Extensive previouslys: Faith, the second Slayer, comes to Sunnydale; she turns evil and the Mayor, last season's Big Bad, gives her a big knife; Buffy stabs her with the big knife and Faith falls off a building; Faith's injuries put her in a coma from which she will never awake (but we all knew better, huh?); Riley gets off on Buffy's strength; Walsh chatters with Adam and sets Buffy up to die; Adam kills Walsh (that's for calling Buffy a bitch!); Riley wonders why Forrest doesn't like Buffy and Forrest says Buffy's a spy; Riley goes off his meds, gets shaky and gets skewered by Adam; the Initiative guys take Riley away from Buffy.
Buffy is making the bed in her old room at the Summers house. She says to her companion that clean sheets smell good, and her companion, Faith, replies that she wouldn't know. They continue making the bed and Buffy says she wishes she could stay and Faith replies, "Little sis coming, I know. So much to do before she gets here." They continue to tuck in the sheet and Buffy repeats that she has to leave and Faith is telling her to leave, when she starts to drip blood onto the bed. She mutters, "Damn. Just when we made it so nice." She and Buffy look at each other, the music begins to get dissonant and creepy and Faith accusingly asks, "Are you ever going to take this thing out?" They both look down at Faith's torso, from which protrudes her big knife. Buffy's face gets hard, she grabs the knife hilt and pushes it further in. You might think that the dialog in this scene was a little surreal but for me Faith's shirt is the weirdest thing. It looks like she stole it from Willow's closet.
We see a hospital monitor and pan across a dingy, depressing room to where Faith lies, comatose. She's dressed in a hospital gown and her face is pale and drawn.
The fact that Reindeer Games didn't come out at Christmas is enough to prove to me that this must be the worst movie ever. Also if Rudolph was half as annoying as Ben Affleck I'm going to have to side with the other reindeer.
Xander, Buffy, Willow and Giles are hanging in Xander's basement as Xander attempts to repair the faulty taser gun that Professor Walsh gave Buffy on her make-Buffy-dead mission. Buffy asks Xander if he can fix it and he snipes, "Sure, just as soon as I get my Master's degree in advanced starship technology" and loudly drops the gun. Willow suggests they experiment by pressing a few buttons but Giles vetoes the idea as too dangerous. Oh geez, Giles is folding Xander's laundry! Someone get this guy a job. Xander says he'd be all for pressing random buttons if the gun was called "the orgasminator" but since it's called a blaster, he'd rather not. Buffy, looking tense, again asks if he can fix the gun and Xander says he's trying. I wish Xander would try to find normal clothes in his closet. But if he insists on wearing sweater vests I really wish he would pair them with long-sleeved shirts. The less said about Willow's outfit the better. I've come to the conclusion that she's just doing it for attention, negative or otherwise and I refuse to be her fashion victim enabler. ["Mmumblmmm": that's the sound of me trying to go along with Sep's resolve and NOT comment on Willow's outfit." -- Ace] Buffy sits on the couch and puts her head in her hand. Giles mentions that she's been patrolling for three days and could perhaps use, but Buffy interrupts him and says she can't get any rest since she needs to catch Adam. Giles replies that he was going to suggest that Buffy could use some help tracking Adam. Buffy says all she needs is the blaster and when Willow replies, "Are you sure?" Buffy says that she will indeed use the blaster even though it isn't standard Slayer issue. Willow clarifies that she actually meant, "No word about Riley?" Huh? Anyway, Buffy tells her that the Initiative repeatedly states that Riley is fine but won't say anything else. Buffy doubts the Initiative's version of "fine" and they could have him back on meds or be torturing him. Giles soothingly says he doubts the Initiative want to hurt Riley, but Buffy frets that she isn't helping Riley. Xander is still fiddling with the gun and elicits some sort of electric blast that shocks him, but despite his plaintive look at the others, they ignore him and go on with their conversation. I guess that was comedy or something. Willow reassures Buffy that Giles is right, the Initiative won't hurt Riley, but Buffy suggests they could be brain-washing him because of his recent non-military behavior.
