Buffy Mythology Guide Season Four Part Two

Mythology Guide: Season Four

THE FRESHMAN

Plot Points:

Buffy, Willow, and Oz begin college at UC Sunnydale (only five miles away). Buffy is very overwhelmed at it all. Buffy, Willow, and Oz all take Intro Psych taught by the world-renowned hard-ass Maggie Walsh. Riley Finn is a TA there. Buffy's roommate is the annoying bubbly Kathy. Oz is living off-campus in a house with his band.
Giles is living a live of "leisure" now and has a girlfriend from England, Olivia. He's reluctant to help her with slaying now.
Xander returns from an aborted car trip across America which was mainly spent washing dishes at a male strip club. He's living in the basement of his parents' house now and has to pay rent.
Buffy fights a gang of vamps taking freshmen from the campus. She looses the first fight and gets a broken arm. Xander's pep talk about her gives her the self-confidence to win. They steal Buffy's stuff from her room and destroy her Protector umbrella.
A group of commandos on campus tazer a vamp and capture him.

Analysis:

Gee how convenient there's this humongous college campus just FIVE MILES from Sunnydale, by all accounts a small town!
Once again we see that Buffy's physical strength is largely based on her emotional strength.
These commandos are going to have a near impossible time concealing their presence considering how crowded the campus is. Surely they've been witnessed often, and how do you explain away armed masked commandos?!

LIVING CONDITIONS Plot Points:

Buffy bickers with Kathy and becomes increasingly annoyed. They both have a dream of demons sucking out their souls. Buffy finally decides Kathy is a demon and must be killed. Xander and Oz jump Buffy and tie her up thinking she's possessed, but Buffy knocks them out. Buffy attacks Kathy and finds she is a demon- Kathy has been stealing Buffy's soul. She fled her dimension and her people are now pursuing her. Giles and Willow do the spell to revert Buffy's soul. Kathy is taken back to her dimension by her people.
Buffy meets Parker at the campus cafeteria and hits it off.
Willow becomes Buffy's room mate after Kathy leaves.

Analysis:

Giles is surprisingly unprepared for the eventuality that Buffy might go crazy. It's already happened with Faith, you'd think he'd have a contingency plan for it. And have something better to contain her with than rope!
If Kathy was a demon, then shouldn't Buffy have been able to sense this? Or this is another sign of her being off her game with Angel gone and the unfamiliarity of college?
Considering that Buffy's animosity towards Kathy was because of the soul-sucking thing, why does she react that way to Willow? Was this just meant as a joke? Or were they saying Buffy can be a bitch regardless of soul-sucking?

IN THE HARSH LIGHT OF DAY Plot Points:

Harmony is now a vampire and bites Willow. She's in an unhappy relationship with Spike (Drusilla left him for a fungus demon).
Spike has secretly returned to Sunnydale to retrieve the Gem of Amara from a buried crypt. The Gem makes a vampire impervious to staking, sunlight, or any other kind of death. He gets the gem and attacks Buffy in the day at her campus. After he brags about Parker and Angel she manages to grab the ring off him and he's forced to flee. She decides to send the ring to Angel care of Oz.
Buffy still has a noticeable scar from Angel biting her neck.
Buffy has been hanging out with Parker and has sex with him, but it turns out he's just a freshman womanizer scumbag.
Xander is working for Giles. Anya returns to town to have sex with Xander in order to get him off her mind.

Analysis:

Is Willow going to have a neck scar from Harmony biting her, or was it too brief and/or weak?
How exactly DID Spike and Harmony hook up?
Gotta love how the normally crowded campus suddenly gets absolutely deserted when Buffy and Spike start fighting!
Once again Buffy's emotional strength gives her physical strength; namely her reaction to Spike's bragging about Parker and Angel.
Buffy sending the ring to Angel is pretty questionable. If Angel ever turns evil again he'd be pretty unstoppable. On the other hand it would let him work to help people in the day as well.
Shouldn't Buffy have healed that neck scar yet? Or does the vampiric origin mean it will never heal despite her healing factor?
This whole Parker thing is a pretty blatant set-up. He's the first boyfriend after Buffy and breaks her heart, thus setting her up for a nice boring supportive guy (read: Riley!).

