Innocence (Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode)

Infobox Television episode
Title=Innocence


Series=Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Season=2
Episode=14
Airdate=January 20 1998
Production=5V14
Writer=Joss Whedon
Director=Joss Whedon
Episode list=List of Buffy the Vampire Slayer episodes
Prev=Surprise
Next=Phases

"Innocence" is Episode 14 of Season 2 on "Buffy the Vampire Slayer". See also List of "Buffy" (series) episodes.

Plot synopsis

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. Angelus 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 Angelus 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 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.

Acting

tarring

*Sarah Michelle Gellar as Buffy Summers
*Nicholas Brendon as Xander Harris
*Alyson Hannigan as Willow Rosenberg
*Charisma Carpenter as Cordelia Chase
*David Boreanaz as Angel/Angelus
*and Anthony Stewart Head as Rupert Giles

Guest starring

*Seth Green as Oz
*Kristine Sutherland as Joyce Summers
*Robia LaMorte as Jenny Calendar
*Brian Thompson as The Judge
*Ryan Francis as Soldier

pecial guest stars

*Vincent Schiavelli as Uncle Enios
*James Marsters as Spike
*Juliet Landau as Drusilla

Co-starring

*James Lurie as Teacher
*Carla Madden as Woman
*Parry Shen as Student

Writing

In the commentary, when Joss Whedon is asked about his decision to turn Angel evil, he said that he feels it was necessary to keep the story fresh as viewers would quickly become bored with Angel's and Buffy's relationship. Although the fan base wanted Buffy and Angel to be together romantically, Whedon says, "What people want is not what they need." [Citation
last = Miller
first =Laura
title =The man behind the Slayer
date= May 20, 2003
url =http://dir.salon.com/story/ent/tv/int/2003/05/20/whedon/index.html
accessdate = 07//17/2007 ]

Arc significance

* The Big Bad for season two has appeared and Buffy, of all people, helped make it happen...
* The rocket launcher will be used once again in Buffy's (unsuccessful) attempts to kill Principal Wood in the Season 7 episode "Him".

Continuity

* Although Buffy gets the drop on Angel when she first learns he is a vampire ("Angel"), and tries to goad him into fighting her when she comes back from visiting her father in L.A. ("When She Was Bad"), it is not until he reverts to Angelus in this episode that they engage in their first actual battle with one another.

Production details

Music

* Christophe Beck - "What's That Do"
* Ella Fitzgerald - "Goodnight My Love"

Trivia

* With this episode, North American showing of the series moved permanently from Mondays to Tuesdays.
* Kristine Sutherland told BBC that this is her [http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/buffy/interviews/sutherland/printpage.html favorite episode] as a fan. She had the most fun shooting "Band Candy".
* Joss Whedon has listed this as his favorite episode.
* This episode was the highest rated episode of Buffy ever, scoring a 5.2 Nielsens rating and a 6.7 over night rating, with each ratings point representing 980,000 households. In millions this episode scored the biggest of the series which was 8.2 million.

Translations

* French title: "Innocence (2/2)" ("Innocence")
* Italian title: "Un attimo di felicità" ("A moment of happiness")
* German title: "Der Gefallene Engel" ("The Fallen Angel")
* Japanese title: "高潔" ("Kōketsu" - "Purity")
* Spanish title: "Inocente"

Technical goofs

* After Angelus reveals himself at the school, Xander tells Cordelia to meet him at Willow's house in half an hour. However, the heist does not actually take place until the next day (in between the two scenes, Buffy falls asleep and confronts Jenny the next morning).
* The explosion of the rocket actually begins slightly before impacting the Judge. Joss' commentary explains it as necessary because "We had to mask the rocket bouncing off of the statue".

Timing

* Stories that take place around the same time in the Buffyverse:

References

External links

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