Deliberate "mistake": Every time the commandos are seen in the early episodes of this season (The Freshman and Fear, Itself) they wear ski masks to protect their identities. Starting in The Initiative, they stop doing this. The reason is that the audience needs to be able to identify the different commando characters, but it's still a discontinuity.

Continuity: When Buffy is fighting the vampires at the end of the episode, she grabs a tennis racket and smashes the brunette vampire over the head. She falls over the back of the couch and we hear the thud of her landing, however in the wide shot of the couch the vampire has just started to go over the back.

Visible crew/equipment: When Buffy and Xander are doing some research, check the left side of the screen in a wide shot, when Xander asks "how far back do the disappearances go?" You may need to turn the brightness up, but there's a boom mike bobbing around. Submitted by Jon Sandys

Continuity: When the portal is opened Buffy crawls around to the other side of her bed yet just as the portal closes there is a wide shot and she isn't next to the bed.

Continuity: In the scene where Buffy and Kathy are deliberately infuriating each other (tapping pencils and cracking eggs) there are several lights on throughout the room (on Buffy's desk, above Kathy's computer, in the kitchenette) yet when Buffy turns out her bedside lamp, the entire area is thrown into darkness.

Continuity: When Buffy catches Parker talking to another girl he stands up to leave and slings his backpack over one shoulder. In the next shot it's over both shoulders.

Other: We've seen before that vampires are fine as long as they aren't in direct sunlight, yet in this episode Spike is in the shade when Buffy removes the ring and he still starts fizzling.

Revealing: When Buffy is fighting Spike, she throws him against a table and then runs over it; you can see this is her body double. It is extremely obvious.

Continuity: When Spike is in the area where the gem is located, he walks to the right of entry hole, where he finds the gem. Then Harmony appears from the right side of the screen, where there's obviously no entrance.

Continuity: When Spike pins Harmony to the wall, his hands change from flat against her to grasping her shoulders, depending on the angle. Submitted by Jon Sandys

Continuity: When Buffy and Spike are fighting on campus during the day, Xander tries to help Buffy but Spike throws him against a lamppost. When he lands in the ground he falls completely on the grass on his side but if you look behind Spike in the next shot he lies half on and half on the grass on his front.

Continuity: When Spike finally gets into the area where the gem is and Harmony follows him up there, he puts on that necklace thinking it's the gem. When he realizes Harmony has the gem it shows him taking off the necklace. It cuts to another shot and then shows him again with the necklace, but minus the charm.

Continuity: When Xander is showing Willow and Buffy his fake ID and the view of the shot is from behind Xander, he is holding the card with his thumb and middle finger. Switch to the view from behind Willow and it's being held with his thumb and index finger. Then it switches to behind Xander again and it's back to thumb and middle finger.

Continuity: When Veruca comes to Oz's cage to spend the night there, she tosses her jacket onto the round stone thingie (knob?) at the end of the stairs, and it covers the whole thing. However, when Willow discovers them in the morning and Veruca goes to pick up her jacket, you can see that it has moved. Willow didn't touch it when she entered, and both Oz and Veruca were locked up so they couldn't get anywhere near it. Submitted by Grigory the Wanderer

Visible crew/equipment: At the very end of the scene where Bugffy and Giles discuss what happened (including the Initiative), you can see the microphone at the top of the screen. Submitted by Grigory the Wanderer

Continuity: When we see Veruca eating at the table, she reaches for a cup as we see Oz coming up behind her. The shot changes and we see her turning around and reaching for the same cup again, though she never had time to put it down.

Revealing: Several times during Spike's escape from the Initiative, his reflection can be seen in the glass. Vampires aren't supposed to have reflections.

Continuity: At the party where Riley is talking to Buffy by the stairs, when he first comes over there is no one in the corner on the stairs but in the next shot there are two people who disappear two shots later.

Continuity: In 'The Initiative', Riley, Graham and Forrest are looking in through the windows of Stevenson Hall with thermal goggles looking for Spike, they see him walking towards Willow. When we see Willow and Spike seconds later he is still sitting on the bed where he was for most of the scene.

Factual error: In "The Initiative," Riley is looking for Spike with a heat sensitive camera and says "we've got a cold one." If Spike was at room temperature as indicated on the sensor, he would be indistinguishable from from the air and objects in the room.