'Consequences' begins this season’s third act.
We’ve swept away the pieces of 'Season 2'
...and set the table.
It’s a Marti Noxon episode and I find it...
...solid.
Really, really solid.
Like all of 'Season 3'.
No clunkers.
Just really, really...
...really good.
But I know that 'Buffy' seasons,
...not just individual episodes,
...can be extraordinary.
And watching 'Consequences' I once again found myself wondering,
...what’s missing?
Buffy is plagued by nightmares about Allen’s death.
I like the juxtaposition in this dream.
Buffy is drowning from the guilt over Allen’s death
...and any attempts she makes to save herself from them
...are stymied by Faith.
And let’s not forget,
...Faith dumped Allen’s body in the water.
Back in the real world, Allen’s body has been discovered.
Wesley puts Faith and Buffy on the case of researching Allen’s murder
...and Cordelia meets Wesley for the first time.
“And you teach Psychology."
"I TAKE Psychology.”
“She’s a student.”
"...first word:"
"...jail,"
"...second word:"
"...bait.”
Interesting, what book she came in looking for.
"What did you need?"
"Uh, psych class."
"Freud and Jung."
Buffy pleads with Faith to let them both come clean.
“Faith, we have to tell."
"I can't pretend to investigate this."
I can’t pretend that I don’t know.”
“Oh, I see."
"But you can pretend that Angel is still dead when you need to protect him?”
(Lesbian Subtext Bell)
Faith suggests Buffy’s mutual culpability for the crime
...and that if she goes down...
...Buffy will as well.
Here we get into the interesting grey area of the legalities in the Slayer role.
Obviously, the idea is the supernatural is suggested to be a secret to all the normal Sunnydale residents,
...as evidenced by both Oz
...and Joyce’s reaction to the revelation.
And this adds a certain degree of danger and unfairness to the Slayer job.
It was a split second mistake that lead to Allen’s death.
I imagine,
“We were hunting vampires and got confused”
...wouldn’t be a strong argument in court.
Buffy turns to Willow for solace
...who is still feeling slighted after not being allowed to go on patrol the last episode.
Meanwhile, the cops are investigating Allen’s murder
...and Angel realizes who the blood that he smelled on Buffy’s hands belongs to.
At the Mayor’s office,
Wilkins is trying to cheer himself up using the shredder
(a detail that makes me giddy with happiness)
...and Mr. Trick reveals the police found wooden splinters in Allen’s wound.
“...this is exciting."
"A Slayer up for Murder One.”
Faith and Buffy break into the Mayor’s office to investigate Allen.
When they do, they hear the Mayor discussing things with Mr. Trick
...who Buffy met in 'Band Candy'.
Later, Wilkins and Trick discover the two Slayers on video
...and the Mayor tells Mr. Trick he has to do something.
Buffy pleads with Faith to let her talk to Giles one more time
...and Faith refuses.
“Anyways, how many people do you think we’ve saved by now?
"Thousands?"
"We help people."
"It doesn't mean we can do whatever we want."
Their conversation is the most philosophically relevant to the season.
But let's back to that.
Buffy finds Willow
...who misinterprets Buffy's melancholy
After Willow convinces Buffy talk to Giles,
Buffy discovers Faith has beaten her to the punch
...and blamed the entire affair on her.
"Giles, no."
The first time I watched this scene I was completely gutted.
I’m especially susceptible to drama between Buffy and Giles
and his feigned rage in this scene makes me crumble.
It might seem dramatically manipulative that he does this
...and I’m always leery of drama that isn’t grounded in character or proper motivation.
Thing is,
...as a Slayer,
...Faith essentially has an uzi on her at all times
...and Giles does not.
If he immediately understood that Faith was lying
...his playing along most likely prevented a confrontation in this scene.
And his unsinkable faith in Buffy makes me treasure their relationship even more.
Giles indicates that this is not the first time this has happened to a Slayer.
"The Slayer..."
“...is on the front line of a nightly war."
"Now, it's-it's tragic"
"...but accidents have happened."
At the Scooby meeting,
...Xander indicates he might have a connection with Faith that would allow her to hear what he says
...and Willow realizes that they slept together.
She is obviously hurt.
There was a similar event in this episode's cousin,
...'Innocence'.
