B214- Innocence

Written by: Joss Whedon
Cast: Sarah Michelle Gellar, Nicholas Brendon, Alyson Hannigan, Anthony Stewart Head, David Boreanaz, Charisma Carpenter, Seth Green, Kristine Sutherland, Robia LaMorte, James Marsters & Juliet Landau.

After making love with Buffy earlier that night, Angel escapes into the alley with a piercing pain in his heart, clearly in despair to realize he is losing his soul. When a kind street walker tries to help him a few minutes later, he immediately, and gleefully, kills her. When he shows up at the factory, Spike is surprised and Drusilla is pleased that the Judge cannot burn him—Angel has truly reverted to the evil Angelus. The three are clearly pleased to be together again – grinning and gleeful, Angelus kisses Spike on the forehead in the only friendly moment we see between them this season, while Dru claps.

While researching a way to defeat the Judge, a demon whom “no weapon forged” can harm, Xander and Cordelia get caught kissing in the library by a crushed and furious Willow. Angel terrorizes Buffy and the Gang at school, emotionally shattering Buffy. Buffy has another dream and confronts Jenny, who admits she is a member of the Gypsy clan that cursed Angelus so long ago. When Buffy, Jenny, and Giles arrive at one of the clan member’s homes for advice, they find that Angel has brutally murdered him, forcing Buffy to realize that she has to kill Angel.

Xander hatches a plan using memories from being a soldier on Halloween, pretending that he is a corporal in the army and he is sneaking around with Cordelia. Oz declines to “make out” with Willow at her request, given that’s it’s obvious she only wants to kiss to make Xander jealous. Willow’s respect and feelings for Oz grow. The four return to the library with their “present” for Buffy. Jenny offers to help in the confrontation with the judge, but Buffy refuses to accept her offer.

Tracking down the Judge at the crowded mall, Buffy and her team blow him to bits with her new “present” — a rocket launcher, while Angelus and Drusilla narrowly escape the blast. The Slayer stalks Angelus through the fleeing crowd and, when he ambushes her in a snack shop, they battle ferociously under the drenching fire-control sprinklers. Reaching a stand-off, neither of them is quite ready to kill the other although Buffy does settle for kicking Angelus between the legs. Giles drives Buffy home and she feels awful for putting her friends in serious danger from Angelus. Giles assures her that, although she did act irresponsibly, it is obvious that she and Angel loved each other and that she hasn’t lost his trust and respect in her. Later, Buffy and Joyce sit down to watch a movie. Joyce asks Buffy what she got for her birthday, and Buffy simply answers that she got older.

From: Wikipedia

BUFFY- (+3)

• +1/ Figuring out about Ms. Calendar and confronting her about her involvement with Angel. You can really see the determination on her face.
• +2/ Her first big fight with Angelus. It’s pretty awesome and full of vigor and emotion. She eventually ends it without killing him, however she does kick him in his manhood.

XANDER- (+3)

• +1/ Wanting to rescue Buffy from the Judge.
• -2/ Kissing Cordelia and trying to explain it to Willow, he’s been completely blind to Willow’s feelings and his explanation is very weak.
• +1/ Saving Willow from Angelus, he can be pretty smart when he wants to.
• +2/ Negotiating his way into the army base’s armory-
  Soldier: Halt! (Xander shoots up his arms) Identify yourself right the hell now.
  Xander: Uh… Private Harris with the, uh… 33rd.
  Soldier: 33rd are on maneuvers.
  Xander: Right! Uh, I’m on leave. (turns around slowly) From them.
  Soldier: You always spend your leave snooping around the armory, pal? And who is she?
  Cordelia: Hi. I’m not a soldier. (to Xander) Right?
  Xander: (approaches the guard, hands still up) Look, I… I just want to give her the tour. Uh, you know what I’m saying.
  Soldier: The tour.
  Xander: Well, you know the ladies. They like to see the big guns. Gets them all hot and bothered. Can you cut me some slack, gimme a blind eye?
  Soldier: And why should I?
  Xander: Well, if you do, I won’t tell Colonel Newsome that your boots ain’t regulation, your post wasn’t covered, (grabs his M-16 and gives it back to him properly) and you hold your gun like a sissy girl.
  Soldier: You got 20 minutes, nimrod.
  Xander: (smiles) I just need 5. (starts for the door, but looks back) Uh, forget I said that last part.
• +1/ Cordelia: So, does looking at guns really make girls wanna have sex? That’s scary.
  Xander: Yeah, I guess.
  Cordelia: Well, does looking at guns make you wanna have sex?
  Xander: I’m seventeen. Looking at linoleum makes me wanna have sex.

WILLOW- (+3)

• +1/ Wanting to help Xander rescue Buffy from the Judge-
  “No, Xander’s right! My God, you people are all… Well, I’m upset, and I can’t think of a mean word right now, but that’s what you are, and we’re going to the factory!”
• +1/ Her outburst to Xander about him smooching Cordy-
  Willow: (stops and confronts him, shaking her finger) I knew it! I knew it! Well, not ‘knew it’ in the sense of having the slightest idea, but I knew there was something I didn’t know. You two were fighting way too much. It’s not natural!
  Xander: I know it’s weird…
  Willow: Weird? It’s against all laws of God and Man! It’s (disgusted) Cordelia! Remember? The, the ‘We Hate Cordelia’ club, of which you are the treasurer.
  Xander: Look, I was gonna tell you.
  Willow: Gee, what stopped you? Could it be shame?
  Xander: All right, let’s overreact, shall we?
  Willow: But I’m…
  Xander: Willow, we were just kissing. It doesn’t mean that much.
  Willow: No. It just means that you’d rather be with someone you hate than be with me.
• +1/ Knowing instantly that Buffy had slept with Angel when Buffy couldn’t talk about what had made Angel leave, she even tells Giles to shut up when he doesn’t understand.

