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Post by Clare on Sept 23, 2008 8:34:28 GMT -5
2.14 Innocence - Episode #026
Angel loses his soul and turns against Buffy
Review (also post a score out of 10) and discuss this episode.
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Post by cyclica on Sept 26, 2008 10:48:40 GMT -5
This is a great episode, one of the best arc episodes of the show.
The scene in angel's place where angelus was pretending to be angel, but not caring about buffy, was really powerful. Its impossible not to feel for buffy there. And speaking of heart breaking scenes, willow finds out about the xandelia. She finds out her best friend would rather be with someone she hates than with her... and she makes herself put those feelings aside because she has to deal with more important, life and death situations.
Also, rocket launcher = awesome. But like I've said before, there are many issues with why the rocket launcher was never seen again.
There is one thing that always bugged me about this episode, and that is when the judge was in the mall, he killed a guy who didn't even scream, and no one around even noticed. And then he zapps the entire mall, and everyone just stands still, not showing any indication they are dying or in pain or anything. But maybe thats just looking for faults. This was one of the best episodes of season 2, and I give it an 8.
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Post by jennf10 on Nov 26, 2008 16:05:45 GMT -5
The Judge is recovering his full powers, making Spike impatient to get with the killing. Outside Angel's mansion, Angel's pain stops, but his first act is to kill his first human victim for 100 years. The Demon With the Angelic Face is back: Angelus. The gang continues their research of the Judge, and the news is not good. When his full power returns, he can kill with a glance. Angelus returns to Spike's lair, where the Judge attempts to kill him, but since Angelus is now completely inhuman, he cannot harm him. Spike and Dru are overjoyed, and decide to unleash the Judge, but Angelus persuades them to let him kill Buffy himself. Willow is distraught to see Xander and Cordy kissing, but Xander comes up with a plan to kill the Judge. Angelus' attempt to kill Buffy fails, since Jenny knows that he has turned and warns her, but in doing so she reveals her secret Gypsy identity, much to the gang's displeasure. The Judge attacks the mall, but Buffy kills him with a rocket launcher that Xander acquired with his army knowledge from Halloween.
My Review:
We meet Anglus. Following the consumation of their relationship, Angel achieves a moment of pure happiness. In doing so, he looses his soul and Angelus returns.
After re-teaming up with his old buddies, Spike and Drusilla, Angel plans to hatch The Judge onto the people of Sunnydale at the best place possible, the local mall.
In the meantime, Buffy is unaware of what has happened to Angel. She does not know the true extent of what's happened until Jenny Calendar explains it to her. Even then, Buffy never truly believed her until she saw the result for herself.
In the end of the episode, Buffy takes down the Judge with a rocket laucher. (What could be better) However, this emotionally charged episode leaves you grieving with Buffy for her lost love, Angel.
My score: 9/10
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Post by partcynic on Nov 6, 2009 12:15:21 GMT -5
2x14 “Innocence”
Episode Rating = 9
One of the most crucial moments in the series’ run, “Innocence” is one of “Buffy”’s defining moments, and demonstrated the show’s ability to tackle dark, emotionally-taxing material in an extremely effective manner. Appropriately named, “Innocence” is also a landmark moment for many of the characters, with Buffy being put through her most traumatic event yet (indeed, this is the point at which her prior flippancy starts to fade and her self-loathing commences) and other members of the Scooby Gang learning untoward secrets about each other. The plot, pacing, character development and humour are all superb, and combine to push an already-excellent season to the next level of quality.
What I Liked about “Innocence”:
- Angelus' introductory reveal is fantastic, and biting the hooker with enough force to steal her cigarette drag placed him in stark contrast to how Angel would behave – a great way of showing that something disturbing had happened.
- Buffy’s sneak home and little chat with Joyce felt real, and her nervous fear that her mother might be able to tell what she’d done just by looking at her was believable.
- It’s always enjoyable to see the Scoobs functioning as a tight family unit, and Willow and Xander’s determination to help Buffy and Angel regardless of the physical costs it might incur is touching. It’s interesting to see the usually harmonious gang split into rival factions (foreshadowing the future), and Willow’s line about being so enraged she can’t think of a bad name to call the others is funny.
- After the setup in the previous episode, it was good to see the Judge preparing for his apocalypse (and I loved Spike’s comment about it looking a lot like sitting on his ass); and he also served as a great tool for demonstrating the change in Angel (“this one cannot be burned... there’s no humanity in him”). Drusilla’s material was also excellent, from her wicked glee at Angelus' return to naming all the stars the same name (“and there’s terrible confusion”).
- The bad guy reunion is a blast – David Boreanaz seems to be having more fun than ever playing his character as evil, and the tit-for-tat between the vamps is excellent. I liked seeing Angelus state that killing Buffy could not be done using mere physical force, and his arrival lays the groundwork for all sorts of interesting dynamics between the three.
- Buffy’s growing sense of dread and concern during the early part of the episode is palpable, and her first meeting with Angelus has it pay off in the most horrible (aka fantastic) way possible. It’s genuinely painful to see the poor girl get eviscerated so cruelly, and Sarah Michelle Gellar’s acting during the scene is top-notch (and remains so for the rest of the episode).
