Recap / Buffy the Vampire Slayer S2E13 "Surprise"

Angel: "Buffy, maybe we shouldn't..."

Buffy: "Don't. Just kiss me."

Directed by Michael Lange

Written by Marti Noxon, Rob Des Hotel, & Dean Batali

Buffy tosses in her sleep, then wakes up thirsty, but the water glass by her bed is empty. Seeming unaware that Drusilla silently follows, she carries her glass down the hall to find that her bathroom is really The Bronze. Buffy moves through the crowd of people dancing in slow motion, sees Willow speaking French to an organ-grinder's monkey, then encounters her mother who asks "Do you really think you're ready, Buffy?" before the saucer she holds drops to the floor and smashes. As Joyce turns away, Buffy moves back into the crush, then turns herself, smiling at something she sees behind her. The crowd has parted and Angel is slowly coming toward her, quietly smiling as well. Suddenly, Drusilla steps up behind Angel and stakes him in the back. Angel, his face a mask of agony, reaches toward Buffy's reaching hand, but his fingers turn to dust before they can touch. In vamp-face, Drusilla says "Happy birthday, Buffy." and Buffy wakes with a gasp.

Buffy visits Angel first thing in the morning after she dreams of his death. Angel answers a knock at his door to find a distraught Buffy wanting to see with her own eyes that he's all right. Hearing that she dreamed Drusilla was still alive and killed him "right in front of her," Angel tries to comfort Buffy, to reason with her, but when her anxiety only seems to escalate, he simply kisses her. Totally diverted, Buffy melts into his arms and their embrace deepens until the Slayer reluctantly pulls away, saying she needs to get to school. Caught himself, Angel agrees she must, then catches her and kisses her again. Feigning resolve, Buffy moves toward the door while Angel stalks her, corners her, and kisses her yet again. At the neck-kissing stage, Angel comes to his senses a little. Struggling for control, he reminds Buffy to tell him what she'd like for a gift. After a moment, she says "Surprise me." Angel gives her a crooked little smile, murmurs "Okay, I will," and gently kisses her one last time. Buffy sighs and confesses that it's becoming harder to say goodbye, no matter whose bedtime it is. Staring intently into her eyes, Angel agrees.

Walking across school grounds a little later, Buffy tells Willow all. The two friends wonder whether Buffy is ready to take her relationship with Angel to the next level and Willow is awed to hear that Buffy believes it's "sort of inevitable." They spot Oz. Buffy encourages Willow to go talk to him, then continues on her way. Transparently delighted when Oz asks her out, Willow remembers with chagrin that the Scoobies are throwing Buffy a surprise birthday party the following night. Oz is delighted in turn (in mellow Oz fashion) when Willow invites him to go as her date. Inside at their lockers, Xander tries to suggest that Cordelia be his date to the party, since they'll both be going anyway, but she still doesn't want anyone to know about their relationship. Xander stalks away and runs into Giles, then Buffy and Ms Calendar. The four of them take a table in the lounge area, but Xander doesn't stay long. With Jenny a silent auditor, Buffy fills Giles in about her nightmare and her fears for Angel. Unlike Angel, Giles concedes that Buffy's dream could be a portent, but insists they can protect Angel in any case. Buffy, still worried, goes off to class. Meanwhile, Spike, confined to a wheelchair and recovering slowly from his injuries, tries to talk Dru into having her party in Vienna to escape further interference from Angel and the Slayer. In contrast, Drusilla seems both entirely cured by the interrupted ritual using Angel's blood and completely unscathed by the ensuing disaster in the church. Nor does she share Spike's emotional distress, dismissing his request to leave "cursed" Sunnydale and continuing to decorate their lair for the upcoming event. When Dru begins to fuss over the flowers, however, Spike indulges her with a peek into one of her presents. "It reeks of death," she purrs, then slams the box shut.

