Listening to Fear / Into the Woods

In "Listening to Fear", as Joyce awaits her surgery, her tumor causes her to behave strangely. But that seems to be going around - Riley's volunteering as a vampire snack, and the mental ward at the hospital is overflowing. Cue the Queller - an alien summoned in a meteor to "quell" the increase in crazy people. Kristen and Mike try to break down Riley's motivations this season, and discuss why demons seem reasonable, but aliens seem ridiculous. With Joyce out of the woods, Buffy and Riley are free to enjoy a night of drama-free romance... until Spike tattles on Riley's vamp-parasite activities. After a righteously pissed-off slayer destroys the vamp den, Riley leaves her with an ultimatum - forgive me or I rejoin the military. Kristen and Mike disagree over Xander's big speech, and attempt to fix Riley's story-line this season. Plus! We write the Scoobies' New Years Resolutions for them.