Season 3, Episode 10

Written by Joss Whedon

Directed by Joss Whedon

Original Airdate: 15 December 1998

"You're weak. Everybody is. Everybody fails. Maybe this evil did bring you back, but if it did, it's because it needs you. And that means that you can hurt it. Angel, you have the power to do real good, to make amends. But if you die now, then all that you ever were was a monster."
Buffy

REGULAR CAST

• Sarah Michelle Gellar as Buffy Summers

• Nicholas Brendon as Xander Harris

• Alyson Hannigan as Willow Rosenberg

• Charisma Carpenter as Cordelia Chase

• David Boreanaz as Angel

• Seth Green as Daniel "Oz" Osbourne

• Anthony Stewart Head as Rupert Giles

GUEST CAST

• Kristine Sutherland as Joyce Summers

• Saverio Guerra as Willy

• Shane Barach as Daniel

• Edward Edwards as Travis

• Cornelia Hayes O'Herlithy as Margaret

• Robia LaMorte as Jenny Calendar

• Eliza Dushku as Faith Lehane

CO-STARRING

• Mark Kriski as Weatherman

• Tom Michael Bailey as Tree Seller

SYNOPSIS

• Dublin, 1843. Angel is dreaming of his past, where he kills a man, Daniel, that supposedly was indebted to him. When he wakes up, unable to fall asleep again, he walks the streets of Sunnydale and runs into Buffy. They exchange a few words and then Angel freaks out, seeing the ghost of Daniel. The next day, Buffy tells her friends about her freaky encounter with Angel. They fill each other in on holiday plans and then Oz shows up, ready to talk to Willow. He tells her how much he misses her and that he's willing to give their relationship another shot.
  
  Buffy and Joyce go shopping for a Christmas tree and decide to invite Faith to Christmas dinner, but not Giles. Angel's nightmares continue to haunt him, and he finally resorts to going to Giles for help. Armed with a crossbow, Giles invites him into his apartment and listens to Angel tell him about the dreams and how he wants to know why he came back from Hell. Their conversation is cut short when Angel sees Jenny, and runs off.
  
  In another one of Angel's dreams, he attacks a service woman, Margaret, but as he finishes her off, he looks up and sees Buffy there in his dream. They both wake up, realizing that they're in each other's dreams. Buffy goes to Giles and they plan to research the phenomenon so that they can find out what force is taking over Angel. Xander offers to help as well since saving Angel is a better option than being at home. Willow having joined in on the research party fills Buffy in on her getting back together with Oz.
  
  Angel is still unable to sleep and encounter's Jenny's spirit at the mansion. He tries to apologize, but she doesn't want to hear it: she just wants to make him suffer. He is then visited by the many ghosts of his victims, including Daniel and Margaret. Finally, nearly crazy from being reminded of what a monster he was, Angel begs for it to stop. Jenny offers him comfort and tells him to rest. At the library Buffy also falls asleep and both she and Angel are in the same dream again. This time, the two are making passionate love on Buffy's bed. Looking over his shoulder, Buffy notices a creature with it's eyes sewn shut just before Angel vamps out and bites her. They both wake up. Jenny tells Angel that he needs to kill Buffy.
  
  Giles has found out that the force that is taking over Angel is called the First. It's very powerful and impossible to kill. However, there are three priests, called Bringers, with their eyes sewn shut, which Buffy can kill, and hopefully this will put an end to the mental torment Angel is suffering from. Buffy and Xander visit Willy the Snitch, but he only says that the First may be underground. Oz arrives at Willow's house with videos and finds that she has a bit more planned for the night. He tells her that he's not ready to take their relationship that far, which she's fine with and they just simply kiss.
  
  At home, Buffy and Joyce are trimming the tree when Faith shows up. Buffy goes upstairs to her room, only to find that Angel is there waiting for her. Blind with the need to find peace of mind, he fights the urge to kill Buffy. He jumps out of her window, desperate not to kill her. Buffy leaves Faith in charge of watching her mother while she goes to Giles for immediate help. At the mansion, Jenny tries to convince Angel that he must kill Buffy. When he has made it clear that he can't, he knows that his only other option is to kill himself with the sunlight.
  