In that episode,
...Willow discovered Xander and Cordelia’s relationship and took him to task for it,
...something I disagreed with.
Hurt or not,
...she hadn’t earned the right to punish him for his relationship with Cordelia.
There is a very significant difference between that scene
...and this one though.
While Willow is hurt,
...she doesn’t take it out him,
...but finds some space for herself to have the emotional catharsis she needs.
Yes,
...she may have picked Oz.
She may have ended things with Xander.
But, as we’ve said this season,
...the heart is not a rational organ.
And at least we get a scene of the melancholy Scoobies off alone
...with an indie ballad playing over the top of them.
A 'Buffy' cliché that should’ve been covered in 'The Zeppo'.
Either way,
...Buffy suggests Faith doesn’t prize her relationships with men.
“She doesn’t take the guys that she has a..."
"...'connection' with very seriously."
"And they're-they’re kind of a big joke to her."
"No offense.”
[scoffs]
“Oh no, I mean..."
"...why would I be offended by THAT."
And here again,
...Xander ignores the decisions made by the group,
...and acts in the way that HE thinks is best,
...deciding to and try to talk some sense into Faith.
She resists his attempts at conversation in all forms.
Dodging or attacking.
Faith throws Xander on the bed,
...again.
“I could do anything to you right now"
"...and you want me to."
"I could make you die."
[Faith knocked out noise]
Angel tries to reach out to Faith
...and it’s revealed that this is...
...all part of Buffy’s plan to make a connection.
He seems to make a little progress
...before Wesley breaks in with the Watchers Council lackies
...to capture Faith and take her back to England.
She escapes
...and Buffy stumbles on her at the docks.
They fight...
[Buffy backhand]
"There's my girl."
[Lesbian Subtext Bell]
...and are attacked by Trick and the gang.
Faith saves Buffy,
...restoring everyone’s trust in her.
And the episode ends with...
... Faith appearing before the Mayor,
... offering to spy for him.
So, let’s get back to Faith and Buffy’s conversation.
“Anyways, how many people do you think we’ve saved by now?
"Thousands?"
She’s attempting to apply a sloppy utilitarian framework
...to the collateral damage that is Allen.
One death in the name of hundreds.
The needs of the many outweigh...
...the needs of the few.
Or the one.
Does Faith’s freedom and continued involvement as Slayer mean more
...than the loss of just one individual?
Utilitarianism’s simplicity is both...
...what is seductive about it
...and what is fundamentally flawed about it.
You just cannot simplify
...all the complexity of a human life
...to a single digit.
Even if you could process the complexity of a person’s past
...and figured out some valuation for their choices made,
...you simply can’t value a person’s potential future.
As an example,
...what if Allen really was,
...as the Mayor thought,
...going to betray him to Buffy and Faith.
He might’ve been able to provide them information that could have stopped
...the Mayor’s plans and saved many lives.
If there is math to existence
...it’s an equation we’re simply not capable of reading in its entirety.
“But that does not mean that we get to pass judgement on people like we’re better than everybody else!”
“We ARE better!”
Here,
...Faith and Buffy represent opposite ends of the stages of moral development.
There’s a link to the Wikipedia article in the description.
What the stages describe are the reasons individuals do or do not behave ethically.
People in the first stage of development focus only on the direct repercussions of their actions, as they apply to themselves.
What punishment can be incurred for what I’m going to do or what I have done?
That is the basis of their ethics.
And, after all,
...who is physically even capable of punishing a Slayer?
What ramifications for them can their truly be without them being willing to submit to them themselves?
And at the other end of the spectrum,
...you have individuals whose morality is based on a set of universal ethical principles.
That person acts because it is right,
...regardless of punishment one way or the other.
In 'Ted', Buffy didn’t NEED to submit to police investigation.
She CHOSE to.
"I hit him."
Thing is, we already have a precedent in this season
...for whether or not Faith honestly believes what she says here.
As she said,
...she is superior in power to everyone else.
There is no one who is capable of punishing her for her actions.
"I don't need an intervention here."
"Oh, don't you?"
"You must have known it was wrong seeing Angel"
"...or you wouldn't have hidden it from all of us."
If she truly believed the things she was saying,
...then why keep it a secret?
And the episode 'Helpless' refuted Faith’s argument as well,
...through inverting the same scenario.
