Overall Rating: 6.1 Matt: 4.7 Eric: 7.5 Writer/Director: Doug Petrie 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. Guest stars: Marc Blucas as Riley Finn and Ivana Milisevic as Sam. Original air date: February 26, 2002 My one-line description: Šand suddenly, something new came to Sunnydale ­ a normal guy. At the Doublemeat Palace, Buffy is busy scraping the grill while a fellow worker, Todd, talks on and on about his plans not to stay here at the DMP but rather to go on to higher studies. He talks down to Buffy about her not being in college, but she tells him she¹s applied for readmittance at UC Sunnydale. He wishes her good luck with that, then leaves her to finish cleaning up alone. On her way home, Buffy encounters a vampire who attacks her ­ and then draws back, commenting on her greasy smell, asking her if she¹s been working in a slaughterhouse. He proposes they call it quits for tonight, but an offended Slayer dusts him. Arriving home, Buffy finds Spike waiting for her on her porch ­ with a specific idea on his mind. She tries to talk him out of it, telling him Dawn¹s waiting for her. But he¹s persuasive, and they end up on the lawnŠ Finally going inside, Buffy presents Dawn with supper ­ a flattened paper bag containing a Doublemeat Medley. Dawn politely tells her sister that she can¹t go on eating burgers every night, and she¹s saved from having to stomach this one when Willow arrives to take the teen to the Bronze. The redhead notices Buffy¹s appearance ­ bruises and grass stains ­ and blames it on battling vampires. "He¹s not getting any softer", Buffy mutters, before correcting herself. Willow and Dawn leave for the Bronze, sans Buffy, who¹s quite tired and depressed. At the Bronze, Anya and Xander nervously snack on chips while planning the wedding reception. Dawn asks them if they¹re nervous, and both of them answer snappily that they¹re not. Realizing she won¹t go very far with them tonight, Dawn backtracks and goes to join Willow. The two of them have drinks and discuss the wedding, and the conversation eventually shifts to Tara. Dawn gets Willow to admit that Tara wouldn¹t hang up if she called her. The next day starts badly for Buffy, who wakes up to the sound of the garbage truck. She rushes to get the garbage outside, but the truck has already driven away. Later, as Dawn prepares to leave for school, Buffy finds a letter from UC Sunnydale on the kitchen counter. As Dawn leaves, the Slayer opens the letter and learns that her application has been rejected. That night, at the Doublemeat Palace, Buffy tends to the grill again. Todd, still yapping about his career moves, sends her to the front counter to take the customers¹ orders. Buffy obeys and tonelessly welcomes the first customer, then looks up to recognize Riley FinnŠ As Buffy stares at him, Riley, now with a long scar on his face, urgently asks Buffy to help him with a mission he¹s on. After taking a moment to notice that Riley really is tall ­ and that she¹s wearing a hat with a cow on it ­ Buffy finally leaves the counter and walks away with Riley, leaving a bewildered Todd behind. On the street, Riley explains he¹s after a very prolific demon who could really spell disaster for the town and the world. He doesn¹t have to explain much ­ the demon appears and chases people away, and Riley and Buffy attack him. It wounds Riley and smashes the Slayer into a wall before escaping. Chasing him into an alley, Buffy and Riley manage to tag him before it gets away again. The pair follows the demon with Riley¹s SUV; while Riley drives, Buffy changes into some Army-issue undercover clothing. The two catch up, and Buffy hints to her ex-boyfriend that if his experiences in Central America didn¹t include dying, she has him beatenŠ Somewhere else, Anya and Xander sit in their car in the middle of a traffic jam, stressed out, hoping to get to the airport on time to pick up Xander¹s family and some of Anya¹s demon friends. Riley stops his SUV at the Sunnydale Dam, where apparently the demon is hiding ­ at the bottom. Riley hooks up a rappelling cord, tells Buffy to climb on him, and they slide down the side of the dam. They¹ve just landed at the bottom when the demon attacks again; Buffy defends Riley, and manages to fight off the demon. As they recover ­ and Buffy looks intensely at Riley ­ a woman also clad in fighting gear appears and asks her what she¹s doing with her husband. The demon ­ a Suvolte demon, it¹s called ­ attacks again, and the woman quickly jumps into the fight. Meanwhile, Riley introduces a shocked Buffy to Sam ­ his wife ­ and explains how they got married. But then the demon delivers a serious blow to Sam, and Riley rushes to help her. Buffy approaches the Suvolte from behind, latches on to it, and snaps its neck. Beaming, happy to have impressed Riley and Sam, she looks at them ­ but they¹re shocked. They expected to catch the demon aliveŠ Sam takes it in stride, blaming Riley for not