At the Bronze, Dingoes Ate my Baby plays as Willow and Buffy talk at their table about Parker, who's also at the Bronze.  Willow comments that Buffy's spent all week with Parker, and tries to get Buffy to admit her "lusty" thoughts toward him.  Buffy kind of admits it, and then leaves with Parker so he can walk her back to the dorm.  Outside the Bronze, Willow helps Oz and Devon load up the van.  Oz and Devon head in for another load, and Willow is surprised when Harmony comes up behind her to say hello.  They haven't seen each other since graduation, and Harmony tells her that she's changed since then....and then she proceeds to change. Into a vampire.  She attacks Willow, but is warded off when Oz comes out and brandishes a cross at her.  Harmony pouts that Willow's hiding behind her boyfriend, and threatens that she's got a boyfriend too, and he won't be happy when he finds out they were mean to her. Cut to Buffy and Parker walking together.  Parker talks about emotional scars, and how the sad points in his life have taught him to live in the now. Live for the moment. This appeals to Buffy, especially after the reminder of Angel when Parker asks about the scar on her neck.  He ends up asking her to a party the next night, and she accepts.  At Giles', Xander's helping Giles shelve his books (the ones from the library in s3, still?)  when Anya surprises them both by walking in.  Xander says he hasn't seen her since she was running in terror in Graduation Day (s3).  Anya asks if she can talk to him, and he follows her outside where she admits that she can't stop thinking about him, and wants to know where their relationship is headed.  Xander is flummoxed, since he didn't know they had a relationship.  At the dorm, Parker and Buffy pause in front of her door, and end up getting interrupted by Willow and Oz, who obliquely tell Buffy that Harmony's a vampire.  Buffy agrees to a time to be picked up by Parker the next night, and she and Willow and Oz go inside.  Oz tends to the bite wound on Willow's neck, and Buffy wonders who Harmony's boyfriend could be.  Cut to Harmony walking somewhere underground.  She taps on a guy's shoulder and says "Hi baby, I'm back."  The guy turns around to reveal that it'sSpike. Underneath the park, Spike and another vamp go over some schematics...it's clear he's got a team down there digging for something.  Harmony comes up and interrupts his work, wanting him to go kill Willow.  Spike says he won't, because so far the slayer doesn't know he's in town, and he doesn't want to go around advertising his presence.  Harmony whines that she wants to go to a party, and Spike basically promises he'll take her that night if she shuts up.  That night at the party, Parker and Buffy run right into Spike and Harmony.  Buffy now knows he's there.  Spike throws the guy he and Harmony were abducting from the party at Buffy and takes off.  She chases them outside, and fights a little bit with Spike, taunting him with how Dru must have left him again.  He's all "How do you know I didn't leave her?", before Harmony reveals that Drusilla left him for a Fungus demon, and it's all Spike ever talks about.  Spike's disgruntled that Harmony's giving away information so easily, and says that they're leaving.  It's not time yet.  Harmony says "That's right.  But as soon as we have the Gem of Amara....."  Spike growls at her and bodily takes her away.  Int:  Xander's basement.  Anya knocks at the door and he lets her in.  She says she wants to talk some more.  Xander offers her a drink, and while he's bending over to get it, she slips out of her dress.  Xander turns around and squeezes all of the drink out of the box.  At a payphone, Buffy calls Giles and tells him that Spike is back in town and that he's looking for something called the Gem of Amarra.  Giles is familiar with the item, and tells her it's the "vampiric equivilant of the holy grail"that it doesn't exist.  Buffy says that obviously Spike thinks it does, and he's looking in Sunnydale.  Giles agrees to do more research, and Buffy hangs up after telling Giles she's going to bed.  In Spike's lair, Spike's annoyed with Harmony until she seduces him into bed.  At Xander's, Anya is explaining her theory to Xander that if they sleep together, she can finally get him out of her mind.  She tells him the reasons that she likes him, and Xander comments that even with her direct approach, she's still more romantic than Faith.  They kiss.  Buffy goes back into the party to find Parker, who thinks that she and Spike used to go out or something, and that's why they reacted that way to each other.  Buffy actually laughs at the thought.  She and Parker dance, and then later on they sit on the couch together and talk.  Parker lays on the charm, and Buffy totally falls under his spell.  Swept away by him, Buffy makes the choice to sleep with him, and they go back to his dorm room.  As they undress each other, Giles calls Buffy's dorm room to try to tell her what he's learned about the Gem of Amara, but she's not there. The next morning, Buffy awakens in bed alone, and gathers her clothes up off the floor clad in a sheet.  Parker walks in and Buffy asks if he's got plans that day.  He says actually he's got to meet his mom, and Buffy says she'll just clear out then.  Parker doesn't offer anything otherwise, and says he'll call her later.  At Xander's, Anya says that she's over him now, and Xander's all "okay."  Anya gets upset and stalks out.  In Spike's lair, Spike wakes up to Harmony writing "Spike loves Harmony" on his back in black magic marker.  He gets up and says he has to get back to work.    Buffy goes back to her dorm room and starts to take her shirt off before realizing that Giles and Willow are in the room.  Giles asks where she was, and Buffy stutters a bit before eventually telling him that she's an adult and she doesn't have to tell him where she was. Giles has obviously figured it out, and doesn't want to hear it anyway.  