*sob*  Did this episode make you cry?  It sure as hell made me.  Talk back about this episode and its ramifacations on the Board.

The episode picks up right where the last one leaves off.  Buffy kneels over the broken body of Kendra in the library, and cops show up, holding a gun on her.  Buffy sees Xander unconscious on the upper landing, but the police restrain her and drag her from the library before she can find out if he's okay.  In the hallway, Snyder confronts her, and says he knows she's behind all this.  The cop starts to put cuffs on her and reads her her rights, but she knocks him out and runs away.  At the hospital later, she shows up in a coat and a hat pulled low over her face.  Xander finds her, and she asks what happened.  He tells her that Willow's in a coma.  Buffy berates herself for letting Willow try the curse, and has Xander call Oz.  Just then Cordelia comes into the hospital, after having run away the night before.  This is when they all realize that Giles was taken.  Giles wakes up on the floor at the mansion, and finds out that Angel wants to know how to correctly perform the ritual to wake Acathla.  But he's okay with him not telling right away, because he really wants to torture him, first.  Meanwhile, the police are questioning Buffy's mom, and Buffy herself has gone to Giles's house, only to find Whistler there instead.  He tells her that he'd not seen her coming.  He'd figured that Angel would be the one to stop Acathla, not bring him forth.  But then they'd "made with the smoochies", and now Angel was a "creep" again.  He cryptically warns her that in order to stop Angel and Acathla, she'll have to sacrifice everything.  That it's not enough to have the sword (Kendra had brought the sword needed to kill Acathla in the last episode), she has to know how to use it.  Annoyed at always being the pawn of the powers that be, Buffy leaves.  Walking outside, she's stopped by a police cruiser.  The officer gets out and tells her to put her hands on top of her head, but he's rudely interrupted by Spike, who is up and walking around, and knocks the cop out.  (Man, I LOVE Spike!) Buffy immediately goes on the offensive and starts hitting Spike, but he just kind of throws her off of him without fighting back.  He says he wants to help her stop Angel.  Basically, he likes the world the way it is, he likes to feed on people, and he can't do any of that if everyone goes to hell.  He also wants Dru back.  Buffy gets pissed, saying that she lost a friend tonight, and with everything else at stake she can't stand to sit there and listen to how he wants to stop it because his girlfriend's a big ho.  They fight a little, but ultimately form an unlikely, untrusting alliance (this whole scene was awesome, I recommend that everyone watch it, if you haven't already!).   They head toward Buffy's house to talk about what they should do.  Meanwhile, at the hospital, Xander sits at Willow's bedside.  In a touching moment, he tells her she's his best friend, and that he loves her.  As he says this, Willow twitches and says "Oz?"  Just then Oz walks in saying "I'm here", and he takes her hand while Xander goes to get a doctor.  At the mansion, Angel is continuing his torture of Giles.  At Buffy's house, Joyce shows up just as Buffy and Spike do.  She's a bit hysterical, and questions Buffy as to what's going on, and who Spike is.  Suddenly a vamp jumps out and attacks Joyce, and Buffy and Spike team up to kill it.  Joyce asks Buffy what the hell is going on, and Buffy finally tells her that she's a vampire slayer.  (another good scene.Spike and Buffy make a hilarious team in this episode!)  Back at the hospital, Willow is feeling better.  She apologizes for not completing the curse, but Buffy says its okay; it just wasn't meant to be.  Out in the living room, Spike and Joyce are sharing an awkward silence, until Buffy gets off the phone.  They make a deal:  Spike helps Buffy kill Angel and keeps Giles alive until she gets there, and Buffy lets Spike and Dru walk.  On the promise that they'll never come back to the U.S. again.  Spike leaves, and Joyce and Buffy argue.  Joyce is having trouble dealing with Buffy's being a slayer.  After a heated argument, Buffy makes to leave.  Joyce says "If you leave, don't even think about coming back", and Buffy exits.  Back at the hospital, Willow is determined to try the spell again.  She sends Oz to get her supplies, and Xander ahead to tell Buffy what she's doing, although Xander is dead set against this course of action.  At the mansion, even Angel's getting a little bored with the torture, and wants Giles to tell him what he needs to know.  Angered at Giles's stalling, he's about to kill him when Spike wheels in in his wheelchair, and tells him that there are 'other ways' to get Giles to talk.  He calls Drusilla in.  Back at the school library, Buffy has come back for the bag containing the sword that Kendra brought.  Snyder shows up and confronts her.  She says that he knows she didn't do it, but he says it doesn't matter; she's expelled.  Buffy leaves with the sword, and Snyder gets on the phone saying "It's Snyder.  Tell the mayor I have good news".  At the mansion, Drusilla delves into Giles's psyche, and 'becomes' Jenny in his eyes.  Giles, overcome, almost starts crying in his happiness to see her.  Subtly questioning him, Drusilla as Jenny tricks Giles into telling her how to do the ritual correctly.  The blood on Angel's hands must be his own; he's the key.  She pulls back, and Giles realizes what he's done.  At Giles's, Buffy shows up to question Whistler on how to use the sword.  He tells her that Angel is the key.....his blood will free Acathla, and only his blood can close the vortex.  With one blow, she can send them both back to hell.  