Summary: Buffy is making the bed in her old bedroom…with help from Faith. It’s obviously a dream, but whose? Buffy wishes she could stay, but Faith understands why she can’t: “Little sis coming. I know. So much to do before she gets here.” Blood starts dripping on the bed, and she asks Buffy, “Are you ever going to take this thing out?” Buffy’s gripping the knife she used to stab Faith, and she plunges it in further. In the hospital where she’s been comatose since graduation, Faith sleeps through what sounds like thunder and lightning.
The Scoobies are still using Xander’s basement as a hideout, this time to examine one of the Initiatives’ blasters. It’s broken, and Xander isn’t sure how to fix it. Willow suggests just pressing buttons to see what happens. No one seconds that, since something called a blaster probably isn’t a weapon you want to play around with. Xander says he’ll work on it anyway.
Buffy’s impatient and restless, knowing that Adam is out there possibly killing people. Giles suggests that she take a break and get some rest, but she’d rather have a working blaster. It’s the only thing she knows of that will give her a fighting chance against Adam. Willow asks if she’s gotten any updates on Riley. He’s still at an Initiative medical facility, and Buffy has no idea what they’re doing to him. As Xander’s experimentation with the blaster gets him shocked, Willow and Giles try to reassure Buffy that the Initiative won’t hurt Riley. Buffy worries that they’ll brainwash him.
Riley still has Buffy’s bandanna, so he hasn’t been completely turned against her, or at least not yet. He’s better physically, and he wants to go see her. Forrest tries to make him stay put, asking why he thinks leaving is a good idea. Riley says he doesn’t have to explain, since he outranks Forrest. Forrest tells him this is the time for them all to band together. Graham agrees. (Hi, Graham! Why are you here? I mean, like, in general – why are you on this show?) Forrest reminds Riley that when the Initiative has a problem, they deal with it. Right now, they need to keep that problem in the family. Riley scoffs at the idea that they’re a family. He orders Forrest to step aside and let him go.
The thunder and lightning are back, but they’re just in a dream Faith is having. She’s with Mayor Wilkins, having a picnic in a field. He assures her that there won’t be a storm, but she says it seems to always start raining about now. A snake slithers onto their blanket and the mayor says he doesn’t belong there and puts him on the grass. He promises Faith that nothing will spoil their time together. But suddenly Buffy’s there, and she stabs Wilkins and slashes his body. “I told you I had things to do,” she says to Faith. Faith tries to crawl away from her. In reality, her closed eyes are moving around a lot.
Buffy, Willow, and Xander go into the woods that night and find a demon strung up between some trees, opened up like it was autopsied. They return to Xander’s basement and discuss how Adam’s probably cutting demons and humans open to study their biology. Buffy vows to stop him. Xander asks if “hiding in a cabin with stockpiled chocolate goods” will be part of whatever plan she’s working on. Unfortunately, no. “Told you,” Xander says to Willow.
Buffy’s first priority is getting Riley away from the Initiative. She asks Willow to hack into the facility’s mainframe and shut down surveillance. If that doesn’t work, she should use magic. Xander is in charge of gear – equipment for force, not stealth, since that didn’t work last time. “Am I really worth all that?” Riley asks from behind Buffy. Well, that’s one plan the Scoobies can skip. He just walked out of the facility and came to see his girlfriend.
“You know, there’s no polite way to ask you this, but, uh…did they put a chip in your brain?” Xander asks. Uh, never mind. The Scoobies are happy to have Riley back, and they’re forgiving of his recent behavior. He’s up for joining in the mission to take down Adam, as difficult as it will be. Now that Riley’s back and safe, Buffy’s feeling more confident than ever that she can handle whatever Adam throws at them.
Faith is dreaming of Buffy again – she’s running through a cemetery as Buffy strides after her like a villain in a horror movie. Faith’s eyes are moving again, as if she’s on the verge of opening them. In the dream, she falls into an open grave. Buffy jumps in after her and it starts to rain. After a brief struggle, Faith climbs out of the grave and stands under the falling rain. In reality, she wakes up.
Despite being in a coma for months, Faith is able to get out of bed and walk down the hall without any help (probably thanks to her Slayer strength). She runs into a visitor who asks her for directions. Faith asks about graduation – she needs to get to Sunnydale High School right now. The visitor tells her the school isn’t there anymore. Also, it’s February. Faith demands to know what happened to the school. The visitor says it was a tragedy. A bunch of students died, as well as the principal and the mayor. Sometime later, Faith – now wearing the visitor’s clothes – walks out of the hospital.
Buffy and Riley get some alone time in her dorm room, and he tells her that having her bandanna helped him get through their separation. He appreciated knowing that she was out there and cared. He worries that they’re being watched. He doesn’t know what to do now that he’s not taking orders. He always gets the job done. Now, he’s not sure if it’s the right job. Buffy can relate, since she used to have to obey the Watchers’ Council. After she quit, she was scared, but now things are okay.
