[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/buffys2e21_6710.jpg]]
->''"There's moments in your life that make you, that set the course of who you're gonna be. Sometimes they're little, subtle moments. Sometimes... they're not. I'll show you what I mean."''
-->--'''Whistler'''

Directed by Creator/JossWhedon.

Written by Whedon, Creator/RobDesHotel, Dean Batali, & Marti Noxon.

Welcome to the first part of ''Buffy Summers and the Terrible, Awful, No-Good, Really Bad Day.''

We start with flashbacks of Angel's history as recalled by an enigmatic demon called Whistler. We see Angel sired by Darla in 1753, and later being cursed with a soul by the Kalderash clan in 1898. Angel is next seen living as a vagrant until he is retrieved by Whistler in 1996, who shows him the one thing that can give his life meaning: Buffy Summers, rookie Slayer. Whistler observes that Buffy is in way over her head, and Angel resolves to watch over her from afar.

In the present, a new artifact has just arrived at the museum: a big stone block. Drusilla kills the museum curator while Angelus and his minions steal the relic, which contains the demon Acathla. A virtuous knight stabbed him in the heart before he could draw a breath, but someone worthy can remove the sword to awaken him. Angelus hatches a plan to awaken Acathla, who will open a gateway to Hell, destroying the world.

Buffy and Willow find the floppy disk containing Ms. Calendar's reconstruction of the curse that gave Angelus his soul. They are eager to attempt it so they can get Angel back. Xander doesn't take a shine to this idea, preferring to see Angelus killed for what he's done, rather than risk leaving him alive merely so that Buffy can have a chance to get her boyfriend back. Meanwhile, Kendra returns to Sunnydale bringing a sword blessed by the same knight who stopped Acathla.

Angelus kills a human and uses his blood in an attempt to awaken Acathla, which fails. He then lures Buffy to him so that his minions can kidnap Giles, whom he plans to torture for the information he needs. In the library, Willow is attempting the curse when vampires swarm the place. The mob is led by Drusilla, who hypnotizes and kills Kendra. Giles is taken while Xander is injured and Willow is left in a coma. Buffy arrives too late, and a policeman finds her hovering over Kendra's body.
----
!!Tropes:
* AllYourBaseAreBelongToUs: Without Buffy, the Scoobies are revealed to be frighteningly unprepared to deal with a handful of vamps, let alone a powerful one like Drusilla.
* TheAllegedCar: As 1996!Buffy exits the school, a completely rusted Impala with blacked-out windows rolls up to the curb. It's Angel.
* AntiClimax: Blood in his hand, ominous evil speech made, Angelus grasps the sword's hilt and an intense bright light pours forth. And nothing else happens. Suddenly, a giant flame erupts, sending him [[BlownAcrossTheRoom flying backward and landing on his ass]].
-->'''Spike:''' [sing-song] Someone wasn't worthy!

* BackForTheDead: Kendra gets killed by Drusilla at the end of the episode.
* BackhandedCompliment: Cordelia 'congratulating' Willow on her success as a substitute teacher. It's good to have a fallback ready for when she goes out and fails in the real world. "That way you're not falling back on something. You're falling -- well, forward."
-->'''Xander''': And ''almost'' 65% percent of that was actual compliment. Is that a personal best?
** Angel tells Whistler "I want to learn from you." Then adds, "But I don't wanna dress like you."
* TheBadGuyWins: Angelus lures Buffy away long enough for his minions to successfully capture Giles in order to awaken Acathla. Kendra is killed by Drusilla and Buffy is arrested by the police when they find her crouching over her body.
* BadHabits: A young Drusilla entering a {{confessional}} booth just as Angelus is awkwardly setting aside the freshly-killed priest behind the screen. Dru tells him that she's been "seeing" again. Apparently, she had a vision of a mine cave-in before it occurred. Dru's mother has told her that her precognition is an affront to God and she sobs, "I don't want to be an evil thing." Angelus replies that she's a "devil child" and the Lord will "smite her down." [[SenseiForScoundrels He tells her to just give in to her evilness]], but that suggestion makes Dru upset, so he wearily dismisses her with ten Our Fathers and an Act of Contrition.
