Buffy is standing atop a
mausoleum in the graveyard when she spots her prey. She jumps
down, runs to the vampire's grave and stakes him before he
can even get out of his grave. She's fighting another vampire
when suddenly Riley jumps in and flings the vamp around like
he's a piece of fluff, then stakes him. Another vampire
appears but this time it's Spike that jumps in, but Buffy
gets in the finale staking. Buffy tells Spike to go home and
he's very bitter about the fact that he can't hurt her due to
the chip in his brain.
Buffy and Willow are at the
university and they're actually discussing a college class
issue, much to Willow's delight. Buffy has training to do so
Buffy and Willow head to Giles' shop where Xander, Anya and
Tara are busy setting it up. Giles takes Buffy to the
backroom where he has set up a workout place for Buffy with a
pommel horse, dummies to kick and assorted weaponry. Buffy's
extremely grateful for all of Giles' work. Meanwhile Spike is
watching TV when Harmony barges in, scared because she thinks
she's Buffy's archnemesis. Harmony begs him to hide her out
from Buffy.
Joyce is serving Dawn
breakfast when suddenly something passes through Joyce and
she looks at Dawn and can't figure out who she Dawn is. Joyce
then faints and Dawn rushes to call for an ambulance. Buffy,
having head ot the accident, rushes, with Riley, to meet Dawn
at the hospital. Buffy's mom is thankfully okay, just a
fainting spell. Dawn is playing with a stethoscope; she
listens to Riley's heartbeat and is surprised to find that
it's beating crazily. Riley is checked out by the doctors and
they're extremely worried about Riley's pulse which is 150.
It's possible he could have a heart attack. Riley's convinced
that he's okay and wants to leave the hospital immediately.
At home Buffy talks with Willow about Riley's problem. They
think Riley's heart is having problems because of the tests
the Initiative did on him. Dawn says that the Initiative must
be keeping tabs on him and that Buffy should just say what
she needs out loud and they'll hear her. Buffy gets an idea
and goes to Riley's empty apartment. She picks up his phone
and says into it that Riley's in trouble and in need of help.
Riley's at the park playing
basketball. He stops playing when he spots Graham on the
sidelines. Graham, accompanied by two Initiative boys, tries
to convince Riley that he needs help because of all the
chemicals Dr. Walsh put in him. Riley doesn't want to go in
case the doctor will tinker with his system even more. Graham
won't let him go so Riley beats up Graham and the other two,
then runs off. Later Graham finds Buffy on school campus and
tells her the situation; that Riley is stronger than he ought
to be and he's not feeling any pain and his heart can't take
it anymore. Buffy goes to Giles' shop where the gang is
hanging out and splits them up to go off and find Riley.
Buffy goes to Spike's crypt and, after explaining Riley's
situation, offers Spike money if he finds Riley and brings
him to the hospital. At the hospital Graham tells the doctor
that Riley will be in soon but the doctor isn't sure they'll
be able to save him in time. Suddenly Spike and Harmony barge
in. Spike takes the doctor to the medical facilities at the
university and tells the doctor to take the chip out of his
brain. The doctor doesn't know how and doesn't want to but
he's forced to. Buffy goes searching for Riley and finds him
vigorously punching a rock wall in cave, he's stunned to find
that he doesn't even feel any pain even though his fist is
bleeding profusely. Buffy tries to explain that he's going to
die but Riley doesn't want the doctors to turn him back into
a normal human because he thinks it's not enough for her. She
can't believe what he's telling her. He continues to tell her
that he feels like he can't touch her because she's getting
so much stronger every day. She tells him that she's never
opened up to anyone as she has to him and that she didn't
spend the last year with him because he had super powers.
Riley gives in and agrees to be to taken to the doctor.
Riley and Buffy get to the
hospital to find a semi-conscious Graham who tells them that
Spike took the doctor away. Buffy is furious with Spike and
vows to rip his head off when she finds him. Meanwhile the
doctor gets the chip out and stitches Spike's skull back up.
Buffy and Riley barge in and Buffy pummels Spike while Riley
takes on Harmony. Spike tries to bite Buffy but pain fills
his head and he can't do it. He then realizes that the doctor
didn't actually pull the chip out. Riley's in the middle of
fighting Harmony when suddenly he screams out in pain and
grabs his heart. Spike and Harmony flee with Spike bitching
about the Slayer the whole way home. Riley is operated on and
he appears to be fine. He's now a normal human and Buffy's
fine with that. Riley later talks to Graham who tells him
that he doesn't belong here, he's got nothing to do and that
he belongs with the Initiative.
Later on Buffy barges in on
Spike, determind to kill him. Spike is so sick of being
followed around by Buffy that he doesn't have a problem being
staked; he just wants to be put out of his misery. Buffy's
about to stake him when suddenly she stops, he grabs her and
starts kissing her furiously. She pulls away shocked and then
moves in for more, with Spike telling her that he loves her.
Suddenly Spike wakes up in bed beside Harmony and can't
believe for the life of him that's he dreaming about being in
love with the Slayer.
Summary written by
Nika
Quote of the Week
Riley: Loving you
is the scariest thing I've ever done.
Buffy: I don't know why...
My Rating
4/5
Nika's Review
Good episode. I liked the Riley angle
because we've never really had an episode centered directly
around him before. Seriously though, I can understand why he
wouldn't want to give up feeling no pain just to keep up with
Buffy. He feels like he can't keep up with her and if I were
him that would bother me because you always want to feel like
an equal and not like a lesser being. He's afraid that she'll
think less of him because he can't fight as well. But what I
want to know is what exactly was wrong with
Riley. Just all the chemicals dumped into him? And why
exactly did they need to operate on his heart? Were they
pulling some other chip out? Riley's little talk with Graham
was kind of disheartening though, because he seriously isn't
doing anything in Sunnydale anymore. Is he even taking any
courses or being a T.A. at the university? Buffy and Riley's
cave talk was really sad because thinking that Riley's scared
to love Buffy is kind of bizarre. All these imporant scenes
keep happening in dark, dank places on this show. There's
deifnitely a trend here! Now let me talk about the one thing
in this episode that left me in utter shock; the Buffy and
Spike "dream" kiss. How whacked out was that? I was
flipping out thinking that it actually happened. For a minute
they had me going and I was completely stunned. Thankfully
Spike woke up and all my frantic thoughts vanished. Well,
okay, not all of them, but for the most part I felt safe with
the knowledge that Buffy and Spike hadn't kissed just for the
fun of it. Yeesh... talk about heart attacks... So what
exactly does this mean for Spike? He's got a thing for the
Slayer? Because he did say "oh god, no" like he was
justing realizing it... I don't think I'm ever going
to stop shuddering (my apologizes to the Buffy and Spike
'shippers out there...). Anyway, we have yet to find out who
the main villain for this season is, but I don't have a
problem with that because the storylines this season have
been fine for me. No bones to pick whatsoever. Actually,
wait, small correction, I have one bone to pick and that is
the fact that we don't have a Halloween episode this season.
I just found this out and I am none too pleased! This show begs
for a Halloween episode!
Cast