Riley's bandaged hand reaches out and gather up Buffy's head scarf, which is lying on a table nearby. Riley is in a sterile-looking hospital room, and gets up off the bed, clutching his bandaged ribcage. He pulls on a shirt, grimacing with pain, and goes to the door of his room where a uniformed soldier is standing. The soldier blocks Riley's exit and Riley tells him to, "Stand down before I put you down." Forrest comes along and tells the soldier to obey Riley's command and Riley begins to walk away down the hall. Forrest follows him and calls him, "The shish-kebob that walks like a man." Riley doesn't reply and just continues to button up his shirt. Riley finally says he has "places to be" and Forrest demands to know where. When Riley implies that he's going to see Buffy, Forrest makes a disgusted noise and blocks his path. They bicker about Riley seeing Buffy and the giant cleft chin that walks like a man, Graham, sidles up and says, "We all friends here, fellas?" Forrest says they are but continues to block Riley's path and fixes him with a glare and says Riley is going to explain why he's leaving. Riley asserts, "I don't explain because I don't have to. I'm the one in charge." Forrest says that could change and adds that there are big problems at the Initiative and they should "band together." Graham agrees, and Forrest continues that they need to keep the problem (Adam) "within the family." Riley questions whether they are a family and dourly tells Forrest to "step aside." I just realized that Forrest is a dead ringer for my figure skating coach except that my coach is already out of the closet.
Faith lies comatose in her depressing hospital room. We see a flash of cloudy sky and the camera pans down to a wooded area. In her bed, Faith's eyes move rapidly under her closed eyelids. It's nice to see that even though her room looks drab and neglected that someone has taken the time to apply eyeshadow for her. "You think it's gonna rain?" asks Faith, and we see her reclining on a picnic blanket with Mayor Wilkins. He replies that it won't and she doubtfully says, "It always seems like it starts raining right about now." Faith is wearing light make-up, a blue blouse and a pink skirt and the Mayor tells her that she's "too young and too pretty" to worry so much. He spots a little snake on the blanket and lifts it, cooing that it doesn't "belong here with us." He puts the snake back down and cheerfully asks if Faith wants cheesecake. She smiles as he turns towards the picnic basket but suddenly screams, "No!" as she sees Buffy, clad in black pants and top with an olive overcoat approaching. Buffy cuts the Mayor's throat with Faith's knife and then stabs him in the gut. Buffy menacingly says that she told Faith she had things to do and starts advancing towards her. Faith crawls across the grass slowly with Buffy behind her. In her hospital bed, Faith's eyes continue to move as she dreams. It's interesting to note that Faith dresses the Buffy in her dreams much better than Buffy dresses herself in real life, whereas Faith dresses herself wicked awful. It must have something to do with her subconscious lack of self-esteem or something.
Buffy, Willow and Xander patrol the woods with flashlights. They decide to spread out and as Buffy walks she unknowingly passes some demon legs, spread-eagled and tied to two different trees. She does a double-take and turns back to see the whole demon's corpse, suspended between two trees and completely flayed open. The body is still steaming and when Buffy shines her flashlight on it, we can see right through the open ribcage.
At Xander's, Buffy says she's never seen anything like the demon's corpse. Willow says it was Adam but asks why he did it, and Buffy suggests that he's studying the biology of demons and humans. She goes on to say that the Initiative can't stop Adam but the Scooby gang will. Xander is sad that the plan to catch Adam won't entail "hiding in a cabin with stockpiled chocolate goods." Willow asks what they have to do first and Buffy replies that she needs to rescue Riley. She lays out a plan wherein Willow somehow disables the Initiative's security computer and Xander gives her any military gear that he still has. She's not going to sneak in, but will instead blast her way in to find the infirmary. Behind her Riley asks, "Am I really worth all that?" and smiles. Buffy is overjoyed (and for the first time her expression of it is believable) and leaps up to hug him, bumping his wound in the process. She asks how he got out of the Initiative and he replies, "I walked." Willow is surprised that they let him go and Riley says he threatened a "major ass-kicking" if they didn't let him leave. Xander jumps up, saying it's great that Riley's there and then asks, "Did they put a chip on your brain?" Riley doesn't seem to know what Xander is talking about and Buffy tells him they are happy to have him back. Riley apologizes for his behavior, which gains some points with me and Willow says, "You two crazy kids take down an unstoppable, killer, cyber, demon-hybrid thingy and we'll call it even." Buffy says they can handle anything now that Riley is with her. I have a confession to make. I don't want y'all to think I'm going soft on you, but Riley did not annoy me for most of this episode.
