"I'm setting my laser from stun . . . to kill."

(Above quote is from Toy Story,

and may actually have been written by Joss Whedon,

because he helped with the screenplay!

Amazing.)

3.7: Revelations

3.12: Helpless

3.14: Bad Girls

3.15: Consequences

To state the obvious, Faith is a very interesting person. First of all is the question of her name: "Faith." For such a rebellious, irresponsible individual, having a name that would be more in line with a choir girl or Eleanor Rigby-type church lady is surely yet another display of irony. She certainly has her beliefs, but they seem founded only on herself. She displays a tremendous trust in her own abilities—not only in her physical strength as a Slayer, but also in her "femme fatale" power over others due to sexual attraction and prowess (see her words and dangerous behavior toward Xander in "Consequences").

The gap between Faith and Buffy's separate attitudes toward being the Slayer, being chosen, and being imbued with the qualities as such continues to widen episode to episode before becoming a veritable Grand Canyon by "Consequences." Faith skirts responsibility, rejects most kinds of authority, and fulfills her calling's obligations only to satisfy skewed and extravagant appetites. Initially, she deferred to Buffy as the "senior Slayer" and kept her taste for domination on a shorter leash as far as the actual slayage went. However, once she became more familiar with Buffy, her history, and her environment, she up-ended their volatile relationship and reversed the roles. "Bad Girls" is probably the best example of this: Buffy, Willow, and Xander sit down to take a Chemistry test in class, and when Faith comes to the window to lure Buffy away to do some daylight hunting, she goes without a fuss, though her friends worry and object, completely allowing Faith to lead her. Though part of this is a rebellion against her new Watcher, Wesley Wyndam-Pryce, she is still in complete control over her own actions and is still proving a follower to Faith.

Later in the episode, Faith breaks into a store and convinces Buffy to help her steal weapons. Buffy slowly accepts and acts upon Faith's real belief system: pure autonomy for the Slayer. Faith has told her that generally, she "thinks too much"—but Buffy's brief abandonment of thought, however fully she has accepted it, is brought to an abrupt close when they are confronted by the reality of two policemen. Faith's next "brain wave" shows even more clearly her belief that Slayer has the freedom to do whatever she wants—aka, wrecking the policemen's car and escaping from their custody.

Faith's personal philosophy is not a new presence on the show; however, it has not yet been seen on the side of "good"—it is more usually seen on the other side. In an earlier post, I said that "vampires have no conscience—and in fact, they have no need for one: since they have no eternal soul, their physical actions will never be judged, and thus the consequences are immaterial." Most of Faith's actions show her to have no more moral compass than a vampire, whether it be Drusilla or the "evil" Angelus. When arguing about the true calling of the Slayer, Buffy insists, "We help people!" and though Faith vaguely agrees, she still snubs all of her exhortations, proclaiming the Slayers' superiority with an almost Hitler-like zeal.

Angel's attempt to help Faith and bring her to acknowledge her emotions and need for closure in the matter of the man she killed opens up a whole separate side of the matter: there is a very real connection there. Angel describes the difference between the true autonomy of a regular vampire differs from having your heart and soul restored. Although these words do seem to resonate with Faith, the new, bungling Watcher puts in an unwanted appearance and destroys Buffy and Angel's plans to reclaim Faith's self-awareness. If that had not taken place, it is probable that Faith would come to an understanding of how frighteningly close she is to actually fraternizing with the enemy—much more so than Buffy ever was, even in her entire relationship with Angel. Faith flounces along the wall separating the two encampments—and she ultimately sells out to join the nefarious mayor, who was until so recently a compatriot of vampire Mr. Trick.

One other thought: when Buffy goes to visit Faith at the end of "Bad Girls" to discuss what happened, she finds Faith washing the blood out of her clothes—an almost Lady Macbeth "Out, out, damned spot" motif that Faith intentionally drowns with her later words and actions. (I wouldn't be surprised if she takes up sleepwalking.)