Dianne's Synopsis

Buffy is drowning... struggling underwater toward the surface, when the Mayor's aide reaches from below and grabs her ankle. She manages to kick free and make it to the surface just in time... to see Faith as she reaches out one hand and shoves Buffy back under.....

Buffy awakes from the nightmare and gets up, even though it's still night. Her mother's in the front room watching the late news. Top story: The body of the mayor's aide has been found by fishermen, brutally stabbed.

****opening credits****

In the library the next day, Wesley the Wonder Watcher < g > is assigning 'his' Slayers the task of uncovering the aide's murderer. Buffy uncomfortably protests that a non-supernatural murder is not their jurisdiction, but Faith airily accepts the task. Giles agrees with Buffy but is cut down by Wesley as being irrelevant to the discussion. Cordelia arrives looking for psych books and notices Wesley. Wesley seriously notices Cordelia back, thinking her a teacher-- Giles gets the chance to seriously adle the man by correcting _that_ assumption. ;)

Cordelia leaves and Wesley, as their self-proclaimed "commander", sends the Slayers off on their mission. Ducking into an unused classroom, Faith confronts Buffy about her uneasiness, asking if she's going to tell. Buffy responds that she can't pretend to investigate this. Buffy insists she's trying to protect Faith. Faith maintains that anything's better than jail and emphasizes Buffy's "equal" role in the murder-- if Faith goes down, so does Buffy.

Buffy wanders back out into the hallway lounge to find Willow reading on a couch. The encounter is uncomfortable and Willow quickly leaves (going to make another attempt at de-rat-ing poor Amy).

That night Angel is doing what he does best-- lurking. This time around the murder-scene investigation in the alley. He remembers the blood on Buffy's hands from the night before and obviously is putting things together.

***************

The Mayor, meanwhile, is in his office with Mr. Trick, shredding his aide's files and discussing the aide's possible intention to betraying him. Trick provides the autopsy report that describes splinters of wood in a wound straight through the heart with a pointed object-- and the news that the Slayers were out hunting not a block away. The thought of "a Slayer up for Murder One" manages to give the Mayor his jollies after all.

Faith and Buffy, for their part, are sneaking into the aide's office. Faith spots a picture of the aide and is obviously troubled by it for a moment, but blows off Buffy's understanding and sympathy. Faith is ready to go, but Buffy is sure the aide was trying to meet with them and keeps looking... only to find all of his file folders empty.

As the Slayers leave the aide's office, they spot the Mayor leaving his office with Trick (and manage to hide before they're spotted themselves). Walking in the streets later and talking, they manage to segue from the company the Mayor keeps to Buffy confronting Faith with her denial. Faith blows it off again, turning on Buffy when she begs to be allowed to take this to Giles, and pointing out that if it comes to that "there's a freighter leaving the docks twice a day. It ain't fancy but it gets you gone."

Buffy is horrified at the thought of just trying to ignore it. Faith admits she made a mistake, but figures that with the lives they've saved, they're still in the plus column-- no biggie, it happens. She argues that the aide was dirty and no one will miss him, and tries to convince Buffy that as Slayers they are not only different, they're better then everyone else-- above the law.

They split up and arrive at their respective homes to find police there. They're both interrogated, and get their stories pretty much the same. The cop, however, is talking about witnesses. He's obviously highly suspicious of them, but doesn't seem to have quite enough to nail them. As he leaves Faith's motel room, we see Angel is lurking outside, obviously following the investigation.

Willow's in her room when Buffy appears at the French doors needing to talk. Willow at first assumes Buffy's trying to apologize for ignoring her... and is then guilt-ridden when Buffy breaks into tears. Buffy tells Willow everything, and Willow convinces her to go to Giles.

Buffy shows up at the library, obviously reluctant to do this. But when she sees Giles coming out of his office, she starts to try to confess... when Faith follows him out of the office. Faith has told Giles that Buffy not only killed the aide, but was the one who insisted on covering it up. Buffy tries to protest, but is cut off by an angry Giles, who orders her into his office and dismisses Faith. Once inside the office, Buffy's tearful protestations of innocence are cut off by Giles' admission that he already knows the truth. Faith's talents apparently don't include being a very convincing liar. Buffy is still trying to get her bearings on a situation that's doing 180-degree turns on her every minute, while Giles explains that it was necessary to convince Faith that he believed her story.

