S04.E15: This Year's Girl

[Joe Hellandback]

The Good; Faith's dream sequences are all excellent, wonderful to see Harry Groener again, love the reveal of Faith at UCSD and great scenes with Joyce/Faith, the fight that follows one of the best in the show's history

The Bad; Are you kidding, Faith is back, how could anything be bad?

Best line; Faith; "How do I look?" Joyce; "Psychotic?"

Character death; Thankfully not

Knocked out; Buffy-as-Faith in the final scene plus the poor girl at the hospital

Women good/men bad; Nope, female villain this time around

Jeez!; Psycho-Buffy in Faith's dreams is scary indeed, great performance from SMG, love her vacant stare, steady walk and that little tilt of the head, give her a hockey mask and she's the villain in the slasher film. Check out Buffy's expression as she twists the knife in Faith's side. Plus Faith hits Joyce! Oh, that girl deserves SUCH a spanking! Plus Adam's Silence of the Lambs homage.

Kinky dinky; As Petrie comments, 'Cleavage, demons and intrigue' (what I look for in a TV show). Faith also tells Buffy she has dreams about 'cigars and tunnels', Bill Clinton and Monica anyone? (a reference that would have been a lot more topical at the time). Willow refers to Faith as a 'cleavagey slutbomb'.

Calling Captain Subtext; The grass snake intruding in the picnic needs no interpretation. It represents the Mayor's evil (sexual?)desires intruding on his and Faith's happiness. Doug Petrie comments on Jaith and I think he's right, actually Joyce and Faith love each other much the same as Buffy/Faith do. I remember reading a great fanfic called 'Forbidden' where Joyce is lying in bed feeling guilty about having sex with the naked Slayer lying beside her who calls her 'mommy'. Of course in the very last word of the story you realise that it's actually Faith rather than Buffy and it all makes perfect sense from both a narrative and character point of view.

Buffy and Faith in dreams are still making the bed, Faith pleads for Buffy to take the knife out of her, does this signify a yearning for forgiveness?

Scoobies to the ER; Buffy-as-Faith get's a hammering (one could argue that this is actually Faith self-harming?)

Spoiler

Where's Dawn? Taken hostage by Faith alongside Joyce? It would certainly explain Dawn's antipathy towards her in season 7. Faith refers to 'Little sis coming'. Of course Dawn could just as easily have been Faith's sister if things had worked out differently, maybe they have a special link just as Dawn and Buffy do?

Missing scenes; The bit where Tara and Willow search for Faith is quite obviously an add in but is funny, especially Tara's idea of fighting.

Apocalypses; 5,

Questions and observations; Wonderful to have Faith back. You can't help but feel sorry for her when she's wandering the streets of Sunnydale having lost everything, especially when she sees the happy daughter leading her father by the hand. One question, looking at the Mayor's video he seems to think that there will be a museum dedicated to him in Sunnydale and that he and Faith will bring 'order' to the town? By being a big snake?

Spoiler

I always wondered what would happen if a Slayer was brainsucked by Glory? Read a fanfic once where that actually happens to Faith but in the follow up story DarkWillow brainsucks Warren before killing him and uses his mental energy to cure her. Watching this I realise that if Slayer healing can restore Faith from her coma then Glory would be no big deal for her or Buffy

. Tara asks what 'Five by five' means, about time someone did. Who calls the police for Faith at UCSD?

Marks out of 10; 9/10

[Halting Hex]

17 hours ago, Joe Hellandback said:

The Good; Faith's dream sequences are all excellent, wonderful to see Harry Groener again, love the reveal of Faith at UCSD and great scenes with Joyce/Faith, the fight that follows one of the best in the show's history

Also, Xander asking if hiding in a cabin with stockpiled chocolate would be part of the plan (because his subsequent "told you" to Willow indicates that this is a [very cute] conversation he and Willow had, off-screen), the inherent Fuffy-ness of the "Faith's awake!" scene (where Buffy is coming up with those theories about Faith being amnesiac [nope] or scared and repentant [BIG nope!] while W/X are, more logically, "kick her ass!") with the great capper of Riley going "Who's Faith?", and Willow trying to sneak-attack Faith during the B/F fight on campus.

