Nobody died when Xander lied...wait, scratch that...
Oh, Becoming....
Joss, you toy with my emotions! Why? Why must you make me cry? WHY, Joss??
I could gush about the episode. I love it. The Buffy/Spike alliance. Willow's spell. Buffy, Buffy, all of Buffy! The big fight at the end. Sarah McLachlan (I blame you as well, Sarah, for making me cry. You and your song of angst!!).
But I'm actually not very good at gushing because I quickly run out of synonyms for "awesome", and I usually resort to just using lots of exclamation marks.
I'm much more comfortable doing critical analysis of stuff. And not "critical" as in "bad", but just...you know...critical. Analytical.
So here.
You know, Xander's lie in Becoming (You know, that one) never bothered me before. But as time's gone by, I've grown more and more irritated by it. I think it is a douchebag move by Xander because it shows him making the decision that he's right in the whole "Should we kill Angel?" debate. He's attempting, in a subtle, under-handed way, to make the decision for Buffy. And, yeah, that's a douchebag move.
But let's put Xander's motivations to the side. Obviously, Xander is far from an impartial arbitrator there. Let's assume he is, though.
Does it make tactical sense to keep this information from Buffy?
The final fight consists of several factors:
1. The world is at stake
2. Angel/us needs to be killed to save the world if he is able to open the portal.
3. Willow is attempting to do the curse
3a. If Willow is successful in doing the curse before the portal is open, Angel does not need to die.
3b. If she's too late, he does.
This is not the first fight Buffy's had with Angelus. Indeed, in the first part of the episode, she goes to fight Angelus at the end. In this fight, she had explicitly told Willow to do the curse.
Buffy: Willow...I think you should try to do the curse. Bring Angel back.
Kendra: I tend to side with your friend Xander on this one. Angel should be eliminated.
Buffy: I'll fight him. If I have to, I'll kill him. But if I lose, or I don't find him in time...Willow might be our only hope.
Buffy then goes to fight Angelus (who is a diversion, alas). In this fight, she has a pretty clear plan: She'll kill Angelus unless Willow can do the curse. The curse is a back-up plan in case Buffy can't kill him, for whatever reason.
And you know what? She doesn't hesitate or act in an overly-emotional way. She doesn't fall apart. She does her fucking job.
The fight at the end of Part 2 is much the same except for the immediacy of the End of the World threat. It's obvious to anyone that the battle in Part 2 is The Big One. Buffy knows that the fate of the world rests on that fight. However, that difference doesn't change the ultimate goal: keep the world from being destroyed by stopping Angelus. The first option is, again, to kill him. In Part 2, Buffy doesn't think she has a back-up plan.
Would knowing that Willow's trying the curse render her incapable in any way? Really?
Cause...this is the girl who, last season, willingly went to her death to save the world. This is the girl who just walked out on her mother to fucking save the world. When it comes to world-saveage, Buffy's pretty damn reliable.
This is the girl who, for most of the later part of the season, has been prepared to kill Angel.
From Innocence:
Buffy: He's just making it easier. I know what I have to do.
Giles: What?
Buffy: Kill him.
Something she couldn't do in that episode. However, as she says, "Give me time". She knows, even that early on, that she's going to have to kill him.
From Passion:
Buffy: ...but I think I'm finally ready...because I know now that there's nothing that's ever going to change him back to the Angel I fell in love with.
And finally, Jenny's death strengthens her resolve. To kill Angel.
She's been steeling herself for this fight for months. She's previously fought him with the intent to kill him, while Willow's made an attempt at the curse.
How is the end of Part 2 any different? What possibly tactical advantage does it give for Buffy to not have all the information? What, she wouldn't be able to handle it? She'd fall apart if she knew that Angel might come back? The whole point of her character progression from Surprise/Innocence to the end of S2 is that she's emotionally resilient and strong. She'll bounce back. She can handle it.
Cause she's the motherfucking Slayer.
I'll admit, I find it rather patronizing to hear that Buffy wouldn't be capable of fighting as well while knowing that Willow was doing the curse. What's the basis for this? Is it cause Buffy's a girl, and girls naturally can't handle stuff like that? Is it because Buffy angsts sometimes? Has Buffy failed to avert an apocalypse at any point because of her pesky emotional attachments?
Fact is, Willow doing the curse is essential information that Buffy needs to know going in.
No, Buffy doesn't have to know everything about the battle. Just for shit and grins, say Giles is a hemophiliac. Buffy doesn't need to know that. Because his inability to clot blood, while it may lead to his death if she can't get to him, does not affect the End of the World scenario.
Willow attempting the curse on Angel/us does. Because the End of the World is all about Angel. Buffy, as the Slayer, needs to be aware of anything that may affect Angel/us and Acathla.
As it plays out, look at the lapse between Angel getting his soul back during the fight and Buffy actually killing him. It literally throws her. She hesitates. She takes a damn long time to actually kill him. And that's dangerous.
It takes that long because she wasn't prepared. She didn't know that getting her Angel back was a possibility in that fight. And, fortunately, Buffy gets her head together to kill him when needed (Huh? What? Buffy gets her head together? Ridiculous!). But, tactically, it would have been better if she had known that that eventuality might have happened.
Because preparation = less time to get her head together = quicker killing = possible difference between End of the World and Yay! World!
No, Xander wasn't making a tactical decision. He wasn't even making a tactically sound decision. He was making an emotionally-based decision because he thought Angel should be killed. And that emotion overruled his common sense in giving Buffy some essential knowledge for the fight.
