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Episode 2.12: Bad Eggs | Episode 2.14: Innocence
Characters:
| Buffy | Angel | Xander |
| Willow | Giles | Cordelia |
| Spike | Oz |
Overall (6/10)
Buffy:
Let's look at Buffy's dreams first, shall we? The first one puts her in the Bronze. Willow is there...with a monkey. The monkey has to represent Oz. After all, it has a hat and Willow mentions "pantalones" (See Oz's adorable take on animal crackers in What's My Line? Pt. 2 if you're not getting the reference). This appears to simply be a clue to us, the viewer, that this is a prophetic dream. Willow's conversation with Oz is something that Buffy didn't witness. Therefore, to have it appear in her dream suggests that she's looking at events outside herself.
Then she sees her mom who asks her if she's ready, then drops a saucer. This is majorly foreshadowing teh sex that's coming up. When Buffy hears her mom actually say this, she's referring to driving. But that's not the actual meaning in the dream. Is Buffy ready for teh sex? And the consequences?
Then we see Drusilla staking Angel. Why Drusilla? This is made more apparent in the second dream that Buffy has. This time she's in the factory wearing a white gown. Looking up, she sees Drusilla, and if you look closely you'll see Dru is wearing the same gown as Buffy.
I mentioned in my review for Lie to Me that pre-vamp Dru sounded similar to Buffy in that she was innoncent and pure. This connection is used in this episode during Buffy's dreams where Drusilla literally represents Buffy. So we see that it isn't Dru killing Angel, but Buffy (something that Buffy tries to come to terms with in I Only Have Eyes For You).
To take the Drusilla/Buffy parallel further, let's look at what happens later on with Buffy after this. Because of Angel, her life is permanently altered, and she is changed forever. Indeed, in this season (and in this episode), we see Buffy more vulnerable and emotionally open than ever. After this season is over, because of the effects of Angelus, Buffy closes herself off and never allows herself this amount of raw emotion again. Like Drusilla, she is permanently scarred by having Angelus in her life.
It's Buffy's birthday, which means something bad's going to happen. Indeed, she has her friends throw her a party only to find out about Drusilla's plan to assemble The Judge. Angel and Buffy have a tearful farewell that turns out to be moot when the final part is stolen from them. Buffy gets her chance to show her leadership skills again when she lays out "the plan" to Giles before leaving with Angel for the factory.
Much running around and wetness ensues. And, at the end, Buffy caves into her hormonal desires and does teh sex with Angel. But, as we learned in the previous episode, sex is not without consequences, which we will see in the next episode.
Angel:
Angel's many years of isolation have definitely left him a little needy. Otherwise he would probably stop to think twice about deflowering a barely 17-year-old girl right after having found out about a Big Bad doing Big Bad things.
But logic falls to the wayside when a guy gets an itch. As such, he matches Buffy's urges at every turn and ends up doing the naughty with her. Tsk tsk.
I usually don't like to rag on actors, and I will say that David Boreanaz is much improved from his S1 performance at this point. However, when he's opposite such a stellar actress as Sarah Michelle Gellar, he just can't hold his own, and it hurts the scene. I find myself cringing several times during this episode simply because of this. Before you hate me, I'll say to his credit that he improves muchly, and I don't have much of a problem with his acting by the end of S3. But at this point, it's still pretty weak.
Xander:
And jealous Xander rears his ugly head again. Maybe it was getting the brush-off from Cordy that makes him start on the Angel-hating again.
I did feel bad for him when Cordelia rags on him. Xander is a geek, true. And he knows it. And he's probably amazingly happy that Cordelia, massively popular girl, has been making out with him. To be brushed off like that has got to be pretty harsh.
Willow is adorable when she's with Oz. Though, really, she needs to lose that damn hat.
Anyway, Willow gets to play the friend to Buffy, while at the same time working on her own budding romance. She gets the guts to actually ask him out on a date, though he made it pretty easy for her to do so. Go Willow.
And we see Giles now has firmly decided that Buffy deserves a life outside of slaying. He is insistent that Buffy's party go as planned, even when something ominous comes up. This is a big change from the Giles of...say...Reptile Boy.
I think we see that Cordelia is feeling torn between her own image and her desire for a relationship with Xander. That's why she lashes out at him at the beginning. This is something that isn't really resolved for her until Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered. She tries desperately to not do anything to make her a social outcast, and now she doesn't know what to do when she finds it's contrasting with what she actually wants.
She does still go to Buffy's party, though, which is saying something.
Spike's back and in a wheelchair. Poor Spike.
At this point, Dru is still devoted to him, however, so things aren't so bad. He's just, understandably, tired of Sunnydale and wants to leave. Some people have wondered why Spike is trying to assemble The Judge when, in Becoming Pt. 2, he states that he doesn't want the world to end. It seems to me that Spike is just going along with whatever Dru wants at this point.
She just got back to full health and this is her "coming out party". As such, he'll do whatever is necessary to make her happy, even if he's not overly thrilled with the idea. In fact, for the most part, he looks rather miserable in that chair. It's only when Dru is excited about something that he starts showing some interest. The difference between this and Becoming is that now, Spike has Dru all to himself. By the end of the series, he's all but lost her to Angelus.
Much has also been made of The Judge's comment to Spike and Drusilla that they reek of humanity. Again, we come to the debate as to how much humanity vampires have. Spike shrugs off The Judge's accusations and encourages him to get on with the killing. Spike knows that he and Dru share "jealousy and affection", and he doesn't care. He's a passionate, emotional man and he's not afraid to fess up to it.
I think it's impossible to dislike Oz. He has a wisdom beyond his years, yet he is unbelievably cool. His scene with Willow at the beginning is so sweet and funny. And during Buffy's birthday party, he just kinda goes with the flow. I love Oz. Truly.
Drusilla is back to full strength and to celebrate she's bringing forth Armageddon via The Judge. Much running around and dreaming occurs, and the episode ends with Buffy and Angel getting it on, then Angel running out into the rain.
Spike and Drusilla, again! Or, more accurately, Drusilla and Spike, as Dru is now definitely calling the shots.
Thus begins the second part of the S2 arc wherein Angel loses his soul.
This episode is a set-up episode in so many ways. It sets up the events of Innocence and sets up the rest of the season's arc. It's very good at what it sets up to do, but it's primarily a functional episode. And I gotta say that the numerous tearful Buffy/Angel scenes weighed it down for me (But some people like that stuff, I know).
Special performance award goes to Juliet Landau for being so damned hot while tearing up those flowers. Have you seen her arm muscles? Damn!
6 out of 10. A nice starting point for the rest of the season.
The end when Angel stumbles out into the rain. I don't think I need to explain why this is important.
Episode 2.12: Bad Eggs | Episode 2.14: Innocence
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