I just finished watching this episode about 5 minutes ago as of starting to type this, so it's pretty fresh in my mind. I also read the shooting script so I knew where it came from, and it doesn't appear that they changed much of anything -- I didn't notice any significant changes, though I wasn't reading the script alongside the episode, which is how you really get to notice those things.
So, I'm sitting here, trying to get my head around the episode... well, that's not the way to say it, since it's not like there's something that I don't understand, outside of the amount of acclaim that the episode gets.
Let me put this thought out there, and see how everything else builds from here: I don't think that any of the ideas they used in the episode were bad, but I don't think that they all work together.
I've heard a certain fan of Faith on these boards
I would call you reductive, as I have more nuance than that, but... yeah, that is a pretty obvious and defining aspect of me. I seriously cannot talk about the show without things at least reminding me of Faith, so guilty as charged.
And one more thing before I really get going: I'm not trying to change anyone's mind about this episode. I don't want to, really. You have your own opinions about it, and I want you to continue to have your opinions. I'm just trying to explain my own.
It marks a massive character moment for Angel, one that serves as the message and inspiration for his entire spinoff. The speech Buffy gives to him is one of the best moments they have that season.
I'm not going to disagree that much over these points -- this is what starts Angel down his path for
Angel (that sentence might be confusing save for the italics), and the speech Buffy gives him is a really good moment between them.
Some of the issues I've heard that people have with it is that it completes Angel's arc on BTVS and as a result there's no need to have him there any further. While it is true that's Angel's biggest character arc, he's still in a relationship with Buffy by that point (or close enough to make no matter) and the entire season has been teasing about whether they will or won't get back together. This episode finishes the Angelus arc pretty definitively, but it hasn't wrapped up Angel and Buffy (that happens, mostly, in "The Prom").
(I don't like The Prom either -- let's not get me started on that. Another episode ruined by the ending.)
I'm the one who said that Angel's arc in Buffy is over at this point. I don't see why it lasts that much longer after this episode, other than contractual obligation. The only times he does anything interesting from here on out is related to Faith, not Buffy, which I think says a lot about the evolution of the characters.
Sorry, staying on target... the continuation of Buffy and Angel's relationship beyond this point exists for... again, probably to give Angel something to do, counting down weeks until his own show starts. (Sorry if I sound like such a cynical, jaded bastard -- I kind of am.) This especially bugs me given the nature of the ending of the episode, which I'll talk about more in a bit...
Plus, there are other terrific aspects of the episode. I thought it was one of the strongest Buffy/Faith episodes of the season, there's a terrific character moment for Xander where he offers to help Angel in any way he can (pretty much putting to rest the tension between him and Buffy over it), the first Angel/Giles interaction in ages is one of Giles' best moments of the series (or at least I think so), and I liked the visions Angel goes through a lot, where we really get to learn more about him. And the dreams Buffy and Angel have together are, aside from working well character wise, pretty hot
(Token mention of how I never would've guessed the last part you said)
Even though I like Buffy and Faith's interactions in this episode, there's really so little of it. I mean, it's not all that much more than their interactions in Homecoming, which I find a lot more interesting than this (I know, I'm really weird). I'll give you the point about Xander -- he's definitely maturing by that point, and it just makes me think of his line in Revelations (I think) about "Angel's our friend -- except I don't like him". Between that and the interactions between Giles and Angel, you see how much Giles and Xander really care about Buffy, I think -- they're willing to help him for her, not so much about for Angel's sake (oh god, did I just open a can of worms? I might have...)
The visions worked well, and I'll talk more about those in a bit.
The only area I would have liked differently is if The First's plan for Angel was outlined a bit more clearly. I thought it was pretty hazy.
(That was a very short bit.)
Okay, completely going to disagree with you. I thought it was pretty straightforward. Use these dreams and visions to drive Angel to embrace Angelus, at which point he'll kill Buffy, and now we're back to one Slayer. I thought it was pretty clear that, even if I elaborated a bit, pretty much all of that was there.
Okay, on to [MENTION=12236]itssmiletime[/MENTION]
Whenever I hear about peoples problems with Amends its usually pace, and its a bit too sentimental and cheesy.
I will definitely agree about the sentimentality and cheese factor -- it's a little much. Probably has something to do with it being set on Christmas and being so... Christmassy. I mean, it's a thing. I'm trying to wrap my head around how to say this in a better way, but at least I'm getting some conversation going on the topic.
It's quite interesting that the episode is between The Wish and Gingerbread, two episodes that are quite dark, whereas this episode is quite romantic and slow
I find this statement quite odd. Not sure if it's because Amends gets quite dark even if it does have a good amount of cheesy sentiment (it goes all over the place in tone), and Gingerbread... just doesn't work at all, so even if it's supposed to be dark, it just doesn't work.
A tiny problem I have, as well with The First, is that it kind of ruined Ms Calendar.
How does it ruin her? I don't really understand that line of thinking.
Okay, now let me talk about my problem with the ending: the Deus ex Machina nature of the ending. That is not a bad thing in and of itself, but that kind of ending needs to work for theme. I don't feel like it works when taken in the context of the rest of the season. Angel is saved by The Powers That Be (I assume) so that he can be on their side in the future, for his role in the apocalypse, at which point he... sticks around in Sunnydale with Buffy, trying to keep their failing relationship going, even though he knows and Buffy has told him that he can do a lot more, that he has the power to hurt the First Evil. He doesn't even contribute that greatly to the fight against the Mayor, so it's not like he needed to be there for that, which I think could've easily been done by the writers, justifying his presence. Had they ended the episode differently, say by an actual action or decision by Buffy or Angel, they wouldn't have needed those thematic elements to work out and could've left the rest of the season as it currently is. So, really, I don't think the elements that they put in were bad ideas, I just think that they didn't necessarily all work together.
Does that answer any of your questions? If not, point out what doesn't make sense, and I'll try to make it make more sense.
