Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Recap/S5/E04 Out of My Mind

Riley is deteriorating because of The Initiative's meds. Spike, again teamed up with Harmony, tries to get the chip in his head removed. Joyce becomes seriously ill.

"Spike: Harmony, if your incessant prattling bolloxes up this operation, I'm gonna personally yank out your pink and wriggly tongue."
 * Armor-Piercing Slap: Buffy slaps Spike when he cheerfully asks if Riley is likely to die.
 * Attack Hello: Riley tackles Buffy when she enters her new training room.
 * Bait and Switch:
 * Battle Couple: Averted; Buffy is not happy with either Riley or Spike's help.
 * Brains and Brawn: Harmony agrees to let Spike do the planning, while unchipped Harmony can do the killing.
 * The Cast Showoff: Marc Blucas, a gifted college player, has a basketball scene.
 * Chekhov's Gunman: Ben
 * Continuity Nod: Buffy "hunting" vampires in the teaser (as opposed to her usual tactics) as she was doing in "Buffy vs. Dracula".
 * Cut His Heart Out With a Spoon

"Harmony: Buffy won't give up until she's killed me to death!"
 * Daydream Surprise:
 * Department of Redundancy Department

"Buffy: Hanging out in that crypt all day, you just know he's doing something nasty.
 * Description Cut

Cut to Spike and Harmony playing 20 Questions."

"Willow: Should I be watching my occipital lobe?
 * Designated Girl Fight: Averted; Riley fights Harmony and Buffy fights Spike.
 * Don't Explain the Joke

Buffy: Your what?

Willow: Occipital, the lobe in the back of your brain? You know, like, should I be watching my back? But, you know, the back of your brain.

Buffy: Apparently not."

"Spike: Taking up smoking, are you?
 * Even funnier because the occipital lobe contains the brain's visual processing centers. Which process the watching. Of the back. Of the brain.
 * Dressed to Heal: Ben gives Dawn his stethoscope to play with. She uses it to listen to her sister's heart (strong, steady Slayer heartbeat) then Riley's -- which is pounding away much faster than it should.
 * Erotic Dream / Catapult Nightmare
 * Eye of Newt: Giles has salamander eyes instead, claiming that they're cheaper yet equally effective. Willow looks rather miffed.
 * Failed Attempt At Drama: Spike is making blood-curdling threats against Buffy...then falls into an empty grave.
 * Foreshadowing
 * Spike says that Joey will never love Pacey while watching Dawsons Creek.
 * Spike's rant over how Buffy seems to be everywhere, haunting him
 * Graham tells Riley there's nothing to hold him in Sunnydale; that he's meant to be more than Buffy's Love Interest.
 * Good Smoking, Evil Smoking
 * Good Smoking, Evil Smoking

Harmony: I am a villain, Spike. Helloooo? [then coughs, ruining the whole thing]"

""I thought it was gonna be like in the movies -- you know, inspirational music, a montage; me sharpening my pencil, me reading, writing, falling asleep on a big pile of books with my glasses all crooked, 'cause in my montage, I have glasses. But real life is slow, and it's starting to hurt my occipital lobe.""
 * Hard Work Montage: Lampshaded by Buffy re collage.

"Willow: (as Tara studies her palm) What do you see?
 * Holding Hands: Willow suggests Tara do palm reading at the Magic Shop

Tara: (sly smile) Willow hands."

""Oh God, no. Please, no.""
 * Hollywood Heart Attack
 * How Many Fingers?: Riley asks this while trying to revive a groggy Graham, only to be concerned when Graham replies, "Seventeen." Graham then explains he meant Hostile 17 (the Initiative's designation for Spike) attacked him.
 * I Have This Friend: How Xander and Anya discuss their relationship.
 * I Just Want to Be Special: Riley thinks Buffy will eventually leave him if he doesn't match her abilities.
 * I Taste Delicious: Spike tasting his own nosebleed grosses Buffy out completely.
 * It's All About Me / Hypocritical Humor: Spike smirks over Harmony's ludicrous belief that Buffy is making a special effort to hunt her down. After he fails to kill Buffy yet again, Spike starts ranting over how Buffy is making a pet project out of driving him insane.
 * Love Epiphany

"Buffy: I'm starting to think this working hard is hard work.
 * Not Himself: Riley is acting more hyper than usual.
 * Open-Heart Dentistry: Averted.
 * Open Says Me: Spike gripes over how Buffy breaks open the door to his crypt instead of waiting for an invitation like he has to.
 * Please, I Will Do Anything!: Subverted; Harmony takes it for granted that she'll have sex with Spike.
 * Punch a Wall
 * Reckless Crossbow Usage: Harmony again.
 * Shaped Like Itself

Willow: (looking around the Magic Box) I feel like a witch in a magic shop!"

"Spike: Buffy, Buffy, Buffy! Everywhere I turn, she's there! That nasty little face, that ... bouncing shampoo-commercial hair, that whole sodding holier-than-thou attitude!
 * Shirtless Scene: Spike shows the future Buffy/Spike attraction isn't just Foe Yay.
 * Surveillance As the Plot Demands: Thinking that the government is tapping their phones, Buffy contacts them just by picking up the receiver and saying that Riley needs help (might be a subversion as Graham says he's already been talking to Riley for weeks).
 * Tantrum Throwing

Harmony: Well, aren't we kinda unholy, by the--

Spike: She follows me, you know, tracks me down. I'm her pet project. Drive Spike round the bend. Makes every day a fresh bout of torture. (picks up a headstone and smashes it)

Harmony: Spike!

Spike: You don't understand. I can't get rid of her. She's everywhere. She's haunting me, Harmony! (quietly) This ... has got to end."

"Buffy: "Do you think that I spent the last year with you because you had super powers? If that's what I wanted, then I'd be dating Spike.""
 * Tempting Fate

"Buffy: When I get my hands on Spike, I'm gonna rip his head off; I'm gonna__
 * Two Scenes, One Dialogue

Spike: __bathe in the Slayer's blood. Gonna dive in it. Swim in it."


 * Wham! Episode:
 * Who Are You: The last thing Joyce says to Dawn before collapsing from her brain tumor.
 * Who Would Be Stupid Enough: Willow uses magic to create light, and asks what doofus would use a torch. Cut to Buffy moving through the tunnels waving a torch.