* BaitAndSwitch: The episode makes it look like Angel will be restored while Buffy is fighting him in the graveyard. Unfortunately it's a two-parter.
* BewareTheSillyOnes: Though Angel and Spike were always hyped as the Big Bads of this season, it's Drusilla that kills a Slayer.
* BigApplesauce: At some point, up to early 1997, Angel lived in New York City as hobo, feeding on rats.
* BloodMagic: To awaken Acathla.
* BloodlessCarnage: Kendra's slashed jugular produces only the tiniest trickle of blood.
* BookshelfDominoes: In the library melee, a vampire pushes a bookshelf onto the screaming Willow, who is knocked out.
* BookEnds: As Buffy dusts her last vamp in the [[BatmanColdOpen cold open]], she gives a hand up to Xander, who has been conked out and hidden behind a headstone for this whole scene. He insists he was [[HalfTruth doing okay]] in the fight until "they resorted to fisticuffs." Later, Xander's arm is broken by a vampire, but surprisingly, he manages to fight on anyway. Ironically, he ends up being the most victorious of the non-superpowered Scoobies.
* BrickJoke: In "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS2E17Passion Passion]]" the shop owner mentions that somebody had purchased a couple Orbs of Thesulah and was using them as [[PricelessPaperWeight new age paperweights]]. We find out Giles was the one who bought them when he moved to Sunnydale the previous year.
* BriefAccentImitation: Buffy imitates Kendra's accent when guessing dat ah very dark power is about to raaze in Sunnydale.
* BringIt: Before their match, Drusilla gives Kendra a "come hither" wiggling of her fingers.
* TheBusCameBack: Darla returns for the first of Angel's flashbacks, and Kendra returns in the present to help fight the "dahk powa that is abut to rayse".
* CallForward:
** Buffy is revealed to be quite TheDitz (like Cordelia, even down to the GirlPosse) before she found her destiny. This will be mentioned in a later episode in which Buffy confesses she once made Cordy look deep by comparison.
** Joyce's marriage is already hitting the rocks in 1996. Following Buffy's first vampire kill, Joyce reproaches Buffy for not phoning. Downstairs, Dad's on the warpath. After her mother departs, Buffy turns on her bathroom faucet to drown out the sound of her parents arguing at the top of their lungs.
** Seeing Angel's sudden resolve to do good after getting one look at Buffy, Whistler comments that she must be "prettier than the last one." A nightmare version of the Master made the same comment to Buffy herself in the episode ''Nightmares'' (which takes place the previous season, but is chronologically later than this flashback, hence CallForward).
* CantGetAwayWithNuthin: Liam's siring in a Galway alleyway. Best. Anti-drinking PSA. ''Ever.''
* CharacterizationMarchesOn: Angelus is later portrayed as a more... artisanal murderer. Preferring long-term crafted torments for individuals (as he's been doing to Buffy, or did to Drusilla), or especially meaningful murders/slaughters (like the favored daughter of the Kalendash tribe, or the occasional convent). However, here he decides to suck the world into hell.
* {{Cliffhanger}}: Buffy sprinting across town, only to find she's too late; Giles has been kidnapped, her friends are injured, and Kendra lies dead on the library floor. Buffy collapses to her knees and strokes Kendra's face with her hand as a gun is raised behind her. "Freeze!" shouts a police officer. Caught red-handed.
* ContinuityNod:
** When asked about the Orb of Thessulah by Willow, Giles says he has one, saying "I've been using it as a paperweight." This references Ms.Calendar's visit to the magic store in "Passion," in which the shopkeeper tells her that tourists have been buying them as New Age paperweights.
** When Buffy realizes that Angelus has lured her away from the library so that Giles can be captured, he gleefully points out that "you fall for it ''every single time''!" This is a reference to "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS2E1WhenSheWasBad When She Was Bad]]," in which Buffy followed a false lead, leaving Willow, Cordelia, Jenny and Giles to be abducted for the Master's resurrection.
** When Drusilla is about to kill Kendra she says "Be in me" hypnotizing Kendra. This same line is used by Lothos in the ''Film/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' movie.