GILES- (+5)

• +1/ His reaction to Buffy sleeping with Angel, he is nearly in shock.
• +4/ His comforting speech to Buffy, for me, his best moment in Buffy-
  Buffy: You must be so disappointed in me.
  Giles: No. No, no, I’m not.
  Buffy: But this is all my fault.
  Giles: No. I don’t believe it is. Do you want me to wag my finger at you and tell you that you acted rashly? You did. A-and I can. I know that you loved him. And… he… has proven more than once that he loved you. You couldn’t have known what would happen. The coming months a-are gonna, are gonna be hard… I, I suspect on all of us, but… if it’s guilt you’re looking for, Buffy, I’m, I’m not your man. All you will get from me is, is my support. And my respect.

CORDELIA- (+1)

• +1/ Complaining that she has to go pick up Judge body parts- “Our job Sucks!!”

ANGELUS- (+5) (Note: I’ve separated Angel from Angelus due to their utterly different personalities.)

• +1/ His introduction where he bites a lady who’s smoking and breathes out her smoke. Awesome.
• +1/ Becoming a family again with Dru and Spike.
• -2/ Being mean to Buffy about the previous night. He says some pretty cold stuff.
• +2/ The first sign of how dangerous Angelus is. He captures Willow and threatens her before intimidating Buffy. It’s such a great scene because it shows how very different Angelus is from every other vampire, let alone Angel.
• +1/ Killing Enyos, Jenny’s father. I don’t like him.
• +1/ Calling the Judge ‘Spiffy’.
• +1/ Fighting Buffy for the first time. It’s a pretty sweet fight.

OZ- (+3)

• +2/ His reaction to Willow’s proposal of kissing, another contender for greatest moment in Season 2-
  Willow: Do you wanna make out with me?
  Oz: What?
  Willow: (looks away) Forget it. I’m sorry. (decides she wants to know) Well, do you?
  Oz: Sometimes when I’m sitting in class… You know, I’m not thinking about class, ’cause that would never happen. I think about kissing you. And it’s like everything stops. It’s like, it’s like freeze frame.
  Willow kissage.
  He nods his head and smiles to himself. Willow smiles over at him. He looks up at her.
  Oz: Oh, I’m not gonna kiss you.
  Willow: (confused) What? But freeze frame!
  Oz: Well, to the casual observer, it would appear that you’re trying to make your friend Xander jealous or even the score or something. And that’s on the empty side. See, in my fantasy when I’m kissing *you*, you’re kissing *me*. It’s okay. I can wait.
• +1/ Fully integrating himself into the Scoobies, even suggesting the mall as a Judge hotspot.

SPIKE- (+2)

• +1/ Talking to Dru about her vision (see Drusilla point 1)
• +1/ Meeting with Angelus again. You can tell that he hates him.

DRUSILLA- (+6)

• +3/ Her vision-
  Drusilla: (sighs) I’m naming all the stars.
  Spike: You can’t see the stars, love. That’s the ceiling. Also, it’s day.
  Drusilla: I can see them. But I’ve named them all the same name. (tilts her head to him) And there’s terrible confusion.
• +1/ Drusilla gets very excited by Angelus’ return.
• +1/ Poking Miss Edith the doll in her eyes, she’s so loony.
• +1/ Whimpering after the judge gets blown up.

MS. CALENDER- (+2)

• +1/ Rising above her people’s stupid idea of vengeance.
• +1/ Saving Willow from Angelus.
• -1/ Betraying Giles with her dishonesty.
• +1/ Wanting to help out. I feel sorry for her.

JOYCE- (+1)

• +1/ Comforting Buffy on her birthday. She’s a pretty awesome mum.

SEASON COUNT-

XANDER- +53
WILLOW- +48
BUFFY- +46
GILES- +35
CORDELIA- +29
ANGEL- +27
DRUSILLA- +22
OZ- +20
SPIKE- +19
JOYCE- +10
ANGELUS- +5
MS. CALENDAR- +4
JONATHAN- +1
KENDRA- 0
WILLY- 0
ETHAN RAYNE- -1
ANNE- -1
PRINCIPAL SNYDER- -9

OVERALL COUNT-

BUFFY- +126
XANDER- +97
WILLOW- +90
GILES- +71
CORDELIA- +48
ANGEL- +46
DRUSILLA- +22
OZ- +20
SPIKE- +19
JOYCE- +13
MS. CALENDAR- +11
ANGELUS- +5
JONATHAN- +1
KENDRA- 0
WILLY- 0
ETHAN RAYNE- -1
ANNE- -1
PRINCIPAL SNYDER- -5

EPISODE THOUGHTS-

An Incredible episode that sets a benchmark for all episodes after it. This episode sets the standard for the rest of the series. There’s less one-off crazy episodes which are now replaced exclusively by episodes with powerful plots based on emotion and character.  Buffy hits an all-time low and loses her boyfriend, Xander remains funny and his relationship with Cordy is out, Willow finds out about Xander and Cordy and connects with Oz, Giles and Jenny are split further apart by her deception and Oz finds himself more apart of the Scoobies. Most importantly however, Angelus is introduced and he is most likely the greatest villain in the Buffyverse. This one episode trumps all previous villains and ups the emotion of every episode after it. Spike and Dru are also given a boost by siding themselves with their sire. This epsisode is also action-packed, full of comedy and memorable moments as well as the powerful emotion of Buffy’s broken heart. Great episode.

96.5/100