Recap / Buffy the Vampire Slayer S2E22 "Becoming, Part 2"

"I lost a friend tonight, and I may lose more, the whole Earth may be sucked into hell and you want my help 'cause your girlfriend's a big hoe! Well let me take this opportunity to not care."

—Buffy Summers

Directed by Joss Whedon.

Written by Whedon, Rob Des Hotel, & Dean Batali.

Buffy arrives too late to save Kendra from Drusilla's surprise attack, and ends up being arrested for Kendra's murder. Escaping from the police, she goes to the hospital to find that Willow is in a coma, and Giles has been abducted. Now a wanted fugitive, Buffy is almost caught by the police, but is saved by an unexpected ally: Spike. He tells Buffy that he does not want the world to end either (it is far too fun a place) and that he wants to take Dru and leave town, so they declare an uneasy truce.

Buffy decides to convene a meeting with Spike inside her home, but is intercepted in the driveway by her mother. The three are attacked by a vampire sent by Angelus, and Joyce watches in shock as Buffy dusts him. Whoops. Buffy tries to explain her role as the Slayer to her mother, who is resistant to accepting the truth. Following a heated argument, Joyce tells Buffy that if she walks out of the house, she won't be welcome back. Buffy goes. She visits the school to procure weapons, and is confronted by Snyder, who gleefully expels her.

Spike returns to the mansion, concealing that he has healed from his injuries enough to walk. To keep Angelus from killing Giles, Spike suggests that Drusilla use hypnosis on him. She appears to Giles as Jenny Calender, and he tells her that Angelus is the key. He must use his own blood, not someone else's, to awaken Acathla. In her hospital bed, Willow (despite protest from Xander), decides to try the Restoration Spell again.

Buffy heads to the mansion to confront Angelus, who is surprised to find himself getting attacked on both sides by Spike and the Slayer. After rendering Drusilla unconscious, Spike flees town. Buffy overpowers Angelus in a duel, but not before he has already removed the sword from Acathla. Just as Buffy is about to deliver the killing blow, Willow completes the spell and Angel's soul is restored. Buffy realizes that Angel is back and embraces him. However, by then Acathla is awake and creating an expanding vortex. Buffy kisses Angel, professes her love for him and drives her sword through him, sending him to Hell and sealing the portal.

Joyce finds a note on Buffy's bed, and clothes have been strewn everywhere and her closet emptied. The Scoobies gather in front of the school, speculating on Buffy's whereabouts. Unbeknownst to them, Buffy boards a bus to leave Sunnydale.

---

Tropes:

• Adventure Duo: Despite being enemies up till now Spike and Buffy instinctively work as a team in combat, with Spike punching a vampire who suddenly leaps out at them, then tossing him to Buffy to be staked. Then he backs her up in lying to Joyce.
• Anaphora: "No", to emphasize the lack:
  Angelus: That's everything. No weapons, no friends, no hope. Take all that away, and what's left?
  Buffy: [Bare-Handed Blade Block] Me.
• Anguished Declaration of Love: Xander, standing alone by Willow's bedside, begging her to wake up. He jokingly asks who else is going to help him "pass Trig." Then (not so jokingly), he becomes choked with emotion and tells her she's his best friend, and desperately adds, "I love you."
• ...And That Would Be Wrong: Spike is initially thrilled when he hears that Drusilla killed a Slayer, but quickly drops it after seeing Buffy's answering Death Glare.
  Spike: Dru bagged a Slayer? She didn't tell me! [starts grinning] Hey, good for her.
  [Buffy glares at him]
  Spike: [drops the smile] ...Though, not from your perspective, I suppose.
• Armor-Piercing Question: When Buffy asks if Whistler is just there to keep the balance between good and evil he pauses for a moment before stammering, "Good guess."
• Badass Boast: Buffy gets a one-word one:
  Angelus: No weapons. No friends. No hope. Strip all that away, and what's left? [thrusts his sword toward Buffy, intending to stab her through the throat]
  Buffy: [catching the sword between her hands] Me.
• Barehanded Blade Block: Buffy stops Angelus's sword this way, although the attack that she blocks is a stab rather than a swing. Also, she has Super-Strength and enhanced Slayer reflexes.
• Betrayal by Inaction: Though they were only temporary allies when they fought Angelus together, once Spike gets Dru back, he shrugs and leaves Buffy to potentially get killed by Angelus. However, his end of the deal was technically done once Giles was safe.
• Bittersweet Ending: The most bittersweet, with the possible exception of season five, as Buffy manages to save the world... but was forced to send Angel, not Angelus, to Hell and runs away from home in the wake of her mother telling her "If you walk out that door, don't even think about coming back".
• Blatant Lies: Willow wants to try re-cursing Angelus. She instructs Xander to tell Buffy her plans, hoping she can stall until the curse is complete. Upon rendezvousing with Buffy outside the mansion, Xander suddenly remembers, "Willow! Uh, she told me to tell you —" (rethinks it): "Kick his ass."
