The Good;
Some great acting from Marc Blucas as Riley comes apart. Love Buffy's rallying speech in her sushi pyjamas and Riley recognising Spike.
The Bad;
A pretty dull episode in many ways, Adam is a stupid enemy. I always said that the more Joyce in an ep the better it is, well, the more Adam in an ep the worse it is. The idea that he had a floppy disc player in 2001, really! Also the little boy he kills is the dumbest kid ever.
Best line;
Anya; "He was GI Joe for one night, it wasn't as if he was in The Nam"
Character death;
Byebye another Initiative scientist and some poor MP
Shot;
No but Riley threatens one of Willy's patrons with his pistol.
Jeez!;
Cutting the demons arm off, nice!
Kinky dinky;
Trying to remain inconspicuous Xander tried to kiss Buffy.
Calling Captain Subtext;
Buffy, Willow and Anya spend the night in bed together. Amazed if the slashficcers didn't make great play of that! Upon seeing the Initiative Xander asks if he can have sex with Riley too. So, why does Tara ruin Will's demon hunting spell? One day we'll find out. Spike comments that Buffy has tragic taste in men, foreshadowing indeed.
Guantanamo Bay;
The Initiative are very brazen, charging around in Humvees, guns blazing. Buffy hits Willy but at his own request, the last time he'll be seen in the series.
Scoobies to the ER;
Riley goes cold turkey and gets stabbed.
Apocalypses; 5,
Questions and observations;
Giles still has his Mark of Eyghon tattoo, you'd think he'd want rid of it? In the scene where Riley and Buffy meet at the murder site the camera goes very funny in places, going octagonal? Spike says he has a cousin who married a Privlops demon but like most of what Spike says he's probably lying.
Marks out of 10; 6/10 Adam is going to drag the scores down for the rest of the season.
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Buffy and Riley get mutually suspicious of each other when Buffy reveals that Professor Walsh tried to have her killed. When Professor Walsh is found dead things get even more out of hand, with the commandos quick to blame Buffy. Riley is even more agitated when he sees Buffy with Spike ("Hostile 17") and then again at Willy's Place. Meanwhile the man-demon-machine Adam that Professor Walsh created is roaming Sunnydale and even Buffy can't seem to stop him.moreless
 James Marsters |
Spike |
 Sarah Michelle Gellar |
Buffy Anne Summers |
 Marc Blucas |
Riley Finn |
 Nicholas Brendon |
Alexander 'Xander' Harris |
 Alyson Hannigan |
Willow Rosenberg |
 Anthony Stewart Head |
Rupert Giles |
 Jack Stehlin |
Doctor Angleman |
Guest Star |
JB Gaynor |
Little Boy |
Guest Star |
Amy Powell |
Reporter |
Guest Star |
 Amber Benson |
Tara |
Recurring Role |
George Hertzberg |
Adam |
Recurring Role |
 Leonard Roberts |
Forrest Gates |
Recurring Role |
Watch Online
Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions
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TRIVIA (9)
ADD TRIVIA-
When Adam is reviewing the "files" Walsh left for him he inserts MiniDiscs into a floppy drive in his chest. Clearly incompatible with each other.
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The scene of the Initiative complex that Buffy and Xander see from the elevator walkway is reused from "The Initiative". Look closely and Professor Walsh can be seen at her desk with Riley, Forrest, and Graham walking towards her.
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When Buffy gives Riley her bandanna, you should watch her hair while it is going on. It just so happens that her bandanna is still in her hair in one shot and disappears the next, even after she's given it to him.
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During Buffy's fight with Adam at the end of the episode, there are several times where you can tell that a stunt double is used.
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When the scientist, Dr. Angelman, walks into the lab to find Professor Walsh's dead body, he slips and falls. He sees red on his hands, but the pool of blood clearly doesn't even reach him, nor is there a smear mark where he slipped.
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When Xander comes running into the basement, telling Willow to turn on the TV, Willow doesn't change the channel from cartoons to the news but the news is on when she turns on the TV.
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When Riley is sick and scratching his hand, Buffy wraps her bandana around his hand. Later when Riley shows up at the initiative (where Buffy Xander, and Adam show up) he doesn't have the bandana around his hand. However, at the end of the episode when Riley is lying in the med center, he has it again.
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The hole in Spike's shirt from the tracer bullet disappears at the start of this episode.
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When Adam is telling Buffy and Riley about the professor's notes and plans, he reads them off disks that he inserts into a disk drive in his chest. But he doesn't take out the disk labeled "ADAM" before inserting the "FINN" disk.
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QUOTES (12)
ADD QUOTES-
Willy: We got new rules here. No killing!
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Buffy: This is the Initiative, Xander. Military guys and scientists do NOT make out with each other.
Xander: Well, maybe that's what's wrong with the world. Ever think about that? -
Willy: Look, if they see me dealing with you, then I'm just the same old Willy, working both sides of the street.
Buffy: I'm gonna have to punch you, aren't I?
Willy: Just once, and it doesn't have to hurt. Just make it look good. (draws her fist back) Ow! Oh!
Buffy: Not yet - I haven't touched you! -
Anya: You know, you really should get yourself a boring boyfriend. Like Xander. You can't have Xander.
Buffy: That was the idea. Riley was supposed to be Mr. Joe Guy. We were gonna do dumb things, like hold hands through the daisies, going "tra-la-la."
Willow: Poor Buffy. Your life resists all things average.
Anya: So dump him. But you can't have Xander.
Buffy: I'll try and remember that. -
Willow: Well, look who's cranky-bear in the morning.
Giles: Yes, I can't imagine why I didn't sleep well in my beach ball.
