This Year's Girl

Last episode, the metaplot was heating up: Riley was in crisis mode, questioning his worldview, Adam was loose, Maggie was dead. Then....Faith wakes up? It seems like a step backward, and oddly timed at that. Shouldn't Buffy be chasing Adam? Shouldn't Riley be playing double-agent man?

The whole Faith/Buffy dynamic is complicated--and when the whole arc of their relationship, to the end of season 7, is considered, Buffy doesn't come off as any more mature than Faith, just different. Despite the series emphasis on Buffy, Faith is really The Slayer....Buffy died, and Kendra came. Kendra died, and Faith came. That matters in season 6, when no new Slayer shows up after Buffy dies--again. If Buffy did kill Faith like she sat out to do a couple times--plot twist! New character! And Buffy knows this....as conflicted as she is about Faith (jealous where Angel is concerned; appalled at Faith's morals; yet aware that she could easily have been Faith), better the Slayer you know than....yea.

I've got a theory about why Faith wakes up now. Well, beyond the obvious: she was needed in LA with Angel. Buffy has clearly been the "good guy" up til now this season. Riley sees the world so very black and white, unquestioning. Seeing Buffy set out to kill (or at least immobilize, but she and Giles know what that needs to mean) a human makes her slightly more morally ambigous, which is important right now. Riley is looking for a substitute for Maggie, for a cause and person he can believe in. He's chosen Buffy, but this episode introduces at least a smidgen of gray into her pristine white appearance. Riley has already been confused by the fact she's harbored a vamp--Spike--but he's chosing to ignore that.

Buffy is lying by omission to Riley, though. He knows something is missing in the story, but the idea that Buffy tried to kill a human to save her vamp lover.....hmmmm.....how would that fit in Riley's moral structure? Buffy would rather be an evasive quasi-liar--even realizing that Riley knows she's doing that--then confess to the whole Angel relationship and why Faith was in the coma. Faith had gone to the dark side before Buffy tried to kill her, sure--but Angel's illness determined the timing and the course of action.

So Riley needs to have a realistic view of Buffy and the moral framework she's operating within; he needs to learn that the world isn't black and white. I need to see the next episode to see if my theory holds up about why this episode is here. Stay Tuned.