsgo.livejournal.com]

welcome to the dark side. have a cookie!

re: passion: even as things are happening, it never struck me that buffy saw angelus's actions as something angel would have to be held responsible for. her history with him makes everything that much harder to deal with, but i don't think, when it came to placing blame (she did place a lot on herself for participating in what cost him his soul again), she thought angel could be held responsible for what the monster inside of him did. giles (not to mention angel himself) is another story.

ah, happy memories of the speedo...::sigh::

that post-becoming gutted feeling...as soon as i read that, i felt like i was back there, what, 8 years ago, because that was exactly how i (and i think every other buffy fan) reacted to it...i'm pretty sure i cried a bit, and yes, it was a LONG summer spent re-watching my taped episodes ad nauseum

the bit you mentioned about his soul coming back at the end gave me a total flashback to my dorkiest fangirl moment - tv guide did a big recap of all the buffy eps at some point, and for the blurb about becoming they said something to the effect of "buffy, unaware of angel's new soulfulness..." - and i actually wrote to them (i think i was about 15 at the time) and blasted them on how they could screw up on such a pivotal aspect of the plot! it got published, but alas, with editing of my flaming to make it look like they weren't total idiots [/random nerdy flashback]

i think you'll be pleased with what season 3 has to offer ;)

[djin7.livejournal.com]

AH, the Buffy love. I really miss that show. How exciting to be watching it all for the first time!1sdkjsdsd;!

Spike. It makes me wonder just how much of a demon he is...

Oh. You have no idea.

SQUEEEEEEEE!

Awesome. And no, the BtVS obsession never really goes away.

[sodamnquirky.livejournal.com]

i am loving these posts. you have no idea.

just think: we had to wait a week for new episodes, months for new seasons. it was agony, yes, but by the time you got new material, you knew EVERYTHING there was to know about previous episodes & had theories and guh. i miss buffy so much.

i watched ALIAS like you are watching Buffy. got all the dvds and devoured them while discussing them with someone that went through the pain of waiting for each episode. they claimed that the fact that the series had been out for so long meant i was spoiled. i knew which characters made it from dvd covers/people's icons... yes, but it's such a RIDE either way. and you can't help but fall in love with it as you watch, no matter the pace.

you are making me want to go and finally buy all the seasons since i only have the last two that i downloaded when they switched to UPN and i didn't have the channel.

[sodamnquirky.livejournal.com]

spoilers!

[cdz-kannon-z.livejournal.com]

Season 2 as a whole was angst and dark and all around showed how each charatcer dealt with said darkness...I am very much looking forward to any and all fics you write in the buffy-verse

[littleroo27.livejournal.com]

I love reading these so much :-D

I haven't watched season 2 in a while, but I remember the WTF moments quite clearly.

First off - I love Joss so much as a writer. He patently refuses to let anyone have a happy ending. It's high school. He was a geeky man who got fucked over, thus his characters get fucked over. I love it. Plus, the sarcasm in this show is just 5 stars. Half of what comes out of my mouth these days is "buffy speak" in one form or another.

passion - oh my GOD, the roses going up the stairs to the bed... that just killed me the first time. Hell, it still does! You're totally right, Angel is all about the set up to the kill. His joy is in making his victims suffer. Have you learned about how Dru was turned yet? If not, that will tell you a whole lot about Angelus' psyche.

I liked killed by death but haven't seen it in ages. I just think it's cool to see Buffy working on her own without the Scoobies for once. She's pretty kick ass.

I only have eyes for you is like WOW with the angst! I love the flashback scenes and how they play the whole thing out in reverse. It really did fit their situation so well. And at the end, it's really telling how they deal with it in their own ways. Buffy really is still in Angel's "soul" even if he doesn't have one anymore.

Go Fish to me is the equivelant of the bathtub scene in GoF. You feel kinda like a dirty perv for liking it, but holy SHIT!

As for becoming, she knew that killing Angel would close the portal and take Angelus to hell with it, but she was planning on killing Angelus, NOT Angel. When Willow got his soul back at the last minute, she was forced to kill him anyway (well, okay, kill isn't the right word - suck into hell) in order to save the whole world from being sucked in with him.

The plan on Willow's end was to get his soul back before the portal even opened, but obviously THAT didn't happen.

*sniffle*

[littleroo27.livejournal.com]

I didn't get into Buffy until Season 3 (Doplegangland), but I remember the utter insanity that was myself after season 5 ended. I was wandering around my parents house crying and swearing and screaming "no!" for days, lol.

[cdz-kannon-z.livejournal.com]

I know this doesn't really "fit" in this section but I thought you may get a kick out of it

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWhelb5b_Vk

I found it on youtube and it is HP "opening credits" done like the BTVS opening credits

[themadfish.livejournal.com]

Man, I've been wanting to watch Buffy again for so long, and you're just feeding it. My friend has all of it except for season 5. So I've seen up to season 4, because I refuse to see 6 and 7 before I see 5.

So I'm a first time Buffy fan too...just half way through it. GAH. I need to get season 5.

[purple-snitch.livejournal.com]

Hahaha, oh man that is at least 12 diferent kinds of awesome!

[maab-connor.livejournal.com]

OMG that was great! how did i MISS that?? thank you.