FEAR, ITSELF Plot Points:

Oz's blood combined with a magical seal unleashes a fear demon on a campus frat house party which Buffy, Willow, Xander, and Oz attend. They get trapped and terrorized by their fears; Buffy's rejection, Willow's magic gone awry, Oz loosing control of his were-self, Xander being ignored by his friends. Anya and Giles rescue them, Buffy kills the demon who says "they're all going to abandon you".
Willow has mastered the basic Wiccan powers and is looking to advance to the next level. Oz and Buffy are concerned.
Professor Walsh is angry at Buffy for skipping classes, Riley gives her some encouraging advice.
Buffy, Willow, Oz, and Xander run into some commandos on campus but just think they're costumes.
Anya is still smitten with Xander. She has a fear of bunnies.

Analysis:

It's a good bet that the werewolf part of Oz's blood was vital to the fear demon being released rather than just plain ole' blood.
The fear demon tells Buffy her friends will abandon her; that's what happens over the course of the season! Coincidence or foreshadowing?
How come Walsh notices Buffy being absent out of a class of several hundred students? Was she really that noticeable?
So's what up with Anya being afraid of bunnies? Some sordid terrifying tale from her past or something?

BEER BAD Plot Points:

Buffy is still distraught over Parker. She gets drunk with some frat guys at the bar where Xander is working as a bartender, but the beer is magically poisoned mutating them into caveman savages.
Oz is strangely smitten with Veruca, a singer in a local band. Willow is jealous.

Analysis:

Where the hell were the commandos during this extended rampage of caveman savages?! Or the campus police?!

WILD AT HEART Plot Points:

Oz learns Veruca is also a Werewolf, who says they're more animal than human and refuses to lock herself up. Oz has werewolf sex with Veruca to prevent her from running free. Willow finds out, is heart broken, and decides to do a spell against them in spite but changes her mind. Veruca attacks her as she changes, but Oz arrives, changes, and kills Were-Veruca. Oz leaves Sunnydale (and Willow) because he's a danger to others and has to learn to control himself.
Spike returns to Sunnydale for revenge against Buffy but is quickly tazered and captured by the commandos.
Buffy aces a philosophy paper and Prof Walsh wants her to lead a class discussion group.
Professor Walsh is briefly attacked by Were-Oz and Were-Veruca. She reports it to Riley and mentions it to Buffy.
Buffy runs into a commando in the woods and fights him briefly. She tells Giles about it, who is concerned.

Analysis:

Veruca's theory that Werewolves are more animal than human doesn't really hold up to the two years we've seen of Oz. The only reason he intentionally got his Were-side to kill Veruca was because she would've killed Willow. And human Oz never had sex with Veruca so it wasn't like he was cheating on her. In fact, the whole situation is pretty unfair for Oz.
And his reason for leaving doesn't really make sense either. He's worried about his Were-side taking dominance? Wasn't this only happening (and even then only lightly) because of Veruca's presence? Now that she's gone it would seem like he would go back to normal. And how is he going to learn control anyway?
So is Walsh's interest in Buffy solely because of her intelligence? Apparently she doesn't know she's the Slayer (as we later learn), but she seems to be taking an odd interest in her now.
Walsh is the leader of The Initiative, yet she carries no personal protection or even a radio to call for help?! Or she doesn't have a pair of commandos keeping covert escort for her?! She's aware of the kinds of monsters that roam the campus!

THE INITIATIVE Plot Points:

Spike is held captive in a large laboratory / prison along with many other demons and vampires. The demons and vampires are being experimented on by the captors. He manages to escape.
Oz (whose real name was Daniel Osbourne) has officially dropped out of college.
Riley's buddies Forrest and Graham wonder why he isn't attracted to Buffy. He begins to feel different when Buffy chews out Walsh for being heartless to Willow. Walsh professes she likes Buffy. Riley punches out Parker for speaking ill of Buffy and asks Willow how to get Buffy's interest. Riley tries to hit on her but fails miserably.
Xander still retains his military knowledge though it's starting to get hazy. Xander has some weaponry he requisitioned back then.
Xander encounters Harmony and they get into a girly fight. Harmony tells Xander that Spike has returned.
Riley, Forrest, and Graham are all commandos in the Initiative, which houses the massive underground laboratory / prison underneath Lowe House. Professor Walsh is in command in of the facility. Riley is a team leader and outranks Forrest.
Spike goes after Buffy but finds Willow at their dorm room instead. He attempts to bite her but finds the Initiative has put a chip in his brain preventing him from harming people. Riley and the commandos locate Spike there and storm the dorm after the power is taken down. Buffy runs into the commandos trying to make off with Spike and Willow and fights them. Spike escapes. The commandos flee. Neither Buffy nor Riley recognized each other.

