Act Three

29VVV) "I guess I should do my apartment tonight." CONTINUITY CHECK: "We've never actually seen Angel in Giles's apartment before, so he must have been invited in in some 'missing adventure'."--KdS, Fri, 04/25/03 at 12:29:13

29WWW) There is an awkward moment of silence. PREGNANT PAUSE: This is a wonderful little moment. Giles and Willow spend so much time together, but usually it is either in the library, researching, or out fighting with the rest of the Gang. They are rarely if ever alone together in a non-school environment, so they both feel a little awkward, standing there in Buffy's house, more so because of what is going on between Buffy and Joyce upstairs.

29XXX) "How about anything?" MOTHER/DAUGHTER BONDING: This is the most vocal plea we have heard Joyce made to Buffy up to this point to let her in a bit on her life. Buffy, especially since shouldering the burden of her slayage secret, has all but completely shut herself off to Joyce, not divulging anything of her personal life. Why, even her romantic life was entangled with the supernatural things she couldn't tell her mother! This scene though will lead to greater honesty between the two of them. Unfortunately, major revelations in Becoming II will leave their relationship in a very bad place, but it will be stronger in the long run. See 34XX.

29YYY) He looks up and sees a red rose on the door and can hear the music of the opera "La Boheme", by Puccini, coming from inside. THE COLOR RED: See 25DD and 25EE.

A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC: "One of the things I most love about BtVS is the skillful, often artful, way music is used not only to complement, but to add depth to various scenes. And indeed, if you pay attention, it often cuts like a knife. Of course, we can usually understand the words of the songs that play behind the scenes...[This particular one is] 'O soave fanciulla,' a particularly glorious moment in Puccini's ultra-Romantic, enduringly popular La Bohème. However, opera is not something with which I would expect the typical (be there such a thing) BtVS fan to be very familiar...

So why choose an opera selection that few will understand? And why that particular opera? Well, Giles (as we learn through the course of the series) is passionate about music (many kinds of music) - - and he surely loves this recording, because the record sounds as if it has been played often. That seriously repressed Giles, who intellectualizes nearly every event in his life, would love something as lush and Romantic as this opera obviously tells us something about him -- or at least affirms what we have already suspected. That Angelus would choose this recording as the backdrop for his sadistic little play also says something about his own cruelty and the twisted nature of his definition of passion. For the passion expressed in the opera scene is a world away from passion as Angelus understands it; it is the innocent passion of first love: it's all trembling first kisses, lovely girls bathed in moonlight. (In the opera, Mimì -- a poor and frail young seamstress (we learn later that she is actually dying of consumption) -- has just met the struggling young poet Rodolfo in his moonlit garret in 19th-century Paris; after telling each other a bit about themselves they realize they are falling in love.)

Here's the way the music in the scene plays out (English 'translations' taken largely from William Weaver's translation of the libretto; some from my copy of the complete score):

...As this scene opens, we see [Giles] walking down the stairs to his apartment. As he comes to the door, he sees a beautiful, long-stemmed, red rose attached to it -- and we can now hear the music swell. It is a tenor/soprano duet:

Rodolfo : Fremon già nell'anima/le dolcezze estreme (repeated 3 times)/Nel bacio freme amore [Already I taste in spirit/The heights of tenderness/Love trembles in our kiss]
Mimì: Ah! Tu sol commandi, amor! Tu sol commandi, amore/Oh! Come dolci scendono/ Le sue lusinghe al core . . .[You rule alone, Oh love!/How sweet his praises/enter my heart . . .]

(During this, GILES tenderly pulls the rose from the door, smells it, smiles, and opens the door, hopeful, but perhaps still fearing to expect too much, because we begin to hear a breathless, slightly awkward exchange between the two lovers. . .)

Mimì: . . .Tu sol comandi, amor! [Love, you alone rule.] (Rodolfo kisses her. She pulls back.) No, per pietà! [No, please.]
Rodolfo: Sei mia! [You are mine!]
Mimì: V' aspettan gli amici . . .[Your friends are waiting . . .]
Rodolfo: Già mi mandi via? [You send me away already?]

(During this, GILES enters his apartment a bit hesitantly, calls out for Jenny, hangs up his coat, looks around, sees the wine, roses, and note, and walks toward them.)

Mimì: Vorrei dir . . .ma non oso . . . [I daren't say . . . what I'd like . . .]
Rodolfo: Di'. [Tell me.]

(On the words "Di'/Tell me", GILES opens the note and reads -- "Upstairs." The conjunction of the words and the act made me gasp when I first heard it.)

