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Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Episode 6.21, "Two to Go"
Directed by Bill Norton
Written by Douglas Petrie
They say power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. So, here it is. It's the Buffy event that's been brewing on some level since Willow levitated that first pencil. Mousy, nerdy little Willow tasted the beginnings of a power, a kind of power that she'd never known before. It made her special and unique. It's a power that has led her to this point and is now out of control. Willow goes bad here, folks, and not just a little bad - she's pure evil.
At its heart, what's here is the story of a tormented person, a tormented person that just happens to command an unbelievable amount of magical power. For those that haven't been keeping up, here's a quick rundown of recent events. Following Willow and Tara's abrupt decision to get back together, Tara is critically wounded by a stray bullet fired by none other than Warren, leader of the geeky Trio. She dies almost instantly. In the aftermath of this tragedy, Willow turns to the dark side as it were. She absorbs all the magic she can get her hands on wanting nothing but vengeance for her fallen lover. Willow ultimately catches up with Warren, and we're treated with a truly terrifying sight. Willow toys with him until eventually tiring of it. In fact, she spouts out a phrase that most fans will recognize as a throw-back to an earlier episode that happens to feature an evil Willow as well. With the simple words, "Bored now", she nonchalantly flicks her wrist, and rips the skin from Warren's body before incinerating him. Just before vanishing and ending the show, she utters "One down."
The story immediately picks up where the previously mentioned episode leaves off in "Two to Go." The titular 'two to go' are Warren's lackeys Jonathan and Andrew both of whom are locked up safely in the ever capable hands of the Sunnydale Police Department. While the two weren't directly responsible for Tara's death, they had aided Warren before and in Willow's eyes are just as deserving of punishment. In a fairly decent showing of power, Willow arrives at the Police Station slinging a couple cops around. She then proceeds to bring down the wall that forms Jonathan and Andrew's cell brick by brick. While the police stand around impotently pointing their guns at Willow, she floats up to the cell only to find Jonathan and Andrew missing and the bars bent. Willow let's out a primal scream.
Jonathan and Andrew are with Buffy and are now on the street. Not knowing what to do now that Willow has, according to Andrew, gone "Dark Phoenix", Xander happens to pull up beside them in a police car he's acquired. Gotta love the sense of security these cops instill in you.
Xander, in the driver's seat, speeds away down a deserted highway in the stolen police cruiser. Shortly thereafter, Willow catches up to the escapees. Only now, she's riding on top of a semi controlling the driving magically. The truck crashes into the back bumper of the police car and continues to somehow gain on it until Willow depletes all her magic reserves. She's 'drained' for the moment and can't chase them anymore.
Buffy, Xander, Jonathan, Andrew, and Anya all arrive at the Magic Box after eluding Willow. They contemplate their next move. All the books of spells have been drained by Willow leaving them with very little to work with. Luckily, Anya happens to have kept a special book full of 'anti-magic'.
During all the commotion going on with Willow, Dawn has been stuck with baby-sitter Clem, the floppy eared demon. Dawn manages to convince Clem to help her find Rack's place. She's hoping that maybe Willow will be there and she can help somehow. For those who have forgotten, Rack is a magic 'dealer' and got Willow 'addicted' to the powerful magic to begin with.
While all this is going on in Sunnydale, Spike is beginning a series of trials somewhere in Africa, which will ultimately reward him with an as yet unnamed prize. It's bound to be big and will allow him to "give the slayer what she deserves."
Dawn finally makes it to Rack's place where she leaves Clem behind to go find out about Willow on her own. She enters Rack's room only to find him hanging from the ceiling apparently dead and Willow behind her. Being drained, Willow had gone to Rack and physically took the magic from him recharging her. This results in Willow getting fairly 'wired' and even more out of control. "Hey cutie," Willow teases as she calmly stares Dawn down. Willow then proceeds to belittle every aspect of Dawn's personality essentially saying that Dawn doesn't belong here. She should be returned to her former state: pure energy. Everybody will be happier if Dawn goes she says; Willow definitely will. Before she can go through with her threat, Buffy enters. Buffy reaches out to her friend with words, but she isn't listening. Willow then dissects Buffy in much the same way she did Dawn saying that Buffy was happier when she was in the ground until Willow brought her back with magic. This is an important scene as it gives another angle to why Willow is acting the way she is. Willow is definitely acting out of rage about Tara, but at the same time many other factors have led her here. She is obviously still burdened by bringing Buffy back to life, knowing she ripped her friend from heaven.
Buffy, Dawn, and Willow teleport to the magic shop. Without much hesitation, Willow tries to fry Jonathan and Andrew. Anya is, however, hiding and reciting chants from the anti-magic book blocking Willow's spells. Willow is ultimately forced to cast a spell on herself that renders her physically powerful so that she is strong enough to "beat them to death." Before she can do this, however, Buffy steps in, and we are treated to quite a nice little throw-down between the two. This fight is in much the same vein as season three and four's Faith/Buffy fights. Meanwhile, Xander, Dawn, Jonathan, and Andrew use this opportunity to escape.
Willow, more confident than ever, says to Buffy, "Now I get to be the slayer. you need to have every square inch of your ass kicked." Buffy whips right back with "Then show me what you got, and I'll show you what a slayer really is." For all her talk, though, Buffy is unable to truly commit and ultimately gets beaten. Willow finds Anya still chanting from the anti-magic book. She slams Anya into a wall. With her two big obstacles now out of the way, "there's no one in the world with the power to stop [her] now." The moment these words leave her mouth a burst of energy sends Willow flying backwards. Giles steps through the doorway, "I'd like to test that theory." The episode ends.
There's so much going on in this episode. It is packed to the brim with plot. Willow is obviously the focal point of the episode and Alyson Hannigan handles the quiet rage that is Willow beautifully. From the line delivery to the subtle mannerisms, Alyson has being evil down to an art here. The only problem I had at all with her performance was the 'primal scream' she let loose after not nabbing Jonathan and Andrew near the episode's beginning, a very minor complaint. The other cast members pull their weight quite nicely here as well, but just don't feel as important in the episode since it is essentially about Willow. It feels like they're just there to further the plot along so we can get to the fun stuff with Willow which I had almost no problem with. The show is, however, called Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and I'm not sure I liked quite how much Buffy was overshadowed in this episode.
As for the script, there are a couple definite holes in it, but none so grievous that it brings down the episode much if at all. First, my major gripe with the episode is the Sunnydale police force. In the scene where Willow arrives at the police department, there is something like eight to ten cops surrounding her, each one pointing a gun. None of them fire at her. If the episode had taken a moment to show Willow destroying their guns or something else, I'd have been fine with them being so timid. As it stands though, they just stood there waving guns at a potential threat and nothing more. Then after this, Xander manages to nab one of their cars while they're all distracted. This part might not be quite as hard to believe since the cops were obviously busy and probably a bit terrified, but still it further belittles the law enforcement in a town with such a high death rate. The rest of the script was quite entertaining, though. I definitely enjoyed the dialogue as it was witty and packed with nice little one-liners.
The direction was also done nicely. In an episode that runs the risk of being as convoluted as this one, it's nice to see all the different story elements presented this well. While few of the scenes were mind-blowing, they were all solid and well put together. I was particularly pleased with Giles' entrance as it was quite powerful, sudden, and seamlessly worked into the action.
It took this season long enough to really come together. It's a pity that this type of episode was the exception this year rather than the norm, but we take what we can get. As the first part of season six's finale, "Two to Go" holds its ground and then some. This is definitely not an episode that will be forgotten anytime soon.
Episode rating: 9 out of 10
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