The opening montage starts waaaaaay back with a short scene from Earshot; that of Buffy bursting into the clock tower to surprise Jonathan with a gun.  We then get the staccato of scenes from This Year's Girl and Who Are You?, mostly of the soul transfers and Riley with Faith/Buffy.  So we know the show is going to be about Jonathan and about the latest blow to Riley and Buffy's relationship (this is blow number three for those keeping track).

The real show starts in the cemetery.  Appropriate given the title of the series.  Buffy and the Scoobies are tackling a couple of vamps.  They are a little bit klutzy but not too bad.  Buff stakes one vamp and the gang chases the second into a crypt where they discover about a half dozen vamps feeding.  Discretion is the better part of valour and the gang decide to seek help.  They go to Stately-Wayne-Manor and say they have a problem to the back of a big leather chair.

"How can I help?" asks Jonathan confidently.

Opening credits.  I love the opening credits.  I love them so much I'm going to make you listen to me rave about how BVS has the guts to change the credits not only in between seasons but also during the season to reflect cast changes.  Oz leaves - he's out of the credits.  Riley and Spike become regulars - they're into the credits.  Joss wants to play an April Fools Joke on North America - lets revamp the credits totally.  Unlike some gutless wonder shows currently being filmed in NZ.  Anyway...

We return to Giles apartment where the gang is practicing and researching.  Xander is practicing his quick draw with a stake and Buffy is doing front punches.  If you've taken any martial arts the front punch is pretty basic to most of them and Buffy is godawful.  Tara, as evidenced in Who Are You?, is the only person in Sunnydale that now punches worse than Buffy.

I'm going to save myself a lot of time by explaining how Jonathan acts for the entire show.  Anyone see Buckaroo Banzai?  That's Jonathan.  He has a medical degree, plays the trumpet, sings, plays pro basketball, does Nike endorsements, writes books, invented the internet, is smart, is charming, is cool, plays chess better than Giles, fights better than Buffy, hacks better than Willow and understands men, women and relationships.  There is nothing he can't do perfectly but, as Xander says, he's not too perfect - just perfectly perfect.  He's James Bond to the nth degree.

The Jonathan gang attack the crypt and ash the vamps.  Buff kills two and Jonathan the rest using a repeating crossbow (which the Chinese had about a couple of thousand years ago but I digress with reality).  Buffy feels a bit put out - she's the Slayer and she can barely kill two vamps in a fight.  Jonathan gives her a pep talk.

Next day Willow and Tara are chatting about how Willow seems to get off on watching Buffy fight.  <pause>  sorry, projecting again.  Willow and Tara are discussing how Willow likes the thrill of watching the fight, of being a part of it without being in it.  <pause>  you know, there's no way to summarize their conversation without getting all Freud.  Anyway, Tara expresses concern over Buffy's emotional state over the whole Faith stealing her body and sleeping with Riley.  Willow tells Tara that she's sure the two of them are cool and probably smooching right now.  So of course they're not.  They're awkward and confused.  Riley keeps trying to bridge the gap and Buffy keeps skating away.  Later she talks to Jonathan about it.  Jonathan of course knows exactly what is wrong, explains it to her and sends her on her merry way thereby saving her massive theropy sessions and preventing some psychiatrist from sending his kid to law school.

Meanwhile, down in the bat-cave, the new head of the Initiative (Colonel something) is introducing himself and telling the Boy Commandos that their first priority is to capture Adam.  They've called in their top tactical mind (Jonathan of course) to help them out.  Jonathan briefs them and then he and Riley have a man to man talk about Buffy.  Just as he told Buffy what her problem is in her mind (the fact that she can't forgive Riley for not knowing it was Faith) he tells Riley what Buffy's other problem is (the fact that she's afraid Riley will compare her to Faith).  (The idea is that Buffy has to accept emotionally as well as intellectually that Riley couldn't tell the difference while Riley has to reassure Buffy that she is the one that he ... cares for.  I love pauses.  But the boy really should say the L word to Buffy sometime soon.)

