User Reviews

I don't like the First. Granted, it may be a reaction to my general frustration with season seven, where The First is the Big Bad. But, honestly, I just think that The First is kind of... Boring. It doesn't have a plan or a personality or any interesting quirks. It's just speech-y and dull, always harping on about eternal evil, blah, blah, blah... (At least in "Amends" Buffy tells it to shut-up, in season seven we have to listen to it for hours, but I digress.) Anyway, this episode introduces The First and if you're planning to watch season seven of BTVS, you shouldn't skip this episode. It sets-up The First's back story and will be useful in understanding later episodes like "Sleeper" and "Don't Ever Leave Me."

Also, "Amends" highlights Angel's quest for redemption. More than anything else, Angel wants to be forgiven for all the horrible things that he's done. This episode shows his remorse and continuing fear that he'll slip from the righteous path. Angel's desire to cleanse away his past is the very heart of his character. It will motivate him through most of the five season's of "Angel" and influence his decisions both good and bad. This episode begins his quest to make "amends."

"Amends" is BTVS Christmas episode. The Scoobies are all preparing for the holidays and dealing with the fall-out of their love lives. Cordy still won't forgive Xander, Oz and Willow are making their way back to each other, and Buffy and Angel are determined to stay apart. Also, Angel is being haunted by the people he killed. Jenny Calander, a serving girl, a father whose children Angel slaughtered, a man who lost to him in a card game... He sees them awake and asleep. Desperate he goes to Giles for help. The Scoobies research and soon come up with the First Evil. Basically, it's the pure, innate badness of the world. It can take on the form and memories of anyone's whose dead and, for some reason, it's out to get Angel.

The First wants Angel to kill Buffy. Maybe, it knows that Buffy will fight it in four years. Or maybe it just doesn't want Angel battling with the Powers That Be. I'm still kind of hazy on it's real motivations, but whatever the plan, The First is good at getting under people's skin. It drives Angel so nuts that he decides to kill himself, by walking out into the sun, so he won't be tempted to harm Buffy.

There are a lot of good parts to this episode. I love the scene with Buffy and Angel in the clearing. It's so beautiful and real, that it just about breaks your heart. And Oz's smile when Willow tries to seduce his is very sweet. I like Angel and Giles's scene together, with the specter of Jenny- literally- standing between them. And the continuing joke of the Christmas heat wave is pretty funny, especially if you live in a warm climate like me.

The First is still coming into focus in this episode. But, I think it's actually more interesting in this incarnation than it is in season seven. It can get into dream, and seems to be able to touch Angel, two things that it can't do later on. It's a shame because the dragging-people-into-each-other's-dreams-and-memories thing is actually pretty fun. In season seven, Xander could have been put into Anya's recollections about the wedding, Buffy could have seen Spike as William, etc... It could have been cool. And the incorporeal-thing in season seven is always a drag. It's difficult to really be scared of an evil force that can't touch... Well... Anything. I wish that season seven's version of The First had been closer to the one in "Amends."

On the downside, I can't believe that this is our only real Christmas episode. (There is a brief glimpse of a Christmas dinner in season five's "The Body," but I don't think it counts.) I wish we got to see a holiday celebration later in the series, so Spike and Anya could've been there. I know Anya loves gifts and I'm betting that Spike would've enjoyed hum-bugging 'round the tree. I guess it's not really fair to blame "Amends" for that, but still...

My favorite part of the episode: Xander's Christmas Eve camp out. His terrible home life has such a large influence over the choices he makes later in the series. (See season six's "Hell Bells.") And the idea of him sleeping on the lawn to escape his parents' fighting is sort of funny and sad at the same time. Maybe it's the cookies he has on the plate next to his sleeping bag. They could be a snack he fixed for himself, I guess. But, I always get the feeling that he's left them out for Santa. Like the little kid inside Xander is still wishing for something better.

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 its' 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 descendent's (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 sequel 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 meteorological freak but who could buy that?