Rodolfo to Mimì: O soave fanciulla, o dolce viso/Di mite circonfuso alba lunar [Oh, lovely girl! Oh, sweet face/bathed in the soft moonlight]

(On these lines, GILES glances upward toward the bedroom, smiles sweetly, nearly joyfully, and with great expectation grabs the wine and starts toward the stairs.)

Rodolfo: In te ravviso il sogno . . ./Ch'io vorrei sempre sognar! [I see you in the dream . . ./I'd dream forever!]

(GILES climbs the stairs, sees Jenny on his bed, but only when he arrives at the bedroom door does he realize she is dead. As the champagne bottle drops from his hand, shattering on the floor, we hear Mimì and Rodolfo sing ecstatically:)

Ah, tu sol commandi, amor! . . . [Ah! Love, you rule alone! . . .]

Oh, twist the knife. And then twist it one more time, because later as Giles leans against the wall, as Jenny's body is removed, we hear Mimì, alone, sing that line one more time: 'Ah! Love, you rule alone!' Then the soundtrack goes briefly totally silent, as the police bring Giles irrevocably back to what happened:

POLICEMAN: Mr. Giles, I need to ask you to come with us...
GILES (still dazed): Of course ...yes...procedure.

And lest you still think this is all coincidence, the music has been altered. Although it sounds seamless, in fact the first part we hear (from: 'Fremon già nell'anima' to 'Di') in the scene actually comes at the end of the aria/duet in the opera and indeed comes in again in its proper place at the end in the TV scene itself."--Akita, Sun, 04/14/02 at 14:41:01

"It also just occurred to me that, assuming he deliberately chose that music, Angelus was probably mocking Angel's 'affair' and one night of love with Buffy."--Akita, Sun, 04/14/02 at 14:59:45

"As for why Angelus used the music he did. I would say to choreograph the discovery of Jenny's body for the most impact. To have Giles feel hopeful of a tender reconciliation with Jenny, only to find her twisted body. Angelus went for the big pain. It was a way to get to Buffy through her friends. It almost seemed that it didn't occur to him that the Librarian would come after looking for some vengeance. For Angelus it was all about Buffy, but having her in a way that he was under control, he sought to use the same technique he did on Dru, make her crazy...but Buffy wasn't Dru. And Giles wasn't just a Librarian. I found it funny that Angel made the remark to Cordy that when he killed as a demon it wasn't personal…cause this was about as personal as it gets."--Rufus, Sun, 04/14/02 at 20:58:15

GIVE AND TAKE: See 26F.

DECOR: "In this episode Giles' home looks more like an untidy librarian's place than it will later in the series. There are stacks of books on every chair and most tables. One stack of magazines is topped by an easily recognizable yellow-bordered 'National Geographic' magazine."--Cactus Watcher, Fri, 04/25/03 at 20:43:16

29ZZZ) "Passion..." FROM THE ORIGINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT: See 29C and 29Rx4.

Ty King: "Passion...it drives some to distraction...some to despair...some to vengeance...It drives some to murder...and others to madness."

Joss Whedon: "Passion is the source of our finest moments. The joy of love...the clarity of hatred...and the ecstasy of grief."--"Passion" by Ty King, available through Pocketbooks, Inc. as Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Script Book, Season Two, Volume 3

29Ax4) Joyce comes into the dining room when she hears the crying and holds Willow. Buffy looks off into space... EMOTIONS: These are important dramatic actions, because in them we see Joyce acting as the mother for the Scooby Gang, providing Willow with love and support where Willow's own mother would never. Willow herself is displaying her emotions outwardly, as she usually does, while Buffy does what she usually does, funnels her sadness or anger into a greater drive in her slaying. This is a major theme of the seventh season, how Buffy sometimes seems emotionally disconnected in times of crisis. This character trait will recur again and again throughout the series. Sometimes she will let her guard down and cry in front of one of her friends, but more often than not, especially when it has to do with supernatural events, such as someone's death, it will lead her to have a greater resolve in slaying and not letting her emotions get in the way.

29Bx4) "Of course." SELFLESS CORDY: One of the few moments in the series where Cordy does a completely selfless act and does not make a quip about it. Even Cordy can tell here that it is not the time. The only time prior to this was in The Dark Age, when she expressed a desire to help Giles (see 20VV).

