Wednesday 11 December 2013

Buffy The Vampire Slayer, “Surprise" Review (2x13)

Brief Synopsis: “Buffy's seventeenth birthday arrives and the Scoobies prepare a surprise birthday party for her. But when the gang discovers that Spike and Drusilla are planning their own party, Angel may have to leave Sunnydale to keep Dru's party guest, The Judge, from painting the town red.”

"Bad Eggs" (2x12) quick link here                                                                                                             "Innocence" (2x14) quick link here


Two quick notes before we get started...

1)    I will be reviewing the episodes in bullet point form. This is because it makes the reviews simple to read, and helps break up the text.
2)    If you are watching the show for the first time along with these reviews, please be warned that there may be a few spoilers for things that haven’t happened yet.

With that being said, let’s get started, shall we?




•    This, for me, is where the season shifts into another gear. From this episode to the end of the season, almost every episode is fantastic. This is where “Buffy The Vampire Slayer” started to get consistently great. There had been flashes of greatness up until this point, but the show had never been able to maintain that momentum until the “Surprise”/Innocence” two-parter. To say that these two episodes put “Buffy The Vampire Slayer” on the map would be an understatement. “Passion” is what shocked the world into paying attention, but “Surprise” and “Innocence” are the episodes that opened a lot of eyes.
•    This episode revolves primarily around Spike and Drusilla assembling a demon called ‘The Judge’, who is so powerful that no weapon forged back when he was alive could stop him. Drama unfolds, chaos ensues, the season takes a major twist, and Angel becomes more of a lost soul than he was before (I couldn’t help myself, okay). There’s no denying that the centre of this episode is Buffy and Angel’s relationship.
•    From the second the episode starts, you know it’s going to be special. You can just sense it. When I first watched this episode, I thought that Drusilla was genuinely in Buffy’s house, and I lost my shit!...I quickly realised, however, that it was a dream when Buffy’s bathroom door opened into The Bronze.
•    Willow speaking French to the monkey is a nice throw-back to “What’s My Line Part Two” (another Marti Noxon episode), where Oz says that “all monkeys are French, didn’t you know that?” Hilariously, what Willow is saying when she talks to the monkey is that “the hippo stole his pants.” Dream sequence continuity is a fantastic thing. This show makes a habit of having dreams be meaningful...Xander says as much in a dream in "When She Was Bad". It's like Inception! The entirety of “Restless” is an example of this. Buffy’s dream to open up “Welcome To The Hellmouth” and her dream about Faith in “Graduation Day Part Two” are further examples.


•    Buffy dreams that Drusilla kills Angel. I think this is shown for a number of reasons. 1) It shows that Buffy is paranoid about losing Angel. 2) It’s foreshadowing that by the end of this episode Angel will be gone. He won’t be dusted, but the Angel that Buffy has grown to know and love will no longer exist. It’s also interesting to see that Drusilla does the staking. When you think about the fact that it’s Drusilla’s vision in “Passion” that stops Jenny Calendar re-ensoulling Angel, it’s a twisted irony that Drusilla kills Angel here.
•    Sarah’s acting in the scene where she goes to check if Angel is alive is superb. She conveys terror and relief together so convincingly. I swear, this episode is going to be the death of me. Literally. I’m going to die of poutiness. It’s only recently (since “What’s My Line Part One”) that I’ve bought into Angel and Buffy as a couple. Before “What’s My Line”, I saw that they had feelings for each other, but there was no substance to their relationship. I felt like they had little in common and that they were rather bland as a couple (this is before we get the amazing flashback scene in “Becoming” where Angel watches Buffy get called). I adore them together by this point (and do right up until the end of the show). “Surprise” is one of my favourite episodes for their relationship...then it all gets stolen away from us.
•    I want an alternate reality episode based on Buffy’s dream of her and Giles opening an office supply store in Vegas, and I want it now. Could you imagine it! In Angel season four when Angel Investigations goes to Las Vegas to visit Lorne, they stop off at an office supply store to buy Lorne a fancy green pen, and Buffy is the girl at the checkout. I would have died of laughter. Someone write this fanfic!
•    I believe that this episode holds the first time that the Buffy-Angel love theme is played. I’m a big fan of musical scores. A big fan. “Buffy The Vampire Slayer” has some of the most beautiful pieces of music that I’ve heard in my life, and 99% of those come from Christophe Beck. He is a genius. This particular piece of music is one of my favourites. In a lot of ways it’s the most recognisable score on “Buffy The Vampire Slayer” because it’s repeated so frequently.
•    Angel: “You still haven’t told me what you want for your birthday.”
     Buffy: “Surprise me.”