8/10 I think

This episode defines the Buffy - Angel relationships. This episode is, after my opinion and I am sure that other too believe that this is the greatest episode of Buffy The Vampire Slayer. No doubt! The episode is dedicated to Angel and Christmas. It's about Angel's past coming back to haunt him and an evil known as the First, which you will get to know better in season 7, who takes credit for Angel's return to earth from hell. Angel wants to find out why he is here on earth, why he is back. As he said: "I should suffer an eternity of torment, but I'm not." This episode is the greatest episode of the whole buffyverse, including Angel's own show. Joss Whedon has said that the Buffy and Angel fight at the end of the episode is the greatest lines he has ever written. And it's true! There's also a question about the snow at the end, but that's why it's called Amends, and the Powers That Be steps in as Joss Whedon confirms. It's in this episode Angel's path to L.A. and the Powers That Be begins.

This episode is truly the best episode of all Buffy and Angel time. See it, feel it, believe it and watch, as Angel gives up on his life, and as his path to redemption truly starts.

Most beautiful, painful, moving episode of Buffy! See it!!!!

Amends is Angel feeling guilt over his past seeing visions of his past victims. Meanwhile Buffy is celebrating Christmas with her mother when she finds something evil lurking underneath the tree lot. I find it a tragic story to see a maid trying to feed her child, Daniel about to marry and a business man losing his kids to Angelus. You see some of Angel's victims when he lost his soul, but this is the first time you hear details about their lives and faces to match a name so you care more. All this time you think Angel was moping around yet here you see his guilt laid out in graphic detail, even asking Buffy am I a righteous man, because his past evil deeds are all always fresh on his mind.

Another aspect is the first are introduced who take the forms of the dead and can influence actions wanting Angel to either kill himself or Buffy to stop the good their doing. I'm guessing their exploits are becoming legend tipping the balance between good and evil one way causing them to act. Yet just as evil has organizations and levels good has the powers that be who watch over warriors sending a snow storm to save a champion Angel from the sun's rays confirming he's worth saving. For one quick moment they can be a real couple who can walk the streets hand in hand in love and in awe at a new day.

Buffy and Angel are still trying to stay away from each other, but this is not helped when Angel clearly needs help. Angel is being haunted by the memories of his wrong doings and these wrong doings are telling him to lose his soul in Buffy. Oz and Willow decide to give their relationship another shot.

Why It's So Good - Another epic 'Angel' tale and the introduction of the being 'The First' is intriguing, as Angel begins to be tormented (even more so) by his past. Great metaphors for trying to make life work, and that everyone makes mistakes. The encounter between Giles and Angel is incredible, with Head showing again why he is a brilliant actor. The Christmas miracle and subsequent montage is touching.

Watch Out For - Poor Xander outside.

Quote - "No, I'm not going. Just a dramatic gesture. That's, that's pretty special." - Oz (talking to Willow)

We knew Angel had a lot of guilt, but in this episode we get to see more clearly why. His victims tell their story, and it strikes him hard, unlike when he carried out the acts.

The episode is called "Amends" and there are several examples, apart from Angel. Willow tries to make amends with Oz by offering sex. Buffy tries to make amends to Faith by inviting her to Christmas dinner. Xander tries to make amends for his previous efforts to get rid of Angel by trying to help save him.

Buffy gives Angel the "we have to keep fighting every day" speech, which ironically is given to her in "Once More With Feeling".

Amends is about Angel tormented by apparitions and it's Christmas.

The episode's good, a little over-sentimental. The last scene of Buffy and Angel's great, but I don't care for the First Evil at all. When we first hear of the dead trees and then that the gang's looking for the priests, you're just waiting for Buffy to catch up. Then when Buffy finds the place, for some bloody reason the First Evil helps and tells Buffy Angel's about to take his life and repeats it. As for Willow and Oz getting back together, it's fine by me as it's really all Xander's fault, as Willow already felt that way about Xander before starting the relationship with Oz and Oz knew that.

I enjoy this episode. I like how we hear about The First evil and then it doesn't become relevant again until Season 7.

In this episode, it's Christmas and Angel is being tortured by visions of previous victims, such as people he knew when he first turned into a vampire, and of course, Jenny. He is so upset by these visions that he decides to kill himself. But Buffy discovers that The First evil is actually appearing, because it wants Angel to die. So out course, she has to stop him from being in the open when the sun comes up.

Fun Fact: It is revealed how Angel came back to life.

Final appearance of: Jenny Calendar.

Best part of the episode: Pretty much the whole thing.

Worst part of the episode: When Angel is being tortured.

Overall, I give this episode a 7 out of 10, which in my ratings book is: Great.