  After some more research, Buffy discovers that wherever the Bringers are, nothing will grow above or below. Buffy remembers a bunch of dead trees at the tree lot. She goes there and, in a circle of dead trees, she makes a hole into the ground which then leads her to the Bringers. She tears the place and the Bringers apart, and then encounters the First in Jenny's form. They attack each other verbally for a while until the First mentions Angel, and then Buffy runs off to the mansion to stop Angel from killing himself.
  
  She finds him atop of a hill, the sun only minutes away from rising. He tells her that he loves her and wants her so much that he'd be willing to loose his soul just to be with her. Buffy desperately wants him to come inside but he believes very strongly that he is evil and that he's got to be strong for once, and die. They yell, and hit each other, and cry and tell each other how much they love the other. Buffy gives him one last chance to prove how strong he really can be and begs him to come in from the sun. Out of no where, snow begins to fall, covering the previously sunny and hot Sunnydale, in a beautiful white Christmas.
  
  In her bedroom, Willow and Oz marvel at the snow. Xander wakes up in his backyard covered in it. Giles notices it from his apartment, while Faith and Joyce see it from the Summers' home. On main street, Buffy and Angel walk hand in hand together through the snow.

TRIVIA

• Robia LaMorte had already signed on to appear in this episode before it was scripted, and due to her religious beliefs, disliked playing the First. This was Jenny Calendar's final appearance on the show.

• The Mutant Enemy monster is altered again in this episode. This time, he wears a Santa cap, and there are bells jingling in the background.

• This episode had at least two other titles before Joss settled on 'Amends.' They were 'Old Enemies, Dead Enemies' and 'A Buffy Christmas'.

CONTINUITY

• A powerful force called the First Evil takes on the form of Angel's past victims, including Jenny Calendar and tries to convince Angel to kill Buffy. The First is the spirit of absolute evil, which has no physical shape. The Bringers (or Harbingers) are priests that worship and do the bidding of The First. These priests have no eyes, and no life can grow above or below them. The First appears again in season seven, and it's true plan is finally evident. It tries to raise an army to rule the world and needs Buffy out of the way to do this, which is why it tries to get Angel to kill Buffy in this episode. It also needs to target the vampire with a soul, as one is destined to stop it's plan... It's targeted the wrong one as Spike stops it's war in Chosen.

• The Bringer's symbol made up of bones, stones and candles looks like the symbol on the Seal of Danthalzar under Sunnydale High in the final season.

• Willow attempts to seduce Oz, but doesn't have sex with him until Graduation Day (Part 1).

• The First, in Jenny's form, is wearing what she was wearing when she was murdered in Passion.

• The First tells Angel that one day 'he will drink her,' in regards to Buffy. He does in Graduation Day (Part 2).

• Joyce is uncomfortable with having Giles at Christmas Dinner due to the fact that they had sex in Band Candy.

GOOFS

• A goof no one noticed till Joss brought it up on the posting board: why is Xander telling Willow his Christmas ritual? She's known him since he was five. She'd know that already.

• Despite the numerous mentions of how hot it was, many characters were wearing coats and warm clothes.

• One of the movies playing at the cinema was Abilene, which was not released until March 13, 1999 - three months after this episode was aired.

• In season seven, we discover that The First Evil cannot touch, yet in this episode the First clearly touches Angel.

Anne | Dead Man's Party | Faith, Hope and Trick | Beauty and the Beasts | Homecoming

Band Candy | Revelations | Lover's Walk | The Wish | Amends | Gingerbread

Helpless | The Zeppo | Bad Girls | Consequences | Doppelgangland | Enemies

Earshot | Choices | The Prom | Graduation Day (Part 1) | Graduation Day (Part 2)