Angel’s dreams are haunted by images of people he’s killed over the years as a vampire. A powerful force called the First Evil takes on the form of Jenny Calendar and tries to convince Angel to kill Buffy. Believing that he isn’t strong enough to fight his evil nature, Angel waits outside for the sun to rise and kill him. Buffy finds him and tries to convince him not to die, but just as she is giving up, it starts to snow - a first in Sunnydale - thus preventing Angel from being burned by the sunlight.
| Airdate: | 15 December 1998 |
| Writer: | Joss Whedon |
| Director: | Joss Whedon |
| Cast: |
Xander: "Angel? Weird? What are the odds?"
Behind the Scenes Trivia
Bodily harm
The following dialogue was cut from Amends:
Joyce: “You know, honey, I was thinking – maybe we should invite Faith to spend Christmas Eve with us.”
Buffy: “I’ll ask her. Worst she can do is – well, the worst she can do is serious bodily harm, but she’ll probably just say no.”
Christmas monster
The Mutant Enemy monster seen at the end of the credits is altered in the episode Amends. He wears a Santa cap, and there are bells jingling in the background.
Other titles
Amends had at least two other titles before Joss Whedon decided what to call it: ‘Old Enemies, Dead Enemies‘ and ‘A Buffy Christmas’.
Possessed Jenny
Robia LaMorte said at a Buffy Convention (The Harvest, London, June 2003) that she didn’t like playing Possessed-Jenny in The Dark Age because of her religious beliefs, but that it was fun to be sexy for a while. She also hated playing the First Evil in Amends and really didn’t want to come back unless her character was good.
Cast and Crew Trivia
Cornelia Hayes O’Herlihy
Cornelia Hayes O’Herlihy played Margaret, the servant girl Angel tried to kill in Amends. She previously played Jane Spencer in Diana: Her True Story. Serena Scott Thomas, who played Gwendolyn Post in Revelations, played Diana in the same TV movie.
Mark Kriski
Mark Kriski played the weatherman in the episode Amends. He is the real-life weatherman for KTLA’s morning news. KTLA is the L.A. affiliate of the WB Network. He has appeared as a weatherman in Gangland, Chairman of the Board, Speed, Speed 2: Cruise Control, 7th Heaven and The Jackie Thomas Show. On the same subject, David Boreanaz’s father is a weatherman.
Character Trivia
Daniel
Daniel was a young man killed by Angelus the night before his wedding. The First Evil used Daniel’s form to taunt Angel in Amends.
Continuity
Angel flashbacks
We get to see some more flashbacks to Angel’s earlier days in the episode Amends, only marred by his really bad Irish accent and Tom Selleck-style moustache. We see him in Dublin, Ireland in 1838 (where he killed a man named Daniel on the night before his wedding, and also where he murdered a maid). We also see a business man who seems to have been killed fairly recently (probably when Angelus reappeared in season two).
Barry and 7-Up
Willow tries to seduce Oz in Amends using Barry White and chilled 7-Up. The two finally sleep together for the first time in Graduation Day (Part 1).
Being Jenny Calendar
Jenny Calendar appeared on the show twice after Angel killed her in Passion. The first time was when Drusilla cast a spell on Giles, manifesting herself as Jenny in Becoming Part Two, and the second was when the First Evil took her form in Amends.
Bringers’ symbol
In Amends, the Bringers’ symbol is made up of bones, stones and candles. It looks like the symbol on the Seal of Danzalthar under Sunnydale High in season seven.
By the Sun Cinema
As Buffy and Angel walk through the snowy street in Amends, the shot starts with a close up on the inside of the U on the Sun Cinema sign. This is where Faith stands when she shoots Angel in Graduation Day (Part 1). In Enemies, Buffy and Angel stand outside the cinema again, when they’re joined by Faith.
Fat grandchildren
In Amends, the First as Jenny says, “I wanna die in bed surrounded by fat grandchildren, but guess that’s off the menu.” In Chosen, Buffy tells Angel, “No I don’t see fat grandchildren in the offing with Spike.”
Giles for Christmas
In Amends we see that Joyce is not comfortable with inviting Giles to Christmas dinner after the events of Band Candy, when they had sex.
It did once
In the Angel episode ‘The Price‘, Angel is holding a snow globe and says, “It never snows in California” to which Cordelia replies, “It did once.” This is a reference to Amends, when it snowed for the first time in Sunnydale history.
