Original Air Date: February 8th, 2000

Written by David Fury
Directed by James A. Contner

Summary

Xander, Anya and Willow are playing poker when Xander informs them that he's the newest vendor for Boost bars. Conversation turns towards the initiative and they all wonder what they're planning. Meanwhile, Buffy is in the woods at night fighting off commandoes. She massacres them until the flood light from an army car come on and Professor Walsh tells them to stop. She and Riley are extremely impressed, Buffy had evaded the unit for 42 minutes and managed to neutralize them in 28 seconds. The next day Buffy relates to Willow over coffee about the initiative's failled attack on Buffy. Willow then makes sure that their plans for hanging out at the Bronze are still on for tonight. That day, Giles visits Spike at his crypt and hands him $300 for helping him whe he became a demon. Spike grabs the money and tells Giles to piss off. Over at the frathouse, Riley takes Buffy into the initiative headquarters and she's completely astonished by the size of it. She's taken on a tour, showing her the pit where a demon is being examined and the armory as well as the HST (human sub-terrestrial) containment area. Buffy spots a restricted area and asks what's behind, Professor Walsh just tells her it's high profile stuff. She then hands Buffy a beeper to which only the initiative has the number, as well as a security card. Meanwhile, Willow is over at Tara's and when asked to do some spells tonight Willow tells her she can't because she's already got plans. Back the initiative, Professor Walsh enters the restricted area into room 314. Doctor Englemen is already in there and he feels that Buffy is an unnecessary risk to their operation. He then tells her that her 'baby' is doing extremely well. Professor Walsh then talks softly to a half-human, half-robot being lying on a gurney.

At the Bronze that night, Buffy is an hour late when she suddenly shows up with Riley as well as a couple of his friends much to Willow's disappointment. Buffy apologizes for showing up late then tells Willow that she's officially in the initiative. Suddenly Buffy's pager goes off, as well as Riley and his friend's pagers. They pack up and leave immediately. Buffy, Riley and friends head into debriefing at the initiative. They're going on a capture mission for a Polgara demon. They are warned not to break it's arms as they want to inspect the blades that are released through the arms. Buffy asks plenty of questions, much to the disbelief and aggravation of most of the people there. Willow, having been bailed on, goes over to Tara's and suggests that they do a spell or something. Buffy and Riley and their team are searching through the woods. Another squad spots Spike (hostile 17) and try to ambush him but he gets away, but not before being tagged with a tracer. Buffy and Riley locate the Polgara demon and begin fighting it. They're half concentrating on fighting the demon and half-concentrating on making out with each other in their minds. They finally capture the demon and then head back to Riley's dorm where they make love, and, unbeknowst to them, Professor Walsh is watching in on them through a security camrea.

The next day at Giles' house, Spike barges in and Giles agrees to help him only after Spike repays him some of the money. Buffy wakes up in bed with Riley beside her. Buffy is asking about 314 just as the phone rings, it's Professor Walsh and she's callling Riley in to work. Riley dresses and heads down to the initiative. Professor Walsh tells him to go off in pursuit of hostile 17. Riley leaves and Professor Walsh talks to Dr. Englemen. She finds Buffy a liability and the plan to go to the contingency plan right away. The doctor then pulls off the arm from the captured Polgara demo and takes it away. Buffy's beeper goes off when she reaches her dorm, she leaves after apologizing to Willow about last night. The phone rings and it's Giles. He wants her to cast a disruption spell because they've figured out that Spike has a homing becon stuck in his shoulder. At the initiative, Professor Walsh informs Buffy of a possible HST in the sewers. She hands Buffy a shock weapon and a headgear piece which monitors the wearer's heart rate and acts as a camera and a comlink. Willow goes over to Giles' and casts the spell which Giles pulls out the tracer. Riley and his team are tracing the signal but they're having problems with the signal due to Willow's spell. Giles pulls the tracer out and gives it to Xander, who flushes it down the toilet, throwing Riley and his team off the signal. Meanwhile Buffy heads into the sewers and spots two demons, which she's seen before on the operating table back at the initiative. She tries firing her weapon but it's dysfunctional. Suddenly a gate crashes down, trapping Buffy and the demons in the sewer together. Professor Walsh sips her coffee while she watches Buffy try to fight the demons off. Suddenly the heart rate monitor goes dead and a line appears across the screen. But Buffy's still alive and she manages to kill the demons, her headgear had only fallen off. Riley returns to the initiative and Professor Walsh tells him that Buffy's dead. She tells him that she went after two escaped demons and died. Riley doesn't understand and can barely believe her. Sudddenly Buffy appears on the screen, she's looking through the headset directly at them. She tells Professor Walsh that it was not a good idea to try and kill her this way and she's going to find out exactly what a Slayer is. Riley figures it out and walks out of the initiative with Professor Walsh yelling at him desperately to return.

Buffy heads to Giles' and tells the entire gang that they're no longer safe. Meanwhile,Professor Walsh enters room 314 whe she talks quietly to the immobile Adam. She still plans to kill Buffy. Suddenly a spike pierces through her stomach. Professor Walsh is shocked and she looks back to see Adam standing behind her. As Professor Walsh falls, Adam retracts the spike which came from his arm.

Summary written by Nika

Quote of the Week

Buffy: Professor Walsh? That simple little recon you sent me on — wasn't a raccoon. Turns out it was me, trapped in the sewers with a faulty weapon and two of your pet demons. If you think that's enough to kill me, you really don't know what a Slayer is. Trust me when I say you're gonna find out.

My Rating

3.5/5

Nika Summers' Review

Another enjoyable episode! We're getting a lot of these right now! Buffy's curiosity about everything initiative was a little overwhelming but nevertheless still very much like her character. What's really disappointing to me is that Willow is getting really miserable and a lot of it has to do with her friends ditching her. Like Buffy, when she finds something new, she tends to forget her other friends (ie, Angel, Faith and now Riley). I really wish that Willow would just sit down with Buffy and really explain to her how she's feeling. My favorite clip has to be when Willow has just completed the ionization spell and all their hair is standing on end. I was als really surprised at Professor Walsh's drastic idea to just have Buffy killed and to be watching it on a screen in a clear view of the entire initiative (should they so happen to walk by) seemed a little bizarre. However, it was nice to see Buffy pop backup on screen and tell Professor Walsh (while Riley was standing there) that she's going to find out exactly what a Slayer is. I'm very curious as to where Adam is going to lead us... What's he been created for? Oh and BTW, those pills that Riley were taking... Were they JUST pills?

Niki Bartl's Review

First things first. Where does Willow get her clothes? They just dress Alyson better and better every episode. I loved her yellow fairy shirt at the beginning of the episode! Who else is jonesin' for some Willow/Spike action? I know that every episode I want them to get together more and more! How gross was Professor Walsh in this episode! I kept hearing about how her and Giles would be a new item, but I somehow knew that they'd make her into the bad guy. One thing I was extremely happy about in this episode was the return of the Bronze. I love the Bronze. I wish I had a Bronze down the street from my house. I'm getting more and more convinced that something is going to happen between Willow and her little Wicca "friend". It is nice to see Willow developing her own new friendships, especially with buffy being such a bitch lately, all oohhh-I'm going to spend all my spare time with my boyfriend! I strongly dislike people who do that. I noticed one thing though. When Buffy is in the sewers and her heartbeat-monitor- thingy is on, Prof. Walsh could hear sounds. when buffy's monitor falls off, wouldn't Professor Walsh still be able to hear the fight noises Buffy makes? One last thing - does anyone else think that Adam looks like the dead guy in Some Assembly Required, just with demon parts instead of human parts?

Cast