Becoming, Part Two (Buffy episode)

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"Becoming, Part Two" is episode 22 of season 2 of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It is the second of a two-part season finale. See also List of Buffy the Vampire Slayer episodes.

[Spoiler warningSpoiler warning]: Plot and/or ending details about some or all of the Whedonverse productions (Buffy, Angel, Fray, etc.) follow.

Contents

1 Plot synopsis

1.1 Summary
1.2 Expanded overview

2 Writing and acting
3 Production details

3.1 Music

4 Quotes and trivia
5 Continuity

5.1 Arc significance
5.2 Timing

6 External links

Plot synopsis

Summary

Buffy is taken into custody, but escapes from the police and runs to the hospital to check on the others. Giles is still missing, kidnapped by Dru and Angelus. Spike is jealous of the way Dru acts around Angelus, and agrees to help Buffy kill Angelus in exchange for Spike and Dru leaving town forever. An uneasy alliance develops. Buffy finally tells Joyce she is the Slayer, and has to leave. Joyce tells her she won't let her back if she does. Buffy runs to the school to find Kendra's sword, and Snyder finds her there and expels her. She takes the sword and goes to kill Angelus. Angelus attempts to torture Giles into telling him the secret of Acathla, but only Dru's hypnotic powers can break him. Willow attempts the spell to curse Angelus with his soul again, whilst Buffy and Angelus fight. Spike takes Dru and leaves. The curse works, but only after Acathla is awakened. Seconds after his soul is returned, Buffy has to drive the sword through his heart, and send him to Hell; closing Acathla's vortex. Buffy leaves Sunnydale.

Expanded overview

The two policemen accompany Buffy outside the library as Principal Snyder arrives with more cops. To escape being arrested for Kendra's murder, Buffy strikes a cop and flees. She has become a fugitive from the law.

Disguised, Buffy finds Xander in the hospital and they enter comatose Willow's room. Cordelia tells them that Giles is missing; he is being tortured by Angelus. The police visit Joyce and Buffy finds Whistler in Giles's apartment. He thought Angel was supposed to stop Acathla. He is about to tell her how to stop the demon, but Buffy has heard enough. Outside, a policeman stops her when Spike knocks him out. He has come to strike a deal: he will help her stop Angelus if she helps him leave the town permanently with Drusilla. Buffy decides to talk inside her home, but is intercepted in the driveway by her mother. Joyce watches as Buffy stakes a minion Angelus sent to follow Spike, and Buffy is forced to explain her fate to her mother.

In the hospital, Xander tells a comatose Willow that he loves her. She wakes and asks for Oz, who appears in the room. Angelus continues to torture a resolute Giles. Buffy accepts Spike's offer on the conditions that Drusilla only leaves if Giles survives. Spike leaves the house and Joyce insists Buffy must tell her everything. Buffy refuses for lack of time. Joyce tries to prevent Buffy from leaving, but fails. She tells her daughter not to come back if she leaves the house. Buffy does so anyway.

On her hospital bed, Willow decides to try the curse again. Buffy returns to the library to retrieve Kendra's sword. Snyder expels her before calling the Mayor with "the good news." Drusilla finally cajoles the information she wants out of Giles by appearing to him as Jenny -- Angelus's blood will awaken Acathla.

Buffy returns to Whistler, who tells her Angelus's blood will send both evil beings back to hell. On her way to the mansion, Xander arrives with a message from Willow, but decides to tell Buffy to beat Angelus instead. He offers to help, so Buffy asks him to free Giles while she deals with Angelus. Chaos reigns inside the mansion as Spike leaves his wheelchair and surprises Angelus, who nevertheless manages to unfreeze the demon. Xander has removed Giles and Spike Drusilla. On his way out, Spike sees Buffy attacked by Angelus's sword but is unmoved.

At the same time, a weak Willow is performing the restoration ritual and becomes possessed by a spirit. Her friends watch in horror as she recites perfect Romani. Spike takes Drusilla by the neck as he drives away in his car. Buffy backs Angelus up against the statue.

Willow finally succeeds in her spell. But it is too late. Acathla has opened his mouth, the vortex shining bright. Angel hears something behind him, but Buffy reassures him that everything is fine. After a final kiss, Buffy violently stabs Angel through the chest into the vortex. A shocked Angel extends his arm, but no help is coming.

Buffy returns to her room to pack. Joyce later finds a note on her bed. Xander tells the others on the Sunnydale High campus that perhaps Buffy had killed Angelus, while Willow thought Angel could have been saved and Buffy may be spending time with him. Unbeknownst to them, Buffy is watching from a distance. She turns without hesitation and boards a bus leaving Sunnydale.

Writing and acting

In order to get into a "tortured" frame of mind, Anthony Stewart Head cut up pieces of chillis and peppers and popped them in his mouth for his torture scenes.

This is the last episode that starts with the prologue, "In every generation..."

Production details

Music

Christophe Beck - "Close Your Eyes"
Christophe Beck - "Vision Of Jenny"
Christophe Beck - "Waking Willow"
Sarah McLachlan - "Full of grace" - Buffy leaves Sunnydale to this song. To some fans, Sarah McLachlan's tunes were the musical voice of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, especially of the Angel/Buffy relationship, and her lyrics were used in website layouts, fan videos, and fan art across the web. Her music would appear one more time at the end of the sixth season in "Grave". McLachlan's song's have included the tracks 'Angel', and 'I Will Remember You' (also an Angel episode).

Quotes and trivia

Giles: "You must... complete the ritual... in... a tutu... Pillock." Giles proves to Angelus that no amount of torture will make him reveal how to release an apocalyptic demon.

Conversation between Giles and Xander:

Giles (in despair when Xander appears to rescue him): "You're not real. They're making me see things I want to see."

Xander: "Then why would they make you see me?"

Giles: "Good point. Let's go."

This is one of Sarah Michelle Gellar's favourite episodes. Michelle Trachtenberg also mentioned it in [an interview].

Continuity

Arc significance

Buffy resolves her confusion towards Angel/Angelus -- a major arc of the season -- and sends an ensouled lover to hell for the sake of the world. It marks what we would think to be the final separation between him and Buffy.

Buffy, constantly faced with the fact that she is alone as the Slayer, finds herself in the same situation again. Kicked out by her mother and emotionally separated from her friends, Buffy takes her isolation to a palpable conclusion when she leaves Sunnydale with a note to her mother.

Willow pulls off the restoration spell in another development of her budding abilities as a witch, a crucial plot through the rest of the series.

Xander refrains from telling Buffy of Willow's spell attempt to stiffen her resolve just before the fight. His lie will not be alluded to until season 7 when Buffy prepares to do battle with Anya.

Timing

Stories that take place around the same time in the Buffyverse:

External links

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