Giles reassures Buffry that this is not the first time an accident like this has happened. Normally the Watcher Council would investigate and mete out punishment if necessary, but Giles acknowledges that that is not what Faith needs right now, and assures Buffy he has no intention of involving the Council. Buffy wants to find some way to help Faith, and Giles agrees to hold a Slayerette meeting. They agree, however, that most importantly, no one else must know.

Wesley (of course) is standing just outside the door listening.

***************

Wesley immediately calls up the Council, asking specifically for Quentin Travers (yes, the jerk from 'Helpless').

The next day Buffy, Willow, Xander, and Giles are in a deserted classroom talking it over. In an attempt to offer his help in getting through to her, Xander admits that he has "a connection" with her... it quickly becoming clear what exactly he means by that. (Willow's obviously hurt, Buffy's startled, Giles is not-wanting-to-think-about-it... and the conversation moves on.) Buffy tries to kindly point out that Faith doesn't think much of the guys she "has a connection with" (although there really isn't a kind way to put it), and Giles agrees it's not likely to be of much use. Buffy feels she owes Faith some sort of help, but they aren't able to come up with a plan.

After the meeting breaks up we see Willow by herself in a bathroom stall, sobbing quietly. Xander is sitting by himself in the library, looking very down. [Yup, just as overalls=depression with Buffy, voluntarily alone in the library seems to =depression for Xander.]

Xander shows up on Faith's doorstep, sincerely wanting to get her to open up to him, to help her. He manages to overcome her less-than-welcoming attitude, and withstand her attempt to turn it into another quick roll. For her part she mocks him, then throws him on the bed and starts mauling him over his protests. What looks to be heading towards an actual rape scene instead takes a turn when Faith instead grabs Xander by the throat and attempts to strangle him. Only at the last second does Angel arrive and knock her out.

She comes to in Angel's place (the 'castle'), fastened to the wall by him with the same chains Buffy once used on Angel himself. Faith immediately puts the sex spin on him having 'tied her up', but Angel ignores it with a casual "I have all the time in the world to get through to you" air. Buffy is waiting outside (out of sight), obviously very concerned about her. She leaves to go get Faith some of her things. Angel's willing to take the time to try with Faith, but cautions Buffy not to get her hopes up too high.

Meanwhile the Mayor and Trick are watching video surveillance tape of the Slayers breaking into the aide's office... and spotting them together. The Mayor admits there isn't enough evidence to lock them up for the murder, and insists Trick find another solution soon.

Back at the castle, Angel starts talking to Faith-- relating as one killer to another. Faith, of course, tries to blow it all off with her snappy comebacks, but from the look on her face he's actually starting to get through...

...when Wesley and a bunch of Watcherly goons break in, net-and-beat Angel senseless, and 'arrest' Faith in preparation for extraditing her to England for the Watcher Council's judgment.

***************

Wesley has Faith handcuffed in the back of a van and is assuring her that the Council's first concern is truth and justice. Faith, deeply unimpressed by this, manages to grab the lone goon and threaten to kill him unless Wesley removes the handcuffs. He does and she punches him out and is out the back of the van and gone.

Buffy returns to find Angel just waking up... cut to the library where they're gathered with Willow, Xander, and Giles for another meeting. Giles explains what Wesley is doing, and suggests the Council will likely lock her up for a long time. Buffy makes plans to rescue her... and Willow asks why. She murdered the aide and the accused Buffy, and she nearly killed Xander. Why shouldn't they let her be locked up? Buffy argues again for helping Faith... and is interrupted by the arrival of Wesley. He admits his mistake, repeats that he was only trying to help her, and offers to help... and is roundly ignored by the crew as they rush off to keep Faith from running out of town.

Buffy has headed for the docks where, true to her earlier statment, Faith is getting ready to hop a freighter. Buffy again tries to reach out, and Faith continues to rebuff her. Faith badgers Buffy with arguments that Faith only threatens Buffy's own self-control-- that Buffy is only fighting because she deep-down wants to be as 'bad' as Faith is.

