atheneum

We open on Riley and his friend Forrest at the only table in the cafeteria that ever gets sat at. Forrest is ogling passing coeds, and Riley's busy trying to grade papers. Forrest notices Buffy, who is not having her most suave day ever, after she first overfills her soda, then breaks the frozen yogurt machine, and then drops everything on the floor. He thinks she's a knockout, and Riley tells him her name is Buffy. Forrest is all about trying to get Riley to talk about Buffy, but Riley's too busy grading papers. He says she's peculiar, and while she's easy on the eyes, would anyone really want to go out with her? Forrest is all, hell yeah, a lot of guys would like to get their hands on her. Predictable cut to Spike, lying on the floor of a white cell, closed off with plexi-glass. In his sleep, he's mumbling "Slayer. Kill you." He slowly wakes up to find that he's been captured (as we saw at the beginning of "Wild at Heart"), and that there are cells upon cells in this one big hallway at wherever he's being kept. He starts to lean against the glass in front of his cage, but he gets shocked when his hands come in contact with it, throwing him back. He stands there speechless, watching as orderlies pass by in front of his cage window.

At Giles', Buffy has given Giles a description of the commandos she's been seeing around, and Giles has sketched a portrait of one. He shows it to Xander, and says it's safe to assume these guys are human, which means that he and Xander will be of absolutely no help to Buffy, again. Xander snarks that maybe they should call up some evil of their own, so they can jump in and help fight it, but Giles notes that that would be a bit unethical, just as Buffy walks in. Giles asks if she's patrolling tonight to find out who these commandos are, and Buffy says no, she'll be taking Willow to a party to try and cheer her up, and she assigns Giles and Xander to patrol that night.

In the cell, Spike paces back and forth like a tiger in a cage. He thinks about trying to break out again, but remembers the shock he got when he touched the glass and restrains himself. Suddenly a hatch opens in his ceiling, and a bag of blood drops down. Spike starts to tear into it but the vamp in the next cell warns him it's drugged, and he tosses it aside. The vamp in the next cell was the one captured at the end of "The Freshman". He tells Spike that 'they're' gonna kill them by starving them until they're hungry enough to eat the blood in the bags, then they cart them off. He says this is when they do the experiments. Spike asks who "they" are, and the vamp replies that all he knows is one minute he was fighting the slayer, the next he wound up here. This sets Spike off, and he's mad enough to slam his hands against the glass again, knowing that it will shock him. He says he always worried what would happen "when that bitch got funding", and promises that he'll take her apart.

In Psych class, Willow asks Riley why he didn't call Oz's name at roll call, and Riley says he heard Oz dropped out. Willow says he didn't drop out, he just had to go away for awhile, but he'll be back. Professor Walsh says not to her class, he won't, and then kinda wails on Willow, saying how Willow knows Walsh doesn't like exceptions, yet somehow she thinks her exception is exceptional. If Oz can't respect her schedule, then he shouldn't be in the class. Willow, near tears, runs out. Buffy then approaches Walsh and says that for someone who's teaching human behaviour, she should show some. Walsh replies that it's not her job to coddle her students. Buffy says she's right; a human being in pain has nothing to do with her
job, and leaves. Walsh remarks to Riley that she likes Buffy, and Riley says "You don't think she's peculiar?"

Down in Xander's basement, he's got a whole arsenal laid out on the table, that he apparently "requisitioned" when he was Private Harris, in "Halloween". As he and Giles discuss how much Xander actually remembers about being a military guy, Xander's mom calls down that she's made some "nice punch for you and your friend".

In the lounge of Riley's dorm, Riley tells Forrest and Graham about how Buffy told Walsh off, and they're suitably impressed. Just then Parker comes down the stairs, and Forrest and Graham ask him for the scoop on Buffy. He says basically that he bagged her and tagged her, and she wouldn't let it go. At his coarse language, Riley decks him. Out on the quad, Forrest and Graham ask him what that was all about, and it finally dawns on Riley that he's got a thing for Buffy, and he hit Parker because he didn't like what he said about Buffy. Riley wanders off to go find Buffy.

At the cell, Spike lies on the floor unconscious, and someone swipes a card in front of the cell, opening the glass partition. Two guys in lab coats pick him up and put him on a gurney, and begin to strap him down until Spike opens his eyes and attacks them. During the fight, the vamp from the cell next to his says he knows the way out. Spike subdues the lab coat guys, and steals one of their cards to swipe the vamp out. They start running, but are apprehended by some commandos. Spike throws the other vamp at them and gets out on his own.

