“Faith, Hope & Trick”
Fun fact: The title of this episode refers to the 3 new characters we are introduced to: Faith Lehane, Scott Hope and the vampire Mr. Trick. It is also a play on the verse from Corinthians "And now abide faith, hope, and love.”
We begin this episode with Willow raving about the freedom of being able to leave campus for lunch as a senior. Of course, once her friends drag her off campus she freaks out, worrying that they are going to change the rule and arrest her. It’s okay, Willow, I’ve done that before too. Not wanting to be couples in front of Buffy, the Scoobies break apart.
Since Buffy is still not allowed on campus, she has prepared everyone a picnic lunch. Not to pull a Sarah, but even I have to admit that Willow is pretty adorable in this episode. I love how she suggets Buffy “do that thing with her mouth that boys like… NO, NOT THAT THING!” Lolz. I also enjoy how Buffy hits AX playfully, but actually causes him pain.
Next we are introduced to Mr. Trick talking to another vampire about killing the Slayer. Of course we assume they are talking about Buffy. I actually kind of like Mr. Trick, he’s a “modern” vampire. The show keeps improving by giving the bad guys more personality instead of the same cliched vampires from Season 1.
A lot of short scenes happen right in a row. Buffy is having another dream about Angel, this time its mostly about her guilt over killing him. In the dream, Angel is angry with her for killing him and her friends sit and watch while they argue. Next, Joyce and Buffy meet with Principal Snyder about her being allowed back at school. Mocking ensues. There is yet AGAIN another hint at the Mayor. Can we just meet him already?! The last of the short scenes involves Giles questioning Buffy about the night she killed Angel so he can “perform a ritual.” Giles also warns Willow about messing with dark forces, too bad she doesn’t really listen to him.
Now for the good stuff. First, Oz and Willow are making out at the Bronze and somehow it doesn’t gross me out in the way that Cordelia and AX making out does. It’s sweet instead of vomit-inducing. Willow encourages Buffy to go dance with Scott Hope, who has an eye for her. I understand Willow trying to help Buffy move on, but sweetie, Buffy didn’t just break up with her boyfriend- she stabbed him in the heart and sent him to hell. It’s gonna take some time.
Cordelia points out a couple dancing, and FINALLY Buffy is able to recognize that someone is a vampire. Turns out though that the girl doesn’t need any help because it’s Faith the Vampire Slayer!
 |
| Hi, I’m Faith and I’m a bad-ass. |
The Scoobies are overly interested in everything Faith has to say, and who wouldn’t be? She’s a rough and tumble gal. (Did I seriously just say that?) She’s also a shiny, new Slayer that we all want to learn more about. I wouldn’t say that she is the polar opposite of Buffy by any means. Faith is more the polar opposite of Kendra. Kendra was completely by-the-book and follow the rules while Faith is completely free-spirited and fly-by-the seat-of-your-pants. Then there is Buffy, who falls right in the middle of those two. Still, there is a reason that there is only one Slayer, because typically speaking women with strong personalities tend to not get along well.
Buffy introduces Faith to Giles, who immediately hits on him. I don’t blame ya Faith, I think Giles is pretty damn sexy too. Faith tells Giles how her Watcher is at some “Watchers’ Retreat.” Ok, a little bit of a rant here. Giles is upset that he hasn’t had the honor of going on said retreat. We don’t have information on how they know who is a potential Slayer and such, but Giles was still assigned to the ONE AND ONLY REAL SLAYER (until of course the craziness after Season 1). So if you are the Watcher of the actual Slayer, shouldn’t you be the best Watcher out there? I also still need more information on how they know who’s a Slayer. Joss, read our blog and answer my questions, please and thank you.
Anyways, Buffy invites Faith over for family dinner. In private, Buffy has learned her lesson from last episode and admits to what she is feeling. She is honest about the fact that she is just getting her life back and now Faith is her taking some of it away from her. Joyce is still trying to understand how this whole Slayer thing works, but really doesn’t get it. Most of it comes from her motherly concern though, not wanting Buffy to have to slay as much so she isn’t in harms ways. Joyce gets a little freaked out when she discovers that Buffy died “just for a few minutes” and I don’t blame her. They have a sweet moment when Joyce says very earnestly, “I don’t want you to die.”