* CoolSword: During the strategy session over how to tackle Acathla, Kendra produces a sword blessed by the same pesky virtuous knight that first defeated Acathla. Giles becomes very animated when he inspects it.
* CurbStompBattle: The entire battle when Drusilla and four hench-vamps attack the library when they know Buffy isn't there. They break Xander's arm, crush Willow by knocking down bookshelves, kidnap Giles and kill Kendra, a Slayer. Particularly curbstomp-y on the last one - Drusilla calls off her minions and faces Kendra herself, and takes about 20 seconds to grab her, mesmerise her and cut her throat.
* DarkMessiah: Angelus has become this to some vampires with his intent to bring forth TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt. FridgeBrilliance at work again: as some minions were part of the Order of Aurelius, an apocalyptic cult, Angelus' plan would sit well with them.
* DeconstructedTrope: While Angelus put his own dark spin on StalkingIsLove, this episode subverts the [[RomanticVampireBoy Bangel romance]] with a ''Literature/{{Lolita}}'' {{subtext}} that portrays Angel as a pathetic loser motivated as much by his desire for the innocent 15-year old Buffy, as by his quest for redemption. This theme is reinforced by the Season 3 episode [[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS3E10Amends "Amends"]].
* DefensiveFeintTrap: Kendra lashes out at Drusilla, but Dru calmly circles her, easily evading each swipe and sends Kendra spinning through the air with a single punch. Finally, Kendra kicks Dru in the gut, causing her to double over, and Kendra moves in for the kill. But Dru was just feigning her injury, and instead grasps Kendra by the throat. Nice knowing you.
* DestinationDefenestration: Kendra catapulting one vampire through the window of Giles' office.
* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: Angel in his hooptie and the pudgy older guy in a dark suit soliciting teen girls.
* DontSneakUpOnMeLikeThat
-->'''Buffy:''' You know, polite people call before they jump out of the bushes and attack you.
-->'''Kendra:''' Just wanted to test your reflexes.
* DopeSlap: Angelus slapping Spike across the head by way of "[[EvilIsPetty good morning]]."
* DreamingOfThingsToCome: When Buffy's pencil rolls underneath Jenny Calender's desk, she exclaims that she's having a "deja vu" moment and has a perfect memory of dropping the pencil. Sure enough, the [[PlotDevice Restoration Spell floppy disk]] is lying wedged under the desk.
* DropDeadGorgeous: The dead Romani girl still looks fit, [[EtherealWhiteDress dressed in white]] and covered in rose petals.
* DugTooDeep: Acathla's petrified body was buried where neither man nor demon would dare look. However, Angelus says, there's someone even worse: real estate developers.
* DullSurprise: Buffy's reaction to the vampire messenger, as everyone else screams in panic.
* EccentricMentor: Whistler serves as one for Angel.
* FeetFirstIntroduction: The library's double doors swinging open -- to reveal Drusilla's red pumps striding in.
* FemmeFatalons: Darla instructs Liam to close his eyes, changes to her vampire visage, and bites his neck. Liam swoons to the ground, and Darla seals the deal by slashing a fingernail across open her [[OfCorsetsSexy corseted bosom]] and forcing Angel's mouth onto it. Not as kinky as it sounds.
** This is shown to be the preferred method for female vampires (well, Darla and Drusilla, anyway) to sire their mates.
* FingerPokeOfDoom: Drusilla prepares her finishing move by waving two fingers in front of Kendra's eyes: "[[TermsOfEndangerment Look at me, dearie]]." Kendra, who is now in Dru's thrall, sways helplessly back and forth. After toying with her a bit, Dru then [[FemmeFatalons swipes her nails]] [[SlashedThroat across Kendra's jugular]].
* FlashbackTwist: "Everything that I am, everything that I have done, has led me to here." intones Angelus ominously. We then go back in time to 1996 Manhattan, where a [[CrazyHomelessPeople homeless, half-crazed Angel]] is tearing up some trash cans, ineffectively trying to catch a rat.
** Angel resolving to aid the Slayer and "become somebody." We're then zipped back to the present with Angelus basking before Acathla, saying, "I have strayed. I have been lost. But Acathla redeems me. With this act, ''we'' will be free."
