Act Three

25ZZ) "It looked like an arm." PERCEPTIVE OZ: "In Innocence the arm will the most recognizable piece left after the destruction of the Judge. It will also be found by Oz."--ponygirl, Fri, 03/07/03 at 23:14:09 See 14Z and 26EE.

25AAA) "What, uh, vamp's version of 'snakes in a can', or do you care to share?" POP CULTURE TIME: "Snakes in a can" is a "cheap but effective joke-shop trick, consisting of squeaky, springy tubes which can be made to leap out of small containers..."--submitted by aliera, from http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/buffy/indetail/ surprise/trivia.shtml

25BBB) "...and to burn the righteous down." DEGRADATION MOST HOLY: "The biblical accounts of Judgement Day feature a separation of the righteous from the wicked, but for the purpose of punishing the wicked. As in The Harvest (which said that the earth began not as a paradise but as a hell) a biblical tradition is turned upside down."--ponygirl, Fri, 03/07/03 at 23:14:09 See 1AA, 1BBB, 2B, 2C, 2Z, 2NN, 7V, 7XX, 15L, and 25BBB.

25CCC) "The pieces were scattered...buried in every corner of the Earth." FROM THE ORIGINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT: Xander follows this up with the quip, "Do you think they left his heart in San Francisco?," riffing on the old song made popular by Tony Bennett, I Left My Heart in San Francisco. Proving that Xander and Oz have a similar outlook on life, Oz replies, "I had that thought, too."--"Surprise" by Marti Noxon, available through Pocketbooks, Inc. as Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Script Book, Season Two, Volume 3

BREAKING UP IS HARD TO DO: "I'm still wrestling with the why the Judge is in parts...Parts are coming together to make a whole. Is this to do with aspects of Angel’s past coming together for Buffy, as her relationship with him and knowledge of him progresses? She has many parts already, but cannot yet make sense of them. When they are all in place, they will make a monster."--MsGiles, Sun, 03/09/03 at 03:37:23

Or "it may refer to, or derive from, the Egyptian myth of Osiris: 'Originally, Osiris may have been god of vegetation, especially of the plants that grew on the rich land along the Nile. The goddess Isis may have represented female fertility. Seth was god of the desert, where vegetation withers and dies from lack of water. Geb retired to heaven. Osiris then became pharaoh and took Isis as his queen. Seth grew jealous of Osiris' position and killed him. In some versions of this myth, Seth cut Osiris' body into pieces, stuffed the pieces into a box, and set the box afloat on the Nile. Isis refused to accept her husband's death as final. She searched for Osiris' remains with the aid of her sister Nephthys and several other gods and goddesses. Isis finally found the remains of Osiris. With the help of other divinities, she put the body together, restoring Osiris to life. Osiris then became god of the afterlife.' (www2.worldbook.com/)

Osiris became associated with the rise and fall of the Nile, the death and re-growth of vegetation along its banks in the midst of aridity. The meaning of the myth is reversed here, as the Master is evil and his re-assembly brings destruction. Osiris is a major fertility symbol, here Spike and Dru, who like all vampires (well at this stage in the 'verse) are sterile, bring back the Judge to further death without procreation, something which must resonate strongly with Dru's psychosis and the annihilation of her maternal potential by Angel."--MsGiles, Sun, 03/09/03 at 04:35:10

25DDD) "But it's my birthday." FROM THE ORIGINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT: "Everyone stands silently amid the festive decorations. This was not the way it was supposed to happen."--"Surprise" by Marti Noxon, available through Pocketbooks, Inc. as Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Script Book, Season Two, Volume 3

25EEE) "You might give him a chance..." MERCIFUL SPIKE?: "An...example of the practicality of Season 2-Spike that was downplayed later on. He's not looking for trouble here...Spike stops Dru from blinding Dalton, which again questions the later images of him as thoughtlessly violent...[Also] complicat[es]...the common description of Dru as a masochist."--KdS, Sat, 03/08/03 at 04:31:17 See 22TTT.

25FFF) She unfolds them and sets them back on his nose. LINKAGE: "The image anticipates the torture sequence in Becoming II, in which Angelus straightens Giles's glasses with similarly mocking tenderness."--KdS, Sat, 03/08/03 at 04:31:17 See 4E, 6W, 21O, and 34FF.

