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"Passion" is the seventeenth episode of season two of television show Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the twenty-ninth episode in the series. Written by Ty King and directed by Michael E. Gershman, it was originally broadcast on February 24, 1998, on The WB network.

Synopsis[]

IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT — Angel's obsession with tormenting Buffy takes a dangerous turn when he starts edging closer to her heart — and home, forcing Buffy to have a serious talk with her mom. Meanwhile, Jenny is doing everything in her power to right her wrongs, especially the one with Giles.[1]

Summary[]

At the Bronze, Buffy and Xander dance while Angel watches from across the room. His voice narrates the concept of "passion." Xander turns his head to look in his direction, but Angel is no longer there. When Buffy, Willow, Xander, and Cordelia leave the Bronze, they unknowingly pass Angel miming an embrace with his victim, his vamp face hidden in the neck of the girl he drains, then drops. Back home getting ready for bed, Buffy peers out into the darkness from her window and sees nothing. When she turns out the light and slides under the covers, Angel is outside, watching her through the open blinds. After Buffy drifts off, Angel enters her room and strokes a lock of hair back from her face. He sits on the bed beside her and his voice completes his reflection on "passion."

The next morning, Buffy wakes to find a parchment envelope on her pillow, containing a drawing of herself asleep. At the library before class, Buffy tells Giles about the drawing and asks if there's a spell to reverse Angel's invitation into her house. Leaving the library when Jonathan and another student arrive to request books, Buffy and the others continue to discuss Angel's intentions. Because Angel has access to her house even when she's not there, Buffy wants to tell her mother the truth so she can protect herself until the reversal spell is in place. Giles vetoes this, urging Buffy not to be goaded by any of Angel's ploys.

In Ms. Calendar's computer class, Jenny asks Willow to cover for her if she happens to be late the next morning. Willow is delighted to oblige. Buffy arrives to fetch Willow then Giles and Jenny get a moment alone. Hearing that Giles seeks a spell to revoke the vampire's invitations, Jenny gives him a book she knows he doesn't have. She then takes the opportunity to explain that she was raised by the people Angel hurt most, and she lied to Giles and Buffy because she thought it was the right thing to do. She didn't know she would fall in love with Giles. Jenny goes on to say she wants to make everything up to him. Giles replies that he's not the one Jenny needs to make it up to.

Over supper that evening, Joyce asks Buffy to tell her what's wrong, and Buffy decides to give her a sanitized version of her trouble with Angel. Her mom then says: "Don't tell me. He's changed. He's not the same guy you fell for," and Buffy agrees. Buffy further explains that she'll talk to Angel if he shows up, but that Joyce shouldn't invite him in the house.

Later that night, Willow talks on the phone to Buffy as she gets ready for bed. She putters around the room, sprinkles fish food into the tank, then notices a parchment envelope on her bed. She picks it up and opens it. The phone drops from her shoulder as she pulls out a long string threaded with her fishes. Willow spends the remainder of the night clutching a very sharp stake at Buffy's, with garlic ropes adorning the bed frame. Buffy tells Willow she can't stop wanting to turn to Angel whenever there's a crisis and acknowledges this Angel is completely different from the one she knew. Willow replies: "Well, sort of. Except you're still the only thing he thinks about."

Early that morning at their factory lair, Drusilla brings Spike a puppy to eat. Sat in his wheelchair, Spike objects to being treated like a child. Angel arrives and teases Spike, making him jealous with Drusilla. She then has a vision that an old enemy is seeking help to destroy their "happy home."

Before school, Jenny goes to the Dragon's Cove magic shop and buys an Orb of Thesulah, a spirit-vault for rituals of the undead. He tells her that without a translation of the Ritual of Restoration, the Orb is useless for its intended purpose — and that the store has a no-refunds policy. Jenny says she hopes soon to have a computer translation of the ancient Romanian liturgy. She tells the shopkeeper she plans to give a friend his soul back.

At school, Willow and Buffy meet up with Xander. Willow soon leaves to teach class, but she's disappointed to catch sight of Ms. Calendar arriving on time after all. Taking leave of Xander as well, Buffy hurries to confront Jenny. Jenny starts to apologize, but Buffy stops her. Explaining that she doesn't want him to be lonely, Buffy tells Jenny that Giles misses her. Buffy rushes and finds Giles passing out fliers in the lounge area. Cordelia joins them, and both girls are relieved to hear that he has found a simple spell with common ingredients that will revoke a vampire's invitation into anywhere it is performed. After school, Buffy and Cordelia help perform the protection spell in Willow's room. They find another parchment envelope on Willow's bed, with a drawing of Joyce asleep.