Bad Xander! No cookie!
Joss, you toy with my emotions! Why? Why must you make me cry? WHY, Joss??
I could gush about the episode. I love it. The Buffy/Spike alliance. Willow's spell. Buffy, Buffy, all of Buffy! The big fight at the end. Sarah McLachlan (I blame you as well, Sarah, for making me cry. You and your song of angst!!).
But I'm actually not very good at gushing because I quickly run out of synonyms for "awesome", and I usually resort to just using lots of exclamation marks.
I'm much more comfortable doing critical analysis of stuff. And not "critical" as in "bad", but just...you know...critical. Analytical.
So here.
You know, Xander's lie in Becoming (You know, that one) never bothered me before. But as time's gone by, I've grown more and more irritated by it. I think it is a douchebag move by Xander because it shows him making the decision that he's right in the whole "Should we kill Angel?" debate. He's attempting, in a subtle, under-handed way, to make the decision for Buffy. And, yeah, that's a douchebag move.
But let's put Xander's motivations to the side. Obviously, Xander is far from an impartial arbitrator there. Let's assume he is, though.
Does it make tactical sense to keep this information from Buffy?
The final fight consists of several factors:
1. The world is at stake
2. Angel/us needs to be killed to save the world if he is able to open the portal.
3. Willow is attempting to do the curse
3a. If Willow is successful in doing the curse before the portal is open, Angel does not need to die.
3b. If she's too late, he does.
This is not the first fight Buffy's had with Angelus. Indeed, in the first part of the episode, she goes to fight Angelus at the end. In this fight, she had explicitly told Willow to do the curse.
Buffy: Willow...I think you should try to do the curse. Bring Angel back.
Kendra: I tend to side with your friend Xander on this one. Angel should be eliminated.
Buffy: I'll fight him. If I have to, I'll kill him. But if I lose, or I don't find him in time...Willow might be our only hope.
Buffy then goes to fight Angelus (who is a diversion, alas). In this fight, she has a pretty clear plan: She'll kill Angelus unless Willow can do the curse. The curse is a back-up plan in case Buffy can't kill him, for whatever reason.
And you know what? She doesn't hesitate or act in an overly-emotional way. She doesn't fall apart. She does her fucking job.
The fight at the end of Part 2 is much the same except for the immediacy of the End of the World threat. It's obvious to anyone that the battle in Part 2 is The Big One. Buffy knows that the fate of the world rests on that fight. However, that difference doesn't change the ultimate goal: keep the world from being destroyed by stopping Angelus. The first option is, again, to kill him. In Part 2, Buffy doesn't think she has a back-up plan.
Would knowing that Willow's trying the curse render her incapable in any way? Really?
Cause...this is the girl who, last season, willingly went to her death to save the world. This is the girl who just walked out on her mother to fucking save the world. When it comes to world-saveage, Buffy's pretty damn reliable.
This is the girl who, for most of the later part of the season, has been prepared to kill Angel.
From Innocence:
Buffy: He's just making it easier. I know what I have to do.
Giles: What?
Buffy: Kill him.
Something she couldn't do in that episode. However, as she says, "Give me time". She knows, even that early on, that she's going to have to kill him.
From Passion:
Buffy: ...but I think I'm finally ready...because I know now that there's nothing that's ever going to change him back to the Angel I fell in love with.
And finally, Jenny's death strengthens her resolve. To kill Angel.
She's been steeling herself for this fight for months. She's previously fought him with the intent to kill him, while Willow's made an attempt at the curse.
How is the end of Part 2 any different? What possibly tactical advantage does it give for Buffy to not have all the information? What, she wouldn't be able to handle it? She'd fall apart if she knew that Angel might come back? The whole point of her character progression from Surprise/Innocence to the end of S2 is that she's emotionally resilient and strong. She'll bounce back. She can handle it.
Cause she's the motherfucking Slayer.
I'll admit, I find it rather patronizing to hear that Buffy wouldn't be capable of fighting as well while knowing that Willow was doing the curse. What's the basis for this? Is it cause Buffy's a girl, and girls naturally can't handle stuff like that? Is it because Buffy angsts sometimes? Has Buffy failed to avert an apocalypse at any point because of her pesky emotional attachments?
Fact is, Willow doing the curse is essential information that Buffy needs to know going in.
No, Buffy doesn't have to know everything about the battle. Just for shit and grins, say Giles is a hemophiliac. Buffy doesn't need to know that. Because his inability to clot blood, while it may lead to his death if she can't get to him, does not affect the End of the World scenario.
Willow attempting the curse on Angel/us does. Because the End of the World is all about Angel. Buffy, as the Slayer, needs to be aware of anything that may affect Angel/us and Acathla.
As it plays out, look at the lapse between Angel getting his soul back during the fight and Buffy actually killing him. It literally throws her. She hesitates. She takes a damn long time to actually kill him. And that's dangerous.
It takes that long because she wasn't prepared. She didn't know that getting her Angel back was a possibility in that fight. And, fortunately, Buffy gets her head together to kill him when needed (Huh? What? Buffy gets her head together? Ridiculous!). But, tactically, it would have been better if she had known that that eventuality might have happened.
Because preparation = less time to get her head together = quicker killing = possible difference between End of the World and Yay! World!
No, Xander wasn't making a tactical decision. He wasn't even making a tactically sound decision. He was making an emotionally-based decision because he thought Angel should be killed. And that emotion overruled his common sense in giving Buffy some essential knowledge for the fight.
Bad Xander! No cookie!