"Becoming" is the two-part finale to Buffy's second season, bringing the Angelus arc to a close and demonstrating better than any episode other than "The Gift" just how much Buffy is willing to sacrifice in order to save the world.
Loads and loads of background information is necessary, so I'll get it out of the way quickly; in Season 1, Buffy, the Slayer, fell in love with Angel, the only good vampire in the universe (because he was the only one who had a soul). In the middle of Season 2, they had sex, causing Angel to experience a moment of perfect happiness and lose his soul. He became evil once again, harassing Buffy's friends for the remainder of the season and murdering one of her teachers.
Also earlier in Season 2, Buffy met Kendra, the other Slayer. See, Buffy "died" at the end of Season 1, and whenever one Slayer dies the next is "called" (gets their powers). Buffy's subsequent resuscitation didn't cancel Kendra's activation, and so for a brief time there were two Slayers, who for the most part stayed out of each other's way.
Also earlier in Season 2, the aforementioned teacher Angelus killed researched a way to restore his soul, and saved that information to a floppy disk that just happened to go AWOL after her death.
Also earlier in Season 2, we met a pair of vampires named Spike and Drusilla, who used to pal around with Angelus in the bad old days. Dru was injured before the season began, but she was restored by a ritual arranged by Spike. During that same ritual, Spike got tossed into a pipe organ and got stuck in a wheelchair for the rest of the season (they were actually planning to kill him at that point, as he'd served his purpose as one of the season's fake Big Bads, but fan reaction was positive enough to convice the writers to keep him around). When Angel turned evil, he started flirting with Dru and mocking Spike's injury, making Spike incredibly jealous.
...okay, I think that's everything (this is what I get for reviewing an arc-driven show in non-chronological order). Let's dive into the episodes.
Part 1 starts with even more background information. It shows the moment Angelus was sired by Darla in 1753 (which contradicts information we're given in "Halloween," but that's another story), as well as his persecution of Drusilla in 1860, his re-ensoulment in 1898, his rescue from rock-bottom in 1996 and his decision to help Buffy that same year.
The plot revolves around a demon named Acathla, who is currently stuck in stone form. (Quick! Everyone stare at it and don't blin... sorry, wrong series.) Only one who is worthy can remove the sword from Acathla, which will re-awaken it, and then Acathla will consume the world. Angelus thinks this is an awesome idea, and sets about trying to make himself worthy. To that end, he has his minions kidnap resident demonologist Giles in a raid that also puts Buffy's friend Willow in the hospital and kills Kendra. Buffy finds Kendra's body and is nearly arrested for murder. She escapes, but gets expelled from school.
Then she runs into Spike, who it turns out has been faking the extent of his injuries for the last few episodes. He can walk again, and he's not that big on the whole world-ending thing, so he agrees to help Buffy save Giles from a torture-happy ("they didn't even have chainsaws in my day") Angelus. In the process of all this, Buffy's mother finds out that she's the Slayer. Joyce is, understandably, less than thrilled.
Meanwhile, Willow has found the information she needs to restore Angel's soul, and never mind that she spent the first half of the second episode unconscious in a hospital, she's going to do it. (Whedon runs into this same suspension-of-disbelief problem again next year when he puts Buffy in the hospital right before her showdown with the Mayor.)
Angelus figures out how to do the ritual, and promptly does it. Buffy shows up and Spike does his part, but then he knocks out Dru and runs away with her, because she's all he really wanted. Buffy and Angelus have a sword fight while Acathla slowly wakes up. Buffy wins, because this is her show, but right before she can skewer Angelus (whose blood is needed in order to reverse the ritual), Willow restores his soul. Of course, Buffy's still got to kill him, because if she doesn't Acathla will swallow the world. So she does. Angel disappears into hell for one hundred years, or one summer, depending on your perspective.
Her personal life now in utter ruins - she's expelled from school and wanted for murder, she had to kill her boyfriend as soon as he got his soul back, and she's not on speaking terms with her mother - Buffy skips town. Roll credits.
By this point, Whedon knew he was bringing Angel back to spin him off into his own show. The return itself still basically amounts to "a wizard did it," but that doesn't really cheapen the emotional impact of this episode. Once Angel does return, his relationship with Buffy is forever altered and ultimately doomed.
This is one of the great season finales of the show (the other being "The Gift," if you had to ask). Note that it's not enough to just have Buffy kill the demon that's been walking around in her boyfriend's body for the last few months; he had to get his soul restored so she'd have to kill Angel, not Angelus. Yes, it seems strange that Willow can suddenly do high-level magic after getting knocked on the head, yes, the murder charges will be randomly dropped between seasons, and yes, absolutely no effort is made to mask the stunt doubles' faces during the sword-fight. But really, these are quibbles. Seeing Dru kill Kendra is a nice touch; throughout the entire season we've been hearing people say just how dangerous she is, and it's only here at the end where she shows us just what she can do. And Buffy has to let her go as part of her bargain with Spike. It's a shame it would take two and a half years for them to meet again, and even then it was only really as part of the Buffy/Spike story. But the main story, the conclusion of the Angelus arc and the final confrontation between him and Buffy, delivers on all levels.
10 out of 10.
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