It's the morning after "Fool For Love".  At the hospital, Joyce undergoes her Cat scan.  Out in the waiting area, Dawn and Buffy wait, both jumpy because they're worried about the results.  At the Magic Box, Giles is excitedly showing Tara (who's hair is brown now, by the way) his new ad in the Yellow Pages for the shop.  Willow, Anya and Xander come in, and Xander's complaining that Riley didn't show up that morning for their "destroy the nest of vampires" date (that Riley set in "Fool For Love").  He tells Giles that Riley went back and blew up the crypt all on his own, and Giles notes that that's kind of reckless.  Everyone hits the books, still looking for any information on the woman in red that beat the crap out of Buffy in "No Place Like Home".  Willow notes that it would be easier if they knew where to look for her, and Xander postulates that she's shacking up in some rat infested warehouse, or in the sewers; the usual haunts. Cut to a spacious, posh apartment where the woman in red lounges on a king-sized bed, trying on shoes.  A crusty beige-coloured demon with big black eyes  fawns all over her, compliment on top of compliment, and calls her "Glorificus".  "Please," she says, "Call me Glory."  He gives her a parchment, saying that it's a dark incantation.  She asks him if it will work, and he says it will, as long as she has all of the other ingredients she needs.  She says she will, and looks at the yellow pages, open right to the Magic Box ad.  Later, Riley arrives at Buffy's house and finds the front door ajar.  Inside, he finds a blanket lying on the floor at the foot of the stairs.  He hears a noise, and goes upstairs to Buffy's room, where Spike is smelling one of Buffy's sweaters.  Riley confronts him, and after first trying to deny what he was doing, Spike admits it.  Riley grabs him and hustles him out of the room, but not before Spike snags a pair of Buffy's underwear sticking out of a drawer.  Downstairs, Spike tells Riley that Buffy wouldn't mind him being there.  Riley argues the point, saying that they're enemies.  Spike implies that they're not enemies, citing the time they spent together at the Bronze the night before as proof.  Riley thinks he's joking, and asks him to tell him another one.  Spike points out that twice in recent history Buffy's had Willow and Tara do a de-invite on specific vampires, yet they've never done one on him. This strikes a nerve with Riley, but he says it's only because he's harmless.  Spike says it takes one to know one, and basically tells Riley all the things he was thinking about himself anyway:  that he's useless, and he's not dark enough for her.  Riley gets angry and holds Spike out in the sunlight, saying he knows what Buffy needs, not Spike.  Spike says right, that's why he's not at the hospital this morning, when she could really use his support.  Riley drags Spike back inside, asking what the hell he's talking about.  Spike tells him that Joyce is sick, and Buffy and Dawn are at the hospital.  He's surprised that Buffy didn't call him about that, considering that Spike's known since last night.  Riley feels even worse after hearing this, and throws Spike out, kicking the blanket out after him.  Cut to the hospital, where Riley shows up and comforts Buffy.  She starts to explain why she didn't tell him, but he forestalls her, saying he understands.  They hug, and Buffy asks Riley if he can go sit with Dawn while she goes and finds out the results of the test.  He says sure, and she walks into a room with Joyce and a doctor, who are looking at some X-rays up on the wall.  The doctor leaves to go prepare the operating room, and Buffy looks to Joyce for an explanation.  Joyce tells Buffy they found a "shadow" on the cat scan, and they have to do a biopsy to find out what it is.  At the Magic Box, the gang still can't find anything on Glory.  Tara wonders if she's not in the books because she's not a demon, not anything they've ever had contact with before.  Something new? Giles wonders.  No, Tara means something old.  Something so old it pre-dates everything else they've ever known.  Willow remembers that in Giles' research for the Dagon Sphere, it said it was created to repel that which cannot be named.  They continue to talk about how they can find out who she is, and where to find her, and Giles turns around and Glory's standing right there!  Naturally, he doesn't have any idea who she is, and rings her purchase up with a smile.  She leaves, and Giles continues, telling the gang he's sure she'll make herself known eventually. Back at the hospital, Riley covers a sleeping Dawn with his jacket, and Buffy watches from across the room.  