S03.E14: Bad Girls

[Joe Hellandback]

The Good; All of it, excellent battle sequences and Faith's luring of Buffy especially good. Nic Brendon's twitching on demand is also wonderful. The silent scene with Faith and the Deputy-Mayor's body is excellent. The Mayor's ritual scene is also great especially his 'things to do' list.

The Bad; Has anyone ever really been able to sneak out of class without the teacher noticing?

Best line; Faith "I like him, He's butch!"

Character death; If we include the vamps killed when Buffy and Faith smash through the doors then this ep must have the greatest number of dustings ever. And of course Faith accidentally kills the deputy Mayor. Watching it it's all the more tragic as Buffy hits him first, if she'd had the stake in her hand rather than Faith did it would have been her that killed him. Of course she would have dealt with it very differently as

Spoiler

the events of 'Dead Things' demonstrate.

Buffy's killing of Balthazar once more shows her ingenuity.

Shot; No but the cops threaten the Slayers with guns, otherwise they'd never have been able to capture them. Mr Trick ventures that the Illuminati should used Uzis rather than swords but

Spoiler

he doesn't follow his own advice.

Tied up; Faith and Buffy in handcuffs. Wes and Giles also tied up by the vamps.

Women good/men bad; As the title suggests, the girls are the bad ones this time

Jeez!; Always horrible to watch Buffy drown, again! Balthazar is grotesque! The Mayor has a 'splitting headache'.

Kinky dinky; Even when being arrested Faith flirts with the cop. Cop; "Spread'em" Faith; "You wish!" Note that when Buffy drags Faith away when dancing in the Bronze she points to 3 guys and goes 'Call me!". When Faith doubts that Buffy has never had sex with Xander she asks 'What are friends for?'. The show that the pair put on at the Bronze is normally the sort of thing you have to pay $15 at the door for. And of course they just have to add it to the opening titles so we see it every week. Buffy comments on Faith's grunting and how slaying turns her on, getting 'sweaty'. Xander describes Cordy's dress as 'hookerwear'

Calling Captain Subtext; The whole thing is just a massive love letter between Buffy and Faith. Doug Petrie drools over them dancing at the Bronze. The symbol Faith makes in the window is basically a valentine to her girlfriend. You could also argue that Willow is jealous of Faith and is trying to win Buffy back. What a shame they dropped the line about Wes and Giles at the Bronze being David Bowie and a boyfriend (wouldn't ASH make an excellent David Bowie?). Interesting according to Petrie that ED was always keen to play the lesbian subtext. You wonder was SMG? Although to judge by her performance in 'Cruel Intentions' she probably wouldn't have a problem with it.

Guantanamo Bay; Faith leads Buffy in burglary and criminal damage, knocking out 2 cops in the process. Balthazar get's Wes to talk by threatening to rip off his kneecaps.

Spoiler

Where's Dawn? I wonder what Dawn's attitude to Faith is? Jealous of having to share Buffy with her or is she the biggest Faith fan and heartbroken at her betrayal. I always figured the latter, that Faith actually wanted Dawn just as much as she wanted Joyce. You think that if Faith had a Joyce and Dawn to go home to she'd never have gone bad. Joyce is dieting, I really don't think she needs to.

What the fanficcers thought; Buffy rather than Faith hooks up with the Mayor but seduces him into giving up evil, 'Buffy the Mayor's Plaything'

Questions and observations; Does Mr Trick follow the Slayers around? He seems to have recovered the swords very quickly. Doug Petrie's commentary is very weird, he rather reminds me of a young Tom Hanks in a dreadful film he made called Bachelor Party. The Mayor can't be killed, what if you cut his head off? The Mayor's comments about the Scouts are a bit disturbing, he wants to 'eat'em up!'. I think it's evident that Faith does care she killed a man or it wouldn't affect her so much. Doug's wrong in his commentary,

Spoiler

Buffy and Faith will be friends again.

Willow is deciding which university, another benefit of the Hellmouth genius.

Spoiler

And here's Wes, no sign yet that he'll last over 5 years in the show and get his name in the opening titles.

Xander's dad seems to be currently unemployed. The cops refer to Sunnydale's girl gangs, confirming what we learnt in The Zeppo (even now Faith can't resist teasing Buffy by referring to them as The Slayers). First meeting of Wes and Angel, surely Wes would have read up on him prior to coming to SD?