In that episode,
...the Council attempted to lord Buffy’s physical weakness over her
...as evidence of inferiority
...and she proved them wrong.
Power
...does not make you special.
But we know, of course, that Faith probably doesn’t believe the things she’s saying.
“He came out of nowhere."
“I know.”
While I still maintain the murder scene could have been edited a bit tighter,
...this scene is a good argument
...for including Buffy’s...
...“Faith, no!”
...from the previous episode.
Here you can sense Faith grappling with her guilt in saying he came out of nowhere.
And because of Buffy’s...
“Faith, no!”
...her conciliatory tone here feels...
...superior,
...to me.
BUFFY
...DID
...catch it.
Faith did not.
One thing I found fascinating in this episode
...in which the supernatural collides with the real world,
...is that it’s the bad guys that use bureaucracy as THEIR tool.
“...this is exciting.”
"A Slayer up for Murder One.”
[lip moisten]
Buffy never tries to indict a Big Bad for tax evasion
...but you could see things going the other way.
Since I did the 'Bad Girls' review,
...it has come to my attention that...
...the lesbian undercurrents to Buffy and Faith’s relationship
...aren’t necessarily self evident to everyone watching.
Maybe just...
... Freudian wishful thinking on my part.
Given the show's significance in the LGBT community,
...I thought perhaps this topic deserved to be more fully developed here in the Guide.
[Lesbian Subtext Bell]
While we run through these points,
...understand...
...I’m not saying that any individual item on this list
...suggests that Buffy and Faith are looking to...
...de-pants each other and go to town.
Only that the body of evidence as a whole indicates that...
...there is more to the relationship than meets the eye,
...perhaps literally
...but definitely metaphorically.
I’m also not making broad statements about large groups of people
...but rather speaking specifically about these two characters.
With that in mind,
...let’s take a look at the way Faith relates to men specifically.
In 'Beauty and the Beasts',
...as Buffy shares about her new relationship with Scott Hope,
...Faith says:
“ALL men are beasts, Buffy."
"And I don’t care how sensitive they act.
"They’re all still just in it for the chase.”
In this quiet conversation between just the two of them,
...the perspective Faith tries to convince Buffy of,
...doesn’t paint Scott Hope
(or any man for that matter)
...as a good source for intimacy, love and connection.
In 'Revelations',
...the two of them continue their conversation
...as Faith shares her own past experiences with men.
"Ronnie,
"...deadbeat."
"Steve,"
"...klepto."
"Kenny..."
"...drummer."
"Eventually, I just had to face up to my destiny"
"...as a loser magnet."
And in this episode,
...when Xander suggests he might be able to get through to Faith because they had sex
...Buffy responds:
“She doesn’t take the guys that she has a..."
"...'connection' with very seriously."
"And they're-they’re kind of a big joke to her."
"No offense.”
Of course,
...a mediocre perspective of men as a source of intimacy
...could be viewpoint a lot of heterosexuals share as well.
So let’s consider the various innuendos stitched throughout the first half of the season.
In the episode 'Homecoming',
...when Willow asks Xander where Faith and Buffy are:
"Buffy and Faith are in the library getting all SWEATY."
"They're training."
"I stand by my phrase."
And in that episode,
...Faith LITERALLY asks Buffy to the Homecoming dance.
"You got the tix already."
"Why don't we do together?"
"I don't know about that."
In 'Revelations',
...the gang is sitting around speculating as to the identity of Buffy’s mystery boyfriend
...and Buffy says:
"So,"
"...are you dating somebody or not?"
"I wouldn't use the word..."
"...'dating'."
"But I am going out with somebody."
"Yo, what's up?"
"Hey, time to motorvate."
"Really, we're just good friends."
And in that episode,
...when Faith finds out Angel,
...Buffy’s ex-boyfriend,
... is still around
...she goes after him with a stake
...and she and Buffy come to blows.
At the end of the episode,
...Faith’s trust seems broken.
"...but you can trust me."
"Is that right?"
But within the episode's actual plot,
Faith’s trust was broken by Gwendolyn Post,
...not Buffy.
But Faith treats Buffy in this scene as though lies have been exchanged between the two of them.
