Season 2, Episode 17

“Passion”

This is the episode where Joss Whedon proves to those few people silly enough to believe that certain characters won’t be killed that they are dead wrong. I have to say that despite how horribly sad this episode is, I love it. You go through a range of emotions, the most important scenes are beautifully shot, and Angelus’s narration is AMAZING.

Narrating a show can often be boring or redundant, but here we open with Angelus talking about passion. His entire narration throughout the show is perfectly timed and is by far my favorite line, so I’ll save the whole thing for the end. While he is narrating, we see him “stalking” Buffy, but this time it’s not in the romantic way it was before. This time he’s like a hunter stalking his prey.

Angelus continues his psychological warfare with Buffy, by leaving a picture that he drew of her sleeping on her pillow. I would have thought that it might occur to them to look up a way to “uninvite" Angelus from all the houses before now, but I guess not. Cordelia questions why Angelus doesn’t just kill Buffy and Giles points out what we saw a couple episodes ago. Angelus doesn’t want to kill her; he wants to hurt her, to completely break her down.

We see Ms. Calendar asking Willow to cover her class if she is late tomorrow, setting up several things for the future. Since this is sort of necessary in order for the Scooby gang to make certain discoveries later, I will try to ignore how absurd it is for a student to be covering a class for a teacher, ESPECIALLY the principal letting that student teach the class until a replacement is found. Anyways, we get to see Jenny and Giles having a real conversation again. She tells him about why she did what she did, her loyalty to her people, and then says; "I didn't know I was going to fall in love with you." I think I just died a little inside.

Now for a little more Angelus drama. This whole episode is filled with little “pranks” of his, until his big finale at the end. First, Buffy is trying to warn Joyce about not letting Angel in without giving away too much. More Joyce awesomeness later. That night, Buffy is talking to Willow on the phone, while Willow is feeding her fish. Oh, wait, where’d the fish go? That’s right; Angelus put them all on a string and left them dead in an envelope for you. That’s just creepy. And I agree with Willow, I’m glad her parents didn’t let her have a puppy.

Jenny Calendar is so awesome right now. The rest of the characters aren’t really talking to her, but she’s doing everything she can to help them anyway. She gave Giles a book with a spell with “uninvite" Angelus, she’s trying to translate ancients writings for the soul-restoration, and she’s doing all of this not to get back in their good graces, but because she genuinely wants to help. This should be a red flag for anyone watching a Joss show. He makes you love a character even more right before he takes them away from you. Meanie.

Now, Angel is just the opposite. Not only is he evil, he is a plain old asshole on top of it. He is constantly pointing out how Spike can’t satisfy Drusilla, that Spike is a cripple, and now he “outs” Buffy’s sex life to her mom.

Too bad for him, Buffy and Willow were able to complete the spell to keep him out. This spell acts as a sort of supernatural restraining order. He is a stalker ex-boyfriend. But all this really does is piss Angelus off so now he goes for his big finish.

As if knowing what is coming isn’t bad enough, we get to see more of Giles and Jenny being sweet together. They are over all of their previous drama, so Giles invites Jenny over, and I die a little more inside. She needs to finish up some work, so she plans on going to his place after she is done that evening.

Enter Angelus to ruin everything. This is pretty much happens:

Angelus: Oh you just got everything to restore Angel's soul? Smash, break, tear. Too bad for you.

Jenny: Why did my computer catch on fire when you knocked it over?

Angelus: Um…don’t you worry about things that defy the laws of science.

Jenny: I’m going to run away now.

Angelus: Good, that will build up drama to when I inevitably catch you.

I have to say, I really like how this scene is shot. The lighting, the chase scenes, and especially the death scene are so dramatic and beautifully done. She runs and we think she might be getting away when she runs right into Angelus’s arms. There was much debate about how he would kill. They opted (wisely) to go with Angelus’s snapping her neck. It shows that she won’t be coming back as a vampire. There is also a greater degree of cruelty because he didn’t do it to feed; it was purely to murder Jenny in order to upset Buffy and her friends.  

Back to damage control with Joyce after finding out Buffy had sex with Angel. She tells her the truth, just not the parts that would make her sound insane. Joyce reacts like most mothers would, but adds this, “Buffy, you can shut me out of your life, I'm pretty much used to that, but don't expect me to stop caring about you 'cause it's never gonna happen. I love you more than anything in the world.”

BEST MOM AWARD GOES TO JOYCE SUMMERS!

Since killing Jenny obviously wasn’t sinister enough, Angelus stages a romantic scene at Giles apartment. Not to sound repetitive, but this scene is just so well shot. The camera panning up the stair with Giles, the dim lighting, and the music swelling right when he finds Jenny make this scene incredible and all the more heartbreaking. Add Angelus’s narrative afterward and I think this episode deserves an Emmy. Giles is stunned, but come to enough to call Buffy and Willow. I love how these characters remain constant in their reactions. Buffy usually goes into shock and Willow breaks down crying. (Willow is one of the best criers in the world, by the way.)

Angelus is reeling in the aftermath. Spike is the voice of reason (never thought I’d say that) when he yells at Angelus for just pissing the Slayer off instead of killing her. Giles goes into a rage and attacks the warehouse. Spike is hilarious when Drusilla tries to help and he holds her back, pretty much hoping Angelus gets killed. Buffy comes to the rescue and has to stop fighting Angelus in order to save Giles. They hug, they cry, I cry, it’s all very sad.

Sad Giles is sad.

The important thing that comes from this episode is that this is the turning point for Buffy. She knows now that she has no other choice but to kill Angelus and the fact that he will never leave her alone and will continue hurting the people she loves is the proof of that.

Favorite Line:

Angelus’s Narrative: Passion. It lies in all of us. Sleeping, waiting, and though unwanted, unbidden, it will stir, open it's jaws, and howl. It speaks to us, guides us. Passion rules us all, and we obey. What other choice do we have? Passion is the source of our finest moments. The joy of love, the clarity of hatred, and the ecstasy of grief. It hurts sometimes more than we can bear. If we could live without passion, maybe we'd know some kind of peace. But we would be hollow. Empty rooms, shuttered and dank. Without passion, we'd be truly dead.

-Kali!