Have you tried not being a slayer?

Episode 2.22: Becoming: Part 2. Original Airdate 5.19.98

"Spike strikes an unlikely alliance with Buffy to keep Angel from destroying the world."

Zelda's Thoughts:

• Hello Sunnydale police. Nice to see you.
• "You stupid little troll, you have no idea." Them's fighting words. Also, LOL at Synder's puppy twitches when she knocks out the cop.
• Buffy's a fugitive from da LAW. Shit just got real.
• Okay, fine, shit got real last episode. But it's REALER now.
• Okay, OKAY, shit got real back in Surprise/Innocence. But this is the REALIEST.
• Willow's unconscious in bed. This is NOT okay. See? Shit. Real.
• Buffy and Xander both think the attack was because she was trying to curse Angel. In this context, I can sort of understand Xander's Big Lie later. But ... well, I"ll get to it.
• I would love to see Buffy wearing a ribcage hat.
• "What are you, just some immortal demon, sent down to even the score between good and evil?" // "Wow. Good guess."
• Yay Spike! "Hello cutie."
• God, JM was so young. His skin is so smooth.
• "I want to save the world." ironic smile
• I love that he's feeling for smokes the whole speech.
• Does Spike want to stop Angelus because he likes the world with all its happy meals with legs, or because he's mad that Angelus has been shtupping Drusilla? JM's quotes this speech a lot, so I think he thinks its the first reason, and maybe it partly is, but I'm inclined to believe it's mostly all about the jealousy.
• "Let me take this opportunity to not care." I've used that. Or wished I could, to be more accurate.
• "I'm all you've got." But Whistler told us that ain't so!
• Xander's in Trig? Does that mean he'll take Calculus next year? HAHAHAHAHAHA
• Oz's bowling shirt says Larry. Just thought you'd like to know.
• OzandWillowtheirloveissotrue.
• Ugh. Poor Giles. Thank you for being a teen show so we don't have to see much of the torture.
• Angelus is cleaning Giles's glasses. This doesn't count as a stat, but it is a cool detail.
• yay we're about to begin my favorite section. Buffy and Spike in a band. "She plays the triangle." "Well, I sing."
• Buffy came out to her mom! Yay!
• Spike and Joyce in the living room. Loves.
• "Dru bagged a slayer?! She didn't tell me. Hey, good for her! Though not from your perspective, I guess."
• I get that Buffy has kind of a lot on her plate, but I wish she weren't so dismissive of Joyce trying to understand. Joyce is trying to understand, and she doesn't. There's too much being thrown at her, too many changes to what she thought was reality.
• The showdown between Buffy and Joyce. I have such feels. The look she gives her mom before she leaves. waaaaaaaaah
• "Okay, I missed out on some stuff, didn't I? Cuz this is all making the kind of sense that's ... not." - Oz
• Okay, see - Xander has one mission: All Willow wants him to do is tell Buffy she's gonna try the spell again. And he doesn't. He takes away Buffy's choice, and the reasoning, at least in the strict canon of the show, never made sense to me. I've read a bunch of different interpretations and analyses on other blogs and forums, that he didn't trust Buffy to make the hard choice if she thought the spell might work, and maybe that's it. Maybe it's that he didn't want Angel to have a chance of coming back, because his hatred really ran that deep. Maybe he didn't think the spell would work because Willow was so weak. I don't know. This is all speculation. Here's the facts of the matter though: Xander lied to Buffy, one of his best friends, whom he loves/worships in one form of another for the entire series, about one of the most important people in her life. He lied to her, not about whether he stole her candy bar, but about something major. He lied to his friend and he didn't blink. Fuck you, Xander. I don't understand your choices and maybe I don't want to understand. Lying is one of the worst betrayals in my book. And he's never really held accountable for it (though I cheered SO FUCKING LOUDLY when Buffy brought it up again in Selfless in S7).
• "You must perform the ritual in a tutu ... pillock." Giles is my favorite. I'm aware I have like 12 favorites. Shush.
• "The police of Sunnydale are deeply stupid." Word.
• "You're expelled." // BUFFY PULLS OUT BIGASS SWORD. Your argument is invalid. 

