Innocence (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

"Innocence" is episode 14 of season 2 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. This is renowned as the highest rated episode in the series, attracting 8.2 million viewers as the series moved from its Monday timeslot to Tuesday.

Plot synopsis

After making love with Buffy earlier that night, Angel escapes into the alley with a piercing pain in his heart, as his soul is ripped from him. When a kind streetwalker tries to help him a few minutes later, he quickly 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 seen between them this season, while Drusilla 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. Buffy finally finds Angel in his apartment and he blows her off, laughing at her feelings as she weeps. Jenny is castigated by her Uncle Enios, who tells her that if Angel has one moment of happiness, his new soul is gone. 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 with his soul 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 killed him, leaving Buffy a message written in blood on the wall - "Was It Good For You Too?", forcing Buffy to realize that she has to kill Angelus.

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 kiss 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 in the crotch. 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 he hasn't lost his trust in and respect for her. Later, Buffy and Joyce sit down to watch a movie. Joyce asks Buffy what she did for her birthday, and Buffy simply answers that she got older. Joyce lights the candle and tells Buffy to make a wish, but Buffy merely decides to let it burn.

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 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."^[1]

Arc significance

The Big Bad for season two, Angelus, has appeared and Buffy helped make it happen.
Jenny's past and ulterior motives for being in Sunnydale are revealed.
This is the first instance where Xander reveals he has retained military knowledge after the events of the Halloween episode.^[2]
Willow learns of Xander's and Cordelia's relationship.^[2]

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.
The rocket-propelled grenade launcher which Xander obtained would later appear again in the episode "Him".

Production details

Music

Christophe Beck - "What's That Do"
Alice Faye and Robert Young - "Goodnight My Love" (From the 1936 movie Stowaway)

Trivia

With this episode, North American showing of the series moved permanently from Mondays to Tuesdays.
Kristine Sutherland told BBC that this is her favorite episode as a fan.^[3] 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.
In the DVD commentary, Whedon says the interaction between Buffy and Angel following their night of passion was supposed to have taken place outside of Buffy's house. However, he comments that the scene was simply not working as it was lacking intimacy and was thus later shot in Angel's house.
This episode, along with part 1 ("Surprise"), won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Makeup for a Series, one of only two Emmys the series would win.

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"

References

^ Miller, Laura (May 20, 2003), The man behind the Slayer, retrieved 07//17/2007 {{citation}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
^ ^a ^b BBC episode guide
^ http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/buffy/interviews/sutherland/printpage.html

External links

[1] Miller, Laura (May 20, 2003), The man behind the Slayer, retrieved 07//17/2007 {{citation}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)

[BBC_episode_guide-2] BBC episode guide

[3] ttp://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/buffy/interviews/sutherland/printpage.html

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v t e Buffy the Vampire Slayer episodes
Season 1	Unaired pilot "Welcome to the Hellmouth" "The Harvest" "Witch" "Teacher's Pet" "Never Kill a Boy on the First Date" "The Pack" "Angel" "I, Robot... You, Jane" "The Puppet Show" "Nightmares" "Out of Mind, Out of Sight" "Prophecy Girl"
Season 2	"When She Was Bad" "Some Assembly Required" "Inca Mummy Girl" "Lie to Me" "The Dark Age" "What's My Line, Parts One and Two" "Bad Eggs" "Surprise" "Innocence" "Phases" "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered" "Passion" "Killed by Death" "I Only Have Eyes for You" "Go Fish" "Becoming, Parts One and Two"
Season 3	"Anne" "Dead Man's Party" "Faith, Hope & Trick" "Beauty and the Beasts" "Homecoming" "Band Candy" "Revelations" "Lovers Walk" "The Wish" "Amends" "Gingerbread" "Helpless" "The Zeppo" "Bad Girls" "Consequences" "Doppelgangland" "Earshot" "Choices" "Graduation Day, Parts One and Two"
Season 4	"Living Conditions" "Beer Bad" "Pangs" "Something Blue" "Hush" "The I in Team" "Goodbye Iowa" "This Year's Girl" "Who Are You?" "Superstar" "The Yoko Factor" "Restless"
Season 5	"Buffy vs. Dracula" "Real Me" "The Replacement" "Out of My Mind" "Checkpoint" "The Body" "Tough Love" "Spiral" "The Weight of the World" "The Gift"
Season 6	"Bargaining, Parts One and Two" "After Life" "Life Serial" "All the Way" "Once More, with Feeling" "Tabula Rasa" "Smashed" "Wrecked" "As You Were" "Hell's Bells" "Normal Again" "Entropy" "Seeing Red" "Villains" "Two to Go" "Grave"
Season 7	"Lessons" "Beneath You" "Same Time, Same Place" "Help" "Selfless" "Him" "Conversations with Dead People" "Sleeper" "Never Leave Me" "Bring On the Night" "Showtime" "Potential" "The Killer in Me" "First Date" "Get It Done" "Storyteller" "Lies My Parents Told Me" "Dirty Girls" "Empty Places" "Touched" "Chosen"