We open on Buffy and Riley making out on her bed.  Ugh.  Thankfully, they're interrupted by Willow barging in to say there's trouble in the rec-room.  Buffy and Riley snap into professional mode, and they all head down to the rec-room.  Buffy and Riley enter with their weapons drawn, only to find a surprise party for Buffy's birthday.  During the course of the celebration, Giles finds himself alone more often than not, and feels kind of out of place, as the only person in his age bracket at the party.  Buffy introduces him to Riley, and Giles is surprised that Buffy's dating this guy and he never even knew about him.  He then feels even more useless when the conversation turns to his lack of a job at present.  Riley goes off to get Giles some more cake, and Buffy quotes something Maggie Walsh said once, and reflects that Walsh is like, the smartest person she knows.  Feeling slightly insulted, Giles snarks that maybe they should have invited Walsh, but Buffy says she's "like, forty.  She wouldn't want to hang out with all of us kids". The next day Spike gathers his stuff to move out, saying he's going to find a nice crypt or something to live in.    Buffy and Riley meet with Professor Walsh, whom they've told about her being the slayer.  Walsh says she thought the slayer was a myth.  Under the guise of flattering Buffy, she kinda puts her methods down, while furthering the Initiative's own methods.  She brags about the seventeen hostiles that Riley's bagged, and asks how many Buffy's taken.  Cut to Giles dusting his book case.  He grabs one of the books off of the shelf an opens it, lost in thought.  "Oh crap," he declares, and then grabs the phone.  He's talking to either Willow or Xander, saying that they don't have time to track Buffy down, because this demon thing he's just remembered is going to happen tonight. Cut to the courtyard, where Riley's still shocked at whatever number it was Buffy gave them.  Apparently she's told some stories, and he's amazed at how much she's seen and done as the slayer.  He tells her that when he saw her stop the world from ending, he just assumed that was a big week for her.  Buffy tries to brush it off by saying he'd have more experience if he'd been slaying since he was fifteen, too, and Riley can't believe she started at fifteen.  He talks again about her strengths, and says he doesn't think he could take her. Buffy turns it into a sexual innuendo and says that all depends upon his meaning. In Professor Walsh's office, Maggie looks up at the knock on her door to find Giles.  He's looking for Buffy, and Walsh says she's not there.  Giles mentions that Buffy's been very influenced by Maggie, but says he hopes she's not going to push her.  He tries to be polite, but Maggie very quickly rebuffs his entire way of thinking and asserts her own claims that she knows Buffy just fine.  She claims that Buffy clearly has had no strong male role model in her life, and this hurts Giles because in many ways, he's always a been a sort of father-figure to her.     After dark, Giles, Willow and Xander head to a crypt in the cemetery to stop whatever demon rising is supposed to happen that night.  They arrive to find the place looking spotless, and Willow and Xander think that maybe "Riley and the Initiative" picked up the "hotspot" days ago, and already took care of the problem.  Giles is confused, and asks them what they're talking about.  Willow and Xander realize that no one ever told Giles about the Initiative, or that Riley was one of the commandos, and they tell him about them, and that Maggie Walsh is in charge of them.  Giles, annoyed that everyone ("Spike knew!?!") but him knew about this, sends them on their way.  They leave, and Giles packs up his stuff to follow.  As he leaves, Ethan Rayne ("Halloween",  " The Dark Age", "Band Candy") steps out of the shadows, but is surprised when Giles re-enters the crypt.  Giles grabs him and says that "thrashing him will improve his day", but Ethan says that he's come to warn Giles about something, and he'll need time to prepare.  Cut to a diner, or a bar or something, where Ethan and Giles share a booth.  They order drinks from the waitress, and Ethan brings up their past friendship.  Giles says they stopped being friends when Ethan started worshiping Chaos.  Ethan tells him that he's heard things.  That there's something out there that's been hurting demons; not the slayer.    Ethan says this new outfit is throwing the demon world into confusion and anger, tramping around where they don't belong. Cut to Riley and Buffy sparring.  Again with the undercurrent of sexual tension.  Riley thinks Buffy's holding back, and they agree to "go all out".  Buffy quickly sends Riley flying across the room with a kick to the chest.  He's okay, but a little bruised.  Also surprised at her strength.  Back at the bar, Giles, drunk, complains about Maggie Walsh and her "nancy ninjaboys" (ha ha!!!) to Ethan.  