Surprise

screen caps from Sunnydale High

Buffy has a disturbing dream in which she sees Drusilla kill Angel. "Happy birthday, Buffy," says Dru. Shaken, Buffy goes to check on Angel in the morning, and that of course leads to kissing. And that seems to lead to a decision: Buffy confesses to Willow at school that she wants to have sex with Angel. "Wow," says Willow, who then invites Oz to the surprise party they're throwing the following night for Buffy's seventeenth birthday. Buffy tells Giles about her dream, worrying that Drusilla is still alive. And it turns out she's correct: Drusilla, with Spike burned and confined to a wheelchair, is having a party of her own, with many ornate wooden boxes being delivered to the site. Buffy's birthday dawns bright and clear, but then at breakfast Joyce unwittingly re-enacts a part of Buffy's bad dream. Meanwhile, Ms. Calendar gets a strange visitor who reprimands her for getting so caught up in her life as "Jenny Calendar" that she has neglected her gypsy heritage and her duty to see that Angel's torment is eternal. She promises the visitor, her uncle, that she'll break Buffy and Angel up. That night she takes Buffy to the Bronze on a mysterious errand, and there they see vampires carrying ornate wooden boxes. Buffy drives them off (crashing through the Bronze window and ruining the surprise party) and carries one of the boxes inside. She opens it to find a disembodied, armor-clad arm — which leaps from the box and starts to strangle her.

Angel saves Buffy and says he knows what the arm is — it's part of the Judge, a demon whose sole purpose is to cleanse the Earth of the plague of humanity. The Judge cannot be killed, so he was dismembered and the pieces buried in remote parts of the world. Ms. Calendar suggests Angel take the arm and re-bury it, and Angel reluctantly agrees despite Buffy's protests. But as Buffy says her tearful goodbye to Angel at the docks, they are ambushed by vampires who reclaim the arm. The Judge is at last reassembled. "Just what I wanted," says Drusilla. "He's perfect!"

Buffy and Angel go to stop the Judge from being reassembled, but they are too late. They are caught by Spike and Drusilla, but they escape into the rainy night. Returning to Angel's apartment, the hellish events of the night start to catch up to the lovers. "I love you," Angel tells Buffy. "I try not to, but I can't stop." Buffy replies, "I can't either," and they kiss — which leads to more. Waking up after what is clearly a night of passion between them, Angel appears to be in pain. He stumbles outside and drops to his knees in the rain, yelling, "Buffy!!" To be continued...

summary from buffy.com

Rate the episode
What do you rate this episode?

1- bad
2
3-average
4
5-best



Quotes

Buffy: "Once you get to a certain point, then seizing is sort of inevitable."
Willow: "Wow."
Buffy: "Yeah."
Willow: "Wow."

Cordelia: "Well, just because she's Ms. Save the World and everything, you have to make a big deal? I have to cook, and everything!"
Xander: "You're cooking?"
Cordelia: "Well, I'm Chips and Dips Girl."
Xander: "Oh, horrors. All that opening and stirring."
Cordelia: "And shopping and carrying."

Giles: "Round Robin?"
Willow: "It's when everybody calls everybody else's mom and tells 'em they're staying at everyone's house."
Buffy: "Thus freeing us up for world saveage."
Willow: "And all-night keggers!"
Buffy & Giles: "..."
Willow: "What, only Xander gets to make dumb jokes?"

Angel: "Take me instead of her."
Spike: "Uh, you're not clear on the concept, pal. There is no instead. Just first and second."

Angel: "I love you. I try not to, but I can't stop."

Cordelia: "Surprise!"
Oz: "That pretty much sums it up."

Cast

Regulars:
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
Anthony Stewart Head as Rupert Giles

Guest Stars:
Seth Green as Oz
Kristine Sutherland as Joyce Summers
Robia LaMorte as Ms. Calendar
James Marsters as Spike
Juliet Landau as Drusilla

Cast:
Brian Thompson as The Judge
Eric Saiet as Dalton
Mercedes McNab as Harmony
Vincent Schiavelli as Jenny's uncle

Cast list from Buffyguide.com