He sure does that, eh? Be careful what you wish for, Buffy.


•    Oh my goodness! The level of adorableness has reached new heights when Willow says to Oz, “you can be my date”. My heart just melted. As Buffy and Angel fall apart at the end of this episode, Willow and Oz are sewn together as a couple. What a beautifully disturbing parallel. I cannot describe how much I love Willow and Oz together. It’s funny; the biggest debate in the Buffyverse when it comes to relationships seems to be Spuffy vs. Bangel. However, both of those relationships are highly dysfunctional and flawed (this coming from a huge Bangel fan and a huge Spuffy season 7 fan). Whereas Willow’s main two relationships (screw you, Kennedy!) are both very real, natural, and secure for a long time. The debate I always struggle with is Willow-Tara vs. Willow-Oz, as I love both relationships so much. Willow easily has the most stable relationships on the show. Xander and Anya are also a pretty perfect fit together, but that’s a story for another day.
•    Xander: “You funky party weasel.”


I must have used that phrase over 500 times in the past 15 years.


•    Yes, Xander, all us Brits are such drama queens. HOW DARE YOU CALL US ALL DRAMA QUEENS! I CAN’T BELIEVE IT! I FEEL PERSONALLY AFFRONTED!...was that dramatic enough?
•    I feel I need a separate bullet point just to point out how amazingly toned Juliet Landau’s arms are.
•    Then, as things were uncomfortable, but still okay, Joyce dropped the plate like she did in Buffy’s dream. Even at nine years old, this was the moment where I knew that something bad was coming in this episode. Something worse than usual, I mean. Nothing ends well when Buffy’s disturbing dreams start coming true. Drowning death, anyone?
•    Finally some character development for Jenny! Until this episode, what did we really know about Jenny? She’s a techno-Pagan who teaches I.T. at Sunnydale High and likes to dangle corkscrews from...somewhere. That’s pretty much it. Finally we get some character development for her. Just before, you know, she gets killed off.  The interesting thing about Jenny’s backstory being revealed is that it’s so complicated. Angel is deserving of his punishment of being re-ensoulled. Angel would tell you that himself. Angelus was the most vicious and brutal recorded vampire in history! Jenny’s family, rightfully so, want eternal vengeance on Angelus for killing a member of their family. Jenny, nor her family, is portrayed as the ‘bad guys’ here. It’s why Angel is such a fascinating character to have around! His history leads to so many grey-area villains like Holtz (Angel season three) and Sam Lawson (“Why We Fight”). Jenny’s backstory developments also lead to further questions...did Jenny start flirting with Giles originally to get close to Buffy to keep an eye on Angel? She was sent to Sunnydale to keep an eye on Angel after all.


•    Watching Jenny’s story in this episode is fascinating. After convincing Angel to leave Sunnydale with The Judge’s arm, you can see how conflicted she is. On the one hand, she’s been raised to hate Angel and to make sure that Angel doesn’t lose his soul. On the other hand, Angel has saved Jenny’s life, and Jenny likes Buffy and wants to see Buffy happy. I don’t envy the fine line that Jenny has to walk during this episode. Angel has never hurt Jenny personally, and Jenny knows that the monster who tore apart her clan is long gone. It’s interesting to note that The Judge did more damage here in his disassembled state than he ever did after he was reassembled.
•    Giles keeps the birthday party on course. Giles, you are a wonderful man. I think Giles knows better than anyone that you have to celebrate the good times in life because they never last long in Sunnydale.
•    Cordelia yelling “surprise!” after all the dramatic fighting is the greatest thing in the history of television. Cordy is that oblivious to the world around her that doesn’t involve her.
•    Xander: “Vampires are real, a lot of them live in Sunnydale, Willow will fill you in.”
     Willow: “I know it’s hard to accept at first....”
     Oz: “Actually it explains a lot.”


I love how easy it is for Oz to accept that vampires are real. He just shrugs it off completely. I think that Seth Green and the writers have done an amazing job of making Oz so funny and so likeable after such a short amount of time. When you see Oz’s character progress over the next two years, you know that this response from Oz is completely in character. There are only two exceptions to this...1) When The Mayor and Faith have Willow captive in season three’s “Choices”. Oz throws an ornament against the wall. 2) When Willow catches Oz and Veruca shacked up in a cage.


•    Oz: “It looked like an arm.”


I’m going to take a special moment to welcome Oz’s one-liners to the show. They are a welcomed edition, and I cannot believe we survived the first season without them.


