-The set-up – Dru & Buffy – Taking the plunge – Liam - Conclusion – Spicy extras for James Marsters’ fans –

This episode features Buffy’s first time. Her first sexual experience is with Angel, her "cradle-robbing, creature-of-the-night boyfriend." Buffy uses that phrase to describe him in What’s My Line Part 1. She can do it with an affectionate smile because she knows how much he loves her. We all know. We all smile. And we squirm a little too. But that scene is a mere sampling of what we’re in for, big time, in this episode.

Perhaps the most die-hard Buffy & Angel fans will come through this episode seeing nothing but sweetness and light in their pairing, and perhaps the most narrow-minded moralists will see nothing but depravity. But for most of us, it’s an uncomfortable foray into a world of moral ambiguity (jeepers, just like the one we live in!). By the end, we’re dangling and twisting in the wind, and we’re set up beautifully to do just that. Just look at the contradictory array of factors we’re faced with:

IT’S BUFFY’S BIRTHDAY: Lest we forget that Buffy is a minor, the episode in which Buffy loses her virginity to Angel is also an episode featuring her birthday. It is no coincidence that this makes a wonderful excuse to reference her age over and over and over and over. There is no let-up. Do you know Buffy is 17? Yes, she is 17. So, 17 you say? Yes, 17. In fact, just barely 17.

BUFFY IS INNOCENT & INEXPERIENCED: We are hit in the face with many examples of Buffy’s innocence and inexperience. After she dreams of Angel’s death, she goes to his apartment to check up on him. She is dressed in a very youthful fashion, and she has stopped off on her way to school. When she gets to Sunnydale High, she has a giggly, schoolgirl talk with Willow about wanting to make love with Angel. We’re reminded of the difference even a year makes at her age, when they discuss Willow’s interest in Oz, who is a senior. And in case we didn’t get the point, Buffy adds: "You think he’s too old because he’s a senior? Please. My boyfriend had a bicentennial." We’re also reminded of Buffy’s youth when we see that her mother doesn’t even allow her to drive yet. And then there’s Joyce’s question about driving: "Do you really think you’re ready, Buffy?"

BUFFY WANTS ANGEL TO MAKE LOVE TO HER: Buffy’s desires are made clear to Angel and to the viewer. She tells Angel it’s getting harder and harder to leave him. She tells Willow that making love to Angel is inevitable. When they are finally together on his bed and Angel says, "Buffy, maybe we shouldn’t," she shushes him with: "Don’t. Just kiss me."

ANGEL IS OLDER, MUCH MORE WORLDLY AND HAS A MURDEROUS PAST: Yes, Angel has had a bicentennial – and then some. His apartment is full of mementos from his travels. When he makes plans to bury a demon’s (The Judge’s) arm in a remote location, we are also reminded of his knowledge of the world as he describes a possible plan to get to Nepal. And when we learn that Jenny Calendar is actually a member of the gypsy tribe that cursed Angel, we are presently confronted with his unsavory past in general, and specifically with the horrible sin that led to his curse – his relentless torture and destruction of the gypsy girl.

ANGEL IS VERY MUCH IN LOVE WITH BUFFY: When it seems that Angel has to leave Buffy for several months, his deep love for her becomes apparent to even the most obtuse of viewers. He is genuinely pained at the thought of leaving her. He tells her with undeniable sincerity that he loves her, and he gives her a beautiful ring as a symbol of that love.

THERE IS A LARGE PHYSICAL COMPONENT TO ANGEL’S ATTRACTION: But just in case we are prone to believe Angel’s interest in Buffy is all hearts and flowers, all high-minded and pure as the driven snow, we are clearly shown, early in the episode, that it is not. When Buffy comes to visit on her way to school, Angel can’t keep his hands or mouth off her. He can barely let her leave, and it isn’t because of her scintillating conversation. Lust is present (and plenty of it).

THEY HAVE NO FUTURE TOGETHER: Xander describes why it might be a good idea for Angel to leave town: "I mean, what kind of a future would she've really had with him? She's got 2 jobs - Denny's waitress by day, Slayer by night. And Angel's always in front of the TV with a big blood belly, and he's dreamin' of the glory days when Buffy still thought this whole creature of the night routine was a big turn-on." It’s a very funny, classic-Xander moment. But it’s also another squirmy moment for the viewer. After removing the comic details, is Xander’s vision without truth? How could it ever really work out for Buffy & Angel?

Whew. So what should happen? What do we want to see happen? Personally, I want to run to tell Joyce what is going on, and encourage her to stake Angel herself before the night is over. I’d do it, if it were my 17-year-old daughter. But look at Angel’s gentle loving gaze, look at the ring he so tenderly gives her! Yes, I confess, I also want to be Willow, eagerly encouraging Buffy and naively hoping to hear about the sweet fulfillment of their passion.

But speaking of passionate duos, let’s leave the cradle-robber and his cradle-dweller for just a moment. What’s happening with Spike & Dru in this episode? When last we saw them, Dru was carrying Spike out of a church. Now, Spike is in a wheelchair. Dru’s regained her strength, and though he no longer needs to nurse her, he still strives to please her. The grandest gesture he’s made is arranging the shipment of various pieces of The Judge to Sunnydale. The Judge is an extremely powerful and destructive demon that the wacky and evil Dru wants to reassemble to bring about Armageddon.

Spike is also throwing her a party, and in his usual obsessive style, seems to be involved in making sure every detail makes her happy. Let’s see . . . who else is having a party? Buffy. But a party is not the only thing Buffy & Dru have in common in this episode. We see a close-up of Buffy fade right into a very similar close up of Dru, and there are other signs of a connection:

BUFFY IS SEEN IN A DRU-LIKE WHITE GOWN: In Buffy’s second dream, she wanders through Dru’s party in a white gown. It emphasizes her innocence and suggests a bride. It is also reminiscent of the gowns Dru wore during her illness. Note that Dru is also wearing a white gown in this sequence.

