"Amends" was episode 10 of season 3. ("Gingerbread" is episode 11 - or the last episode of the first half of the season.)

Damn. Really close, though.

Damn. Really close, though.

That was the season when the Columbine killings happened, so "Earshot" wasn't shown until the fall and "Graduation Day (Part 2)" was shown almost two months after part 1 (dates per Buffyworld.com). So in a way "Amends" was the midpoint, at least in terms of how things aired in the regular season.

So in a way "Amends" was the midpoint, at least in terms of how things aired in the regular season.

But more importantly, it marks Angel's transition as a character. Up to his transformation back to Angelus, making amends for his past was, well, not really an issue. He wasn't a bad guy, by any means, but he wasn't really a hero, either. Mostly he just lurked around and fed Buffy information, occasionally backed her up in a fight.

He was one of the good guys, certainly, but he was still defining himself by his relationship to Buffy,and when he died and came back, he didn't even have that to work from. Frankly, the two of them had doomed stamped across their forehead the entire season.

With "Amends," we get a sense that there's some higher purpose for Angel--the First wants him evil or dead echoes of the Shanshu Prophecy and Wolfram & Hart's desire to have him on their side in the Apocalypse.

There was a little destiny tied up with Acathala, certainly, but really Angel had always been second-fiddle in the higher-calling orchestra. But with Amends, we have the embodiement of evil acting directly against him, and some force or another manipulating the very weather to save him. And we never really learn who, do we? Who made the snow, and who returned Angel from Hell? The First claims the former, but is suspect--although we DO see the foreshadowing there of Angel's role in the Apocalypse. But the snow? No. Jasmine perhaps, as part of her long-term plan to return? Wolfram & Hart, protecting a future investment? God? It's a mystery.

Angel's totally at loose ends in BtVS Season Three, and can no longer define himself by his relationship, even when they're back together. It's too problematic, it's too painful. He really only sticks around because of the danger of the Mayor.

Of course, when he leaves, he's still a wreck, brooding in the dark, saving people but looking a little too long at the necks of the people he saves. It's not

That was the season when the Columbine killings happened, so "Earshot" wasn't shown until the fall

Many Canadians saw the ep in the regular slot. Our slot just happened to be Monday, so we got the ep before the censorship hit the fan. This spawned many tape trees.

Of course, when he leaves, he's still a wreck, brooding in the dark, saving people but looking a little too long at the necks of the people he saves. It's not

Was there more after "It's not," or was that just leftover from a previous thought? Reading this analysis makes me sad that I wasn't watching the show back then. I had to catch up in a rush, and that didn't leave much time for, well, thought.

(continued from the Buffy thread conversation)

Yep, the death scene between Wes and Fredllyria still gets me.

So does "What, you stop by for coffee and the world's not ending?"

Angel heartthrob David Boreanaz has joined the cast of Fox's drama pilot Bones.

Stuart Townshend and Gabrielle Union in Kolchak Nightstalker?

Yes.

Did we not discuss this somewhere before? Or am I confusing conversations. . .