Buffy for Beginners 3.3: Faith, Hope and Trick

By Sabrina Boyer

If Faith were to run a personal ad, it might read something like this: “sexy slayer type likes to ‘rassle’ gators, save bus loads of Baptists in the nude from vampires, and lives by a personal motto of ‘Want. Take. Have.’ You must be male. Looking for some NSA good time fun while in Sunnydale.”  At least, that’s the notion we get when we first meet the next slayer.

But before Buffy can dream about not being the only slayer and actually being a real girl, she feigns real girldom, by Martha Stewarting her way through life for the Scoobies while she’s waiting to see if she’s back in school from being kicked out. “I just wanna get my life back. Do normal stuff. Date, shop, and hang out and save the world from unspeakable demons. You know, I wanna do girly stuff.” And the ironic thing in this episode is when we meet Faith, she’s anything but girly and still saves the world, or at least Baptists, from unspeakable demons. 

Cut to a shot of perhaps one of the only major African American characters on the show (besides Principal Woods in season seven) we meet Mr. Trick, who is the Sundance Kid to some scary Butch Cassidy. In other words, they’re big bad vamps, and nothing good ever happens at a fast-food burger joint in Sunnydale.

But we also learn that Buffy is still jonesing for Angel in her dreams; she and Angel dance in the Bronze while her ring falls from her finger and his chest begins to bleed, in the exact same spot where she killed him with a sword to save the world. Major guilt coupons this one has. And finally, Buffy has re-entry into school after jumping over hoops, dodging bullets and facing the beast known as Principal Snyder. So she’s back and Giles is sneaky, trying to put together a spell to silence Acathla and needs details from Buffy making him dormant. Here we get a foreshadow of Will’s interest in spells, that Giles makes a cluck cluck sound with his tongue when he’s annoyed, and that’s about the it. Later at the Bronze, Slutorama dances with a BeeGee’s wannabe as the gang gets reacquainted with their routine; oh, and Will has the hook up gene trying to get Buffy and Scott Hope together. Buffy checks out Slutorama and Disco Dave and follows them out to the alley, only to see that slut girl, aka Faith, has it under control. She’s a vampire slayer too; the one called after Kendra in season two was killed by Drusilla. So the “hello my life how I’ve missed you” for Buffy is slightly different than she thought. It might not be the exact same life. Oh, and apparently, slaying makes you hungry and horny. 

Faith is in town because she skipped out on her watcher who’s at a retreat; but they’re not both watcher-less and fancy-free. Isn’t it funny that Buffy has always wanted to have help in the real slayer department, and when she finally does, she likes the alone part of her job, especially when she sees Faith chatting up Scott Hope. 

Also, Joyce seems to love Faith’s very positive ‘I’m gonna win against the vamps’ attitude and the sharing of the fighting. She also doesn’t like that Buffy died for a few minutes. Later while patrolling, the girls get in a fight with vamps while Faith asks Buffy about Angel and what in her bottle needs uncorking. While they fight, Faith obviously has issues too, as she pummels a vamp instead of staking him already, and almost gets Buffy killed. There was also something about kissing toast. Or taquitos. Kakistos. That’s it. It means the worst of the worst. Giles and Buffy begin to wonder if Kakistos and Faith are connected, since they arrived in town about the same time. As Buffy stalks off to interrogate Faith, Scott Hope, one more time, invites Buffy to the Buster Keaton festival. He also gives her a gift, the same exact ring Angel gave her, and she has a very emotional moment. Meanwhile, Giles finds out that Faith’s watcher is actually dead. Something is fishier than kissing toast.

Buffy visits Faith to see what’s what; she tells her Kakistos is in town and Faith tries to bolt. Too late, and the dynamic duo run right into Kakistos’ lair. So the theme of the evening then is “scream later, stake now.” There’s a big showdown, and Faith panics – for a minute. But she learns the first rule of slaying: don’t die. But having help, a friend, another slayer, comes in handy in the fighting and not dying department. Oh, and big stakes are in. “You hungry?” Buffy asks when they’ve won. “Starved.” 

Inspired by Faith’s ability to deal and move on, Buffy comes clean about what really happened with Angel. She tells Giles and Will that he was cured, that Will’s spell worked. Finally. How can the gang blame her for checking out of slayerdom for a few months? So now that she’s told her secret, she gives Scott Hope another chance, but before she does that, she leaves her ring in Angel’s old place, where she killed him and says goodbye. That’s the funny thing about goodbyes. People, or vampires, don’t always stay gone. 

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About Sabrina Boyer: As a kid my dad would sneak scary movies past my mom and let me indulge in his horror movie fetish. I grew up watching V, Alien Nation, The Thing, The Fog (all originals) and then, in 1992 when Buffy the movie came out, I became obsessed with vampires, girl power, and all things gothic. I once stayed home from school, faked sick, and watched BTVS: the movie 6 times in a row. I know the beginning cheerleading dance by heart (still). Currently, I’m obsessing over Laurell K. Hamilton novels, and dream about Anita Blake being my best friend.

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