17 hours ago, Joe Hellandback said:

The Bad; Are you kidding, Faith is back, how could anything be bad?

Er, you did see the costumes, right?  I could fill an entire page with all the shit outfits old Bergstrom put together here.  It's only laziness and a desire to spare others' eyes that stops me.

Also, the first scene after the credits, where Willow has the "bright" idea that Xander should test the Initiative blaster by pressing buttons at random, is not exactly a highlight.  Not helped by the "funny" bit where Xander nearly electrocutes himself trying to fix it and nobody notices (because, hey, it's only Xander, right? Ha-ha!), and the part later on where Riley comes in and effortlessly switches the blaster on (because it's so important to make Xander look like a buffoon compared to big he-man Riley…grrr).  Seriously annoying.

Also the drop-in scene where Spike has to remind Giles and Xander that he hates them and promises to go find Faith and help her kill them and they just let him walk off, despite the fact that Spike is chipped and Xander's holding the blaster?  Utter garbage, only there to fill time.  And clearly a late add, dictated by James still being away filming The House on Haunted Hill here (it's Spike's only scene of the episode) during the primary photography.  I wonder if they were concerned about the budget…James was main cast, so he'd be paid either way, but they didn't hire Emma, and Amber/Tara was a last minute audition.  Perhaps Eliza demanded a higher rate and they were looking to cut costs elsewhere?  In any event, the reduced roles for many of the characters make the episode feel unbalanced.  (It's not as though we even get a lot of Giles, for that matter.  What does he get, two scenes?  And one's a bad joke and the second is an after-the-fact add-in.  Bleh.)

Also, uneven acting from Marc Blucas:  he's fine in the first Buffy/Riley scene ("what if I'm just a soldier?"), but the later "okay, I get it: Faith bad." is not exactly a highlight for him.  And I'm more aware of it because I'm annoyed at Buffy for continuing to lie to Riley (er, "edit', to use her phrase) about her past.  I mean, even Willow calls her out on that, and Will's usually her enabler on things such as this.

So, entertaining, but still up and down.  A generous 8/10, perhaps.

17 hours ago, Joe Hellandback said:

Joyce and Faith love each other much the same as Buffy/Faith do.

A touch too easy with the word "love", I'd argue.  Faith certainly would wishes she could be accepted and trusted by either Summers, but there's a long way to go to even reach "like", never mind anything stronger.

After all, Faith doesn't even love herself.

Spoiler

As we'll see next episode.

Spoiler

About Dawn's later line "there's some nice hotels that welcome tried-to-kill-your-sister types.", I've never been certain if she's saying that she (as the speaker) doesn't welcome Faith because she remembers Faith trying to kill Buffy ("your sister") or if, since she's addressing Buffy, she's saying that Buffy shouldn't welcome Faith, since Dawn remembers Faith trying to kill her here.  Either works, I suppose.

Edited September 2, 2018 by Halting Hex

[Joe Hellandback]

On ‎01‎/‎09‎/‎2018 at 10:15 AM, nosleepforme said:

I think it was important to follow up on Faith's story and not leave her in a coma forever, though nowadays I feel like it comes a bit late in the season, at a point when they should be more focused on building up the big bad (Adam and the initiative) instead of doing detours. Wonder how it would have changed the season if it had happened after Hush for example.

 

It's interesting how Faith sees herself as the helpless victim in her dreams, when she took such delight in torturing Buffy in season three. If Buffy's dream from Graduation Day Part Two was a shared dream with Faith, then I wonder what changed in her subconscious to go from supporting Buffy back to seeing her as a monster. Though I guess that Buffy's dream in Graduation Day was more one of her slayer dreams than her connecting with Faith in dreams.

 

More

  Hide contents

Dawn

references in Faith's dream, as she mentions that

  Hide contents

"little sister is coming"

, though it could of course also refer to Faith waking up from her coma, since she is in many ways also

  Hide contents

Buffy's little sister

.

