Shadow

Joyce goes to the hospital for a CAT scam, the doctor finds a shadow and she is immediately submitted to a surgery. The doctor discloses that she has a low grade glioma, i.e., a brain tumor. Buffy wants to use magic to heal her mother, but Giles, Willow and Tara advise her that it would be of high risky for humans. Meanwhile, Glory goes to the Magic Box, and the naive Giles sells two powerful components for an ancient Sobekite spell. Anya discloses it later through the receipts, while Glory conjures a snake demon to track The Key. When the snake demon finds Dawn in the Magic Box, Buffy and Giles follow the demon trying to kill it before getting to Glory.

In this episode, in addition to Joyce's illness and the fight between Buffy and the demon snake, there is another important scene: Riley feels rejected by Buffy and dates a vampire hooker, let her bite him and them he kills her. The funniest part is when Spike sneaks in Buffy's room to sniff her clothes and Riley catches him. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "A Sombra" ("The Shadow")

First of all, we have Glory, doing her thing with that sycophant by her side. He helps her conjur up a snake from some deep dark past. Meanwhile Buffy is overcome with concern over her mother's cancer diagnosis. We already know that the little sister is the key. Giles inadvertently sells Glory what she needs for her spell. Poor Riley is a sick puppy who is being kept out of the loop. Of course, it's easy to say that taking a step back would be the best thing. Trust those you love. The rest of the gang is sitting this one out at the moment. They had minimum participation in this episode. Right now it is all dark.