Amends

Season 3, Episode 10, Aired
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Episode Summary

While the gang prepares for their Christmas vacation, Angel is haunted by visions of his violent past. The ghost of Jenny Calendar appears to him and reminds him in great detail of the evil deeds he has performed. At first she almost seems to be taking pity on him, but gradually her counsel grows more sinister.moreless
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Fan Episode Reviews (32)

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  • Christianity in the Buffyverse

    8.0
    "Great"
    By joxerlives, Jan 19, 2012 Report Abuse
    Amends

    The Good;
    Pretty much all of it, the ending is too beautiful for words, Will and Oz getting back together and Will's attempt to seduce him are the highlights. I also really like Joyce hurriedly turning down Buffy's suggestion that they invite Giles for Christmas and you can't fail to be touched by Faith at the Summers' house for Christmas. Also some powerful Giles/Angel scenes. On a lighter note I love the depiction of Liam the 'drunken, whoring, layabout' who seems a pretty fun guy

    The Bad;
    Irish accents not so great on Buffy. I'm still not that clear on the role of the First and what it's plan was? Did it want to wreck WR&H's scheme for the apocalypse?

    Best line;
    Buffy; What are your Christmas plans?
    Willow; Being Jewish not much, not everyone worships Santa, remember?

    Character death;
    None but Jenny makes her second (and unfortunately final postdeath appearance except in flashback)

    Women good/men bad;
    Angelus' behaviour towards the maid is just horrible beyond belief, not just in killing her but in the way he uses his position to shame her into silence

    Kinky dinky;
    Flashbacks to the Buffy/Angel coitus. Love Will's seduction dress and she takes a page out of Ally McBeal's book with Barry White. Amazingly this is the second time Willow has offered her virginity to a boy and he's turned her down. To judge from her remarks Oz is not a virgin however. Great line from Joyce "Angel on top again?"

    Calling Captain Subtext;
    Quite a lot of Jaith, it's obvious that a family Christmas is what Faith really wants despite her projected steel

    Guantanamo Bay;
    Buffy and Xander threaten Willy the Snitch but don't beat him up for once

    What the fanficcers thought;
    Plenty of adult stuff as normal ('Buffy the Slutty Santa Helper' has her as an S&M ponygirl in chains pulling Santa's sleigh) but largely this time of year brings out the slush (physically and metaphorically). My favourite is 'At Last', it has Buffy as a C19th noblewoman (much as we saw her in Halloween) who get's vamped by Darla on her way back home for Christmas. 200 years later she get's cursed by gypsies, restoring both soul and humanity. She tracks down her family's descendents (Joyce, her husband Hank and their daughter Dawn) and turns up on their doorstep on Christmas morning, posing as Joyce's long lost niece. And they adopt her, forming her new family, finally allowing her to enjoy a normal human life once more and completing the journey she began centuries before.

    Questions and observations;
    So, is the First the real deal? Lucifer, the Devil, Satan, The Evil One? Apparently Robia LaMorte had a hard time in this ep because she's become very Christian and didn't like playing what was essentially the Devil? But it's not exactly as if they're saying it's a good thing and gets defeated in the end. Buffy comments that Xander has a piece of Willow that Oz can't touch, the same is true of Willow and Xander with Anya in season 5. Presumably Dawn enjoys Christmas with Faith at home. To judge by his flashbacks whilst Angel was Angelus he kills a father and his young children yet no one goes hysterical Gingerbread style.
    The First says that Angel will drink Buffy and he does at the end of the season. Once read a horrible fanfic where the ending gives Angel his moment of joy turning him into Angelus and having him torture Buffy. Thankfully there was a sequal where everything works out happily, his soul get's restored and he uses WR&H's healers to cure her.
    So, God in the Buffyverse? What are we to think? I think the snowstorm is clearly the work of the PTB. I know the rival theory is that it's WR&H saving him but it's pretty clear that they're unaware of his significance until near the end of the first season of Angel. Or it's a meterelogical freak but who could buy that?
    8/10 I think
    moreless

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  • A time for making up

    10
    "Perfect"
    By tanargue, Jun 10, 2011 Report Abuse
    This is a very powerful episode,typical of Josh Whedon's writing.We get more flashbacks from Angelus's past - and please don't complain about Boreanaz's Irish accent unless you come from Ireland. We Brits don't pick holes in Spike and Dru's 'English' accents.
    The atmosphere really builds up with the hauntings and the obvious mental torment Angel is suffering.
    Powerful acting from David Boreanaz throughout. I especialy love the scene where he comes to ask for help from Giles - great from both of them.
    The final scene with Buffy is also memorable and really fills out the character of Angel. Great acting from both of them.
    The erotic love dream experienced by both Buffy and Angel at the same time was a great idea.moreless

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  • It's beginning to look a lot like payback, everywhere you go....