29Cx4) The camera closes in on the desk and pans down to a pencil sketch of Jenny lying dead on the bed. PICTURE PERFECT: "While the drawing is a kind of means of possessing Buffy and Joyce, with Jenny it is more a celebration of his achievement. Purposes of image making: the implications of Angel making pictures are not unconnected with the general functions of painting, including portrait painting. In Europe (at least post-Renaissance up to 19thC) artists would use the images to celebrate the possessions and/or achievements of their patrons. For instance, in Gainsborough's Mr & Mrs Andrews (1748-9) (see this at http://www.mezzo-mondo.com/arts/mm/gainsborough/GAT001.html), the painter has shown his subjects against a background of the fields from which they draw their wealth. Mr Andrews' dog and gun show he has the leisure to hunt, and Mrs Andrews is dressed in finery which implies that although she benefits from the land, she does not work it."--MsGiles, Wed, 04/30/03 at 06:50:04 See 29G.

Act Four

29Dx4) "Giles didn't set this up. Angel did." BUFFY SMART: A classic case of Buffy coming to a conclusion before anybody else, and just figuring a situation out just a few moments even before anybody else.

29Ex4) "This is the wrapping for the gift." FROM THE ORIGINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT: Another example of fine-tuning with the script. This original line was, "All this is like the pretty gift wrap he wrapped Ms. Calendar's body in," which besides being an awkward sentence is far too blunt; it lacks the subtlety and poetic simplicity of, "This is the wrapping for the gift."--"Passion" by Ty King, available through Pocketbooks, Inc. as Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Script Book, Season Two, Volume 3

29Fx4) "These were his good weapons. The ones he, uh, breaks out when company comes to visit." COMPANY: Most people have sets of fine china that they only use to eat on when there is company, and use regular plates and silverware when it is only the family. Xander is making a joke about this, saying that with Giles, he doesn't have fine china but weaponry he breaks out for company.

29Gx4) "I'm sorry, but let's not forget that I hated Angel long before you guys jumped on the bandwagon." XANDER HATES ANGEL: See 7T.

29Hx4) "And if Giles wants to go after the, uh...fiend that murdered his girlfriend, I say, 'Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!'" POP CULTURE TIME: "Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill! is Russ Meyer's 1966 sexploitation classic features large-breasted leather-booted women romping round the California desert in tiny sports cars, roughing up men and looking for sex. Definitely Xander's sort of movie."--MsGiles, Wed, 04/30/03 at 06:50:04

29Ix4) "You're right." TURN-AROUND: This is a moment of clarity for Buffy, the moment where she first realizes that Angel is not coming back, that he must be killed. Yes, she's known this already intellectually, but her love for Angel has kept her from killing Angelus. But hearing Xander say it like this, for the first time she doesn't just filter him out because of his jealousy for Angel. She listens to him, and realizes that he is right. This was helped a great deal by the events of Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered, where he didn't take advantage of her love-zonkiness and have sex with her. She realized then that Xander is truly protective over her, and not just acting out of petty jealousy (see 28JJJ). Her boyfriend just killed Giles' love. Her boyfriend who may not have ever become homicidal if she hadn't played her part in his turning (see 26GGG). There is no turning back for her at this point.--partly inspired by a post by lunasea, Wed, 05/28/03 at 11:36:26

29Jx4) "Are you insane?! We're supposed to kill the bitch, not leave gag gifts in the friends' beds." VAMP HUMOR: There is something darkly humorous and disturbing about this line, because it really shows the differences in perspective between a human and an unsoulled demon. What was a horrifying, grisly, tragic murder to Buffy and her friends is just a "gag gift," a joke, a lark, to Spike.

29Kx4) "If you ask me, I find myself preferring the old Buffy-whipped Angelus. This new, improved one is not playing with a full sack." INSULTS & JIBES: "The traditional phrase is 'not playing with a full deck"...[or "sack of marbles."] Anyone else suspect that Spike is doubling the insult by implying that Angelus is less then sexually capable? It fits into the general run of sexual insults between the two while Spike's on wheels during this season."--luminesce, Fri, 04/25/03 at 14:15:09

"I suspect that Spike is saying the following:

1) Angelus isn't sane.
2) Angelus' insanity is linked to his being 'sackless'--that is, being a eunuch or otherwise sexually incapable.
3) Since Angelus isn't 'playing with a full sack,' that seems to imply that Angelus doesn't have the balls--sexual or otherwise [marbles]--to deal with the consequences his 'pranks' will have on the vampires in Sunnydale and on himself when the Slayer gets 'brassed-off.'

