Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Title: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Created by: Joss Whedon
Genre: Supernatural, Fantasy
Episode: “Becoming” - Season 2, Episode 21 & 22
Directed by: Joss Whedon
Written by: Joss Whedon
Original Air Date: May 12, 1998 (Part 1) & May 19, 1998 (Part 2)
Characters: Buffy, Angelus, Willow
Setting: Romanian woods, 1898 & Sunnydale, California 1998
Keywords: vampires, witchcraft, curse, gypsy
Synopsis:
Buffy works together with her friends to stop the vampire Angelus from awakening a demon hell-bent on destroying the world. A secondary narrative explores how Angel was turned into a vampire and how he was cursed with a soul.
Analysis:
In the episode, it is revealed that Angelus has murdered a young Romani girl, which angers the local people. A Kalderash elder performs a ritual that curses him to have his soul restored and thus forever suffer for the evil acts he has committed since becoming a vampire.
The woman’s invocation is in a Romanian that does not sound natural to our native ears, but allowances can be made for the time difference of one hundred years:
“Este scris, această putere este dreptul poporul meu de a conduce. Nici mort, nici al fiinţei, te invoc, spirit al trecerii. Redă trupului ce separe omul de animal. Aşa să fie cu ajutorul acestui!”
From the brief scene, the viewer can draw the conclusion that the Kalderash are righteous people, whose act, even if vengeful in nature, seeks only to bring justice and retribution for the killing of one of their own. They do not kill Angelus, but “re-insoul” him, in part for him to feel the pain that he had caused others, but also (and maybe unintentionally), to give him the opportunity to redeem himself.
In what concerns the set for this 3 minute scene, it seems to replicate in some detail a typical Romani temporary settlement, with caravans, tents and a campfire. The deceased is placed on a decorated funerary pyre, covered in flower petals, and the whole site is purified with incense.