• Bookends: Like Darla did in Part I, Buffy tells Angel to close his eyes before she kills him.
  • Also the image of a road: The teaser of Part I shows the brick road in Ireland, and a horseman riding into view. The very end of Part II shows the road from Sunnydale to Los Angeles, and the bus carrying Buffy away coming into view in the same way.
  • Spike and Dru speeding out of town in the same blacked-out car they arrived in back in School Hard.
  • Also for the whole season, which begins with Xander and Willow wondering when Buffy will be getting back from LA, and ends with the (now considerably larger and more traumatized) Scooby gang wondering where Buffy went to.
• Bridal Carry: Spike witnesses Angelus knocking away Buffy's sword, prompting him to resignedly gather up Drusilla, shrug, and head on his way. (Big help there, Blondie.)
• Car Meets House: In reverse. Spike smashes through the mansion's garage door with his car, not wanting to risk getting dusted opening it during the day. Inside the car, Dru is passed out in the passenger's seat. He lays rubber and takes off.
• Chainsaw Good: Angelus is jazzed at the prospect of torturing Giles, noting that the last time he got to torture someone, they hadn't even invented the chainsaw.
• Chalk Outline: An outline of Kendra has been placed in the library before Buffy's visit. As she crosses the room, Buffy pauses and is careful not to disturb it. Snyder doesn't follow the same courtesy.
  • Oddly Buffy walks straight over the middle of the outline on her way out of the library.
• Chekhov's Gunman: Principal Snyder mentions the Big Bad of Season 3 when he calls the cops- Mayor Wilkins.
• Choke Holds: An odd example: Spike appears to choke Drusilla out. It's also possible he's using Pressure Points — which is almost fitting for these two — or cutting off her blood flow, not her air. Which just makes things odder since, as a vampire, she has neither breath nor bloodflow.
• Clothing Reflects Personality: Buffy skips town in the Dungarees of Depression after killing Angel.
• Cold-Blooded Torture: Angelus on Giles. Giles doesn't break.
  Angelus: I can stop the pain. You've been very brave... but it's over. You've given enough. Now let me make it stop.
  Giles: Please!
  Angelus: Just tell me what I need to know.
  Giles: In order... to be worthy...
  Angelus: Yeah?
  Giles: You must perform the ritual... in a tutu. Pillock!
• Comically Missing the Point: Spike says he'll help kill Angelus in exchange for getting to flee town with Dru. Buffy says Drusilla doesn't get to live because she killed Kendra, to which Spike exclaims, "Dru bagged a Slayer?" Elated, he turns to Joyce. "She didn't tell me! Hey, good for her!" Glare from Buffy. "...Though not from your perspective, I suppose."
• Complaining About Rescues They Don't Like: Xander pushes aside a curtain leading to Angelus' torture room and finds a bruised Giles tied to his chair. Giles woozily lifts his head slowly as Xander busies himself with the ropes. Giles protests that Xander isn't real.
  Giles: It's a trick. They get inside my head, make me see things I want.
  Xander: Then why would they make you see me?
  Giles: [considers] You're right. Let's go.
• Continuity Nod: Back at the Summers home, there's an awkward silence between Joyce and Spike. Joyce recognizes him from somewhere and asks if they've met. Spike candidly answers that says she hit him on the head with an axe once, followed by "Get the hell away from my daughter." Both are very happy when Buffy shows up, which spares them further small talk.
• Convenient Coma: Getting conked by a falling bookcase has put Willow into a coma. Xander explains that she has head trauma and could wake up at any time, but it's touch-and-go.
• Couch Gag: The "Grr Arg" at the end of the credits was altered for this episode. Instead of the trademark grunt the monster says "Oooh, I need a hug."
• Cryptic Conversation: Lampshaded by Buffy, who guesses that Whistler doesn't have anything useful to impart. He tacitly says with Great Significance that the quicker she ends Angel, the "easier" it will be.
• Deadly Hug: "Close your eyes."
• Deadly Lunge: Spike unleashes a half season's worth of pent-up rage on Angelus' skull, horrifying Drusilla. While he's so preoccupied, Dru rushes at Spike with a girlish whimper and tackles him to the ground.
• Defiant to the End: Torture chamber at the mansion. Giles is barely conscious, still bound to his chair, as Angelus circles him like a buzzard. He tells Giles he can make the pain stop. Giles pants a little and begs, "Please." Angelus sits beside him, triumphant. Giles speaks in a hoarse whisper so Angelus has to put his face very near Giles's and listen very carefully:
  Giles: In order...to be worthy... you must perform the ritual... in a tutu. Pillock!
• Did We Just Have Tea with Cthulhu?: A hilarious shot of Joyce and Spike sitting in her living room.
