Buffy the Vampire Slayer (3x03) - Faith, Hope & Trick

[fajrdrako]

Buffy (3x03) - Faith, Hope & Trick

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The coming of Faith. Now, ever since I've started watching, people have had a lot to say about Faith - always circumspectly, to avoid giving me spoilers, which I appreciate. Even maaboroshi, when she heard how far I'd got, said, "Now you'll have met Faith." And I wasn't sure what to say, because my reaction was, "Yes. So?" Faith does not seem impressive to me. I think I liked Kendra better, and I didn't much like Kendra. I'd thought from pictures I'd seen of Eliza Dushku, she was gorgeous - but Faith isn't.

Yes, I know, this is a Joss Whedon show, where characters change and grow and mutate (if they don't die) and I may come to like Faith. But so far? Hardly.

But I liked Trick, who has style.

1. It starts with a silly Willow scene: she's afraid to break school rules by going off-campus for lunch, even though it's all right now. Considering all the school rules she has broken, considering that she dislikes Snyder as much as anyone, this is strange - but very Willowlike.
   
   
2. Willow shows a moment of tact, not to mention kindness: "Maybe we shouldn't be too couply around Buffy." I like that.
   
   
3. Interesting interplay:

   Cordelia:Oh, you mean 'cause of how the onlyguy that ever liked her turned into a vicious killer and had to be put down like a dog?
   Xander: Can she cram complex issues into a nutshell or what?

   This is reasonably funny, but the interesting thing is that it sounds so much like the interplay Giles and Xander had a little while back, with Xander delivering Giles' line and Cordelia getting his. Interesting role-variation.
   
   
4. I liked Buffy calling Snyder "Snyde-man".
   
   
5. I don't like Scott. Boring guy. Ordinary. The kind of guy Buffy would probably like because she thinks he's "normal". Now, normally on this show, I'd say that destined him to (a) be a witch, demon, vampire, or otherwise evil guy; or (b) be about to be killed, but in this case it might just be to illustrate how Buffy really isn't going to have any luck dating a "normal" person.
   
   
6. Kakistos: another demon whose name make me think of Evil Immortals in Highlander.
   
   
7. Love Mr. Trick eating the fast-food guy. Another variant of the pizza delivery joke. (This of course carries through into Torchwood, in a subtler way.)
   
   
8. Another Buffy dream of Angel. I love this. Have I said that already? Usually I dislike or hate dream sequences in TV shows and movies - don't much like remembering them in real lige, either - but here? They're great. I particularly like this one, with the symbology of the ring. "Go to hell - I did." Oooh.
   
   
9. The meeting with Snyder. He's relenting, and not admititng that Giles' threats might have something to do with it. Love his line: "you provide, in writing, one glowing recommendation from any member of our faculty who is not an English librarian." I like the way Joyce interprets Snyder's change of heart to her approach to the school board, and I love Snyder's last line: "I'm required to educate every juvenile who's not in jail where she belongs."
   
   
10. I love this bit of Buffy-Giles dialogue:

    Giles: Of course it's wonderful that you're back. That goes without saying. But you... enjoy making me say it, don't you?
    Buffy: That and chocolate, what else have I got?

    
    
11. Buffy obfuscates on the story of the death of Acathla. We know why. Giles and her friends don't know what happened. Might Giles have had her confidence earlier if he hadn't been asking her what happened in front of them?
    
    
12. Strange clucking sound. Heh. Is that something we should have noticed, or did Willow imagine it?
    
    
13. I like Oz's comment on Scott: "bonus points for the use of the word "mosey.'" The thought is just so... Oz-like. He's so aware of words. All the time.
    
    
14. So Buffy meets up with Faith, mid-fight. And I'm thinking: This is Faith? This? This character everyone seems to like, who seems so cheesy? Who doesn't look nearly as pretty as the pictures I've seen of the gorgeous Eliza Dushku? She seems so rough and tough and sleazy. Just calling Buffy "B." put me off a little. But she's intriguing.
    
    
15. I love this exchange for its character contrast (and because it's just plain funny):

    Faith: God, I could eat a horse. Isn't it crazy how slayin' just always makes you hungry and horny?
    Buffy: Well... Sometimes I-I crave a nonfat yogurt afterwards.

16. Faith says, " I figured this was my chance to meet the infamous Buff and compare notes." Who has been talking to her about Buffy? Obviously Giles has not been talking to Buffy about Kendra and Faith and the other watchers.
    
    
17. Faith says to Oz, "As long as you don't go scratchin' at me or humpin' my leg, we're five-by-five, you know?" What does "five-by-five" mean?
    
    
18. Faith thinks Giles is hot. She's right. I like his reaction to her comments - "leaving aside for a moment my, uh, youth and beauty..."
    
    
19. Mr. Trick and the pizza boy. I love this stuff. Kakistos is just another nasty, but Mr. Trick is great.
    
    
20. I like Faith's description to Joyce of why she loves being a Slayer: "Well, when I'm fighting, it's like the whole world goes away and I only know one thing: that I'm gonna win and they're gonna lose. I like that feelin'." It says a lot about her.
    
    
21. And I love Buffy's line: "I'm just getting my life back. I'm not looking to go halfsies on it."
    
    
22. And it does seem that Faith like hitting vampires a little too much. I don't understand Buffy's comment to Giles about it: "The girl's not playing with a full deck, Giles. She has almost no deck. She has a three." What's a three?
    
    
23. So Scott tries to give Buffy a Claddagh ring just like Angel. Bad, bad idea.
    
    
24. What did Kakistos do to Faith's Watcher?
    
    
25. Buffy tells Giles about Angel's death. And he is sympathetic, and she feels better for having told someone.
    
    
26. Buffy agrees to go out with Scott (I can't help thinking it's a bad idea) and leaves her ring from Angel in the crypt. Then he appears. Fetchingly naked. Did the ring summon him? or did Buffy, somehow? What kind of magic is going on here?

Comments

[abrakadabrah.livejournal.com]

Faith has a lot of energy. She's an energizer bunny of show energy. She livens things right up.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

The show is already lively; but you're right. Faith is a whirlwind.