Episode Report Card Couch Baron: B+ | 8 USERS: A YOU GRADE IT Two Out Of Three Ain't Bad
By Couch Baron | Season 3 | Episode 3 | Aired on 10.12.1998
We see Cloven Guy, who's ugly as sin, in decent light for the first time, asking Mr. Trick for an update. Trick technobabbles for a while until Cloven Guy brings him to the subject of the Slayer. Trick mentions that Sunnydale already has a Slayer, which makes it definite that they're after Faith, in case you weren't following. Cloven Guy gets up, and we see that his right eye is damaged beyond repair. "I don't care if there are a hundred Slayers! I'll kill them all!" Good luck with that, dude. Trick outlines a plan to find Faith, and then kills a pizza delivery guy who shows up at the door with a pizza for them.
Chez Summers. Joyce is chatting Faith up. Faith tells Joyce she loves slaying, and Joyce wants to know why. Faith feels like she knows she's going to win when she's fighting, and when Buffy expresses a contrary opinion, Faith says, "I don't let that kind of negative thinking in." Joyce is down with that, and with Faith in general. She also thinks Buffy "can be very negative sometimes." Wow. You really think so? Joyce goes to the kitchen, and Buffy follows her. Buffy snits about Faith, and presciently says she's getting "Single White Femaled." Joyce: "It's probably a good thing you were an only child." Ha! And also, "were." Sigh. Curse you, shiny-haired ball of energy! Buffy says she doesn't want to share her life, but Joyce would be glad to see her share the slaying, or even give it up to Faith. Buffy lets it slip that Faith being called was a result of Buffy's having died, and Joyce isn't pleased, but it's just because "I don't want you to die." Aw. Buffy says she's got help now.
Buffy and Faith patrol. They snit about how to do it, and Faith expresses her belief that Buffy's uptight, thinking aloud that "something in your bottle needs uncorking." Hee. You know, I've already said I love Faith, but here's more on why. I know a lot of people don't like Buffy. I am not one of those people. However, I think Faith was a brilliant counterpoint to a lot of the less endearing facets of Buffy's personality. Even though Season Three had several crappy stand-alone episodes, it's my favorite season, because I think that between Faith and the Mayor the whole was much greater than the sum of its parts. Plus, I think the mood of the show achieved a good balance between the teenage airheadedness of the first season and a half and the über-angst of the second half of Season Two. What, Sars? You said to stop pontificating and get back to the recap? Okay, okay.