•    I stand corrected about Cordelia yelling “surprise!” being the funniest moment in the history of television. Drusilla putting Dalton’s glasses back on his face and patting his head after almost poking his eyes out with her fingernails is equally hilarious.
•    Angel: “My people – before I was changed – they exchanged this as a sign of devotion. It’s a Claddagh ring. The hands represent friendship, the crown represents loyalty, and the heart...well, you know.”


The iconic Claddagh ring. I swear, “Buffy The Vampire Slayer” must have tripled sales of these. I have one myself, and it’s one of my most prized possessions. The ring is especially sentimental to me because I’m a quarter Irish (and three-quarters English), so the Claddagh ring represents my heritage as well as being a special piece of jewellery about “Buffy The Vampire Slayer”.


•    Stupid vampires interrupting the first “I love you” between Buffy and Angel *grumbles*.
•    Giles: “A true creature of evil can survive the process. No human ever has.”
     Xander: “What’s the problem? We send Cordy to fight this guy and we go for pizza.”


Valid plan. Cordelia would insult and sass The Judge to death. 


•    Sarah still has hips and a little belly here. She looks SO much better here than in the later seasons (too skinny for my liking).
•    Oh no! Luke from “Welcome To The Hellmouth” and “The Harvest” has lost his fangs, grew some horns, and turned into a giant Smurf with ‘roid rage. This shall not end well.
•    Dalton being incinerated by The Judge tells us once and for all that knowledge isn’t power.
•    I like the clever parallel in this episode that as Drusilla’s birthday gets more and more exciting and wonderful, Buffy’s birthday falls apart more and more.
•    Spike: “There is no instead, just first and second.”
•    Then we get to the crux of this episode. The reason for it existing in the first place...the ending scene between Buffy and Angel. It’s very romantic, very sexy, and very passionate. I’ve always enjoyed the wonderful chemistry between Buffy and Angel. Sarah and David dated in real life, so the chemistry and attraction wasn’t just for the cameras, which I think helped it look even more realistic. I just adore the tenderness between the two of them in this scene. These two characters that are inherently lonely have found someone else who can understand what they are going through, and it all culminates with them having sex.
•    ...Then Angel’s soul comes spurting out of him and the entire relationship goes to Hell. Buckle up, kids. To quote Angelus, “things are about to get very interesting.”
•    To conclude, this episode was of a very high quality. There is very little that you could look at as being a ‘filler scene’. Everything serves a purpose. In this episode, Buffy loses her virginity. In the next episode, Buffy loses her innocence. I can’t think of two episodes of “Buffy The Vampire Slayer” where Buffy has to do more growing up.



Quote Of The Episode

Oz: “I'm gonna ask you if you wanna go out tomorrow night. I'm actually kind of nervous about it. It's interesting.”

Willow: “Oh. Well, if it helps at all, I'm gonna say yes.”

Oz: “It helps. It adds a comfort zone. You wanna go out tomorrow night?”

Willow: “I can't!”

Oz: “I like that you're unpredictable.”

Willow: “It's Buffy's birthday and we're throwing her a surprise party.”

Oz: “That's okay.”

Willow: “But, you could come. If you wanted.”

Oz: “I don't wanna crash...”

Willow: “No, that's fine. You could be.....my date.”


*Dies due to the cuteness*. Seriously, how can anyone not love Willow and Oz together?



FINAL SCORE: 9/10


So what are your thoughts on "Surprise"? Did you enjoy this episode? Dislike it? Let me know all your thoughts in the comments section below!

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14 comments:

  1. Karen Ritchel Shifflett11 December 2013 at 12:52

    You cinched it for me by closing with the Willow/Oz date conversation. Thanks for walking me through yet another fabtastic episode!

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  2. Surprise is my all time favourite Buffy episode. Buffy and Angel are my favourite couple ever on TV. I didn't realise that Sarah and David dated at this point - I thought David was still married up untill 1999

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    1. You are correct, Bhavna! :D.

      I'm just running on the theory that there was already sparkage between the two at this point, as it was only just over a year before they started dating.

      Thanks for reading!

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    2. Yeah thats for sure! Their chemistry is amazing. I wonder why it never worked out in real life. In my mind Buffy and Angel always ended up together <3

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  3. Drusilla, more Drusilla, not enough Drusilla. One of my favs because....Drusilla.

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  4. whenever i would like to watch something romantic, i watch "Surprise" (or Angel, Amends, Passion, I Will Remember You :) ) i am falling aslepp while watching this episode, like a fairy tale :) it is really nice. this episode is where Buffy the Vampire Slayer become an "adult" show. and when we realize things will never be the same again.

    damn you whedon.

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    Replies
    1. Hi Dizi!