Their argument is cut off by a falling crate, which Buffy sees and shoves Faith clear of. Buffy is trapped half-under the crate herself, though, leaving Faith to fight the attacking vampire baddies alone. Trick is leading the charge, apparently making good on his promise to 'take care of' the Mayor's little problem. Buffy finally gets free only to find herself facing Trick himself, who is taking advantage of her weakened state to strangle her. Faith finishes off the other vamps, sees this... and hesitates for a moment... but only a moment, before she stakes him. (Goodbye, Mr. Trick.)

Perri's Review

Talk about losing your Faith.. Sorry, bad pun, only way to deal with high-level angst situations, which this most certainly is.

Plot:
Dianne got it.

Continuity:
Mr. Trick is dead, and Faith has apparently taken his place at the Mayor's side, after escaping Welsey's attempt to send her to England to stand trial before the Watcher Council.

Buffy knows that the Mayor is one of the bad guys, and allied with vampires.

Amy is still a rat.

Relationships:
Willow found out about Xander sleeping with Faith, and their relationship is strained again.

Xander found out that Faith didn't take sleeping with him at all seriously -- and found this out the really hard way. Could Angel's intervention before Xander got in real trouble be referred to as slayus interruptus?

Characters:
Faith. On the one hand, I am incredibly peeved with the child for trying to shift the blame and responsibility for Finch's death onto Buffy. And what she did to Xander is almost enough to make me root for the deep dark dungeon concept -- not just the attempted rape/murder charge, but the callous brutality with which she treated as boy whow as trying to help her. There's no question she has serious issues about power and her own rights -- going from what we've deducted of her past, she's had very little power over her own life, and Slaying offers her the chance to take that power back. Going too far with it would be so very simple to do.... I still believe that Faith is running some elaborate double-cross on the mayor, that some of what Angel said to her got through enough that she needs to make amends for her actions, to prove herself of worth. And if she gets herself killed in the process -- I don't think she's going to care too much; the prospect has never really bothered her before.

Giles comes through in a big, big way this episode, first with unconditional faith in Buffy, then by helping her cover for Faith. It easy to forget sometimes just how much responsibility he carries -- for two Slayers now, instead of just one, not to mention the rest of the kids. But his face as he realizes he has no idea what to do to help Faith reminds you of how much he has to deal with; however mature the kids are, he's still the only adult really involved and, whatever happens, he's going carry the blame for whatever happens to them. And he doesn't even have the Watcher Council to fall back on anymore, the traditions of the Watchers, since those traditions have turned out to be so horribly wrong in at least one serious case. He's only got his instincts and his faith; thank god both of them are pretty damn reliable.

Wesley has real control issues. First insisting the girls investigate Finch's murder when it was probably not supernatural ("I'm your commander"? Please.), then dissing Giles in front of the Slayers, then unilaterally trying to kidnap Faith. What a dork. I'm a little surprised he didn't try to kill Angel when he had the chance, instead of just immobilizing him. But then, I guess his little lizard hindbrain came forward with self-preservational instincts in time to realize what Buffy would do to anyone who hurt Angel. Grr. But if being left in the library to deal with his mistakes while everyone else goes to be useful does start driving home just how unprepared for this he is, then nothing will. One thing he's certainly figured out -- he's lost any hope of having influence, much less control, over either of the Slayers he was assigned to.

You have to feel for Xander. The first time is adeeply big deal, for guys as well as Xander, and his first time turned out pretty much exactly like Buffy's -- someone he cared about (and would have cared about more given the slightest encouragement), turns completely and totally against him in the ugliest possible way. But where Angelus confined his destruction of Buffy to verbal weapons, Faith uses words and violence against Xander when he's desperately trying to help her. He wasn't in love with Faith like Buffy was with Angel, but this is still going to leave some real, serious scars on the poor guy.

Buffy gets hit in the face with her own dark side in this episode -- she's gotten the vampire-killing high, she's been tempted more than once to use her powers for evil, she's got her own guilt over Finch's death to handle. Faith holds up a cracked mirror for Buffy to look into, to see what she might have become, and there re no good reflections. Kendra -- the automaton, barely able to live a life outside of Slaying. The other Buffy, that we've seen and she hasn't, the one scarred inside and out by Slaying with no Giles, no Willow, no Angel... She gets to to see that other Buffy now in Faith, equally scarred by life, equally alone -- except that Faith has Buffy to fall back on. And, to buffy's credit, she takes on Faith's weight, despite everything the other Slayer has tried ot do for her, and takes it on with out a murmur. "I owe her that." No, she didn't actually -- unless in the cosmic sense of being given every advantage and then some in the Slaying game, while Faith has none.

