Here is the Hellmouth Podcast for Joss Whedon‘s Buffy the Vampire Slayer series Season 2 Episode 13 titled “Surprise” (mp3 version here). As the title indicates, this episode is full of surprises and we will get into a detailed discussion about the impact of this episodes events on the Slayer and the city of Sunnydale.

Jenny’s a Spy

Oz is a cool cat

Buffy and Angel get Frisky

and the Judge comes to town…

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 45:54 — 21.0MB)

HMPC 0213 “Surprise”  – Buffy The Vampire Slayer

• Welcome to the Hellmouth Podcast for the Buffy The Vampire Slayer Series, Season 2 Episode 13 titled “Surprise”
• I want to quickly remind everyone about all of the ways that you can be a part of the Hellmouth Podcast.
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• So let’s get to the episode recap finally, shall we
• Buffy’s sleeping
  • Get’s out of bed, Drusilla is in her hallway, very creepy
  • Walks through door into the bronze
  • Willow is talking to a monkey
    • Tells the monkey the hippo stole his pants.
  • Joyce breaks a plate
  • Buffy sees Angel, they walk towards each other
    • Drusilla stakes Angel and he dies
    • “Happy Birthday Buffy”
• Buffy shows up at Angel’s house to make sure he is ok
  • So she goes to check on Angel and he doesn’t know what’s going on
  • Buffy tells him a little about her dream
• Buffy tells Willow about her conversation with Angel and the whole seeing you at bedtime comment
  • This is the talk where Buffy and Willow talk about if Buffy is going to sleep with Angel.
• Willow goes to talk to Oz
  • Audio Clip
  • Willow invites Oz to Buffy’s birthday party as her date.
• Spike’s henchmen has brought a package, part of the judge
  • Spike wants to get out of Sunnydale and go to Vienna
  • Spike has been injured, his face is burned he is in a wheelchair.
  • Drusilla is taking care of him.
  • Her presents from Spike for her birthday are all the various pieces of the judge.
• Joyce in the kitchen with Buffy
  • They are going shopping on Saturday at the mall.
  • Buffy is turning 17
  • Wants to get her driver’s license.
  • Her mom drops a plate just like in her dream.
• Jenny Calendar’s class
  • Man stalks up behind her.
  • Jenny Calendar tells her uncle about Buffy, Angel still suffers but his pain is lessening.
  • Jenny is a gypsy, she has been keeping tabs on Angel
  • Janna of the Kalderash People
  • Uncle wants her to prove her loyalty
  • Take Buffy from Angel, she says she will see to it.
• That night Jenny Calendar catches up to Buffy in the halls
  • She offers to drive Buffy to meet Giles somewhere
  • They pull up near the bronze
  • Buffy sees vampires and gets out to investigate
  • It’s the henchmen guy stealing another piece of the judge
  • Buffy fights a group of vampires
• The group is in the bronze hiding to surprise Buffy
  • She get’s thrown through a wall into the bronze and stakes a vampire
  • Cordelia yells surprise
  • Birthday party
  • Oz just saw a vampire get dusted.
  • Oz is surprisingly accepting of vampires being real.
  • Jenny got a piece of the judge
  • They open it and the arm grabs Buffy by the throat
  • They get the arm off of her and put it in the box
  • Angel knows what it is, the judge
    • Separate the righteous from the wicked and burn the righteous down.
  • The judge couldn’t be killed, an army was able to dismember him the pieces were scattered and buried all over the earth.
    • Later research reveals
    • Touch can burn the humanity out of you
    • Evil is untouched.
    • No weapon forged can kill him.
  • They need to get the arm out of town.
• Angel will be gone for months, by ship and trucks has to be careful to travel at night.
• Angel and Buffy walk together to the docks
  • They are there to say their goodbyes
  • Buffy is scared she will never see him again, someone always wants them dead.
  • Angel gives her his present, it’s a ring
    • My people they exchanged this as a sign of devotion
    • Claddagh ring
    • Hands friendship, crown loyalty, heart love
• They are attacked on the docks by Spike’s vampire henchmen
• The whole group is in the library including Angel trying to figure out what they are going to do about the judge
  • Buffy is sleeping and has another dream
  • They are in some kind of party, I think drusilla’s party all the pieces of the judge are there.
• Drusilla’s actual party
  • Spike shows up with the last pieces of the judge
  • The Judge is assembled
• Back in the library
  • Buffy thinks that she knows where spike and Drusilla are.
  • Wants to go do recon
• Show up at Angel’s place soaking wet
  • Angel gets Buffy some clothes
  • Buffy is emotionally crumbling
  • Angel tells Buffy that he loves her, the first time that he has said it.
• They kiss and more
  • Angel wakes up in the middle of the night and runs outside
  • He is agony, calling for Buffy
  • To be continued
• End Episode.
• This episode was titled surprise and I think that was a bit of a fitting theme. There are a lot of surprises in this episode, some bigger than others.
  • Oz get’s a surprise moment when he sees a vampire get dusted for the first time.
  • We all get a surprise finding out that Jenny Calendar is a gypsy.
  • The biggest surprise of course being the death of Angel at the end of the episode.
• Rate the episode
  • Bonus points for all three surprises.
  • Bonus point for Oz in general and his solidification as a Scooby.
  • Lose a point because of the Xander-Cordelia relationship moments in this episode. I didn’t talk about it in the recap but Xander is starting to show that his feeling for Cordelia are growing and he wants it to be more than just kissing in the closet. Cordelia was really cold to him and rude and while I hate taking bonus points off for Cordelia I have to in this episode.
  • Bonus points for the judge who I will talk about more in the next podcast and who is a favorite villain of mine in the Buffyverse.
  • On its own this episode is an 8 after all the bonus points are calculated we have a final rating of 12 for this episode.
• Listener Emails