Snow in Sunnydale
The first time it ever snowed in Sunnydale was in the episode Amends.
You’ll drink her
The First as Jenny Calendar tells Angel in Amends, “Sooner or later, you will drink her”, meaning Buffy. He does: in Graduation Day (Part 2).
Music Trivia
Barry White
Willow plays Barry White’s ‘Can’t Get Enough of Your Love’ to try and seduce Oz in Amends.
Mythology Trivia
Diary of Lucious Temple
Giles gave Buffy Lucious Temple’s diary to research the First Evil in Amends. Lucious Temple was an acolyte of Acathla and an expert on demons. He was also a keen gardener.
First Evil
The first, original evil had no physical shape, but could take on the form of dead people, including those who had been dead, such as Buffy. It couldn’t touch anything so couldn’t be fought physically, but it’s power lay in the way it could take on a form and persuade people to do what it wanted. The First came to Sunnydale in Amends to persuade Angel to kill Buffy. He was so horrified that he tried to kill himself, but was saved by Buffy and a handy snowfall.
The First was able to enter this dimension due to a fault in the Slayer line, which Anya worked out in Showtime must have been when the Scoobies brought Buffy back to life in season six. It began to torment the Scoobies with visions of dead people, and Buffy realised in Never Leave Me what she was facing. The First’s plan was to build up an army of Turok-Han, who would kill humans and when the balance had shifted the First could then take on a physical form and rule the world. Buffy defeated the First’s army by giving all potential Slayers their power, and using an amulet given to her by Angel. This destroyed Sunnydale in the process, but not the First which can never be killed.
References
Abilene
One of the movies playing at the cinema in Amends is Abilene, which was not released until March 13, 1999 - three months after the episode aired. Carey Meyer, who was the production designer for Buffy, was also the designer for Abilene, so the movie’s reference is a little in-joke by Carey.
Dr. Seuss
In Amends, Buffy says, “Tree. Nog. Roast Beast.” This is a reference to How The Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss in which Roast Beast is the traditional Christmas dinner.
Evil Dead
Sam Raimi’s Evil Dead trilogy, starring Bruce Campbell, is alluded to a few times in Buffy. In Amends, the First screams, “Dead by sunrise”, which could be a nod to the subtitle of Evil Dead 2, namely, “Dead by Dawn”. In Crush, Xander says to Spike, “Hey evil dead you’re in my seat”. In Conversations with Dead People, Buffy says, “Yeah, what I really need is emotional therapy from the evil dead.” In Deep Down, Gunn says, “Evil Dead was probably just messing with us.”
The scene in Restless in which Xander is being pursued by the first Slayer down a long corridor (eventually leading to his parents’ basement) is highly reminiscent of a similar scene in The Evil Dead, in which Ash (Bruce Campbell) is being chased by the entity. Another visual reference to Evil Dead can be seen in After Life. The scene in which Anya become possessed is similar to a scene in the movie in which Linda (Ash’s girlfriend) gets possessed by evil spirits.
Sam Raimi was executive producer of Sarah Michelle Gellar’s hit movie The Grudge.
The Sun
Buffy mentions the trashy British tabloid “newspaper” The Sun in Amends.
Goofs
Seen at 01.49 minutes:
Despite the numerous mentions of how hot it is, many characters are still wearing coats and warm clothes.
Seen at 02.02 minutes:
In Amends, Angel wakes up from a nightmare and goes walking in Sunnydale’s main street. At one point he walks past a guy dressed as Santa Claus. The image in this scene has obviously been reversed - made very obvious by the backwards ‘OPEN’ sign in a shop window, and the reversed number 5125 over a doorway.
Seen at 05.10 minutes:
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.
Seen at 19.49 minutes:
The First Evil cannot touch (discovered in Amends and in season seven), yet the First/Jenny clearly touches Angel.
Seen at 41.49 minutes:
The snow settles too quickly, and there are loads of footprints in it, considering it fell just before dawn.
Quotes
Buffy: "Vampires probably not that big on Christmas, now that I think about it."
Xander: "Angel? Weird? What are the odds?"
Jenny: "I wanna die in bed surrounded by fat grandchildren, but guess that's off the menu."
Jenny: "You don't have the strength to kill yourself."
Angel: "I don't need strength. I just need the sun to rise."
Angel: "Because I want you so badly! I want to take comfort in you, and I know it'll cost me my soul, and a part of me doesn't care."