  • The awkward silence is briefly interrupted when Joyce asks him where she's seen him before, and Spike explains she was hitting him with an axe screaming "get the hell away from my daughter." Fond memories.
• Does This Remind You of Anything?: Buffy revealing she's as a slayer to her mother = coming out of the closet. As Buffy and Spike lay their cards on the table, Joyce keeps interrupting with "Honey, are you sure you're a vampire slayer?," and "have you tried not being a Slayer?" Spike ignores her. Finally, Joyce drops that old chestnut about Buffy lacking "a strong father figure." Buffy snaps that being the Slayer is just fate and her mother should accept it.
• Dramatic Irony: The Scoobies reconvene at the school. Xander and Giles, who is walking rather unsteadily, approach Oz, who is pushing a wheelchair-bound Willow. Everyone exchanges updates and they realize they haven't heard from Buffy. Willow is of the opinion that the spell was a success, and Xander postulates that it wasn't in time, since Buffy had already killed Angelus. Willow hopelessly romanticizes that perhaps Angel was cured and he and Buffy went off to be alone together.
  Cordelia: Well, she's gotta show up sooner or later. We still have school.
  Willow: Yeah, she'll be here in a while.
  • Earlier, Spike serves as the voice of reason to Angelus, talking him down from not killing Giles. Angelus says "You know I kinda like having you watch my back" unaware that Spike is planning to betray him and is only helping him for Drusilla. Doubly ironic; Spike reveals this betrayal by sneaking up behind Angelus and beating him with a tire iron.
• Dull Surprise: As his henchvamp's head rolls past him, Angelus affects boredom with Buffy crashing his party.
  Angelus: [eyeroll] I don't have time for you.
  Buffy: You don't have a lot of time left.
• Dying as Yourself: Used when Buffy defeats Angelus just as Willow completes her spell to turn him back to Angel. Although he is himself again, Buffy has to kill him anyway to close the gate that Angelus opened.
• Dynamic Entry: Shortly after parting with Whistler, a cop car pulls up next to our heroine. A Sunnydale cop, so nonexistent in previous weeks and so very prevalent in this one, jumps out and tells Buffy to hold it right there. Suddenly, the gun gets kicked out his hands. Spike pops out of nowhere, slaps around the cop and kicks him into the hood of his car, knocking him out.
  "Hello, cutie."
  • At the mansion, Angelus cuts himself in preparation for freeing Acathla. Buffy enters quietly behind one of the henchvamps and cleanly decapitates him. O hai Peaches!
• Enemy Mine: Played straight, then subverted when Spike walks off and leaves Buffy to her fate. In fairness, he had kept his side of the bargain by saving Giles, distracting Dru and Angelus while Buffy took out the minions, and taking Dru out. Spike had no reason to support either Buffy or Angel after that.
• Evil Versus Oblivion: Spike explains that while vampires may love to talk about destroying the world amongst themselves ("tough-guy talk"), he prefers the world as it is. Moreover, he can't stand the way Drusilla fawns over Angelus.
  Spike: The truth is I like this world. You've got... dog racing, Manchester United. And you've got people. Billions of people walking around like Happy Meals with legs. It's all right here. But then someone comes along with a vision. With a real passion for destruction. Angel could pull it off. Goodbye, Piccadilly. Farewell, Leicester Bloody Square, y'know what I'm saying?
• Exact Words: Spike and Dru stare at each other as Spike says, "I don't wanna hurt you, baby." Dru's answer is to grab him by the throat and shove him against the wall. He immediately clocks her with a haymaker punch, then shrugs, "Doesn't mean I won't."
• Fake-Out Make-Out: The G-rated version. Buffy sneaks into the hospital, wearing an oversized coat and black watch cap. She finds Xander just as some cops round a corner in the hall, so Xander pulls her in for a tight hug until the coast is clear.
  • Subverted in that it lacks the usual UST; when Buffy jokes that Xander had ulterior motives for doing that, his lack of reaction makes her realize something bad has happened (to Willow).
• Fate Worse than Death: Angelus getting a taste of his own portal.
• Faux Affably Evil: Angelus polishes Giles's glasses for him, places them back on his face, then proceeds to break his fingers.
• Femme Fatalons: Drusilla takes a good chunk of skin off Spike's face with a swipe of her nails.
• Finger Muzzle: Book Ends the scene where Buffy quiets Angel's half-hearted attempt to stop them making love in "Surprise".
  Angel: What's happening?
  Buffy: Shhh... (finger on lips) Don't worry about it. Close your eyes.
• Fingore: Giles is shown at the end of the episode with splints on several of his fingers, giving us a good idea of how Angelus was torturing him.
• Five-Finger Discount: After clocking out the cop who was arresting Buffy, Spike explains his change of heart while searching through his pockets for a smoke. Finding nothing, he then fishes through the KO'd cop's pockets and swipes some cigs, still yapping the entire time.