    10
    "Perfect"
    By Barrybgb, Jun 09, 2011 Report Abuse
    Ah Christmas time. My favorite time of year. I look forward to when(or if)my favorite shows do a holiday episode. If there are others like me, then hopefully you liked this episode because it's the only real Christmas episode Buffy ever did. They did Halloween ones every other year, but only one "true" Christmas ep. And what a doozy. One of the best episodes of season three, and one of my top favorite episodes of Buffy ever. This particular episode is something extra special for me. This was the episode that got me hooked on the show. We didn't have The WB in our area for a long time. We didn't have it when the show first started airing. I missed the entire first season, and we finally got the channel when the series was wrapping up it's second season. Even then, it took longer to get into the swing of things. I just glanced at a re-run of "Go Fish" during the summer, and saw a bit of the season three premiere "Anne". I liked what I saw, but I wasn't sucked in yet. I hadn't had the time as of yet. But then this ep came along. A big Buffy Christmas. This was the first episode that I really saw. That I really watched. I was glued to the TV screen for every single frame of this brilliant episode. I was amazed at what I was seeing. I finally got a look into what this fast growing phenomenon was. I was a goner from here on out. The horror, the comedy, the brilliant characters, the magnificent writing. I was now kicking myself for not getting into the re-runs during the previous summer. This was the coolest show I had ever seen. And a big holiday episode to boot!. Who could ask for anything more?. So, this episode has a bit more of a special meaning to me. It will always be something special. So, how did the gang from Sunnydale deck the halls with boughs of holly this year?...

    A heavyily Angel centered episode this is as Angel is being haunted by the ghosts of his past. People he has murdered back in his Angelus days. In the process, Angel begins to fall apart, while in the meantime learns why he was brought back from the hell dimension earlier in the year. Also going on is everyone's feelings about Angel being brought out.

    Can you say Charles Dickens?. When a TV show does
    christmas episodes, at some point they are going to do either "It's A Wonderful Life" or "A Christmas Carol". Or both. Joss goes the Dickens path here and he does it, not surprisingly, brilliantly. Everything that people love about Christmas themed specials is here. The snow, the lights, the cheer, and the big emotional climax. Some people think that's the worst part about them. But let's not waste time on those people, shall we?. So, Angel is being haunted by visions of peopls he has killed in the past. The main one here is a young man named Daniel, who Angel killed in Dublin in 1838. Daniel pretty much serves as the Jacob Marley type ghost here, if you want to continue in the "Christmas Carol" vein here. He begins what would come to be a nightmare for Angel. Another ghost, a servant girl named Margaret, represent the ghosts of Angel's past. Who is his present ghost?. That would be Jenny Calendar, who he killed so shockingly and violently last year. A lot of people at this time were still not quite over it yet. And really, who wasn't thrilled to see Jenny/Robia La Morte back?. It may not of really been Jenny, but still. Interesting side not, although you probably already know if you are a Buffy fan, is that Robia La Morte really did not like this episode. She didn't like the fact of coming back and that Jenny was presented as this evil thing in such an evil manner. Okay. It's ironic that she would think this since I see this as one of the best episodes she has been in!. Anyways, what is the future?. Angel fears the future is the death of his beloved, Buffy Summers. Some say that the "Christmas Carol" angle is light and you can overlook it. Perhaps this is true, but I can't help but always seeing it. Like with everything Joss does, something that has been done before is quickly rejuvenated and tossed onto it's head. This is the Scrooge tale for the new generation. The best that's been done in that format. The whole Angel storyline was magnificent. The big ending is not all sunshine and rainbows when Angel finally comes too. It's somber, quiet, and perfect. The snow falling in Southern California was beautiful beyod words. Some saw it as Joss not being able to overlook all Christmas-y cliche, but that was not it at all. Joss doesn't do cliche. From what I have heard, the snow was a clean and pure symbol and was a metaphor for Angel being cleansed. Or something like that. I'll buy it. That whole scene was breathtaking. "It's not the demon in me that needs killing - It's the man", were some perfectly written words for Angel. That scene was brilliantly acted, and Sarah and David both did some of their best work there. A riveting and beautiful moment in a storyline that is also riveting, beautiful, and a real tearjerker. Joss, you did it again.