Willow is, once again, getting it from all sides. First she's feeling hurt by Buffy hanging so exclusively with Faith, then she finds out Xander slept with someone else -- Faith. I can sympathize with her reaction to that -- even given that she's decided she only wants Oz, she wanted Xander for a long time, and probably wove some pretty serious dreams around both of their first times. It hurts to see those dreams end, whether it has a right to or not.

I'm quite proud of Angel this week. He puts the pieces together and acts accordingly, saves Xander's butt, and uses his own experiences to try to reach Faith when no one else has a prayer. Angelus, Vampire Therapist. Who knew? And everyone can now stop complaining about him lurking! I do wonder how he and Xander are going to deal after this, given that Angel just once again saved Xander's neck.

Best Moments:
Wesley confronted with Cordelia. Wesley, dear, wipe your chin. And Cordy having so much fun, not to mention the quick "she's a student" and instant drop of the hand. < snerk > Wesley might be fun to have around after all!

The mayor cheering himself up by shredding. Oh come on, like that doesn't give everyone with access to a shredder a happy?

Buffy and Faith in the mayor's office. Faith's "He came out of nowhere" and her quick cover of any emotion were both pitiful and scary, knowing now what she is capable of.

Followed immediately by her confrontation with Buffy, as Faith calmly points out that the lives they've saved should balance out one taken, and Buffy clings to one human life meaning more than that. And the shift into Faith's growing ubermensch complex is wigsome, to say the least.

Willow trying to confront Buffy. She falls into babble which doesn't make the impact of Buffy falling apart any easier.

Giles confronting Buffy after Faith's "Confession". He had me going, much less Buffy. < shivers > Not a happy scene, but soo cool that he believes so unconditionally in Buffy.

Everyone figuring out about Faith and Xander. Everyone's reactions are priceless -- Giles so knows more about these kids' sex lives than he ever wanted to know! -- and Willow's "I don't have to say 'Oh'" was great.

The entire scene in Faith's room. Xander is sweet and wonderful, Faith is scary as hell, and Angel's arrival is perfectly timed.

Angel talking to Faith. Somehow, he comes through to say exactly what she needs to hear, even when it must have been hard as hell for him to admit to some of those emotions. If Twit-Boy hadn't broken in, he would have gotten through to her.

Wesley confronting the Slayerettes. Even a vampire is ticked off with him -- harsh reality pill for the Baby Watcher, as he's left standing in the middle of the library.

Faitha nd Buffy's confrontation on the docks. Faith's low blow about Angel, her Darth Vader-like attempts to turn Buffy come off truly and completely convincing.

Trick's death. Gotta love the man getting one last good line off before he bites it (pun only marginally intended). And who was expecting that!?!

Questions and Comments:
Anyone who's ever been stupid enough to claim guys can't be raped... meet the proof. The entire scene between Xander and Faith was really well done -- tense, tight and terrifying. Outstanding handling of a very touchy subject and wonderful performances from Nick and Eliza.

Love Alyson's new hair -- now, if she just avoids the hats for a while, we're set.

Awesome, awesome, awesome music over Willow crying and Xander thinking. One of the best song choices since 'Inconsolable' way back in Prophecy Girl, beaten only by 'Full of Grace'.

Joss is a sneaky, evil man. Playing up Trick to be the big villain of the season, just to cover up the Mayor. Biteth me, O Great One. Rating: 5 stars out of five. A very serious episode, taking some real issues about power, use and abuse thereof, and handling them without a bobble. Stand-out performances from Eliza Dushku and David Boreanaz, tight writing and some loverly plots twists, leaving us once again dying to know what happens next.