Analysis:

How in the hell did The Initiative ever manage to construct that vast underground complex without any public knowledge of it?! It must have been a massive escavation / construction job requiring hundreds if not thousands of workers and lots of heavy equipment. It would almost certainly have to have been constructed before the college proper opened. Perhaps it is a converted old complex. An old government fallout shelter/bunker from the 1950s? Merely converted sewers?
What exactly do they hope to accomplish with experimentation on the demons and vampires? Wouldn't it be best just to kill them? Is it mere scientific curiosity? Spike's chip indicates they hope to control or 'neuter' the demonic population, but what is the good of doing that? Do they hope to control the demons and make them into their own army or something?
It really strains credibility that Spike could escape that high security military complex without the ability to hurt anyone!
When did Xander get this small arsenal? And how did he 'requisition' it without any actual military identification or background? Surely he couldn't afford to buy these things! Maybe he's just referring to their theft from the army base in "Innocence".
Xander's killed vampires before, maybe he's reluctantly to kill Harmony because he knew her in high school.
Just how much manpower does The Initiative have? Again, it's surprising Spike was able to elude the trap at Buffy's dorm.

PANGS Plot Points:

Angel comes to Sunnydale when Doyle has a vision of Buffy facing trouble. At first he contacts Giles and stalks Buffy. Buffy can dimly senses his presence. He runs into Willow and Xander who both think he's evil, Anya claims to meet him for the first time.
Spike flees the Initiative commandos looking for sanctuary but Harmony kicks him out. Finally he comes to Giles where they invite him in but tie him up.
Riley comes from farmlands in Iowa.
Xander digs into an old Native American site and gets infected with syphilis as well as a Native American vengeance spirit who go around killing people connected to the massacre. They besiege Giles' house with Spike captive inside. Angel secretly helps them out, Xander accidentally tells Buffy.

Analysis:

Aside from being a ratings stunt, was there any actual reason that Buffy's crisis this week was so great that Doyle would get a vision about to send Angel there? Or maybe the ultimate purpose of that vision was to give Angel that day of happiness in "I Will Remember You", giving him closure on the Buffy situation and allowing him to move on.
It's interesting that Buffy could sense Angel's presence on some unconscious level; does this have any deeper meaning?

SOMETHING BLUE

Plot Points:

Spike reluctantly tells Buffy and Giles about the Initiative, how their base is beneath Sunnydale University. He becomes Giles' unwilling roommate.
Oz called back to Devon to have his belongs shipped away. Willow gets really depressed and even gets drunk, then casts a spell which makes her will come true. She makes Giles blind, momentarily restores Amy from being a rat, makes Buffy and Spike fall in love (which Buffy tells Riley at one point), and makes demons attack Xander.
D'Hoffryn, the demon who made Anya a vengeance demon, offers Willow to become the same. She refuses, but he leaves her his talisman to contact him if she changes her mind.

Analysis:

Oz's actions are similar to Angel's in the last episode. In a way he returns to get his things shipped away but he doesn't contact Willow because he doesn't want to remind her of the pain.
Will this whole theme about Willow and dark magic go anywhere...?
Will D'Hoffryn ever become a kind of last ditch ally to be called upon if the Scoobies are in trouble?

HUSH

Plot Points:

Buffy has a premonition about The Gentlemen in which Riley says "if I kiss you it'll make the sun go down". The Gentlemen steal the voices of everyone in Sunnydale and start killing people for hearts. The official word is a viral outbreak. The Initiative patrols the town as peace keepers.
The Initiative elevator requires voice recognition and has lethal countermeasures.
Olivia visits Giles, and Spike moves in with Xander. Olivia never saw anything demonic before The Gentlemen.
Anya is worried that Xander doesn't really care for her, but he proves himself to her.
Willow joins a wicca group which is a joke, though she does meet the nervous and withdrawn Tara. The Gentlemen go after Tara, but together Tara and Willow managed to greatly combine their magical strength to elude them. Tara says she's always practiced magic, her mother was very powerful like Willow.
Riley and Buffy run into each other fighting while defeating The Gentlemen, Buffy screams to kill them once they free the voices.