Buffy and Faith go out slaying and the clash of their personalities escalates. Faith is right that Buffy needs to lighten up just a bit, but neither one of them knows what it’s like to be each other. Buffy has gone through some pretty horrible things in the field of slaying that Faith knows nothing about, while Faith has had some hard life situations and is from “the wrong side of the tracks”, which Buffy knows nothings about being from suburbia. They both view slaying from their own worldviews. Buffy, who had a wonderful normal life before she learned she was a Slayer is going to feel as if it is a burden. Faith is a high-school dropout with no family so she is going to embrace the only thing that she can excel at, which is slaying.
We learn more about Faith when they are attacked by a group of vampires sent by Kakistos. She tells one vampire that she is fighting, “My dead mother hits harder than that”, which implies 2 things- 1. Faith’s mother used to physically abuse her and 2. At some point in her life her mother died. From these factors along with I’m sure others, Faith has developed a bit of an anger issue. Instead of killing the vampire and moving on, she proceeds to take out her temper on him by beating him to a bloody pulp until Buffy steps in and stakes him.
Buffy talks to Giles about her concerns with Faith and Giles being the sexy wise man that he is, explains to her that they both have very different temperaments. While Buffy admits that she is being a bit harsh on Faith, she still thinks she isn’t entirely sane either.
(Favorite Line) Buffy: The girl's not playing with a full deck, Giles. She has almost no deck. She has a three.
Through his usual research and Buffy’s explanations, Giles learns that Kakistos is there because of Faith. Him and his vampire minions killed Faith’s Watcher and are now after her.
Buffy goes to visit Faith to share what she discovered and we see how Faith is used to dealing with problems on her own. Kakistos finds Faith and we see that Faith really isn’t as tough as the show she puts on. Faith isn’t able to handle things, knowing what Kakistos did to her Watcher, she starts to shut down. Buffy is there to pull her out of it. I really like how Buffy throw Faith a crowbar and encourages her with “Don’t die!” I felt like that showed how Buffy knew that Faith needed to be the one to kill him in order for her to have closure. And indeed, Faith stabs him with a giant stake, then her and Buffy decide to get some food.
Back at the library Giles tells Buffy and Willow how he is temporarily assigned as Faith’s Watcher. From all that happened with Faith, Buffy learns that she needs to deal with what happened between her and Angel finally and to do that she needs to tell Giles the whole truth.
Buffy: She really came through in the end. She had a lot to deal with, but she did it. She got it behind her.
Giles: I'm glad to hear it. (looks over the papers)
Buffy: Angel was cured.
Giles: (looks up) I'm sorry?
Buffy: When I killed him, Angel was cured. Your spell worked at the last minute, Will. I was about to take him out, and, um... something went through him... and he was Angel again. He-he didn't remember anything that he'd done. He just held me. Um, but i-it was... it was too late, and I, I had to. So I, I told him that I loved him... and I kissed him... and I killed him.
Giles proves once again what a great mentor and man he is when Willow offers to help with the ritual that he needs to perform, which is the reason he keeps asking Buffy about that night. He comes clean to Willow and tells her “There is no spell.” Instead of confronting her, Giles is able to find a way to get Buffy to admit what happened and at the same time deal with it and begin moving on.
Her final act of letting Angel go is to go to the mansion where she killed him and place the ring that he gave her on the ground. Strangely enough, after Buffy leaves, the ground shakes and a naked Angel falls from the sky.
 |
| Is this what "It's rainin' men" is about? |
-Kali!
I feel like I’m not allowed to fangirl over how adorable Willow is because Kali already did. However, I don’t know how to not fangirl over her adorableness. DID EVERYONE SEE HOW ADORABLE WILLOW WAS?!?!? Okay, I’m good now. Onto another edition of...
Sarah Steelman and the Abundance of Quotes
“Buffy, banned from campus but not from our hearts” –Xander
“I think what my daughter’s trying to say is nah-nana-nahna” –Joyce
“They give you credit just for speaking it, right?” –Buffy
“That’s not what making out sounds like, unless I’m doing it wrong.” – Willow
“Xander, find a new theme” – Cordelia
“Raise your hand if--ew” –Buffy
“Next time I kill Angel, I’ll video it” –Buffy
“Man, if I had friends like you guys in high school I probably still would have dropped out, but I might have been sad about it..” –Faith
“She gets along with my friends, my watcher, my mom, and look, now she’s getting along with my fries” –Buffy
“When did you die? You never told me you died” –Joyce
“Wow, if I knew I was going to go on this long, I probably would have brought some water” -Buffy
No comments:
Post a Comment