Faith, dressed in a tank top and leather pants, runs frantically through a graveyard at night. Behind her, Buffy follows, walking deliberately and holding Faith's knife. Faith continues to run, constantly checking behind her to see how close Buffy is. The moonlight glints off the knife in Buffy's hand. Buffy walks, slowly, slowly, with a dire look on her face. Faith runs and then falls face-first into an open grave. Ethereal singing starts up as Faith looks up at Buffy from the bottom of the grave. Buffy jumps in after her and its starts to pour down rain. We hear noises of a struggle in the grave, and a hand grabs the upper edge. Faith slowly pulls herself out and stands in the rain, letting it wash over her. She starts to yell and in the hospital bed, the sleeping Faith's eyes open wide. Thank god Faith is back to her leather pants because watching her run in them is one of the best reasons to have her character around.
If you're the type of person that thinks a collect call is an appropriate way to tell your loved ones about your nuptials, just save them the five bucks because I doubt they want to hear from your free-loading ass anyway.
In her hospital room Faith looks curiously at her heart monitor and then makes a fist out the hand that contains her IV. She slowly sits up in bed, tosses aside the blanket, pulls wires from her chest and then pulls the IV from her hand, saying, "Ouch." She then, without even being a little unsteady from an eight-month-long coma, walks out of her room in her hospital gown into an empty, dark and dirty hallway. The ethereal voice from her dream is again singing as Faith, bare-foot, pads down the hall. In another unrealistic real-world fashion moment Faith's hospital gown actually closes in the back. A door at the end of the hall opens and a girl holding a teddy bear and gift bag enters, asking if Faith knows how to get to the third floor. Faith, still looking pale, doesn't know what the girl wants. The girl asks Faith if she needs help and Faith replies, "Graduation." She explains that she needs to get to Sunnydale High School's graduation and the girl replies that the school isn't there anymore. Faith looks freaked out and asks what the date is. When the girl replies, "February 25," Faith realizes she's been out of commission for a long time. The girl is getting suspicious of Faith's strange behavior and suggests that she should fetch a nurse. Faith snaps that she wants to know what happened to the school and the girl replies, "It was a tragedy really. Lot of students died. The principal, the mayor. I really think maybe I should get you some help." Faith stares at her, stony-faced.
Faith exits the hospital, dressed in the teddy bear girl's clothing. She crosses her arms and strides away.
In her dorm room Buffy tells Riley that she couldn't stop thinking about him and he replies that it was the same for him. He shows her that he held onto her head scarf and continues that knowing she cared about him helped him out. Buffy smiles and Riley paces the room, wondering if they're being watched. Buffy says he seems "a little somewhere else" and asks if she can help. Riley replies that perhaps she should give him an order, because all he does is follow them. She tells him he doesn't have to but he's not sure. His whole life has been dedicated to his military career. He says he's not sure if it's the right job any more and Buffy says she can relate, telling him about how she quit the Council of Watchers. That left her scared but things worked out. She tells him he has options: he could make changes from inside the Initiative, or quit and "fight demons in [his] own way." He muses that he doesn't even know his way and that he feels he doesn't have much identity outside being a soldier. Buffy tells him he's a good man and they kiss gently. Buffy climbs onto his lap and begins kissing his hair. When he asks what she's doing, she jokes, "I am looking for brain-washy chips in your head." Riley laughs and Buffy says she'll keep looking. She tells him he's been strong long enough. They'll find the demon and kill it and Riley needs to go easier on himself. Riley picks lint off her sweater sleeve and Buffy tells him, "It's an order." They kiss and I decide to let them without making a snide comment for once.