The next morning, her birthday, Buffy playfully tells her mom she suddenly feels "responsible, mature and level-headed" enough to become a licensed driver, to which Joyce replies with a wry "Uncanny." But when Buffy continues to plead, she is stunned to hear her mother ask "Do you really think you're ready, Buffy?" and to watch a plate slip from Joyce's fingers and shatter on the kitchen floor, eerily echoing details from her recent nightmare. Before class, Jenny arranges her desk and is surprised by a strange visitor, who turns out to be her Uncle Enyos, come to remind her that she is Janna of the Kalderash people and must still fulfill her Gypsy obligations. She has been sent to Sunnydale to make sure Angel's curse remains intact, but the Gypsy elder woman can sense that Angel's pain is lessening. When Jenny reluctantly reports that "there's a girl" in Angel's life, her uncle lectures her about the purpose of Angel's curse as cruel vengeance for killing their tribe's "favorite daughter," then charges Jenny with the task of separating Angel from his beloved Slayer. Meanwhile, in the library, Buffy tells Giles, Willow and Xander that her dream is coming true. Giles agrees that a mad, powerful, undead Drusilla could pose a substantial threat and promises to spend the day further researching Dru's history for any clue to her activities or whereabouts. Buffy listlessly agrees to return at 7:00 that evening, and wanders away to keep herself occupied until then. Willow and Xander conclude that the current crisis puts the kibosh on their party plans, but Giles insists they celebrate regardless.

That night, Jenny intercepts Buffy returning to the library, saying that Giles has changed the plan and wants to meet her somewhere else. Buffy, making no comment on Jenny's awkwardness, accepts her offer of a ride. Recognizing that they are near The Bronze, Buffy suddenly spots vampire activity around a truck backed up to a well-lit loading dock. Despite Jenny's demurral, Buffy dutifully goes to slay them while Jenny, seeming truly bewildered by the situation, waits in the car. Buffy recognizes the bespectacled Dalton from Spike's crew, but only has time for one taunt before the fight is on. She stakes one of the other vamps and, while she engages with a second, Dalton runs away—empty handed. Intercut with glimpses of Angel and the Scoobies hiding and waiting impatiently for their guest of honor to arrive, Buffy and the last vamp struggle hand-to-hand, then crash through a smoky window into what turns out to be the very back room at The Bronze where her friends are just deciding to abandon stealth in order to investigate sounds of battle coming from outside. With the battle abruptly inside, Oz—getting his first exposure to slayage as Buffy dusts her opponent with a handy drumstick—negotiates an abrupt expansion of his worldview with Oz-like equanimity. While the friends bring each other current, Jenny (apparently truly detailed by the gang to ferry Buffy to the party) brings in the oddly-shaped crate left behind by Spike's vamps. Buffy, Angel and Giles immediately open it. Inside, to the puzzlement of all, they find an armored, gauntleted, severed arm, which promptly comes alive and tries to strangle the Slayer. After prying Buffy loose, Angel explains his grim suspicion that Dru is attempting to bring back a powerful demon called the Judge, whose purpose is to rid the world of "the plague of humanity" by "burning the righteous down," leaving only evil demons alive. Recognizing Angel's account, Giles further explains that the Judge could not be killed, even by an entire army, and was only neutralized by being dismembered, with the pieces scattered to "every corner of the earth." Angel warns that if Spike and Dru succeed, reassembling the Judge will "bring forth Armageddon." Immediately, Giles says they must get the arm out of town and Jenny quickly chimes in "Angel should go." Without thought or hesitation, Angel accepts the mission to take the Judge's arm to "the remotest region possible," a trip that could take months. Buffy is frantic. Jenny tells Angel "I'll drive you to the docks."

Back at their lair, Dru threatens to poke out Dalton's eyes for losing her present, but Spike convinces her to give the hapless scholar one more chance to find it again. Leaving Jenny to wait in the car, Buffy walks Angel up a dock to the pier where a tramp freighter lies at anchor. Neither of them is able to hold back tears when he gives her the Claddagh ring he chose for her gift. Buffy pleads with Angel to stay, but he hushes her, urging her not to dwell on the time they'll be apart or the dangers they'll each certainly face. When their slow goodbye kiss breaks, Angel begins to say something else, but at that moment, vamps attack. In the ensuing fight, Buffy is thrown bodily off the pier and Angel leaps into the water after her, leaving Dalton and two vamp thugs to make away with the box containing the Judge's arm.