At the Summers residence, Joyce pulls into the driveway to find Angel waiting for her in the front yard. He tells her he can't forget Buffy, Joyce has to talk to her for him, and he can't live without her. As Joyce tries to get her key in the front door, Angel adds: "I haven't been able to sleep since the night we made love." As Buffy's mother stares up at him, the door opens and she rushes inside. Angel starts to follow but pulls up short, unable to cross the threshold. Buffy and Willow appear at the stairs, Willow chanting the final words of the reversal spell. Buffy says: "Sorry, Angel. Changed the locks," before closing the door again.

When Giles finds Jenny staying late at the school, she quickly clears her computer screen before he can see her "special project." She tells him what Buffy said to her earlier that day, and Giles deems Buffy a "meddlesome girl." When Jenny explains she needs to work a little while longer, but that she may have good news later, Giles invites her over to his place after she's finished.

After sunset, Drusilla, still carrying the puppy, pays a visit to the shopkeeper to ask what he and "the mean teacher talked about."

Jenny keeps working to translate the ritual's text into English. At last, she is successful and quickly saves the program to disk, then prints it out. Having ejected and set aside the backup disk, Jenny moves her chair so she can scan the printout. She jumps to see Angel sitting in the dark at the back of her classroom. Angel approaches her desk and picks up the Orb of Thesulah, ruminates a bit about its purpose, then pitches it against the chalkboard, smashing it. Musing next about the advances in technology over the past two and a half centuries, Angel pulls her computer, crashing it to the floor, then rips the Ritual of Restoration printout from the printer, tears it in two, and burns the pieces in the small electrical fire on the floor. Finding the door behind her desk locked, Jenny tries to dart past Angel to the room's other door, but he catches her and throws her through it. She scrambles up and runs. Jenny searches for a way out, but she finds all the doors in this wing locked. She flees down while Angel lopes after her. Jenny slams a door in his face then rams him with a cleaning cart. Reaching the floor above, Jenny looks for her pursuer behind her, when she runs into Angel's grasp. Chuckling, he holds her head and tells her: "Sorry, Jenny. This is where you get off." Angel snaps Jenny's neck.

At the Summers residence, Giles stops by to get the spell book to protect his own apartment and learns from Willow that Buffy is upstairs with her mom, discussing the news that Angel and Buffy have slept together. Giles wonders if he should intervene on Buffy's behalf. Willow says, "Sure! Like, what would you say?" As Giles thinks for a second, Willow opens the front door for him and he takes his leave. In Buffy's room, Joyce is trying to figure out what is going on with her daughter and this "too old," "obviously not very stable" Angel. Buffy confirms to her mom that Angel was her first. Joyce reassures Buffy that she loves her "more than anything in the world."

Giles arrives at his apartment to see one red rose on the front door and strains of opera music from inside. Opening the door, he finds an ice bucket on the desk, complete with champagne and a folded piece of parchment paper bearing one word: "Upstairs." Smiling and carrying the champagne, Giles follows a path of candles and roses to the top of the stairs. At his first glimpse of Jenny's corpse on the bed, the bottle of champagne smashes to the floor. Giles awaits outside until the police officer, following the coroner's people wheeling a laden stretcher, asks him to come in for questioning. Giles complies but asks to make a phone call first.

Angel lurks outside Buffy's house, his voice continuing to talk about "passion." As the phone rings, Angel watches the Slayer answer and sinks to the floor. He watches Willow take the phone, listen, and burst into sobs. Smiling, Angel slips back into the night. Having missed Giles at the police station, Cordelia and Xander drive to Buffy's house, where Buffy and Willow wait outside for them. Worried, the four of them drive to Giles' apartment. Meanwhile, Giles has gone back to his apartment to arm himself, but before the others can get there, he is out and away, leaving behind Angel's drawing of Jenny, dead. Piecing together evidence of Angel's set-up and Giles' intent, the four friends argue about what to do. Xander endorses Giles' plan to follow Angel to the factory, but Buffy knows seeking revenge will only get Giles killed.

At the factory, upon receiving the news, Spike states that an "incredibly brassed off" Slayer will inevitably seek bloody retribution. Reminding him that Jenny was trying to restore Angel's soul, Drusilla tries to defend Angel's actions, but Spike claims he actually prefers the old "Buffy-whipped" Angel to this new, near suicidal version. Just as Angel finishes saying: "Don't worry, Roller Boy. I've got everything under control," there's a crash and the dining table erupts in flame. The three vampires recoil and move to escape the fire. At the foot of the catwalk stairs, Angel suddenly jerks in surprise and tears a crossbow bolt from his shoulder. Tossing his now empty crossbow aside, Giles stalks the length of the room, lights a baseball bat as he passes the flaming table and, while Spike and Drusilla look on, uses it to deliver several blows on Angel. Drusilla goes to help, but Spike knows Angel isn't in any real danger and holds her back. When Giles raises the torch for a overhand chop, Angel grabs him by the throat and lifts him from the floor.