- This ep features what is perhaps the show’s most powerful and intelligent use of metaphor, permitting the mundane and the supernatural to meet with emotionally gripping results.
- Jenny and her uncle do a good job of providing exposition, and her line that “people are going to die” is especially harrowing knowing that neither of them will make it out of the arc alive.
- Willow’s (and by extension, the rest of the group’s) discovery of Xander/Cordelia works as an emotional scene, and I could easily understand that while Willow had grown to accept that Xander wasn’t interested in her, it still stung badly to see that he had no problem dating someone he couldn’t stand. During the Willow/Xander confrontation, both made reasonable points, and it was good to see Willow demonstrate maturity by saying that while she was upset, she realised that other things were more important.
- Angelus’ appearance at the school is eerie, especially when we see the characters treating him like their friend (when we know he’s now anything but). Having him nearly kill Willow and taunt Buffy were great ways of ramping the tension up, and Buffy’s heartbroken inability to respond makes her sympathetic.
- I enjoyed all of the material in the library – the gang responded believably to the news, and the fact that even Giles was showing signs of panic said a lot. The scene had a good combination of light (Xander coming up with his plan, and telling Cordy to meet him wearing “something trashy... er”) and dark (Buffy’s psychological paralysis upon realising what caused Angel to change) moments, and they worked well together. Following from “Surprise”, I loved that Willow was able to realise what had happened, and her politely telling Giles to shut up (and later, quietly saying that he couldn’t understand what Buffy was going through) really indicated the depth of the girls’ friendship.
- This episode is crammed with deeply emotional material, but I admit that none get to me more than the scene where Buffy goes home, heads to her room, curls up on her bed and sobs. Her sense of distraught heartbreak is palpable, and felt incredibly real – honestly, it’s upsetting just thinking about it.
- Xander and Cordelia’s material at the military base is strong, and provides some comparatively lighthearted moments to pervade the overwhelming gloom (not that the gloom is a bad thing). It’s somewhere between really clever and really contrived that Xander’s Halloween transformation gave him so much knowledge, but I can at least buy him remembering what he’d learnt (S4 is a different matter, though). It was funny to see him give the soldier a verbal dressing down, and his comment about needing only five minutes (“forget that last part”) and the classic “I’m seventeen – looking at linoleum makes me want to have sex” line are very funny.
- While Xander and Cordelia go raiding, Oz and Willow get a fantastic moment in the front of his van. Oz comes across brilliantly, and his maturity and respect (not only for her, but himself) permit him to stand out as a worthy character beyond ‘Willow’s love interest’.
- The final attack on the mall is an entertaining sequence, and it was especially pleasing to see that Xander was the one who cracked the case open. Buffy with the rocket launcher is one of the show’s iconic images, and the Judge’s “what’s that do?” before being promptly blown to bits was hysterical. The humour kept on coming with Drusilla’s freaked-out reaction, as well as Cordy’s “we get the pieces? Our job sucks!” and the little segue to Oz (“uh... arm”).
- The Buffy/Angel fight is a decent one, with some nice action and Buffy’s conflicted emotions heightening the drama. Obviously, it wasn’t the Slayerly thing for her to let him get away, but I completely understood how she couldn’t bring herself to kill him, and booting him in the groin was comeuppance enough... for now.
- Giles’ reaction to learning about Buffy and Angel is spot-on, and his initial shell-shock had the right fatherly connotations. I found it particularly powerful when he ordered Jenny to get out of the library (showing how he places Buffy’s feelings and welfare above his own), and his final scene with Buffy in the car is one of the best written and most profound in the entire series.
- The final moment between Joyce and Buffy is touching, and I always like seeing the little mother/daughter interactions and being reminded that while Joyce can be grating in her cluelessness, she’s fundamentally a good, caring person. The dialogue between the two was excellent (especially Buffy’s), and I loved how the episode ended on a somewhat ambivalent note, avoiding pushing either an upper or downer ending, and instead reinforcing what Buffy’s experienced, as well as the undoubted challenges it’ll bring.
What I Disliked about “Innocence”:
- There’s a major (and sadly, easily avoidable) continuity error with the execution of Xander’s plan. He tells Cordelia to meet him in “half an hour”, but the scene doesn’t take place until the next night (since it’s immediately followed by Buffy’s trip home, dream about Jenny and attack on her the following morning).
- How was Angelus able to enter Jenny’s apartment without an invitation (or maybe it was her uncle’s – either way, the question stands)? I can’t see any reason for her to have invited Angel over prior to the events of this episode, so it seems like there’s some sloppy writing here. As I mentioned when reviewing “Surprise”, it can be frustrating when the writers do complex, emotional things so well, yet stumble on the basic narrative facts of their universe.
- The special effects during the mall zapping scene could have used some work. It’s also bizarre that none of the shoppers seem to be alarmed or take note of what’s going on until Buffy appears with the rocket launcher.