* {{Foreshadowing}}: Whistler speaks of "our side" and it is doubtful that he is referring to the Watchers' Council. This could be a subtle foreshadowing to the "PowersThatBe" in the spinoff ''Series/{{Angel}}''.
** When Willow proposes to try to perform the spell, Giles warns her that she may be opening a door that can't be easily closed. He's right—the Restorations spell sets Willow on a path of dark magic. She begins practicing seriously in season three, and grows steadily more powerful as the series progresses. Giles's concerns about Willow becoming too involved in magic will prove well founded in Season 6.
** Whistler says that there are moments in a person's life that affect the whole path their life will take, even though they might not know it. This episode features several such moments: Liam takes up Darla's offer to show him the world; Willow takes her first step on the path to being a witch; Kendra's attention wanders for a moment and she is killed by Drusilla, causing a new Slayer (Faith) to be called; and in the next episode, Spike betrays Angelus and helps Buffy save the world.
* FoeRomanceSubtext: Darla using sex to lure Angel into an alley for siring; cut to Angelus stalking Buffy with an intent expression. Later in the pre-fight banter part he says to Buffy that she's the one thing in this dimension he's going to miss. Not to mention Drusilla's LesYay-laced hypno-moment with Kendra.
* GetItOverWith: Buffy wants to have her big battle with Angelus and be done with it. Even when she needs to delay him so Willow can do her spell, she prefers to cut to the fighting when Angelus starts taunting her about the possibility of them getting together again.
* GiveMeAReason: Principal Snyder uses this on Buffy in the context of giving him a reason to expel her.
* GlowingEyes: Angelus' eyes glow orange as his soul is restored.
* GrievousHarmWithABody: Seeing Cordelia about to be attacked by a vampire, Xander throws the vamp he's struggling with into him.
* HandicappedBadass: Xander keeps fighting even after his arm is broken.
* HellOnEarth: Actually Earth sucked ''into'' Hell.
* {{Hobos}}: Angel in 1996
* HowDoIShotWeb: 15-year old Buffy misses the heart on her first vampire staking.
* HumanSacrifice: Just like in seemingly every vampire ceremony, this one requires a human sacrifice.
* HypocriticalHumor: A member of her GirlPosse asks Buffy the ValleyGirl if she's going to take Tyler to the dance.
-->'''Buffy:''' Where were you when I got over Tyler? He's of the past. Tyler would have to crawl on his hands and knees to get me to go to the dance with him. Which, actually, he's supposed to do after practice, so I'm gonna wait.
* ICallItVera: Kendra loans Buffy her stake, Mr Pointy. Buffy borrows the nickname for her own stake in later episodes, though the original stake never appears again.
-->'''Buffy:''' When this is over, [[GirlsLoveStuffedAnimals we're getting you a stuffed animal.]]
* HypnoticEyes: Drusilla uses a combination of this and a CompellingVoice in her fight against Kendra.
* IHaveManyNames: 1996!Angel asking who the strange man accosting him in an alleyway is. He cheerfully says his name is Whistler; "Well, lately it is."
* IncendiaryExponent: A female vampire walks into Sunnydale High and exposes herself to sunlight to burn as she delivers Angel's challenge to Buffy.
* InTheHood:
** Buffy patrolling the park in her Unabomber hoodie.
** A huddled, smoking figure walks through the halls toward Buffy's classroom. No one takes notice of this person until it enters Buffy's classroom. The woman pulls the shawl off of its face and declares, "Tonight. Sundown. At the graveyard," before beginning to smoke. "You will come to him or more will DIE!" The female vamp then explodes into flames, all the while pointing accusingly at Buffy. Man, that Angelus is a drama queen.
* InternalReveal: The Scoobies finally learn that Jenny had been working on a way to restore Angel's soul (and that ''this'' is why Angelus really killed her).
* IronicEchoCut: We cut from Angelus saying, "Soon, it'll scream" to Buffy in class yelling that a problem doesn't make any sense.
* IronicHell: Willow apologizing that she won't be able to help Buffy prepare for finals, what with being busy with the conjuring spell and the end of the world and all. But Buffy reassures her, noting that "if we go to Hell by then, I won't have to take them. [beat] Or," she reflects ominously, "I'll be taking them ''forever''."
