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• All Witches Have Cats: Tara suggests she and Willow get themselves a cat. Willow naturally assumes she means a familiar, but Tara just wants a pet.
• Big Blackout: The Scoobies cut the power in the city grid to help their infiltration of the Initiative.
• Beyond the Impossible: Oz went to Nepal to develop his inner cool.
• Black Eyed Monster
• Buffy Speak: Willow's "extra flame-y" candle.
• The Bus Came Back: Oz
• Captain Obvious: Riley is busted out of his cell were he's awaiting court martial.
  Riley: Buffy, if I leave now I can't ever come back. (Buffy gives him a "Well, duh?" look) I just wanted to hear that out loud.
• Colonel Badass: Colonel McNamara
• Coming Out Story: Although there's a Fantastic Aesop twist in that many of the standard plot points are applied to Oz (as a werewolf) rather than Willow (as a "coming out" lesbian).
• Chekhov's Gunman: One of the hairy hell-hound-like demons that appear during this episode will show up again in "Primeval".
• Double Aesop: Buffy doesn't understand Riley's alarm at the idea of Willow dating someone who turns into a monster at the full moon. Then she gets thrown by the idea of Willow dating another girl.
  Buffy: You realized that Willow was in a... less than conventional relationship, and it gave you momentary wiggins... it happens.
• Dramatic Stutter: Tara does this a lot as she faces the prospect of losing her girlfriend. It becomes a problem when Riley darts Oz and Tara can't coherently explain who he is before they drag him away.
• Dressing as the Enemy: Buffy gets back into her white lab coat and Spike dresses up like "an evil olive" (army greens).
• Enemy Mine
  Adam: Come. You're going to help me with my problem.
  Spike: Why?
  Adam: Because I am going to help you with yours.
• Exact Words: Willow confirms to Oz that she isn't seeing another guy.
• Fantastic Racism
• Girl on Girl Is Hot: Averted; Oz is furious when he finds out about Tara, though mainly because Willow has been lying by omission.
• Hell-Bent for Leather: Buffy wears the Green Leather Pants Of Relationship Issues.
• Hollywood Hacking: Subverted; Adam is actually doing all the work for them.
• Human Shield: Buffy holds a crossbow to Colonel McNamara's head.
  Buffy: Stay back or I'll do a William Burroughs on your leader here! (everyone looks blank)
  Xander: You'll...bore him to death with free prose?
• I Just Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Tara, though it has more to do with her lack of self-confidence.
• Ill Kill You
  McNamara: You're a dead man.
  Riley: No sir, I'm an anarchist.
• Layman's Terms / Rule of Three: Willow translating Scooby Speak for Tara. When Buffy says her "kill-count is way down", that means that there's less bad-guy activity. When that happens, it means something extra evil is brewing. And when Riley says the Initiative has demons coming out of their ears, that's a metaphor.
  Tara: I got that, thanks.
  Willow: I'm overhelping, aren't I?
• Love Confession: Tara thinks that Willow has decided to go back to Oz.
  Tara: No, I-I understand. You have to be with the person you l-love.
  Willow: (smiles) I am.
• Mix-and-Match Man
  Spike: So you help me and you get this chip out of my head?
  Adam: Scout's honor.
  Spike: You were a boy scout?
  Adam: Parts of me.
• Modesty Bedsheet: Averted by having Buffy wear Riley's shirt in bed.
• The Mole: Spike for Adam
• My Friends... and Zoidberg: Tara actually does this to herself; upset that Willow's ex has turned up she leaves the Scooby meeting, telling her "You need to be with your friends."
• No Time to Explain: Buffy is breaking Riley out of the brig.
  Riley: How'd you get in?
  Buffy: Talk later. Stealthy escape now.
• Not That There's Anything Wrong with That: Buffy is visibly nervous when her Heterosexual Life Partner suddenly comes out as a lesbian.
  Buffy: Well, there you go, I mean, you know, you have to - you have to follow your heart, Will. And that's what's important, Will.
  Willow: Why do you keep saying my name like that?
  Buffy: (with false cheer) Like what, Will?
  Willow: Are you freaked?
• Oblivious Mockery: Riley starts talking about how Willow seems too smart to be into dangerous guys, and how weird it is a girl would date someone who might eat her — Post-Bangel Buffy does not respond well.
• Oh Crap: Spike is giving a Badass Boast while lying in his crypt when he opens his eyes and sees Adam towering over him.
• The Paragon Always Rebels: Riley, who finally comes to terms with his loyalties and chooses Buffy.
• Poor Communication Leads To Your Lesbian Lover Being Attacked By A Werewolf
• Relationship Reveal
• Saying Too Much: Colonel McNamara tells Buffy that Riley is in the brig, thinking she's come to rescue him instead of Oz.
• Secret Path: Spike claims to know how to get into the Initiative, based on information he got from other demons who managed to escape.
• Sexy Discretion Shot: Tara blowing out the candle.
• Sexy Shirt Switch: Played straight when Buffy wakes up wearing Riley's shirt, then used as a plot point when Oz realises Tara is Willow's lover when he sees her wearing Willow's sweater.
• Ship Sinking: Averted. Even if there are No Bisexuals in the Whedonverse, Willow makes it clear she will always love Oz.
  I feel like some part of me will always be waiting for you. Like if I'm old and blue-haired, and I turn the corner in Istanbul and there you are, I won't be surprised. Because... you're with me, you know?
• Strapped to an Operating Table: Oz being experimented on by the Initiative scientists.
• Shamgri-La: Oz learned to control his wolf side in Tibet.
• Super Senses: Oz still has his wolf nose, mistaking Tara for Willow when she walks up behind him because she has Willow's scent on her.
• Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: The Scoobies are referred to as "anarchists" and "a band of freaks" by McNamara.
• Walking the Earth: Oz seeking his inner cool.
• We Need a Distraction: Buffy drops a stake when walking past a guard, then knees him when he bends down to pick it up for her.
• Your Door Was Open: Played straight when Spike enters Giles' house, and subverted when he pretends the door to the Initiative base is unlocked (actually Adam has opened it electronically).
  For a nasty town like Sunnydale, nobody seems to mind their locks.