• Foil: Joyce and Spike, surprisingly, they're even dressed similarly (black coats over red shirts). He's an evil ally who encourages Buffy to kill a vampire. She's a loving family member who wants her to stop.
• Foreshadowing:
  • Principal Snyder is seen asking to speak with the mayor, who becomes the Big Bad in the next season.
  • The seeds of Spuffy are planted here with what will become some very familiar elements — the exchange of snarks and punches between Buffy and Spike, their instinctive teamwork in a crisis, and their connection when compared to outsiders like Joyce.
    • For that matter, the seeds of Spike's Heel–Face Turn are planted, as it shows his willingness to pair up with the good guys if it so conveniences him—which is what initially gets him over to the Scoobies' side, his eventual love for Buffy being what makes him stay for as long as he does.
  • Whistler thought Angel was supposed to be the hero who saved the world from Acathla, but he turned evil, so it's Buffy who does so — with some help from her friends and Spike. This reflects the ambiguity in the Angel series over which side Angel would end up on when the Apocalypse happened. In the final season of the spin-off, it's also ambiguous whether Angel or Spike is The Champion foretold in the Shanshu Prophecy.
  • The foundations of Spike and Joyce genuinely growing to like each other are laid with their sitting together in the living room and making awkward conversation.
  • Spike being a fan of Manchester United is a subtle piece of foreshadowing towards the much later reveal that he's an upper-middle-class man pretending to be working class.^note Any real working class Londoner would view an accusation of supporting Manchester United as a death-worthy insult, but it's a common stereotype in British football culture that many MU supporters are middle-class people from outside the North-West, with little knowledge of football, who only like them because of their fame and record of success.
• Frame-Up: Snyder gleefully tells the police that Buffy, caught at the murder scene, is a known delinquent.
• From Bad to Worse: Ohhhh, boy, the whole two-parter is just one thing after another piling onto poor Buffy. Events that you'd normally expect to have episodes, or even entire story arcs devoted to them are instead all crammed into one two-parter. What's more, most of them have little to do with Angelus' plan to destroy the world — it's just one of those days where it particularly sucks to be Buffy.
• Futile Hand Reach: Angel reaches out to Buffy as he's sucked into a hell dimension. Buffy, of course, does not respond with a Take My Hand!.
• Gilligan Cut: Willow hopes that Giles is okay. Cut to him being tortured by Angelus.
• Glasses Pull: A smirking Angelus cleans Giles' glasses for him while he's tied to a chair and tortured by having his fingers broken.
• The Good, the Bad, and the Evil: Buffy, Spike (bad, but needs a world to be bad in) and Angelus.
• The Gods Must Be Lazy: Buffy figures Whistler doesn't have anything useful to tell her. "What are you," she snaps, "just some immortal demon sent down to even the score between good and evil?" Whistler looks both surprised and deflated by her spot-on evaluation: "Good guess." Buffy suggests that the Powers That Be get off their "immortal ass" to help, to which Whistler responds with the stock speech about the cost of free will and how you can only count on yourself. Boy, subtract Acathla, add sixteen months and you have the pilot for Angel, right here.
• Have We Met?: Joyce asks Spike if they've met before. He reminds her about the time she hit him with an axe.
• Have You Tried Not Being a Monster?: While trying to come to terms with Buffy being a Vampire Slayer (and Spike and Angel being vampires), Joyce asks if Buffy's "tried not being a Slayer."
• Heel–Face Turn:
  • Subverted when Spike just walks out carrying Drusilla, instead of coming to Buffy's aid.
  • Angel pulls one - just a moment too late.
• Heroic BSoD: Buffy in the episode's ending.
• Hidden Depths: Although he's a Jerkass and in with the Mayor, Snyder has no idea Buffy is the Slayer. He's a bad principal who doesn't like kids, but at least he's honest in thinking Buffy's a delinquent and isn't targeting her as part of an evil campaign.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: In every sense of the word. Buffy, recalling Whistler's words that only Angel's blood can re-seal Acathla, runs Angel through with her sword. The bloodied tip of the blade penetrates the vortex behind him, sucking Angel into Hell and sealing it shut.
• Hollywood Law: The officer shot at Buffy when Buffy ran away. A police officer would not have legally been able to use lethal force in this instance because no one's life was in immediate danger. Some Truth in Television, as a fair few cops feel free to ignore this law.
• Hypnotic Eyes: Spike uses reason to persuade Angelus not to kill Giles, instead suggesting that Dru "play a game"; she reads Giles' mind to discover his weakness, and hypnotizes him so he sees her as Jenny Calendar. Giles desperately tells Jenny that they have to get Angel away from Acathla, because his own blood is the key.
• I Can't Do This by Myself: Spike can't stop Angelus and Drusilla by himself, and neither can Buffy.
