Season 3, Episode 10
First Aired December 15, 1998
Ok, let me start by mentioning how hard it was to make these lists. There are so many great episodes from each show, and I guarantee that people will be wondering why certain episodes made the cut and others didn't. I think that I eventually went for more dramatic episodes than comedic ones (although I cut a dramatic episode from the Angel list to include "Smile Time"). Also, if I can justify including two episodes together as a two-parter, I do that. Anyway, here we go!
"Amends" was important because it showed us just how much Angelus' deeds tore at Angel's soul and it introduced us to the First Evil, who would go on to be the Big Bad in the seventh and final season. The episode divulged very little information about the First in order to keep it mysterious, (this also allowed for it to reemerge in Season 7 without revealing itself too soon). The First spent most of the episode in the form of Jenny Calendar, who Angelus killed the year before, and it tried to goad Angel into killing Buffy. Angel sensed he was weak, so to avoid doing the unthinkable, he decided to kill himself.
I'll come back to that in a second, but the episode was also about Willow and Oz rebuilding their relationship after Oz and Cordelia walked in on Xander and Willow kissing (they were Spike's prisoners at the moment, so adrenaline was coursing through their bodies). Willow tried to overcompensate by offering herself to Oz, and Oz reaffirmed that he is a different kind of rock-n-roller when he told her that he didn't want her to feel compelled. That's not exactly sexy.
Buffy and Angel, meanwhile, have spent most of the season trying to deal with the fact that Angel is back in Sunnydale. After Angelus' reign of terror in Season 2, Buffy was forced to send him to hell, only to end up sending ANGEL when Willow restored his soul. Things got even more complicated when Buffy's friends found about Angel's return; Xander had almost limitless ammunition for his not-exactly-irrational hatred of Angel, and Giles, who had once trusted the vampire with a soul, could barely stand hearing Angel's name. But Buffy showed just how much Angel mattered to her... and Angel returned the favor, even his his method was a little extreme. The episode ended in a rather unexpected manner, and became pretty much the only Buffy Christmas episode (I think the only other episode that used the holiday as part of the plot was a Season 7 episode in which Buffy realized that the First was back).
Up next: Gleeful...
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