* ItMayHelpYouOnYourQuest: On her way out, Buffy gets stopped by Kendra, who lends her a distinctive-looking stake nicknamed "Mr. Pointy." Buffy is amused yet touched by the gift. [[ChekhovsGun Unfortunately Kendra loses her stake during the battle]]; when she reaches for Mr Pointy, it's not there.
* JerkassHasAPoint: Xander is absolutely correct that Buffy's willing to overlook Angelus's crimes "just so [she] can get her boyfriend back," though the Jerkass part is amplified by the way he interrupts Giles' support of the plan to make his point.
* LaserGuidedAmnesia: In 1898, a Romani man approaches the groveling Angel and taunts, "It hurts, yes?" Angel stammers that he doesn't understand -- he apparently [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone remembers nothing from after he was sired in 1753 to the present]]. The man assures him that all those colorful memories will be returning presently. Angel repeatedly gasps "No..." as he slowly kneels to the ground, the full enormity of his undead existence starting to coalesce.
* LastRequest: A posthumous version. For his part, Giles submits that restoring Angel was Jenny's last wish.
* LethalJokeCharacter: Drusilla's fighting style looks ridiculous, and she's a lunatic who can barely hold a conversation with most people, but in her first (and ''only'') proper fight in the whole show, she takes out a Slayer with almost no effort.
* LetsFightLikeGentlemen: Upon her arrival at the scene, Drusilla claps her hands smartly and calls off the rest of her gang: "Enough." The vamps surrounding Kendra automatically withdraw. This can't end well.
** Subverted with Angelus -- he knows Buffy will accept the challenge for one-on-one combat, not realising it's just a ruse to separate her from the Scoobies.
* LetsSplitUpGang: Angelus duping Buffy into leaving the Scoobies (and Giles in particular) unattended.
* TheMenInBlack: In 1996, an older man in a black suit approaches our heroine and asks if she's Buffy Summers. Buffy briefly worries that a department store sent him, because she "[[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial meant to pay for that lipstick!]]" Actually, this is Merrick, Buffy's first (and [[MentorOccupationalHazard short-lived]]) Watcher.
* MeaningfulEcho: Whistler's "You'll see what I mean."
* MisdirectedOutburst: When Xander insists to Buffy Angel shouldn't get his soul back and deserves to die, Cordelia, who usually snarks on Xander, says she agrees with him. Xander immediately snaps at her that he wishes she'd back him up, but immediately realizes his mistake and apologizes, turning his anger back on Buffy.
* MysteriousWatcher: Even when he's evil, Angelus still has to get his fix of Buffy-stalking. Angel also got one in Whistler.
* NarrativeProfanityFilter:
-->'''Buffy:''' (''on the phone with Willow'') Yeah, Xander was pretty much being a...Willow! Where did you learn that word? My god, you kiss your mother with that mouth?
* NotEvenBotheringWithTheAccent: As a century old vampire who was sired in the British North American colonies, Darla ''should'' speak with an accent somewhere between [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPlpphT7n9s&ab_channel=OpenLearnfromTheOpenUniversity Shakespeare's Original Pronunciation]] and [[https://outofthiscentury.wordpress.com/2010/01/21/early-american-accents/ the Yosemite Sam sound of Abraham Lincoln]] (as a frontiersman, his accent would have been a good 50 years out of date by east coast standards, pronouncing "vermin" as "varmin" and "inaugural" as "inoggerel").
* OhCrap: At the graveyard, Buffy and Angel scuffle some more. Buffy pulls out Mr. Pointy and says, "Come on. Let's finish this. You and me." Angelus chuckles, saying, "You never learn do you? This wasn't about you. This was ''never'' about you." A slow horror dawns on Buffy's on her face as she realizes she's played right into Angelus' hands. She takes off running.
* OminousLatinChanting: Well Rumanian anyway.
* OnlyTheChosenMayWield: Inverted, as the bad guys are the ones trying to unsheathe it.
* OriginsEpisode: We get to see some of Angel and Buffy's backstory fleshed out through [[FlashBack flashbacks]] in this episode.
