Adam is a human-demon-robot hybrid that professor Walsh secretly creates in a secret room in the Initiative. Walsh collects demons both to study them and to use them to create the perfect super soldier. Adam is the accumulation of her research, only he turns on her and kills her. He takes over Walsh's secret operation and expands it beyond her vision. He unites the demons of Sunnydale and convinces them to join him in his attack against the Initiative - he even convinces them to get themselves captured so they can take over the Initiative from the inside. Adam kills anyone who gets in his way. Some - like professor Walsh - he turns into mindless zombies to serve him. Others - like Forrest - he turns into obedient cyborgs to help him achieve his aims.
In the end Adam is taken down rather unconventionally by Buffy. As he is an assembly of multiple different creatures Buffy herself becomes an assembly to stop him. Willow, Xander, and Giles work a spell to give Buffy their powers so she can overcome and defeat Adam. Adam unleashes his demon army upon the Initiative. He knows it will be a blood bath on both sides, but he is okay with this as it will give him all the body parts he needs to begin the creation of his new army. Buffy and her friends infiltrate the Initiative and stop him with their combined powers, along with the soldiers fighting to help.
Adam carries heavy themes of Doctor Frankenstein and his monster. The parallels between Walsh and Frankenstein as well as Adam and the monster are clear to see. But there are also glaring differences. Adam carries sentimentality for Walsh - his "mother" - and Riley - his "brother" - but those feelings do not stop him from killing Walsh and polluting her vision or trying to turn Riley against his wishes. Adam does not need Walsh. He forges ahead into the future he wishes to create. Sure, he saves Walsh, but only as a mindless zombie. Walsh at least loves her creation, unlike Frankenstein.
There are also, of course, parallels to the Garden of Eden and the creation of the first man. This brings us to playing god and Doctor Malcolm's quote - your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could they didn't stop to think if they should. Adam embodies this perfectly. Just because you can create a demon/human/robot hybrid doesn't mean you should. Walsh had an obsession with control. She wished to control Buffy, but couldn't, so she decided to eliminate her so she didn't lose control of Riley (which she was). But this action only caused her to lose control over both. Walsh saw Adam as being the first superior being and an incredible scientific triumph - which, of course, she would control. Only she did not and in the end Adam controlled her.
As far as villains in the adulthood arc go, Adam is my least favorite. His whole story line is a bit sloppy and unbelievable (I mean, no one has ever noticed these soldiers wandering around town?!? No one wonders where Walsh disappears off to after Adam kills her?!? No one questions why there are demon body parts lying around waiting to be assembled into something new?!?) but that doesn't mean it isn't a solid season when you focus on the actual story line - which is Buffy and her friends growing up, growing apart, discovering just what adulthood on their own is, and then realizing they don't want to grow apart, that they do want to remain a family. This is really driven home in the next two seasons as they are forced to face just what adulthood means and the sacrifices it entails - and just how difficult it is at times to be an adult or pick up the pieces when things go horribly wrong. Don't get me wrong, seasons 1-3 are good (well - 1 and 2 are), but, in my opinion, 4-6 are where the story is really at.
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