A Buffy Christmas
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(http://www.flash.net/~jhenders)
Overview
The victims of Angel's vampiric past return to haunt him-will Angel kill
Buffy to relieve his pain? Or will he destroy himself?
Credits:
Buffy: Sarah Michelle Gellar
Cordelia: Charisma Carpenter
Angel: David Boreanaz
Willow: Alyson Hannigan
Xander: Nicholas Brendan
Oz: Seth Green
Giles: Anthony Stewart Head
Synopsis
Dublin, 1838
Angel corners "Daniel," apparently a friend of his who cheated him at
cards, and kills him. Angel awakens from this nightmare in present-day
Sunnydale to go out into the hot December streets, where a heat wave is
promising a toasty Yule. He meets a shopping Buffy, and while they talk,
Angel sees the figure of Daniel over Buffy's shoulder.
At Sunnydale High, Buffy, Xander and Willow wonder if Angel is losing it.
They exchange Christmas plans-Buffy will be with Mom, Jewish Willow will be
wishing she were with ex-boyfriend Oz, and Xander will be camping out on
his front lawn. Cordelia makes an appearance to reveal Xander does that to
escape a houseful of raving alcoholics, and announces she's off to Aspen to
enjoy actual snow. Willow and Xander are still reeling in self-pity and
guilt over their mutual wrong against Oz and Cordy, when Oz appears.
Oz and Willow speak alone and Oz goes out on a limb: he wisely isn't sure
that whatever's between Willow and Xander will ever be over. But he misses
Willow, and he's willing to give their relationship another shot. Willow
asks, really rather sweetly, "Do you want us to… hug now?"
Buffy and Mom go tree shopping and buy an ugly little one that makes the
rest of the gang mad. No, no. They talk about inviting Slayer #2 Faith over
for Christmas. (Faith lives in a hotel.) But not Giles, Mom says. Buffy
finds a section of the tree farm where all the trees have died. Below the
dead earth, druidic types moan, and at the mansion Angel reawakens from
another nightmare.
Buffy comes to Faith's charming flea trap and invites her to Christmas, but
of course Faith has too much pride to say yes and feigns plans.
Giles is visited by Angel, the recently revived demon beast who killed his
girlfriend. Angel needs help. Giles holds a crossbow on Angel while Angel
complains of nightmares. He wants to know why he's back on earth and not
still suffering in the demon dimension. Giles suggests maybe peace of mind
and complacency do not befit Angel, and when Angel sees the ghost of Jenny
Calendar (Giles' lover), he runs.
Another dream. This time in 18th century England, Angel cuts off a
vampire's head and receives the Quickening. No, no. Angel, with hair and a
moustache that make him look like the Comte de Saint-Germaine, assaults and
kills a poor servant at a Christmas party. Oh, and he's gonna kill her
little son, too. Buffy's apparition appears and Angel awakens.
Next the ghost of Jenny Calendar comes to Angel. She taunts him with her
murder. "I am sorry for what I've done… what else can I say to you?"
Buffy's worried because she walked into Angel's dream, and Giles agrees to
help figure out why Angel has returned. Xander joins in the search for a
solution, and soon Willow does, too.
Angel's being tortured with tales of his own torturing-Angel was a true
sadist even before becoming a monster. The demon represented by Jenny
Calendar suggests that she has no intention of hurting him, but cruelty is
Angel's only talent: it's his destiny.
At the library, while Giles toils, Buffy and Angel share a sexy interlude
dream that ends in Angel biting Buffy. Jenny Calendar taunts him again-all
he need do is take Buffy, and his true self will be unleashed. "This is why
we brought you back," the demon Jenny says. "Take her, and then you'll be
ready to kill her."
Giles, meanwhile, has dug up a reference to "The First Power," a demonic
entity serviced by the Bringers, cult of original evil, who are good at
conjuring dreams and apparitions. Buffy and Xander go to their bartender
informant, who says the Bringers are underground somewhere, and their
presence has scared off a lot of minor underworlders.
Oz brings videos to Willow's place and is beset by Willow in a red cocktail
dress and Barry White on the stereo. Oz is touched by the suggestion that
Willow wants to regain his trust at the not-inconsiderable expense of her
virginity. ("And you got the… Barry working for you.") But Oz earns his
place in smarmy fanfic by declining until the time is truly right. (Let's
hear it: sigh.)
