Lookit This Little Freak

lookit this little freak

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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.

The fact that twilight x starlight is a rare ship makes me insane. You guys don't see it but i do.

Rewatched This Years Girl/Who Are You last night and I CANNOT stop thinking about Faith's extended monologue at Spike about how cool it would be to have sex with Buffy. Like, completely unprompted, she delivers this CREATIVE WRITING ASSIGNMENT to a guy she doesn't know and doesn't care about. "I've got muscles you've never even dreamed of. I could squeeze you until you popped like warm champagne, and you'd beg me to hurt you just a little bit more." HELLO??? "And you know why I don't? Because it's wrong." SO WE'RE NOT EVEN REALLY TALKING ABOUT SPIKE ANYMORE HUH

Like. She really said all that. Out loud. An extremely detailed sexual fantasy about how cool sex with Buffy would be if Buffy wasn't such a stuck-up tight-ass with no sense of fun. Or if Faith wasn't Wrong

And honestly, it's still not as completely insane as last episode when she tied up Joyce to complain about being dumped and how much she hated Buffy's new boyfriend who she has seen ONCE for a total of about 30 seconds through a window

For all the Early Installment Weirdness in Season 1 of Buffy, the opening two-parter does a surprisingly good job establishing these who these characters are and what their arcs will be for the entire rest of the series.

Take Buffy’s ‘Seize the moment, because tomorrow you might be dead’ - it’s framed in an almost light-hearted way, but she is already, in the first episode, intensely aware of her own death. As much as she tries to deny her slayerhood, she knows she’s probably going to die young; she can’t picture a future for herself, and her just trying to enjoy the moment is covering for issues she’ll be dealing with for the rest of the series.

The first thing Willow does to help Buffy is hack the city council to access the plans for the city. Well, technically, what she does is reveal that she’d already hacked them, just for funsies. It’s slightly incongruous with Willow’s apparent innocence… but that completely fits her later arc. She sees herself as essentially innocent and harmless, so it’s fine when she does things that might seem bad if someone else did it, especially if it’s something that might make her feel cool and/or powerful.

Cordelia also shows her intelligence in Computer class (though the bad Deliver/Delete joke at the end of the scene undercuts it, I’m inclined to write that off as just a bad joke). She’s complaining about the task they’ve been assigned, but she’s complaining like someone who does know what she’s talking about, in comparison to Harmony who genuinely doesn’t get it; and there’s a strong sense that she’s trying to downplay her academic smarts to fit in. It’s surprising depth this early in the series, considering how Season 1 generally treats her.

And then Angel is a ridiculous dork with no idea how to be a person, desperately trying to look cool - an illusion that breaks under the slightest pressure. This displays not just his personality, but also foreshadows all of Buffy’s romantic interests for the rest of the series.

Focusing on Angel, look at his first scene - he's completely ridiculous.

Buffy: Who are you? Angel: Lets just say that I'm a friend. Buffy: Yeah, well maybe I don't want a friend. Angel: *smirks* I didn't say I was yours.

Angel, buddy. We know you don't have any friends. He's just saying whatever he thinks will make him sound cool.

And the next episode, Buffy actually asks him if he has any friends, and the facade just crumples. The whole 'smirking trickster mentor' schtick falls away, and we see... Angel. An awkward, brooding weirdo who doesn't know how to be a person.

And as much as his arc was not planned, and as much as people complain about Boreanez's acting ability, this completely makes sense for Angel as a character. He's been eating rats and barely talking to anyone for a century, and this is his first attempt at interacting with someone in a long time, and he really wants her to like him. So he tries to be a cool, mysterious stranger - pulling on his experiences as Angelus, with a little bit of Whistler mixed in - but it feels awkward and off, and when it inevitably falls apart, he's just... a weird, awkward, brooding fuy. (Who's also kind of creepy around the teenage girl he has a crush on.)

And by 'Angel', he's... well, Angel. A bit more awkward and weird than he will be later, but the characterisation is basically there. (And we see a our first glimpse of Angelus when he's trying to commit suicide by slayer.)

So yeah, Angel is different in his first appearance. But I've genuinely been surprised in this rewatch with how consistent early Angel is with who his is and what we learn about him later.

For all the Early Installment Weirdness in Season 1 of Buffy, the opening two-parter does a surprisingly good job establishing these who these characters are and what their arcs will be for the entire rest of the series.

Take Buffy’s ‘Seize the moment, because tomorrow you might be dead’ - it’s framed in an almost light-hearted way, but she is already, in the first episode, intensely aware of her own death. As much as she tries to deny her slayerhood, she knows she’s probably going to die young; she can’t picture a future for herself, and her just trying to enjoy the moment is covering for issues she’ll be dealing with for the rest of the series.

The first thing Willow does to help Buffy is hack the city council to access the plans for the city. Well, technically, what she does is reveal that she’d already hacked them, just for funsies. It’s slightly incongruous with Willow’s apparent innocence… but that completely fits her later arc. She sees herself as essentially innocent and harmless, so it’s fine when she does things that might seem bad if someone else did it, especially if it’s something that might make her feel cool and/or powerful.

Cordelia also shows her intelligence in Computer class (though the bad Deliver/Delete joke at the end of the scene undercuts it, I’m inclined to write that off as just a bad joke). She’s complaining about the task they’ve been assigned, but she’s complaining like someone who does know what she’s talking about, in comparison to Harmony who genuinely doesn’t get it; and there’s a strong sense that she’s trying to downplay her academic smarts to fit in. It’s surprising depth this early in the series, considering how Season 1 generally treats her.

And then Angel is a ridiculous dork with no idea how to be a person, desperately trying to look cool - an illusion that breaks under the slightest pressure. This displays not just his personality, but also foreshadows all of Buffy’s romantic interests for the rest of the series.