He comes over and sits down next to her and she leans her head on his shoulder, but then notices the doctor coming out of surgery and gets up to go talk to him.  The doctor says the surgery went okay, but Buffy asks if they know the results yet.  The doctor tells her that Joyce has a brain tumor.  Buffy is stunned, as the doctor goes on to say that due to the nature of the tumor,  Joyce's symptoms will manifest themselves pretty rapidly.  Buffy asks what they can do to help her, and he tells her they're working now to find out if the tumor is operable or not, and even if it isn't, there are some treatments they can try.  Buffy wants to know what her mom's chances are, and he says that nearly one in three patients with Joyce's condition do just fine.  Buffy is shocked at what she's hearing, and is too busy reacting to this news to effectively answer the questions the doctor starts throwing at her.  Intern Ben, whom we met in "Out of My Mind", and saw again in "No Place Like Home", comes up and tells the doctor he's needed in ICU, but then confesses to Buffy that he lied to get the doctor to go away because he thought Buffy looked like she needed a break.  He's really nice to her, and tells her that Joyce will be out for 6 or 7 hours, and that Buffy should go out and get some air, come back later that day and she can talk to the doctor then.  Riley comes over as Ben leaves, and Buffy hugs him and tells him it's bad.  She says she's got to go find some kind of healing spell or something.  Riley tries to make her face reality; telling her that people get sick, but Buffy says she has to try.  She asks him to drop Dawn off at school, and to only tell her that they don't know what's wrong, yet. At the Magic Box, Anya is going through the invoices for the day when she comes across the one for Glory's sale.  She asks Giles if he's stupid or something, you never sell those two items together, never.  They're apparently very bad news.  Willow remembers the items as being part of a cult, and Giles says he still doesn't understand her alarm, because the young woman he sold them to would need incredible power in order to be able to use them that way.  He stops suddenly, and they all realize who the "young woman" could be.  Cut to a merry-go-round.  Riley and Dawn sit on a bench next to it, and Riley tries to comfort Dawn when she worries that Joyce won't get any better.  Dawn tells him she's glad he's there, and that Buffy's glad too.  At first he's touched, but then his face falls when Dawn goes on to say that Buffy sure cries a lot less with Riley than she did with Angel.  That she doesn't "get all worked up like that" over Riley.  Back at the Magic Box, Buffy tells the gang that she wants to try to find a healing spell for he mom, but Willow and Tara and Giles say they could make matters much worse if they attempted one, because the medical and the mystical weren't meant to mix.  Anya snarks that they've done enough to make things worse for one day, and Buffy wants to know what she means.  The gang tries to cover, saying Anya just broke something, but Buffy's not buying it.  She makes them tell, and learns that they sold Glory two ingredients for a spell that could conjure a monster.  Anya explains about this ancient cult of reptile worshipers, who could trans-mutate living creatures into other things, and Giles says the markings on the amulet Glory bought were that of a cobra.  The rest of the gang continues to research what she wants this creature for, as Buffy takes off to go find Glory and stop her.  Cut to the Zoo, where Glory and the minion from the beginning (Dreg, is his name) break the glass in the cobra's cage, and put him in a vase-type thing in the center of the room.  Dreg starts chanting, and continues to do so even as Buffy shows up and engages Glory in battle.  They slam each other around for awhile, but Glory is clearly stronger, and eventually throws Buffy into another reptile exhibit.  Dreg finishes the incantation, and the Cobra suddenly bursts out of the vase, now 30 feet long, with arms, and computer generated.  Glory orders it to go find the key, then come back and tell her where it is.  Buffy takes off. At the Magic Box, Riley comes in and Xander and Giles tell him that Buffy went off after Glory.  Riley's upset that they let her go alone, but Giles reminds Riley that when Buffy sets her mind to something, there's no dissuading her.  