IIRC, when Angel decides to run off and greet the morning sun, the First says something like "That's not why we brought you back. But it'll do." At least part of that is to itself, after Angel has left. I took that as a pretty clear indication that it was responsible for releasing him from hell (at the exact moment when Buffy had come to terms with his loss I might add, thus making the return more torment than relief). The fact that the opposition also had plans and acted to preserve him doesn't necessarily contradict this.

Man, rehashing this makes me even more bitter that they hired Boreanaz to appear in the last 2 Buffy eps to make a pointless maguffin delivery, rather than having him make an appearance as the First wearing Angel's face. That would have been sooo much better...

Of course, then Buffy's plan might have actually had to work on its own merits, rather than having Spike save the day with the Pimp Chain of Scrubbing Bubbles.

Daniel, your links don't take me to pictures. is it me?

Don't know. They work for me in Netscape.

Aha. Tried the links in Internet Exporner.

I think the sites I have there don't allow links from other sites. You would have to right click and copy link location, then paste it in your address window to see them. Argh.

I think the sites I have there don't allow links from other sites. You would have to right click and copy link location, then paste it in your address window to see them. Argh.

Even that didn't work for me, Daniel (I'm using ie).

For me, Becoming part two loses points for the same reason The Gift loses points - they took back the death that made it meaningful.

I agree on Becoming, but not on The Gift (because of the 22 episodes of repercussions that followed Buffy's being brought back). But then I love The Gift, and never had any problem with the ending, which imo was quite adequately set up in previous episodes.

We have news anchors here with squarer, more manly jaws (flamingly gay news anchors, in point of fact, with total Mary Sue names)

Plei, who would this be?

I find Natalie Portman to be the special kind of pretty. No matter what "type" people I know are into, they seem to love her.

ita, VW also makes me wibble. That Sex & the City episode? awww yeah!

IIRC, when Angel decides to run off and greet the morning sun, the First says something like "That's not why we brought you back. But it'll do." At least part of that is to itself, after Angel has left.

The First said, 'That wasn't the plan. But it'll do.' Cause it wanted him to sleep with Buffy, lose his soul and eat Buffy. Or possibly go crazy and eat Buffy, but suicide wasn't the game plan.

It claimed to him that it brought him back, so it's left kinda open.

What drives me nuts is the way other good people get treated with suspicion but all you have to do is be the source of ultimate evil, and suddenly you're a worthwhile source of information. Everyone just buys what the First, Skip and Jasmine say, and for all we know, they're just opportunistic.

That Sex & the City episode? awww yeah!

I've never seen that! I need to find a torrent.

I did post links to the screencaps in a location where you could see them, didn't I ita? IIRC, they showed considerably more than his Playgirl appearance did.