25GGG) "Hurry back then." FROM THE ORIGINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT: "Off Dalton. He doesn't like these reindeer games."--"Surprise" by Marti Noxon, available through Pocketbooks, Inc. as Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Script Book, Season Two, Volume 3

25HHH) "It's a claddagh ring. The hands represent friendship, the crown represents loyalty... and the heart..." WHEN IRISH EYES ARE SMILIN': "Faced with being parted from Buffy, Angel presents her with a Claddagh ring. These traditional Irish rings, showing a heart surmounted by a crown being clasped by hands, are said to have been invented by Richard Joyce, a master goldsmith living in the Galway village of Claddagh, about 400 years ago. So, as Angel describes the rings as being exchanged as a sign of devotion by his people, that means he's Irish. The ring can be worn in several different ways, each sending its own message. Worn on the right hand with the crown turned inwards means that the wearer's heart is not spoken for by anyone. On the right hand with the crown turned outwards means that a love is being considered. And if worn on the left hand with the crown outwards, it means that your hearis utterly promised to another."--submitted by aliera, from www.bbc.co.uk/cult/buffy/indetail/ surprise/trivia.shtml

25III) "So don't go." FROM THE ORIGINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT: "They both know he has to. He takes her into his arms and they kiss. The potentially last kiss kind of kiss."--"Surprise" by Marti Noxon, available through Pocketbooks, Inc. as Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Script Book, Season Two, Volume 3

25JJJ) He jumps over the railing and into the water after her. WATER-LOGGED: "The beginning of the water imagery that will run through the rest of this episode and through Innocence. It could be seen as Buffy and Angel taking the plunge into a new stage of their relationship, also could be read as the two them getting in over their heads. In any case water is a very transformative element."--ponygirl, Fri, 03/07/03 at 23:14:09

Just as water ushered in Buffy's first death and rebirth (both literally and symbolically), so does water usher in the death of Buffy's virginity, and her rebirth as a woman. See 12MMM.

25LLL) "...and he's dreamin' of the glory days..." FORESHADOWY GOODNESS: "Foreshadowing – both Xander’s future status as successful businessman and Buffy’s as waitress (Season 3--Denny's Waitress in Anne, Season 6--Doublemeat Palace cook) and Slayer in Season 6. Angel of course has left the picture, because he can’t be part of her life. But Xander’s imagination does in a sense foreshadow his nightmare with Anya in Hell's Bells, where he has the pot-belly and is remembering his glory years fighting beside Buffy – so this may actually be a projection of Xander’s own fears of becoming like his parents."--Shadowkat, Fri, 03/07/03 at 19:38:32

25MMM) "His touch can literally burn the humanity out of you. A true creature of evil can survive the process. No human ever has." THE JUDGE'S POWERS: "The Judge's power works like a battery. Weak upon reassembling, with enough ‘charge’ to attack only with a touch, he gathers strength until he can zap the people at the mall at a distance. He kills by inducing physical combustion in his victim. The Judge reaches out his arm and an arc of energy emanates from his hand to the victim, who freezes in place until they combust. This power can also shoot out from one victim to another, holding them all in place in a web and destroying them en masse. There is a supernatural aspect to this energy. The Judge does not simply ‘know’ who has humanity and attack them (although he can do this--e.g., Dalton-see 25VVV); the power itself is attracted to humanity--it cannot combust the purely evil. The properties of ‘purely evil’ and ‘humanity’ it responds to are therefore properties of the soul, not the body, since vampires have human bodies (albeit vamped ones), but not all vampires combust at the Judge's touch (e. g., Angelus) (for the opposite situation, see the beacon of the Scourge)."--Masquerade, "Surprise/Innocence" Analysis from http://www.atpobtvs.com