 

Seeing Harry Groener again is such a delight. It also gives more dimension to the mayor that he would go and record a video for Faith shortly before the ascension, in which he ponders that it is possible that his ascension may not go according to plan and that he might fail. We have never really seen a villain consider failure on the show.

 

I think this episode is later referenced in "Dirty Girls" when 

  Hide contents

Dawn mentions that Faith tried to kill her, because if Dawn was not having a sleepover at a friend's house, she would have been held captive along with Joyce and since Faith never actually threatened Joyce at Buffy's house in season three, I assume, any attempt of Faith's to kill Dawn must have happened after. So Joyce's attitude in this episode is probably much different in the alternative reality in which Dawn exists and is held captive along with her, or do we think Joyce is still as courageous in the Dawn-version of this episode?

 

That scene kind of reminds me too much of VampWillow in Doppelgangland, and to a lesser degree, Spike after the events of The Initiative, when he is looking into happy vampire homes where the vampires are able to eat their human victims.

I always wondered what the Dawn/Faith relationship was? Did Dawn resent Faith, envious of her Slayer kinship with Buffy? Or was Dawn the world's biggest Faith fan and Faith wanted her for herself just as she did Joyce? I suspect the latter and she was taken hostage alongside her mother who was probably less confrontational in order to protect her youngest.

[Joe Hellandback]

15 hours ago, Halting Hex said:

Also, Xander asking if hiding in a cabin with stockpiled chocolate would be part of the plan (because his subsequent "told you" to Willow indicates that this is a [very cute] conversation he and Willow had, off-screen), the inherent Fuffy-ness of the "Faith's awake!" scene (where Buffy is coming up with those theories about Faith being amnesiac [nope] or scared and repentant [BIG nope!] while W/X are, more logically, "kick her ass!") with the great capper of Riley going "Who's Faith?", and Willow trying to sneak-attack Faith during the B/F fight on campus.

Er, you did see the costumes, right?  I could fill an entire page with all the shit outfits old Bergstrom put together here.  It's only laziness and a desire to spare others' eyes that stops me.

Also, the first scene after the credits, where Willow has the "bright" idea that Xander should test the Initiative blaster by pressing buttons at random, is not exactly a highlight.  Not helped by the "funny" bit where Xander nearly electrocutes himself trying to fix it and nobody notices (because, hey, it's only Xander, right? Ha-ha!), and the part later on where Riley comes in and effortlessly switches the blaster on (because it's so important to make Xander look like a buffoon compared to big he-man Riley…grrr).  Seriously annoying.

Also the drop-in scene where Spike has to remind Giles and Xander that he hates them and promises to go find Faith and help her kill them and they just let him walk off, despite the fact that Spike is chipped and Xander's holding the blaster?  Utter garbage, only there to fill time.  And clearly a late add, dictated by James still being away filming The House on Haunted Hill here (it's Spike's only scene of the episode) during the primary photography.  I wonder if they were concerned about the budget…James was main cast, so he'd be paid either way, but they didn't hire Emma, and Amber/Tara was a last minute audition.  Perhaps Eliza demanded a higher rate and they were looking to cut costs elsewhere?  In any event, the reduced roles for many of the characters make the episode feel unbalanced.  (It's not as though we even get a lot of Giles, for that matter.  What does he get, two scenes?  And one's a bad joke and the second is an after-the-fact add-in.  Bleh.)

Also, uneven acting from Marc Blucas:  he's fine in the first Buffy/Riley scene ("what if I'm just a soldier?"), but the later "okay, I get it: Faith bad." is not exactly a highlight for him.  And I'm more aware of it because I'm annoyed at Buffy for continuing to lie to Riley (er, "edit', to use her phrase) about her past.  I mean, even Willow calls her out on that, and Will's usually her enabler on things such as this.

So, entertaining, but still up and down.  A generous 8/10, perhaps.

A touch too easy with the word "love", I'd argue.  Faith certainly would wishes she could be accepted and trusted by either Summers, but there's a long way to go to even reach "like", never mind anything stronger.

