Amends
3ABB10
"Take her. Take what you want. Pour all that frustration and all that guilt into her and you will be free." - Jenny Calendar
As Christmas draws near, Angel begins to relive in his dreams the numerous murders he has committed. One of his victims was a young man named Daniel, whom Angel killed in Dublin in 1818. Unable to stay in bed any longer, Angel ventures out onto the streets of Sunnydale and runs into Buffy, who's doing some last-minute Christmas shopping. Angel's attention is soon diverted from Buffy to a familiar face in the distance. Impossible as it may seem, Angel recognizes this person as Daniel, the same man he killed 180 years ago.
After Buffy tells her friends about her encounter with Angel the next day at school, Oz finally decides to give Willow a second chance at their relationship. Later that night, Buffy and Joyce shop for a Christmas tree. While looking around, Joyce suggests that Buffy invite Faith to their place on Christmas Eve. Buffy notices a small group of dead trees that the salesman can't explain. At the motel, Faith turns down Buffy's invitation, explaining that she already has plans to attend a party. Meanwhile, Angel shows up at Giles' doorstep in need of help. Giles invites him in, but not before he grabs a crossbow to protect himself with. Angel wants to find out how and why he returned to Earth, but he is soon distracted by the presence of Jenny Calendar in the apartment. She is invisible to Giles, which adds to his confusion when Angel suddenly runs out the door. Back at the mansion, Angel dreams about another moment in time when he took the life of a servant named Margaret. After drinking her blood, Angel looks up to see Buffy watching the whole event. Angel suddenly wakes up... as does Buffy.
Inside the mansion, Angel is haunted by Jenny, Daniel, Margaret, and visions of his many other victims. Buffy, meanwhile, tells Giles that she shared Angel's dream the previous night. They decide to do some research in hopes of discovering the reason for Angel's return to Earth. Xander and Willow show up shortly to aid in the research. After a while, both Buffy and Angel fall asleep and share another dream in which they make love in Buffy's bedroom. Their romantic moment is interrupted by the vision of a man with no eyes. Before Buffy can figure out what's going on, Angel bites into Buffy's neck, effectively waking both of them up from their slumbers. Angel listens to Jenny as she tries to convince him that losing his soul with Buffy again and killing her will bring him the peace he desires. Giles shows an illustration of three men with no eyes to Buffy, who recognizes the face from her most recent dream. Called the Bringers, or Harbingers, these high priests can summon The First. As Giles explains, The First is the name given to Absolute Evil. Since it is not a physical being, Buffy cannot fight it. Buffy and Xander visit Willy's bar, hoping to get some information on the whereabouts of the Bringers. All they learn is that the Bringers might be underground. Xander decides that they should go home and enjoy Christmas Eve before resuming their search.
With her parents out of town for the evening, Willow invites Oz over to her home to watch a few movies. When Oz arrives, he soon realizes that Willow has made a small change of plans. Willow tells him that she's ready to sleep with him, but Oz knows that she's only doing this as an extreme means of redemption. He turns down Willow's offer, preferring to spend the night in a simpler way, like kissing on the couch. Meanwhile, Faith shows up at the Summers' front porch. Explaining that she thought twice about the party, Faith gives a couple gifts to Buffy and Joyce. While Faith settles in, Buffy goes upstairs to her bedroom to fetch their presents. She is surprised to find Angel in her bedroom.
However, he's a little out of it at this point, staring longingly at her neck. Jenny stands behind Buffy, urging Angel to take the final plunge, both symbolically and literally. Angel can't go through with it, and he dives through Buffy's window. Back at the mansion, Angel tells Jenny that he will end his own life, using the deadly rays of the sun to do the deed.
After entrusting Faith with her mother's safety, Buffy goes to Giles' apartment in an attempt to find out where the Bringers are. One of Giles' books contains a passage that indicates the inability of life to grow above or below the Bringers. This leads Buffy back to the suspicious group of dead trees she noticed a while ago. Using an axe, Buffy breaks open a hole in the ground that she immediately enters. Underground, Buffy finds the Bringers and makes short work of them with the axe. However, Buffy isn't prepared to see the figure of Jenny Calendar standing before her. Buffy listens as the vision of Jenny speaks for The First, boasting its legendary might. Buffy has no time to entertain The First, which tells her that Angel will die by sunrise. Buffy runs back to the mansion to find Angel, but he is no longer there. She finally locates him at the top of a hill which overlooks Sunnydale. Buffy tries to get Angel indoors before sunrise, but Angel won't budge. He tells her that he can't go on living, knowing that his very existence presents a threat to the woman he loves so dearly. Buffy refuses to agree, expressing her love for Angel and the self-hatred that goes along with it. Their stand-off is unexpectedly interrupted by several flakes of snow falling from the sky. Soon enough, a steady snowfall envelops Sunnydale for the first time ever, preventing the sun's rays from reaching the ground below and ending Angel's life. Nobody can explain it, but that doesn't matter to Buffy and Angel. Some higher power, whomever or whatever it may be, has given Angel yet another lease on life... on Christmas, no less.
Episode Summary by: Alan Hufana
More Information
'Amends' is BtVS' first Christmas episode, (it originally aired in the US on December 15th 1998), so a degree of schmaltz can be forgiven. But even so, chocolate box scenes of snow in Sunnydale are likely to evoke nausea from British audiences for whom inclement weather is a matter of routine.
There's an intriguing idea lurking at the core of 'Amends': Joss's creation of The First, ancient, intangible creatures intent on destruction. Here The First is embodied by a series of 'Christmas Carol'-like spooks, including Jenny Calendar who appears to Buffy and gives her a stark warning:
"You think you can fight me? I'm not a demon, little girl. I am something that you can't even conceive. The First Evil. Beyond sin. Beyond death. I am the thing the darkness fears. You'll never see me, but I am everywhere. Every being, every thought, every drop of hate..." It's worth remembering that The First is not defeated here, merely banished by some greater power.
Buffy's rescue of Angel is brilliantly written, acted and directed, but, like the episode itself, it seems to be over all too quickly. The idea that the arrival of snow would somehow prevent the sun rising is somewhat odd, but - hey! - this is Sunnydale, right?
Hey, come on, us in Britain understand totally... cloudy sky, can't see sunlight... - Ed
Trivia
The episode had at least two other titles before Joss settled on 'Amends': 'Old Enemies, Dead Enemies' and 'A Buffy Christmas'.
The 'Mutant Enemy' logo sequence at the end of the credits is given a seasonal twist: the creature is wearing a Santa hat, and there are some jingle bells playing in the background. It's only the second time that it's been changed: the first was at the end of 'Becoming - Part II' where, instead of saying "Grrrr...arrrggh!" it said "Oooh, I need a hug!"
Jenny Calendar appears in the series for the second time since being killed by Angel (in 'Passion'). The last time she appeared was when Drusilla morphed into her form when trying to get information out of Giles (in 'Becoming - Part II').
Mark Kriski, who appears as the weather forecaster at the end of the episode, is a real-life weatherman, for KTLA in Los Angeles. He's also been in both 'Speed' movies.
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