Out of My Mind

Joyce (Kristine Sutherland) gives Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar) and Dawn (Michelle Trachtenberg) a bad scare when she suffers a mysterious fainting spell and ends up in the hospital. The Summers matriarch soon recovers, but not before her doctors discover that Buffy's boyfriend, Riley (Marc Blucas), faces a medical crisis of his own. The chemical enhancements he received as an unwitting dupe of the Initiative have robbed him of the ability to feel pain -- or to control his racing heart, which threatens to explode. Nonetheless, Riley resists undergoing an operation to return him to normal human strength for fear that Buffy will break things off if he loses the powers that enable him to fight by her side. Buffy convinces Riley she'd rather have a live boyfriend than a dead super-soldier. Unfortunately, Spike (James Marsters) almost prevents Riley's surgery when he kidnaps the Initiative's doctor in an attempt to get the behavior modification chip removed from his skull. The plan backfires, Riley makes a full recovery, and Spike makes a shocking realization: He's in love with his fiercest foe, the Slayer herself. Originally broadcast October 17, 2000, on the WB network, "Out of My Mind" marked episode 82 of the cult-favorite series. Ben (Charlie Weber), the handsome young intern who treats Joyce, seems to be a bit player but will later turn out to have a mysterious connection to Glory, the season's "Big Bad" villain.