He recommends that she gets there before that happens, though, or else Angel's death will be on her hands.  She tells him she can deal with it, and that she's got nothing left to lose.  As she leaves, he says "Wrong, kid.  You've got one more thing." At sunrise, Xander meets up with Buffy.  In an act of betrayal, he doesn't tell her that Willow's trying to perform the curse again.  They head toward the mansion.  Inside, Angel is performing the ritual again, just as Willow is trying to perform the curse.  Buffy announces her arrival by lopping off the head of one of the vamps standing guard, and says to Angel "hello, Lover".  Angel tells her she's overmatched, and she can't take them all on alone.  Behind him, Spike rises from his wheelchair and starts beating the crap out of Angel with a crowbar.  Fighting ensues, and Xander jumps in and sneaks Giles out.  Drusilla attacks Spike on his sixth or seventh swing at Angel (who is lying on the ground at this point), while Buffy fights with the guard vamps.  Spike tells Drusilla to back off, as he doesn't want to hurt her.  When she persists, he hits her.  In the melee, Angel regains consciousness, and pulls the sword from Acathla's chest.  While Willow continues to perform the curse, Angel and Buffy start a sword fight.....during which Angel slashes Buffy's arm.  Suddenly Willow is possessed by some sort of spirit, and begins ranting in another language.  Spike has finally subdued Drusilla and starts to carry her out.  He looks in and sees Angel advancing upon Buffy, who is now weaponless, then leaves without a backwards glance.  Angel tries to kill Buffy, but she manages to recover, and gain her sword back.  We see Spike drive off in a car with the windows all painted black, holding Dru at his side.   The fight between Angel and Buffy reaches it's peak.....Buffy viciously cuts him, and he's down on his knees before her, her sword held high before the final swoop to kill him.  Suddenly Willow feels something rush through her.  The Thessalan Orb in front of her glows brightly, then vanishes.  Angel jerks as if he was hit by something, and his eyes glow briefly.  He sobs, tears in his eyes instantly as he looks up in confusion.  He sees Buffy and asks her what's going on.  Buffy slowly lowers her sword, realizing that Angel's been cursed again, and has his soul back.  Angel stands, bewildered, and they fall into each other's arms.  As they hold each other, and Angel's saying how he feels like he hasn't seen her in months, Buffy sees behind him the swirling vortex from the mouth of Acathla.  She draws back, horrified, then.......realizing what she's going to have to do, kisses Angel.  She tells him she loves him, and he says he loves her too.  She bids him close his eyes, she kisses him again, and then she plunges the sword through him.  In shock, Angel's eyes fly open and he reaches out to her involuntarily, whispering her name amidst the swirling sound of the vortex, taking him away.  Buffy watches at it swallows him up, sending both him and Acathla to hell.  Afterward, Buffy goes home to pick up some stuff, but is gone by the time Joyce wakes and goes to Buffy's room.  She finds a note on her daughter's bed saying goodbye, and cries.  At school, the gang meets up and wonders where Buffy is....what happened.  From across the street Buffy watches them and bids them a silent goodbye before she turns and boards a bus out of town. FLAWS:          One that I can think of.  Spike ultimately renders Dru unconscious by strangling her.  Now, in a human this would knock someone out because it blocks the flow of blood to the brain, depriving it of oxygen.  It shouldn't do a thing to a vampire, since they "have no breath", and their hearts don't beat, blood does not circulate.  Therefore Drusilla's brain shouldn't *need* oxygen.  THOUGHTS ON THE EPISODE:         Excellent.  In my opinion, this is the best episode EVER.  I was absolutely heartbroken that Buffy had to send Angel to hell, but it was an amazing culmination of everything that had happened for the past two seasons.  The acting by both Sarah Michelle Gellar and David Boreanaz was superb, and the direction was stupendous.  The unlikely alliance between Spike and Buffy made for a great byline, and all in all it was just amazing.  The only thing I hated about this episode was Xander's not telling Buffy what Willow sent him to say.  I realize that this betrayal was necessary for the episode, but I never really liked Xander again after this.   In fact, a LOT changed because of this episode. I consider this to be a turning point.  It was the last, great episode of the series.......and it all went downhill after this.  Season three wasn't bad, but it just couldn't live up to season 2 to me, and season four was awful.  At this writing we're halfway through season 6, and I still haven't seen the equal to Becoming pt.2.  If that makes you want to NOT go read those episode guides..... well, I can understand.   ;)   But it's the truth.  High marks for this one.  Good job, everyone.  BEST LINE:        More good ones:  Like Spike describing humans as "Happy meals with legs", and Spike talking to Buffy's mom:   Joyce:  "Have we met?" Spike:  "Uh...You hit me with an axe one time,"  (holds his hands up like he's holding an axe and mimes "Remember? Get the hell away from my daughter"  (from School Hard, this season) When Willow's trying to convince the gang to let her perform the ritual again, Oz stands up, confused.  He says:  "Okay obviously I missed out on some stuff, didn't I? Because this is all kinda making a sense that's.........not."

"Becoming Pt.2"

*sob*  Did this episode make you cry?  It sure as hell made me.  Talk back about this episode and its ramifacations on the Board.