Original Air Date: april 4th, 2000

Written by Jane Espenson
Directed by David Grossman

Summary

Buffy is in the cemtery fighting vamps, when she and the gang find a slew of vampires in a crypt feeding off someone. Buffy figures she won't be able to kill them all by herself and she decides she needs help. The gang heads to Jonathan's mansion and asks for his help. At Giles' house, Jonathan proves to be very intelligent and quick; Buffy can't hit him while training and he knows lots about weapons and computers. After some research, Jonathan works out a plan, gives orders to the Scooby Gang and they head out to the crypt. At the crypt they disptach of the vamps quickly and Jonathan shows off some pretty impressive moves. Later at Riley's, Buffy and Riley are hanging out and there's a little tension between the two of them. They start to get close but Buffy freaks out and leaves Riley's room.

The next day, Buffy and Jonathan are a the Espresso Pump and Buffy tells him about her problems getting close to Riley because of Faith's actions. In the midst of signing an autograph to a fan named Karen, Jonathan tells Buffy that she's likely more angry at Riley than at Faith and that she has to let that anger go before she can get close to Riley again. Later at the Initiative's base, Jonathan, a tactical consultant, is brought out in order to track down Adam. He tells the soldiers that in order to kill Adam, they will have to completely annihilate him in order to destroy his power source which keeps him alive. Jonathan then talks to Riley privately and tells him that he has to let Buffy know that he only cares about her and no one else.

That night, Jonathan's fan Karen is outside Jonathan's mansion, spying, when she is attacked by a demon. She manages to escape but she's terrified and she covered in scraps and bruises. At the Bronze, Jonathan goes on stage and sings a song while Buffy and Riley head out to the dance floor and dance closely. Riley apologizes and tells her that he only cares for her, Buffy then forgives him. During the middle of another song, Karen shows up and Jonathan takes her to his mansion along with Buffy and Riley. Karen gives a quick description of the monster, including the emblem scared into his head (a triangle with some lines through it). Jonathan acts very nonchalant about it but Buffy sense that there's more to the story. We later see Jonathan take off his robe and he's got the mark that the girl saw on the demon scarred into his left shoulder blade.

In some lab somewhere, Adam and a vampire are talking and the topic turns to Jonathan. Adam realizes that the world has been changed and that Jonathan is at the root of the spell which has been cast over the world. Later that night as Tara is heading to her room, the demon appears and attacks her. Tara sends a smoke spell at him, blinding him momentarily. She then finds a closet and locks herself in it. The next day, Willow finds Tara absolutely terrified. They figure out that it was the same demon that attacked Karen. Buffy head's to Xander's and talks to Anya about alternate universes and Anya tells her that it is possible for someone to wish for the entire world to be different. Later at Giles', Buffy tells the gang that she feels that Jonathan is almost too perfect and that maybe Jonathan cast a spell over them. They're skeptical and don't believe her except Riley who backs her up. Buffy remembers seeing the same mark on Jonathan, as proof in his swimsuit calendar. Jonathan suddenly shows up and he explains that the scar is there to remind him never to underestimate the demon. Everyone but Buffy believes him and Buffy suggests going out to hunt the demon. They run into Spike and find out from him where the scarred demon is hiding out.

While searching for info, Willow finds out that Jonathan did an augmentation spell and that if the demon dies, the spell will be reverted. Meanwhile Buffy and Jonathan have entered the demon's cave and try to fight it. Since Buffy's powers are half diminished by Jonathan's spell, she can't fight as well. As Jonathan fights the demon, the demon gets weaker as does Jonathan, but Buffy begins to regain her full strength. Jonathan eventually shoves the demon into a pit; killing it. Meanwhile everything in Sunnydale reverts back to being non-Jonathan oriented.

The next day on UC Sunnydale campus, the gang is hanging out talking about Jonathan's alternate dimension. Buffy spots Jonathan standing alone and goes over to him. Buffy tells him that everyone's angry at him because they didn't like being manipulated and tells him that he has to work at getting friends, he can't just manipulate people like pawns.

Later, things have finally gotten comfy between Buffy and Riley again and they're making out when accidentally Buffy calls out Jonathan while they're kissing...

Summary written by Nika

Quote of the Week

Willow: I don't care if it is an orgy of death, there's still such a thing as a napkin.

My Rating

3/5

Nika Summers' Review

What'd I think? Well... err... hmm... Frankly I wasn't a big fan of this episode. At the very beginning I was extremely confused, even though I knew the basic idea of the episode and I really didn't like being confused. It was nice to see Jonathan back and the very beginning with the Buffy theme music and Jonathan all over the place was extremely amusing. But in general I didn't really like this episode. I can't really pinpoint why not because it was just the general feel of the episode felt a little off. It might be because this season is such a mish-mash of things but together. I mean, considering that we'd just seen Faith last episode, I don't think it was entirely necessary to bring Jonathan back right away. This whole season has been about bring old characters back (ie; Angel, Faith, Jonathan, Spike and I believe there were others) and I don't really like that. I kind of want to move forward with this show and not have to look at back at old characters just for memory lane's sake. Good points in this episode were Xander and Anya. Anya because she's just so great at playing the awkward hostess and Xander because of the Latin spell in front of the book which led to the book being on fire. :) But to end this thing, Jonathan did a wonderful acting job with his part and it was nice to see him flesh out his character.

Niki Bartl's Review

s-u-p-e-r, super super that's what you are..... hee hee. This was an awesomely executed ep. At first I was like huh? Did I miss an episode? 'Cause I don't know what's going on. then I realized I wasn't supposed to know and was gleefuly stupified. The gags and nuances of this episde amaze me each time I watch it. Like every time that Jonathan comes on to do some James Bond-y stuff, listen to the hilariously cheesy spy music that plays. Another classic is the Buffy-Anya conversation, which was so funny. Anya is rapidly becoming my favourite character of the show and she keeps getting better. The Buffy-Riley 'ship is starting to get comfy now, I do hope that eventually she has to tell Angel about Riley and vice versa. I need a little conflict here people! There's only one thing that really bugs me now, and it's Buffy's weight. Looking at season one pictures, with a full face and figure compared to now, it's a shame that she's been suckered into the whole thinner=better thing.

Cast