At the Summers home, Faith shows up for Christmas! And so does Angel, in
Buffy's room, acting hopped up and frightening. Angel runs and Buffy leaves
Faith to run to Giles. "He's slipping," she says. "If he truly becomes a
danger," Giles concludes, "you may have to kill him… again."
Jenny pressures Angel to kill Buffy. He was born for it, she says. Angel
vows to kill himself and walks out to await the sun.
Buffy works out that the dead spot at the tree farm marks the hiding place
of the Bringers and goes there, to face the First Power itself. The First
Power insists that it is truly, deeply evil in an unbelievably primordial
evil way. Really, really evil. But the power tells Buffy Angel's going to
die at dawn, and Buffy runs.
She finds Angel waiting for sunrise (at the same hill people keep
threatening to throw themselves off of on 90210, I think.) Buffy pleads
with Angel, but Angel says he's weak and unable to fight the evil in his
soul. Buffy says he has the power "to do real good, to make amends… but if
you die now then all you ever were was a monster." Let me be strong, he
says. Strong is fighting, Buffy counters.
And then, a miracle. It snows, preventing the sunshine for at least a day.
Buffy and Angel walk the streets, early on a white Christmas, as each
member of the cast encounters the falling snow.
Notes
This was a splendid Christmas piece that fit the Buffy universe
perfectly-after all, this is a universe where it fits that God himself
might give Angel a "reprieve" by sending a cold front. The miracle allows
Angel to walk in daytime, in fact, while California gets a white Christmas.
The whole snow scene at the end is a treasure granted after a series of
selfless acts. Xander and Giles reach beyond their hatred to help Angel, Oz
shows compassion not once, but twice, and Willow prepares to make her own
sacrifice. Buffy reaches out to Faith, Faith reaches out for
companionship, and Angel decides he would rather die than be corrupted.
The agony of Angel is an interesting character study. We learn here that
Angel possessed a knack for sadism born of himself, not his vampirism, and
it's that darkness that the First Power wants to unleash. There's also a
hint that Angel is a counterpart to Buffy, put on this earth to destroy
her. Buffy may be right that destroying himself is a cheap way out, but
Angel has to wonder if the goodness and guilt that he feels is in fact
going to last. It's nice that rather than wrapping the story up, the end
merely puts the solution off until Christmas is over, like one of those
tales of battlefield truces during the First World War.
A few minor points:
*Angel goes to visit Giles to ask for help. I'm trying to imagine Angel
calling first. "I thought maybe I could come over…" It's stunning that
Giles agrees to help, later, and only shows what a deeply good man Rupert
Giles is.
*Buffy suggests to Willow that one of Oz's problems with Willow and Xander
is that "Xander has a piece of you that Oz just can't touch." Tough issue,
because it's true. Like Angel jumping to the notion of killing himself,
Willow tries to make up for the gulf between Oz and Xander by sacrificing
her virginity. Oz, like Buffy, recognizes the essential good intentions of
the sacrifice, but knows that there are better ways of dealing with the
problem. More moves like this, and Oz will end up taking whatever firmly
entrenched part of Willow's heart Xander has.
*As a Texan, I loved the throughline involving the hot Christmas. Buffy's
mom lights a fire and turns on an air conditioner-we Americans feel, at
heart, that Christmas should be as cold as the Potomac.
*I wonder if the First Power decides it's okay to allow Angel to kill
himself because he'll be re-incarnated…
*Faith just pours on the toughness, doesn't she? I like the touch of the
string of lights she hangs in her flea-bitten motel room, defiantly
summoning the Christmas spirit. We know she's going to accept Buffy's
invitation in the end, but true to form she declines at first. Lonely girl.
Incidentally, Xander, who we last see isolated and camped out on his front
lawn with a snow-driven pizza, is available.
*Any theories on why Mom doesn't want to invite Mr. Giles over for
Christmas?
Memorable Quotes
On bad people:
"For they are the harbingers of death and nothing shall grow above or below
them… (sighs) they're rebels and they'll never ever be any good."
- - Giles, reading yet another droning text on evil
On getting back together:
"It's good. Its perfect, in an awkward, uncomfortable sort of way."
- - Willow, wondering how to ease back into her relationship wit Oz
On pettiness:
"It must be that whole Angel killed his girlfriend and tortured him thing.
Yeah, Giles is pretty petty when it comes to stuff like that."
- - Xander, pointing out that Giles' hatred of Angel is not merely
"twitchy," as Buffy callously labels it.
On equal time:
"Hello, still Jewish. Hanukah Spirit, I believe that was?"
- - Willow, showing some Holiday Chutzpah
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