• I Have No Daughter: Joyce refuses to accept that her daughter is a vampire Slayer, and the battle lines are drawn. It's Ultimatum Time. Joyce says she won't let Buffy leave the house. They get into a shouting match, and Buffy opens the door to leave. "You walk out of this house, don't even THINK about coming back!" barks Joyce. Buffy just looks at her sadly and then walks out. Joyce slumps over the counter, her head in her hands. That could have gone better.
• Idiot Ball: Angelus picks it up when he's trying to awaken Acathla. He has to torture Giles for hours to find out that he has to use his own blood for the ritual, even though the Latin part contains the phrase Sanguia Meam. Roughly translated, it means my blood. And Angel definitely understands Latin.
• Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Angel, to his shock and confusion.
• Improvised Weapon:
  • On the way to Angelus's mansion, Buffy is greeted by Xander, who pops up out of the bushes. "Cavalry's here," he announces. "Cavalry's a frightened guy with a rock, but it's here."
  • Spike whips out either a fireplace poker or a long andiron to cave Angelus' head in.
  • Buffy uses a bit of broken chair as a stake.
• I Need a Freaking Drink: Joyce sipping from an unmentioned beverage. For her sake, it'd better be a good stiff one.
• Internal Reveal: Joyce finds out what lies behind her daughter's 'delinquency'.
• In the End, You Are on Your Own: As foreshadowed by Whistler, who tells her this...
  Angelus: That's everything. No weapons, no friends, no hope. Take all that away, and what's left?
  Buffy: (blocks blade with bare hands) Me.
• Invincible Classic Car: Spike crashes his car, a 1959 DeSoto Fireflite, through the garage door of the mansion, and the car isn't damaged at all. The paint doesn't even get scratched.
• Ironic Echo:
  • Buffy repeats Angel's "Hello, lover" when making her Dynamic Entry. When Spike is pounding on Angelus, his casual comment on how much it must hurt is similar to what the Romani said when cursing him.
  • Darla told Angel to "close your eyes" right before turning him into a vampire. Buffy tells Angel to "close your eyes" right before sending him to Hell.
• It's All My Fault: Buffy, overlooking her best friend's unconscious face, expresses regret for letting Willow attempt the curse. She doesn't realize yet that Drusilla came to snatch Giles, not interrupt Willow.
• Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique: Whistler identifies himself to Buffy, and when she asks what he wants, he jokes that he needs a date to the prom. Buffy has had just about enough (long day) and slams Whistler, his baggy vintage suit, and his porkpie hat up against the wall, threatening to pull out his rib cage and wear it as a hat.
  Whistler: Hello to the imagery, very nice!
• Karma Houdini:
  • Xander never faces any consequences for telling Buffy his Blatant Lies. Considering that he took part in causing her one of the worst pains she's ever faced (killing Angel), that's a very serious karma oversight.
  • Spike and Drusilla get away as part of the former's deal with Buffy.
• Kill the Ones You Love: Buffy, and boy does it stick with her...
• Kiss of Death: Angel, still weakened, senses the evil whirlwind behind him, but Buffy reassures him that everything is fine. She tells Angel that she loves him, then she touches his lips with her fingers and instructs him to close his eyes. He does, and she kisses him again tenderly (though her face is winced in pain) before stepping back and ramming her sword through his chest.
• Laser-Guided Amnesia: Angel gets his soul back but like before doesn't immediately remember what happened when he was desouled.
• Leitmotif:
  • The tune from "Remembering Jenny" in "Passion" recurs in "Vision of Jenny".
  • In the most heartbreaking way possible, Angel and Buffy's theme finally reappears... as Buffy kisses Angel and runs him through. Even more of a Tear Jerker when you realize where that track's title comes from.
  Buffy: (to Angel) Don't worry about it. Close your eyes.
• Locked Out of the Loop: Principal Snyder was stunned by Buffy's sudden martial prowess in the opening, as she escaped the cops. Clearly, the Mayor is keeping her Slayer status on a need-to-know basis.
• Logo Joke: Instead of his usual "Grr! Argh!" the Mutant Enemy zombie says "I need a hug."
• Loser Has Your Back: Xander shows up to help Buffy fight Angelus. "The cavalry's here. Cavalry's a frightened guy with a rock, but it's here." She uses him to get Giles, badly hurt after Angelus' Cold-Blooded Torture, out of the way while the vampires are distracted by fighting her.
• Lost in Character: Drusilla, delving a bit too far into her role as "Jenny", is still snogging with Giles as Spike and Angelus clear their throats impatiently. They have to try a couple of times to get her attention until Dru turns around and sheepishly responds, "Sorry. I was in the moment."
• Meaningful Echo:
  • Both times Angel dies, the words he hears are, "close your eyes". It's the last thing Darla said to him before she made him a vampire, and it`s also the last thing Buffy says to Angel before she runs him through with her sword. Angel really should be more careful when beautiful blondes tell him to do things.