    This episode is not just about Angel, but how Angel is felt among the other characters. It's been a long and bumpy road between Angel and the other people on the show. Xander is still pretty much Xander when it comes to Angel. You can understand where Xander is coming from, but him acting like a jacka** goes a long way. Thank god Buffy tells him to shut it. The best here is with Giles. Giles is torn. How could he not be?. Angel was a strong ally, and then he turned and murdered Giles' girlfriend. Now he's back, better, and is looking for help?. What would you think if you were Giles?. You would want to kill him, but you also know that he is back to being Angel and that he means the world to Buffy. Giles is conflicted with emotions, and his scene with Angel in his apartment was fantastic. With Jenny appearing behind Giles, it was just fantastic. Great work from Tony Head as usual. And does Buffy realize what this is doing to her friends?. And especially to Giles?. Giles suffered the worst from Angelus, and what does Buffy expect?. Do they matter to her as much as her love for Angel?. This is a rousing storyline for the season, and I love it that it is handled, especially by Giles, with constrained dignity. But it's not all about Angel with them. Each character has their own revealing moment. Willow and Oz "try again", and thanks to Cordelia, we find out just why Xander hates this particular holiday. Poor Xander. You go from wanting to smack him one minute, to feeling sorry for him the next. And Faith. Buffy and Faith connect a bit when Buffy invites her over for Christmas, and Faith makes up a lie about having to go to a party. But she shows up. The party was, quite conveniently and non too surprisingly, a bust. You feel sorry for Faith here.

    What we have in the end is a visually stunning and brilliantly told tale that could only of been done by the master himself. "Amends" was a pitch perfect episode that had so much going in the character department, that it makes this episode nothing less than "pivotal". No doubt about it, this is one glorious episode. A top classic.moreless

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  • 'Strong is fighting! It's hard, and it's painful, and it's every day. It's what we have to do. And we can do it together. But if you're too much of a coward for that, then burn. 'moreless

    10
    "Perfect"
    By SleepTight, Jun 09, 2011 Report Abuse
    'Amends' is easily the best written and acted episode of season 3. Also one of the show's best.

    It doesn't only features the great Angelus in the flashbacks, but we also meet the first evil that becomes very important in the last season and we see Robia LaMorte back for the last time *sniff*

    'Amends' was made to be a Christmas special, and what a special episode it was.

    Angel is having dreams about his past and about the people he killed when he was Angelus, he also has a dream of killing a woman and Buffy has a guest spot in that nightmare.

    In this episode we also meet The First who takes bodies of people who Angel killed and one of them is Jenny. Through the episode it haunts him and tells him how completely useless he is. Also that he was only brought back to kill Buffy, he has to do it and it brings him into confusion.
    We see one amazing scene where both Angel and Buffy dream of having sex and Angel turns at the end of the dream and drains her life out,

    Meanwhile the other sweet and cute storyline is about Oz and Willow. Willow wants to have him back as they were before and decides she wants to have sex. But he backs her off and says that he's going to have sex with her when he knows that it isn't to get rid of the guilt.

    Anyway, Buffy reads about the bringers and knows where they are. She goes under dearth and meets The First who tells her that it's pure evil and darkness fears it. It also tells Buffy that Angel is going to die by sunrise because he went up to kill himself of not wanting to kill her.

    Buffy finds him waiting for the sun and tries to make him fight and be strong but he can't, he says that the world wants him gone. That entire scene was powerfully acted and written. At the end of it, it begins to snow. Apparently that entire day isn't gonna have any sun, only snow of the first time in Sunnydale.

    The episode was easily one of the show's darkest and most depressing ones. It's so beautifully played out.
    'Amends' is another Buffy classic, but unlike many. It's one of the biggest and bestes.


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  • It's Christmas at the Hellmouth, and an incoporeal evil presence from beyond the dawn of time is trying to manipulate Angel is his dreams. A welcome return for Jenny Calendar, not so much for Angel's Irish accent.moreless

    6.9
    "Fair"
    By westernhomes, Jun 09, 2011 Report Abuse
    I love Season Three. It's got the best villains, the highest average episode quality, a unique shortage of utter stinkers, and Willow's cutest haircut. But one thing about Season Three is jarring enough to push it out of the pole position in the race for best "Buffy" season, at least in my estimation: Angel. Angel doesn't fit in season three. In the episodes that don't focus on him, his appearances seem forced and contrived. In the episodes that do, all of the emoting being done on his part and on Buffy's seems a dim reflection of the untoppable catharsis of Season Two's finale. The writers and David Boreanaz are clearly just making time until "Angel" can get off the ground, and it's a disservice to a great character whose time on a great show had simply passed.

