BtVS: Passion

Passion. It lies in all of us. Sleeping ...waiting... And though unwanted ...unbidden... it will stir...open its jaws, and howl. It speaks to us... guides us... Passion rules us all. And we obey. What other choice do we have? Passion is the source of our finest moments. The joy of love... the clarity of hatred... and the ecstasy of grief. 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.
-Angelus

"the nah nah nah nah nah nah approach to battle"
in the episode Passion we learn just how truly evil Angelus is. not content with just killing Buffy or her friends, he wants them terrified. Angelus, in many ways, is an artist, the poet laureate of evil.
the episode opens with him stalking Buffy and her friends. finally, after she's asleep in her room he enters through her window and watches her sleep. Buffy awakes the next morning to find a sketch Angelus drew of her on her pillow. creepy? it gets worse.

remember when in Lie to Me when Willow invites Angel into her room? while talking to Buffy on the phone Willow goes to feed her fish, but the tank is empty. she finds an envelope on her bed, opens it and finds all of her pet fish strung on a fishing line. just be thankful Willow doesn't own a puppy.

"Yes. Well, that's one of the unpleasant side effects of betrayal."
Giles drops by Ms. Calendar's class (exactly why is never clear, but) she loans him a book that has a spell to "uninvite" vampires, and confesses she's fallen in love with Giles.

"Have you forgotten that you're a bloody guest in my bloody home?"
it occurs to me that i've failed to mention that since the incident at the abandoned church Spike has been confined to a wheelchair. Angelus is really starting to grate on his nerves teasing him about it. their "friendship" has always been (and always will be) a thinly veiled rivalry, with Spike always seeming to play second fiddle.

"I need an Orb of Thesulah"
Jenny Calendar's been busy. in an effort to make amends for her betrayal, Ms. Calendar has been working on a program to translate the text of the original spell that gave Angel his soul, but to do that she also needs an object called "The Orb of Thesulah" Spirit vault for the rituals of the undead.

"Mrs. Summers, I need to talk to you."
while "devamping" Willow's house Buffy and Willow find another one of Angel's sketches... of Buffy's mom. cut to: Joyce pulling into the driveway with Angel waiting for her.
earlier Buffy confessed to Joyce that she had been dating Angel, and that they had broken up because Angel "started acting different". so Joyce is ready to deal with Angel, at least from a stalking ex-boyfriend angle. what she isn't prepared for is finding out that her little girl is no longer a virgin.
apparently not interested in killing her yet, Angel let's Joyce make it inside, only to discover Buffy's already "changed the locks".

"Could I see you later?"
noticing that Jenny is working late, Giles stops by her classroom for a visit. Jenny tells him she might have some good news, but she didn't want to say anything until she was sure. Giles tells her to stop by his apartment later.

'Formatia trans sicere educatorum.'
still at the computer, Jenny hits paydirt. the program works! she copies the file onto a floppy and sets it aside, then sends the file to the printer. that's when she notices Angelus sitting in the back of the class.
i'm not going to draw this out with a lot of description. put simply, Angelus destroys the computer, burns the printout and smashes the Orb. Jenny runs, Angelus catches her and snaps her neck.

it's at this point that we realize Angel is really gone and Angelus is not just playing at being evil. he isn't "evil-lite" he's full on demonic evil and he likes it that way.

"Was he the first?"
Joyce, after learning her only daughter is no longer a virgin, sits Buffy down for "the talk". feeling shut out of her daughter's life she just wants to know what's going on. unfortunately, there's so much Buffy can't tell her without revealing her role as the Slayer.

Giles Report:
the majority of the final act of this episode focuses on Giles. starting with his discovery of Jenny's corpse in his bed. a present from Angelus with all the wrappings. it's in this scene that we see how insidiously cruel and vile a creature Angelus can be. so much so that Giles becomes unhinged.

Trivius interruptus: it's been noted on the net that Angel has never been to Giles' apartment so how could he have entered to leave Jenny's body? the official answer to that dilemma is that though we've never SEEN him go there it doesn't mean he hasn't. an alternative to that is he got someone else to do it. admittedly a less likelier option, but possible.

Giles gathers up his special weapons and heads for the factory for revenge, a scenario that doesn't sound to promising to Buffy. she follows Giles and arrives just in time to save him (though not soon enough to keep him from getting knocked out... again. faced with a choice between pummeling Angelus and saving Giles from burning to death, she let's Angelus escape and saves her watcher.

Willow Rosenberg, teacher's aide
the episode ends with Willow taking over for Jenny until Snyder can find a replacement. while setting her books on the desk she inadvertently knocks the floppy containing the only copy left of Angel's cure on the floor between the desk and filing cabinet. will it ever be found?

Jonathan Watch:
while Buffy and the scooby gang convene to discuss Angelus' midnight visit to Buffy's room, Jonathan and a friend come in to remind us all that it's a school library.