Riley's life is in danger - and Spike may be his only salvation!

The Initiative may be gone, but its ramifications are still being felt, as personified by changes in Riley. While emotionally coping with his deep-rooted fear that Buffy can't possibly love him because he isn't super-human, he suddenly finds that his strength is increasing at an incredible rate. Unfortunately, so is his metabolism and heartbeat, all of which leads to the fear that he might actually die as a result. Desperate, Buffy turns to Spike for help, and this in turn leads to Dr. Overheiser, one of the Initiative scientists.

Spike, however, betrays her (big shock there), going to Overheiser first (accompanied by the world's first vampire bimbo, Harmony) and demands that the chip be removed from his brain or the good doctor will be killed. Initially Overheiser claims that there's nothing he can do, but ultimately he performs a surgery. No sooner has he sewn up Spike's skull than Buffy and Riley arrive. Spike - whose fury over the Slayer has been steadily growing - proclaims that it's showtime and he attacks her - an attack that lasts all of three seconds as his skull erupts in pain.

He turns to the doctor who shrugs, saying that he had warned the vampire that he couldn't do anything about the chip. In the end, the doctor performs surgery on Riley, restoring him to human status and saving his life.

The episode climaxes with Buffy confronting Spike, ready to stake him. Frustrated, Spike begs her to get it over with, and then he kisses her. After initially returning the kiss, Buffy pulls back in horror, then locks lips with him again. Spike proclaims his love for her, and then awakens next to Harmony, genuinely horrified by what he has just dreamed.

Review:
There is a real stand-out moment in this episode, in which Riley admits his insecurities about Buffy's love for him. Sarah Michelle Gellar beautifully plays Buffy's hurt and sense of betrayal that he would think so little of her that he believed she couldn't love him if he was just an ordinary person. She claims to have given him a side of herself that she has never shared with anyone else before. Although we haven't exactly seen this, Gellar is so convincing that we believe we have. Which leads us to ask one question: why hasn't anyone awarded this lady an Emmy for Buffy?

While the Riley A-story works just fine, the real juice of the episode comes from James Marsters' Spike. Admittedly he has never been a fan of Buffy before, but now Spike is walking around with a seething hatred that is just brimming below the surface, ready to unleash itself at the earliest possible moment. As this continues to reveal itself, we're initially left wondering what he's bitching about when one considers that Buffy could have dusted him at any time she felt like, but that dream sequence at the end reveals exactly why.

Speaking of that dream, this has got to be one of the best manipulations of the audience that a television show has ever done. When Buffy and Spike initially kiss, and then she actually goes back for more, the audience's collective jaw hangs open, because there is absolutely nothing to suggest that this isn't actually happening. It plays totally convincingly, and would seem to open up all sorts of possibilities for future conflict between vampire and slayer.

Best line: When Spike awakens from his dream and realizes he's in love with Buffy, he moans, "Oh, God, no."

Bloopers: Again, a blooper free episode. Unless you've seen different.

Trivia: It seems that the writers have suddenly developed a penchant for Star Trek. At one point Xander is referred to as Q -"Not the guy from Star Trek, the guy from the James Bond movies."