Do I like this episode more or less than the last time I watched it?
This ep is – and always has been - a masterpiece, and I think it’s as brilliant as ever. No matter how many times I see it, I’m always pulled in to the story and its emotions, and the character development is superlative across the board. I think it says a lot that my list of likes makes reference to almost every scene in the episode, and it’s riveting from start to finish. As a result, “Innocence” is definitely in my top ten editions of the series, and one I have no problem awarding a hard-earned score of nine out of ten.
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Post by cyclica on Nov 10, 2009 17:40:02 GMT -5
Darn. This is another one of those times when all my main points have already been made by 'past me', and I'm left making minor nitpicks, like why did spike say 'ass' instead of 'arse'. Oh well. I still consider this a great episode. The scene where angelus first meets buffy and pretends to be angel is still one of the most heart-wrenching scenes I've seen on the show (though buffy kicking him in the crotch at the end was almost as powerful, not to mention satisfying). And willow being hurt by xander was another big moment (though again it's a scene that's made up for later, when she discovers that oz really cares about her). And again, the rocket launcher scene bothers me. It's so bad it almost makes me laugh. When I think of bad scenes I usually think of something like the telepathy scene in 'showtime' or the watchers council being blown up in... some other s7 episode I don't remember the name of. It's easy to hate these scenes because they're part of a bad episode, and it's easy to overlook a terrible scene if it's in a good episode, but if I were to judge the scenes themselves seperately from the whole episode, it becomes clear that the mall scene is one of the worst on the show. I mean come on! That guy just stands there with a stupid look on his face as he burns to death! And no one else even notices! The judge zaps everyone, and still they don't care. Buffy stands on a table or something, and her and the judge shout across the room to each other, you'd think someone else would notice. But then she gets out the rocket launcher, and they all scream and run. Like the sight of a weapon would scare them, but a huge blue demon doesn't bother them one bit, and neither does the intense pain they must all be in after being zapped. It blows my mind how much this scene sucked. At least the judge had a good line, 'Whats that do?'. And I loved oz pointing at his arm when picking up the pieces later, and saying 'uh... arm'.  Upon rewatching, I'm bumping this one down to a high 7. I'm still digging all the emotion in the episode, I guess I just want to reserve the 8's for episodes I enjoyed more. More minor nitpicks! - Angelus bites a woman, and then blows out her smoke. It's a cool scene, but how would it actually work? Is her blood filled with smoke? - How did jenny know where angelus was when he grabbed willow? Surely jenny would have been in the library, there's no reason for her to leave, but even if she was on the way to the bathroom or whatever, why did she bring that huge cross with her? She had no way of knowing what was going on befofre she arrived, it's not like she could have heard all the way from the library. |
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Post by cyclica on Nov 10, 2009 18:26:43 GMT -5
- After the setup in the previous episode, it was good to see the Judge preparing for his apocalypse (and I loved Spike’s comment about it looking a lot like sitting on his ass); and he also served as a great tool for demonstrating the change in Angel (“this one cannot be burned... there’s no humanity in him”). I agree. After seeing angel pretend to be evil in 'school hard', it was a good idea to have his real turn to evil be 'proven' by having the judge touch him, thereby leaving no doubt as to who's side he's on. - There’s a major (and sadly, easily avoidable) continuity error with the execution of Xander’s plan. He tells Cordelia to meet him in “half an hour”, but the scene doesn’t take place until the next night (since it’s immediately followed by Buffy’s trip home, dream about Jenny and attack on her the following morning). I missed this one. I guess they could have met up to discuss the plan, and then exectued the plan the next night. No wait, that makes no sense. Never mind.  - How was Angelus able to enter Jenny’s apartment without an invitation (or maybe it was her uncle’s – either way, the question stands)? I can’t see any reason for her to have invited Angel over prior to the events of this episode, so it seems like there’s some sloppy writing here. As I mentioned when reviewing “Surprise”, it can be frustrating when the writers do complex, emotional things so well, yet stumble on the basic narrative facts of their universe. Maybe it was a hotel, and you don't need an invitation for a hotel? - The special effects during the mall zapping scene could have used some work. It’s also bizarre that none of the shoppers seem to be alarmed or take note of what’s going on until Buffy appears with the rocket launcher. ;D |
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Post by partcynic on Nov 11, 2009 10:35:47 GMT -5
I agree completely. All of that material/development is wonderful. Haha! I agree that this scene was the weakest one, though I was willing to disregard the silliness based on the rule of cool. Besides, you can't be too harsh on it if you like Spiral.  I think it was supposed to imply that Angelus bit the hooker with such force that he tore right through into her throat, allowing him to suck her last cigarette drag from her lungs. Jenny already knew that Angel had turned evil from her chat with her uncle, so she could have stocked up on weapons before returning to the library and assisting the others with research. When the lights went out (not a regular occurrence, and the last time it happened was due to the vamp attack in "School Hard"), she could have volunteered to check on Xander and Willow, but then saw Angelus and chose to act against him. Yeah - it's a frustrating one. Joss even points it out in the episode commentary. |
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