SunSpeak

"*Ow, ow, *ow* for Faith's past and future (and major *thwips* for what she's done lately, some held in reserve pending the outcome of her last bright idea)
*Ow for Wesley, and a *thwip* for being a chucklehead
*Yeowch for Mr.Trick --- bye, dude. We hardly knew ye, but you were darn fun while you lasted.
*Eeek for Sunnydale, and what's coming up!" -- Chris

"An episode where Angel was used as more than Buffy's boyfriend! I liked that. Also an episode where all the actors, save Seth Green who was filming Austin Powers, were used without it seeming rushed to get them screen time. I do miss Cordelia as part of the gang. We've seen she can be more than just decorative bitca girl, and it is somewhat disappointing to see her be just that. We know she has layers! I don't want to see Buffy crying anymore this season though. I can't stand it when she cries." -- KT "How did Angel get IN to Faith's hotel room? See? Minor. Watch the episode and see if YOU figure it out! I'm dying for someone to rationalize it for me!"
"...if they're going to be consistant, we have to assume that hotels and motels are kind of an open invite, otherwise we can't explain how Angelus could have gotten to Jenny Calendar's uncle in his hotel room. Either that, or Joss only enforces the "vamps have to be invited in" rule when he wants to. < gg > Have they said that vamps need to be invited in to enter _any_ building, or just homes? I can't remember. Other than Cordelia twittering on about having had Angel in her car, that is."
"re cars, what if you live in a Winnebago? Is that a home or a car? Or does it depend on whether it's your permanent home or your vacation vehicle? What percentage of the time does it have to be "home" before it becomes safe? And what about mobile homes that aren't mobile? (This is fun!)" -- Anya, Maureen and Betsy

"Now that I think about it, Kendra and Faith are two extremes of the Slayer spectrum. Buffy's the median in attitude--but I think she's actually at one end of the bell curve that the Watchers like to see. I think that the Watchers prefer to have Kendra as the median, and to have Buffy be x standard deviations from the mean, and then have Faith be x + 5 standard deviations from the mean. Damn. God help me, I'm actually using my statistics class. Weird. Cool, but weird." -- Tina

"Wesley's finally starting to question himself. Once he was confronted by two real Slayers, two Slayers who weren't Kendra-normal (*sniff* Poor Kendra...speaking of, Mo, I want more on your story!), he fell back on the "I am your commander" crap. Then, once he tried to take Faith back to England--which I kinda agree with and kinda don't, but more on that in a bit--and realized that Watcher policy doesn't always work in Real Life (tm), he started wondering. Then he got back to the library and saw how well Buffy interacted with everyone (including Giles) and started wondering. He really won points with me when he said, "I want to help." He didn't dictate, didn't pull any order-giving crap, but was genuinely interested in helping--and was willing to listen to the people that knew the situation. Unfortunately for him, he'd screwed up enough that no one wanted him around. Maybe he'll learn. I'm going to be optimistic and think he will." -- Tina

"I can see why she'd want Faith dealt with, though. Willow's the good girl, keeping the rules constantly (and we love her for her Willowness), and Faith breaks the rules more than Buffy does, and doesn't even break them for the sake of helping others, which is why Buffy breaks the rules. That's gotta be hard on Willow, since she's such the lawful good (for the D&D-literate among us < g >) person. She's got such a strong sense of right and wrong, and seeing that sense violated and then not being able to do anything about it like she can when she helps fight vampires and demons and stuff is almost painful." -- Tina

"Loved some of the cinematography stuff in this ep--- that beginning dream sequence was *excellent*, and a lot of the dark-and-scary stuff happening in Faith's motel room was wonderfully creepy. Great exit shot with Angel knocking her out, of course, and then the nice cut to the chains." -- Chris

"I do feel cheated that Trick is gone. I was completely expecting him to be next year's Big Baddie, having survived the season finale, and to have him get offed right now makes perfect plot sense, but leaves me vaguely dissatisfied. I know it was unavoidable for the storyline, and I'm not arguing with how they did it--- I'm just sorry that someone so entertaining won't be around any more." -- Chris

"As for Xander.... well, it's a classic plot device to abuse a character you want the audience to sympathize with, especially after they've been a jerk for a while. Which doesn't detract at all from the fact that it works. He's completely in character through everything that happens. First he's really hurt that Faith was possibly using him, and wans to believe they're at least friends or have a "connection" (and if he'd gone over there *before* she killed Fitch and started going psycho, he might, maybe, just possibly have been right about being friends). Then, he has to know the truth- he's never lacked for courage in facing ugly emotional facts if he can confront them head-on --- and he also genuinely *wants* to help Faith, for unselfish reasons as well as selfish ones. Not a simple guy in some ways. But he is a nice guy, a good person --- and completely in over his head where Faith's problems are concerned. Poor kid. His continued *horrible* track record with women is going to give him a serious complex pretty soon. Not to mention that he's just managed to hurt Willow _again_, without even meaning to (*again*). Getting nearly strangled probably helped soothe some of her on-the-surface anger toward him, but if he still does have lingering feelings for her, there's no way she's going to believe it, and I'd have to wonder if he'd even want to try. I predict a time-out from all semi-romantic activity for Xander at least until the end of the season while he tries to work all this out. At least, if they let him be smart about it." -- Chris