In Faith's hospital room a doctor asks, "What do you mean she just wasn't there?" and a nurse replies that when she came to the room to check on Faith, the bed was empty. The doctor demands that the nurse check the duty rosters to find out what happened to Faith because "coma patients do not just get up and walk away." A man who appears to be a plainclothes policeman demands to know why the doctor didn't have security watching the patient, who was wanted for questing in a number of murders. The doctor insists that there was no way Faith could have woken up. An orderly rushes into the room and tells them they've found another woman, "unconscious and badly beaten", stripped of her clothes. The doctor and policeman rush from the room. The nurse watches them go and then steps over to a telephone. She dials a four-digit extension and says, "It's happened. Send the team."
Faith sadly surveys the ruins of Sunnydale High School. She then wanders down the Sunnydale main drag, as if disoriented and trying to get her bearings. we see her quietly walking down the stairs into the courtyard outside Giles's apartment. She sneaks up to the front door and watches the Scooby gang through a small window. Inside Giles's apartment she can see Giles, Buffy, Willow, Xander and Riley discussing the whereabouts of Adam. Giles wonders why they haven't found any more evidence of Adam and Riley suggests that he must be spending a lot of time charging his power source. Buffy wonders what Adam is charging up for and Xander suggests "killing spree." Riley says that's the best they can hope for from Adam and picks up the blaster we earlier saw Xander working on. He clicks one button and the blaster starts right up; Xander is surprised. As Buffy sits on Riley's lap, we see Faith peeking through the window in the door. Then Willow asks if perhaps Professor Walsh left any information about Adam at the Initiative. The Scoobies lament that they can't get into the Initiative and Riley says, "Speak for yourself. I'm just sayin'." Giles says an inside man at the Initiative would be great and Buffy asks Riley if he minds being "double-agent guy." Riley says he'll "share information" and that "it's the least [he] can do." Xander agrees with that. Giles's phone rings and after he answers it, he tells Buffy it's for her. We see that Faith is still outside eavesdropping. Buffy looks very upset about what she's been told over the phone and hangs up. Giles concernedly asks what the phone call was about and Buffy quietly says, "It's Faith. She's awake." Who was that on the phone? Why did they call Buffy? How did they know she was at Giles'? Unexplained plot devices tick me off. Shocked reactions from Willow and Xander. Buffy explains that Faith has disappeared from the hospital and Giles says they must find her. Nobody thinks to ask who was on the phone. When Willow reminds then about Adam, Xander says, "I'd hate to see the pursuit of a homicidal lunatic get in the way of pursuing a homicidal lunatic." Buffy says that Faith won't keep a low profile and should be easy to find. Giles asks what they will do then and Willow suggests, "beat the crap out of her" and grins. Buffy says it sounds like a good plan, but the more important question is whether to turn her over to the cops. She notes that the cops wouldn't know what to do with a Slayer. When Willow suggests the Council of Watchers, Xander likens the effects of that solution to "smothering a forest fire with napalm." Giles suggests turning Faith over to the Initiative but Xander thinks they're too evil. Or maybe that Faith is too evil. Not sure. Buffy says that Faith is her responsibility and Willow mournfully says, "That was the funnest coma ever." Buffy suggests that Faith could be terrified right now and perhaps doesn't even recall the events leading up to her coma. She says perhaps Faith does remember and is sorry, leading Giles to suggest rehabilitation. Buffy says they need to find her and the gang sits silently. Riley pipes up, "Who's Faith?"
day, Willow and Buffy walk across campus. Willow asks Buffy how she explained Faith to Riley and Buffy jokes she told him "that she's my wacky identical cousin from England and whenever she visits hi-jinx ensue." I know I said that wasn't going to encourage Willow's acting-out through clothing choices anymore but her demented yarn-people shirt is really testing my resolve. Especially when paired with that late seventies striped and flowered bedspread skirt she's wearing. Buffy then says she did tell Riley about Faith, but glossed over a few bits without lying. Willow asks how Buffy handled "the Angel-y parts" and Buffy says she did some "editing." She insists she will tell Riley about Angel but that explaining would be a long conversation and she needs to find Faith. Buffy hasn't found Faith yet and Willow notes that she isn't looking alone -- all the police in Sunnydale are probably looking for Faith too. Buffy says if she were Faith, she'd "get outta Dodge post-hasty," and suddenly a woman in front of them turns around. It's Faith and she grits out, "You're not me." Buffy looks shocked.
