I like 'Faith, Hope & Trick' a lot.
Where some episodes fall in the shadow of the ones before them
'Faith, Hope & Trick' is like a bright joyful beacon of light next to 'Dead Man’s Party'.
Whether you thought the Scoobies behavior was justified or Buffy was treated unfairly or whatever,
it was agony for all of us to watch them all fight like that.
And this episode is a return to proper form,
Danger,
Charm,
and Style.
Man, do I identify with Willow’s reaction to newfound elder student privilege at the beginning of this one
and how she can’t seem to turn off the good student fear of breaking the rules and the ensuing punishment.
Buffy still hasn’t been allowed back into school and her friends,
in stark contrast to the previous episode,
are very considerate of her being single.
Willow points out Scott Hope,
a boy that's been interested in Buffy for quite a long time.
Buffy concedes that maybe it’s time for her life to get back on a more reasonable track.
Then we get the great introduction of Mr. Trick and his boss.
I always thought Mr. Trick was a wonderful addition,
as is his delighted description of Sunnydale as racially homogenous, evil and terrifying.
He just drips charisma and charm.
Buffy has a somewhat precognitive dream of a dance with Angel.
During the dance, her ring slips off her finger and drops to the floor.
Angel picks it up, bleeding from his chest and tells her to go to Hell.
Snyder conditionally welcomes Buffy back to school
and Giles asks Buffy for the specific details of Buffy’s final fight with Angel.
"Big fight."
“Angel got the pointy end of the sword.”
"Acathla sucked him into Hell instead of the world."
Willow accidentally reveals to Giles that she knows more about magic than she’s been letting on.
“These forces are not something that one plays around with."
"Willow, what have you been conjuring?”
"You know,"
"small stuff."
“Floating feather,---”
"Wingardium Leviosa."
That evening at The Bronze, Buffy rebuffs another attempt at contact from Scott Hope.
Cordelia points out a risqué dance going on
Buffy suspects vampire and goes after the couple,
only to be headed off by Scott for another awkward rebuff.
The team pursues and finds the girl that was dancing kicking the crap out of Disco D.
And this how we meet:
“I’m Faith.”
So Kendra’s death in Becoming (Part 2) caused her powers to pass
and activate a new Slayer.
Faith tells various Slayer stories.
Some with clothing.
Some without.
She explains her Watcher has gone to the Watchers' retreat in England
and Giles wistfully describes the common activities.
Faith tries to alleviate Giles’ jealousy.
"If I'd have known they came that young and cute I would have requested a transfer."
“Raise your hand if 'eww'."
There’s a great detail here.
Buffy and Xander both raise their hands.
And Willow doesn’t.
Did you notice the picture of Willow and Giles together in her locker in 'Season 1'?
So why the hell didn’t Giles get invited to the Watchers' retreat?
He’s the Watcher of the ACTIVE Slayer?
I love the way Anthony Stewart Head plays his jealousy over not being able to go
"It's a great honour to be invited."
"...or so I'm told."
...but that joke specifically refutes the possibility that he couldn’t go BECAUSE he has the active Slayer.
When Faith, Willow, and Xander depart Giles asks Buffy for more specific details from Buffy for his Acathla binding spell.
Buffy remains distant
and when she leaves, she catches Faith spending some time with Scott Hope.
At a garage somewhere, we see Mr. Trick’s boss, Kakistos, out of the shadows.
Kakistos is harboring some sort of grudge against Faith.
Faith comes to dinner at the Summers’ house and hits it off with Joyce.
“It’s probably good you were an only child.”
Hunh.
Their dialogue also continues to build the Slayer/'homosexual coming out' metaphor that began in Becoming (Part 2)
as Joyce says she’ll sign up for the Slayer Pride parade.
She also suggests that maybe Faith could take over for Buffy.
“Mom, the only way you get a new Slayer is if the old Slayer dies…”
You HAVE to feel bad for Joyce in this scene.
The hits just keep oooooon coming.
Buffy and Faith go patrolling and Buffy’s frustration begins to boil to the surface.
"What are you getting so strung out for, B?"
"Why are your lips still moving, F?"
Vampires come.
Faith demonstrates some anger issues.
Slayers storm away from each other.
The next day, Scott Hope makes another attempt to talk to Buffy and she tries to blow him off again.
In a very self aware way, he suggests this is his last ditch effort to get to know her,
extending an invitation.
"---maybe at the Buster Keaton Festival playing on State Street all this weekend."
The Buster Keaton festival?!?
Why didn’t you just lead with how a good a juggler you are?
Here we have writing shorthand for that unlikely male high school creature.
He’s artistic.
Sensitive.
He thinks about how he can be a part of your life and not vice versa.
And even with allll that sensitivity, he’s confident enough to pursue you despite being turned down,
rather than going home,
growing a gross teenage depression mustache
and creating numerous Reddit threads about how he’s always getting friendzoned.
Not that I...you...uhm...
What was the question again?
Buffy acquiesces and Scott gives her an unusual ring that represents friendship.
Jewelry before the first date?
Coming on a little strong aren’t you, Scott?
You don’t think the Buster Keaton seduction was enough?
Buffy drops the ring.
Giles stumbles upon Buffy distraught and asks if she’s okay.
Buffy asks about Faith’s Watcher.