Marks out of 10; 10 out of 10 or maybe 5x5 would be a better way to put it

[Halting Hex]

6 hours ago, nosleepforme said:

Spoiler

A little bit disappointing that Mr. Trick had to go

 

Spoiler

Mr. Trick survives this episode just fine.  The Mayor even offers him a root beer after Trick slays Vincent for him.

Edited July 12, 2018 by Halting Hex

[Joe Hellandback]

On ‎12‎/‎07‎/‎2018 at 11:46 AM, nosleepforme said:

 

  Hide contents

 

 

Wondering the same. Where was the teacher in that scene? That being said, Eliza Dushku is a delight in that scene.

 

Yes, I'm not sure anyone does seductive playfulness better. 

[lembergwatcher]

Quote

Buffy: Faith, wait. Look, I know this new guy's a dork, but... (pauses) Well, I have nothing to follow that. He's pretty much just a dork.

Faith: You're actually gonna take orders from him?

Buffy: That's the job. What else can we do?

Faith: Whatever we want. We're Slayers, girlfriend, the Chosen Two. Why should we let *him* take all the fun out of it?

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Buffy: Think they're insured?

Faith: Strangely, not my priority. (checks the trigger mechanism) When are ya gonna get this, B? Life for a Slayer is very simple: (walks to a vertical case) want... (breaks it) take... (reaches in for a set of nun- chucks) have. (stuffs them into her pants)

Sometimes I think Faith was simply honest about what beeing a Slayer, the Chosen One, really meant to her. While Buffy either wanted to keep quiet or wasn't corrupt enough at the moment. But I got a feeling that some seeds were sown back then.

Spoiler

And things would change drastically in three years and eventually everyone will learn that "someone has to draw the line and that is always going to be me" and "There's only me. I am the law" BS.

True, both Buffy and Faith were the Chosen Ones and kick-ass Slayers, but they were also human beings first and foremost. Everytime humans assume the role of God and start acting like they're "judge, jury and the executioner" on every matter (I dare say that for Faith robbing Meyer's Sport and Tackle shop had little to do with fighting Eliminati, but a lot to do with the thrill of it all, JMO) that's when the troubles begin. Getting away with robbery attempt and (involuntary) manslaughter

Spoiler

(though raven-haired Slayer would make a decision to redeem herself a year later)

triggered Faith

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and much later Buffy eventually

into a downward spiral.

[Joe Hellandback]

On ‎26‎/‎08‎/‎2018 at 11:25 AM, lembergwatcher said:

Sometimes I think Faith was simply honest about what beeing a Slayer, the Chosen One, really meant to her. While Buffy either wanted to keep quiet or wasn't corrupt enough at the moment. But I got a feeling that some seeds were sown back then.

  Hide contents

And things would change drastically in three years and eventually everyone will learn that "someone has to draw the line and that is always going to be me" and "There's only me. I am the law" BS.

True, both Buffy and Faith were the Chosen Ones and kick-ass Slayers, but they were also human beings first and foremost. Everytime humans assume the role of God and start acting like they're "judge, jury and the executioner" on every matter (I dare say that for Faith robbing Meyer's Sport and Tackle shop had little to do with fighting Eliminati, but a lot to do with the thrill of it all, JMO) that's when the troubles begin. Getting away with robbery attempt and (involuntary) manslaughter

  Hide contents

(though raven-haired Slayer would make a decision to redeem herself a year later)

triggered Faith

  Hide contents

and much later Buffy eventually

into a downward spiral.

Arguably Faith embraces the more traditional identity of the Slayer, the lone wolf who accepts this is the reason for her being and that she will die young, whilst Buffy for all her outward conformity is actually the rebel who tries to have a more conventional life and doesn't let it define her. 

[Halting Hex]

From his reaction vid:

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LIAM (wistfully):  One day, Oz and Cordelia will get loads of scenes again.

And

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LIAM:  Xander's reaction to Faith's name was hilarious. (beat) I'm sad that all those guys didn't get a lot to do this episode, but…

Yes, exactly.  I mean, he still loves the episode, and so do I, and I love Faith and I love Wesley, but could we possibly have some scenes between the actual cast?  The people we are (in theory) paying to see?  (Since we buy the products the advertisers advertise and that revenue lets Mutant Enemy pay the actors, and so on.)

i mean, here's what we've got for this episode:

1) At the top of Act I, the Scoobs meet and discuss college acceptances.  Oz says his two lines and does not appear again.  Cordelia says her two lines and doesn't even wait for the scene to end before she takes her exit.  (Queen C knows how to own her irrelevancy, it appears.)