* OralFixation: Pre-Sunnydale Buffy is sucking on a lollipop while wearing a [[PinkIsFeminine garishly pink outfit.]]
* OurWormholesAreDifferent: It's a demon's maw, and it threatens to suck the whole world into hell.
* {{Overcrank}}: Buffy's run through the Sunnydale High School hallway on her way to the library.
* PrivateEyeMonologue: Whistler's narration. In the original cut of this episode it is Angel (not Whistler) who delivers the voice-over.
* PsychoStrings: From young Drusilla's flashback, we cut to present day Dru sashaying down Angelus's stairs to the screech of Victorian violins.
* QuipToBlack: Inverted, with Whistler's monologue closing out the cliffhanger.
* ReducedToRatburgers: By the time Whistler found him, Angel was homeless and scrounging off of rat blood. (To add insult to injury, he has difficulty catching one.)
* RedShirt: Doug the curator picked a bad day to work late. As he inspects the runes, Angelus brings in a gang of henchvamps to steal the obelisk. "[[PreMortemOneLiner I'll take one of these to go.]]" Dru grabs the curator from behind and bites him. Angelus tut-tuts, "Dru? [[BondOneLiner Save me some.]]"
%%* ResignedToTheCall
* {{Retcon}}: The flashback to Los Angeles is taken directly from Creator/JossWhedon's original script for the [[Film/BuffyTheVampireSlayer Buffy feature film]]. It is later published in comic format.
* RitualMagic: Angelus invokes this to awaken Acathla, [[HumanSacrifice killing a human]] and trying to use his blood. It doesn't work.
* RockBottom: Angel, in his flashbacks, scrounging in alleyways for rats.
* SealedEvilInACan: Sunnydale Museum has a new arrival: a big ominous rock. Giles is invited over in his capacity as the "best authority" on old relics in town. Giles spots a large crack running up the side, which indicates it could be opened, but he asks the curator to wait a few days before opening it so he can translate the runes on the outside. Bad call, Giles. Evil waits for no man.
* SelfImmolation: Angelus' "immolation-o-gram."
* SeriesContinuityError: When Angel first meets Buffy in "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS1E1WelcomeToTheHellmouth Welcome to the Hellmouth]]" he says that he'd thought she'd be taller, or at least have bigger muscles. This could be to cover up the fact that he has been watching her for months.
** As cool as the scene is where Angel's "immolate-o-gram" sets herself aflame, it seems strange that a vampire would burn up in indirect sunlight. Future episodes of this show and its spin-off, ''Angel'', show vampires surviving in rooms that are better-well lit than the one which killed the messenger.
* ShapedLikeItself: Back at the mansion, Angelus grandly shows off his new toy to an unimpressed Spike. "It's a big rock," Spike snarks. "I can't wait to tell my friends. ''They'' don't have a rock this big."
* SherlockCanRead: Dru alerting Angelus that there's a tomb waiting for them at the museum "with a surprise inside." Angelus marvels at his delicate seer and asks if she can see all that in her head. "No, you ninny. She read it in the morning paper," deadpans Spike, and shows him the paper with a headline reading "[-MYSTERY OBELISK UNEARTHED-]." Angelus irritably snatches it.
* ShoutOut:
** In ''Creator/{{Marvel}}'''s comic/film franchise ''Film/{{Blade}}'', Blade is a half-vampire who [[HunterOfHisOwnKind kills other vamps]] (sound familiar?) and has a mentor named Whistler.
** In the german dub, Kendra's stake is called "Van Heugen," the nemesis of [[{{Dracula}} Graf Dracula]].
* SickeningCrunch: Xander's arm being snapped by a vampire.
* SlowMotion: Buffy running through the corridors of SHS, later used in the TitleSequence.
* SmashCut:
** Whistler tells Angel that he can either become "even ''more'' useless," or he can become someone. A person. Someone to be counted. Angel asks Whistler what he wants with him, and Whistler replies that he wants to show him something. Flash to upbeat music as we pan down on a high school in Los Angeles. Angel rolls down his window, squints at the bright light, and looks over to see Buffy coming down the steps, chattering with three of her friends.