In one sentence, Spike impugns Angelus's thinking, sanity, sexual capability, leadership qualities (Angelus is endangering ALL Sunnydale vampires by playing his sadistic games)and maturity (lacking the balls to deal with the consequences of his actions). He also utters the ultimate insult, as far as Angelus is concerned--that Spike, no friend to Angel-with-a-soul, preferred the 'old, Buffy-whipped (read: pussy-whipped) version' to the 'sackless' Angelus. And Angelus despises his souled self. Interestingly, Angelus doesn't reply to Spike's insults with violence. After all, Spike is in a wheelchair at this point. Angelus could break him in half without even trying. But he refrains, just as he refrains from killing Buffy while she sleeps."--Rhys, Fri, 04/25/03 at 17:39:54

29Lx4) "I love a good slaughter as much as the next bloke, but his little pranks will only leave us with one incredibly brassed-off Slayer!" PRACTICAL SPIKE: See 25EEE.

29Mx4) Giles walks toward him with a baseball bat. RIPPER: Giles' intense grief over Jenny's death inspires him to embrace his long-dormant Ripper side. See 18Ex4.

29Nx4) "No fair going into the ring unless he tags you first." SPORTS TIME: "A reference to 'tag team' wrestling, in which each wrestler has a teammate, but the teammate cannot enter the ring or help unless first touched by his partner in the ring."--Sophist, Fri, 04/25/03 at 19:55:25

29Ox4) "Are you gonna let your old man just burn?" OLD MAN: "Don't know about the US, but in the UK the phrase 'old man' definitely implies a sexual relationship when used in this context."--KdS, Fri, 04/25/03 at 12:29:13

"Yes, there is frequently the connotation of steady boyfriend/husband in 'old man.' But, the older implication of it meaning 'father' makes more sense here. Insulting Buffy would make her want to fight harder. Pulling at her emotions would make her indecisive, which is what Angel needed to escape."--Cactus Watcher, Fri, 04/25/03 at 19:48:03

29Px4) She punches him in the jaw... POWERFUL EMOTIONS: This moment is one of such brilliant intensity and raw emotion that, although there isn't anything in particular to annotate, I couldn't let it go by without a nod. Buffy lets out her frustration at him, at Jenny's death, at Angel's turning in one moment. See 12OO.

29Qx4) "Are you trying to get yourself killed?" FROM THE ORIGINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT: This scene was also rewritten for the final product (see 29C). Ty King had Buffy saying to Giles, "You bastard!...How could you do that? You're trying to get yourself killed? You can't! You can't leave me alone…not now…I can't do this by myself!" and further had the scene take place with Willow, Xander, and Cordelia standing there. Joss wisely made this a personal moment between Buffy and Giles, and further excised the over-the-top and out-of-place "You bastard!" and toned down the dialogue, making it more simple and pure. "You can't leave me. I can't do this alone," is understated, and yet more powerful and heartbreaking than the more high-pitched histrionics Ty King wrote. The original also makes Buffy sound a little too egotistical, making it all about her: Giles is a bastard for trying to leave her. Whedon's revisions make Buffy's lines to Giles not a selfish declaration but a plea. She needs him more than anyone in the world. Also, thankfully, Giles' crying and repeating Jenny's name over and over was excised. Restraint is the key.--"Passion" by Ty King, available through Pocketbooks, Inc. as Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Script Book, Season Two, Volume 3

29Rx4) "It hurts..." FROM THE ORIGINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT: See 29C and 29ZZZ.

Ty King: "Passion...is the source of hope...and the cause of despair. It is the source of life...and the cause of death."

Joss Whedon: "It hurts sometimes more than we can bear...If we could live without passion, maybe we'd know some kind of peace. But we would be hollow. Empty rooms, shuttered and dank...Without passion, we'd be truly dead."--"Passion" by Ty King, available through Pocketbooks, Inc. as Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Script Book, Season Two, Volume 3

29Sx4) "But I think I finally am." FROM THE MOUTH OF THE ALMIGHTY JOSS: "This episode...is there to make Buffy realize once and for all that she needs to confront Angel, she needs to get him behind her, she needs to kill him. She needs to get him out of her life, because he's not coming back. He really is...that evil, and she must do something about it."--Joss Whedon, DVD Interview

EMPOWERED BUFFY: And, as a further sign of how dedicated Buffy will now be to overcoming Angelus, she takes over his role in the final moment of the episode. The final voiceover belongs to her.

29Tx4) "As a result the yellow disk that Jenny had set next to the books gets pushed off of the edge. It falls between the desk and the small filing cabinet next to it." CONTINUITY CHECK: And there it will stay until Becoming (see 33PPP).

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