• Mind Rape: Angelus is on the verge of killing Giles, who has withstood extensive torture without revealing his knowledge of the ritual on how to destroy the world. Spike suggests that Dru play a game; she agrees, and reads Giles's mind to discover his weakness. She finally cajoles the information she wants out of Giles by hypnotizing him, so that she appears as Jenny, his dead girlfriend, in his eyes.
• Mistaken for Murderer: Buffy is found over the body of Kendra, amongst the trashed library and the Scoobies laying around unconscious. Combined with Snyder freely lying to the police that whenever trouble happens, Buffy's behind it, and Buffy escaping police custody, she ends up a fugitive from the law.
• My God, What Have I Done?: When Joyce, in the heat of the moment, tells Buffy not to come back if she leaves the house and Buffy walks out anyway, you can briefly see the fear on Joyce's face that Buffy will take her at her word. (And Buffy does, for a couple months anyway.)
• Noodle Implements: With the "noodle" in question being Angelus' magic fingers. We don't see where he's placing his hands, but from reading Giles' face it can't be pleasant.
  • Played straight after Giles proves surprisingly resilient. All right, bust out the chainsaw! ^note He was serious about that?
• No Time to Explain: Averted; Buffy's attempts to brush off Joyce only lead to her mother losing her temper and giving the Ultimatum.
• Not Himself: Angelus, losing patience with his guest, is on the verge of killing Giles when Spike rolls in. He points out that emancipating Giles from his limbs won't get Angelus the information he needs. (He omits the part about Buffy's promise to kill Drusilla if anything happens to her Watcher.) Angelus eyes Spike suspiciously. Something about this scenario is off.
  Angelus: Since when did you become so level-headed?
  Spike: Right about the time you became so pig-headed.
• Nothing Is the Same Anymore: Outside the house, Joyce starts asking a few too many questions, and Buffy is anxious to move the conversations inside. As they approach the door, a vampire pounces at them. Buffy and Spike make short work of the vamp, who ends up getting dusted right in front of the astonished Joyce. The vamp is identified as "one of Angelus's boys"; Joyce demands to know what is going on. Oh....right. You're still here?
  Buffy: Mom, I'm a vampire slayer.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Fed up with trying to explain things to her mother, Buffy turns on her heels, "Just have another drink." Joyce reacts by smashing her glass on the floor and snaps, "Don't you talk to me that way," causing Buffy to freeze in her tracks. Yow.
• Obvious Stunt Double: As soon as the camera pulls back during their swordfight, Buffy grows several inches, and Angel has a drastically receding hairline.
• Oh, Crap!: Giles' pitiful expression once he realizes he's been duped by Drusilla. Principal Snyder when he tells Buffy she's been expelled...and then Buffy pulls out a sword.
• Ominous Latin Chanting:
  • Angelus slitting his hand and reciting an incantation — basically the same spiel he made to Acathla in the last episode, except in Latin.
  • Oz expressing his doubts over the Ritual of Restoration. "Did I mention I didn't take Latin?" Willow reassures him that they don't actually have to understand the words, just sound them out. Actually, Willow is speaking Romanian — the same recitation as the original Romani clan).
• Our Wormholes Are Different: It's a demon portal opened by blood.
• Out-of-Character Alert: When Angelus wants to kill Giles, Spike advises against it, much to the former's surprise. He doesn't know about Spike's secret deal with Buffy, and that Buffy has only agreed to let Drusilla go if Giles isn't killed.
  Angelus: Since when did you become so levelheaded?
  Spike: Right about the time you became so pig-headed. You have your way with him, you'll never get to destroy the world.
• Out of Sight, Out of Mind: Spike offers to take Drusilla out of the country and never come back. He likely meant it at the time...
• Parents as People: Joyce doesn't respond well to learning her daughter is a Slayer, which leads to a huge argument.
  Joyce: You walk out of this house, you don't even think about coming back.
• Police Are Useless: Buffy returning to the library, which is cordoned off with crime scene tape, to retrieve some of her gear hidden under the table. Snyder catches her in the act and proceeds to smug some more, while Buffy protests her innocence and has faith that the police will figure that out. Snyder retorts that the "police of Sunnydale are deeply stupid." No kidding. They missed a duffel bag full of weapons at a crime scene which they left unguarded!
  • Joyce can't accept the whole new unexplained world that has opened before her and tries to pick up the phone to call the cops. Joyce, don't you know 911 is a joke? Buffy slams the phone down, insisting the cops will just get killed.
  Joyce: Well, you're not gonna hurt them, are you?
  Buffy: I'm a Slayer, not a postal worker.
• Prophecy Twist: Whistler claiming that this was supposed to be Angel's "big day." He recruited Angel because he believed he was destined to stop Acaltha, but things didn't go as planned — rather, the reverse. Buffy's love for Angel was an X factor nobody saw coming.