They toast to magic.  In Tara's dorm room, she and Willow are doing a spell to further their synchronicity, by attempting to float a rose and pluck all the petals off one by one.  They float the rose okay, but then it goes psycho and zips about the room for awhile before smashing back to the ground, disintegrating the bloom.  Willow's confused. At the apartment, Giles wakes up and trudges down the stairs.  Looking into the mirror at the bottom of the steps, he discovers he's suddenly a demon with big funky ram's-horns sticking out of his head, and tufted ears.  He's also too big to fit into his shirt.  After accidentally damaging several items in his apartment due to his suddenly increased strength, he throws a blanket over his shoulders and leaves.  Cut to the cafeteria, where Buffy's all chipper, and Willow says that Buffy should always have a new boyfriend 'cause she's so much fun when she does.  Buffy asks where Willow was the night before, and Willow doesn't tell her about Tara; instead says she was in the chem lab by herself doing the rose spell.  She thinks there's some kind of dark-magic presence out there blocking her spell.  Buffy thinks she should tell Maggie, but Willow advises her to tell Giles instead, who's feeling "out of the loop-y", due to Buffy not informing him about Riley and the Initiative.  Buffy says she must have just forgotten that he didn't know, and then mentions that she's spending the day with Riley.  She tells Willow about the "kicking of Riley" the night before, and reveals that she was still holding back a little. In Xander's basement, Giles sneaks in and tries to wake Xander to help him deal with this demon thing, since he's realized that Ethan's the one who did this to him.  But when Xander wakes up, he not only sees a demon hovering over him, he hears the demon speaking something that's not English.  Giles, without realizing it, is speaking the language of the demon whose body he's cursed with.  Not knowing it's Giles, Xander starts throwing stuff at him to chase him away.  Giles realizes Xander can't understand him, and runs out.  Outside, he runs right through someone's front yard, and they call 911. Xander, Buffy, Willow and Anya head to Giles' place to tell him about the demon that "attacked" Xander that morning, and they find Giles' place trashed.  Buffy thinks that maybe the demon kidnapped Giles, but Anya thinks it ate him, due to the shredded sweater on the floor.  Cut to Giles walking through the cemetery, where he comes across Spike, who's itching to beat him up, since he can fight demons.  Spike recognizes Giles, however, and Giles is surprised that Spike can understand him.  He asks if he's speaking English, and Spike says no, he's speaking Fioral, but Spike speaks Fioral.  He asks him what happened, and Giles reveals that Ethan did it; he needs to find him and wants Spike's help.  Spike doesn't see why he should help until Giles offers to pay him.  That decided, Spike offers to go tell the slayer what's happened to Giles, but Giles says no, he wants to solve this without ever having to involve Buffy. Cut to the gang at Giles' place, looking through his books for the type of demon that Xander saw that morning, which the gang still thinks is responsible for taking Giles.  Riley shows up, saying that the Initiative intercepted a 911 call that came from there that morning. (Neighbors who heard growling, and things breaking)  Buffy explains that this is Giles' apartment, and that something took him.  Riley offers to help.  Elsewhere, Spike drives Giles' car, while Giles himself rides shotgun.  Giles asks Spike if Fioral demons have any special powers, and Spike says they're strong, and they have a paralyzing mucus.  Giles thinks he's making it up, but reveals that he's feeling a growing sense of rage.  Spike urges him to give into it; it's fun, but Giles decrees that he's not going to let his outside demon appearance affect the man that he is. Just then, he sees Maggie Walsh walking on the street in front of the coffee shop and orders Spike to stop the car.  He jumps out and runs after Maggie, growling, until she runs away screaming.  Satisfied, Giles gets back in the car. Back at the apartment, Xander finds a description and illustration of a Fioral demon, and Willow reads that they're strong, often work for other demons, and they have a mucus thing going on.  Just then, Riley gets a call from the Initiative, as Willow continues to read that only silver weapons can kill Fioral demons.  Riley gets off the phone to report that Walsh was attacked by the demon, which got out of a small gray car.  Giles' car.  The gang wonder why a demon would steal his car, and Buffy thinks that a demon who steals a car has a purpose.  But it doesn't sound like these Fioral demons are big thinkers.  She wonders if the "dark presence" that Willow sensed  is controlling the Fioral demon.  