briefing Buffy; then she takes a knife from him and starts cutting into the demon¹s innards. She concludes that they¹re too late, and Riley asks Buffy if there¹s a safe place they can go to. The Slayer suggests they go to her house, saying that she doesn¹t know if it¹s safe, but that sometimes you can never leaveŠ (har har). On the way there, Riley explains that Sam has good cutting skills because she¹s a doctor ­ which obviously doesn¹t improve Buffy¹s self-esteem. At the house, the Scoobies are surprised and pleased that Riley is back ­ except Dawn, who gives him the cold shoulder because of the way he left a year before. Willow whispers privately to Buffy that she¹s prepared to hate Sam, since Buffy herself can¹t hate her. However, Sam proves herself likeable, even standing up for Dawn when Buffy asks her to go away as they discuss the gory details of the demon. Riley¹s wife explains that the Suvolte can multiply quickly and destroy entire towns in no time ­ and as luck would have it, it¹s come to Sunnydale to lay a full nest of eggs. A dealer known as "The Doctor" is suspected of being paid to harbour the eggs. Riley suggests that Willow help with magic, but the redhead nervously declines, admitting that she got addicted and had to quit. Abandoning that idea, Riley assigns Buffy and Sam to look for the nest, while he tries to find The Doctor. Following Willow in the kitchen, Sam tells her about how Riley and her had met a couple of warlocks in Central America who had gotten addicted to magicŠ and completely disappeared. She congratulates Willow on having the strength to stop, and the redhead, while saying nothing, is obviously pleased. As they patrol in the cemetery, Sam tells Buffy how honoured she is of finally meeting the Slayer. She tells Buffy how long it took Riley to forget her, and how much she mattered to him. After asking Buffy whether she regrets letting him leave ­ to which Buffy answers that she does, a little ­ Sam asks her about her love life. Answering vaguely, the Slayer gets "the urge" and tells Sam that it might be a good idea if they split up. While Sam goes to look for her husband, Buffy makes a beeline for Spike¹s crypt. In the crypt, Buffy starts by asking Spike about The Doctor, but after he fails to give her information, she suddenly asks him to tell her he loves her and that he wants her, pulling him to her for some comfort. This leads to bed, of courseŠ And a few hours later, when they wake up, they find Riley standing thereŠ Spike takes the opportunity to gloat about having Buffy, but Riley brushes the subject aside, calling Spike "Doctor" and demanding to know where he¹s hiding the eggs. Spike denies being the Doctor or knowing about the eggs, but Riley, confident about his sources, starts searching in a rather brutal manner. Buffy tries to stop him, telling him that there¹s no way Spike could be involved. But in the lower level of the crypt, lo and beholdŠ they find the eggs. Shocked and disappointed, Buffy starts bickering with Spike, and he finally goes to storm out of the crypt when the eggs begin to hatch. Little demons start skittering about, and Buffy and Riley have to flee. After they¹ve made it to the upper lever, Riley throws a grenade down ­ despite Spike¹s outrage ­ blowing the demons to kingdom come and destroying a good part of the crypt. At their apartment, Xander and Anya huddle in the bathroom while Xander¹s relatives wreak havoc. The two argue about Xander being so interested in Riley and Sam¹s wedding, and he reassures her ­ he¹s not scared, he¹s confident that the wedding will be perfect. Meanwhile, Riley is having a chat in private with Buffy. He tactfully brings up her relatiohsip with Spike, asking her if she wants him to take "The Doctor" out. Admitting that she¹s sleeping with the vampire, Buffy tells him that she doesn¹t want him taken out, and goes on to tell him that she¹s admitting defeat, that her life is a wreck, and that Riley is there at the most perfect moment in his own life to witness it. However, he tells her that where she works, how she¹s dealing with life, who she¹s sleeping with doesn¹t matter ­ she¹s still the strongest woman he¹s ever known. Buffy tries to apologize for causing him to leave, but Riley doesn¹t want to dwell on it. In an outside open space, at night, the gang gathers to say goodbye to Riley and Sam. While Riley gives Xander wedding tips, Sam makes sure that Willow has her e-mail address. Then, as a helicopter waits overhead, Riley succeeds in getting a hug from Dawn ­ then the married couple is lifted up into the night. The next day, Buffy goes to see Spike in his crypt. He thinks she¹s there for more sex, but she tells him that it¹s over between them. She admits to having feelings for him, but denies she could ever love him; she adds that she¹s been playing with him, and that it¹s wrong. He panics and tries to argue, but she says "I¹m sorryŠ William." and walks away. Summary by OttsFiveByFive.