[maab-connor.livejournal.com]

as far as your "monster of the week" comment... yeah, that happens a lot, but there's always that little bit of cannon in there that you CANNOT miss. and they're always the snarkiest! god i miss this show.

and "Becoming" yeah, we ALL cried. how could you not? the uber angst of it all. this is why i started to love Joss.

just a quick FYI for ya: Joss wrote every season ending as a possible series end (for some reason he was never really sure they'd be renewed). now, can you imagine seeing THAT ep and NOT knowing (i think it was for three weeks) that the show had been renewed? that was the hardest thing EVER! and also, the ending scene got me addicted to Sarah McG.! and to this day when ever i hear the opening lines of that song, i get chills and remember Buffy on the bus, then the cut to "Thanks for visiting Sunnydale, come back soon" sign.

god i love Joss!

[dorrie6.livejournal.com]

Oh I'm so glad you are here! Yes, yes, yes with the GUTTED. Never has a piece of television affected me as strongly as the end of this season. As a bit of trivia, my song, "She Waits for Him" is subtitled "Angel's Song" and was written during the summer between seasons 2 and 3. That was the first fanwork of any kind I ever created (though I didn't tell most people it *was* a fanwork), which is why I credit BTVS with my entry into fandom. I spent the entire summer rewatching "Becoming" and crying and crying. It still makes me cry. Just the idea of what Buffy had to do in the end. I just. The pain. GAH, I'm getting teary just talking about it here, and I haven't even watched it! omg.

Okay, I will attempt to comment on the rest. Now I can really talk to you about what I was saying about "Passion". I think that the Angel narration is one of the elements that makes it obvious to me that it was written by someone who was not a regular ME writer. I also think that some of the characterizations (Willow's in particular) actually harken back to earlier in the series in some ways. It's just not quite 100% there in that way--like really good fanfiction as opposed to canon. I mean, I say all this while also saying that it is one of my favorite eps of the season, which it is.

"Killed By Death" is also by outside writers, and I think it shows too, in similar ways--having an oddly different voice, and reminding me more of a season 1 plot--but I always liked it for the Cordelia characterization, and what that gave to her. Again, like good fanfiction, I guess.

Believe it or not, there were people on the main Buffy posting board at the time who spent all of season 2 complaining that they missed the "monster of the week" type episodes from season 1, and how much they hated that the series had started focusing on through-story instead. I didn't understand those people then, and I don't now. There were, actually, a LOT of these people.

I should have more to say about all of the eps you watched, but I can't stop thinking about "Becoming" now, and I am turning into a pile of mush. Must go now.

[snottygrrl.livejournal.com]

you are the cutest thing in the whole world [*smooches*]

[ambersnake]

It's been incredibly sweet reading this :) I've watched my Buffy seasons countless times, and know all the Once More With Feeling lyrics word for word. It's really refreshing to see the series through a virgin's eyes.

It's really difficult not to blurt out things like "Yeah, you think that now but wait until season 5!" or "Keep an eye on that, it will be significant". One thing you've probably already been told: in later seasons, the "subtext" between certain characters reaches almost Xena-esque levels at times ;)

There just have to be Xander/Angel fics based just on that little moment. If not, I may write one. Dude.

Angelus, darling. Angel is boring as fuck. To me, that is. I liked him in the first episode; then he turned on the angst and turned into Billowy Coat King of Pain with almost no sense of humour. Angelus, on the other hand, is any horrible thing you can think up but never dull. And those leather pants...

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

Hee, yeah -- I haven't actually watched beyond this season yet...

[collectively.livejournal.com]

BWAHAHA! The cult continues to grow! And now we have another excellent fanfiction writer on our side...::continues to plot crazy world takeover in head::

P.S. "There just have to be Xander/Angel fics based just on that little moment. If not, I may write one." -- Who cares if there are any others out there? We want YOURS! ;)

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

Oh, how cool that you watched it from the beginning! Did DB's dad mention it again on the air, or was that pretty much it? Ever run into DB at the mall or anything?

What was wanky about Jenny's death?

[pennswoods.livejournal.com]

Wow! That was beautifully done.

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

it never struck me that buffy saw angelus's actions as something angel would have to be held responsible for

Interesting... From my perspective at this point, I sort of see her as struggling with that, and really wanting to believe that the two aren't connected, but not being entirely sure about it.

I'm really looking forward to seeing what happens next where Angel is concerned, because I have no idea how he will be able to live with what he did to Giles and to everyone around Buffy. From a writing perspective, I can't wait to see how all of that will be dealt with!

that post-becoming gutted feeling...as soon as i read that, i felt like i was back there

That is just so, so amazing to me. I mean, writing all of this out and posting it feels so selfish anyway, but the fact that people are enjoying reading it because they love the show that fucking much... wow. It only makes me love the show that much more. :-)

And OMG on the TV Guide thing! How could they have missed that???

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

And no, the BtVS obsession never really goes away.

And how lucky for me that this is true! The last thing I wanted was to join a dead fandom, but it seems to be quite far from dead. :-D

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

The only thing I can really compare it to are the other fandoms I've been in (Star Wars and HP) and what it felt like to have years between new canon. But wow, to get a new dose of it every week would be so incredible. I've never been in a TV fandom at all before, so I really have no idea what that would feel like. But wow, I can totally imagine the sort of internet chatter that must have taken place between the episodes. I wonder if any of those old boards are still out there?

Icons and similar things are quite spoilery, yes! But there's no avoiding it, really. It's a bit of comfort to have a sense of what's coming, even though I have no idea how the show will get there. :-)

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

Angst and darkness... God, I love it so! :-D