Buffy and Faith do the verbal face-off. Faith of course misses the point that Buffy didn't oppose her merely for a guy (Angel), but because Faith was going around killing people and aiding the Mayor's plot to destroy the world. At one point Faith is recounting a dream when Willow slips off her backpack and attempts to sneak behind her. Faith catches sight of Willow in her peripheral vision, but tells Willow that she'll lose an arm if she tries it. What does Willow think she's going to do with her piddly little backpack? Faith just woke up from an 8-month-long coma with nary a wobbling gait. She's indestructible. Unless, of course, Willow's taking organic chemistry and has her book in there. That ought to kill anyone. There's a reason they call them the hard sciences, y'know. Sirens start to blare and Buffy and Faith go at it. Man, I never get tired of watching those girls fight. The police pull up and Faith says, "You took my life B, and payback's a bitch." "Look who's talking," snits Willow. Faith takes off in the direction of the squad car and knocks the first officer down, climbs over the hood of the car to better kick the second officer in the face and takes off running. The girl Faith robbed for her clothes must have had one of those click bras and Faith has obviously clicked it up to maximum jiggle. Buffy goes after her but Faith scales a wall. When Buffy peeks over Faith is nowhere to be found amongst the random students hanging out on the lawn, although I got the distinct impression that if Buffy would just look down she'd find Faith crouched near the base of the wall on the other side. ["Hee. I thought the same thing." -- Ace]
The camera work doesn't prove me right, but instead chooses to torture me with a close-up of Willow's awful stripey shirt and some nondescript pants that belong to Tara. Willow thanks Tara for coming with her on the 'recon' mission to find Faith and Tara cracks a smile at Willow's use of the word 'recon'. Poor Tara is wearing some unfortunate scarf around her waist that's cutting her off in the middle and making her look as wide as the side of a house. Her posture isn't doing her any sort of favors either. I wish she would just stand up straight. It's giving me scoliosis just looking at her. Tara expresses worry that they might get in a fight (and does the cutest shadow boxing impression) but Willow reassures her. They agree to be on the lookout for Faith until sundown when the "ritual hiding" begins. Can someone please tell me what the point of this scene is? I'm going to have to set a moratorium on Tara and Willow scenes until they actually contain some plot development.
Xander and Giles are walking the streets of Sunnydale as Xander is blathering on to a very bored Giles about how much of a super-stud he is where Faith is concerned. As they pass an alley, they hear a noise and go to investigate. They find Spike and Xander tells him that they're looking for a rogue slayer. Spike sounds seriously concerned and after listening to their description says, "I'll tell you what I'll do then. Head out. Find this girl. Tell her exactly where all of you are. And then watch as she kills you." At their shocked looks he rolls his eyes and says, "Can anyone in your damned little Scooby club at least tryto remember that I hate you all." At this point Giles takes off his glasses because not only does he not have a purpose this season, he also doesn't have any lines in this scene. Spike continues, "Just because I can't do the damage myself doesn't stop me from aiming a loose cannon your way." Poor Spike forced to have a Chaotic Neutral alignment when all he really wants is to go back to Chaotic Evil. ["Uh-oh, D&D speak!" -- Ace] Spike brushes past them saying that he mistakenly thought the evening would be dull. Xander, with fake bravado, tells Spike that he'll never recognize Faith. Spike turns and walking backwards parrots back the description Xander gave him. "Dark hair. This tall. Name of Faith. Criminally insane. I like this girl already." Xander turns to Giles saying, "We're dumb." Um, Xander? I don't recall that Giles was the one to open his big patootie.
Back at the hospital, the frumpy nurse comes out to meet a black chopper. Note to self: beware the frumpy nurses of the world. They wield powers you cannot hope to understand. The men in leather stride purposefully up to the frumpy nurse and they go inside as menacing music swells.
