Innocence 

Buffy and her friends battle the Judge and face unexpected danger from Angel, who has lost his soul after experiencing a moment of true happiness.

Director:

Joss Whedon

Writers:

Joss Whedon (created by), Joss Whedon

Stars:

Sarah Michelle Gellar, Nicholas Brendon, Alyson Hannigan

Cast

Episode cast overview, first billed only:
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	...	Daniel Osbourne
Kristine Sutherland	...	Joyce Summers
Robia Scott	...	Jenny Calendar (as Robia LaMorte)
Brian Thompson	...	The Judge
Ryan Francis	...	Soldier
Vincent Schiavelli	...	Uncle Enyos
James Marsters	...	Spike
Juliet Landau	...	Drusilla
James Lurie	...	Mr. Miller

Storyline

Angel's night of fleshly passion with Buffy has transformed him again into the super-vampire Angelus, without a soul, who teams up with Spike, Drusilla and the assembled demon Judge, offering to eliminate Buffy with love. Willow is shocked to see Xander kiss Cordelia and turns to fellow nerd (but band member) Oz. Just sensing Angel doesn't truly love her back devastates Buffy, seeing him turned vampire again reduces her to useless tearfulness, then makes Giles's lady-friend Janna 'Jenny' Calendar, who clearly knew something, tell about Angel's soul-curse, while angel turns to her gypsy Uncle Enyos. Meanwhile Xander works rather literally on the line 'it took a army' to defeat the Judge...

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Plot Keywords:

kiss on the forehead | kissing someone's forehead | kiss on forehead | crowbar | sex scene | 

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Genres:

Action | Drama | Fantasy | Romance

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Certificate:

TV-PG

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

20 January 1998 (USA)

Filming Locations:

1800 Stewart St., Santa Monica, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Mutant Enemy, Kuzui Enterprises, Sandollar Television

Technical Specs

Runtime:

60 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

This is the first instance where Xander reveals he has retained military knowledge after the events of the Halloween episode.

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Goofs

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.

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Quotes

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

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Connections

Referenced in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Faith, Hope & Trick (1998)

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Soundtracks

Buffy the Vampire Slayer Theme
Written by Nerf Herder
Performed by Brandon K. Verrett

User Reviews

A flawless episode, and the best of the show of so far

In my second watch, I see now that this is a flawless and an excellent episode. I love Joss Whedon's writing and as a person who wants to be a television writer this is one of the episodes that I'll also admire and look up to.

I mean there are no empty scenes, everything was full with emotions, Sarah Michelle Gellar acting has never been this frustrating(in a good way) by far. She is an astonishing actress, needs more credit.

As this episode, we will know nothing will ever be the same and that's why people call this episode as the "fate changer".

"Innocence" is another prove for the people who thought this is a silly fantasy show(I was thinking that in my first watch). Everybody who is interesting in television writing should see this, I'm serious. 10/10