With the armageddon-out-of-town mission a bust, the gang (minus Oz and Cordelia) congregates back at the library to research a way to find Dru and stop the Judge. Knowing she hasn't been sleeping well lately, the others let Buffy rest in Giles' office, where she slips into a dream of a huge, dim interior containing candles, greenery and, oddly, Jenny Calendar. Wearing a long white satin nightgown, the dreaming Slayer bends to examine a collection of variously-shaped boxes that seem to contain other pieces of the Judge. At that moment, Drusilla calls to her from the catwalk above, where she holds a strangely quiescent Angel hostage. When Dru presses a huge, curved dagger to Angel's throat, Buffy yells and wakes. She is only slightly comforted to find Angel sitting right beside her, safe and undead—so far. Back at the lair, Dru's party gets underway and Spike presents her with the final piece to the puzzle, the Judge's head. When the last box is in place, the whole structure glows from within and opens down the middle, revealing the enormous, blue-skinned horned demon inside. The Judge totters a bit when he steps from his reassembled coffin, and Spike, reaching out to tap the armor breastplate, confronts the demon about his murky intentions and weakened condition. Eager to see some action, Dru offers the Judge a "party favor." The demon chooses Dalton, who apparently still retains some vestige of humanity, and burns the long-suffering vamp to ash. Dru is wildly excited by the show. Buffy, recognizing the factory location of the vampire lair from her dream, takes Angel on a recon mission, sending the others to various transport locales, just in case the final pieces of the Judge have yet to arrive. At the factory, Buffy and Angel sneak along the catwalk and see Spike and Drusilla entertaining their guests below, among whom is a huge blue demon. Just as they realize what they are seeing, the Judge becomes aware of their presence. Buffy and Angel are immediately captured and brought before the Judge, Spike and Dru, but manage to break free before the Judge can kill them. Together, they escape through the sewers and emerge above ground in the pouring rain. Then, still alive, still together, they hold hands and run for the nearest shelter.

Angel sheds his dripping coat as soon as they reach his apartment. To alleviate her uncontrollable shaking, he brings Buffy some dry clothes and urges her to get under the covers "just to get warm." Seeming unwilling to let her out of arm's reach, Angel dutifully turns his back as she changes, but starts at her audible wince. Sitting on the bed to inspect the small cut on her back, Angel tenderly slips the camisole strap from her shoulder and tells her it's already healing, then falls silent and still. Unable to resist his proximity, Buffy shivers and leans back, tucking herself into his embrace. In this relative safety, with nowhere else immediately to be, and in reaction to all the stressful events of the past two days, the Slayer quietly begins to weep. Heartbroken, clearly desiring her, Angel simply holds her. Struggling to express her deepest fear, Buffy says "You almost went away today." Shaken, Angel replies "We both did." When he tries again to tell her what he wanted to say on the docks, Buffy sits up and turns to face him in anticipation. "I love you, Buffy," he says, and his voice breaks a little. "I try not to, but I can't stop." Helplessly, she tells him she feels the same way, then passionately kisses him through her tears. Uneasy, Angel pulls back long enough to murmur "Buffy, maybe we shouldn't..." but Buffy puts her finger to his lips and tells him "Don't. Just kiss me." She feels Angel give himself over to her desire as he slowly sinks backward beneath her. Some time later, they lie asleep side by side, Buffy's arm over his chest. Suddenly, Angel sits up with a gasp, then struggles from the bed, all the while thunder and lightening crash outside. Somehow he dresses and stumbles out to the alley, where he collapses in agony, crying Buffy's name. Inside, the Slayer sleeps undisturbed, never hearing as Angel calls her name over and over into the pouring dark.

