I've just watched G2, and Wow! I can't believe it's actually over. He's really left her. Sob! :o(

OK, I absolutely LOVED the A/B blood-suckage scene and it's aftermath in the hospital. Woah, the sexual connotations there; Joss really does know how to satisfy his fans without giving them what they actually want, huh? ;-> It was a sort of a realisation of the dream sequence in "Amends", huh? I'm glad that the only truly visual and detailed scene of a vampire feeding that we've ever seen, was that of our Angel on his Slayer. There's something so poignant about that. I've always felt that Buffy doesn't love Angel as much as he does her (in the sense that no one could ever equal his love), but I guess her willingness to sacrifice herself for him, proves just how deep her feelings are.

But oh my god, poor poor Angel. The man finally decides to leave so that he no longer causes his love harm, and then the day before his departure, he almost kills her to save his own sorry unlife. The guilt this guy must be suffering. And bigmouth Xander didn't make things any better; Angel looked so beaten, so hopeless when X laid the guilt trip on him. Thank god for Giles and his understanding. I can understand completely what was going through Angel's mind; this was the final straw; he had proven to himself that Buffy's life would be much better without him. Perhaps in some ways this was the worst thing he'd ever done to her; because this time, it wasn't the demon doing the damage - it was the soul, Angel.

I'm still a little unsure of Buffy's reaction to her almost-death. Was she upset that Angel would put her through so much pain, that he had almost killed her? Or maybe it was because even after they had shared that incredible experience, he was still going to leave her. She had to harden her heart or be killed by it.

Nice closure in the dream with Faith. Notice how the cat metaphosised into Faith? Pretty clever. And the knife disappears. I read somewhere that the talk about "Who's going to take care of him?" etc was a reference to Angel. There are plenty of double meanings in that dream, I'm sure. I'm glad Joss didn't kill Faith off; the second slayer is born scene was getting old. Plus, y'know how I lurve Faith. She and Buff had a really cool relationship, and they looked damn fine together! ;0)

The last B/A scene was perfect. It symbolised their entire relationship; no words were ever necessary. I'm glad there was no final goodbye. No closure means the door of hope remains open. And you've probably heard that Buffy will be making an appearance on the Angel series in the eighth episode? Woo-hoo!!!

I like how the Mayor seemed so attatched to Faith; it gave his character another dimension that pulled him out of the stereotypical bad guy to the more human image of evil that Joss is aiming for. Interesting to note that throughout the series, the bad guys have been getting more and more 'human'; from the demonic nature of the Master, to the lovers Spike and Dru, to the father/public figure of the Mayor. I wonder what we'll see next. I have to say though, I thought the Ascension thing was kinda lame. After such a big build up, I was expecting something mindblowing, but this seemed just like yer everyday type of demon fight. It was really too easy for Buff and the gang to save the day. And I think the thing about Faith being used as the Mayor's weakness would have been much more effective if he was still in human form. Oh well, we had good Angel action, so I'm not complaining. For more on our honey in this ep, read this

Dana