After all, Faith doesn't even love herself.

  Reveal hidden contents

As we'll see next episode.

  Reveal hidden contents

About Dawn's later line "there's some nice hotels that welcome tried-to-kill-your-sister types.", I've never been certain if she's saying that she (as the speaker) doesn't welcome Faith because she remembers Faith trying to kill Buffy ("your sister") or if, since she's addressing Buffy, she's saying that Buffy shouldn't welcome Faith, since Dawn remembers Faith trying to kill her here.  Either works, I suppose.

I never really notice the clothes unless anyone is especially sexy or Willow's horrid yellow tights. Interesting point about James, watched that film 3 times before I spotted him. Nah, I definitely ship Jaith, she and momma Summers had something special. And maybe Daith too?

[illdoc]

31 minutes ago, Joe Hellandback said:

I always wondered what the Dawn/Faith relationship was?

I don't remember if it was mentioned in an episode, or if I read it in a fanfic, but I believe Faith is the one who taught Dawn how to shoplift.

[Halting Hex]

I'm just saying.

Maybe Willow is so sad-faced because she's seen what her girlfriend will be wearing later in the episode?

The Stripe! My eyes!!!

Maybe lembergwatcher has a point about the Xillow "soulmate" deal, after all.  They certainly share similar tastes in "fashion".  Deal with that shirt/vest combo the Xan-Man is rocking…if you can.

Even Faith, who's normally pretty reliable fashion-wise (wear lots of black leather and look "psychotic", as Joyce puts it), lets us down here:

The sun and the doves AND the fishnet sleeves?  Geez, no wonder Nightmare!Buffy stabs her.

So, yeah, that's what I meant about the outfits.

[Joe Hellandback]

5 minutes ago, illdoc said:

Spoiler

I don't remember if it was mentioned in an episode, or if I read it in a fanfic, but I believe Faith is the one who taught Dawn how to shoplift.

 

I can't recall it in the series but Buffy may have done so herself to judge by her remark about the lipstick when she first meet Merrick?

Edited September 2, 2018 by Joe Hellandback

[Halting Hex]

Ahem!  Spoiler tags ^ about the as-yet-unintroduced character, please?

Spoiler

But yes, Dawnie's proclivity for the "five-finger discount" that Buffy had employed with that lipstick from Bullock's is evidence that "the monks made her out of me", I'd agree.

[Joe Hellandback]

9 minutes ago, Halting Hex said:

I'm just saying.

Maybe Willow is so sad-faced because she's seen what her girlfriend will be wearing later in the episode?

The Stripe! My eyes!!!

Maybe lembergwatcher has a point about the Xillow "soulmate" deal, after all.  They certainly share similar tastes in "fashion".  Deal with that shirt/vest combo the Xan-Man is rocking…if you can.

Even Faith, who's normally pretty reliable fashion-wise (wear lots of black leather and look "psychotic", as Joyce puts it), lets us down here:

The sun and the doves AND the fishnet sleeves?  Geez, no wonder Nightmare!Buffy stabs her.

So, yeah, that's what I meant about the outfits.

Will is DEFINITELY an Alex Mack fan!

6 minutes ago, Halting Hex said:

Ahem!  Spoiler tags ^ about the as-yet-unintroduced character, please?

  Hide contents

But yes, Dawnie's proclivity for the "five-finger discount" that Buffy had employed with that lipstick from Bullock's is evidence that "the monks made her out of me", I'd agree.

Oooops! Fixed it. 

Edited September 2, 2018 by Joe Hellandback

[Halting Hex]

You know Doug (and Joss), pointing out how idiotic it is that the gang just lets Spike walk around free doesn't make it any less idiotic.  I'm just saying.

[Joe Hellandback]

On ‎02‎/‎09‎/‎2018 at 8:15 PM, Halting Hex said:

You know Doug (and Joss), pointing out how idiotic it is that the gang just lets Spike walk around free doesn't make it any less idiotic.  I'm just saying.

No but it is funny.