Becoming Parts 1 and 2

Mark here... well we made it!  The season finale of Buffy Season 2!  This was a really good episode!  It starts out kind of slow but sort of sums up the best of this season.  The season as a whole was a bit off and on for us watching again.  On the one hand there's some great stuff with exploring the history of the slayer and the introduction of Spike.  On the other hand, there's still Jenny Calendar and the awkward romance between Buffy and Angel.  It just felt off in retrospect.  I know this was the season Buffy became a thing based on that romance, but it still lacked chemistry for me and the age difference was unavoidable.  So you're 200 years old and your attracted to a 16 year old girl.  I get the appeal if you are 16, but now...yeeesh.

Anyway, Angel, Drusilla and Spike are plotting to unleash this awful hell demon and the gang must stop them.  But lo and behold, Spike is sick of evil Angel and doesn't want the end of the world.  So he strikes a bargain with Buffy.  In the meantime though, Drusilla attacks the Scoobies while Angel distracts Buffy. She captures Giles, wounds Willow and Xander, and kills a visiting Kendra the Vampire Slayer.  Kendra pretty much shows up to get knocked off, being an awful character and making way for a better one...next season!  Willow ends up hospitalized but pulls herself together to attempt re-ensouling Angel with a spell they found from Jenny Calendar.  Witch Willow is very much apparent and we get to see her finally taking charge and moving from the mousy friend to the tough character she will become.  Now if only she would dress better!  Seriously, coming out for Willow isn't just about admitting she's gay, it's about not dressing like someone who hates herself!

Buffy confronts Angel at his ritual and Spike betrays him and carts Drusilla off.  After a big fight, Buffy is forced to kill Angel to reverse the spell he started...but Willow has succeeded in re-ensouling him! It's a touching scene even as she's forced to stab him with a sword.

In the end Buffy is forced to leave town.  The police think she's killed Kendra because she's found with the body.  Also, Joyce throws her out after Buffy confesses to being the Slayer and tells her she has to leave.  Another great scene!  Buffy basically tells Joyce she's been in denial about everything that's been going on.

One final point...we get a hint of something bigger as Principal Synder calls the Mayor *who we've not seen) to express joy at Buffy leaving town and being expelled from school...

Hey Laurel here...I second Mark's emotion about Willow, it's nice to see her step up to the plate, now please stop dressing like you hate yourself!

The other thing I thought was interesting about this episode is that Joyce finally gets a clue, sort of.  She realizes she's been missing a huge issue that has been going on in her daughter's life for the last few years but she reacts so poorly when she discovers it.  She finally starts to understand that something profound is going on when Spike shows up at the house with Buffy, and Buffy evaporates a vampire right in front of her, but her reaction is like "young lady, you are grounded!"  and Buffy is like "I don't have time to be grounded I have to save the world!  Don't you get it by now you clueless woman!"  I am paraphrasing of course, but you get the jist.  Hopefully Joyce will get it together in the next season.

The episode ends with Buffy running away.  Where will she go?  What or who brings her back?  What will Angel be like now that he has a soul again?  Will Willow ever start dressing better?  Only time will tell...

We give this double episode a rare 5 stakes!  Good one Joss.