Sure, Buffy kept Angel a secret
...and that gave her friends plenty of motivation to react emotionally,
...but Faith wasn’t even around in 'Season 2'.
Why is she so bothered by it?
"Uh, Buffy?"
"Yeah?"
"Nothing."
'Bad Girls' is of course laden with innuendo.
From Faith’s heart on the window
...and her practical wink at Buffy,
...to the dance scene.
Sure, they’re surrounded by men
...but who is dancing with whom in this shot exactly.
And even here,
...as in 'Revelations',
...Buffy’s heart belongs to someone else.
Beyond the innuendo,
...there is thematic parity between the episodes...
...'Surprise' and 'Innocence' from 'Season 2'
...and 'Bad Girls' and 'Consequences'.
The episode pairs match up very close numerically
...but also have structurally similar plots.
Throughout 'Season 2',
...Buffy and Angel grow intensely close.
It is a love relationship.
And in that season, there had been some wordplay
...comparing "orgasm" to "death".
“When you kiss me, I want to die.”
The relationship is an unhealthy one for Buffy
...and succumbing to it represents...
... the death of her identity and individuality.
And when that happens though orgasm
(the figurative death)
...Angel dies
...and Angelus,
...darkness personified,
...is brought back.
In 'Bad Girls',
...Buffy’s drowning
(the figurative orgasm)
...represents her succumbing to the dark side,
"Tell me you don't get off on this?"
"Didn't suck."
...which leads to Allen’s death
...and the creation of a...
...cold and distant Faith.
And in 'Innocence',
Angel betrays Buffy’s trust
...just as...
...Faith betrays Buffy’s in 'Consequences'.
There are even tangential relationships between the two episodes as,
...in 'Innocence',
...Willow discovers Xander’s relationship with another woman and is hurt.
And in 'Consequences',
...Willow discovers Xander’s relationship with another woman and is hurt.
The point is that within this plot structure
Faith is Angel,
...and by analogy...
...Buffy’s boyfriend.
[Buffy backhand]
"There's my girl."
And then there was Eliza Dushku’s performance.
In the DVD commentary for 'Bad Girls',
...Doug Petrie said of Eliza:
"And here we have the growing lesbian subtext between these two"
-which was always fun to play with.
"Eliza was always pushing the sexuality"
"...and no one remembered to stop her from that"
"-which we are very happy about."
As I said at the start,
...I’m not suggesting that any of this has to mean that Buffy and Faith
(or even just Faith)
...as literal characters are looking to...
...find a home,
...settle down
...and make the morning bed together,
...though it might.
My point is that there is a something here,
...not a nothing here.
This could all be a thematic byproduct of the season arc.
The 'Season 3' storyline is all about Buffy’s struggles with authority and morality.
Faith’s character is there to tempt her towards that moral dark side.
It makes sense then that she should be...
...well...
...tempting.
What’s most interesting about all this
...is that Joss Whedon never actually intended for there to BE lesbian subtext between Faith and Buffy.
In an interview with NPR,
...he said he was initially irritated when fans raised the subject.
To quote:
"I was like..."
'You guys see lesbian subtext around every corner,
"...you just want to see girls kissing"
"–get over it.”
After a fan directed him to their website
where they had dissected Buffy and Faith's interactions,
Whedon realised that he had been wrong,
...stating...
"Everything they said was true,"
"...it was all right there.”
There is a lot more evidence of this dynamic going forward
...but little else for me to say about it besides,
"See look there it is,"
"...I told you so."
Because of that...
...as those things arise
...I’m simply going to ring the subtext bell.
[Lesbian Subtext Bell]
As I said,
...there's a lot of rhyme between 'Seasons 2' and '3'
...but I have to admit,
I still struggle to feel as emotionally invested in this season as I did 'Season 2'.
I wish that Faith had not been such a background player for the first half.
I wish they’d incorporated her more
-given her more significant human moments.
It would have made this turn so much more interesting.
I’ve gotten more out of these episodes on this runthrough
...but I wonder if it isn’t because...
...I know where things go,
...how characters change,
...and feel a greater empathy for them
...then I did on the initial runthrough.
Which wasn’t a problem for me...
...when Angel turned in 'Season 2'.
Nonetheless,
...it’s still one of the strongest seasons,
...and continues to pick up steam
...towards an explosive season finale.