That night the gang goes to the Bronze.  Anya and Xander are tiffing because Anya made a in-the-throes-of-passion noise which sounded like Jonathan.  Tara and Willow are having a great time listening to the swing band (yeap, swing band - not grungy alternative angry/hurt chick band as is the norm).  Riley and Buffy are having an awkward time until Jonathan comes out and sings a little song (which I'm sure someone who isn't a musical cretin such as myself would recognize) that Riley and Buffy dance to and then everything is okay.  After the song is over Jonathan begins to play something from the new album but is interraupted by a girl who was beaten up by a demon just before the commercial break.  Riley, Buffy and he take the girl to Stately-Wayne-Manor where the girl describes some kind of marking on the demon's forehead which causes Jonathan to act weird.  Jonathan assures everyone that the creature is a harmless monster who has likely left town.  Buffy goes and picks up Willow and Tara to walk them back home.  They drop Tara off at the walk way up to her dorm building but before she (Tara) gets to her room she is attacked by the same monster.  Tara pops off a distraction spell and hides in the Janitorial Supply Room.  Or, as we affectionly call it, the closet.

Meanwhile, over at Stately-Wayne-Manor Jonathan is staring pensively into the fireplace and selfishly keeping the Swedish twins waiting.  As he turns we see that the symbol from the monster's forehead is tattooed to his shoulder.

Next morning Buffy discovers that Tara was attacked.  She determines that the monster had the same symbol on it's forehead and begins to ponder.  She checks in with Anya and discovers that alternative realities exist (which she already knew about from Dopplegangland and the Skanky Willow) and begins to suspect that something similar is happening.  She takes it to the Scooby Gang.  They scoff.  They pooh-pooh.  They make other disparaging remarks until Riley backs her up saying he trusts Buffy.  They discover from Giles copy of the Jonathan swimsuit calendar that Jonathan has the monster tattoo.  This is when Jonathan arrives.

Jonathan does damage control.  He tells the Scoobies that he did mislead them but it was because the monster makes his head all fuzzy.  Buffy convinces him to go with her to look for the monster and, after rousting Spike they get a lead.  The research team, meanwhile, discover that the symbol of the monster is really an augmentation spell and that (surprise!) Buffy is right.

Jonathan and Buffy arrive at the spooky cave.  It has a CGI rift in the floor that goes a long way down.  Jonathan reaches out and takes Buffy by the wrist and cautions her to be careful.  They look around a bit and the monster jumps them.  Jonathan confesses to Buffy and tells her to kill the monster and warns her that as she harms it his own abilities will fade.  Buffy, still effected by the spell, is doubtful that she can beat a monster but Jonathan tells her that she will remember.

As Buffy beats up the monster Jonathan turns back to his shy and timid self and Buffy becomes more assured and powerful (I remember this.  This is good!)  Finally she and the monster are poised at the lip of the chasm and Jonathan runs out and pushes the monster over the edge.  With the monster dead the spell is broken.

Next day the three couples are discussing the effects of the spell.  All the physical manifestations (movie marquees, swimsuit calendars, books) have disappeared and people are starting to forget.  They remember enough to be angry at Jonathan though.  Of them all only Xander misses the unreal world.  Jonathan made him feel worthy and an important part of the team.  Buffy sees Jonathan hovering and goes over to talk to him.  He seems a bit upset that people are mad at him, he didn't mean any harm, the demon was glossed over by the person who told him the spell and the twins moved out.  Buffy tells him that you just can't snap your fingers and make things right - that things that are important are complicated and you need to work hard at them.  Jonathan asks if that's what he said about her and Riley; that what they had was complicated but worth the hard work.  He then wanders off, just as he did at the end of Earshot, still alone and at the fringe.

The show ends with Buffy and Riley kissing on his bed.

BUFFY: I'm glad we talked this all out.
RILEY: We haven't actually talked yet.
BUFFY: Well, whatever it is we're doing, I think we're doing it right. <back to kissing> <as a moan> Jonathan 

Random thoughts:

1. If Buffy can reach out and catch Jonathan before he plummets into the bottomless pit, why couldn't Xena catch Gabrielle?
2. In an almost totally throwaway scene we discover that Adam was not fooled by the spell because, in his words, he is "awake and alive", so in tune with himself and his surroundings that reality bending spells can't effect him.
3. The Willow and Tara relationship is building slowly but surely.  Willow gives Tara, when they part for the night, a little shoulder touch, slide down the arm and brief finger/hand squeeze which is, I think, one step away from the goodnight kiss.
4. I somehow think that Jonathan would have been happy if the spell had only augmented him to the point that he would feel himself equal enough to try for Buffy's friendship.  As he said, he wasn't looking for pawns - he was looking for friends.  And his altruistic actions all through the show, including his sacrificing his powers to save Buffy, show that his heart was in the right place.