Riley isn’t used to operating in a gray area. Buffy tells him it’s a choice. He can go back in and make chances from the inside, or he can go off and fight demons in his own way. He’s not sure what his own way is, so Buffy says it’s a good time for him to find out. He wonders what’s left once you take away his identity as a soldier. “A good man,” Buffy replies. She starts kissing him, joking that she’s looking for chips in his head. She tells him he’s been strong long enough and now he’ll have her help. They’ll find Adam and kill him together. Until then, she orders him to stop torturing himself.
The hospital staff has discovered that Faith is missing. A detective chastises her doctor for not having security in the wing, since Faith is a murderer. The doctor insists that there was no possibility that Faith would wake up. An orderly comes in and tells the group that a woman was found unconscious, with her clothes gone. While the doctor and detective go with him, the nurse makes a phone call. “It’s happened,” she says. “Send the team.”
Faith goes to the school and sees for herself that it’s just ruins now. She goes downtown next, seeing a father and his daughter having fun together. She sneaks over to Giles’ place and listens at the door while the Scoobies talk about Adam. They think he’s off the grid because he’s powering up for a killing spree. Riley easily fixes the blaster, so at least the Scoobies will have that on their side.
They wonder if Walsh might have left anything helpful back at the Initiative – not that they would be able to get to it without a major attack on the facility. Riley notes that he can get in. He agrees to be an inside man; it’s the least he can do. Buffy gets a phone call just then from the hospital, letting her know that Faith has woken up and escaped. Great, now the Scoobies have two crises to handle at the same time!
Giles shifts everyone’s focus from Adam to Faith. “I’d hate to see the pursuit of a homicidal lunatic get in the way of pursuing a homicidal lunatic,” Xander quips. Buffy notes that Faith won’t keep a low profile, so she shouldn’t be hard to track. Willow suggests that when she finds Faith, she employs violence. Surprisingly, that’s not Buffy’s first instinct here.
They need to decide what to do when they capture Faith. The police wouldn’t know what to do with her, and the Council wasn’t successful at containing her last time. (To be fair, part of that was because of Wesley’s incompetence.) Giles notes that the Initiative would be able to hold her, though, of course, there’s that whole thing where they’re evil.
Buffy reluctantly accepts that Faith is her responsibility. “That was the funnest coma ever,” Willow says. Buffy notes that they don’t know where Faith is, or what she’s thinking or feeling. Or, as Xander adds, “who she’s doing.” Buffy thinks she could be scared or have no memory of what happened. Or maybe she’s sorry for everything she did. Giles says there could be a way to rehabilitate her. If not, Willow still suggests violence. Buffy won’t discount that, but first, she needs to find Faith. Riley speaks up for the first time since the phone call: “Who’s Faith?”
The next day, Buffy tells Willow that she explained to Riley that Faith is her identical cousin from England, and “wacky hijinks ensue” whenever she visits. No, not really – she told him the truth, mostly. She left out the parts about Angel, since they haven’t discussed him before and this isn’t a good time. I’m not sure there will ever be a good time for that whole story.
Buffy spent some time looking for Faith but didn’t find her. Willow guesses that the police are on the hunt, too. As they approach a campus notice board, Buffy says that if she were Faith, she’d get out of town ASAP. A woman at the board turns around – it’s Faith. “You’re not me,” she tells Buffy.
Buffy says that she’s been looking for Faith. Faith notes that she was in the same place for eight months, so Buffy must not have been looking very hard. Buffy asks if she’s okay. Faith’s five by five, as usual, and ready for revenge on the person who gutted her. Buffy thinks Faith would have done the same to her if she’d had the chance. Faith suggests that they fight again and see who wins this time.
They’re surrounded by people, so Buffy doesn’t want to fight there, but Faith doesn’t see an issue. She clearly hasn’t changed after her near-death experience. Faith notes that Buffy hasn’t changed, either – she still thinks she’s superior to Faith. She mentions the recurring dream she had about Buffy stabbing her. As Willow starts slowly moving to get behind Faith, Faith says it was because of a guy. Without turning around, she warns Willow not to try anything.
Faith continues that she woke up to discover that Buffy isn’t even with Angel anymore. She’s ditched the love of her life for the first college guy she could find and forgotten about the person she almost killed for him. She asks the “college girl” to interpret the dream for her. Buffy says it means that Faith is still talking about things she doesn’t understand.
They hear sirens in the distance and Buffy guesses that the police are coming for Faith. Faith decides this is a good time to start fighting. Willow gets in a smack with her bag, but she doesn’t do much damage. Faith warns that she’s going to pay Buffy back for taking her life. She fights off a couple of cops, then runs away. Buffy chases her but loses her.
Willow enlists Tara to help her search for Faith. It’s just recon, though. Tara’s kind of excited to be working with a “cool monster-fighter,” but she isn’t going to do anything violent, mostly because she’s not good at it. Willow says Buffy can handle Faith, and Tara will be safe with her.
That night, Xander and Giles do their own recon. Xander thinks Faith could come for him because of their “history.” They hear a noise in an alley downtown, but it’s just Spike. They tell him they’re looking for a rogue Slayer, whom Xander describes. Spike says he’ll help find her…then send her after the Scoobies and enjoy watching her kill them.