---

Tropes:

• After Action Patch Up: Buffy's wound has already closed up due to her Healing Factor, but Angel examining the injury adds further to the UST moments before they make love.
• Agitated Item Stomping: Drusilla breaks Dalton's glasses after he loses the Judge's arm.
• Apocalypse How: The Judge will burn every being that is not pure evil.
• Beautiful Dreamer: Giles and Angel share their last ever moment of bonding when they gaze on a sleeping Buffy.
• Big "NO!": In Buffy's second dream, as she sees Drusilla about to cut Angel's throat.
• Blah, Blah, Blah: Jenny and Buffy see Dalton's henchvamps loading a truck. Jenny tries to talk her out of investigating.
  Buffy: Sorry. Sacred duty, yada yada yada.
• Buffy Speak: Maxi-wig. Sparkage. World save-age.
• The Caligula: Drusilla's henchvamps are clearly terrified of her manic moments.
• Call-Back: Buffy's dream has Willow saying about her monkey in French "The hippo stole his pants", referring to the conversation Willow had with Oz in "What's My Line" about animal crackers and the hippo being jealous of the French monkey's pants. The fact that Buffy didn't see that Oz/Willow conversation is a sign it isn't just an ordinary dream.
• Catapult Nightmare: Played straight for once; Buffy startles awake after seeing Drusilla kill Angel.
• Caught in the Rain: Angel and Buffy's escape through a rainstorm leads to them taking shelter in his apartment, with inevitable consequences.
• Cliffhanger: Angel wakes up next to a sleeping Buffy and runs out into the storm, screaming in pain.
• De-power: The Judge can't just 'zap' his victims as he's too weak after being reassembled; he must make physical contact to kill them.
• Destination Defenestration: The Scoobies are hiding under the table waiting to pull their surprise party, when they hear fisticuffs outside, then Buffy and a vampire come crashing through the window.
• Double Meaning: Joyce's words in her dream; "Do you really think you're ready, Buffy?" have both a sexual meaning and a plot-meaning. Is Buffy ready to lose her virginity, and is she ready for the consequences of that act?
• Double-Meaning Title: "Surprise" refers to the surprise party that the Scooby Gang holds for Buffy, the Scooby Gang finding out about the unexpected coming of the Judge, and the surprise ending involving Angel which isn't explained in the episode itself and which comes out of nowhere.
• Dramatic Thunder: Thunder crashes when Angel wakes up in bed in pain as the curse is ripped from him.
• Dreaming of Things to Come: As always with prophetic dreams however, they're misleading. Angel doesn't die a physical death, but Buffy and Drusilla's actions destroy the ensouled vampire, bringing about the return of Angelus.
• Dull Surprise: Oz responds to seeing a vampire staked with his characteristic understatement.
  Oz: Did anyone see that guy explode into dust?
  Xander: Yeah, vampires are real, Buffy slays them, Willow will explain.
  Willow: Look, I know it's a lot to take in...
  Oz: No, it explains a lot.
• Establishing Character Moment: The Judge's first act upon being reassembled is to burn all the goodness out of Spike's lackey, Dalton (thereby killing him), simply because he enjoys reading.
• Evil Cripple: Spike is now in a wheelchair, and is scarred on one side of his face.
• Evil Hand: The Scoobies recover the Judge's arm. It immediately tries to strangle Buffy.
  Willow: W-What was that?
  Oz: It looked like an arm.
• Evil Is Not a Toy: After being revived, the Judge notes that Spike and Drusilla's love for each other makes them vulnerable to his power. He backs down when Spike points out they freed him in the first place; how long this would have lasted is unclear.
• Eye Scream: Drusilla threatens to gouge Dalton's eyes out for losing her "present", before Spike stops her.
• Falling Chandelier of Doom: Angel does the modern version by dropping a multiscreen TV on the Judge's head. It doesn't stop him.
• Fantastically Indifferent: Oz's deadpan reaction to the discovery that vampires exist.
• Finger Muzzle: Angel makes a half-hearted attempt to forestall the inevitable.
  Angel: Maybe we shouldn't—