Analysis:

Buffy's premonition about The Gentlemen was the key to their victory over them. So what was the source of this vision? Was this just another Slayer power yet to be fully tapped (similar to her prophetic dreams in "Welcome to the Hell mouth" and "Surprise") or did some ally send her this vision to help her?
Riley talking about kissing her and making the sun goes down seems to refer to Angel; in other words in Riley she's just looking for another Angel because Angel is her true soul mate and anyone else is just a replacement.
How in the world can the public just ignore the entire city loosing their speech?! This is really pushing it!
Olivia must not have been very close to Giles if this is the first time she ever saw something paranormal.
So what is the significance of Willow and Tara being so powerful together. It either means that together they are greater than the sum of their parts; that Tara was able to awaken something hidden in Willow; or that Tara is incredibly powerful.
Tara says that Willow is much more powerful than her, but this doesn't seem true. And what's this about Tara's Mother being as powerful as Willow?

DOOMED Plot Points:

Buffy and Riley explain themselves. Buffy reveals she knows about the commandos and medical testing and explains she's The Slayer. Riley's never heard of The Slayer and reminds not to tell anyone about him. She says Slayers don't live beyond 25.
An earthquake marks yet another demon attempt to open the Hellmouth and bring the apocalypse. Buffy stops it.
Sunnydale High is now a sealed off burned out ruin. Chunks of The Mayor's corpse remain.
Xander, Willow, and Spike learn Riley is an Initiative commando.
Forrest (and presumably the rest of the commandos) think the demons are just rare animals and nothing more.
Willow runs into Percy at a dorm party (his girlfriend goes to UCS).
Spike feels suicidal because of his condition, until he learns he can fight demons without chip pain. He decides to fight demons for fun.
Buffy starts a relationship with Riley after an initial reluctance because of her duties.

Analysis:

Buffy says Slayers don't live beyond 25. This is probably just a generalization since most are killed by then, but it's also possible that Slayers have a naturally shorter life span than normal humans. Perhaps because they spend a life time of energy in a few short years?
It's astonishing that there's still pieces of The Mayor's snake-demon corpse at Sunnydale High! Wouldn't this be positive proof of the existence of demons?! Could this be a factor leading into The Initiative moving into Sunnydale just months after The Mayor was killed? And wouldn't The Initiative definitely be aware of The Mayor's demise and clean up any demonic evidence?!
How can Forrest et al possibly think that demons are just another species of animals?! Especially since so many are sentient! Is this just the propaganda they're being told or something? How could an entire population like that evolve alongside humanity without the general public ever learning of it!

A NEW MAN Plot Points:

Ethan Rayne returns to Sunnydale to warn Giles about a coming war between the demons and The Initiative. The demons are particularly scared of something called 314. They get drunk together and Ethan poisons Giles' drink making him into a stupid demon.
Demon-Giles pays Spike to help him find Ethan. Demon-Giles chases Prof Walsh down the street. The Initiative gives chase to Demon-Giles and Spike. Giles' Citron car is destroyed in the chase. Buffy with Initiative help locates Ethan and Demon-Giles. Walsh ordered Riley not bring Buffy along when they locate the demon. Buffy stabs Demon-Giles then realizes who he is; Ethan reverts him and is taken into military custody for a Nevada prison.
Riley takes Buffy to tell Walsh about her Slayer-ness. She's impressed and wants to introduce her to the Initiative.
Giles meets Walsh looking for Buffy. They immediately disagree over Buffy's academics. Walsh thinks Buffy is being irresponsible because of a lack of a strong father figure.
Giles is feeling left out and worthless. He learns secondhand from Xander and Willow about Riley, Walsh, and the Initiative.
Buffy has her nineteenth birthday party.
Spike moves out of Xander's basement and into a cemetery crypt.
Giles has been fighting demons for twenty years.
Riley's killed seventeen demons and vampires so far.
The Initiative monitors emergency calls throughout Sunnydale for demonic activity, and has master keys that can open any shop.
Willow and Tara are meeting to practice magic spells together.
314 is a secret room in The Initiative which Walsh goes to.