“Her Watcher's dead.”
Buffy confronts Faith who tries to leave.
They get cornered by Kakistos and company.
Faith’s bravado vanishes.
A fight ensues
and the two of them team up
...and Kakistos is slain.
At school the next day, Giles says he’s been tasked to watch over Faith until the Council gets her a new Watcher.
Buffy takes a breath and finally reveals the details of her final moments with Angel.
"Angel was cured."
I’ve always appreciated the way the show handled Buffy’s grief over Angel’s death.
Some shows have serial plots, but static characters.
The nature of the 'Buffy' universe means that sometimes elements in the universe have to reset themselves.
The police have to forget about the mystical.
There is never any national outcry to deal with the death rate in Sunnydale.
But these characters are alive and have long memories
...as well as deep scars.
I love this moment with Giles which gives Buffy a chance to unclench and let out a breath that she’s been holding since Becoming (Part 2).
In a lesser show, that would have been the end of it.
But on 'Buffy,' as in real life, there are burdens we can only come to peace with by fractions over the months and years of a lifetime.
Things that come up for us again
and again when we’re not looking.
And Buffy having to kill Angel is one of them.
Still, this first fraction of peace Giles provides her here is no less of a gift.
Notice which Scooby is conspicuously absent from this scene.
Willow asks to help Giles with the binding spell and Giles reveals:
"There is no spell."
With this newfound relief, Buffy goes and asks out Scott Hope.
That evening, she goes to the mansion to say goodbye, leaving the ring on the ground.
When she leaves, there’s great fakeout fadeout before
a searing light emerges and wet floppy naked Angel falls from a portal and lands on Buffy’s ring.
This episode marks the beginning of a particular challenge for me.
Pretty much from this point going forward the episodes are SO dense with little gems, highlights, and great lines
that I am invariably going to miss some of your favorite ones.
Already the comment section receives a healthy dose of people telling me I’ve missed something or omitted their favorite parts.
I don’t doubt it,
and that is only going to get worse as the show gets better.
Especially, given that this 'Buffy' Guide isn’t intended to be a comprehensive recounting of the episode.
So please, keep that in mind going forward.
In some ways, Faith’s introduction borders on being a thematic retread...
...of Kendra’s.
Specifically, in the way she captures the attention of Buffy’s dearest
and gives Buffy second thoughts about her future.
In 'What’s My Line', Buffy was struggling with Career Day and wondering if Kendra couldn’t just step into her shoes and take over for her.
And here Joyce considers the same thing.
But I think that Faith is the character that Kendra should have been.
She’s expressed, passionate, angry, outspoken
hot-headed,
aaaand maybe kinda sorta a little disturbed.
She’s complex in a way that Kendra wasn’t
...or at least in a way that wasn’t explored with Kendra in 'Season 2',
and this is just the first episode she's in.
But then again Buffy is more complex now too, isn’t she?
As we evolve,
so too do our shadow selves.
Still, it’s apparent from the very first episode *her very first
that we’ll have MUCH more to talk about with Faith as the season goes on.
And as irritating as I find Scott Hope the character,
I think he’s an interesting callback to ‘Anne.’
In that review, we discussed that the line between grief and despair, was hope itself.
"What is Hell, but the total absence of hope?"
And here the metaphor comes as the possibility of life beyond Angel
...named Scott Hope.
I like the idea of Scott Hope so much
it’s probably why I find ACTUAL Scott Hope kind of irritating.
But I really appreciate the detail that the two of them don’t setup a date
until Buffy makes the decision to pursue HIM and ask HIM out.
As ever, making a choice.
And with some fractional catharsis
and a little bit of hope for the future,
she finds the courage to say goodbye and prepare to move on.
And then...
...wet floppy Angel.
Oh well.
There are certainly a few notes here that don’t play for me.
The episode is perhaps a bit too liberal with the shaming.
“You wanna date. I saw that little half-smile, you little slut.”
“Check out Slut-o-rama and her Disco Dave!”
But I find it especially confusing for Cordelia to be slut shaming.
And it’s not as though Faith is dressed any more provocatively here than Buffy often is.
In fact, at the dinner table in Joyce’s home
Buffy and Faith appear to be wearing
nearly the same outfit,
just tonally opposite of each other.
Maybe Cordelia meant the way she was dancing?
Then again, it’s probably a trap to even get into the semantics of slut shaming as any discussion is, in some way, validating.
Either way, the nomenclature is especially unfortunate given Faith’s portrayal in the same scene as being extremely sexually empowered,
Which conflated with Cordelia’s earlier comment comes off as a poor message to me.
Regardless, these are mostly just quibbles.
It’s a solid episode with Faith representing a tremendous amount of potential for the coming season.
The title is also interesting, as ever working on multiple levels.
There’s the literal introductions
of Faith Lehane,
Scott Hope,
and Mr. Trick.
There’s also the faith that Buffy shows in Faith which helps her to slay Kakistos.
Buffy’s renewed hope for the future.
And the trick that Giles plays on Buffy with the non-existent binding spell,
which I consider...a devious act of fatherly love.
After all, the episode title itself is a wordplay play on 'Corinthians 13:13':
And now these three remain:
faith,
hope
and love.
But the greatest of these is love.
['Wayne's World' music]
"Wait up,...guys!"
"I fell on my keys."