The Becoming, Part Two

The Becoming, Part One
Written and Directed by Joss Whedon

Original Airdate: May 19, 1998

Plot: Season Two finale Angel tortures a captured Giles to find out the secrets of Acathla. Meanwhile, Buffy gets an unlikely ally in Spike and must race against time to stop Angel from sucking the entire world into hell...

Review

Warning: If SPOILERS make you want to reanimate a demon to unleash hell on Earth (otherwise known as three long months without any new Buffy!), I suggest you turn back now. There are major SPOILERS just ahead for the Buffy's season finale, "The Becoming, Part Two."

In short: It's gonna be a long summer....

Let me be the first to start the standing ovation for Joss Whedon and company. Thank you sir for a magnificent finish to one of the most enjoyable seasons of television it has been my privilege to watch and thank you most of all for a slam-bang, good finish that was everything I had hoped for and then some. Now whether or not it's my favorite episode of the season remains to be seen. I have to go back and look at the season as a whole before I can make such a judgment.

But, I'm getting ahead of myself here...

In it's final episode of the year, Buffy followed the great tradition of Deep Space Nine, not only by having the wonderfully talented Armin Shimerman in the plot, but also by following the pattern of season cliffhangers DS9 has done so well for the past five years. What do I mean by that?

Well, after the success of "The Best of Both Worlds, Part One" cliffhanger on Star Trek: The Next Generation, Next Gen forced a cliffhanger story each year to end the season, with varying degrees of success. DS9, on the other hand, has generally taken the approach of wrapping up some of the major issues that have occured during that season and laying the groundwork for next season. It's a cliffhanger but not in the sense that the characters are in jeopardy and must quickly get out of it in order for the story to continue. It's a practice I've really come to like and I am glad that Buffy used it.

Buffy wrapped up a few plotlines, left some others hanging, and introduced some new wrinkles into the formula. All in all, it was effective.

What did we wrap up?

--Angel got his soul back, ending one arc but beginning another.

--Spike and Dru have left town, for now. I very much doubt Spike is gonna stay gone too long.

--Giles had some bit of closure with Jenny, even if it was Dru toying with him.

What did we bring up to deal with next year?

--Angel has apparently gone to hell. Buffy sent him there, which should bring up some huge ramifications.

--Joyce knows Buffy is the slayer, leading to Buffy's being thrown out of the house and her leaving Sunnydale.

--Synder has expelled her from school.

--We've had this new "What does Snyder know?" question raised pretty effectively. I, for one, would love to see an episode where we get a little bit of his background. Maybe like the great X-Files episode earlier this year, "Unusual Suspects," which examined the past of the Lone Gunman.

--Spike has Dru back, but at what price? I can't imagine she's gonna be too thrilled with the course he took to win her back.

--Buffy is still wanted by the authorities. Or at least I assume so. Never really sure if the charges were later dropped or the warrant for her arrest ever cancelled.

--Kendra is dead. Will a new slayer be chosen to take her place or is the equation balanced out by Buffy being around still?

That is a lot of major, major stuff to be brought up in just an hour of television. And all of it without seeming forced and coming totally naturally. It had tension but it also had time for those quiet moments between characters. One of the best scenes of the episode was Xander's quiet scene with Willow in the hospital. And to be honest, I see a triangle between her, Xander, and Oz beginning to develop. It will be interesting to see if this is dealt with next season.

Overall, though, it was a great episode. And similar to part one, the final fifteen or so minutes were just too intense. In one segment Joss was able to pack in a sword fight, a betrayal, hope, despair, loss, grief, and shock. And it never felt rushed. It felt natural. The development was great.

And say what you will, I loved the fact that Buffy shoved Angel into the vortex. I am sure this decision will come back to haunt her later, but I simply thought based on the movement we've seen her go through this year in regards to Angel that it was a great way to end the storyline for this year. It also opens the door for some interesting development next season. Development that we need to see right away.

The whole episode was good. From Buffy's escape from the police to her deal with Spike to Angel's obsessession with wanting to bring the demon to life. A few key sequences really had some impact, though.

The first was the whole conversation between Spike and Buffy. Joss walked a fine line between tension and humor there. I loved the line about Spike wanting to her help because Dru is a "ho." Simply the best line of the night. But the give and take between her and Spike and how his bravado is as much show as it is actually wanting to kill her and all of us being Happy Meals on legs was hilarious. It really gives Spike some more depth, which he's been sorely lacking these past few weeks just sitting in the wheelchair. It's nice to see him be dark and manipulative like we saw in "School Hard," or even "Lie to Me."

The next scene that stuck out was the conversation Buffy had with her mom about being the slayer. I loved it. Joyce's reaction was dead-on. "Can't you just stop?" and "I've got to save the world--again!" were lines that could have been so cheezy but came off well here. It really shows that given the right ear for dialogue how well it can work. Also, having Joyce tell Buffy not to come back but then sobbing when she didn't was a nice counterpoint. It was also heartbreaking.

I also loved Joyce's line to Spike, "So, do you live around here?" Absolutely wonderful. I also liked the choice of direction by Joss here, counterpointing the very animated conversation between Buffy and Willow with the lack of conversation between Spike and Joyce. That was great to see. Seeing them just staring at each other was fun as they tried to open up some dialogue or make some small talk.

Finally, Giles' scene with Jenny was great. A few weeks ago on X-Files, Mulder was interrogated by a group of terrorists and these scenes reminded me of it. Not that we heard fingers snapping here like we did on X-Files, but it was still effectively chilling. Using Dru to mess with Giles' head was a good move by Spike and one that worked out well. Once again, we had a point-counterpoint shown in Angel and Spike. Angelus seems to be in the game for what he can do and how it affects him, Spike sees a bigger picture. Together, they could be deadly, if they could get along. It was wondefully well done and chilling.

Overall, the whole episode was pretty darn good. Like I said before I am hesistant to go on a limb and say "best of the season," because the whole year's been pretty darn good (well, take out Killed By Death, and it's really good!). But I did like it and it has opened up some major issues to speculate about over the summer.

And is it gonna be a long summer....

So, that's about it, except a few small items.

--What does Synder know? How long has he known? What does the mayor and the council know?

--The song at the end. Fantastic to set the mood. Anyone know an artist and a title and, perhaps, a CD I can pick it up on?

--Oz was a bit more useful, but not much. But pretty much everyone in the Scooby gang exept Buffy and Giles had limited screen time this week. I can forgive it since there was so much other great stuff going on. And since they were pretty much showcases in IOHEFY and Go Fish.

Well, that wraps it for this season. I'd like to thank you for taking the time to read my reviews this year and I look forward to returning next year when Buffy comes back. Until then, I am gonna try and go back and fill in some gaps. And coming in the next couple of weeks, my season ending look back at season two as a whole.

All in all, it was a great season finale. I'm on the edge of my seat for next year...

Final Rating: 10.0
Revised Rating for Part One: 9.5

Next up: A long hot summer of repeats, kicked off with a two hour block, featuring Passions and Phases. Not to be missed.

"I've got to save the world--again!"

--Buffy