Faith is walking the street of Sunnydale. And I do mean street. Sunnydale seems to have only one commercial strip. She pauses to admire some knives in a shop window when she's interrupted by a slowly cruising police car. She sees a group of kids walking towards her and pretends to blend in with their group until the car passes, and then ducks down a side street. A booming voice calls out, "Faith! A friend sent me. I got [sic] a little remembrance from him." Faith, not one to be weighed down by thought, snaps the demon's neck and takes the package he was carrying. At that moment a squad car comes cruising down the alley and Faith climbs up a conveniently nearby ladder as the cop's searchlight sweeps around, missing her by mere centimeters.
So now Faith is in some unexplained room that has all sorts of AV equipment. She pops a tape into the VCR and it's Mayor Wilkins, who has recorded a message for her the night before his ascension. He gives a little speech about how the world will have changed in her absence and she won't fit in anymore but not to worry because she will always have him. It's things like this that made their relationship so twisted and interesting. The Mayor also has a present for her, which looks like spare clock parts to me but Mayor Wilkins says, "Just because it's over for my Faith doesn't mean she can't go out with a bang," so I guess we're supposed to think that the clock gear is some kind of bomb.
"She's a very dangerous woman," intones Buffy off-screen. As the video catches up with the dialog we see that Buffy is pacing in Riley's room. Every time I see the "Balls" poster on the back of the door, I have to restrain myself from making a comment. Someday I won't be able to hold back. Riley says he understands but if there's trouble he wants to help. Buffy says that he can't help and Riley challenges her to tell him why. She throws him a Nerf ball and as he reflexively catches it his face contorts in pain. ["For some reason I thought that was a grapefruit. I gotta get new glasses!." -- Ace] "That's why," says Buffy. Hey, I think Buffy just dissed Riley there, insinuating that he's only helpful as hired muscle. Or is it not dissing if you're just telling the truth? Riley says that Faith must really be getting to her and asks what she did to Buffy in the first place. She tries to brush him off with the long story routine but he says, "I'm from Iowa. We drive four hours for a high school football game." Buffy gives the abbreviated version and Riley says that there's something she's not telling him. Buffy says that she has to go and turns to do so, but Riley, proving once again that he can't take no for an answer, gets up and pulls her around to face him. Buffy tells him for the eight hundred and thirty-second time why this is so important, saying, "She'll come after me and she'll come after the people that I love."
There's a knock on the door at Buffy's old house and Joyce goes to answer it. It's Faith. After punching Joyce she coyly asks "Mind if I come in?" as she does just that. I think it's funny that Faith is one of the only characters that we've seen actually knock on the door. Oh, and I'd like to sit everyone down and show them a helpful PSA about the importance of locks and peepholes.
Somebody just give me the address where I can send my nine bucks so they will stop showing previews of Reindeer Games on my television. They can't make me watch the movie but I'm willing to pay to not see any more of it.