"I think that a lot of her behavior in Consequences blatantly confirmed the suspicions of abuse that many people on-list (including me) have been having. In her scornful treatment of Angel's mention of the "safeword" concept, her litany of why she thought Xander might have come over, she was deriding the idea that he might actually *want* to help her, and she repeated some phrases that sounded like she'd heard them before ("I won't try anything, I'll just hang out...") under other circumstances. She was far too casual in mentioning "kinks or vanilla" sex. All the "kids" on this show are really media-savvy and incredibly verbal, yeah, especially about sex. But this is going a bit far. If you step back from the glibness in her voice and connect to the fact that this is a sixteen-year-old who's been on her own for most of a year saying this stuff, and not a full-grown adult who's supposedly capable of making informed emotional choices, it all screams "abused/raped in the past". " -- Chris

"The Faith who knows she can get away with killing someone and who wants to believe it's justified, on the other hand, is also terribly scared that people are going to force her to deal with what she did. And if she has to admit that what she did was wrong, she'll lose her pride in one of the few things she does well, that she feels good about: Slaying. Anything leading into that looks like an attack, so she responds in kind, either verbally (off and on with Buffy, and with turning her in to Giles) or physically, since she has nothing physical to fear from Xander. Totally, completely out of control, and the worst part is that it makes her feel *in* control. I understand why she wanted to believe herself to be evil or justified; if you're superhuman and evil, nothing can hurt you, there's nothing to be scared of, because you're the baddest thing in the room. If you're superhuman and above the rules, none of it *matters*. Too bad she's not crazy enough to believe all her own excuses.... well, too bad for her. A very, very good thing for the world at large." -- Chris

"Thank God Angel showed up when he did. I am putting myself on lurking-snark restraint for the next three episodes, since his habit of dwelling in the shadows and eavesdropping saved Xander's life this time. And he was doing a very good job with her back at the mausoleum. Not letting her get him off the track with her verbal attacks, or demands, justifications; just telling her the truth and making her face it. It would've taken a while, but she probably would have accepted the truth after a few days. I'm glad to see Angel do something really different, and it gives me hope for the new series. :)" -- Chris, being awfully chatty

"Yet another fabulous script from Marti Noxon filled with emotion, pain, and fantastically rich dialogue and great characterizations. Beautifully directed by Michael Gershman. He may only direct one ep a year but boy does he make it count! Especially effective was the interrogation scene, with the cuts from Buffy to Faith. Kudos to him and to the editing team! What a completely wonderfully unsettling episode! From the opening dream sequence -- nothing like a claustrophobic drowning dream to put you in the wrong/right state of mind -- to the last chord and slam of the door, this ep just ROCKED!" -- Mary Beth

"I knew it wasn't completely over. But poor Willow! Once again, she feels like the dirt in Xander's shoe. I mean, she loves Oz and she chose him. But he keeps putting her off (which is good but to an insecure teen can be easily misinterpreted when you lump it in with all the other stuff going on.) And Xander didn't exactly fight for her. And he moves on to *Faith* -- a step or 12 lower than Cordelia in Willow's mind. So this time it's "You'd rather be with someone psychotic than be with me." Owie! She's grown a *lot* in the last 2 years. And she's broken through a lot of her walls. But there's still an insecure girl at the core and the strain of teen relationships is pulling her back. I'm anxiously awaiting next week's episode. I can't wait to see where Joss goes with this." -- Mary Beth

