Two to Go (21 May 2002)

After killing Warren, Dark Willow tries to track-down Andrew and Jonathan. Meanwhile, in Africa, Spike battles against a numerous amount of foes to try to get his chip removed.

Director:

Bill L. Norton

Writers:

Joss Whedon (creator), Douglas Petrie

Stars:

Sarah Michelle Gellar, Nicholas Brendon, Emma Caulfield

Cast

Episode cast overview:
Sarah Michelle Gellar	...	Buffy Summers
Nicholas Brendon	...	Xander Harris
Emma Caulfield	...	Anya
Michelle Trachtenberg	...	Dawn Summers
James Marsters	...	Spike
Alyson Hannigan	...	Willow Rosenberg
Danny Strong	...	Jonathan Levinson
Tom Lenk	...	Andrew Wells
Jeff Kober	...	Rack
Anthony Head	...	Rupert Giles (as Anthony Stewart Head)
James Charles Leary	...	Clem (as James C. Leary)
Jeff McCredie	...	Officer
Damian Mooney	...	Patrol Cop
Michael Younger	...	Truck Driver
Steven W. Bailey	...	Cave Demon

Storyline

After killing Warren, Dark Willow tries to track-down Andrew and Jonathan to kill them, which prompts Buffy to rescue them from their jail cell and hide them at the Magic Shop thus putting herself in the unlikely (and unlikable to both her friends and the viewers) role of nerd/villain protector since Buffy is the only one who believes it's wrong to kills humans regardless of how evil or murderous they are. Meanwhile in Africa, Spike battles against the first of several foes to earn the return of his soul.

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Plot Keywords:

lesbian | heroine | hero gone bad | sister sister relationship | female protagonist

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Genres:

Action | Drama | Fantasy

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Certificate:

TV-14

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

21 May 2002 (USA)

Filming Locations:

1800 Stewart St., Santa Monica, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Mutant Enemy, Kuzui Enterprises, Sandollar Television

Technical Specs

Runtime:

41 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

When Spike faces his opponent in the test, he remarks, "Here we are now, entertain us," which is a quote from the Nirvana song "Smells Like Teen Spirit".

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Goofs

Andrew puts his sword on Xander's throat, and you can clearly hear a sound of the sword been pulled out of a scabbard. However, Andrew already had his sword up. A couple of shots later, Jonathon puts his sword against Andrew's neck; same thing.

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Quotes

Xander: Look, we both know things might get ugly at, uh, Wiccapalooza and if it gets really bad...
Anya: Let me guess, you'll propose?
Xander: I need to know if you're gonna turn on me. Use this little shindig as an excuse for some sweet revenge.
Anya: There is nothing in this world that would give me greater or more lasting satisfaction than to reap bloody vengeance upon you, Xander Harris. But I can't. Not officially. Not magically. So, smile, it's your lucky day. You got away with it. I can't hurt you.
Xander: Right, 'cause ...
[...]

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Connections

References Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999)

User Reviews

A hopeless flaw.

This for me was the least engaging of the series finals. The world is endangered again. Okay, they did that in season 1, 2, 3 . . . and I guess that's a hard one to top every time.

My main problem, though, is with making Willow the agent of the Apocalypse. Not that I think Willow was too nice to do it. I know this is fantasy and all, but am I supposed to believe that getting powerful enough to destroy the universe takes less time than getting your Bachelors' Degree? Without any "gift" like Buffy's or grant from something powerful? I accept the Buffy fantasy overall, but if this were true, somebody would have destroyed it by the 10th century, by accident. Even if Willow "stole" the power late in the show, she did it magically, with little effort, and as a witch with only six years experience this was just unbelievable. I must have missed the episode where Willow is sucked into a time-slow dimension and studies magic for a thousand years without the Scoobies knowing. It would have fixed this whole thing.

Well, not completely. There were other flaws less glaring. I thought it was unintended irony that Xander would become the heavy-handed Christ figure in this (the carpenter reference must not have been lost even on Xander) after earlier arguing why they shouldn't save Warren.

Which brings up another problem: Buffy's moral arguments all through this sound very thin and trite. When she fights Willow, she has nothing interesting say. The dialog then is just very flat, so atypical of this show. Not only did Willow kick her ass, but she won the argument, too.

There are a few good parts. Giles' entrance for one. Anya's knowledge and teleporting around does add a dimension here and makes her good for something. The show has other things to recommend it.

But it just wasn't a very good story idea.