We Need To Talk About The Enemies Kiss From Faith's Perspective. Because Obviously This Scene Is Framed

We need to talk about the Enemies kiss from Faith's perspective. Because obviously this scene is framed from Buffy's POV, and invites us to ask questions about Buffy's character. The big question is "Is Buffy capable of killing Faith?" and the answer is explicitly "Not yet". "Yes" is the destination she will reach in the season finale. But the other question, implied but never brought to the forefront, is the inverse: Is Faith capable of killing Buffy? I would argue this scene proves that the answer is "No".

Faith and Buffy stand there, with knives to each others throats, a slight flick of the wrist away from ending the others' life. It seems like a Mexican standoff, an impasse - neither can kill the other without dying themselves. But the show tells us that it's actually not.

"What are you gonna do, B? Kill me? You become me. You're not ready for that."

The show tells us explicitly that Buffy will not kill Faith, and that Faith knows it. She is correct in her assessment here. She has to be correct, for Buffy's journey to make sense. She knows she is correct, because her role as Buffy's Shadow demands that she know.

It only follows, then, that Faith could have killed Buffy here. Since Buffy was incapable at that moment of killing Faith, it would have been trivial for Faith to kill her. She could have done it, and nobody could have stopped her. Nobody else was capable of stopping her.

So why doesn't she? If she kills Buffy in that moment, then she has won. She would be the only slayer, the one girl in all the world. Sunnydale would be her town to rule. If all her bravado about being jealous of Buffy and wanting to destroy her and her life and take anything she wanted without anyone holding her back was true, then killing Buffy here would achieve all that. If that was her only motivation, then she would have killed her.

But she doesn't. Because deep down, that is not the thing she always wanted. She never wanted to kill Buffy. I think that's one of the most important things about their relationship. Buffy can kill her - but she could never kill Buffy. Because who would she be without her? What is a shadow without its light?

That's not to whitewash Faith - she was perfectly capable of doing a lot of truly repugnant things to Buffy, and she did do a lot of them. But Buffy has an iron core that Faith does not, and it makes her capable of killing the people she loves. You can see this difference in the different ways they deal with Angelus. Buffy eventually musters up the strength to kill Angel in S2, while Faith remains resolute in absolutely refusing to do the same in AtS S4. It is the same for each other.

It's so fascinating. Buffy's arc is all about "becoming" Faith. "You kill me you become me". "You did it. You killed me". The show tells us that killing Faith proves Buffy's similarity to her, and yet also tells us the Faith was never capable of killing Buffy to begin with. How delightfully insane. How "she is more myself than I am" of them.

Faith stands there, with a knife to Buffy's throat, knowing full well that she could kill her right then. Nobody can or will stop her. She holds Buffy's death in her hands. A flick of the wrist, and she wins. She can have everything she claims to want. And what does she do?

She gives her a kiss.

“Protect me tall friend”

(via)

the world is a beautiful place. catgirls and catfishgirls truly can fall in love

Buffy the Vampire Slayers (1997 to 2003), Behind the Scenes photos

you gotta believe her

“buffy wants a dad and giles hates himself so violently that he feels the ultimate act of paternal devotion is to refuse to be her dad” THANK YOU for reducing the parts of the early seasons esp that leave me screaming/crying/tearing my hair out/etc into an easily understandable statement. it's like. i love it in that its SO in character for the two of them that i can't imagine another way for them to be but also buffy wants it So Bad and my heart breaks for her and. AGH.

yeah and to elaborate on this thought: i am genuinely convinced that giles thinks buffy understands what he is doing. i am one hundred percent certain that this man is looking at the situation and going -- she knows how fucked up it would be if i was her dad, right? she knows that if i was her dad, i would be sending her out to die, and that would kill me, right? she knows that if i acknowledge her as my daughter, i would be instantly fucking pulling her out of this fight, because she doesn't deserve to be here and we both know that, but What She Needs is someone who is going to encourage her to do what is right for the World and a parent can't do that in this situation. a parent will always put their child first. and so in his head, actively Not Being Buffy's Dad is the greatest possible mercy and the greatest act of devotion that he can give to her without shattering both of them and also the world.

but the tragedy of it is that giles does not understand the way buffy sees it, and the way buffy sees it is that every time she reaches out and asks for him to be there, he flinches back and tells her that she needs to be stronger than she is. and what she learns from that is that her desire for giles to protect and comfort her is something that makes him uncomfortable, and something that he expects her to grow out of. he doesn't approve of her wanting to be his kid, and doesn't like the idea of being her dad, and obviously she's the one who kind of sucks for wanting to force him into a role that he has no interest in stepping into, right? obviously that's what he thinks of her, right?

and it is made SO MUCH WORSE by the fact that giles obviously cares about buffy! you would have to be completely detached from reality to see the way giles treats buffy and not pick up on the compassion. but the message that buffy gets from the paired statements of “i don’t want to be your dad” and “i care so much about you and would lay down my life for you” is that giles cares about her but doesn’t like how much she cares about him. which is true. however, because buffy is buffy, instead of following this thread to “giles hates himself,” she jumps to “giles thinks i am just Too Much in general.”