Dictionary Definition
amends
Noun
1 a sum of money paid in compensation for loss or
injury [syn: damages,
indemnity, indemnification,
restitution,
redress]
2 something done or paid in expiation of a wrong;
"how can I make amends" [syn: reparation]
User Contributed Dictionary
Pronunciation
IPA: WEAE /ʌˈmɛnds/Noun
- Compensation for a loss
or injury; recompense; reparation.
- Amends were made for the damage and no charges were filed.
- As to you, Mr. Carruthers, I think that you have done what you could to make amends for your share in an evil plot. — Doyle
Verb
amends- third-person singular of amend
Extensive Definition
"Amends" is episode 10 of season 3 of the
television show
Buffy the Vampire Slayer. See also
List of Buffy (series) episodes.
Plot synopsis
It's Christmas in Sunnydale and
Angel is haunted with dreams of the people he murdered over the
years as Angelus, but when Buffy starts getting dragged into his
dreams, they realize something is not right. Visions of his past
victims, including Jenny
Calendar, appear to him and try to get him to kill Buffy,
saying that he will be released from the pain if he does so. Angel
cannot bring himself to do this, so instead he opts to kill himself
by standing on a hill and waiting for the sun to come up. Buffy and
Giles figure
out The First Evil has
been driving Angel insane. Buffy finds the Bringers and
pummels them. After The First appears to her, informing her that
she can't possibly fight it and that Angel is about to be dust, she
runs to his mansion to stop him. Buffy finds Angel atop the hill
behind the mansion, awaiting sunrise. They have a tense and
heartbreaking conversation in which Buffy punches him and he throws
her to the ground. He wants her to leave him alone because he
thinks the world is better off without him. With tears in both
vampire champion and slayer's eyes, looking at each other, the
heatwave from which Sunnydale has been suffering abruptly ends and
the first flakes of snow start to fall. With the weather report
saying the sun shouldn't be expected to be seen at all today, Buffy
and Angel take a romantic walk through the town.
Acting
Starring
- Sarah Michelle Gellar as Buffy Summers
- Nicholas Brendon as Xander Harris
- Alyson Hannigan as Willow Rosenberg
- Charisma Carpenter as Cordelia Chase
- David Boreanaz as Angel/Angelus
- Seth Green as Oz
- and Anthony Stewart Head as Rupert Giles
Guest starring
- Kristine Sutherland as Joyce Summers
- Saverio Guerra as Willy The Snitch
- Shane Barach as Daniel
- Edward Edwards as Travis
- Cornelia Hayes O'Herlihy as Margaret
- Eliza Dushku as Faith Lehane
- Robia LaMorte as The First/Jenny Calendar
Co-starring
- Mark Kriski as Weatherman
- Tom Michael Bailey Smith as Tree Seller Guy
Writing
Arc significance
- The First Evil does not appear again until "Lessons", when it returns as the Big Bad of season seven.
Continuity
- Oz refusing to sleep with Willow in this episode recalls his declining her offer to make out in "Innocence." Oz demonstrates again that he does not like doing things that he may want to do for the wrong reason. In this episode, Oz understands that Willow offers to sleep with him to show him that she is invested in their newly reestablished relationship, whereas in "Innocence", he believes she asks him to kiss her (largely) to make Xander jealous.
- In keeping with the "family" theme of the episode, this is the first time in a while that the "Core Four" of the Scoobies are seen doing research without interruption or interference from others.
- The First's prediction "Sooner or later, you will drink her" ends up being accurate, since Angel drinks Buffy's blood in Graduation Day, Part Two.
- Oz asks Willow has she ever had the dream "where you're in a play, and you're right in the middle of it and you kinda don't know your lines or the plot?" Willow has had this dream, or rather nightmare, as seen the episode "Nightmares", which then became a reality for her in the episode "The Puppet Show". Willow would have this nightmare again during the episode "Restless".
- It is later stated in season seven that The First cannot touch anything, but The First as Jenny Calendar touches Angel.
Quotes
Cultural references
- The Sun: Buffy mentions this British tabloid newspaper, which Joss Whedon learned of in his time in England.
Production details
Music
- Barry White - "Cant Get Enough of Your Love, Babe"
- Christophe Beck - "Dreaming Of"
- Christophe Beck - "Dublin"
- Christophe Beck - "Magic Snow Music"
- The Crystals - "He's a Rebel"
Commentary
- There has been a lot of discussion about the "miraculous" Christmas snowfall that prevents the Sun from rising and killing Angel. The official answer was made by the shows creator himself Joss Whedon who confirmed that the snow may have been the work of The Powers That Be, the supernatural forces that guided Angel's destiny in his spin-off series. This is told by Joss Whedon himself: "The snow [in Amends] was good... was it God? Well, I'm an atheist, but it's hard to ignore the idea of a "Christmas miracle" here... The fact it, the Christian mythos has a powerful fascination to me, and it bleeds into my storytelling. Redemption, hope, purpose, Santa, these all are important to me, whether I believe in an afterlife or some universal structure or not. I certainly don't mind a strictly Christian interpretation being placed on this ep by those who believe that -- I just hope it's not limited to that (joss, Dec 15 22:17 1998)."
- Joss Whedon has cited many times Buffy and Angel's fight on the hilltop as one of the best things he has ever written, especially the line, "It's not the demon in me that needs killing, Buffy. It's the man."
- "The guys with weird flesh over their eyes" in this episode, Whedon explains, represented "some sort of creepy, kind of Jacob's Ladder-y thing," adding that "a deformed human is scarier than a big reptile with fangs." (Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Monster Book).
- The Mutant Enemy monster in the end credits wears a Santa hat and chimes are heard when he says "Grrr Arrgh".
Translations
Christmas Buffy promo
-
- The promo can be downloaded from an external link below.
Promo synopsis
Buffy is standing outside at a phone booth. Strangely, it appears to be snowing in Sunnydale. Buffy says "This season with 1-800-COLLECT, you don't have to be alone for the holidays." She then begins dialing the phone. Buffy hears footsteps behind her. She turns grabs a stake-shaped icicle, and makes a staking motion before Angel grabs her hand. Angel: "Sorry I'm late." Buffy replies, "You should have called." The two smile, look into the snowing sky, then walk off together.Promo offer
The promo was offering fans the chance to enter a sweepsstakes every time they made a call using the 1-800-COLLECT communications system. The prize was a walk-on part on Buffy. Jessica Johnson of Maryland won a three-day trip for two to participate in the episode The Prom, which aired later in the third season.Promo continuity
The commercial would take place shortly after Amends, since snow in Sunnydale is highly unusual. It is clearly not part of the Buffyverse canon since both the narrator and Buffy actively break the fourth wall.Timing
- Stories that take place around the same time in the Buffyverse:
External links
Synonyms, Antonyms and Related Words
atonement, balancing, blood money,
commutation,
compensate, compensation, composition, compromise, consideration, correction, counteraction, counterbalancing,
damages, expiation, expiatory offering,
fixing, guerdon, honorarium, indemnification,
indemnity, lex
talionis, make amends, make reparation, make restitution, making
amends, making good, making right, making up, meed, mending, offsetting, overhaul, overhauling, pay, paying back, peace offering,
piaculum, price, propitiation, quittance, reclamation, recompense, rectification, redemption, redress, refund, reimbursement, remedy, remuneration, repair, repairing, reparation, repay, repayment, reprisal, requital, requite, requitement, restitution, retaliation, retribution, return, revenge, reward, salvage, satisfaction, smart money,
solatium, squaring, substitution, troubleshooting,
wergild