The short? An important and satisfying episode in more ways than one. It puts a closer on the high school years as well as setting up Buffy's future love life with the Buffy/Angel Break Up. Full review below the cut.

Plot

Bad Guy

Arc

Overall (8/10)

Best Moment

We finally get The Break-Up.

At the beginning, we see that Buffy is settling in, working on progressing her relationship with Angel. She suggests he gets mirrors for her and maybe even a drawer. All reasonable steps for a young girl in a serious relationship.

Except, however, that she's not in a relationship with another human. She's with a vampire. He's been around for over 200 years. He doesn't understand the importance of the prom or of other things that are important to young girls. He also realizes the truth that Buffy isn't willing to think about. While they may be happy together now, as Buffy grows older, obstacles will come up that will change things.

Notice Buffy's conversation with Willow after Angel breaks up with her. She knows he's right. She knows, but she doesn't care. However, Angel made the choice for her.

In breaking up with her, Angel urges her to find a normal, human guy that she can be with. This final wish of his to her will drive her to Parker in the beginning of S4 and later to Riley.

In true Slayer fashion, when Buffy has an emotional crisis, she dives into her work. She becomes fanatical about making sure that everybody else has a good prom experience. The hell hounds are just secondary to everything else going on in the episode. Buffy takes them out with ease and makes it to the prom.

In one of the most satisfying scenes of the season (Hell, of the first three years), Buffy is given the "Class Protector" award by Jonathan.

Considering the isolation Buffy has felt as the Slayer and the lack of recognition that comes from having a secret identity, it's wonderful to watch her be awarded for what she's done for her school. It's especially fitting that it come from Jonathan, the guy who very nearly died so often over the years, only to be saved by Buffy time and time again. It's an affirmation of who she is and what she's done, and it's a wholly appropriate scene to have at the end of this season.

We've seen for the past several episodes that Angel has been having his doubts as to his relationship with Buffy.

Let's put aside the vampire thing for a second and focus on the older man/young girl dynamic between the two of them. While Angel may look young, he's over two centuries old. It's not unreasonable to compare this to a man in his 50s dating a teenage girl.

He isn't from her time. He doesn't understand the things that are important to her (Such as the prom). She's still growing up while he's remaining stationary age-wise. These are not trivial issues, and it's something that has been bothering Angel. He loves her. But he can't fully understand her because he's past the age she is. This is highlighted when he finds her spiral in his place, and she's written the rather girlish "Buffy & Angel 4ever!". Mature relationship? Not quite.

Now bring the vampire part into the equation. Buffy will age. Her priorities will change. She may not want children now, but she may later. Angel can't give her children (Though, there are other ways for Buffy to get pregnant but these are never brought up). Even more importantly, they can't have sex. Buffy claims she doesn't care, but she will. It's not realistic to pretend that she'll be forever happy with a chaste relationship.

And as Buffy ages, Angel won't. Presuming she doesn't die young as a Slayer, she'll grow older while Angel remains the same age. It may not seem like a big deal, but remember the Mayor's words about his wife dying, senile and cursing him for his youth. It will be a big deal.

This is illustrated in Angel's dream about his wedding with Buffy (Now, couldn't he have dreamed a better wedding dress for her?). After the ceremony, it's not Angel that catches on fire, but Buffy. He believes that being with him will destroy her.

This is only further exacerbated by the Mayor's words and by Joyce's urgings.

In concern for Buffy's future, he calls things off.

Smart thing to do? Yes. He has legitimate reasons for it.

But I do take issue with it. For one, he already dove into the relationship. I don't think he should have in the first place, but he showed a decided lack of maturity in getting involved with Buffy at such a young age. Now that he's with her, they're happy for the time-being.

Buffy is willing to continue the relationship. She knows that obstacles will come up, but she's willing to try to deal with them as they do. That's not good enough for Angel. He takes the decision out of her hands and makes it for her. In this season where Buffy fights against authority, she has her boyfriend taking her authority away from her and forcing his decision on her against her wishes. He leaves under the guise of it being "for her own good" when he's really the one with the issues. Buffy wants to give the relationship a try, despite the difficulties. Angel doesn't. Angel tries to turn it into a magnanimous gesture, when it's not. This, I'm not too fond of. And he could really pick better timing. I know he doesn't give a flip about the prom, but he could at least recognize that it's important to Buffy.

Angel decides that Buffy needs to be with a normal guy and leaves her. He doesn't take her feelings or thoughts into consideration. It's his choice to walk away. And that's just not fair to Buffy. After everything they've been through, Buffy deserves some say in the continuation of their relationship.

But kudos to him for going to the prom after all.

Xander had been annoying me with his jealousy of Wesley for the past couple episodes. But he redeems himself here with his genuinely nice treatment of Cordelia.