At that moment, Buffy enters the fray. Her first rush breaks Giles free of Angel's grasp and sends the vampire crashing backwards while Drusilla and Spike make a quick escape. Chasing Angel up onto the catwalk, the Slayer gets the upper hand over the already weakened vampire and thrashes him, until he asks if she's just going to let her "old man" burn. Buffy looks down and notice the unconscious Giles surrounded by flames. As Angel boosts her over the rail and makes his own escape, Buffy jumps down, brings her Watcher to, and half-carries him from the building. Outside, Giles shouts: "Why did you come here? This wasn't your fight." Buffy punches him in the face, shouting: "Are you trying to get yourself killed?" Buffy follows him down to kneel on the ground and hugs him, both crying. She tells him: "You can't leave me. I can't do this alone."

Later that night, as Angel's voice concludes his reflection on "passion," Giles comes home and removes the crime scene tape from the door.

At day, Giles and Buffy stand beside a new grave. The headstone reads: "Jennifer Calendar." Buffy apologizes for not being able to kill Angel when she had the chance. She adds: "I wasn't ready. But I think I finally am. I can't hold onto the past anymore. Angel is gone. Nothing's ever going to bring him back."

Willow comes to stand in front of Jenny's desk. She announces to the class that, in Ms. Calendar's absence, she has been temporarily assigned to teach. Willow sets her books on the desk and Jenny's backup disk slides, falling between the desk and a filing cabinet.

Continuity[]

  • Upon being requested to replace Jenny in class, Willow asks if she can assign detention. Buffy asks the same thing on her first day as guidance counselor in "Beneath You."
  • Jonathan and another student come to the library to borrow books, the only people other than Owen in "Never Kill a Boy on the First Date" to do so.
  • An uninviting spell is performed at Buffy's and Willow's houses and on Cordelia's car. Angel was first invited into Buffy's house in "Angel," Willow's in "Lie to Me," and Cordelia's car in "Some Assembly Required." Buffy will invite Angel back into her house in "Lovers Walk."
  • Willow mentions that every Christmas, she goes over to Xander's house to watch the Charlie Brown Christmas special, and Xander dances the "Snoopy dance." In "The Replacement," Xander will do this dance to prove his identity.
  • Buffy also gives Giles the materials he needs to perform the uninviting spell at his place. Giles was never shown inviting Angel into his apartment in the first place (nor was Angel even shown in the apartment prior to this episode), with Giles simply mentioning that he had done so previously. Angel will be re-invited in the episode "Amends."
  • The shopkeeper mentions having sold an Orb of Thesulah as a paperweight. In "Becoming, Part One," it's revealed that Giles has been using his Orb as such.
  • The floppy disc containing the Ritual of Restoration will not be discovered by the Scoobies until "Becoming, Part One."
  • Jenny wonders how Angel got into her classroom, and he quotes the school's sign in Latin, which translates roughly to "Enter all ye who seek knowledge." Vampires do not need invitations into public places like schools, as seen in "Prophecy Girl" and "School Hard."
  • Although Jenny is killed in this episode, she has two further appearances as visions: in "Becoming, Part Two" when Drusilla hypnotizes Giles into thinking she's Jenny, and again in "Amends" as a manifestation of the First Evil.
  • Jenny is the fourth member of Sunnydale High staff to be killed throughout the series, after teachers Stephen Gregory and the She-Mantis in "Teacher's Pet," and principal Robert Flutie in "The Pack."
  • Angel will kill Giles in a manner reminiscent of Jenny's death in this episode, breaking his neck in front of an arch (Last Gleaming, Part Four).
  • The plot of Giles's personal attack on a Big Bad is again seen in "Tough Love" when Willow attacks Glory, without Buffy's knowledge, for attacking Tara. Both Willow and Giles are almost killed by the Big Bad, only to be saved by Buffy.
  • The factory is destroyed, its remains to be revisited in "Lovers Walk." Angel, Spike, and Drusilla will move to the Crawford Street mansion, first seen in "I Only Have Eyes for You."
  • Willow will continue to replace Jenny in class, as seen in "Go Fish." Buffy will recall Willow's teaching experience years later, in Time of Your Life, Part One.

Appearances[]

Individuals[]

Organizations and titles[]

Species[]

Locations[]

Objects[]

Rituals and spells[]

Death count[]

  • Unidentified girl, bitten by Angel.
  • Willow's three fish, killed by Angel.
  • Dog owner, killed by Drusilla (only mentioned).
  • Jenny Calendar, neck snapped by Angel.