      Damn you Whedon, indeed! :P

      I completely agree with you. "Amends" holds a very special place in my heart for sentimental reasons...stay turned for that review ;-)

      Thanks for reading! It really means a lot!

      - Shangel

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  5. I agree with you, this is the episode where I started to really like BTVS, where all the storyline started to make sense and all started to get pretty interesting.

    I thought Drusilla was actually in Buffy's house too!

    Bahaha The alternate reality episode fanfic must be done!!

    I cannot choose between Willow/Oz and Willow/Tara either, I just think they were perfect couples at that time. And I think that Oz had to leave in order to find out who he really was so maybe that was the perfect timing for it to end. And Tara... well, Tara disappeared too soon. I would've loved to watch how that relationship had developed if it wasn't for that.

    OMG! you watched this ep at nine years old?? O_O. It was heavy enough for me watching Buffy at my 20s....

    Bahaha Techno-Pagan lol

    "Cordelia would insult and sass The Judge to death " :DD

    Well... First of all, I love this episode but I don't love it as much as I love Innocence... Sorry to disappoint most of you Bangel fans! Not that I don't love Bangel chemistry here, but it's just that Innocence caught me so off guard that I couldn't even remember Surprise good enough.

    Thanks Shangel for reminding it to me with your awesome review!! ^_^

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    1. I agree I like Innocence much more than Surprise. Its the whole reason why you watch this episode. Everything that happens here serves as a means to get to Innocence When Buffy Becomes the greatest coming of age story ever!!!!! I adore this show!

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  6. Awesome review once again! I still want a Claddagh ring! Just because of it being in Buffy. Plus I have some Irish in me somewhere. I love Willow and Oz discussing a date!

    I gasped so loud when I thought Angel had been killed!!

    "Cordelia would insult and sass The Judge to death." Superb - I could fully see that happening!!!

    I look forward to the next review. When is it? When is it?

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  7. Loved this episode everything about it was awesome!!!
    Bangel's relationship truly reaches climax here (no pun intended), was so sweet and romantic.

    It's heartbreaking to know what will result in Buffy and Angel making love, FUCK YOU JOSS WHEDON!!! :P

    Shangel I am Half-Irish Myself and adore the claddagh ring for both the reasons you stated :D
    I need to get a new one though...

    This episode is 9/10 for me :)

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  8. This episode does kill me every time it's amazing but heartbreaking at the same time, I just can't handle all the emotions. The Angel and Buffy moments are just so sweet, I can't help crying for them, they were so happy damn you Whedon indeed! Best part everything Angel worst part Angelus :"(

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  9. Apologies in advanced if I come off weird and/or nitpicky or if this seems out of place here, but I've gotta post this on one of the reviews, that mention, that Sarah and David dated. When would that have been? David was married to his first wife until 1999 and married his second wife in 2001, while Sarah started dating Freddie Prinze Jr. in 2000. So if they actually did date, it must have been a very short relationship and would show David switching women quite fast. So, I'm really curious, where you got that information, that they dated und when it actually was. (And sorry for being so weird about this, but I'm really OCD with this sort of thing and it's been bothering me since I first read it.)

    Apart from this thing bothering me, I really love reading your reviews though (well, re-reading :) ), even though I disagree on quite a lot of things. But I guess, that just makes it more interesting.

    Also, I have to congratulate you for achieving a feat deemed impossible before: getting me to watch Angel. Thank you for that, since I really enjoyed it (if not as much as Buffy). Hope, to be reading from you again sometime, afterall, you've got some episodes left on both shows ;)
    Until then, I just keep re-reading, what's already there :)

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    1. I'm not a 100% sure about this, but I vaguely remember reading somewhere, that David and Sarah never acutally dated, but the rumor was encouraged to keep the audience invested in Bangel. Which I still don't quite understand as I never liked Angel much (except for when the shows make fun of him like in "Lie to me" with his clothes) and viewed him as more of a parody of the "tortured vampire" à la Anne Rice. But of course lots of people take that seriously and honestly like this kind of thing... Just like that having a soul thing, where I always thought, that having no soul is just a good excuse to be as evil as you like without being really responsible for it. You know, Angelus can't help being evil, he has no soul. Or something. Which is just ridiculous as Spike is perfectly capable of doing good without a soul (and to me it doesn't really matter if he does good because it's good or because he wants to impress Buffy, the outcome is still good - and I'm usually sceptical of people being never ever selfish at all as that is just unnatural) and there are several examples of humans with a soul being just as evil as countless of the monsters (so I still don't get, why that boy from Angel that was born without a soul is meant to be so terrifying).
      Ok, I seem to drift off, so I'm stopping it here ;)

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