Oooh, good points, WA... I have thought about the underage sex thing before and often wondered if that was one reason why Buffy never got pelvic with any more guys after Angel and before Parker. But I never thought about the first and final sex scenes being 'blacked out'. 🙂
Depending on what you believe Buffy's last sex scene was with Spike (Chosen or at least As You Were), RJ in Him or the Shadowmen's demon in Get It Done. Joss said he deliberately left it vague as to what Buffy and Spike did on their last night together as he didn't want to send the wrong message of Buffy having sex with her rapist?
Innocence
The Good;
As Joss says "Buffy in pain, show good!" And he really puts her, Jenny and Giles through the wringer here (Willow also has her pain but Oz is there to thankfully not kiss it better) But you know what? It doesn't matter because in the final scene she ends up back in Joyce's loving arms (and probably Dawn's too in everyone's memory) and it's all too beautiful for words.
Stunningly brilliant in every way, quite possibly the best episode of Buffy ever.
The Bad;
Ummmmmm?
Actually one thing I don't like is Angelus killing the hooker in the alley (She is lovely in a trashy sort of way, the Gorch's were wrong!). Such a misogynistic cliche, couldn't he have killed some guy emptying the bins or something?
Best line;
Xander (to Cordy) "Wear something trashy...er" (unkind actually as CC's outfit is very nice although a little school-uniformish).
Plus;
Giles; "I'd say we've hit rock bottom"
Xander; "I have a plan"
Cordy; "Oh no, there's a lower place!"
But best dialogue;
Joyce; "So how was your birthday?"
Buffy; "Got older"
Joyce "You don't look any different to me" (nice contrast between the scene where Joyce senses something different about Buffy after she's lost her virginity)
Questions and observations;
So much good stuff, the dream sequence and the scene where Angelus kills Jenny's uncle especially good. But how does he know he's in town? Did Dru have a vision?
So Sunnydale has it's own army base (couldn't the Initiative have been based there?) as well as an airport big enough for a 747, zoo, docks etc Not bad for a town of under 40,000. How come Spike is prepared to destroy the world now but not in Becoming pt2? You can start to see his jealousy of Dru and Angelus almost from the start, without Darla the Fanged Four are out of balance. Although, like the Harvest or Adam or the Mayor turning into a big snake it would have been bad but would the Judge really have been the end of the world? Buffy using a firearm is a rare sight (I always thought she chucked it away afterwards but obviously she saves it for Season 7 'Him', couldn't she have used it on Adam or Glory?). It was always one of the things that troubled me about the supernatural threat, that really faced with modern technology they're not really up to much (love the Judge's ignorance of what he's facing followed inevitably by death) Buffy says she beat up Willy the Snitch again. I think most people fell in love at this point with Oz, ironically because he DOESN'T want to kiss Willow. Jenny leaves the Scoobies here and realistically will never get back in. Alison Hannigan shows some superb acting skills upon her discovery but all the actors really shine here. Oz joins the Scoobies from the beginning. This makes the Scoobs offically;
1. Buffy
2. Giles
3. Willow
4. Xander
5. Angel (for the course of the ep at least)
6. Jenny
7. Cordy
8. Oz
the biggest they'll ever be until season 5
10/10 and more of I could make it, just superb and a whole new era for Buffy
