Overall Rating: 8.05 Matt: 8.2 Eric: 7.9 Writers: David Fury and Jane Espenson Director : Nick Marck Cast : Sarah Michelle Gellar as Buffy Summers, Nicholas Brendon as Xander Harris, Emma Caulfield as Anya, Michelle Trachtenberg as Dawn Summers, James Marsters as Spike, Alyson Hannigan as Willow Rosenberg. Main guest stars : Amber Benson as Tara, Adam Busch as Warren, Danny Strong as Jonathan, Tom Lenk as Andrew, Paul Gutrech as Tony, Noel Albert Guglielmi as Vince, Marcia Ann Burrs as Professor Bellamy, and Anthony Stewart Head as Rupert Giles. Original broadcast date : October 23, 2001 Buffy returns from her meeting with Angel with a bucket of fried chicken for supper, but she finds the gang already at the supper table, eating something else. Politely, Tara takes some chicken, and the rest of the gang help themselves, then they ask Buffy about her plans for the future. She starts reciting her scheme to deal with her money troubles, but they rephrase the question, asking about what she plans to do with her life. Apart from noting that she’s obviously not registered at UC Sunnydale for this semester, Buffy is at a loss to answer… So Willow suggests she audit for the rest of this semester. Elsewhere, Warren, Jonathan and Andrew are putting the finishing touch to their supercool high-tech van, with which they plan to test the Slayer’s abilities. On campus, Buffy joins Willow in a sociology class, but is completely lost in the five-syllable words and upper stratosphere explanations. After class, she meets up with Tara to go to her history class, but as they talk in the corridor, Warren bumps into her, tagging her with a diamond-shaped object. The two girls resume their talk, but things start going weird for Buffy as she time goes fast-forward on her, leaving her confused. Tara comes out of class, asking Buffy why she skipped it - for Buffy, mere seconds have passed. Our Slayer experiences another jump forward, and she runs after Tara, who has left. Once outside, things – and people – accelerate big time, bumping into her and forcing her to duck under a picnic table for cover. She finds the object Warren pinned on her, but as she takes it in her hand to study it, the nerds, in the van, panic and hit a button that disintegrates the thing… Trying something else, Buffy joins Xander on his construction work. As they walk to the site, wearing hard hats, she tells him how glad she is to have joined the workforce… But Xander’s boss, Tony, is less impressed with having a little girl working construction… at least until she picks up a girder and walks away with it. In the van, Andrew is preparing to take his turn at testing the Slayer, and starts working some magic. Across the street, on the site, Buffy fills up on water when a demon shows up behind Tony. She shoves him out of the way, then starts fighting the demons as the workers cower in a corner. The demons melt away, and when Xander arrives, wondering what’s going on, the workers deny anything happened, hinting that Buffy has simply gone berserk. Angry and disappointed, Xander fires Buffy. Once more, Buffy tries something new – working with Anya at the Magic Box. As Giles gives her pointers, the camera zooms in on a hidden camera in a skull on a shelf… In the van, Jonathan starts working his own mojo, reciting a spell in Latin. In the shop, Buffy prepares to handle her first client, when a man asks her advice on romantic candles – lemon or slug? She hands him the lemon, then goes to help the woman, who wants a mummy hand. Buffy goes downstairs and finds the hand, which promptly jumps to her throat. She stabs it with a dagger, then goes back upstairs and hands it (no pun intended) to the lady, who is outraged and refuses to pay money for a dead hand. After the lady leaves, things start getting eerie. The doorbell jangles again, and the same lady comes in. Giles tells Buffy the same advice he told her minutes before. A bit confused, Buffy goes to serve the lady again, and goes to tackle the mummy hand again, this time armed with tongs. Presenting the lady with a bag, she tells her that the fingers are sold separately. As Jonathan, in the van, hints that Buffy must satisfy the customer for the spell to end, events repeat and repeat themselves, causing Buffy, in various sequences, to angrily toss the slug candle to the man, trample Giles’ glasses, rip the bell off its hinges, and weep in exasperation. Finally, she gets an idea: special-order another mummy hand for the lady, who finally leaves satisfied. The spell wears off, but Anya notices that Buffy failed to charge for delivery, and tells her she’ll take it off her pay. Exasperated, Buffy taks off her nametag and leaves. In the van, Warren and Andrew rate Jonathan’s spell… In the crypt, Spike is pouring some bourbon from a flask for Buffy. They drink up, and Buffy makes a face at the taste, ( "Blaaaah!") He pours her another drink, and she tells him about the mess that is her life. He suggests that she try out his world – the dark side – and see how good it feels. Buffy and Spike enter a bar, and the Slayer, already quite hammered, grabs a bottle of what looks like scotch before both of them head to a back room where a bunch of demons are playing cards. When Buffy expresses her outrage at the fact that he’s going to play poker instead of helping her, he drags her back and whispers to her that he might be able to get information from the demons. Buffy plops down with her bottle, and Spike starts playing poker… for kittens. The game ends badly, as Spike – and another foldy-skinned demon, Clem – are discovered to have cheated. Losing patience, Buffy frees the kittens and leaves. Spike goes after her, but she drunkenly rants at him for failing to solve her problems, about her inability to understand school or get a job, and chides herself for hanging out with a "neutered vampire who cheats at kitten poker." Outside, Buffy spots the nerds’ van and sobers up enough to figure out that it’s the same van she saw at the construction site. Inside the van, the three villains are squabbling about James Bond movies, but Jonathan suddenly sees Buffy, on the camera monitor, walking towards the van. As Buffy nears the van’s rear doors, a caricature of a demon jumps down in front of her and theatrically roars at her, while the van takes off. He admits to being behind the tests she’s been going through. Buffy woozily fights it, falling down on her butt after kicking it; the hurt demon throws a smoke bomb on the ground and runs away. "He blew up!", says a mystified Buffy, before admitting she doesn’t feel too good. Meanwhile, the demon catches up with the van, and turns out to be Jonathan, in his boxers…. At the Summers house, Buffy is still recovering from her hangover. She complains to Giles about her life and her recent failures; he comforts her, telling her she was being tested by a demon, so she wasn’t at fault. Then, he hands her a cheque, to help her pay for all the expenses. Touched and happy, Buffy tells Giles that knowing he’ll always be there makes her feel safe. She leaves the room, and Giles’ expression changes to one of uneasiness and pensiveness… Summary by OttsFiveByFive.