LINKAGE: The Judge's powers will later be echoed in the Angel episode, Hero, with the Beacon, which "can disintegrate creatures with humanity in them. Unlike the Judge, however, it is attracted to the human qualities of the body, not the soul. The Judge could not burn creatures like Angelus with vamped human bodies and demon souls, but the Beacon kills any creature with human 'blood' (i.e., human genes). And while the Judge had his own internal demonic power for zapping, the Beacon seems to run on electricity and computer control. It can be aimed at a single person, or detonated, killing everything human within a quarter mile radius."--Masquerade, "Hero" Analysis from http://www.atpobtvs.com

25NNN) Buffy spins around to see her on the upper level holding Angel in front of her. BUFFY-&-DRU-LINKAGE: "Buffy and Drusilla are wearing the same white dress in this scene. In a sense this is Buffy’s wedding night – she has been given a ring, she is now awaiting the consummation. Well, maybe first they have to make it legal and go to the Judge."--ponygirl, Fri, 03/07/03 at 23:14:09

25OOO) Drusilla stands at the top of the spiral staircase... BUFFY-&-DRU-LINKAGE: "This cut is actually a dissolve from Buffy’s eyes to Drusilla’s, once again emphasizing the link between the two women."--ponygirl, Fri, 03/07/03 at 23:14:09

25PPP) "More music!" FOLLOW THE LEADER: Unfortunately, "we never actually see how Spike and Dru retain command of the Sunnydale vampires in the immediate aftermath of Spike's crippling. My personal suspicion is that it would have surprised quite a few people about how much Dru can pull herself together if she doesn't have a protector and really needs to - which we did later see some of in the way she arranges Darla's rising in the Angel episode Reunion."--KdS, Sat, 03/08/03 at 04:31:17

25QQQ) "Translyvanian Concubine" MUSICALLY SPEAKING: "The concubine is another word for mistress, although in some cultures this is a step above mistress. In some cultures the concubines compete for nights with the master and there are more than one. Others the concubine is akin to wife - or longterm companion, the husband or master may be married, but his relationship is with the concubine who he can't marry because of the wife's existence. In Btvs Angelus and Spike compete for Dru. Buffy is Angel’s wife, Dru is Angelus' concubine. The concubine will often get more than the wife, who wields the power, but has none of the pleasure."--Shadowkat, Fri, 03/07/03 at 19:38:32

25RRR) ...to allow the Judge to step out. FROM THE ORIGINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT: "He's enormous, dressed in black armor. His skin is sickly pale BLUE. There is something primordial about him - not quite fully formed. His eyes open - revealing SOLID BLACK. No iris. No light. He is horrible. Terrifying."--"Surprise" by Marti Noxon, available through Pocketbooks, Inc. as Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Script Book, Season Two, Volume 3

THE JUDGE: "The role of a judge in a court of law is to determine who is guilty and who is not and eliminate the influence of the guilty on society. The Judge, a blue-horned demon sent forth long ago to eliminate humankind from the Earth, serves a similar function for the demon agenda. The best way to understand this is to go back to Giles' statement in The Harvest: 'For untold eons demons walked the Earth. They made it their home, their Hell. But in time they lost their purchase on this reality. The way was made for mortal animals, for, for man.' If the Judge can eliminate all creatures of humanity, the demons can once again rule the Earth. As a demon who disdains all that is human, wishes to see our destruction, and has the power to do it, the Judge represents evil-as-corruption."--Masquerade, "Surprise/Innocence" Analysis from http://www.atpobtvs.com

"Judge = judgement. The Judge destroys those who have any good or humanity in them. Only something completely evil escapes. The opposite in a sense of Buffy who kills only those who are completely evil. The Judge is the morale police – but twisted. Angel loses his soul because he breaks the morale taboo by sleeping with innocent Buffy who is like a surrogate daughter. Xander is hiding his romance with Cordelia and it appears at this point to be all about sex [without the actual act, of course, since Xander remains a virgin until the third season's The Zeppo]. The Judge destroys Dalton who commits the sin of knowledge and may be representative of Giles in later episodes who pays for knowing too much as well (see 21O). And accuses Dru and Spike of sharing jealousy and affection - the incestuous vamps (see 15R)."--Shadowkat, Fri, 03/07/03 at 19:38:32

PRODUCTION NOTES: The Judge is played by Brian Thompson, who last played Luke, the Master's vessel, in Welcome to the Hellmouth/The Harvest.