Back at the dorm room, Willow sits on her bed and listens to depressing music. Riley comes in looking for Buffy, which Willow tells him. Riley reveals that he was thinking of asking Buffy out, but he doesn't know what she likes; doesn't know how to start a conversation with her. Willow basically asks what the point is, considering that everyone who falls in love ends up getting hurt. Riley admits it, but doesn't give up. Eventually, Willow's bitter mood convinces him to leave, but Willow gives in and gives him a few pointers. She also tells him about the party they're going to that night, and Riley says it's at his dorm.

Cut to the lair from "The Harsh Light of Day", where Harmony is hanging up a Unicorn poster. Spike walks in and Harmony berates him for staking her. Spike makes nice for like, five seconds, and Harmony takes him back. Spike says things're gonna be different now, and he'll take her out of Sunnydale, oh yeah, just as soon as he kills the slayer. Harmony tries to convince him to forget about the slayer by sleeping with him.

Out on campus, Xander and Giles are on patrol, and Xander's getting on Giles' nerves. Cut to the party. Willow and Buffy enter, and Willow goes to "grab a soda", but actually goes over to Riley and gives him some more pointers on Buffy. Riley goes over to talk to her, but chokes when he actually gets the opportunity, and ends up talking about class, instead.

Out in the woods, Giles and Xander have split up, and Xander comes across Harmony pouring gasoline on a pile of cds and stuff in a clearing. After a little verbal sparring, there comes one of the most hilarious fight scenes in btvs history. Turns out they're both wimpy fighters, and end up bitchslapping each other, and pulling each other's hair. They finally separate, and Xander makes to leave before finding out that it's * Spike's * stuff Harmony is burning, because Spike left her again to go kill the slayer. Xander takes off, and Harmony sets fire to the cds and stuff.

Back at the party, Riley and Willow sit on the couch, and Riley expresses his disgust that he failed so badly. Willow tells him to relax, and then her whole face falls as the next song comes on. It's by Dingoes Ate my Baby, and her face reflects her pain at hearing it. (Continuity points: It's the same song the band is playing in "Inca Mummy Girl" when Oz first sees Willow) Riley picks up on it, and motions to the DJ to cut the song. Willow thanks him, and tells him to go find Buffy and tell her that Willow went home, but not to worry about her.

Riley goes and finds Buffy and tells her the news, and then says he needs to ask Buffy something. Before he can get to it, however, Xander comes in and hints at some "business", and Buffy takes off with him. Riley is a bit disappointed, but undeterred. Forrest and Graham come up and say he's needed "downstairs" anyway. The three of them go into one of the dorm rooms and stand before a full-length mirror, which soon opens up to reveal an elevator. They board it, and it descends to underneath the house. On the way down, while continuing the conversation about Buffy, Riley speaks into a voice analyzer embedded in the wall of the elevator, and it recognizes him as Special Agent Riley Finn. The elevator opens and they walk down some steps into a vast underground facility, where experiments are being performed on all sorts of demons, and Riley mentions them being demon-hunters.

They near a command desk, and Professor Maggie Walsh turns around, wearing a lab coat, and informs them that they have a code red; Hostile 17 has escaped. Hostile 17: Spike.

The guys suit up into combat gear, and we realize that these are the same commandos we've been seeing all over campus. Walsh informs them that Hostile 17 has got a head start, and if he's not caught the entire Initiative could end that night. Riley says they won't fail, and takes command of his team. They head out to go bag Spike.

At Giles', Xander and Giles fill Buffy in on Spike's return. Buffy decides to lure Spike out into the open and stake him. Xander gives her a flare gun to signal for help should she need it, and Buffy takes it and leaves. Cut to a ransacked office, where it looks like Spike tried to find Buffy's room number in every file cabinet present before moving on to the computer. He locates Buffy and Willow's room number (214), and smiles. Cut to outside, Riley and his team come upon a clearing where Buffy is sitting on a bench. Riley wants to clear her out of there, but Forrest suggests using her as bait to draw Hostile 17 out into the open. Riley denies the suggestion, and strips down to his civilian-wear (see flaws, below) and goes into the clearing to try to move Buffy along. They're each there hunting Spike, but neither one knows the other knows about him, so they can't let on why they each need to stay in the clearing. In the distance, they hear someone scream, and they both take off in separate directions.

At Willow's dorm room, she's lying on the bed listening to the depressing music again when a knock comes at the door. Like a doofus who hasn't lived in Sunnydale for the past four years, she calls out "come in," without asking who it is. Spike enters and attacks her.