BIGASS SWORD

• Dru pretending to be Jenny to trick the answer out of Giles. DAMMIT STOP MAKING OUR GILES SAD. [Hey, I'll steal this idea, too - 666 Park Avenue writers]
•  Of course, this did start the tradition of if you get killed, you get like 3 more episodes on the show.
• "Did I mention I didn't take Latin?" It's okay, neither did Angelus.
• Spike whacking Angelus down: Awesome. Spike continuing to wail on Angelus over and over: hilarious. And then Dru sidetackles Spike and that's hilarious too.
• Oh look, Xander does have a purpose: he rescued Giles. He's still a lying liar who lies.
• Angelus pulls the sword out: oh fuck moment. Now, regardless of Willow's spell, there's no turning back for Buffy.
• This sword fight. So good. Even if I am audibly announcing every time I see a stunt performer.
• Willow scary spell possession. Eep.
• "God, he's gonna kill her." eyebrow shrug. It's a good moment because it really clarifies Spike's morality, especially in regards to my question earlier: he's not staying to stop the world from ending - he got Dru back, and that's all he wanted. Even if he did suffocate her with MAGIC.
• "Take all that away, and what's left?" // "Me." Our Buffy is the best Buffy.
• Oh God it's so sad. Buffy's face. The music. The yawning void of Acathla hell. It's so sad. "Close your eyes." Joss you bastard.
• Is it better or worse for her grief that she got to say goodbye before he died?
• Oh god and then her face crumples.
• And the closet is empty. And Joyce's face crumples.
• And they're all at the school, and quietly cheeful, quietly optimistic.
• "Maybe it wasn't in time. Maybe she had to kill him before ..." do I detect a tone of hope that you won't get caught in your lie? Fucker.
• I know this song got overused, especially on the WB, but this was the first I heard it and it broke my little heart. "Pulled down by the undertow, never thought I could feel so low."
• Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah. I need a hug.

Daniel's Thoughts:

• Buffy, to Snyder: "You stupid little troll!" - GO BUFFY!

• 

  I work for this group, you probably
  never heard of them ... the Powers That Be ...

• So Willow's knocked out in a hospital bed but she hardly has any wires attached.  Shouldn't she have a feeding tube?  I guess it's too soon for that?
• Whistler: The first hipster.  I knew a demon started that trend.  ----------------->
• Yay! Spike and Buffy join forces!
• I love Spike's speech about how he likes this world. It adds dimension and direction to the Buffy Universe.
• They realllly have nice hospital rooms in Sunnydale!  I guess people spend a lot of time there...
• It's about time Joyce found out although - 
• Worst. Line Reading. Ever. "Buffy, what is going on?" - I make fun of this line all the time.  Joyce just saw a supernatural happening. She saw a guy turn to dust and yet she asks this question like her daughter has just joined a rock band or something and she's just finding out.
• I don't know if I believe Buffy would just invite Spike inside her home. Can't he wait outside?
• Joyce's confusion is both hilarious and awful. The lame comparisons (read: obvious metaphor) to sexuality is the hilarious part.  "Have you tried not being the slayer?"  I...seriously?
• Oh Oz, he doesn't quite get it but he's still in it for Willow.
• Especially with Willow's resolve face!

This face means business.

• Mayor! Foreshadowing! Season 3!
• Aww, Jenny!
• Angel is the key? NO! Dawn is the SPOILER!
• Buffy! Littering!  What's with all the littering this season??
• "Kick his ass" - Fuck you, Xander. (Stated more eloquently by Zelda above.)
• Shenanigans!  Spike suffocates Dru which knocks her out...except Dru doesn't breathe so how would that work exactly?
• Sword fight!  Kick ass sword fight!
• Willow!  Magic!  It begins!
• So horrible and sweet but awesome TV: Buffy knows she has to do and it's heartbreaking for her and for us.
• I love when TV characters are shown leaving on long trips with one duffel bag.  

Crossfire!

Zelda & Daniel will never admit the tears. NEVER.

Favorite Lines:

Zelda: "It doesn't stop! Do you think I chose to be like this? Do you know how lonely it is? How dangerous? I would love to be upstairs watching TV or gossiping about boys or - GOD - even studying! But I have to save the world. Again." - Buffy

Daniel: "This is all making a kind of sense that's not." - Oz

Arc/Continuity Stuff:

• Detective Stein, who also appeared in Ted, is back for more detecting.
• Xander's in Trig.
• Snyder expels Buffy and she's still officially a fugitive from the law.
• Apparently it's good news for the Mayor if Buffy gets expelled.
• Dru uses her hypnosis to make Giles think she's Jenny.
• Willow channels the dark magics.
• Oh right, Angel's soul was restored, Buffy sent him to hell anyway, and then ran away from home.

Stats:

Oz's Hair - red 

Dead Humans - 0

Dead Undeads - 4

Dead Flashbacks - 0

Giles Unconscious - 0

Giles Cleans His Glasses - 0

Buffy Breaks a Door - 0

Evil Reveal - 0

Unevil Reveal - 0 

Shenanigans Called - 1

Apocalypse Called - 0 (we called it last episode)