Previously on Buffy the Vampire Slayer they replay the last bit of Tough Love and most of Spiral.  Giles is injured, Dawn is taken, Knights are dead, Tara is still nutso cuckoo and Buffy is a zombie.

Currently on Buffy the Vampire everyone is much the same only it's a half hour later.  Buffy is unresponsive, Giles is still badly injured, Willow and Anya aren't sure what to do until Xander and Spike start tusseling.  Then Willow snaps into control mode ala Hallowe’en from season two.  Xander is to take Giles to the hospital, Spike is to find Glory, Anya is to babysit Tara and Willow's gonna help Buffy and for once everyone does as they're told, probably because no one wants to get Willow cranky.  Crankier.  Spike asks what they're going to do if they run into Ben and discovers, much to his amusement but eventual frustration, that there is a magical spell preventing humans from realizing that Ben and Glory are the same entity.

Speaking of which the crazy people who escaped from the hospital are playing with welders in what looks like the abandoned factory set. Glory is really going insane.  It seems that the spell is not only allowing the humans to remember that Ben and Glory are the same but it's allowing Ben's memory of being a nice guy to make Glory feel guilty about kidnapping Dawn and Ben to remember all the horrible things that Glory has done.  It's also allowing the switch to come fast and furious as the wall between the two personalities becomes fuzzier and fuzzier.  Ben takes over enough to help Dawn escape but, when Dawn coshes him to escape Glory returns.  The two, er one, fight like siblings, morphing from Ben to Glory to Ben with each sentence or thought, until Glory convinces Ben that his only chance to survive is to let her win so that she can express her gratitude by making him immortal.  Ben returns with Dawn to the Scabby Hobbits.

Okay, that's the bad guy plot.  What about the good guys?

The gang returns to Sunnydale.  The girls go to Xander’s apartment.  Spike finds out that Ben has a room at Glory's apartment but everyone is cleared out.  He regroups with Xander at the hospital and the two of them go over to Joel Grey's place while Giles heads to the shop for yet more research.  The bickering boys discover that Joel's on Glory's side and, after a scuffle, they rescue a chest of books and stuff.  They deliver the stuff for Giles to look over for the final scene.

Meanwhile, in Buffy's head, Willow is busy being confused.  Seems that Buffy is caught in some kind of mental loop.  It starts with...

Baby Buffy is a small girl, playing with her dolls.  She invites Willow to play with her.  Joyce and Hank arrive home with the new baby.  At first Baby Buffy is resentful -she wants to be the baby-but when Joyce lets her hold the baby she asks if she can take care of her.  Cut to...

Book Buffy is shelving a book in the Magic Shop with a very distracted look on her face.  Willow tries to talk to her but she ignores our witch.  Sudden cut to...

The campfire/ "Death is your Gift" scene from “Intervention”.  Willow recognized the First Slayer but, although she's talking to both Buffy and the First Slayer they seem totally unaware of her.  Cut too...

Slayer Buffy walking through the upstairs of her house.  She goes to Joyce’s room which is empty except for the wall decorations and a grave and heads to Dawn's room where Dawn is struggling to breath.  Slayer Buffy tells Willow that death is her gift and it's all so clear.  Her gift is to kill her sister.  Which she does by putting a pillow over her head.  When Dawn finishes struggling we cut to...

Baby Buffy is a small girl, playing with her dolls.  She invites Willow - well, you get the idea --.  Willow tries to change things but seems unable up to the point where Book Buffy's scene takes over.  Willow tries to talk to Book Buffy but it is the suddenly appearing Slayer Buffy that answers her.  Through clever editing cuts both Book Buffy and Slayer Buffy explain it was at this point, while putting some book away for Giles, that Buffy realized that she couldn't defeat a god and, basically, gave up.  She still was going to fight the good fight and give it the Sunnydale try but she just knows that this threw her off her game.  That if she hadn't already given up than she would have been just a little faster, a little stronger, a little better.  And somehow, this would have made the difference.

