Guest Starring: 
     
 Kristine Sutherland: 
 (Joyce Summers) 
   
 James Masters: 
 (Spike) 
   
 Juliet Landau: 
 (Dusilla) 
   
 Max Perlich: 
 (Whistler) 
   
 Seth Green: 
 (Oz) 
   
 Bianca Lawson: 
 (Kendra) 
   
 Armin Shimerman: 
 (Principal Snyder) 
   
 Robia LaMorte: 
 (Jenny Calendar) 
   
 James G MacDonald: 
 (Detective Stein) 
   
 
 
  22. Becoming, Part 2.  
   
  Buffy must deal with expulsion, the loss of her mother's trust and friend's lives in order to take on the hardest fight of her life, a battle to the death with Angel.  
   
  Great quotes:  
   
 
Angel is sucked into hell.
  • Giles: "Pillock!"
  • Buffy: "I would love to be upstairs watching TV or gossiping about boys... but I have to save the world; again!"
  • Angel: "And that's everything, no weapons, no friends, no hope, what's left?", Buffy: "Me."
  
  Fantastic moments:  
   
 
The breathtaking finale.
  • Willow's 'resolve face' is wondeful.
  • Almost everything Buffy does (by this I mean Gellar's acting) is a statement of her independence and strength as a character. Come to think of it, she's pretty good role model for young girls.
  • The argument between Buffy and Joyce is very powerful, Buffy shows her true colours through, despite all the moaning any disobedience of Giles she proves herself a true hero.
  • Angel disappears into hell, a look of despair appears on Buffy's face, a 10 second pause, the song ('Full of Grace') kicks in, and Buffy has nothing left. I can't think of a superlative big enough to laud this ending.
  
  Duff Bits:  
   
 
  • Only in America would a police officer shoot at kids in a school.
  • Whistler's story doesn't make an awful lot of sense; he brought Angel to Sunnydale, without that act there would be no Acathla! Surely Whistler is at fault?
  • Angel doesn't have to die; only his blood is needed, why not just cut him? Come to think of it, why is it Angel's blood that wakes Acathla in the first place?
  
  Dean's comments:  
   
 
Buffy is the lone heroine.
What a finish to a fantastic build up over the previous half a season! The truth about 'Buffy' is that the series is always at its best when Buffy herself is in trouble, not the physical kind, as we know she can deal with that, but the emotional kind. It is the depth of the Buffy's character that shines through the writing and acting. In this episode Buffy looses everything, friends, mother, home, school and lover, yet still has the strength to put herself through to the end. It's all about duty and destiny, Buffy as a character has a lot of positive 'role-model' qualities in the way that she sacrifices her own personal agenda to save others. But she is still human, and we see that in the tear jerking ending in which she feels she has nothing left to live for. In one sense this refers to the finale of 'Lie to Me' where Giles comments on the heroes always winning through. Buffy is the hero, but she isn't getting any credit. The finale to season 2 deserves its plaudits because of the way that high action and drama are brought together with emotional content.
Willow goes all 'Romanian gypsy'.
The sci-fi fantasy setting allows for a deeper exploration of the things that make us human by presenting us with demonic manifestations of the struggles that people have to face in life. 'Becoming' is an episode that does this by the spade-full. By the way, did everyone spot how it's the female characters (Willow and Buffy) that save the day while the male characters (Giles and Xander) are rescued? Traditional gender role reversed, classic BtVS.		 
   
 10/10 
 
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