email from Eva in Hong Kong

Can I ask you a personal question? Have you been bullied or been abused by your highschool teachers or schoolmates, cause I can hear a tone in your podcast? You do have some issues about them and highschool, don’t you?

You seem quite fond of Spike and Drusilla. You miss them very much in Ted. But sorry, for me, at least at that time, they are just some sorts of big bads who come and go. You don’t miss Joker, Penguin, Catwoman… in every Batman movie, do you?

For the episode Ted, if you watch Joss’ other TV programmes, you may know how he feels about new technology and robots. He always has issues about them. (I robot you Jane in 1st season, later, Warren’s girlfriend in I was made to love you and Buffy the bot.)

Ted is simply one of those. Joss seems quite like high tech things but he is one of those who are still able to see the harm that those things may cause us, and sometimes he likes to make fun of them and tells some ironical or crazy stories about them. So this episode is not pointless.

I don’t think the characters are self-centered in this episode either. Everyone has their own way to deal with stress. As long as they don’t hurt themselves or other real people, or do anything against the laws or norms of our society, I think they are quite normal and acceptable. Some women like not-to-talk to deal with their stress and pressure. In different situations, people have different strategies.

It’s obvious that you don’t like this episode Ted, on the contrary, it’s one of my favorite, especially the scene that Buffy wraps Angel’s palm with bandage. Please do watch that scene again! Look at David’s face and eyes at the SAME time. He’s such a good actor( my God! He’s totally hot!!!!). He’s so annoyed by Buffy’s endless complaint. It’s all written on his face, but when he looks at Buffy tenderly, his eyes are full of love, caring and sympathy. Just several simple words, Angel makes Buffy understand her mother’s situation and how she feels.

Kellie

In “Bad Eggs” you asked about the scene where Buffy and Angel are kissing in the cemetery against a headstone and the camera zooms in to show that it reads “In loving memory.” Like you, I have always assumed that this means something otherwise Joss and Co wouldn’t have made such a point of drawing it to the audiences attention. I have always thought that the words “in loving memory” inscribed on the headstone signify the coming end to Buffy and Angel’s relationship as they know it. Think about it, in this scene they are happy and in love, neither one of them realizing what lies just around the corner. The inscription on the headstone is made even more poignant by the conversation that Buffy and Angel had just moments before:

Angel:  So you don’t think about the future?
Buffy:  No.
Angel:  Never?
Buffy:  No.
Angel:  (swallows) You really don’t care what happens a year from now?
Five years from now?
Buffy:  Angel, when I look into the future, a-a… all I see is you! All
I want is you.
Angel:  I know the feeling.

I think this dialogue along with the headstone is meant to show that the Buffy Angel
relationship definitely comes with  an expiration date.
They know their time together is doomed and yet neither one wants to see it. Really sad if you think about it..

Really enjoyed this podcast. Think you did an excellent job. Looking forward to the next one.

• Thanks to everyone for tuning into another episode of the Hellmouth Podcast.
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  • See you guys next time for the episode titled “Innocence” when I will be joined by my first Hellmouth Podcast co-host Peg who many of you know as Oaktree from the website so be looking forward to that, thanks everybody… Stay Classy Sunnydale.