“Amends”
Written and Directed by Joss Whedon? Well we know this episode is gonna rock then. This episode is so important to the series as a whole, but it’s interesting that its importance isn’t clear until many seasons from now.
So back in 1838 in Dublin, Ireland Angelus killed a man that owed him money. In fact, I’m pretty sure Angelus has killed many men, women, and children whether they owed him money or not, but the point here is that Angel is being haunted by his past. Not being able to sleep because of these dreams, Angel goes for a walk and being Christmastime, Buffy uses this excuse in order to go shopping. Please buy Angel some shirts for Christmas. And I have to point out:
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Buffy, I thought you knew you weren’t supposed to cut your own bangs? |
Oz comes by to talk to Willow and seriously, could he be more sweet and adorable? He tells her how he miss her every second and feels as if part of him is missing. Awww. Oz is seriously the perfect man. He is honest about his feelings and… well, I’ll get to what else later. For now; Willow: Do you want us to hug now?
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I just died of adorableness. |
A little bit of Joyce and Buffy shopping for a Christmas tree, which breaks down like this:
Joyce: Let’s get a tree coated in white chemicals!
Buffy: Or maybe we can get one of these mysteriously dead trees.
Joyce: And you should invite Faith over because she has no friends or family and I like taking care of heart-broken vampires and teenage runaways.
Buffy: Fine, how about Giles?
Joyce: No, things are too awkward since we- um… I mean, I’m still hot for his- wait… just… no.
Buffy: Please never speak of this again.
Speaking of awkward, let’s talk about Angel going over to Giles and asking him for help. That’s got to take a lot for him to go to the man he tortured and murdered his girlfriend to ask him to figure out why he is back. Oh yeah, we’ve been so busy with all sorts of other crazy stuff we didn’t even stop to question the fact that Angel fell out of the sky. Giles reaction to Angel asking him for help is bloody brilliant.
Giles: Ok, I’ll help you.
Angel: Um…I can't come in unless you invite me.
Giles goes and gets a crossbow, then points it at Angel.
Giles: I'm aware of that… Come in.
Angel: Well… I don’t know if I want to now…
Angel asks Giles to find out why he’s back and maybe that will make him stop hallucinating and having strange dreams. Or you could stop doing acid. Before Giles can help him, Angel sees an apparition of Jenny Calendar, freaks out, and runs away.
That night Angel does acid again has another dream from his past about killing a servant woman. This time, at the end, Buffy appears in his dream watching what happened. When Angel awakes, the ghost of Ms. Calendar is there to talk to him and remind him of all the horrible things he’s done.
Buffy goes to tell Giles that she was literally in Angel’s dream. He tells her about his previous conversation with Angel and that he is already researching how Angel could have possibly come back. AX shows up because he has nothing better to do and offers to help. It’s a step AX, but you are not redeemed yet. It’s gonna take more for me to forgive you. Willow shows up too because her and Xander have no lives away from Buffy.
Now, some more yummy Buffy/Angel lovin’. Since they aren’t allowed to touch in real life, they meet each other in their dreams. I like the way that the camera cuts from them sleeping and moving in their sleep to what is happening in their shared dream. Things are getting hot and steamy in the dream, when Angel morphs into a vampire and bites Buffy, waking them both up.
Another conversation between Buffy and Giles;
Giles: What happened in your dream with Angel?
Buffy: If you don’t ask about my dream I won’t ask about what happened with my mom.
Giles: Deal. So my books tell me that The First evil is what is haunting Angel.
Buffy: The First? Can you tell me more about this thing?
Giles: Not until Season 7. Now, the Bringers work for the first and conjure these spirit manifestations of the dead.
Buffy: Bringers? Tell me more.
Giles: Stop getting ahead of yourself, they won’t come into real play for several years.
Xander: These guys have no eyes? They don’t sound like a big threat and I’m sure they could not harm me or anyone I care about.
Buffy and Giles:…
Buffy and Xander ask Willy the Snitch about anything he has heard. Not a big fan of this scene, I feel like it messes up the pacing of the show so far. But we learn that they are underground somewhere.
Now, the great and powerful Oz returns. Willow is dressed all sexy with Barry White playing in the background. Oz asks Willow if she ever had the dream "where you're in a play, and you're right in the middle of it and you kinda don't know your lines or the plot?" In fact, she has, several times. Oz declines to have sex with Willow because he is the most awesome man to ever live. Just like in Innocence when Willow wants to make out with him to make Xander jealous, she is wanting to have sex with him to prove something. He wants to wait until it's the perfect moment for the both of them.