Willow tells her that its guilt speaking.  That Buffy did her best but Dawn is still in trouble and Buffy is needed.  They pop out of the dreamscape, Buffy crying and Willow comforting her.  They head to the Scooby meeting at the Magic Shop where they discover that the spell to fog men's minds about the whole Ben in a dress thing is unraveling.  Plus, Giles tells Buffy how they can defeat Glory.

Fade to black.

Random Quotes:

Glory: Guys - I'm not gonna kill you.  Not in the mood.  What do you think that's about?
Minion: In mercy does your power lie.
Glory: No, brainless. In torture, death and chaos does my power lie. So tell me. Why am I not popping your head like a zit right now?

Dawn: Don't call me Dawnie.

Xander: How you doing?
Giles: Only hurts when I answer pointless questions.

Xander: Wait - Ben? At Glory's? So you're saying that all this time he was sub-letting from her?
Spike: This is going to be worth it.  <gives Xander a smack aside the head>
Both: Ow!!

Willow: We've already deja'd this vu.
Baby Buffy: You talk funny.
Willow: Yes, as you'll tell me again when we're older, and in chem class.

First Slayer: Death is your gift.
Buffy: Death is my gift?
Willow: Death is her what?
First Slayer: Death is your gift.

Willow: I think Spike was right, back at the gas station.  Snap out of it!

Random Thoughts:
Duh!  Like you couldn't see it coming?  Talk about a "shoot the hostage" scenario.

My first thought when Xander stabbed Joel was, "Well, guess that means no song and dance number during the finale."

My first thought when Joel's eyes opened was, "Then again, maybe not."

Hank Summers was played by Dean Butler which gives some weight (no pun intended) to the rumour about he and Melissa Gilbert and the custody battle over Dawn.  Which, I guess means Dawn in some manner will be around next season because a custody battle over a corpse is kind of pointless.

Again with the Willow is playing with in the big leagues.  Apparently entering someone's psyche is under the advanced column.  And apparently when you get advanced you don't need all the trappings.  Just a word or a candle.  No more pesky rhyming cantrips.

Obviously none of the Scoobs have read Terry Goodkins novel "Wizard's First Rule" or they'd all know the first rule which is "people are stupid".  Now, here's maven's first rule: "Evil people lie."  So, Giles and all, when some bad guys says "bwahahaha, you are all going to loose and I'm going to take all the information that you need (which I have kept around just for such a melodramatic moment as this and which I cleverly tried to conceal from you by dancing around nervously in front of it) and throw it into a convenient yet low burning fire and then get myself killed by XANDER so that you can pull out the obviously flame retardant chest with only a few toasty fingers and smoke damage" maybe you shouldn't be so quick to trust the information.

Now, back to my first thought.  Doesn’t this play into Buffy’s fears a little to well?  Death is my gift and my gift is to kill Dawn, she told Willow in the dreamscape.  And to Spike’s claim in Fool For Love that, at some point, the Slayer just wants it to be over and that’s when he’s able to kill them.

Willow is all resolve and determination until Tara says something that is clearly off.  And then she melts and becomes the concerned and helpless lover.

I kinda missed the Cheese Man.  I was expecting him and his little slices.  But there is hope because Joel referred to the guy in China as a “big cheese of his own ancient holy order” according to the shoot scrip.  (I missed it on the tape <g>)

Anya's quiet little good luck when Willow is already gone.  So much like McCoy's just before Spock flies off to investigate the giant space anemba.

Spike palming a blood bag from the cart.  You think they leave things like that lying around?
 

Angel:
Cordelia: Off with their heads!  Kiddddding!!

I’m not sure I like goofy Angel.  No, I know I don’t like him.  He can go now.

Any show that has the guts to have some big strong, unbeatable warrior type and call him Groo is gonna make my day.  And if y’all haven’t heard of the comic book “Groo the Wanderer” then you’re not familiar with my top five comic book series of all times list.