SHADOW

I missed the previouslies.  I hear they were long.

Okay, currently on Buffy the Vampire Slayer.  We start the action at the hospital with Joyce being CAT scanned while Buff and Dawn are there for each other.  We switch to the Magic Box where Giles and Tara are admiring the store's new Yellow Pages ad.  Xander, Willow and Anya arrived pissed off at Riley for blowing up the vampires with Mr. Incendiary Grenade without them.  Everyone continues the fruitless search for the blonde who wupped Buffy at the factory three episodes ago.  Speaking of which, Glory is in her apartment trying on shoes and negotiating for an ancient spell which requires a few ingredients which she can pick up at, surprise, the Magic Box.  See, advertising in the Yellow Pages does pay off.

With the show about half over we do the credits.

But first, just a note about timing.  Buffy fought Glory at the factory and "Family" started next day.  There is a undetermined time between "Family" and "Fool for Love" but "Shadow" is the next day.  I bring this to your attention just to point out that no one, Buffy and Riley particularly, have had any time to deal with any of this.  Crisis is just being heaped on crisis.

When we return Riley is at the Summers' front door which is ajar.  He finds Spike in Buffy's room getting cozy with one of her sweaters.  They macho posture for a bit but Spike is easily able to just destroy the tattered remains of Riley's ego by pointing out that Buffy has never uninvited him from the house, that Riley isn't as dark, dangerous or broody enough for Buffy and that he knows that Joyce is in the hospital.  Riley throws him, and his heavy blanket, out of the house.

Riley goes to the hospital where he looks after Dawn while Buffy gets the bad news.  The CAT scan showed a "shadow" and they're about to do a biopsy.  Once again Buffy and Joyce agree that everything is going to be fine.

At the shop the Scoobs decide to change tactics and actually work with the one thing they know... that the glowy ball was to protect against "that which cannot be named" and maybe they should look further back.  So busy are they looking up the demon that they really don't notice when she walks in.  Giles is, well, smitten, and therefore pays absolutely no attention to what she's actually buying.  She exits and Giles goes back to researching confident that the evil demoness will make herself known.  A little later Anya helpfully points out that  Giles sold the ingredients to a major bad mojo spell.  Giles pooh-poohs the danger until he realizes that the woman matches Buffy's description of Glory.  Lightbulb.

Back at the hospital Buffy is told that the shadow is bad, a brain tumour.  The idiot doctor then begins asking Buffy all the stupid questions that she's in no condition to answer like insurance and cell phones and nuclear dumps.  Ben, the friendly intern, tells the idiot that he's needed elsewhere to give Buffy a chance to catch her mental breath.  She asks Riley to take Dawn to school and not tell her how serious it is.  Buffy decides to head to the Magic Box to get the gang working on a Brain Tumour Removal Spell.  

Riley, who apparently can't say no to the Summer women, takes Dawn to a park rather than school.  There they have a pleasant talk about how good it is that Riley is there for Buffy and how nice it is that Buffy doesn't cry and gnash teeth over him like she use to over Angel.  Three more wisps of Riley's ego go up in smoke.

Buffy arrives at the shop but Giles and Tara shoot down the Brain Tumour Removal Spell as being too dangerous (in fact, all healing spells are a bad idea in the Buffy-verse).  Anya lets slip about Glory's preferred customer status and Buffy gets them to tell her about the purchases and that the original users of the spell used it on snakes.  Buffy heads off.

Glory and the demon begin the spell at the zoo's reptile house.  Buffy arrives so that Glory can beat her up a bit just to remind her that she's this season's bad ass.  Buffy retreats to the hospital to be with her mom when the doctor breaks the bad news.  She calls Giles from there to warn Giles and he tells her that Dawn will be safe at the Magic Box until Buffy can fetch her.  