    "Amends" is by far the weakest of the "Buffy" episodes that Joss Whedon personally wrote and directed. There are a lot of internal problems that contribute to this. Among other things, there's a poorly conceived and badly explained bad guy. The First Evil isn't very interesting or very scary, and its ability to shapeshift is one of those concepts that just works better on the page than it does in practice. The First's lack of a single face and voice we can attach it to in our minds is a fatal mistake on a show that relies to such a large extent on the personality of its characters, villainous and otherwise. I still have no clue why Joss and company thought bringing back The First for the whole of Season Seven was a workable idea. In the case of "Amends," since The First is essentially unkillable, the episode has an uncomfortable and indefinite ending, compounded by the confused religious imagery that also crops up here seemingly more out of desperation than anything else. It's also a concern that the real cause of Angel's return from the hell dimension to which he was banished in "Becoming" isn't explained here. In fact, it's never been explained to my satisfaction on either "Buffy" or "Angel." Why didn't they just do an episode where God appears in the form of a network executive and preaches the gospel of maximizing revenue streams?

    "Amends" is well-directed, to be sure, and it's nice to see the enchanting Robia LaMorte back for one last hurrah as the ghost of Jenny Calendar. The more you consider the ramifications of the episode, however, the more uncomfortable you become. Buffy is ultimately a show about accepting individual responsibility, but in "Amends" the day is saved when...Baby Jesus makes it snow? What the hell? The episode's best scenes are those between Oz and Willow, but stylistically and thematically they're a million miles away from the Angel/Buffy/First stuff. While Oz and Willow are growing up and realizing that relationships have to be built around trust and full disclosure, Angel and Buffy continue on in deep denial about the untenability of their own romance. Whedon expertly uses smart casting, tight direction, and sharp dialogue to make us care about the fairly run-of-the-mill haunting storyline, but then he completely falters at the ending, where The First just gives up and goes away because...well, no reason and Angel ends up not killing himself because...it snows. This is stupid. We expect better from "Buffy." We especially expect better from Whedon. The less time spent dwelling on this bad apple in Season Three's tasty orchard, the better.moreless

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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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  • Trivia

    ADD TRIVIA
    • In the scene where Buffy appears in his dream, Angelus has long hair and a mustache. Edit
    • Foreshadowing: Oz sits next to Willow, who's set the scene for a seduction. He says "you ever have that dream, where you're in a play and it's the middle of the play and you really don't know your lines, and you kinda don't know the plot?" That is exactly what happens to Willow in the season four finale "Restless", a dream in which Oz has a cameo after having left Sunnydale. Edit
    • In this episode, Oz refuses to have sex with Willow because he thinks the only reason she wants to is to prove that she cares for him. This is the second time that Oz refuses Willow's offer to take their relationship to the next level, so to speak, because he feels she wants to for the wrong reasons. The first time is in the season 2 episode "Innocence". Edit

  • Notes

    ADD NOTES
    • This is the second time we have seen Jenny since Angel killed her in "Passion." The first time was when Drusilla cast a spell on Giles, manifesting herself as Jenny in "Becoming Part Two." Edit
    • This marks the first time it has ever snowed in Sunnydale. Edit
    • Joss Whedon has admitted that the camera going over the word 'Pray' on the Sun Cinema board was unintentional. Edit

  • Quotes

    ADD QUOTES
    • Angel: It wasn't me. Jenny: It wasn't you? Angel: A demon isn't a man. I was a man once. Jenny: Oh, yes, and what a man you were. Margaret: A drunken, whoring layabout, and a terrible disappointment to your parents. Angel: I was young. I never had a chance to... Jenny: To die of syphilis? You were a worthless being before you were ever a monster. Edit
    • Angel: Leave me alone. Jenny: I can't. You won't let me. Edit
    • Jenny: If you want to feel sorry for someone, you should feel sorry for yourself. Oh, but I guess you've already got that covered. Edit

  • Allusions

    ADD ALLUSIONS
    • The First: Dead by Sunrise.
      This is no doubt an homage to the Evil Dead films, in which the undead walk the earth but are "Dead by Dawn". This line is repeated throughout the first two films by particularly unpleasant members of the undead, in a very similar manner to the First's utterance of "Dead by Sunrise" as it disappears. Edit
    • Buffy: Tree. Nog. Roast Beast.
      A reference to How The Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Suess in which Roast Beast was the traditional Christmas dinner of the Whos. The phrase has become a popular playful way to refer to roast beef. Edit

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