You’ve heard me a few times describe an episode by saying
...if you’re new to the series and you don’t feel like you have the bug yet
...you might want to skip it.
Mostly, I’ve approached these guides as a fast track for a new viewer to get to the good stuff,
but I won’t be using that yardstick again.
'Surprise' and the next episode, 'Innocence'
...ARE the good stuff.
On my first run-through of the series, there were a few moments leading up to these episodes where I nearly stopped watching
and if you’re new I hope this guide helped you navigate those waters.
But this is it.
By the end of 'Innocence' I knew
...I had become an addict.
[...so heavenly]
[Holding you close to me]
[It will be heavenly]
[To hold you again in a dream]
Buffy has a vivid dream in which Drusilla stakes Angel and then whispers her 'happy birthday'.
I love the details here including Willow’s monkey who is NOT wearing monkey pants.
There are a few odd signs leading up to Angel’s demise
including…
“Do you really think you’re ready, Buffy?”
"What?"
[smash]
Buffy wakes and rushes to Angel’s place,
heavy with anxiety over the possibility that Drusilla may be alive.
Angel kisses her to silence her.
It's been said in earlier episodes that part of the Slayer power is to have genuinely precognitive dreams.
So her fears are not without precedent.
Adorable as the scene is,
it's a microcosm of the overarching issue for Buffy in 'Season 2':
her relationship with Angel is interfering with her role as the Slayer.
Buffy tells Willow she thinks she and Angel are...
...going to go all the way.
Oz finds an incredibly genuine and sweet way of asking out Willow.
I swear he has some of the best lines in the show.
Willow says he should come to Buffy’s birthday party as her date.
Drusilla and Spike ARE still alive,
though Spike looks badly burned and in a wheel chair.
They are putting on a celebration, Drusilla's coming out party,
and Drusilla is gathering some boxes.
Back home, Buffy asks Joyce if she can get her license.
“Do you really think you’re ready, Buffy?”
[smash]
Jenny receives a visit from her Uncle Gypsy stereotype.
and we discover she’s actually a spy,
planted in Sunnydale to watchover Angel and make sure his curse still holds.
The signs have apparently been saying Angel’s pain has been lessening.
“If this-this girl gives him one minute of happiness it is one minute too much.”
What seems like vengeful hyperbole is actually a very specific warning we find out later.
Her uncle tells Jenny to breakup Buffy and Angel by any means necessary.
After that, there’s an odd little misleading scene where Jenny tells Buffy Giles needs to see her at The Bronze and she’ll drive.
The music seems to be telling us that Jenny is UP TO NO GOOD,
yet, minor vampire fight aside that Jenny didn’t plan for,
she really WAS just driving Buffy to the party.
Buffy fights her way into The Bronze where her friends, including Oz, are waiting
...and slays a vampire in front of them with a drum stick.
"SURPRISE!"
”That pretty much sums it up.”
And with that, Oz is officially a part of the Gang.
The vampires were stealing another box for Drusilla, this one containing a still alive arm.
Angel realizes Drusilla is trying to reassemble a legendary monster called “The Judge,” who can’t be killed by any weapon forged
and so was cut into pieces that were scattered throughout the world.
Jenny suggests Angel take the box somewhere in the world to hide the arm.
At the docks with the box...
HEH, HEH, HEH.
Rhymes.
Angel gives Buffy her birthday present,
a symbolic ring of his people.
"Wear it with the heart pointing towards you."
"It means you belong to somebody."
As usual hints to Angel’s emotional underpinnings are incredibly subtle.
In the comments for our “What's My Line” review, MrsESsmich pointed out
that Angel is already wearing his ring with the heart pointing towards himself while he’s cuddling Mr. Gordo.
I backtracked a bit
and I THINK you can see him already wearing the ring committed style in 'School Hard'.
Oh, for an HD release.
Not the Pivot version!
There may be an earlier shot but I love how the detail subtly speaks to Angel’s character.
Anyway, back on the dock Buffy and Angel are lingering a bit too long on their goodbyes
...and get jumped by Spike’s men.
Buffy gets tossed in the drink and Angel jumps in after her,
another minor quibble I have with this one.
She can probably swim, dude!
Keep after the box with the piece of the world ending monster in it.
Back at the library, Giles reveals that only a creature of true evil can withstand the Judge’s touch.
"No human ever has."
“What's the problem?
"We send Cordy to fight this guy and we go for pizza.”
Drusilla, now with the final box, assembles the Judge.
If he looks a little familiar that’s because he’s the same actor
who played the vampire Luke in 'Welcome to the Hellmouth' and 'The Harvest',
Brian Thompson.
The Judge observes of Spike and Dru:
"You two stink..."
"...of humanity."
"You share affection and..."
"... jealousy."
Buffy realizes where the monsters are hiding through her dream
and she and Angel head to the factory to get details and try and stop the Judge.
When they get there, the Judge senses their presence
and Drusilla says she dreamed Buffy would come to the party.
Angel drops a batch of TV’s from the ceiling which
...punches a hole through several feet of CONCRETE
and Buffy and Angel escape into the sewers.
They hide at Angel’s place
aaaaaand
“Put these on."
"Get under the covers, just to warm up."
Pfft!
That line never works when I use it.
Buffy tells Angel she can’t imagine life without him
and he says for the first time that he loves her.
They kiss.
Things begin to heat up.
And they have one...
...last...
...chance...
...to avoid the inevitable.
“Buffy, maybe we shouldn’t--”
--"Don't."
As the two of them lay in a state of post coital bliss,
something comes over Angel.
He flees from the apartment and screams for Buffy as the credits roll.
It's difficult to dive into this one completely without taking into account 'Innocence',
but there are a couple points to cover.
The key here I think is in Drusilla saying she also dreamed of Buffy.
There is major parity between the two of them in this episode.
It’s Buffy’s birthday, but throughout the episode...
...DRUSILLA is the one having the party.
In Buffy’s second dream, she and Drusilla are wearing the same dress.
Buffy’s dreams ARE a precognitive vision of what’s going to happen,
only in this case, she doesn’t realize that SHE is the Drusilla in her dreams.
She is the one responsible for Angel’s death.
I could take or leave the Judge.
I love the inverse play on his name.
Judges are people who punish and separate the wicked from the righteous.
It makes sense that a demon judge would do the opposite.
But other than the amazing makeup, he’s present simply so that the Avengers have a reason to assemble and doesn’t bring a lot to the table.
As usual, what’s actually important here is the drama between the characters.
I’m not going to say TOO much else about this one because so much of it requires the context of the next episode.
But MAN this is a fantastic episode.
As usual, there are a myriad of character bits I love.
Giles saying there’s no safe time to relax.
“Buffy is turning 17 just this once, and she deserves a party.”
He continues to slide into the role of replacing Buffy’s absent father figure.
The love he expresses feels so genuine.
Speaking of love,
sort of,
Drusilla's licking the wounds on Spike’s face gave me the willies.
What an effective and simple piece of blocking pulled off by Juliet Landau.
'Innocence' changes the show forever,
but it wouldn’t be the episode it is without the setup in 'Surprise',
And it has all the same glow that makes the show so wonderful.
Comedy, drama and character all in harmony together.
With knowledge of what's coming, my favorite detail on this run through of the episode
...was Angel’s...
...final...
...hesitation…
“Buffy, maybe we shouldn’t--”
[rain and thunder]
[rain]
“Put these on."
"Get under the covers."
"Just to warm up.”
"Yeah, alright, I'll just-I'll just go.