Act Four

25SSS) The Judge steps out of his box. FROM THE ORIGINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT: "CLOSE ON THE JUDGE As he takes his first, LUMBERING steps out of the BOX. His aura is that of deadly indifference. He is a killing thing, not good or evil."--"Surprise" by Marti Noxon, available through Pocketbooks, Inc. as Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Script Book, Season Two, Volume 3

25TTT) "You two stink of humanity. You share affection and jealousy." LOVE BIRDS?: See 15Q. "Referring to Drusilla and Spike – evidence of two things which will come up later in the series – one: vampires can love without souls, and two: Spike and Dru aren’t completely evil, they can be burned. Yet Angelus, we learn in Innocence can’t be burned at all. If Judge is supposed to represent the verdict on what is evil and what is good, than does this mean that Angelus is pure evil? Or is it the child’s view of evil – a judge or authority figure burning out the good or slaying the evil – with no middle ground?"--Shadowkat, Fri, 03/07/03 at 19:38:32

WOULD SPIKE AND/OR DRUSILLA HAVE COMBUSTED IF THE JUDGE HAD DECIDED TO TOUCH THEM?: "My guess is that Spike would have, for obvious reasons…’This one is full of feeling’ the Judge said about Dalton. This could be said just as easily about Spike. When Spike reminds the Judge who brought him forth, he touches the Judge briefly and nothing happens; however, the Judge is not up to full power yet. Drusilla is another matter. While she has affection for Spike, she is a greater creature of evil than he is, colder and more sociopathic. An open call whether or not Drusilla would have burned."--Masquerade, "Surprise/Innocence" Analysis from http://www.atpobtvs.com

25UUU) "Do I have to remind you that we're the ones who brought you here?" FROM THE ORIGINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT: In response to this, the Judge originally replied, "I have no alliances." He quickly changes his tune, though, when Spike threatens to divide him back up into the little boxes again!--"Surprise" by Marti Noxon, available through Pocketbooks, Inc. as Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Script Book, Season Two, Volume 3

25VVV) "This one is full of feeling. He reads. Bring him to me." YUMMY BOOKWORM: "It…makes sense that the Judge would despise Dalton's bookishness. By valuing books and the knowledge contained in them, Dalton is quietly but definitely choosing to view human knowledge, human wisdom, human discoveries and human imagination as more important than the blood-lust and desire to destroy common to most vampires. Not what a demon focused on destroying humanity would admire."--Rhys, Sun, 03/09/03 at 11:22:20

FROM THE MOUTH OF THE ALMIGHTY JOSS: "Giles said MOST vamps can survive the judges touch. See, a vamp is a human possessed by a demon. Not pure -- a pure demon has no emotion. But vamps are diluted, they have some human traits (like Spike and Dru, who love each other in their twisted way.) Dalton (the nerd) loved learning and reading and was just too human not too burn."--Joss Whedon, Jan 23 23:06 1998 post at the Bronze messageboard, reprinted by Masquerade on http://www.atpobtvs.com

25WWW) ...Dalton, who quickly combusts... FROM THE ORIGINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT: "Dalton begins to SHAKE AND SMOULDER. Then the JUDGE'S HAND GOES TO HIS CHEST. Dalton's flesh BLACKENS and CRUMBLES. Finally, FLAMES shoot from his eye sockets and he falls into a burned-out heap."--"Surprise" by Marti Noxon, available through Pocketbooks, Inc. as Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Script Book, Season Two, Volume 3

25XXX) "Do it again! Do it again!" CONFESSIONS OF A DANGEROUS MIND: "Drusilla revels without any empathy whatsoever in Dalton's death and the thought of Angel watching Buffy die. We also see that she is more unhinged than ever, given her reaction to the decorations at her party and her anger at Dalton losing the Judge's arm."--Masquerade, "Surprise/Innocence" Analysis from http://www.atpobtvs.com

"This is a great example of just 'how limited mutual sympathy between vampires is, and how rare the bond between Spike and Dru is (see 19Ex4).'"--KdS, Sat, 03/08/03 at 04:31:17

