"Buffy the Vampire Slayer" Innocence (1998)

User Rating:

9.0/10   

Director:

Joss Whedon

Writers:

Joss Whedon (creator)
Joss Whedon (written by)

TV Series:

"Buffy the Vampire Slayer" (1997)

Original Air Date:

20 January 1998 (Season 2, Episode 14)

Genre:

Action | Drama | Fantasy

Plot:

Angel's night of fleshly passion with Buffy has transformed him again into the super-vampire Angelus...

Plot Keywords:

Library | Female Protagonist | Hero Gone Bad | Heroine | Demon

Cast

Sarah Michelle Gellar	...	Buffy Summers
Nicholas Brendon	...	Xander Harris
Alyson Hannigan	...	Willow Rosenberg
Charisma Carpenter	...	Cordelia Chase
David Boreanaz	...	Angelus
Anthony Head	...	Rupert Giles (as Anthony Stewart Head)
Seth Green	...	Oz
Kristine Sutherland	...	Joyce Summers
Robia LaMorte	...	Jenny Calendar
Brian Thompson	...	The Judge
Ryan Francis	...	Soldier
Vincent Schiavelli	...	Uncle Enyos
James Marsters	...	Spike
Juliet Landau	...	Drusilla
James Lurie	...	Teacher

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

USA:TV-PG

Company:

Mutant Enemy

Trivia:

Angel turning bad after sleeping with Buffy was one of the solutions the writing team came up with to counter the potential Sam and Diane fall-out that often happens in TV shows when two leading characters finally get together. (The general consensus is that "Cheers" (1982) took a nosedive once Sam and Diane became lovers.)

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: As the Judge is zapping his first victim on the stairs at the mall, the entire background scene of the mall below is frozen. This is especially noticeable in the case of a stooped-over man visible past the Judge's left elbow.

Quotes:

Joyce: So what'd you do for your birthday? D'you have fun?
Buffy: I got older.

Movie Connections:

Features Stowaway (1936)

Soundtrack:

Goodnight My Love

A word better than Brilliant

This is the greatest piece of television I have ever seen. And I've seen a lot of television. I'm not sure I can adequately describe what makes this episode stand out from all the rest, but here goes: The whole episode transpires with the events that happened in the episode before "Surprise." In that episode Buffy and Angel culminated their relationship in the physical sense. Anywho, he loses his soul and is reverted back to Angelus, the reeeeeeeeaaaaaaaallllllly evil vampire. He gives her the brushoff, acting like your typical man after sex. Sarah Michelle Geller gives one of the best performances ever. (She may or may not agree, but out of all the episodes I think this one tops it. Becoming Part 2 comes in reeeaaaaaallll close though).

Back on track, the gang riles together and come up with a plan to defeat the Judge, who had been assembled in the previous episode. Angelus almost kills Willow, but Jenny stops him. Jenny knows more than she's telling, lets just say that.

The whole rocket launcher thing was bloody brilliant (I'm not British BTW). I'm gonna stop rambling on and on and on and I'm just gonna tell you to watch the episode. Even if you don't like Buffy, if you know anything about acting and storytelling at all, then you should really enjoy this episode, if not blown away by it. I was blown away by it. I actually use it for inspiration and stuff when my storytelling isn't as good as it could be.