Buffy discovers what Riley has been up to recently and confronts him.

And that's it. Try as I might, I can't think of anything else that happens in the episode. There's no threat to Buffy bar a few vampires that you know she's going to dust within seconds and no apparent plot. Fans have been wary of Marti Noxon's stories for a while now, and as she writes and directs this one, it's possible she'll be avoided like the plague from here on.

Now don't get me wrong, she has been responsible for some of the great character scenes, but she's not that good at writing stories to fit around them. The plotline about Buffy's mum is wrapped up in the first few minutes, with Joyce telling her daughter to spend some time with Riley. Thanks to Spike, however, Buffy uncovers the den of iniquity Riley has been frequenting and asks for an explanation. As you would. The response really isn't satisfactory and Riley is skating on incredibly thin ice. It's a bit off to complain that Buffy has pushed him away when he really hasn't made much effort to be near here. As far as I'm concerned, Buffy is entirely in the right and Riley is in the wrong. However many excuses Riley might have, none of them is really adequate to explain his betrayal and if I were Buffy, I'd drop him on the spot. Which she more or less does.

The scene where Riley confronts Spike is nicely written, but hardly an electric confrontation. It does provide one shock, but that's about it. When they sit down and talk about what each of them does or doesn't have, however, it's quite touching. Equally, Xander's involvement is something of a surprise and shows how much he's grown up without people realizing. After last season's turning away from friends, it's good to see Buffy getting advice whether she wants it or not, and not from Willow for a change. There's also some exploration of the Xander/Anya relationship, which, odd as it seems, continues to flourish, especially in one superb scene near the end which demonstrates what they see in each other. As a counterpoint to Buffy and Riley it works wonderfully, and is arguably the best part of the episode, especially when Buffy questions what Xander sees in her earlier and the pair seem to be on the verge of arguing their way out of the relationship.

Once more I'm happy that Buffy steers away from clichéd endings. When Riley gets in the helicopter, you expect him to hear Buffy in time and come back, but thankfully it doesn't happen. Not only will it be good for the character of Buffy, but Marc Blucas is, sad to say, unlikely to be a big loss to the cast. And not only that but he takes the rest of the low quality acting that seems to permeate the former Initiative with him. Having said all this, it really does drag on interminably. There's too much music, lots of meaningful cross-fades and all manner of junk that really isn't needed. It didn't stir any emotion in me because, as Xander says, you could see it coming. And it was never that interesting a relationship to begin with.

**

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