"Okay. I thought she was going to rape him. I was sitting there... in shock... thinking "what an incredibly frightening, controversially brilliant thing to do" (okay, mostly I was thinking "BWHAA!!" but... my *sub*conscious was busy with the thoughtful stuff). Okay... so she "only" tried to kill him. Either way... that scene was just disturbing."
"< snerk > "BWHAA!" was about as far as my mental processes got. Except for the fact that I noticed Xander's hands. *Not* touching Faith. Not anywhere *near* Faith. He was either not turned on by this attempted rape (which you have to admit is difficult for the average male, let alone the average 18 year-old!), or he was trying, body and soul, to be as non-threatening as possible, to the extent of not even trying to push her away. Until she started choking him, of course. Not that it did him much good then." -- Mary Beth and Maureen

"I love this guy more and more. Can't you just hear a cheesy theme song to go with this guy? He's fun! He's funny! He seem's normal! But he's a really an invincible demon. He's the Mayor of Sunnydale! And it's official.... I can no longer hear the words "The Mayor" in any context without cringing." -- Mary Beth

"Wow. Eliza Dushku is amazing. I've always believed she was full of it when she recounted some of her tales. Trying to impress the B. But now I'm just not so sure. I can only begin to imagine what was done to her as a young girl to make her so completely emotionally dysfunctional. I don't know if I want to know. "
"What frightened me was her saying "safe words are for wusses." She not only _knew_ about safe words (and how many 17 [18?] year-olds would know about that?), but she actually _had_an_opinion_ about them. She's played far more rough games than *anyone* her age should even know about. One of the evidences of childhood sexual abuse is a "precocious sexuality". Not to mention Faith's evident ability with denial and repression! Definitely some emotional disturbances going on with the poor girl. Add to that her Slayer powers, and feeling of invulnerability, and she could wreak some *serious* havoc if she completely goes over the edge." -- Mary Beth and Maureen

"She doesn't trust and has no respect for men or authority. She has a hard time trusting *anyone* actually. It's frightening. But Buffy was right.... there were glimpses of pain and remorse -- or shock or something -- over what she did. So there is a person in there that can be saved.... it's just a matter of how deeply buried she is. And how much people are willing to fight for her. At what point do you let someone go? Do you give them up for a lost cause? If you let someone who's shown signs of goodness (like Angel had) go ...aren't you letting evil win? The battle against the bad guys isn't just physical.... it's mental ... and emotional. And Faith has obviously experienced some terrible emotional pain. Luckily she has Buffy on her side. I really thought she might get vamped there in the end. Can you imagine what she'd be like having been turned at the possibly lowest point of her life -- on top of what she'd be like, period. Yikes! But her turn to the Mayor was bad enough. Is she really gone bad? Or is she a double agent? Sheesh... it can go either way. Whatever the case, we can only hope she'll come through in the end." -- Mary Beth

"Because he a *twit*. < ahem > Excuse me, but I'm really having a difficult time explaining _why_ Wesley has done most of what he's done. Why hang out at the library if your stated aim is to relieve Giles of all responsibility of the Slayer? Because the books are there? If Wesley has an apartment, he could keep the books there, and he doesn't have to worry about school personnel finding them. Because Buffy is a student? Yeah, but she spends more of her day *not* at school than at school - probably 9am to about 3pm at school, 3pm to 9am _not_ at school. Why kidnap Faith to drag her back to England? Rather than transporting a reluctant (not to mention violent) Slayer all the way across the continent and the ocean, wouldn't it be easier to lock her up in California and have the CoW come to her? Why not kill Angel? Because Buffy loves him and killing him would piss her off? How would Wesley know that? I'm surprised that Wesley knows he's a vampire! But knowing he's a vampire, it amazes me that he'd just beat him and leave him alive. If Wesley is so gung-ho, by the books Watcher, I would think he'd kill a vampire - any vampire! - if he could."
"Ah, but *this* vampire saved his kneecaps. It's a bad idea to kill off your allies, even if they *are* the walking dead." "But it's okay to beat the crap out of them??"-- Maureen and Elaine

"If he stakes out the library, he'll run into her when she goes to the guy who *does* have the facts, and the books. If he sets up shop in his apartment, she'll find even *more* reasons to steer clear of him."
"Hmmmm... this actually makes some sense of why he's skulking around the library. I'll bet he *did* try to set up Slayer Central elsewhere when he first arrived and realized that Giles wasn't going to quietly hand over the reins. But Buffy just ignored him, so he's taken to just unexpectedly dropping into the library (not to mention the Bronze, in that one scene last week) in the hopes of finding his Slayer." -- Elaine and Maureen