  Buffy: Don't. (finger on lips) Just kiss me.
• Foreshadowing:
  • "If this girl gives him one minute of happiness it is one minute too much!" sounds like hyperbole, but Enyos means it rather differently.
  • Buffy sees Jenny Calender in her second dream, but doesn't understand the importance of this until the next episode.
• Futile Hand Reach: Dream!Angel reaches for Buffy as he's dusted, his ring falling off his finger as he disintegrates. Also serves a foreshadowing for "Becoming, Part 2".
• Geographic Flexibility: Sunnydale has a shipyard somewhere nearby.
• Good Hurts Evil: The Judge is repelled by Drusilla and Spike because they "share affection and jealousy".
• Gypsy Curse
• High Turnover Rate: In a Deleted Scene, Giles says that a Slayer rarely lives into her mid-twenties. Jenny tries to use this by splitting Angel and Buffy up, so she'll likely be dead by the time he returns. Of course this is yet another incentive for them to sleep together.invoked
• Holding Hands: Buffy and Angel run hand-in-hand while fleeing through the rain. Given that this would only slow them down, it shows how they're unable to let go of each other.
• Hollywood Healing: Averted with Spike; who has facial scarring and is confined to a wheelchair after the events of "What's My Line".
• Horror Doesn't Settle for Simple Tuesday: From now on, Buffy birthday's are going to be eventful.
• I Kiss Your Hand: When Angel presents Buffy with her claddagh ring, she responds by kissing the matching ring on Angel's hand.
• IKEA Weaponry: The boxes containing the various parts of the Judge all lock together neatly, magically creating the complete item.
• Immune to Bullets: According to legend "no weapon forged" can kill the Judge, and it took an entire army to dismember him last time.
• Interrupted Declaration of Love: As he's about to depart on a ship, not to see Buffy for months or maybe forever, Angel starts to say he loves her, when they're attacked by Dalton and his henchvamps.
• Instrument of Murder: Buffy uses a drumstick to stake a vampire at the Bronze.
• Ironic Echo: Willow reminds Buffy of her advice to "seize the day". When Willow took that advice, the boy she hooked up with turned out to be an evil vampire. Likewise...
• I Will Wait for You: Buffy and Angel at the docks, but events lead to a different fate.
• Jumping Out of a Cake: Cordelia jumps up from behind the birthday cake, in an obvious reference to this trope.
• Knight Templar / Reformed, but Rejected: Even though Jenny tells her uncle that Angel saved her life and is seeking to atone for his evil deeds, Enyos Kalderash is determined that the vampire suffer for eternity for what he has done to their clan.
• Leitmotif: The Buffy/Angel love theme "Close Your Eyes" is heard for the first time.
• Lady in Red: Drusilla wears a red dress, presumably in contrast to the white-clad virginal Buffy (Angel having already 'corrupted' her). With her black hair it also counts as Red and Black, Keep Back.
• Layout of a Season: As per the formula, the 15th episodes have a tendency to pull a mid-season shift of major proportions. In the two-parter "Surprise" & "Innocence", Angel's soul is destroyed after sharing a tender moment with Buffy.
• Love Confession
• Lured into a Trap: Subverted. Miss Calendar is ordered to "take Buffy from Angel" (to ensure Angel continues to suffer), and shortly later lures Buffy away from the school on a flimsy pretense, then leaves her to fight vampires. It turns out she was right outside the building where her surprise birthday party was; the vampires were not part of the plan.
• Meaningful Echo
  • Joyce asking Buffy "Do you really think you're ready?" and dropping a plate tells Buffy that she really was Dreaming of Things to Come.
  • Before they make love Angel says to Buffy, "I love you. I try not to, but I can't stop." Years later when another vampire tells her something similar, Buffy responds by punching him in the face.
• Mirror Character: Buffy and Drusilla share the same birthday, appear in each others prophetic dreams, and both end up unleashing an evil force. And like Drusilla, Buffy forever loses her innocence once Angelus comes into her world.
