SEASON TWO

This season begins with the introduction of Spike and Drusilla. Drusilla was a pure, chaste girl who was tortured and driven insane by Angel (or “Angelus”) before he was cursed with his soul. As a vampire, she is cruel and sadistic but very weak. She is also given to prophetic visions, although her insanity ensures that they don’t always make sense. She and Spike are lovers, and Spike wants to restore her to full strength. He is a punk, rebellious vampire with no patience for ritual, and he shares a twisted, sadomasochistic relationship with Drusilla that is nevertheless tinged with affection.

Spike and Drusilla’s relationship serves as a mirror image of Buffy and Angel’s—whose romantic interest grows into love over the first half of Season Two. Everyone seems to be succeeding in love during the early part of this season—Willow finds a new boyfriend, Oz, who epitomizes “cool” despite being a werewolf three nights of the month. Giles begins dating Jenny Calendar. Even Xander finds a strange version of love with Cordelia. But Buffy and Angel are the romantic focus of this season. Despite their wrong-side-of-the-tracks romance, they seem perfect for each other, but things completely fall apart when they make love for the first time. The sexual act removes Angel’s curse, and he reverts to his evil state—becoming the main villain for the second season. Unlike the Master, who was only a physical threat to Buffy, Angel attacks her on a deep emotional level. Buffy must struggle with and overcome her feelings for Angel, bringing herself to the point where she is willing to kill the man she loves. Angel, meanwhile, does everything possible to destroy Buffy and her friends emotionally, including killing Jenny Calendar and leaving her in Giles’s bed on the night Giles thought they were going to make love.

The end result is that Willow—who begins practicing witchcraft after Jenny Calendar’s death—tries to replicate the curse and restore Angel’s soul, while Buffy goes off to kill him before he can unleash a demon and destroy the world. Willow’s curse works at the last minute. But it is too late, and Buffy must kill the ensouled Angel to prevent the world from ending: “I told him I loved him, and then I kissed him, and then I killed him” (“Faith, Hope, and Trick”). The season ends with Buffy running away from home and leaving Sunnydale behind her.

--Jonathan Edwards