YMMV / Buffy the Vampire Slayer S2E22 "Becoming, Part 2"

• Alternate Character Interpretation:
  • Was Joyce serious in telling Buffy to never come back? Or was she desperate to get her stay? The ending and the next season suggest the latter.
  • Does Xander lie to Buffy out of jealousy, or does he do what he genuinely believes is right to ensure Buffy won't hold back in this crucial battle?
• Broken Base: Xander telling Buffy to kick Angel's ass instead of telling her about the spell: Xander putting the world first, or Xander limiting Buffy's options in the battle because he hated Angel and he ultimately subverted the group for his own needs?
• Fight Scene Failure: During Buffy and Angelus's duel, it's pretty obvious that the stunt man for David Boreanaz has a much thinner hairline than he does. The guy looks more like Xander than he does Angel.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • The scene where Spike casually states he's going to kill the police officer, only to be interrupted by Buffy clearing her throat and giving him a warning look; it basically becomes a hilarious microcosm of his character down the line, particularly in season 4.
  • Also, Spike being a fan of Manchester United is hilarious given the later retcon that he's an upper-middle-class man pretending to be working class.^note Any real working class Londoner would view an accusation of supporting Manchester United as a death-worthy insult, but it's a common stereotype in British football culture that many MU supporters are middle-class people from outside the North-West, with little knowledge of football, who only like them because of their fame and record of success.
  • Buffy lies to say that her and Spike are in a band, and he claims that he sings. Come the Musical Episode where we see that he can indeed.
• Never Live It Down: Xander's lowest moment as far as the fans go is his lie to Buffy; not telling her that Willow was planning to re-ensoul Angel. This leads to Buffy's Trauma Conga Line of having to kill Angel right after he got his soul back, and Xander becomes a complete Karma Houdini for it. Even worse is when it receives a Call-Back in "Selfless", when Willow finds out and angrily calls him on it...and it's completely forgotten about, Xander dodging repercussions again.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: Buffy never gets to fight Drusilla, and the latter doesn't even get any kind of of fight scene after the previous episode showed her as powerful enough to kill a Slayer single handedly.

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