Behind the scenes[]

Production[]

  • Angel gives a different speech from the one that was in the original script. The original version was as follows: "Passion, it is born, and though uninvited, unwelcome, unwanted like a cancer, it takes root. It festers. It bleeds. It scabs only to rupture, and bleed anew. It grows, it thrives until it consumes. It lives so, it must die in time. Passion, it drives some to distraction, some to despair, some to vengeance. It drives some to murder and others to madness. Passion is the source of hope and the cause of despair. It is the source of life and the cause of death."[2]
  • Angel incorrectly says that the sign in front of the school, in Latin, is "Formatia trans sicere educatorum," which means "Enter all ye who seek knowledge." The correct line is used in the Italian version dubbing: "Ingredit vos qui scienses querites."
  • When Buffy and Willow learn about Jenny's death, this is the unheard dialogue:[3]
    Willow: "So was it horrible?"
    Buffy: "It wasn't too horrible." (phone rings) "Hello?"
    Giles: "Buffy?"
    Buffy: "Giles! Hey, we finished the spe—"
    Giles: "Jenny… Ms. Calendar… She's been killed."
    Buffy: "What…?"
    Giles "It was Angel."
    Buffy drops the phone.
    Willow: "Buffy?" (she picks up the phone) "Giles?"
    Giles: "Willow. Angel's killed Jenny."
    Willow: "What? No… Oh… No…"
    Joyce: "Willow! My God, Buffy! What's wrong? Has something happened?"
  • The doors on Sunnydale High violate fire codes — they should open outwards and be set so that they're unlocked from the inside in case somebody needs to exit, such as when there's a fire or other emergencies — like they're being chased by a vampire.

Broadcast[]

  • "Passion" had an audience of 4.3 million households upon its original airing.[4]

Pop culture references[]

Goofs[]

  • The episode title appears as "Old Passion" on iTunes.

Music[]

International titles[]

  • Armenian: "Կիրք" (Passion)
  • Czech: "Vášeň" (Passion)
  • Finnish: "Intohimon Aave" (Ghost of Passion)
  • French: "La boule de Thésulah" (The Orb of Thesulah)
  • German: "Das Jenseits lässt grüßen" (Greetings from the Afterlife)
  • Hungarian: "Szenvedély" (Passion)
  • Italian: "Passioni" (Passions)
  • Japanese: "受難" (Passion)
  • Polish: "Pasja" (Passion)
  • Portuguese (Brazil): "Paixão" (Passion)
  • Romanian: "Pasiune" (Passion)
  • Russian: "Страсть" (Passion)
  • Spanish (Latin America): "Pasión" (Passion)
  • Spanish (Spain): "Pasión" (Passion)
  • Swedish: "Passion"

Adaptations[]

Gallery[]

[]

Quotes[]

Angel: "Passion... It lies in all of us. Sleeping, waiting, and though unwanted, unbidden. It will stir, open its jaws, and howl. It speaks to us, guides us... Passion rules us all. And we obey. What other choice do we have? Passion is the source of our finest moments; the joy of love, the clarity of hatred, and the ecstasy of grief. It hurts sometimes more than we can bear. If we could live without passion, maybe we'd know some kind of peace. But we would be hollow. Empty rooms, shuttered and dank... Without passion, we'd be truly dead."
Xander: "Does this look like a Barnes & Noble?"
Giles: "This is a school library, Xander."
Xander: "Since when?"
Spike: "We're supposed to kill the bitch, not leave gag gifts in her friend's beds."
Buffy: "It's so weird... Every time something like this happens, my first instinct is still to run to Angel. I can't believe it's the same person. He's completely different from the guy that I knew."
Willow: "Well, sort of, except..."
Buffy: "Except what?"
Willow: "You're still the only thing he thinks about."
Giles: "So Angel has decided to step up his harassment of you?"
Cordelia: "By sneaking in her room and leaving stuff at night? Why doesn't he just slit her throat or strangle her while she's sleeping or cut her heart out? What? I'm trying to help."
Giles: "Yes. Uh, uh, look, it's classic battle strategy to throw one's opponent off his game. He's just trying to provoke you. Uh, to taunt you, to goad you into some mishap of some sort."
Xander: "The 'nah-nah-nah-nah-nah' approach to battle?"
Giles: "Yes, Xander, once more you've managed to boil a complex thought down to its simplest possible form."

References[]

  1. "The Mortuary." Buffy The Vampire Slayer. Archived from the original on June 9, 2001.
  2. Ty King et al. The Script Book: Season Two, Volume 3. Simon & Schuster, November 2002.
  3. Christopher Golden and Nancy Holder, The Watcher's Guide, Volume 1. Pocket Books, October 1998.
  4. "Nielsen Ratings for Buffy's Second Season." Nielsen Ratings for Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, & Firefly. Archived from the original on April 13, 2008.
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