At the hospital the doctors and Buffy break the news to Joyce.  Buffy then leaves to get Dawn.  Dawn, good little girl that she is, is doing her homework.  Buffy arrives to take her to the hospital when the snake bursts in, eyeballs Dawn and then splits.  Buffy gives chase with Giles in his car and finally catch it.  Buffy kills it, twice actually, before it can report to Glory.  Then it's back to the hospital.

Oooh, I forgot Riley.  Riley showed up at the Magic Box just after Buffy left to stop the snake-thing and is mad that she left without backup.  Xander counters with Riley's little backupless explosive escapade and, miffed, Riley storms off.  He goes to Willy's bar, picks up the vampire Sandy, makes out in the alley for a bit before staking it.  He shows up at the hospital wearing a turtle neck (although I think he'd look quite fetching in one of Buffy's paisley scarves) and tries to be Buffy's Rock.  But Buffy can't lean on Riley and still be strong for Joyce and Dawn.  She leaves him alone in the hallway and returns to her mom and sister.

Just another "but she doesn't love me" nail in the Buffy/Riley relationship coffin.  Fade to black.

Random Quotes

Dreg: Most beauteous and supremely magnificent one.  This dark spell that I hold in my worthless and scabby hand is our gift to you, most tingly and wonderful Glorificus. 

Riley: Were you... were you smelling her sweater?
Spike: Pfft.  Nooooo. Well, yeah.  Alright.  I did.  Fine.  It's a predator thing.  Nothing wrong with it.  Know your enemy's scent.  Whet your appetite for a hunt.  <snorts sweater>

Dawn: (comparing Riley to Angel) She doesn't get all worked up like that over you?: 

Random Notes:

Written by David Fury (Go Fish, Helpless, Choices, Fear Itself, Doomed, The I in Team, Primeval, Real Me) and directed by Dan Attias making his Buffy directorial debut.

Quotes are scimpy.  However, anytime Glory's fawning lackey opened his mouth a quote came out.  I just couldn't scibble fast enough.

Once again they use the sound track to get the point across.  When the doctor begins the medical mumbo-jumbo Buffy's hearing fades.  The use of the song rather than dialogue during the Buffy & Joyce, Riley & Sandy and Dawn montage.

Okay.  SANDY?  Next we'll have a vampire called Dusty.  Or Ashley.  

I can't figure out if Riley is trying to make himself more dark and broody or if he's trying to figure out what the attraction is.  The lad, who slammed Willow for dating a werewolf, is playing with fire here.  Or, like Spike says, maybe he's getting tired of the dance.

Spike must stay up late coming up with his nick names.  Willow and Tara- the lover Wiccas.  Dawn- bite sized one.

The Slayer Healing thing must prioritize.  Buffy carried the cut on her forehead for three episodes last season but the gut wound from last night is all gone.

It has been suggested that the special effects budget has been blown for the season on the CGI snake.  And I must say that the giant sized one looked a lot better than the rubber cobra Glory was playing with.  It's not like they do that hood thing 24/7, ya know.

While at a gaming convention (shameless plug- UCON at the University of Michigan every November) I was playing Star Wars (I know, too much information but I'm getting to the point eventually) and it was mentioned that all North American males under the age of 35 (and some older, this is a generalization, remember) just perk right up when they hear the following phrase.  Ready?  "Princess Leia in a gold bikini."  Needless to say I think that Mr. Fury is a North American male around the age of 35 and I'd like to commend SMG for not agreeing to the bikini.  Other than that it was a spot on imitation and I guess they used the money they saved on a fight choreographer to put in another few nanoseconds of CGI.

Angel Notes:

Ah let's see.  Why should you watch Angel.  Or rather should have watched Angel.  Well, Cordy's new hair cut (and I thought at first it was Buffy in a black wig which is another way of saying I like the old 'do).  Wesley's new suit.  No Darla (can't overdue the psychotic quotient).  And Angel drinks Kate.  A big deal is made of this being the first time he's drank blood from a human which conveniently ignores him nearly draining Buffy in Graduation part one or two.  However, it does give both Kate and Angel something to brood about other than Darla, her dad and a love gone bad.