Anya: Every time you moved, it made squeaky noises. It was irritating.
Giles: Really? I'm surprised you could hear it over your Wagnerian snoring. -
Buffy: (while watching a cartoon) That would never happen.
Willow: Well, no, Buff, that's why they call them cartoons, not documentaries. -
Buffy: (to Riley) Maggie tried to kill me.
Anya: It didn't work, but they're all upset, anyway. -
Buffy: Xander, what about your basement? The guys haven't seen us together that much, and there's enough room.
Willow: Ooh, plus, mirror ball.
Xander: Cool. Come on down and boogie at Xander's hideaway.
Anya: Yes. Come boogie.
Giles: Absolutely not. I will not squat in that dank hole.
Spike: What, it was good enough for me, but you're above it all?
Giles: Precisely. -
Buffy: So Maggie sends me down to the sewers, with one of those blasto-guns, and the next thing I know, it's raining monsters.
Xander: Hallelujah. -
Xander: (upon seeing the Initiative for the first time) Holy Moly!
Buffy: I know...
Xander: I totally get it now. Can I have sex with Riley too? -
Xander: Storm the Initiative? Yeah, let's take on those suckers!
Buffy: I was thinking more that we'd hide.
Xander: Oh thank God. -
Buffy: Giles, Anya — you keep researching. Xander, you and I are going undercover.
Anya: Hey! Remember before? No Xander. Not in a boyfriend way; not in a lead-him-to-certain-death way.
Buffy: Xander's the only one with military training.
Anya: It's not like he was in the 'Nam. He was G.I. Joe for one night.
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NOTES (9)
ADD NOTES-
The TV seen in Xander's basement is exactly the same set that was seen in Giles' apartment in The Harsh Light of Day. It looks like either the prop was shared, or Giles brought that TV with him when he stayed the night with all the Scoobies.
-
After waking up in Xander's basement, Giles' tattoo on his left arm is clearly seen when turning off the TV. This tattoo was significant as the "Mark of Eyghon" from Season 2's "The Dark Age".
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When Adam approaches the little boy, the boy appears to be playing with a toy that is part robot & part something else, much like Adam himself.
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After this episode, Saverio Guerra's character "Willy the Snitch" does not reappear in Sunnydale, however he is mentioned a few times hereafter.
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Buffy wears "yummi sushi" pajamas.
-
This episode starts just minutes after the previous episode's end.
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It is against the demon "code of honor" for one demon to kill another.
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Spike is no longer welcome around the other demons because they've gotten word that he is fighting them.
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We learn that Professor Walsh was giving Riley and the other troops some sort of supplements in their food to make them stronger.
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ALLUSIONS (6)
ADD ALLUSIONS-
The name Adam
In the novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelly, "Adam" is the name of Frankenstein's monster. Also, the scene in which Adam meets the boy parallels the scene in the original movie version of the novel where the monster meets a little girl.
This could also be a reference to the Biblical Adam, from Genesis, the first of his kind ever created.
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Buffy: ...and the next thing I know, it's raining monsters.
Xander: Hallelujah
A reference to the 1983 song, "It's Raining Men" by The Weather Girls which was recently covered by ex-Spice Girl Geri Halliwell. -
Buffy: Everything's screwed up enough without you two doing Scenes from my Parents' Marriage.
Scenes from a Marriage is a quite famous 3 hour film, turned 5 hour mini-series by three time Swedish Oscar-winner Ingmar Bergman with very powerful scenes (a lot of emotional shouting and accusations) of a woman (Liv Ullman)and a man (Erland Josephson) breaking up. -
Anya: It's not like he was in the 'Nam. He was G. I. Joe for one night.
Anya refers to Xander's soldier experience with the term G. I. Joe which is both a generic term for an army soldier and also a cartoon and action figure character. The term came about in World War II to refer to a generic (Joe) General Infantryman. -
Xander: In the movies the guy and the girl have to hide.
Xander attempts to draw Buffy into a kiss in homage to the classic spy movie scene. For some reason the spy (James Bond for example) needs to evade capture and so kisses his girlfriend/sidekick/nearby stranger to avoid being noticed. Xander previously did this when Buffy first goes into the hospital to see Willow in Becoming, Part 2 (2x22). -
Spike: I've got to hand it to you Goldilocks - you do have bleeding tragic taste in men.
Spike refers to the blond Buffy with a reference to the fairy tale character Goldilocks.
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"Demonica" Book--sounds a lot like BtVS
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New movie with Seth Green and Michelle Trachtengberg
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post the person you hate from buffy and ill try and get you to like them again
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Buffy the Vampire Slayer Quiz
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Chosen
S 7 : Ep 22
Aired 5/20/03 (43:43)
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End of Days
S 7 : Ep 21
Aired 5/13/03 (42:39)
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Touched
S 7 : Ep 20
Aired 5/6/03 (42:40)
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Empty Places
S 7 : Ep 19
Aired 4/29/03 (42:41)
Season 4 Episodes
See AllEp 22
Restless
Ep 21
Primeval (2)
Ep 20
The Yoko Factor (1)
Ep 19
New Moon Rising
Ep 18
Where the Wild Things Are
Ep 17
Superstar
Ep 16
Who Are You? (2)
Ep 15
This Year's Girl (1)
Ep 14
Goodbye Iowa
Ep 13
The I In Team
Ep 12
A New Man
Ep 11
Doomed
Ep 10
Hush
Ep 9
Something Blue
Ep 8
Pangs
Ep 7
The Initiative
Ep 6
Wild At Heart
Ep 5
Beer Bad
Ep 4
Fear, Itself
Ep 3
The Harsh Light of Day
Ep 2
Living Conditions
Ep 1
The Freshman
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