Riley can't believe she went off alone, without backup, and Xander says basically yeah, that was pretty stupid, going off alone, without waiting for much needed backup, marching in there with a hand grenade...oh wait, that was you.  Riley has the grace to look ashamed, but says this is different.  Xander says yeah it is, because when Buffy's confronted with badness she needs something to target, something to figure out.  She knows why she's doing what she's doing, does Riley know why he did what he did?  Riley starts to leave, saying that if Buffy needs him...then he trails off as he realizes (or perhaps just thinks) that Buffy doesn't need him at all.  Buffy calls Giles from the hospital, and says that she couldn't stop Glory from conjuring the snake thing.  She warns him that it's out there, and says that school's out; Dawn's on her way to the Magic Box.  Giles assures her that they'll keep her safe until Buffy gets there, and not tell her anything about her mom.  Buffy says she wants to be at the hospital with Joyce when the doctors tell her.  Montage, Dawn works on homework at the shop, but really she's lost in thought about Joyce.  Riley goes to Willy's bar, and has a drink while Sandy the vampire sits down next to him.  Riley looks thoughtful.  The doctor explains to Joyce what they found, and Joyce cries but tries to be strong for Buffy.  Out in the alley next to Willy's bar, Sandy caresses Riley's chest and makes out with him.  Riley turns his head, inviting her to bite him, which she does.  Riley grimaces, but holds her head to his neck, and then stakes her.  He looks sick.  Cut to the cobra monster, searching for the key.  It goes to the merry-go-round, sensing that Dawn was there earlier.  Back at the Magic Box, Buffy comes in to take Dawn to the hospital to see Joyce, but the cobra monster suddenly crashes through the front window, knocking Buffy aside.  Dawn screams as it comes right up to her and looks at her.   Flicking its tongue, it turns and slithers back out. Buffy jumps up, grabbing Giles.  "It knows!" she says, and takes off after it.  Giles runs out after her, and goes and gets his car as she chases it on foot.  Giles catches up with her, and Buffy jumps in.  They follow the slithering reptile, and Buffy tells him that it's gonna go tell Glory that Dawn's the key.  "Glory?" Giles asks, and Buffy tells him that's what she calls herself.  Cut to Glory at her apartment, taking out her frustration that the snake isn't back yet on Dreg.  She throws shoe boxes at him, and he assures her that the snake will be there, but it takes time.  Back out on the street, Giles and Buffy continue to follow the creature.  It crashes through a fence, and Buffy jumps out of the car and runs after it on foot.  She grabs a chain along the way, and catches the snake, strangling it with the chain.  It's not dead, however, and when it attacks her again she punches it to death.  All of this takes place in a little clearing down the hill from Glory's apartment building.  Glory herself looks out the window from her apartment, but doesn't' see Buffy and the snake down below. At the hospital later, Buffy and Joyce comfort each other a little, and then Buffy goes and gets Dawn so that Joyce can tell her about the tumor.  She watches from the door way as Joyce hugs Dawn, and then Riley comes up behind her. They hug, and he urges her to let it all out; he's right there.  She says she can't, if she starts she won't be able to stop, and her family needs her.  Dawn calls from the room, and Buffy goes in and shuts the door.  Riley is left standing in the hallway, alone and feeling unwanted and unneeded.   FLAWS:                    none found. THOUGHTS ON THE EPISODE:               Not bad.  We learn more about Glory, finally (thank goodness, I can quit calling her "the woman in red" ;), and yet more about how she needs the key, which is Dawn.  No one other than Buffy and Giles know that Dawn is the key, yet, which I actually kind of liked, that he was the only one she told.  It shows who the one is that she really trusts, and values advice from.  I love their relationship.  * sigh *  On the other hand, Riley is being Mr. Insecure Guy.  He wants to be there for Buffy, and help her through this, but Buffy's so used to having to be the strong one that she can't let him in the way he wants to be, not when she's got her Mom and Dawn to try to take care of.  As a result, Riley is putting himself in more and more dangerous positions, first with the killing of that whole nest of Vampires in "Fool For Love", and in this episode, letting Sandy bite him before he stakes her.  More on that later  ;) BEST LINE: Glory: "Tick tock, Dreg.  Tick Frickin' Tock!"

"Shadow"