• The Mole: Jenny Calender was sent to Sunnydale to watch Angel.
• Mood Whiplash
  • In her dream Buffy walks down a corridor of her home, then Drusilla suddenly appears behind her, blood dripping from her mouth. Later Buffy and Angel share a Held Gaze, only for Drusilla to appear in Game Face and dust him.
  • Angel announces that Drusilla intends to bring forth Armageddon. Cue Stunned Silence.
  Cordelia: Who wants cake?
• Mundane Solution: Uncle Enyos commands Jenny to ship-sink Bangel ASAP. Instead of arranging Buffy's death, Jenny suggests Angel take the Judge's arm far away. As it's too risky to take a plane (due to daylight issues), he needs to take a ship, which means it will take months to complete his journey, by which time Buffy will likely be dead in the line of duty.
• Must Not Die a Virgin: More along the lines of — we could die at any time, so let's take our relationship as far as it can go while we're both still alive.
• Never Found the Body: Buffy says that Drusilla could still be alive as they never saw the body after the events of "What's My Line?" This is a Series Continuity Error however, as vampires turn to dust when they're killed.
• Not a Date: Xander suggests to Cordy that seeing as they're still together despite all logic, and they're both going to Buffy's birthday bash, they should go as an actual couple on a date. Cordelia says it's not a date unless you start spending money.
• Portent of Doom: Buffy's dreams. Enyos has also turned up because their clan seer senses that Angel's suffering is less than it was.
• Poor Communication Kills: Enyos doesn't explain to Jenny that the curse will be broken if Angel makes love to Buffy.
• Pretentious Latin Motto
  Willow: Carpe diem! You told me that once.
  Buffy: Fish of the day?
  Willow: Not carp — carpe!
• Prophecy Twist: Buffy's dream seems to foretell Angel's death, but it actually means the death of his soul, allowing the return of Angelus.
• Pure Is Not Good: The Judge's definition of "pure evil" is pretty demanding. He vaporizes Dalton because he likes reading and threatens to do the same to Spike and Dru, two mass-murderers who happen to love each other.
• Pyromaniac: The Judge's power "burns" the humanity out of his victims.
• Real Dreams are Weirder: When Buffy worries her dream of Angel's death will come true, Angel asks what else she dreamed about. Buffy admits she dreamt of opening an office supply warehouse in Las Vegas with Giles.
• Red Herring: Neither the Judge or a revitalized Drusilla is the Big Bad the Scoobies need to fear.
• Relationship Upgrade:
  • Xander suggests to Cordelia they start dating openly, as contrary to all logic they're still seeing each other. Cordelia refuses as she has more to lose socially.
  • Buffy and Angel have sex.
• Sealed Evil in a Six Pack: The Judge could not be killed in ancient times, so instead he was cut into pieces and scattered in a number of boxes around the world.
• Sex Is Cool: When Buffy decides she will have sex with Angel, Willow just goes, "Wow!"
• Scary Surprise Party
• Screw the Hellmouth, We're Partying: Giles insists on giving Buffy her birthday party despite the impending crisis, showing a change in his attitude from the previous year.
• Sexy Soaked Shirt: Buffy ends up soaking wet after her escape from the Judge because it's pouring outside. Her shirt isn't see-through, but the scene ends with Buffy making love with Angel. The soaking aspect is used to underline Buffy's terror and vulnerability.
• Shirtless Scene: Disturbed over her dream, Buffy goes round to check Angel is alright. He opens the door with his shirt off — not just audience Fanservice but showing his sexual desirability to Buffy.
• Shout-Out: Angel losing his soul if he experiences perfect happiness is a reference to Faust.
• "Shut Up" Kiss: Angel kisses Buffy to silence her anxiety about Drusilla.
  Buffy: I'm sorry, were we talking?
• Sidetracked by the Analogy
  Giles: Dreams aren't prophecies, Buffy. You dreamt that the Master had risen, but you stopped it from happening.
  Xander: You ground his bones to make your bread.
