Surprise

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Passion that was outta control!

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Buffy's nightmare about Drusilla killing Angel gives her a major wiggins. She tells Angel about it, afraid that Drusilla might still be alive, but he thinks there's nothing to worry about. They kiss a lot. That morning at school, Buffy is all swoony about Angel, and Willow encourages her to move their relationship to the next level. Willow works up the nerve to talk to Oz, the guitar-playing cybernerd who's been mooning over her, and he asks her out for the following night -- where he'll be her date for Buffy's surprise 17th birthday bash. When Buffy tells Giles and Jenny Calendar about her dream, Giles says it's possible that Drusilla is alive, and to be on alert. Sure enough, we see Spike and Dru at the factory. Spike is scarred and in a wheelchair but as evil as ever. Dru is planning a party, too, but it's a safe bet there'll be no chips and dip at this one.

A strange man approaches Jenny in class -- it is her uncle, and we discover she is actually a gypsy whose entire family was killed by Angel when he was the superevil Angelus. The uncle says it's not fair for Angel to have any happiness, so it's Jenny's duty to keep Buffy away from him. Jenny offers to take Buffy to meet Giles off campus, and they discover some vamps making trouble -- one of whom is the transcriber who once worked for Spike. As Buffy and one of the vamps scuffle, they go flying through the window of the Bronze where the surprise party awaits. Newcomer Oz is startled to see Buffy slay one of them, and now he's officially part of the gang. They open the box the vamps were carrying, and it contains an arm which reaches out and chokes Buffy. Angel explains there was a creature called The Judge who destroyed everyone who was righteous. He was finally dismembered by an army, but his parts still exist, and reassembling him would bring on armaggedon. Angel says he must take that arm to the other side of the world, and must leave by boat immediately. Buffy joins him at the dock to say goodbye, and he gives her a claddagh ring as a token of his love. As they say goodbye, the vamps are back and the arm is stolen.

Dru's party is in full swing, and The Judge is the main attraction. His first conquest is the transcriber, who he ignites with just a touch. When Buffy and Angel go to the factory to see if they can find any more parts, they see it's too late, and The Judge spots them. They escape to Angel's pad, where he finally tells her he loves her. They make love and go to sleep. An undressed Angel awakens with a start and runs outside, suddenly fully dressed in black, and collapses. He calls Buffy's name but she stays asleep.

From the Buffy Official Site

Trying to compare Surprise to Innocence is like trying to compare Stoli to Absolut. Or the Spice Girls to the Indigo Girls. Alan Thicke to Bob Saget. Or, for another comparison, Spam to Honey Baked Ham, except I don't like ham. Surprise was more a filler show than Bad Eggs was supposed to be. The basic feeling I got from watching this ep was, "hot damn, everything just seems so off." To put it bluntly, I did not like Surprise as an episode, and I will tell you why.

To begin, Buffy and Angel, as with BE, were kissing way too much. WAY TOO MUCH. To me, it seemed like no one could think of anything substantive to put in, so Marti Noxon just used an old fallback, Buffy and Angel smoochies. It just gets really old after a while, damnit. And, to make things even better, their kissing is what got them in all that trouble with the Judge. If the two could just have controlled their hormones and focused on getting that box out of Sunnydale, and being on guard, the box probably would have remained in Angel's possession. And look at the HUGE string of events that caused.

My problems with Buffy come out of this whole thing. She was too focused on Angel and not enough on her sacred duty. One of the downsides of being the Slayer is that she has to make her calling her first priority, always. But, up to and including this ep, she was slipping into the fabulous world of kissage and the rest with aplomb. Don't get me wrong, I have no real problem with the two as a couple, but Buffy's focus, her edge, has been gone for a while. There is no use having a Slayer who doesn't do her job.

