Revelations

These snapshots may contain SPOILERS for the entire series, so if for some reason you haven't yet seen some of the episodes and do not want to know what is going on, read no further.
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Xander finds out about Angel's return to Sunnydale and promptly informs the gang who confront Buffy with the fear that he may turn evil again. Meanwhile Faith finds herself under the wing of a new Watcher, Gwendolyn Post, a prim and proper Englishwoman who seems to be intent on showing up Giles at every turn.

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Giles: Be quiet. I won't remind you that the fate of the world often lies with the Slayer. What would be the point? Nor shall I remind you that you've jeopardized the lives of all that you hold dear by harboring a known murderer. But sadly, I must remind you that Angel tortured me... for hours... for pleasure. You should have told me he was alive. You didn't. You have no respect for me, or the job I perform.


Great character development, good dialogue and a good plot.

While the title is "Revelations," it's really about about the lies they reveal. Buffy, Willow, Xander, and Gwendolyn all tell lies.

Buffy's lie of omission first. Her lie is what drives this episode. Why does she lie about Angel being back? At first she's confused since he's all feral. She doesn't know if his experience in the demon dimension changed him. I can see why she wants to wait until he's civlized again. But by this episode, she's clear on things. And she realizes how dangerous the situation is by just being near Angel. Their temptation is strong and the two of them seem to lack willpower.

Is Buffy afraid of what her friends will do? I don't think so. Buffy's lie is a sign of her growing maturity. In the past, Buffy has always rushed into things. And this is almost always bad. So now she's changing. She's waiting until she is sure about Angel, about how she feels about him, about what she wants to do about him. And then, when she's ready, she'll tell the others. Unfortunately she doesn't get the chance.

Willow is pretty much the opposite of Buffy. Intellectual where Buffy is physical. Studious where Buffy is playful. Quiet where Buffy is outgoing. Cautious where Buffy is daring. But now she has rushed into something, her relationship with Xander, and for the first time we see her lying to her friends.

Willow's lie is an attempt to avoid facing the truth. While Buffy was waiting, trying to work things out, Willow seems merely to be fighting a delaying action. Until she actually tells someone what has happened, she can continue to believe nothing happened. That it was just a fluke.

Xander's motivation is the most complex and the most serious. Xander hates Angel. And his hatred of Angel is symptomatic of his deeply conflicted feelings. Originally, he disliked Angel because of their competition over Buffy. Since then, he has Cordelia and now is entangled with Willow. For a high school loser, Xander is doing pretty well for himself. But he's also the least mature of these three.

Buffy's response to this problem is to put things on hold while she tries to sort everything out. Willow lies to herself. But Xander moves back to the time when he loved Buffy and hated Angel. So, he tells Faith about Angel.

Now we come to Gwendolyn Post, a one time Watcher who got mixed up in the black arts. Now she seeks power for herself. She engages in a whole of web of lies. She lies to everyone. But her worst lies are to Faith. Faith is in a emotionally fragile state. She is incapable of trusting others. But she does put her faith in Gwendolyn. When Gwendolyn tells her that while she shall be hard in training her, it will make her a better slayer, she believes. When she sees Angel and Gwendolyn fighting, she immediately knows which side to take. When Buffy intervenes, she's willing to fight Buffy to protect her watcher. Then she discovers that Gwendolyn lied.

Buffy's lie almost cost Angel his life. It almost allowed Gwendolyn to get the glove. Willow's lie is causing her distress. Xander's lie almost led to tragedy and is stopping him from dealing with the real issues. Gwendolyn's lie pushed Faith back into the emotional isolation which, through her friendship with Buffy, she had almost escaped. At the end of the episode, we see Faith sitting in her room, watching TV, letting Buffy know that she trusts no one. Not even Buffy. Too hurt, too isolated, to respond to Buffy's attempt at reaching out to her.

On a sidenote, after Faith and Buffy duke it out, they actually look pretty beat up. Buffy has a bruise around her eye and Faith has a swollen lip. While vampires and demons aren't always able to mark up a slayer it appears another slayer can.



Foreshadowing
Buffy and Faith fighting - "Graduation Day part 1"





My views/status of characters;
Buffy - like
Willow - like
Xander - like
Giles - like
Cordelia - like
Spike - absent
Angel - neutral
Oz - like

Overall I consider this a very good episode compared to the rest of the season.