Overall Rating: 6.5 Matt: 7.0 Eric: 6.0 Writer: David Fury Director: Daniel Attias Cast : Sarah Michelle Gellar as Buffy Summers, Nicholas Brendon as Xander Harris, Alyson Hannigan as Willow Rosenberg, Marc Blucas as Riley Finn, Emma Caulfield as Anya, Michelle Trachtenberg as Dawn Summers, James Marsters as Spike, Anthony Stewart Head as Rupert Giles. Main guest stars : Kristine Sutherland as Joyce Summers, Clare Kramer as Glory, Charlie Weber as Ben, Amber Benson as Tara, Kevin Weisman as Dreg, William Forward as Dr. Isaacs, Megan Gray as Sandy. Original broadcast date : November 21, 2000 My one-line description: Meet Riley, the vampire chew toy. At the hospital, Joyce is having her CAT scan while Buffy and Dawn wait outside in the waiting room. At the Magic Box, Giles proudly shows Tara his new ad in the yellow pages. Anya, Xander and Willow show up, and Xander complains that Riley took on an entire vampire nest by himself (in Fool For Love). The conversation switches to Glory, and Xander muses that she’s probably hiding in a rat-infested warehouse. Actually, Glory is in a luxurious apartment. A minion, named Dreg, kneels before her and offers her a spell assuring her that it will work… Glory agrees, saying that if it doesn’t work, she’ll have to kill him. Dreg points out that she has to have the right materials, and Glory rips out the ad for the Magic Box in the phone book… Riley find the front door at Buffy’s house open. Inside, he notices a heavy blanket, and follows a noise coming from upstairs… which leads him to Spike, who is sniffing one of Buffy’s sweaters! The vampire embarrassedly lies that it’s all part of a "know your enemies’ scent" deal; as Riley drags him to the front door, he protests that Buffy wouldn’t mind him being there, and that after all he spent most of last night with her… He says that he’s more Buffy’s type than Riley himself is – according to him, Buffy likes her men dangerous and "occasionally bumpy in the forehead region". Riley insists that he’s what Buffy needs, but Spike asks why he isn’t at the hospital, where Joyce is having some more tests… Riley rushes to the hospital, where he tells a pacing Buffy that he just heard. She asks him to take care of Dawn while she goes to be with her mother. In an exam room, Joyce breaks the news to Buffy – she has a "shadow" on her brain, and they have to do a biopsy in two days to determine what it is. At the Magic Box, the gang is still researching Glory, but not having much luck. Giles muses that since no record of this demon exists, they can’t know where she’ll turn up next… He turns around to help a young woman, who is none other than said demon; however, neither Giles nor the others have yet met her, so Giles adds up her items, hands her a bag and she leaves… At the hospital, Dawn, Buffy and Riley are waiting for the results of the biopsy. A doctor comes up to Buffy and breaks the bad news – Joyce has a brain tumor. As Buffy listens, shell-shocked, he adds that her symptoms may progress rapidly, including loss of vision or appetite, mood swings and lack of muscle control. He goes on to ask questions about Joyce’s life habits, but Buffy is only half-listening. Ben shows up and tries to comfort Buffy, saying that she should take a break. Buffy goes back to Riley and informs him she’s going to look for a healing spell. Riley isn’t convinced that magic will help, but Buffy snaps that his attitude isn’t helping. Chastised, he agrees to take Dawn to school, but asks what he should tell her. Buffy instructs him to tell Dawn they don’t know anything yet. "Hey… Hey!... HEY!!!" Anya exclaims as she goes through the receipts at the Magic Box. She’s just found out that Giles has sold someone a Kohl’s Amulet and a Sobekium Bloodstone – the Sobekites were an Egyptian cult immersed in dark magic, and the Amulet is a transmogrification conduit. Giles replies that the Sobekium transmogrification spells were lost long ago, and that the young woman who bought them would need to have immense power – As he cuts off in mid-sentence, the gang realizes they sold some heavy-duty spell stuff to Glory. Riley takes Dawn to the amusement park, and they sit in front of the carousel, where Dawn remembers her tenth birthday – her mother had rented the whole carousel just for them and Buffy. Dawn is worried that her mom isn’t getting better, and Riley acts reassuring. Dawn appreciates it, and tells him that Buffy appreciates him too – she used to cry a lot more when she was with Angel, but she doesn’t get worked up like that with Riley. This doesn’t please our soldier… Buffy arrives at the Magic Box and shares her plan to find a healing spell; her friends agree to help, but warn Buffy that they could just make things worse. Anya comments that they already did enough to make things worse – having caught Buffy’s attention, she gets Giles to admit he sold the amulet and the Bloodstone to Glory. Anya points out that Glory will use those to conjure up Sobek, the reptile demon, using a cobra. At the zoo, Glory smashes a glass display case and retrieves a cobra, which she puts in a large clay jar. She and Dreg begin the spell, but Buffy interrupts them. Glory quickly gets rid of her by tossing her into the empty cobra display case, and they complete the ritual. The jar vibrates, and then sprouts an enormous, ugly demon cobra thingie. As Buffy regains consciousness, Glory instructs her new pet to find the Key and report to her on its location. As Sobek slithers away, so does the Slayer, unbeknownst to Glory… Riley shows up at the Magic Box, looking for Buffy. He grows concerned when he learns she went to fight a demon by herself, but Xander harshly reminds him of the blowing-up-the-vampire-nest-by-yourself episode. Riley claims that was different, but Xander explains that Buffy needs to take her mind off her mother’s condition – she needs a problem to solve, something to fight. Riley backs down, explaining he’s a little crazed. As Sobek searches Sunnydale’s churches (wow, try saying that ten times fast), Giles receives a call from Buffy at the hospital. She tells him she couldn’t even slow Glory down, and warns him about the snake-thingie. She also informs him that Dawn is heading for the Magic Box after school, and that she doesn’t know how bad Joyce’s condition is. Buffy wants to stay at the hospital to be there when her mother wakes up. As soft, sad music plays, Riley has a drink alone at Willy’s Place; Buffy waits alone at the hospital; Dawn does homework at the magic shop… At Willy’s, Riley is joined by Vampire Sandy; at the hospital, Joyce looks away, holding back her tears as the doctors break the news; Buffy looks on… Sandy takes Riley to a private spot and starts to drink from him. He lets her do it for a few seconds, and then he stakes her… Sobek arrives at the amusement park and smells the bench where Riley and Dawn were sitting a few hours earlier… Buffy arrives at the Magic Box and hugs her sister, trying to reassure her as best she can without giving her the bad news. Then she asks the gang if there have been any huge reptile sightings… and voila, Sobek shows himself, crashing through the window, taking a quick look at a screaming Dawn, and then turning tail and leaving. "It knows", Buffy tells Giles, fear in her voice. She takes off after the demon, and Giles runs to his car. He catches up with the Slayer, and they use the fast red BMW to chase the demon. In her apartment, Glory is growing quite impatient waiting for news from "snakey-wakey". She reminds Dreg she’s on a schedule. Buffy runs after Sobek with a length of chain she grabbed along the way. She jumps on his back and strangles him until he’s motionless, but he was only faking – and the second time around, she punches him deader than dead, as terribly close nearby, Glory still waits in her apartment… At the hospital, Buffy leaves her mother’s room so Joyce can break the news to Dawn. As she waits outside, Riley comes up to her, and she falls in his arms. He asks her to let it out, but she says she can’t – not now. If she starts, she says, she won’t be able to stop. "Buffy?" calls Joyce’s voice, and Buffy goes back into the room to be with her mother and her sister, leaving Riley alone… Summary by OttsFiveByFive.