“Can’t any one of your damned little Scooby club at least try to remember that I hate you all?” he exclaims. He may not be able to hurt them himself anymore, but he can “aim a loose cannon” at them. His night is suddenly looking up! Xander notes that Spike doesn’t know what Faith looks like, having forgotten that he just described her. “We’re dumb,” Xander tells Giles. Hey, leave Giles out of it – that was all you.
The nurse who placed the phone call earlier goes out to greet a helicopter arriving in Sunnydale with three men wearing leather jackets and carrying briefcases. Faith is back downtown, checking out some knives in a store window (the same store she and Buffy once broke into). As a police car comes by, she hides in a group of college students and sneaks into an alley. There, a demon recognizes her and says a friend sent him with a remembrance. Faith kills the demon and takes his “remembrance,” a big envelope.
She evades the police again and goes to what I think is a TV studio to watch the tape she found in the envelope. It’s from the mayor, who recorded an “if you’re seeing this, it means I’m dead” video for her before the ascension. He acknowledges that they might have succeeded, and a bunch of kids are watching this message in a museum dedicated to him. (“Hi, kids.”) He doubts that, though.
Mayor Wilkins doesn’t believe the doctors’ claims that Faith might never wake up. He’s sure she will, but she’ll wake up in a changed world. He wishes he could make it better for her, but even his power to protect her has limits. Once he’s gone, Faith’s days will be numbered. The mayor knows she’s smart and capable, but there’s no place for her in the world anymore. Even if she feels alone, she isn’t. She’ll always have him. She’ll also have something inside a box that was in the envelope. It may be over for her, but she can still go out with a bang.
Buffy goes to Riley’s room to try to convince him that he’s not in good enough shape to help take down Faith. She doesn’t think he gets how dangerous Faith is. He wants to know more about what Faith did to Buffy, but she’s not ready to give him details. She’s eager to go back on the hunt. She makes it clear that this is a serious situation. Faith is basically a super-villain, and she thinks Buffy ruined her life. Faith is going to go after Buffy and her loved ones. And she’s starting right now, with Joyce.
Faith raids Joyce’s makeup, settling on a lipstick shade called Harlot. She kisses the mirror after she puts it on, then asks Joyce how she looks. “Psychotic,” Joyce replies. Faith guesses that Joyce is thinking that she’ll never get away with this. Joyce says she was actually thinking about how Buffy’s going to kill Faith. Faith has found a bunch of Buffy’s mail, which she hasn’t picked up from the house, and taunts that Buffy hasn’t come to visit her mother or called to warn her about Faith. She’s too into her new college life.
Joyce says that Faith doesn’t know anything about her or Buffy. Faith thinks she can relate to Joyce, since they both thought they were part of something, then got ditched. The rest of the world kept moving while they were stuck. Joyce is like, “Can you just kill me now so I don’t have to keep listening to you?” Faith tells her that she’s served her purpose – she raised her child, and now she might as well be dead. No one cares about or remembers her. “She was over us a long time ago, Joyce,” Faith insists. Buffy’s too busy with her new boyfriend to think about the people who matter.
Faith grabs a knife, ready to get violent, but Buffy bursts through a window right then. “Hi, Mom,” she greets Joyce casually. “Hi, honey,” Joyce replies, never having lost confidence that her daughter would come to her rescue. She calls 911 as the Slayers fight each other, ending up in the living room. Faith bets that Buffy expected her to go after Riley, who looks like he could use a trip to the bedroom with Faith. Buffy tells her she’s not his type: “He’s not big on sleaze.” Also, how “tired” of her to go after Buffy’s boyfriend again. Buffy says that everyone forgot about Faith because they wanted to.
Giles comes home to find the three guys from the helicopter in his apartment. Meanwhile, police are on their way to the Summerses’ house, so Faith tries to get in as many hits on Buffy as she can before they come in. Finally she puts on the device the mayor left her, a little contraption that fits on her hand. She grabs Buffy’s hand and something glows between them. They’re both a little stunned until Buffy punches Faith so hard she’s knocked out.
Joyce comes to check on things, and Buffy tells her that Faith’s weapon, whatever it was, didn’t work. She stomps on it and destroys it. The police pound on the door, and Buffy says Faith is their problem now. Joyce asks again if Buffy’s okay. “Five by five,” she replies. To be continued…
Thoughts: If I have to see Willow and Xander’s outfits from this episode, so do you.
Riley, re: the Council’s orders: “Ever obey them?” Buffy: “Sure. …The ones I was going to do anyway.” Heh. That’s our Buffy.
Speaking of the Council, I feel like they would have their own medical facilities to keep an eye on, say, injured potential Slayers and, in this case, killer ones.
Speaking of the Council again, wouldn’t it have been interesting if they’d been in on the Initiatives’ practices? Wouldn’t they want to monitor and experiment on demons, too?
Willow, imitating Faith: “Check me out. I’m wicked cool. I’m five by five.” Tara: “Five by five? Five what by five what?” Willow: “See, that’s the thing – no one knows.” Heh again.
'90s Flashback 
Leave a comment