Consequences

Basically, part two of Bad Girls. Faith tries to frame Buffy--which is when we realize exactly how bad Faith really is--and she threatens to kill to escape from the council when their goons (lead by Wesley) kidnap her.

I suspect I should rewatch this one too, but perhaps the most interesting thing is the Angel/Faith connection. After Buffy and Angel manage to capture Faith, she's shackled in Angel's mansion. He talks to her at length in a scene that is paced differently than the rest of the episode. Although he is not successful in getting through to Faith--and might even be called whining and stoically emo--he's just set the stage for Faith's redemption on his show in the next season (or two? I'm not sure of time frame). In the Buffy-verse, this is the beginning of a significant relationship; Angel champions Faith later, when Buffy claims to intend to kill her.

When I rewatch, I want to pay close attention to Buffy's costume and color choices. If I remember right, when she's being bad with Faith, she's in black--much like Faith typically is. After the killing and subsequent actions, Buffy seems to be in black/white outfits often. That's obviously used symbolically, but I'd like to watch it to see if there's more to say.

Also, Xander tries to do a yellow crayon intervention here, building on the "connection" he claimed to make with Faith in The Zeppo. Even though Buffy apologetically tells him that she knows it means nothing to Faith, Xander the faithful has to try--and nearly gets strangled to death by Faith for his efforts.

Importantly, Willow is having issues in this episode. She's trying to be the nice girl, but she's found out the Xander had sex with Faith and Buffy has been bonding with Faith--as much as Willow likes Oz, she's feeling like the odd man out. In this episode, a wordless shot in a montage shows Willow alone, sobbing--a strong visual counterpoint to her daffy, chipper persona. This time, Willow is the one who's jealous; Willow is the one who feels isolated--and she's aware that she's feeling these things even as she tries to be the good girl.