Anne

This episode wasn't as hokey as I remembered. I liked the interplay between first-day-of-school drama and saving-the-world drama, as both felt very real. Seeing Joyce's and Giles' pain, as well as her blaming him for Buffy's disappearance, was also really well-done.

W/r/t the main storyline - I remembered the character of Lily as really annoying and in reality she was only, well, kind of annoying. I had completely forgotten the fact that she pushes their demon tormentor off a ledge in order to save everybody - sort of her redemption. Nice! Perhaps it's knowing that she later turns up in "Angel" as an even more-evolved character that made this more palatable for me.

I think they earned Buffy's return to Sunnydale. We'll see how well they earn her re-incorporation into Sunnydale life.

Becoming

The DVR kept ending up at >90% full. You can understand how Buffy had to take a back seat to getting that ridiculousness under control.

But today, as the kid went down for a nap, I thought to myself, this is the perfect opportunity! Two to three uninterrupted hours means it's an excellent time to watch the final two episodes of season 2! Sadly, the kid had other plans, but I struggled through it, though with frequent pauses to go downstairs and remind him that if he kept getting out of bed he would NOT be watching the new Thomas DVD he brought home from the library. (Side note: Calvin found this DVD himself and insisted on checking it out; this is the first Thomas show we've actually been exposed to. IT. IS. TERRIBLE. How do parents not shoot themselves after watching this stuff???)

ANYWAY. The first part of this two-parter is, frankly, weaker than I remembered. I found all the Angel flashback stuff kind of trite and was bothered by the constant game of name-the-accent. I'm bugged by the fact that Whistler's presence is never really explained... but I do like the fact that Richard Riehle, as Merrick (Buffy's first watcher) is pretty much the exact opposite of Donald Sutherland in every way. Yeah, Joss Whedon! Stick it to Sutherland!

And Kendra's death remains chilling, and sad, and the perfect set-up for the much stronger, truly heartbreaking second episode. Joss Whedon once said that he figured out early on that if he really wanted fans to be invested, he should just put Willow in danger... but I found the torture of Giles almost too hard to watch. The introduction of Spike as a potential ally for Buffy; Whistler's assertion that, in the end, you're always alone; and, of course, Willow giving herself over to the magic all set up themes that would be returned to over and over throughout the series.

Also, Buffy's coming-out scene remains one of my favorite things ever in television. "Are you sure you're the slayer? Have you tried NOT being the slayer?"

So, all in all: good stuff. I'm done with season 2. And the DVR is inching back up towards the 90% mark.