It does make you realize that the jealousy is borne out of the feelings he still has for her. He still cares for Cordelia and, when he hears about her predicament, he steps in to help her out. It's very sweet.

We'll see a similar pattern later after he jilts Anya by leaving her at the altar in S6. He will, likewise, show jealousy over Anya and will be very unreasonable in his treatment of her considering what he did to her. However, in S7's Selfless, he will try to defend her from Buffy and will offer to be there for her at the end. It is in these moments that Xander shows that he is a nice guy and redeems himself.

Additionally, he takes Anya to the prom. He doesn't like Anya. But he doesn't have anybody else to go with. This is important as Anya will come back in S4 to start a relationship with him based on this.

Willow:

Willow gets to play the supportive best friend. It's interesting that when she's playing the best friend to Buffy, she doesn't tell Buffy what she's thinking or even the truth of the situation. She attempts to tell Buffy what she thinks Buffy wants to hear. It's only when Buffy breaks down and says that Angel's right that Willow concedes that she thinks so, too.

This from the girl that spent most of S2 spouting out about how Angel and Buffy are "so right for each other".

Giles:

We get a bit of uptight!Giles at the beginning where he's getting onto the group for being concerned about the prom with the Mayor's upcoming Ascension looming over their heads. It seems that, when there's a big threat, he still doesn't feel the need to have leisure-time. We'll see this again in S7's First Date where he rather harshly chastises the group for going on dates when the First Evil is threatening them.

After Buffy's insistence, though, Giles doesn't mention it anymore and, indeed, goes to the prom as well. He has a nice moment with Buffy where she tells him that Angel is leaving her.

Cordelia:

And now we find out why Cordy is working in the shop. Her dad made a few small errors on his taxes, and she's now completely broke. So she's working to try to pay for a dress to the prom.

Thankfully for her, Mr. Harris steps in to be a gentleman.

She makes it to the prom, looking fabulous, and dances with Wesley.

Oz:

Oz is cool. He doesn't do too much. He looks adorable in a tux.

Anya:

Anya, though not quite resigned to being a human, is trying to adjust. She's especially finding it difficult to deal with human emotions.

Her pesky human emotions are telling her she needs a date to the prom. So she goes to ask the guy she tried to perform vengeance on earlier in the season.

Huh?

Anya has a low opinion of all men. Better the enemy you know, right?

She leaves Xander little choice in taking her to the prom. And when they go, she regales him with stories of her days as a vengeance demon.

I'll preface what I'm about to say by stating that I find Anya to be hilarious. Even when she's talking about past crimes. It's done with good humor, and Emma Caulfield is an excellent comic actress.

But why is nobody distressed that Xander is taking a woman who has spent the past 1000 years brutally murdering men to the prom? It's played as a joke, but it seems very strange that they don't make mention of it too much. True, Willow shows some animosity towards Anya. But Xander doesn't look horrified by what Anya is saying at the prom. He just looks kinda overwhelmed and regretful that he brought her.

I can't imagine them being so nonchalant about Xander taking a vampire to the prom. But it's almost the same principle. Anya was a demon. She's not now, no. But the crimes she perpetuated don't just disappear. Plus, she had a soul when she was a demon, so this isn't a case of "the demon gets a soul so all's forgiven".

Additionally, she doesn't feel any remorse. Indeed, she seems to be pining for the "good old days" and would likely disembowel the next male she saw if given the chance.

This will be more pronounced in S4 when Anya becomes Xander's girlfriend. I'll explore the double-standard and Anya's apparent immunity to the "demons are evil" concept later.

Plot:

Well, some guy (Andrew's brother) is training some hell hounds to attack the school prom. That's really secondary to the Angel/Buffy Break Up.

Bad Guy:

Andrew's brother (Some guy named Tucker)

Arc:

Not an arc episode.

Overall:

I wasn't expecting to like this episode as much as I did. The plot is thin, but they know it (Note the funnily lame motivation of Tucker). The plot's not the point of the episode. This episode gives wonderful closure to the high school chapter of BtVS. It's a very satisfying episode, and it includes the very important Buffy/Angel Break Up.

Special performance award goes to Nicholas Brendon for the sock puppet of love. Makes me laugh.

8 out of 10.

(About my scoring system)

Best Moment:

I'm gonna cop-out and give a tie here.

1) Jonathan awarding Buffy with the Class Protector Award. It's extremely gratifying to see our hero be recognized after all these years, and you can tell how pleased Buffy is by it. It's good closure for the season.

2) Angel breaking up with Buffy. Probably not a pleasant scene for Buffy/Angel shippers to watch, but it speaks the honest truth about their relationship. Additionally, it sets up the framework for Buffy's future attempts at relationships.