Buffy heads off with Riley to hit the magic shop for supplies, and grabs Giles' letter opener on the way out, because it's silver.  At the bar from earlier, Giles watches from the shadows as Spike questions the waitress that served Giles and Ethan the night before.  She tells him that Ethan's staying at a local motel, just off the highway.  Cut to the magic shop, where Riley tells Buffy she didn't have to break in the door; he's got a master key to every shop on main street.  Buffy looks through some receipts and finds Ethan's name.  Riley calls the Initiative and asks for a hotel listing in the area under Ethan's name.  He then tells Buffy that Walsh ordered him not to bring Buffy with him when he found the demon, but Buffy pretty much says that she's after this demon on her own; he can come if he wants to, but not to try and stop her.  Back in Giles' car, Spike realizes they've got a tail in the form of 2 military transports.  Giles offers to pay Spike another hundred dollars if he'll lead them away from him by driving off in the car after Giles jumps out.    He does so, and Spike manages to lose the tail, but then immediately crashes the car. Ethan is hurriedly packing his suitcase when Giles breaks the door down. He attacks Ethan, but is stopped when Buffy and Riley come in.  Buffy fights Giles, all wrathful because she thinks that Giles was killed by the demon she's fighting.  Ethan tries to escape, but Riley restrains him.  Buffy pins the demon, and stabs him with the letter opener, saying "This is for Giles!"  The demon's eyes widen in shock and fury, and Buffy belatedly realizes what she's  done.  She then reflects that the letter opener must not be real silver, since Giles wasn't killed by it.  Later, Ethan has returned Giles to his human form, and reflects miserably that it's the "stay and gloat" that gets him every time.  Buffy goes over to Giles, who's examining his reflection in the mirror.  Kinda touched, he asks how she knew it was him.  Buffy reveals that it was his eyes;  he's the "only person in the world who can look that annoyed at" her.  Ethan stands up and wants to know if he can go now, and Buffy wonders what he means.  Ethan says she's the slayer, and she can't kill him because he's human.  Just then, some Initiative guys come in and Riley informs him they're taking him into custody to determine his status.  They hustle him out, and Giles goes to watch him get manhandled.  Left alone, Buffy thanks Riley for his help, and Riley tells her that he's still awed at what she is; what she does. That she's so strong.  But he also tells her that he likes it.  Buffy's glad that he's able to accept her for what she is. The next day, at the apartment, Giles installs a new phone (because he crushed the other one), and Buffy apologizes for not telling him sooner about the Initiative and Riley.  Giles, admitting that Ethan isn't the most reliable source, tells Buffy about the 314 project, and advises her to keep her eyes open. At the Initiative, Maggie wonders why Riley didn't follow orders when it came to Buffy, but Riley claims that Buffy knows what she's doing.  Maggie worries that Buffy might be a loose cannon, but parts Riley's company and enters a restricted area, walking through a door with "314" stenciled on it.  FLAWS:               Just a curiosity.  Ethan tells Giles that he's been hearing that something called "314" has got the demons scared.  But, my question is, how have any demons learned of the 314 project in the Initiative?  That's classified information.  None of the commandos know about it, so demons couldn't be finding out from them.  The only way they could know about 314 is if they'd been used to further the project, in which case they wouldn't exactly have left the Initiative alive.  This doesn't make any sense. THOUGHTS ON THE EPISODE:             First off, I've gotta give the Buffy / Riley sparring scene props if only because we can clearly see that most of it actually is SMG and Marc Blucas fighting.  I love when they have the actors actually do stuff themselves, instead of resorting to stunt people.  This scene did a good job in that area; also the music was kinda cool  ;) As for the rest of the episode, we get a little groundwork for 314, and by the end of the episode we begin to realize it's a secret project that Maggie Walsh is working on, but that Riley doesn't know about.  We also see that Giles is a bit insecure about his role in Buffy's life, now, and feels kind of out of place.  While this issue is put away for a good long while, it's the first bit of precedent for a storyline that eventually culminates in "Once More With Feeling", in season 6.  Also we got a guest appearance from Ethan Rayne, who always rocks   : ) BEST LINE: Xander:  "That's my radio!" Spike:  "And you're what?  Shocked and disappointed?  I'm evil!"

"A New Man"