• Put on a Bus:
  • Buffy herself. The last shot of the episode is of a sign on the outskirts of town. It reads: "Now leaving Sunnydale — Come back soon!"
  • Angel, who won't be back for another hundred years.
• Pyrrhic Victory: Buffy kills Angel to save the world, right after his soul was already restored. That and a combination of Buffy's mother rejecting her and Kendra's death getting pinned on her causes Buffy to run away to Los Angeles.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: As Acathla begins to stir, his maw opens wide and his eyes glow orange.
• Revealing Hug: Buffy realises that Angel has got his soul back and hugs him. As Buffy does so her eyes widen in horror because she can see a vortex to the hell dimension opening behind Angel; she tells Angel to close his eyes and does what she must.
• Run or Die: Cordelia admits she just ran, but Buffy agrees it was the right thing to do.
• "Save the World" Climax: Done in a heartbreaking way; Buffy ends up sending her love to hell in order to prevent the Earth from literally going to hell.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Spike decides to bug out of Angelus' plan to destroy the world because he likes the world (because it has things like dog racing, Manchester United, and millions of people running around like Happy Meals for him). He quickly teams up with Buffy so he can grab his lover, Drusilla, and ditches out the second he has her.
• Season Finale: Of the second season, and remains one of the most memorable of the whole show.
• See You in Hell: Buffy dusts her last henchvamp just in time to witness Angleus pulling the sword from his oversized garden gnome. Victorious, Angelus indulges in a sword flourish and turns to gloat.
  Angelus: My boy Acathla here is about to wake up. You're goin' to Hell.
  Buffy: Save me a seat.
• Shut Up, Hannibal!: Buffy pulls a short one on Angelus after she stops his sword.
• Skewed Priorities
  Buffy: "The whole Earth may be sucked into Hell, and you want my help 'cause your girlfriend's a big 'ho? Well, let me take this opportunity to not care."
• Smash Cut:
  • Cordelia arrives at Willow's bedside, explaining that she ran away and "made it through three counties" before she noticed no one was in pursuit. Now everyone's accounted for. ...Hold on. Xander asks if Giles made it out with Cordy, and she says she hasn't seen him. Cut to the mansion, where Giles is starting to come to. Angelus is crouched on the floor next to him, looking like that cat that ate the canary.
  • The newly-revived Willow tells Oz her head feels big, but he reassures her that it's "head size" and gives her a kiss. "Is everybody else okay?" wonders Willow. Cut back to our profoundly-unlucky friend Giles, bound and bloodied, while Angelus sits nearby, cheerfully polishing Giles' glasses. Ick.
• Staking the Loved One: Or in this case, running the loved one through with a sword and leaving him trapped in a hell dimension. Ironically, considering the show, actual stakes aren't really used.
• Stereo Fibbing: Buffy and Spike head back to her house to talk, but are waylaid by Joyce pulling up in the driveway. Buffy gives Spike an expressive "don't say anything in front of my mother" eye roll. "What, your mom doesn't know?" Spike asides. Know what?
  Buffy: That I'm, uh... [stammering] in a band. A rock band. With Spike here.
  Spike: Right. She plays the, the triangle—
  Buffy: Drums.
  Spike: —Drums, yeah, she's, uh, hell on the old skins, y'know.
  Joyce: [unconvinced] Hmm. And, uh, what do you do?
  Spike: [beat] well, I sing.
• Stop, or I Will Shoot!: We pick up with Buffy in the Sunnydale High library, kneeling over Kendra's body, when two police officers burst in with their guns drawn. The female officer checks for Kendra's pulse, while Snyder arrives to pin the whole thing on Buffy. Buffy says, F#@% the police, and elbows the male cop into the lockers before sprinting away. His partner yells freeze and takes aim at Buffy, and her bullet narrowly misses.
• Sword Fight: Buffy vs Angelus, for the fate of the world.
• Sword over Head: Buffy is about to decapitate Angel when he gets his soul back.
• Take My Hand!: Buffy violently stabbing Angel and drawing him into the vortex. A shocked Angel calls out, "Buffy?" and extends his arm, but no help is coming.
• Talking in Your Sleep: In the hospital, Xander tells a comatose Willow that he loves her. At this, her face twitches and her hand gives his a squeeze. Xander's eyes widen in hope, but his face falls as Willow whispers, "Oz?" On cue, Oz is in the doorway, and a crestfallen Xander sidles out of the room to let him sit next to Willow. Oh, this'll end well.

• Tap on the Head: Spike delivering a kick to a cop's face. The groaning officer quickly comes to, however.
  Spike: [absently] I'm just gonna kill this guy.
  Buffy: [clears her throat loudly]
  Spike: Oh, right.