THEY’RE BOTH PLANNING TO UNLEASH AN EVIL FORCE: From Buffy’s viewpoint of course, she only plans to soon "seize the day" with Angel. She is unaware that this desire will reawaken the deadly, evil Angelus. In contrast, Dru’s desire to reassemble The Judge is a conscious wish to unleash evil. But despite the difference in their intentions, they’re both heading down the same path.

THEY BOTH DREAM OF ANGEL AT DRU’S PARTY: Buffy dreams of Angel being present at Dru’s party, which gives Angel & Buffy the clue they need to locate Spike, Dru & The Judge. When they arrive at the party, Dru says to Angel: "I only dreamed you’d come."

The parallels being drawn between Dru & Buffy foreshadow not just Angelus’ return, but also the fact that Buffy will soon be sharing much more than parties and dreams with Dru. She’ll learn first hand what it means to be targeted by Angelus. As Dru tells Angel about Buffy in Lie to Me earlier in the Season: "Your heart stinks of her. Poor little thing. She has no idea what's in store."

Poor little thing indeed. When Buffy tells Angel early in the episode that she has dreamed of his death, Angel reassures her, saying: "Not every dream you have comes true." Giles repeats the same message: "Dreams aren’t prophecies, Buffy." For Buffy, these statements will soon have a stinging double meaning. She’ll wake from her first time with her first love, only to find that the subsequent reality is nothing like her wistful school-girl dreams.

But right or wrong, Angel & Buffy do take the plunge in this episode, immediately after they’ve taken an actual watery plunge into a sewer (!) to escape The Judge. When they get back to Angel’s place, Buffy is wet and cold from the sewer and from the heavy rain falling outside. He gives her dry clothes and follows her into his sleeping area, where she plans to change. He turns his back, but he stays nearby. When he sits on the bed to inspect a cut on her back, they begin kissing – and though we don’t see the details, the previously mentioned plunging ensues.

Angel’s choice here is both wrong and understandable, both reprehensible and forgivable. He’s motivated by lust, but he’s also lonely and genuinely in love for the first time in his existence. Still, he knows better – he is worldly-wise and he’s so far from innocent he could make Madonna look touched for the very first time. His belated "maybe we shouldn’t" reveals the fact that he is aware of the impropriety. But his flesh is weak. He doesn’t act purely out of love, or he would have sent Buffy home to mother. He gives in to lust and desperate desire.

Weakness. Angel will use a form of that word to describe himself to Buffy in Season 3’s Amends: "Look, I'm weak. I've never been anything else." Buffy will correctly point out that he is being unfair to himself. But nevertheless, what Angel is referring to in Amends is very real. He’s referring to Liam’s weakness for the pleasures of the flesh, to Liam/Angel’s complete inability to hang on to the tiniest portion of his humanity when the demon comes calling (he is taken over absolutely), and to his ultimate inability to let his love for Buffy take precedence over his lust and simple desire for her presence. Later in Season 3, in an episode in which human weakness is a major theme (Graduation Day – Part 2), we’ll see Angel weaken again, and put Buffy’s life at risk by drinking her into glassy-eyed unconsciousness. It is only then that Angel will finally find the strength to leave her.

But back to Season 2! In Surprise we are deliberately reminded of Liam when Angel presents Buffy with a claddagh ring, a ring that was exchanged amongst "his people" as a sign of devotion. And in a scene between Jenny Calendar and her Uncle, we are given the message people always remain tied to their roots:

Uncle Enyos: "I cannot imagine what is so important to make you ignore the responsibility to your people"

Jenny (a little later in this same discussion): "I’m sorry, I thought . . ."

Uncle Enyos: "You thought what?? You thought you are Jenny Calendar now?? You are still Janna, of the Kalderash people!! A Gypsy!

Jenny: "I know, Uncle, I know."

A link between Jenny and Angel is made with the noticeably similar wording that is used ("my people") - because it is not just Jenny who will always carry Janna with her. A part of Angel will always be Liam, will always live with Liam’s strengths and weaknesses.

So we shouldn’t be surprised when Angel finds himself unable to resist his powerful desire for Buffy, though he knows how young she is, and further, how little she truly knows him. They have sex, and fall asleep in his bed.

In this episode, there is a question that is asked again and again, in various forms, to various characters: "Are you OK?" Everyone is on edge, on alert, seeking reassurance as if they’ve sensed the terrible danger in the air. And think how close that question is to the question we are all asking ourselves by the end of the episode: "Is this OK?"

But it doesn’t much matter what we think. In the Jossverse, the gavel comes down. Whaddaya know? Here come da Judge. In an event that could not be more clearly symbolic of the impurity that taints Angel’s choice, he stumbles, suffering and alone, out of his bed and into a dark alley. It is raining and there is thunder and lightening overhead. And in payment for his one moment of forbidden but perfect pleasure, in keeping with that brilliantly vengeful gypsy curse, Angel loses his soul.

Spicy extras for James Marsters’ fans:

• Not enough Spike, but a significant episode for him nonetheless. The fallout from Angelus’ return will greatly affect Spike.
• Just what is going on with Juliet Landau’s hands right after Dru takes a peek at one of her presents, and kneels down in front of Spike’s wheelchair? She runs her hands so far up James’ legs they disappear into his coat and off screen - so we can’t really see how far she gets with those feelers (a woman after my own heart!). Then she runs them all the way back down again. She’s certainly comfy with her co-star.