Buffy The Vampire Slayer celebrates her seventeenth birthday in this episode called Surprise. Time for another SPOILER filled My Year of Buffy post.
What Buffy Did!
Buffy has a nightmare where Angel is killed by Drusilla and she thinks it is prophetic. Willow is asked out by Oz and they decide to go as a couple to Buffy’s surprise seventeenth birthday party. Drusilla is back to full strength and leading the Vampires as Spike recovers and is in a wheelchair. Her plan involves something mysterious in a box being used against Buffy. Miss Calendar is visited by a strange older man who we find out is her uncle. Turns out, she is secretly part of the gypsy tribe that cursed Angel and she is supposed to monitor him and ensure his continued pain. Buffy breaks up some Vampire shenanigans nearby the Bronze and ends up crashing into her own party. Oz sees her kill a Vampire and is told the truth. Miss Calendar finds the box the Vampires wanted and inside is an arm which quickly comes to life and attacks Buffy. Angel reveals this arm is from an ancient creature called The Judge who was only defeated by a whole army and had his body scattered all over. Angel has to leave town right away with the arm, all in order to save the world. At the docks, Angel gives Buffy a Claddagh Ring, signifying how much he likes her. Vampires then attack them at the dock and get the arm. Buffy heads back to the Scoobies and has another nightmare. She heads out with Angel to Spike’s hideout but are too late, The Judge has been rebuilt and is slowly getting back to full strength. They escape death and head back to Angels place and make love. Later, Angel awakens in pain and stumbles outside.
My Thoughts!!
I would have a nightmare too if I had a monkey in a hat in my head too. I usually hate dream sequences, by the way. Woah, dramatic with Angels hand turning to dust as Buffy reaches out to him. Hey, it’s Buffy birthday! Happy Birthday Buffy! A smoochy moment before school makes me wonder if this is the episode Buffy and Angel have sex. Oz is a senior? Okay. Willow and Oz are so cute! Time for to write some fanfic for them. But that means I have to put the final stake into my Willow Xander fanfic. Dang. Xander and Cordelia are annoying, part five. Spike is that wounded? Scarred, in a wheelchair, but still quick with the quips. Drusilla versus flowers. Drusilla with a box scares me. Buffy’s mom seems so calm after last episodes epic grounding and double secret probation. Creepy old guy seems more annoying than scary, even when we find out he is from that gypsy tribe. Miss Calendar is one of them? With a nefarious purpose? That takes me completely by surprise. I always assumed this would have been dealt with on Angel’s spinoff. Giles must be softening, he is letting the Scoobies go to Buffy’s surprise party. I love Willow’s dog sweater in this scene. Is Miss Calendar turning traitor?!?! Saw the truck being a trap. Dang, Buffy can fight. Drumsticks as stakes? That is awesome! Cordelia, what are we going to do with you? Wait, Oz saw the Vampire! Is this where Oz joins the Scoobies? Kinda saw the hand coming to life and attacking thing coming. Buffy has the strangest villains. Drusilla with those broken glasses is just creepy and funny and I am a sick man. It feels like Buffy and Angel are getting engaged. So, Buffy can’t swim? Wouldn’t that be Slayer 101? The round robin is the coolest thing in the world for the Scoobies to have invented. Best friends, best support system, besties all around. And probably something the writers realized they had to address. Love the look everyone gives Angel when he mentions Buffy tossing in her sleep. The Judge is one ugly guy once reassembled. Darn, I kinda liked glasses Vampire. And Spike and Drusilla really really get off on this. Bet Buffy and Angel are going to have birthday sex now. Angel is such a gentleman turning away. They have sex and Buffy is no longer a virgin. And Angel has some serious problems afterwards….
Favourite Lines!!!
Buffy explains love so well to Willow, giving her good advice about Oz with this line, “Fixation on insignificant details is a definite crush sign.” And when Willow complained that Oz is older by a year, Buffy replies, “Please, my boyfriend had a bicentennial.” Xander sure knows how to talk to Giles, with this bit, “Ready to get down, you funky party weasel?” Prompting this retort from Giles, echoing what many fans feel sometimes, “Go to class, Xander.” Willow looks on the bright side all the time, and talking up Buffy’s surprise party is no exception, “And anyway Angels coming, so she will be able to protect him and have cake.” And when Oz finds out Buffy’s secret and is told about Vampires, his reaction is priceless, “Actually, it explains a lot.” But I must end, as the hopeless romantic I am, with this part from Angel to Buffy, “I love you.”
Despite occasional plot wonkiness, I really enjoyed this part one. The Miss Calendar reveal was shocking and Oz becoming a Scooby was awesome, but the real amazing mystery is what is up with Angel? Maybe some ancient rule that Slayers can’t have sex with Vampires?
Scoopriches
…is currently reading Schultz and Peanuts by David Michaelis
scoopsmentalpropaganda 