Analysis:

So did Ethan come to Sunnydale just to pull the prank on Giles, or was he legitimately trying to warn him about The Initiative? And doesn't Ethan live in England? Is the demon community in England really that abuzz about The Initiative? For that matter, why would any demons outside of Sunnydale care about The Initiative?
Then again, the demon community seems aware of them trying something unwholesome (ie create a human-demon hybrid), but how could they possibly know this when only Walsh and Angleman do apparently?
Sounds like Walsh didn't want Buffy around when they found Demon-Giles so that they could capture and dissect him.
It's highly unlikely Ethan will ever manage to escape a high security military prison. This just might be the last we see of him.
If Walsh doesn't want Buffy to interfere with Initiative operations why does she get her invited to join it? Was she just being arrogant, hoping she could use Buffy as a weapon without her clueing in on the secret purpose? Maybe she's been spending too much time with unquestioning military Special Ops troops....
Giles is more on his game than he realizes; on meeting Walsh he immediately sensed something was bad about her.
Riley's small kill count doesn't mean much since the vast majority of The Initiative's victims are captured and not killed.
How could the demon community possibly know the room number of the lab Walsh is working in?!

THE I IN TEAM Plot Points:

In a test battle Buffy defeats an organized Initiative patrol, concerning Walsh.
Buffy is shown the Initiative complex by Riley and Walsh. Dr Angleman is the head doctor working towards removing the demons as a threat to others. She's given a security card and pager and made an unofficial team member.
314 is a laboratory only Walsh and Angleman have access to; they're building Adam, a combination of man, machine, and demon.
Buffy and the commandos capture a Polgara demon, instructed by Walsh not to damage its forearm bone skewers. Forrest isn't happy with having Buffy fighting with them. Buffy and Riley immediately have sex afterwards in Riley's room where they are observed via surveillance by Walsh.
The commandos spot Spike and hit him with a tracer. Giles, Willow, Xander, and Anya remove it and help him elude them.
Walsh traps Buffy with some demons and a faulty tazer gun hoping to eliminate her. She survives the trap and exposes Walsh in front of Riley. Walsh is immediately killed afterwards by Adam.
Riley takes regular vitamins from the Initiative. Riley was in Special Ops in the military.
Willow feels alienated from Buffy spending so much time with Riley and the Initiative and starts spending more time with Tara.
Spike refuses to help Giles et al in any way and wants nothing to do with them, though he won't leave town in the hopes of a cure.

Analysis:

So WHY was Walsh building Adam? Did she intend him to be some kind of super-soldier, or something else?
Here's another confirmation at what Faith said in "Faith, Hope, and Trick" about slaying being connected to sexuality. Buffy gets horny of a kill and runs off to have sex with Riley.
Did Walsh really think that two generic demons could kill Buffy? After all she just heard about Buffy's past kills last episodes? Wouldn't a better solution have been to gas her or offer her an injection or medication then kill her while she's unconscious? Or to trap her in an air proof room so that she suffocates? Again, she seems arrogant and out of touch with reality.
Why does Walsh feel so personally connected to Riley, especially when she's playing the rest of The Initiative for puppets?
Why did Adam kill his Mother?

GOODBYE IOWA Plot Points:

Buffy tells Giles, Xander, Willow, and Anya about Walsh and takes them into hiding at Xander's basement. Riley comes in to learn the truth, finds Buffy is protecting Spike, and storms off.
Adam escapes The Initiative and murders then dissects a young boy he comes across, to learn what he is.
Forrest suspects that Buffy maybe spying into The Initiative through Riley, and suspects Buffy murdered Walsh. Washington sends orders to Angleman to lock down the complex with all soldiers until an investigatory team arrives. Riley sends out teams to find the suspected Polgara demon anyway.
Buffy hits up Willy for information, who claims to be going more wholesome now. Riley comes in and looses control, angry at Buffy again fraternizing with demons, and draws a gun on the populace. He's going through withdrawal.
Walsh was secretly giving the Initiative commandos medication through their vitamins. With her dead they're not getting their fix.
Willow prepares a powerful demon location spell with Tara, but Tara secretly sabotages the spell from working.
Spike gets beaten by a gang of demons for fighting his own kind and warns him not to do it again.
Buffy and Xander sneak into the Initiative complex to investigate Walsh's plans. She confronts Angleman- only Walsh wanted her dead for discovering Project 314 and now it's escaped. Security systems die. Adam returns and says he wants to learn about the world and himself. Walsh's files say he's a kinematically redundant biomechanical demonoid designed by Walsh, but there is a design flaw in him that allows him to disobey Walsh's orders. Files on Riley say Walsh 'created' him too with strength-enhancing chemicals, he and Adam were 'brothers' as her favorite 'children'. Walsh had a plan for them and Adam knows how it ends.
Buffy attempts to fight Adam but can't hurt him. He is stronger than her. Adam kills Angleman and runs Riley through the gut with a bone spur. Adam leaves just as the Initiative commandos arrive. Riley is taken to a military hospital.

Analysis:

It's a real shame that Buffy and company never actually had to hide from The Initiative / military / government. That would have been the ultimate storyline! Joyce and their families would be arrested! The police would be looking for them! Where could they run?
Why is Riley so ticked at Buffy for protecting Spike when his missions are always to CAPTURE demons and Spike is a neutered demon?
So Adam apparently didn't have any real knowledge when he left The Initiative, only after he reads all those files.
How does Adam move around The Initiative so easily?! Even if he knows all the floor plans and so on, it doesn't explain it. And if he's using some kind of secret tunnels only Walsh knew about, how could she keep this secret from everyone, especially since The Initiative complex was presumably only built six months ago!
So if Walsh (and Angleman) were lone nuts subverting the good intentions of The Initiative, won't the death of both of them and the new team from Washington mean the end of any wrong doings on the behalf of The Initiative?
Riley does raise a decent question about why Buffy doesn't both Willy's Bar's demon population. They are murderers after all!
Obviously Tara sabotaged the demon location spell because a) she's a demon or b) she's hiding a demon.
Isn't Spike a very powerful and dangerous vampire? How did a small group of demons manage to best him? He can hit them!
Obviously it was Adam who disabled The Initiative security to enter (using Walsh's information), and it was just a coincidence that Buffy and Xander came in at the same time and so weren't discovered. That plan can't work again, and besides Forrest will undoubtedly remove Buffy's security access after this incident.
So Adam murdering and whatnot was NOT Walsh's plan. He has a design flaw. This is probably just the demon side of him coming out and overriding the programming Walsh put into him. So he's a personification of Walsh's arrogance thinking she can control the demonic world to her own devices.
If Adam is so reverent towards Mother why did he kill her? Was it just that before reading all these files he didn't have any clue about what was going on and just felt murderous impulses? So does he regret killing her now?
How much can mere chemicals do to enhance Riley's strength? Is there more that Adam isn't telling?
What makes Riley so different from the rest of the commandos? Is it just that he's the head commando and so she zeroed in on him?
So what was Walsh's plan? And how is Riley involved in it?
So if Angleman was Walsh's co-conspirator, and Adam now agrees with Mother's plan, why did he kill Angleman? To prevent him from telling anyone about his/Mother's plans?

THIS YEAR'S GIRL (part 1 of 2) Plot Points:

Faith's Mind: Faith and Buffy are putting new white sheets on Buffy's bed. Buffy has to go because "little sis is coming". Buffy says "so much to do before she gets here". Faith asks if Buffy will ever take the knife out of her gut.
Buffy has Xander attempt to repair the captured blaster to fight Adam with, but he only manages to electrocute himself.
Riley releases himself from the hospital despite Forrest. Forrest intends to keep the Adam problem within the Initiative. Buffy plans breaking in the IHQ by having Willow make a black-out then use Xander's equipment to shimmy down the elevator shaft and blast through the doors, but Riley returns himself. Riley apologizes to Willow and Xander for his drug-enduced actions.
Adam dissects a demon to examine it and learn how it works.
Faith's Mind: Faith and The Mayor have a picnic. Faith fears rain coming, and The Mayor shoos away a snake for not belonging there. Buffy appears and kills The Mayor with Faith's knife then chases Faith. The two fall into an open grave and fight as it begins raining; Faith crawls out alone-- and wakes up from her coma in the hospital.
Buffy tells Riley about quitting the Watcher's Council and suggests fighting the system from within or going freelance.
Faith escapes from the hospital, learns about The Graduation and how she's been under 8 months. The police want her for questioning in a series of murders. The hospital nurse calls someone to inform them of Faith awakening and tells them to send the team.
Scooby meeting about Adam, with Faith watching through the window. Riley says Adam runs off an "autonomic" power source and is charging up for his mission. Riley easily fixes the captured blaster. They decide to look for Adam files from Walsh. Riley agrees to look, and share the information with them. Someone calls Buffy and tells her Faith is awake. They talk capturing her for the police, Watchers Council, or Initiative. Buffy hopes to rehabilitate her, and tells Riley about Faith (but not about Angel).
Faith confronts Buffy and Willow at the college yard, out for revenge. Faith is pissed Buffy's dropped Angel, who she stabbed her over, and picked up a new boyfriend. Faith also had dreams about cigars and a tunnel. Their fight is interrupted by the arrival of the police, who Faith easily eludes.
Willow recruits Tara to search for Faith; Tara knows about the Slaying now and is anti violent.
Xander (with blaster) and Giles come across Spike and attempt to recruit him, but instead he goes looking to help Faith.
The nurse's team arrives by copter; three Watchers Council assassins. They contact Giles.
A demon give Faith The Mayor's video will. It was recorded when she was comatose, in case he fails. He says there isn't a place for her in the world anymore, her days are numbered, but he's left a final demon crafted gift for her to go out on a bang...
Faith takes Joyce hostage and gloats that Joyce has been ignored by Buffy as well, even with Faith on the loose. Buffy shows up and fights Faith. The police arrive, and Faith uses the demon device on Buffy-- they switch bodies! Buffy-in-Faith is unconscious, and Faith-in-Buffy destroys the demon device.

Analysis:

In "Graduation 2" Buffy and Faith were able to interact in each other's dreams, and while that happens here Buffy seems to carry no memory of it. Or maybe she thinks they're just dreams.
Little Sister, presumably the next Slayer or some other similar figure, will be showing up soon, and will apparently be sleeping in Buffy's old bed at Joyce's house.
Buffy says she has a lot to do before she arrives, presumably taking out Adam and the Initiative. Or maybe it's reconciling with Giles, Xander, Willow, and Joyce.
It looks like Xander has pretty much lost all of his "Halloween" soldier skills, since all Riley had to was a flip a switch to activate the blaster. Then again he seems to have these skills again all of a sudden in later episodes...
Buffy's attempted plan to break in the IHQ is almost exactly what they ultimately do in "Primevil"!
The Mayor shooing away a snake symbolizes Faith denying the demonic aspect of The Mayor, instead preferring to see him as the charming kind father figure.
Rain symbolizes change, and it rains when Faith kills 'Buffy' to escape the coma. Yet Faith earlier says she fears the rain. Does this mean she fears awakening from her coma, having to face the consequences of her actions? This certainly plays out in her later appearances.
Buffy suggests to Riley that he go freelance demon hunting... but how he is going to make an income doing that?
Apparently The Mayor made sure Faith was safe from the police, but with The Mayor gone the police have decided to go respectable and hunt down Faith.
Nice to see the Watchers Council was keeping an eye on comatose Faith all this time!
Who called Buffy to tell her Faith was awake? The police? The hospital? Was it public knowledge that Faith was hanging out with Buffy for most of last year, and if so why haven't we seen the police ever question Buffy regarding Faith since The Mayor's death.
Faith makes an excellent point about Buffy being willing to kill Faith to save Angel's life, but then immediately breaks up with him and is already getting it on with another boyfriend. Same thing about Buffy ignoring Joyce.
Faith had a dream about cigars and a tunnel... is this a throwaway line? A sexual reference? Some big hidden meaning?
At what point did Willow tell Tara about Buffy and Slaying and whatnot?

So what did the WC assassins talk to Giles about? Polite visit, or did they grill him for Faith's whereabouts?

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