He and Willow tell her that Spike may actually be on to something, and that he may actually find the Gem of Amara, which would be bad, because it renders a vampire wearer virtually invulnerable.  Buffy tells Giles to figure out where the Gem might be, and she'll try to track down Spike.  After Giles leaves, Willow pumps Buffy for information, and Buffy tells her that "it happened" with Parker, and that it was nice.  She says he's supposed to call, and Willow shares her excitement.  Down in the lair, Spike and his work crew are close to the crypt where the gem is supposed to be.  He orders everyone to stay inside the lair, because he doesn't want to risk Buffy tracking anyone back to the lair.  He includes Harmony in the order, and she whines about him not taking her to France, and now she's not even allowed out.  Spike has obviously heard enough from her, and slams her up agains the wall before stalking off.  Montage of Buffy walking around campus showing Harmony's picture to people, to see if anyone's seen her.  Intercut with Buffy going back to the dorm room to see if there are any messages from Parker yet.  There aren't any.  Buffy's hurt and confused.  Spike, down in the lair, finally breaks into the crypt.  He looks around for the gem, and at first thinks it's on a pendant he finds.  He puts it on as Harmony enters and asks if she can have some of the jewelry also in the crypt.  She tries on some other jewelry, and Spike puts the pendant on.  He goes over beside Harmony and touches a cross, and is pissed when he's burned by it.  Harmony keeps rattling on and on and on, and Spike finally just breaks off a stake and plunges it into her heart.  It doesn't kill her, however, and Spike realizes she's wearing a ring that contains the gem he was looking for.  He takes it off her hand and puts it on. At Giles', the gang is astounded to discover that Giles has a television.  "Look everyone, Giles has a television.  He's shallow just like the rest of us!".  Xander turns it on and everyone sees a news story about a collapsed cavern, and they realize it's a result of Spike's digging.  On campus, Buffy comes across Parker talking to a girl on a bench, and he's giving her the same spiel he gave Buffy.  Parker sends the girl on her way to class, and he and Buffy start walking.  Buffy asks if everything is okay between them, and Parker says yeah, no problem.  But before long it's clear to Buffy that Parker isn't interested in any kind of commitment; he was just having fun.  Their night together didn't mean anything else to him.  He leaves, and Spike speaks up from behind Buffy.  She whirls around just in time to get a punch to the face. Back from the commercials, Buffy realizes that Spike's got the gem as he proceeds to kick her ass in the daylight.  Giles and Willow and Oz lower themselves into the caved-in cavern and find Harmony sobbing in a corner.  She says being a vampire sucks, and then vamps out.  Xander searches for Buffy at her dorm room and turns to leave when he realizes she's not there.  He's stopped by Anya, who wants to yet again talk about "their relationship".  He frankly tells her that he doesn't have time, and takes off.  Buffy and Spike continue to fight on campus, and Spike's pretty much got the upper hand.  Xander shows up and tries to help, but all he manages to accomplish is to get thrown up against a building.  In the crypt, Giles and the others question Harmony about the gem, and she says he took it from her, as if she wouldn't have given it to him.  Out on the campus, fighty fight fight between Spike and Buffy.  Spike taunts Buffy with what he overheard between her and Parker, and says he guesses Buffy just wasn't worth a second go.  He recalls that he heard that somewhere else about her once......oh yeah, from Angel.  This is enough to light a fire under Buffy, and she proceeds to kick his ass.  She gets him in a hold and rips the ring off his finger.  As he starts to smoke, he bolts for a manhole and drops down into the sewers.  At Giles's place, the gang sits around the ring, which is placed in the middle of the coffee table.  Giles talks about destroying it, and Buffy says she wants to give it to Angel, instead.  Oz offers to give it to him when he goes to L.A. that weekend for a gig.  That night Willow walks along with Buffy as the slayer talks about the mistake she made witih Parker.  Willow says that it was a mistake, but Parker only let her believe it was okay to make them because he wanted her to take a chance and sleep with him.  Basically he used her.  Buffy wonders if she can still make it work with him, and Willow tells her she's missing the point.  The final shot is of Buffy, Anya, and Harmony seperately walking along, lost in thought about Parker, Xander and Spike, respectively.  FLAWS:     Why, exactly, did Spike not burst into flames when Buffy ripped the ring off his finger?  It only took a moment for his hand to catch fire in "Lover's Walk", and only a moment for the vampire Riley tosses out into the sun in "Who Are You" to burst into flames, but here Spike spends over five seconds getting to the manhole, but he's no worse for the wear.    THOUGHTS ON THE EPISODE:   Bah.  I hate this episode.  True, a large part of it is probably because I hate the fact that it's only been three months since the alleged love of her life has left for L.A., and Buffy's already going out and having one-night stands like Angel never meant anything to her.  Also, Giles continues to exhibit his extreme lack of a role in this, the fourth season.  The only bright spot is Spike. BEST LINE: Parker:  "Don't you just hate guys who are all dark and brooding, so give me love?" Buffy:  "I don't think I've ever met that type." ***** Harmony:  "You love that tunnel more than me." Spike:  "I love syphilis more than you."

"The Harsh Light of Day"