The Yoko Factor

[Aussie]

I'm just watching The Yoko Factor for about the zillionth time. It the beginning when the general guy is speaking to the head honcho (sorry I don't know their names) they mention Riley Finn. The head government guy is desperate to get Finn back. Do you think this is because they knew about his chip? Or am I reading too much into it?

Also Was Walsh following orders when making Adam? Or doing it of her own accord? Cover up? It been a while since I saw the entire season so its likely I have forgotten something. :p

[white avenger]

More than likely the General wanted Riley back because he knew too much about what was quite obviously a secret government operation, and was afraid that he would make their existence known to the public.

As for Adam, I think that he was probably the main reason for the Initiative being in Sunnydale in the first place. (Obviously, from the size and set up that the Initiative had there in Sunnydale, they had been there for a long time. Remember, the Initiative was around at least as early as World War 2, because they drafted Angel at that time to rescue the crew of the stolen German submarine. Maybe their main interest wasn't the submarine itself and its technology, but the non-human passengers on board. No doubt the study of "hostile sub terrestrials" had been going on for at least that long.) If Maggie Walsh was doing anything strictly on her own, it was the pursuit her quite obvious obsession with Riley Finn.

[ILLYRIAN]

In one of my fanfics I named the head government guy, Roge Rram Jhet
(best said quickly).
As Giles called her, when he was a demon, 'that bloody woman'.
I think she was following orders, but she may have taken them a bit to far.

[Jaded Wolf]

Take this into account as well. From personal experiences, when a soldier goes AWOL there is quite a bit of effort to get them back. Riley was apparently one of their top soldiers plus the classified knowledge he had. Him deserting the Initiative would be like a SF operative deserting after a highly classified mission in the Middle East. So every effort would be made to either capture him or eliminate him.

This is why I have this love/hate relationship with the Initiative because on one hand Joss Whedon amps up the stereotype of military personalities so well. However, because he does that at times it makes us military types seem blind and close-minded... Which we can be... But still... Maybe Joss Whedon should be captured for leaking classified military brain washing techniques... Nah... The sacrifice of such knowledge pales in comparison to the quality shows he writes. And now I have gone on too long...

[SoBlind]

at the end of 'primeval', after adam was stopped, the military guys sat down together and this was said:
Maggie Walsh's vision was brilliant,
but ultimately insupportable. The
demons cannot be harnessed, cannot
be controlled.

HER vision. she was just a lunatic :P she didnt do it following any orders

[littlewilly]

I think it was only Maggie Walsh and the Doc that knew about Adam. As far as the rest of the Initiative staff knew they were just trying to make the world a safer place. I dont think even Walsh's bosses knew.

[palabravampiress]

Tangent re: Yoko Factor.

This episode is bloody hilarious! I love drunk Giles (which is where I snagged the "bloody," in case you were wondering). I love the way everyone just ripped into each other. The things they said were true, but funny. Crafty, crafty Spike did a good job making with the entertaining of Palabra. I do wish he'd run into Angel more when Gramps makes these little crossover visits into Sunnyhell, though. a little Angel/Spike interaction could have added even more amusing tension. I'm always up for more of their signature Buffyverse snarkage.

I guess Tall, Dark, and Broody was a little preoccupied with the Buffster this trip, though. Spike didn't need to do a thing to push the Angel/Buffy/Riley triangle into funny, funny little shards of punchy goodness, and maybe he just would have been in the way if he'd tried making with the family reunion. Honestly, I'm not so much on board with the way any of the non-Spike-influenced three stooges acted, but I am impressed that they all apologized. My first time viewing, I was so mad at Angel that I couldn't see straight. I mean, I'm no Angel fan and I do like Riley, so... well, I may have been a bit hasty with the Angel-blame. But this time around, I see that no one was really on their best respective behaviors. I'm just glad that those three were able to get back to civil before Buffy walked right into casa-de-hostile (aka the mess that was drunk Giles' place).

[Tranquillity]

at the end of 'primeval', after adam was stopped, the military guys sat down together and this was said:

Maggie Walsh's vision was brilliant,
but ultimately insupportable. The
demons cannot be harnessed, cannot
be controlled.


HER vision. she was just a lunatic :P she didnt do it following any orders

I'd always taken this to mean that the brilliant Maggie Walsh had approached the senior officials with the Initative with a visionary research proposal to do with constructing super soldiers from bits and pieces of demons - So the top military/initative guys knew about it and were supportive of her research but ultimately, Maggie's death and the fact that the prototype (Adam) was uncontrolable made the research insupportable.

[white avenger]

Maggie Walsh's "Frankenstein Super Soldier" project was probably her own idea, or more likely the idea of her and a research team she headed, since the majority of the people there didn't know about it. Most likely, the Initiative's primary mission in Sunnydale was to observe the "hostile sub terrestrials" in their natural habitat while keeping as low a profile as possible. Probably the military involvement was a fairly recent thing, supposedly assisting the scientists on the premise of capturing the various demons in order to study them and try to find their weaknesses and to see if they could be controlled in such a way as to be useful in combat or some other tactical applications, while actually, unknown to them, supplying Walsh and her team with the demon body parts they required for their work. It's also reasonable to assume that the actual capturing/killing of the demons was a recent development, otherwise Buffy and her friends would have encountered some evidence of their existence in the previous 3 seasons.

Two things that were never addressed during Season 4 that I always thought should have been are, how the Initiative could have established such an elaborate facility in Sunnydale without Mayor Wilkins having some knowledge of it, and why, if Riley had a chip implanted to enhance his performance and Spike had one that suppressed his natural behavior, Adam didn't have some sort of inhibition device installed in his body somewhere. Of course, if he did, Season 4 would have had to have had a different Big Bad, and he was great in the role.

[Lindsey McDonald]

...and why, if Riley had a chip implanted to enhance his performance and Spike had one that suppressed his natural behavior, Adam didn't have some sort of inhibition device installed in his body somewhere. Of course, if he did, Season 4 would have had to have had a different Big Bad, and he was great in the role.

I think he probably did, but just as Riley was able to get his out in the end, Adam would have been able to overpower it. Also, Spike's chip is designed for Vampires, Riley's for humans, but Adam is not exactly anything. That would make him more difficult to control. On top of that, he had mechanical parts that could possibly have overridden any chip. I assume that's why Walsh was so confident in making Adam: she believed he was completely under control.

[GATEGOD]

Holy shi... This episode was so freaking hilarious!! So perfect!!!

B: He won't hurt anybody. Tell him!
An: Might hurt you.
R: Oh, please try.
An: Huh, some threat. You can barely stand.
R: My trigger finger feels okay.
An: You actually sleep with this guy?

RILEY: I'm not leaving this room. I mean it.

: (Buffy and Angel leave the room).

RILEY: Not moving a muscle.

"So even when he's good he's all Mr. Billowy Coat - King of Pain."