While we're on this level, I'm going to address Xander's almost complete lack of humor in this ep. Xander is a funny, funny guy, he is usually extremely hilarious in ever episode, and he always manages to make me laugh like a dumbass at his silly antics. Not so with Surprise. While his "Idiot Jed" line had me smirking, nothing else really made me chuckle. Or guffaw, or anything else for that matter. I'm really pissed off because what would have been the funniest scene in the entire episode, ended up on the cutting room floor, so to speak. I don't really know where it ended up literally, besides not in the damn show. This scene had Merecedes McNab (Harmony) in it, which is why she was erroneously listed in the credits. I read the scene, and Xander was funny as hell in it, and damn I would pay to see it because it was so damn amusing. Basically, the scene was Xander testing the waters with Willow on Cordy being not so bad, and Cordy doing the same with Harmony. On a lighter note, something that was funny, but not really Xander being funny, was when he called home and said "Hi Mom." (pause) "Xander." Xander's mom didn't even know it was him. That is funny. I can just imagine the home he lives in, with mom/dad? never cooking dinner, and mom not even knowing her son's voice.

And the Gypsy thing. I so don't think so. NO NO NO. This screams to me, "We need a plot twist, something to throw you off, so hey, Jenny's a gypsy and she's screwing over Buffy." This whole thing was so entirely inconsistent with Jenny's character that I'm not even going to go into it. And when you think about it, she had no right to get mad at Giles because of the Eyghon possession in The Dark Age when she was going behind his back the whole damn time. I mean, come on, what happened to her was sort of indirectly his fault, and entirely unintentional, while she, on the other hand, was doing something really messed up, though it was obvious that she was not happy with her situation. I hated this. I still hate it. I will never like this.

Dru and Spike didn't strike my fancy during this ep, either. Normally, they really add to the show, but not this time. Dru was just beyond weird. Her hatred of the flowers was too bizarre, even for her. Watching that scene made me uncomfortable, because I knew that it was supposed to be funny, but it just was not. The duo just didn't click in this episode like they usually do. But I bet her parties are fun as hell.

And, of course, the little things that got to me. There are always little things. I hated the "carpe diem," "fish of the day" thing. Buffy may not be the brightest girl in the world, but come on! Also, the white boots Buffy wore that day sucked. I can't stand it when Buffy and Cordy wear stuff that doesn't look good, and those boots sure didn't. Additionally, Angel sure got dressed pretty fast for being in such horrible pain. Couldn't he have just thrown on a pair of pants or something?

You may be surprised to hear that there were some things that I really liked about this episode. The intro dream was kind of funny, even though Dru killed Angel. Which, in dream sequence was pretty funny anyway. Willow talking to the monkey (wearing pants, of course) was really amusing. Alyson Hannigan as Willow was great in this ep, as usual. She is just an amazing actress, and she manages to brighten up every scene she is in, consistently. Her scene with Oz was absolutely perfect. It was cute, funny, and classic Willow. These two will make a great couple, and I'm really looking forward to more of them in the future.

Cordy's "Surprise!" was so funny. You can't get much more Cordelia Chase than that. She is, as always, oblivious to everything. Kudos to Charisma Carpenter for being a perfect stupid mega-bitch. She always pulls off her scenes, even when they suck.

Now, my final notes are about the really good Angel/Buffy scenes in this episode. The first occurred when Buffy went to Angel's the morning after her bad dream. While most of the scene sucked, two parts stood out for me. The first was when Angel asked Buffy what else she had dreamed about that night, and she replied, "I dreamed that Giles and I opened an office supply warehouse in Vegas." HA! I can just see Giles fretting over some pens being askew in the displays. Also, during that scene, when Buffy started to leave, Angel grabbed her by the arm and pulled her back to him for a passionate kiss. Good lord. During that short moment, it became abundantly clear to me how very much Angel loves Buffy, and how good they can be together. The look on David Boreanaz's face was perfect for how Angel would be feeling at that moment, and the kiss was the best of the lot of them during that scene. And, of course, the "sex" scene was just great. Angel checking Buffy's cut was entirely erotic, and hell, that ain't erotic at all. The need and longing that both characters showed to one another was entirely believable and appropriate. It was a little too tasteful, but I'll deal.