25YYY) "...but you can't just go off half-cocked." IDIOM TIME: "This idiom refers to the common design from revolver pistols which needed to be cocked to be fired, but were somewhat dangerous with the hammer in the released position where an accidental bump might fire the weapon. A common practice was to have the hammer latch in place and lock out the trigger at a half-cocked position as a safety. So going off half-cocked is to go out to do something unprepared or unwisely."--Cactus Watcher, Fri, 03/07/03 at 21:26:41

25ZZZ) "We can't wait for it to come get us." PROACTIVE BUFFY: This echoes Buffy's don't-just-wait-there-and-let-the-evil-get-you attitude when facing the Master in Season 3 and the First in Season 7.

25Ax4) "I only dreamed you'd come." DREAM CROSSAGE: This line brings up an interesting question, namely, did Buffy and Dru have the same dreams? See 25C.

25Bx4) "Don't touch him!" LINKAGE: Could the fact that Buffy can't touch the Judge also be a symbolic link to the fact that she can't (or shouldn't) touch Angel either?

25Cx4) "Get under the covers, just to warm up." VISUAL SYMBOLISM: "Once again there is the use of the colour red this time with the bed cover, symbolizing passion."--ponygirl, Fri, 03/07/03 at 23:14:09 See 25EE.

25Dx4) ""It's already closed. You're fine." SLAYER POWER: Here's another subtle example of the Slayer's super-speed healing abilities. See 8FF.

25Ex4) "I love you. I try not to, but I can't stop." CIRCLE OF LOVE: "When Angel says he loves Buffy he is completing a cycle that began in Lie to Me. There he got Buffy to admit that she loved him - though she did suggest that she didn't trust him - but he never admitted the same (see 19LLL). Here Buffy is offering both love and trust, and Angel finally reciprocates."--ponygirl, Fri, 03/07/03 at 23:14:09

25Fx4) "Don't. Just kiss me." THE ART OF SEDUCTION: See 25A.

OOPS!: "Before Angel and Buffy hit the sack in Surprise, Buffy is not wearing colored nail polish, nor when Angel leaves the bed. In the next episode, Innocence, she is wearing gray nail polish both when she wakes up and during the sexy flashbacks later in the ep."--Cactus Watcher, Fri, 03/07/03 at 21:26:41

25Gx4) "Buffyyyyy!" SOULLESS: This scene will be echoed again twice on Angel: once in Reprise, where after having sex with Darla, Angel goes through the exact same post-coital pain only to find that..."instead of feeling perfect happiness and losing his soul, Angel feels perfect despair and regains the mission"; and once in Awakening, where, in order to extract Angel's soul, a shaman creates a fantasy for Angel where he can imagine his own perfect day happening to him, thus causing him to feel perfect happiness. Interestingly, it takes a lot more than just sex with his current love, Cordelia, in order to cause the happiness. "The reason why 'sex with Buffy' = 'perfect happiness' for Angel is that, at this point in his life, Angel doesn't really expect anything more. His wants are less. He doesn't expect Xander/Willow/Giles to love him or be his friend. Compare this to Awakening when Angel has a strong vision of family. He knows what he wants in Awakening [for his son to love him; to make up with Wesley, with whom he had a major falling-out beforehand; for Cordelia to tell him she loves him and not Connor; to defeat the Big Bad by himself] and it takes achieving all these things for him to reach perfect happiness." Although it can be argued that that there are other factors involved in Angel's soul-lossage here besides sex with Buffy (see 25LL), the sex is clearly the most important thing in this episode, whereas in Awakening, it seems more just to be the icing on the cake after a full day of happiness, whereas in Surprise, the day leading up to the sex...not so happy: "...that very night he and Buffy make a tearful parting when Angel plans to leave on a cargo ship for China, to be gone for months. Then they get attacked and Buffy almost drowns again, go to Spike's lair and Buffy almost dies again, run to Angel's apartment where they declare love because they don't know if they'll live or die. Sure, it sounds really romantic (to me, at least :) ) but I doubt Buffy or Angel were feeling all that happy at the moment..." as Cordy and Angel were after their restoring-the-sun day.--Scroll, Fri, 03/07/03 at 22:49:48, with additions by Rob

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