  Buffy: That's true. Except for the bread part.
• Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: Xander complains about Giles's tendency to use ten words when he could just use one.
  Giles: Still, best to be on the alert. If Drusilla is alive, it could be a fairly cataclysmic state of affairs.
  Xander: Again, so many words! Couldn't you just say, 'we'd be in trouble'?
  Giles: (gives Xander a look) Go to class, Xander.
  Xander: Gone. (gets up and starts away, but stops) Notice the economy of phrasing: 'gone.' Simple. Direct.
• Scare Chord: Buffy bumps into Jenny Calender as she walks alone in the school, right after Jenny's uncle has told her to ensure that Buffy isn't around to make Angel happy.
• Shipper on Deck: Buffy expresses doubts over going all the way with Angel, but only to known Bangel shipper Willow; not Xander or Giles or anyone else that might tell her it's too soon. Buffy on her part encourages Willow/Oz, saying she can't wait forever for Xander to get the message.
• Skyward Scream: Angel shouts Buffy's name, but as he's outside in the rain a sleeping Slayer can't hear him. Just as well...
• Slumber Party Ploy
  Giles: Round robin?
  Willow: It's when everybody calls everybody else's mom and tells them they're staying at everyone's house.
  Buffy: Thus freeing us up for world saveage.
• Spider-Sense: The Judge senses the presence of Angel and Buffy.
• Stealth Pun: Jenny staggers in with the box holding the Judge's arm. "Someone give me a hand."
• Take Me Instead: Buffy and Angel are caught and about to be killed by the Judge, Buffy first. Angel offers "Take me instead of her." Spike replies, "You're not clear on the concept, pal. There is no 'instead.' Just 'first' and 'second.'"
  Drusilla: And if you go first, you don't get to watch the Slayer die.
• Talking in Your Dreams: Buffy finds out where Drusilla is hiding because she dreams confronting Drusilla at the factory. When Buffy goes there in person, Drusilla is quite pleased, saying, "I only dreamed you'd come."
• Tempting Fate: Angel asks Buffy what she wants for her birthday.
  Buffy: Surprise me.
• That Came Out Wrong: Buffy's "I like you at bed time." For once this isn't Played for Laughs; instead Angel takes the accidental innuendo and runs with it.
  • It is played for the usual humor though in this scene:
  Giles: (whispers so as not wake Buffy) Seems Buffy needed some rest.
  Angel: Yeah. She hasn't been sleeping well. Tossing and turning. (everyone looks at him) She told me! Because of her dreams?
• Their First Time
• This Explains So Much
  Xander: Yes, vampires are real, there are a lot of them in Sunnydale. Willow will fill you in.
  Willow: I know this must come as a shock...
  Oz: Actually, it explains a lot.
• Title Drop: Any time the word "surprise" is mentioned, which is often.
  (Buffy crashes through the window and dusts a vampire.)
  Cordelia: (leaping up from hiding) Surprise!
  Oz: Actually, that pretty much sums it up.
• Train-Station Goodbye: A tearful goodbye at the docks, but in the same spirit.
• Two-Part Episode
• Unresolved Sexual Tension: Buffy believes she should sleep with Angel because it seems inevitable that they will do so.
• Virgin in a White Dress: Buffy wears white throughout the episode, symbolising her virginal innocence.
• Virgin Sacrifice: As in "Prophecy Girl", Buffy's 'death' allows the release of a Big Bad into the world.
• Wasn't That Fun?: Drusilla exclaims, "Do it again! Do it again!" after seeing the Judge burn up Dalton.
• With This Ring: Angel gives Buffy a claddagh ring for her birthday, explaining the different meanings in how you wear it, with obvious romantic overtones. The scene actually caused a boost in popularity for claddagh rings in real life.
• You Have Failed Me: Averted; when Dalton loses the Judge's arm Drusilla is going to gouge out his eyes, but Spike convinces her it makes more sense to give Dalton the opportunity to correct his mistake. He succeeds, but Spike and Drusilla give him to the Judge anyway.
• You Leave Him Alone!
  Angel: Leave her [Buffy] alone!
  Spike: Yeah, that'll work. Now say pretty please.

---