Colonel McNamara is ordered to retrieve rogue agent Riley, while Willow and Tara play with their new kitten. Awww. Spike is still shacking up with Adam.

Colonel McNamara is ordered to retrieve rogue agent Riley, while Willow and Tara play with their new kitten. Awww. Spike is still shacking up with Adam, and in order to help the freaky patchwork demon/man/robot thing, devises a plan to isolate the Slayerettes and work on their individual weaknesses, thus turning them on each other and weakening their effectiveness. Cunning. It works a treat - Giles gets pissed and the others start to argue. Angel arrives to apologise to Buffy (for defending Faith in Angel episode "Sanctuary"), but before he gets the chance meets a jealous Riley. They fight. Angel wins. Surprise. Buffy isn't too chuffed about him beating up her new boyfriend, but the two of them reach an understanding. Buffy then tracks down Adam, and sees him skewer Forrest. She breaks the news to Riley, who is not a happy bunny and goes after Adam. Meanwhile, Buffy fights with the gang and walks out on them fo face her fate alone.

Review:
Dramatic tension crackling through every frame, this episode really pushes the relationships of the Slayerettes to the limits. It's almost painful to watch them fall out - and this is a good thing, because it demonstrates just how much Whedon and co have made you care about the characters. Angel makes a welcome appearance too - meeting Riley was inevitable, really.

Best line:
Willow (bickering with Buffy): "We have to face it, you can't handle Tara being my girlfriend!"
Xander (to Buffy and Willow): "No! It was bad before that! Since you two went off to college and forgot about me. Just left me in the basement to - Tara's your girlfriend?"
Giles (from upstairs): "Bloody hell!"

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Trivia: Xander has worked for and been fired from (amongst others) a Starbucks and a phone sex line.

This is the first of a two-parter culminating in "Primeval".