Welcome to Rewatching Buffy, the part of the blog where I rewatch Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Each Tuesday evening, you’re invited to join me as I attempt to rediscover what made me love this show 21 years ago.

Shadow

• The Summers girls wait at the hospital while Joyce gets her cat scanned.
• Something like that.
• At the Magic Box, Xander and Willow complain to Giles about how Riley went to take out last week’s nest of vamps without them.
• Then they get back to researching the evil, crazy, super lady that they know nothing about.
• Speaking of evil, crazy, super lady…
• She has a minion. A scabby looking demon of a minion. He calls her Glorificus.
• She insists on being called Glory.
• Glad we finally have her name. I mean, I already knew it because I’ve watched this entire series before. But I felt like I couldn’t use her name in the blog since it hadn’t yet been revealed in the context of the show.
• If I mistakenly called her Glory in previous posts, I apologize for my lack of continuity.
• Riley arrives at Buffy’s house and notices the front door is ajar.
• That’s because Spike broke in to sniff Buffy’s sweater.
• Because smelling someone’s clothes isn’t creepy.
• When Riley catches him, Spike tries to play it off as a predator thing.
• Then Spike fills him in on Joyce’s trip to the hospital.
• You think Spike’s trying to break up Riley and Buffy? You think he thinks he’s got a shot with her?
• Riley gets to the hospital and sits with Dawn while Buffy goes in to find out the results of the CAT scan.
• Joyce reveals that they found a shadow and a biopsy is needed right away.
• Back at the research party, Tara suggests that this crazy lady (Glory) may not be showing up in the books because she’s older than the books. Older than written language.
• And then Glory shows up at the Magic Box. She’s just a regular customer.
• Following Joyce’s surgery, the doctor lets Buffy know that Joyce has a brain tumor. No word on whether or not it’s malignant.
• But I’m pretty sure that’s not something you find out immediately following a biopsy, right?
• Not even on a fictional television program.
• Doctor Ben drops in and tells Buffy to go get some fresh air.
• Instead, she decides it might be a good idea to see if a healing spell is a possibility.
• She tells Riley to tell Dawn they don’t know anything yet.
• Back at the store, Anya is looking through invoices and notices that Giles sold two things that should not have been sold together.
• And then they put two and two together.
• Riley takes Dawn to the local carousel for ice cream. And she might be trying to cheer him up by saying that, with Angel, Buffy was crying all the time.
• What it boils down to is that Buffy doesn’t get worked up about Riley the way she did with Angel. No passion.
• Shut up, Dawn.
• At the store, Buffy’s healing spell idea is shot down because it could actually cause more damage.
• And then they reveal that demon lady was there. And bought something dangerous.
• They figure out that she’s trying to make a cobra monster.
• Buffy tracks Glory to the zoo where she’s trying to transform a cobra.
• Glory kinda kicks Buffy’s butt, just in time for a giant snake to burst out of an urn.
• Not Mayor size giant snake… just slightly larger than a human.
• The purpose of the giant cobra monster is to find the Key. It can see through the monks’ magic.
• Glory told Cobra Commander to search holy places, so it’s checking out all the churches in town.
• In a depressing montage, Joyce gets the bad news and Riley lets the vampire chick from Willy’s Place feed on him just before staking her.
• After hitting all the churches, Cobra Commander breaks through the window at the Magic Box and spots Dawn.
• Then it turns tail and starts heading back to Glory to let her know the news.
• Buffy chases after it, catching up and strangling it before it can deliver its message.
• Back at the hospital, Riley attempts to console Buffy, but she refuses to let herself cry.
• She says if she starts now, she won’t be able to stop. She thinks she needs to be strong for Joyce and Dawn.
• So she shuts Riley out. Again.
• Body count: Vampires – 1; Snake Monsters – 1