The Becoming, Part One

The Becoming, Part One
Written and Directed by Joss Whedon

Original Airdate: May 12, 1998

Plot: Season Two finale When Willow finds the disk with the restoration spell for Angel's soul on it, Buffy faces a major decision--help her former boyfriend or slay him. Meanwhile, Angel hatches a plot to unleash hell on Earth...

Review

Warning: If SPOILERS don't become you, I'd ask you please turn back now. There are major, major SPOILERS for "The Becoming, Part One" and some minor, personal speculation about what may come in part two. You have been warned...

In short: An interesting beginning.

Well, at long last, the Buffy event we've been waiting for has finally arrived. At long last, the events of the roller coaster that's been season two are culminating in one pivotal two (or three possibly) parter. It's the episodes I've been waiting to see since I first heard the info on the final four episodes of Buffy.

Forget about the series finale of Seinfeld. I was pysched for part one of "The Becoming."

I mean, how could you go wrong? You've got flashbacks to the past, seeing Angel's dark history played out, a tenative link to the film, the gang finding the yellow disk, and the beginning of major, earth shattering events. And I think the key word in all that is "beginning." Becuase once again Joss Whedon has left us hanging, with a brilliant set-up. I am interested to see how it all plays out in part two. If you'll remember, I enjoyed Suprise but was blow away by Innocence. And I'm hoping that occurs here. I enjoyed part one, don't get me wrong. It's just hard to cast too many critical judgements it's way since most of the major plot threads won't be wrapped up until next week.

And it's gonna be a long week.

Not that the cliffhanger is really the thing making me go, "Wow, that's gonna be cool." If anything I felt it was rather weak. I guess it may be that I'm a bit spoiled by being a Doctor Who fan where each story has three or more cliffhangers. I've gotten use to them. And this one just doesn't rank up there as edge-of-my-seat exciting.

What does rank up there is the events played out. Angel has Giles, presumbly to help him reanimate the demon, Kendra's toast (a great, gutsy move by Joss and company!), Buffy is looking like the prime suspect, and the Scooby gang has been pretty banged up. Overall, the events that are coming look to be really, really intriguing. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

But enough future speculation. What about part one?

Well, there was some nice stuff here. I enjoyed the flashbacks as it gives us a bit more depth into Angel/Angelus. I really like the way that Joss has portrayed him this year, and that he's followed through on the making him evil plotline. It's made Angel far more interesting, though I've said if before and I'll say it again now--the boy needs to die. It's just gone too far for him not to be slain at this point.

Which is why I loved the confrontation in the library about what to do about Angel. Save him or destroy him? It's an interesting question--one that I know has haunted discussion boards for weeks. And it was nice to see each of the characters take up a voice for different sides on screen last night. I have to admit I love good conflict in characters and this was good conflict. It really felt like a heated discussion. I loved seeing Xander's reaction and his chastizing of Giles. That sequence alone had me hooked.

As did the final fifteen minutes. From the time the vampire killed herself to deliver a message to Buffy to the final slow-motion run sequence and the voice over by the Whistler, it was all wonderful. I just loved the fact that Angel was a bluff to draw Buffy away from the Scooby gang so Angel could get Giles to help him out. I also loved the cutting of that sequences as Buffy races back to the school and Dru works her magic on Kendra. It was a wonderful sequence and Joss Whedon deserves extra kudos for directing it so well. It truely stands out as one of the finer Buffy sequences of the year.

As for Kendra, I can't say I'm overly sorry to see her go. I didn't loath her as some do, but I never really liked her that much either. I think it was her voice that annoyed me the most. However, I do respect the fact that she was dealt with in such a manner. I not saying I'm happy to see her die, but that I liked the way Joss did it and I am hoping that it sets up some major and interesting issues not only next week but next season as well. About the only thing that bugged me about it was that Kendra went down pretty easily. She kicked the stuffing out of Angel in WML, but yet here she seemed more ineffective. Of course, it could be the element of surprise the vamps had on her.

Overall, the episodes was a good one. I'm not going to go out too far on a limb about it because we've still got next week to see how it all turns out. Oh, and what a long week it's gonna be.

That's about it, for now, except for a few small things....

--Oz was pretty much useless. Yeah, it was nice to see him in there but a bit more screen time would be good. Or at least a vital part of the Scooby gang and not just a chair for Willow.

--The scene with Xander re-enacting the battle with fish sticks was hilarious. One of the better comedy moments we've been this year.

--I still don't buy Xander and Cordy being together. I know I've run this itno the ground, but I still think they don't seem like a couple. I know they argue, but they never seem to be nice to each other, except last week when she thought he was a fish. But, I have a feeling that this relationship may hit the rocks next week.

--Spike. Oh, I'm so ready for him to be the arrogant, brash jerk I loved to hate he was at the beginning of the year. It might be interesting to see him betray Angel and a sort of vampire civil war break out.

--Dru was actually chilling when she was hypnotizing Kendra. Not just annoying as she can sometimes be.

Well, that's about it for now. There is more to come next week and I'm sure my comments will be a bit longer and bit more useful. Until then, I'm hanging....

Rating: 8.5 (it may go up or down, depending on part two)

Next up: Kendra's dead, Giles is captured, Buffy is a murder suspect, Willow's unconsious, Xander's arm is broken. Does it get any worse? I think it might....

"This wasn't about you..."

--Angel