Faith is playing with Joyce's lipsticks in her bedroom. She says to Joyce, who is sitting on the bed, that she usually wouldn't wear such a dark color but she has heard that an eight month long coma will damage your skintone. Yeah? Well, I read that after an eight month long coma you'd have your muscles atrophy and suffer from brain damage. Faith wants to ask Joyce a question and she wants to know the truth. "How do I look?" queries Faith. "Psychotic," retorts Joyce. Go Joyce! It's nice to see her again. Too bad we also have to see that hideous sweater. Obviously Joyce also dressed better when Buffy was in high school. Faith says that Joyce is thinking that Faith will never get away with it, but Joyce corrects her and says that she's betting that Buffy is going to kill Faith soon. Faith calls her bluff by picking up a stack of mail and makes a flying leap onto the bed by Joyce. She randomly tosses letter after letter in the air all addressed to Buffy. She tries to undermine Joyce's confidence by saying essentially that if Buffy cared about her she would have warned her about Faith's return. Joyce isn't having any of it though, and says that Faith, "doesn't know the first thing about Buffy or [Joyce]." Faith prattles on about how hard it is to be left behind and nobody cared about you anymore wah wah wah. Faith, here's a tip: People might like to hang out with you more if they could do so without fearing for their lives. Just a thought. Joyce is sick of hearing Faith's deranged views as she icily asks, "Are you planning on slitting my throat anytime soon?" Faith ignores her and says, "You're her mother and she just leaves you here to die!" as she grabs a knife. At that moment Lassie comes home to save the day. Actually, it was Buffy barreling through the window but it was a very Lassie type move. Isn't Joyce's bedroom on the second floor? Anyway. Buffy knocks Faith down and brightly says, "Hi Mom," and starts to struggle with Faith. She takes a painful looking knee to the face (I just typed 'faith' there. Somebody help me, my fingers are lisping) but quickly takes the fight into the hallway. Joyce takes this opportunity to call 911, which may or may not be a joke in Sunnydale. Buffy and Faith fall down the stairs clenched together and I have to send my condolences to their stunt doubles. That looked painful. Now in the dining room, they intersperse their physical sparring with verbal jabs as well. Faith makes a comment about Riley and Buffy tells her that, "He's not big on sleaze." Faith, who has Buffy at an arm's length choke hold against the wall, says it's probably because he's never tried it. Buffy: "Going for the boyfriend again? That's tired." Faith tries to punch Buffy but she dodges in time and Faith just gets a handful of drywall. Buffy clears the table with Faith and preys on her insecurities saying, "Did it ever occur to you, Faith, that the reason we all forgot you was because we wanted to?" I didn't forget you, Faith. I'll never forget you. Even though you're criminally insane and I refuse to make excuses for your violent tendencies, it doesn't make mean I love you any less. Faith throws a vase at Buffy and then takes a drawer and lobs that in her direction, too. Faith picks up some knives from the spilled contents of the drawer and tries to play darts with Buffy. What is it with this girl and knives? If she really wanted to kill Buffy she'd just get an illegal gun off the street and take care of it. She obviously just wants to play. Unfortunately playing darts with Buffy is a bit more difficult since the target is moving.
Over at Giles's he opens (not unlocks) the door to his dark apartment. He flips a switch but it does nothing. Suddenly his desk lamp is turned on to reveal the guys from the helicopter. The one sitting at Giles's desk greets him and I can't tell if he calls him Ripper or Rupert. Since my closed-captioning sucks dick for drug money I guess I'll never know. I'm going to assume they're from the council though. Ace and I were wondering why, if the Council has burly men like these working for them, they ever sent Wesley to be the new watcher. I'm starting to believe Strega's Outreach Program theory. On the phone Ace suggested that perhaps these guys are the brawn and Wesley was the brain. Yeah, we had a good laugh over that too.
Back at Joyce's, the girls are still going strong. The sound of approaching sirens can be heard in the background as Faith stabs the wall with her knife. She takes off towards the living room with Buffy close behind, but she has enough of a head start that she shuts a glass French door that Buffy doesn't have time to avoid and instead goes through. Mad props to Jeff Pruitt, that looked very cool. Buffy recovers quickly and drops Faith with a punch to the jaw, and the force of her fall takes out the coffee table. So on the furniture casualty list we've got: a vase, a drawer, two different portions of wall, a glass French door and now the coffee table. May they rest in peace. Buffy and Faith continue to struggle as Faith shoves Buffy into a glass-doored bookcase. Faith manages to find a second to put the device that the Mayor gave her on her hand. She grabs Buffy's hand and the screen goes all ripply but nothing much else seems to happen. Buffy and Faith stare at each other and then Buffy punches Faith extra hard and she falls down. Joyce runs in to ask after Buffy and then asks what it is she's holding. "Weapon of some kind," says Buffy who drops it on the floor and smashes it under her heel. Man, why does she always have to break the cool shit? The police knock at the door for some reason, instead of just busting in like everyone else in Sunnydale does. Buffy says that Faith is "their problem now," and Joyce asks if she's really truly okay. "Five by Five," drones Buffy to let us know that the device has caused her and Faith to switch bodies. Buffy tries to look all googly big-eyed insane for us and we fade to black.