Spoiler

(Liam, huge Willoz fan that he is, is so not going to like Consequences, what with Willow sobbing in the toilets over Xander/Faith and Oz not even getting two lines or one scene.  Oh, well.)

 

2) In Act IV, as Buffy is fleeing the site of Allan's death, she runs into Angel in an alleyway, and he sees the blood on her hand.

And…th-th-th-that's all, folks!  Sigh.

Yes, we get a few scenes that start out as main cast scenes…but they don't stay that way. (The Scoobs take the test…but then Faith shows up to lure Buffy away;  Willow makes Buffy a protection pouch…but then Faith shows up to lure Buffy away;  Buffy and Angel have a conversation at the Bronze…but Faith was there at the start and Wesley shows up later on.)  Again, I love Faith, I love Wesley, I like the villainous scenes here (does Mr. Trick surviving the episode where Allan does not mean that Cathy couldn't handle Marmaduke?) and I may not be the Joyce-adorer that Joe is, but the "waffles" scene is hardly indigestible, IMO.  But, seriously…where did my show go?

Scoobies…heeeeere, Scoobies…

[lembergwatcher]

2 hours ago, Halting Hex said:

Oz says his two lines and does not appear again.

Oz usually doesn't talk too much (fortunately).

[Halting Hex]

Was discussing James Spader in the Welcome to the Hellmouth thread (wrt the "coolness quiz") and I remembered that Spader's most direct connection to the Buffyverse was in Bad Influence, where Christian Clemenson (Balthazar) played his brother.

Which, given the plot of this one (Liam literally said "Faith's being a bad influence" in his vid), makes this a particularly-appropriate time for them to cast Clemenson.  Not that I think it's deliberate, just amusing.

[lembergwatcher]

Gee, the last time they set like this they played footsie under the table... Are these the same table and the same class we saw in Band Candy?

I find it kinda strange (weird even) that post-fluke Willow agreed to be that close to someone who nearly destroyed her relationship with One of Best Guys Ever. Besides, isn't Oz going to be positively furious if he finds out?

[Halting Hex]

On 5/9/2022 at 5:15 PM, lembergwatcher said:

Gee, the last time they set like this they played footsie under the table... Are these the same table and the same class we saw in Band Candy?

I find it kinda strange (weird even) that post-fluke Willow agreed to be that close to someone who nearly destroyed her relationship with One of Best Guys Ever. Besides, isn't Oz going to be positively furious if he finds out?

Theoretically not.  Band Candy was Study Hall, and this is Chemistry. 

Wait…Chemistry??? Wasn't Xander taking that in Season One?

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Buffy reproaches Xander for following her into the tunnels on her "rescue Jesse" mission

XANDER:  Well, it was either this or Chem class—

—The Harvest

I know Xander said in The Pack that he was going to drop Chemistry (understandable, as we've already established [Witch, Teacher's Pet] that he's also taking Biology, and they're not usually taken at the same time.)

But OTOH, he might not have followed through on that (that was the Hyena speaking, after all) and even if he did, why didn't he take it last year?

Okay, so perhaps Xander dropped as a sophomore and failed as a junior (although he generally passes his courses; his GPA might not be much, but he earns his Ds), but even if you can excuse him…what is Willow doing here?

After all, two years ago, she was able to tutor Xan (however unsuccessfully).  She could be taking Advanced Placement (AP for short) Chemistry, but it's hardly likely (or fair) that Xander would be taking the same exam as Willow if she was in a more-advanced course.

Huh.

(I know, the writers gave exactly zero thought to this.  But still.  They're seniors, it would be perfectly fine for them to all be taking the same elective, such as Environmental Science. But Petrie just thought "Chemistry" sounded nice and simple, and nobody bothered to update the "Show Bible" so he could know that had already been covered.)

Spoiler

Next season, in Primeval, David Fury will have Xander joke that Buffy shouldn't have taken Spanish instead of Sumerian, and it will be up to Nick Brendon to recall School Hard and that Buffy actually took French.  (He does it during a table read, according to an article in [I think] Rolling Stone.)

Which, good on Nick, but this sure af isn't supposed to be his job.)

 

Edited May 11, 2022 by Halting Hex