** Merrick tells Buffy he's come to escort her to her destiny. Buffy protests that she's "destiny-free," but the man corrects her that "you are the Chosen One. You alone can stop them." "Who?" queries Buffy. Well, the vampires, obviously. Buffy dumbly says, "Huh?" and gives him a cross-eyed look. Quick cut to a cemetery, where Buffy is fumbling around with her very first vampire mook.
* SpareAMessenger: Buffy tells a henchvamp to deliver a message to Angelus that she wants him to stop with his CriminalMindGames and fight her. [[TooDumbToLive When the vampire attacks her again, she stakes him]], saying "Fine, I'll tell him myself."
* StalkingIsLove: When Angel says he wants to protect Buffy, Whistler comments that she must be prettier than the last Slayer.
* StealthHiBye: As Buffy patrols the park, Kendra da Vampire Slayher pops out of the bushes and gives her a fright.
-->'''Kendra:''' Just wanted to test your reflexes.
-->'''Buffy:''' How about testing my face-punching? 'Cause I think you'll find it's improved.
* SuicideBySunlight: And just to deliver a ComeAlone message too.
* SuicideMission: It's not revealed why a vampire would sacrifice herself simply to deliver a message to the Slayer. Either Drusilla hypnotized her, or the henchvamps have been [[ApocalypseCult caught up in the same apocalyptic fervor]] as their leaders.
* SwordInTheStone: In the stone ''demon'', in this case. Also, taking it out would destroy the world.
* TakenForGranite: Angelus explaining the story behind Acathla. He was, of course, stabbed by the aforementioned pesky virtuous knight and turned to stone, as you do.
** Perhaps Acathla studied at the [[VideoGame/SuperMarioBros3 Super Mario School of Self-Defense]].
* TantrumThrowing: After Angelus' ritual goes awry, he grabs the nearest stone pot and [[DramaticShattering smashes it]].
* TemptingFate
** "I don't want to be an evil thing!"
** Buffy says re the finals tests, "It'll all be over soon." Angelus is watching from a distance, and agrees.
** Averted when Whistler challenges Angel to bite him. He straight away reveals that he knows all about Angel being the vampire with a soul, so he knows Angel won't.
* ThisIsSomethingShesGotToDoHerself: Angelus plays into this to lure Buffy away from her friends.
* TrademarkFavoriteFood: Oz once again has a box of animal crackers open in front of him in the cafeteria.
* TragicKeepsake: Buffy comes across the ring Angel gave her in her drawer, and "Close Your Eyes" plays.
* TroubledBackstoryFlashback: Pre-vampire Drusilla as a pious Catholic girl who is plagued by unwanted visions.
** The story of "Liam's" siring is told in greater detail in ''Angel'' S1 ("The Prodigal").
** Along with "Fool for Love," "[[Recap/AngelS02E07Darla Darla]]" and "The Girl in Question," this is one of only four Buffyverse episodes in which all four members of Angelus' 'family' appear.
* TwoPartEpisode: One of the most memorable in all of "Buffy."
* TheUnpronounceable: The Whistler's real name is hard to pronounce unless you're a dolphin.
* UpperClassTwit: Angel before his transformation into a vampire.
* VillainousBSOD: Should you wonder at the Romani's seemingly magnanimous response to their daughter's death, Angel's expression as the curse takes effect will probably make you reconsider.
* WhatsAnXLikeYouDoingInAYLikeThis: In a flashback scene showing how Angel was sired by Darla. Posing as an aristocratic lady out for illicit adventure, she lures drunken hedonist Liam into an alley to give him a KissOfTheVampire.
-->'''Liam:''' So, I'd ask myself... What's a lady of your station doing alone in an alley with the reputation that this one has?
* WhatTheHellHero: Xander is disgusted, assuming that Buffy is willing to overlook/forgive all the crimes Angelus has committed if it means getting Angel back.
* WhoAreYou: Angel to the demon Whistler.
* YouCanTurnBack: Fresh from staking out the Summers home, Angel mopes his way down the sewers to find Whistler waiting for him. Angel declares that he wants to enlist to help Buffy. Whistler warns him, "This isn't going to be easy. [...] This is dangerous work. Right now you couldn't go three rounds with a fruit fly."
----