After the commercials, Willow's lying on the bed, and Spike's sitting at the end of it, looking confused. He says he doesn't understand; that's never happened to him before. Willow suggests that maybe he's nervous, or that he's trying too hard, in between several attempts of his to bite her and failing. She asks if this doesn't happen to every vampire, and Spike says not to him. Bottom line is, every time he tries to bite her his head hurts. Willow thinks it's because it's her. She says he came there looking for Buffy, but settled for her. Spike says that's not true; he'd bite her in a heartbeat, if he could.

Cut to the Initiative guys outside the dorm with a heat sensing device. They locate Spike in room 214 because his body is room temperature. Riley radios in that they need to shut off that grid. Inside the room, Spike shouts that he's only 126. Willow starts to suggest that they wait awhile before trying again, until she realizes what she's saying and smashes him over the head with a lamp. She runs to the door just as the lights go out, and the Initiative guys charge in with their rifles and night-vision goggles. They bust the door in and Willow rushes out, followed by Spike. The Initiative guys capture Spike, but he manages to break free again while they're trying to decide what to do about Willow. Riley orders them to leave her, but they worry that she may have been contaminated. Spike gets free and starts beating them up again, but is unable to bite anyone without triggering the intense pain in his head. One of the commandos goes after Willow again, and then Buffy shows up and fires her flare gun right into Riley's night-vision goggles. The commandos go temporarily blind from the sudden flare up of light, and rip their goggles off. Buffy fights Riley while Spike takes advantage of the distraction to escape. Buffy sufficiently pummels Riley enough for him to decide he's overmatched, and calls an abort to the mission.

Back at the Initiative, Riley tries to explain his failure to Walsh. They assume their attacker must have been an accomplice of Spike's, and they describe "him" as a big guy, strong, and aggressive. The only good news that comes out of it is that the chip Walsh implanted in Spike's brain is working; he can't harm a living thing.

Out on the quad the next day, Riley and Buffy run into each other. She asks what he'd wanted to ask her the night before, and he says he can't remember, but it would have been fascinating and moving. Buffy thinks that he's a little peculiar, and Riley says he can live with that.

FLAWS: When Spike escapes from the guys in the lab coats at the Initiative place, he uses several moves on them that I'm pretty sure are painful, yet his chip doesn't go off. In particular, he pinches the first lab guy's throat harshly, but he experiences no side effects. I realize this is probably because they didn't want us to figure out that Spike had already been implanted with the chip yet, but it doesn't make sense, and it annoys me when they play little tricks like that.

Also, when Riley decides to talk Buffy into leaving the clearing, he comes out wearing a green t-shirt and a pair of jeans. The green t-shirt I can understand: that woulda been part of his camoflauge gear. But the Jeans? Where exactly did they come from? A moment before this he was wearing fatigues. And they're out in the middle of campus, by the way, not like they're near his dorm so he coulda gone back to change or something. Whatever. Also, we never find out what girl screamed (and why), that proved the distraction to both Riley and Buffy.

THOUGHTS ON THE EPISODE: Heh, this was pretty much the beginning of Spike's obsession with Buffy. At this point, he wants nothing more in the world than to kill her. And I gotta admit; I do love me some Spike : )

And heh, the scene where Riley figures out he likes Buffy? As I was writhing in my consternation and despair at having to watch this scene again, my brother walks in, watches ten seconds of it, and goes "What is this, Sweet Valley High, or what?" 'Nuff said ;) Riley, * sigh * , don't get me wrong. I don't hate the guy or anything. But he's not Angel, he'll never be Angel, and I just. I just. Okay, I don't like him. * sigh* I think it might be the way they escalate this relationship. If they had taken it slowly from this point, instead of rushing them right into bed, where they stay for the whole next season and a half, I might have eventually come to like him more. I doubt it, though. All I can keep thinking is that I wish he'd get his hair out of his eyes. Did I say that already in another "thoughts"? I might have. Well, it still holds true ;)

Random note: I do like the way Xander held the flare gun when he was giving it to Buffy. He aimed it up toward the ceiling, with all of his fingers splayed flat against the gun, none of them around the trigger at all. Nice touch : )

BEST LINE:

When Willow's at the party giving Riley pointers on Buffy:

Willow: "And remember. You hurt her, and I will beat you to death with a shovel." (at Riley's look) "A vague disclaimer is nobody's friend."

"The Initiative"