• Tempting Fate:
  • Buffy assures Whistler that if spilling Angel's blood will seal the portal, then she's more than up to the task: "I've got nothing left to lose." To her retreating figure, Whistler says under his breath, "Wrong, kid. You got one more thing."
  • Angelus reminding Buffy that the deck is stacked against her odds-wise, gesturing to his lackeys. That's Spike's cue to rise up out of his wheelchair and clobber Angelus across the head with an andiron.
  Spike: Painful, isn't it?
  • Spike promises to take Drusilla out of the country. "You'll never hear from us again, I bloody well hope."
• Torture First, Ask Questions Later: At Angelus' place, a captive Giles asks what he wants. Angelus hops to his feet and says matter-of-factly, "I wanna torture you." He explains that he's tried to wake Acathla, with no results, and was hoping Giles could give him some pointers. "But honestly," he confides, "I sorta hope you don't. 'Cause I really wanna torture you."
• Torture for Fun and Information: Angelus freely admits to Giles that he's going to torture him for information on reviving Acathla, but also for his own sadistic amusement.
  Angelus: I wanna torture you. I used to love it, and it's been such a long time. I mean, the last time I tortured someone, they didn't even have chainsaws! [...] Acathla. He's an even harder guy to wake up than you are. I mean, I performed the rituals, said all the right phrases, blood on my hand. Got nothing. Big doughnut hole for my troubles. I figure you know the ritual. You're pretty up on these things. You could probably tell me what I'm doing wrong. But honestly, I sorta hope you don't...'Cause I really wanna torture you.
• Trailers Always Spoil: At the time, there was never a big question as to whether Angel would return, since the announcement of Angel was made right after this episode aired.
• Trauma Conga Line: This episode is notable for putting Buffy in a emotional meat-grinder for 24 hours. By the end of the finale, Buffy has lost a friend, been framed for murder, kicked out of school, thrown out of her own house, and subjected the man she loves to A Fate Worse Than Death. This is not the last time horrible things would happen to Buffy, but never again would so many occur in such a brief period of time.
• Trespassing to Talk: Whistler makes contact with Buffy this way.
• Two-Part Episode: Nach, also acting as the finale of season two.
• Waxing Lyrical: Spike's description of the end of days "goodbye Picadilly, farewell Leicester bloody Square" is a quote from the song "It's a Long Way to Tipperary."
• Weirdness Censor: Lampshaded by Buffy:
  "Open your eyes, Mom! What do you think has been going on for the past two years? The fights, the weird occurrences. How many times have you washed blood out of my clothing, and you still haven't figured it out?"
• What Happened to the Mouse?: Whistler is nowhere to be seen after sharing some tips with Buffy.
  • Whistler was slated to appear in the never-made Ripper, a spin-off detailing the adventures of Giles in England.
  • He was also meant to be in Angel, but the actor's drug problems interfered. His intended role was taken by the new character Doyle...who was then quickly killed off because his actor also had drug problems that would kill him a couple years later.
  • He finally full on reappears in the Angel & Faith comic series. This time with nothing potential about it: He's the Big Bad of that half of season 9.
• Wham Line: Two of note:
  • From Buffy to Joyce:
  "Mom... I'm a vampire slayer."
  • And then from Snyder to Buffy:
  "You're expelled."
• Who Needs Enemies?: Spike strikes a deal with Buffy; he will help her stop Angelus if she lets him and Drusilla skip town. Later he's carrying out Drusilla and notices a sword-wielding Angelus advancing on a disarmed Buffy.
  Spike: God, he's gonna kill her! (shrugs and walks off)
• You Are Too Late: Angel's soul is returned, but the portal has already opened.
• You Can't Go Home Again:
  • Joyce finding a note on Buffy's bed the next morning. We don't hear its contents, but clothes have been strewn everywhere and her closet emptied. As she's reading, Joyce starts to cry.
  • By episode's end, Buffy is still under suspicion for murder, and can't go to either her home or school. Next stop: L.A.
• You Need to Get Laid: Buffy implies this is the reason Snyder is a student-hating Nazi now.
  Buffy: You never got a single date in high school, did you?
  Snyder: Your point being?
• You Will Know What to Do: Back at Casa del Giles, Whistler is heroically guarding the fridge. (Sigh) Buffy enters and demands to know what he meant before when he said "the sword isn't enough." Whistler, in his habit of not answering until somebody threatens to beat the crap out of them, explains that once Acathla opens a vortex to hell, only Angel's blood can close it. Blood in, blood out.
• You Wouldn't Believe Me If I Told You: Invoked during Buffy's phone call to the hospital. She tells Willow that she caught a "lucky break" in their search for Giles. When Willow asks for specifics, Buffy shoots a glance at her living room, where Joyce and Spike are awkwardly twiddling their thumbs.
• Your Door Was Open: Buffy burst into Giles' apartment looking for him, but Whistler's waiting for her instead. Chalk up one more quirk he has in common with Doyle.

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