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OZ FOREVER |
Joyce: Angel’s on top again?
Buffy: WHAT?!
Me: AHAHAHAHA
Faith, having originally declined Buffy’s offer because of a “party” ends up coming over for Christmas Eve. She even brings gifts that she says are “crappy”, but in this case it really is the thought that counts. Hugs and cookies for Faith! Buffy goes upstairs to get Faith’s presents and Angel has once again snuck into her room. He is completely tripping out. Seriously man, just say no.
Buffy: Why did you sneak in my room?
Angel: To tell you to stay away from me.
Buffy: That makes no sense.
Angel: Stay away from me! *jumps out window*
Buffy: WTF?
Back at Angel’s mansion, The First is trying to convince Angel to either kill Buffy or have sex with her (which would then cause him to kill her after). The First tells Angel that is why it brought him back (although we later learn on Angel that it was really the Powers that Be). Not wanting to harm her or anyone else, Angel decides that self-sacrifice is the only thing he can do, so he heads out to wait for the sunrise.
Buffy tells Faith to watch after her mom, and she goes to ask Giles for help. After much research, Buffy connects the phrase “nothing shall grow above or below” with the Christmas tree lot where all the trees died in a specific area. She finds the Bringers and after a short fight, The First appears in the form of Jenny Calendar telling Buffy that Angel will be dead by sunrise.
Buffy finds Angel on Kingman’s Bluff (this is another one of those things that will come back season later) and she tries to explain to him that it was The First haunting him. Then once again all of the sadness in the world descends upon me.
Angel: (Favorite Line) I want to take comfort in you, and I know it'll cost me my soul, and a part of me doesn't care... Look, I'm weak. I've never been anything else. It's not the demon in me that needs killing, Buffy. It's the man.
Buffy points out the real reason Angel was brought back "To make amends"; this is mostly addressed on the series Angel. Angel doesn’t want to listen to her until she breaks down crying and says: What about me? I love you so much... And I tried to make you go away... I killed you and it didn't help. (crying) And I hate it! I hate that it's so hard... and that you can hurt me so much. I know everything that you did, because you did it to me. Oh, God! I wish that I wished you dead. I don't. (whispers) I can't.
Please make this sadness stop. Their argument about him killing himself is cut off when they notice that the sun is not rising and it is in fact snowing. Again, a lot of this episode is setting up things for the future but mostly its to show that "The Powers that Be" brought Angel back so he could have his own show to redeem himself. They even step in to make it snow in Sunnydale in order to prevent Angel from killing himself. Everyone is smiling at the pretty snow. Angel and Buffy, now having admitted their feelings, are walking along hand in hand. *tear*
-Kali!
Sarah's Notes
-Xander's a dick about Angel and I don't like him
-I agree with Willow, it's winter break, not everyone is a Christian
-Thank you for being a jerk to Xander, Cordelia!
-I love Oz <3
-LOL at Joyce not wanting to ask Giles to come over for Christmas
-Angel's back to being shirtless *sighs* Maybe he should start attending SA (Shirtless Anonymous)
-Faith tells Buffy she was invited to "a party" and can't go to her place for Christmas and we all totally believe her
-"tis the season, whatever that means" Does anyone actually know what this means?
-Angel asks Giles for help and Giles becomes a badass and gets a crossbow before letting him in.
-Angel and Buffy share an Angelus dream
-Whoa, Xander being nice and offering to help Angel? It must really be a Hanukkah miracle. I'm with Kali though; this is a step but he ain't even close to being forgiven.
-And now Buffy and Angel share a steamy rated R dream, how nice
-I. LOVE. WILLOW.
-"no, not going, just a dramatic gesture" Oz
-Oz is such a freaking sweet guy and I love him so much. Willow has the best relationships ever
-LOL "so Angel's on top again?" Joyce (Favorite Line)
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-What morons. Sunnydale is a city; go underneath a building or desert landscape, not trees! That's basically putting a huge sign overhead that says "we're doing evil things right under your feet, come join us"
-Buffy telling Angel that what the First was saying means he can hurt it *coughSeasonSevencough*
-How original, it starts to snow and the news says the sun won't come out all day so Buffy and Angel walk through the snow together. When this is said, does anyone else feel like this means the world is less safe because vampires can be outside all day?
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