Buffy: This Year's Girl (4.15)

Buffy and Faith's relationship has always been one of my favorite Buffy dynamics. They work really, really well together, with so much hatred and resentment and jealousy festering between the two of them, as well as the unspoken acknowledgment that they somehow need each other in the world. With that in mind, Faith's dreams are the purest depiction of how she sees her rival. There's that sisterly connection between them at first, where they talk and converse while changing the bed-sheets, only to be spoiled when Faith suddenly remembers the knife that Buffy stuck in her gut. Then there's the happiness Faith experienced with the Mayor, the one person who saw potential in her. But, once again, it's spoiled when Buffy, now depicted as this unhinged Terminator-esque monster, stabs him to death and pursues Faith through a moonlit graveyard. It's that constant feeling of angst over what could have worked, but ended up falling apart.

Away from the psychological aspects of this episode, the Buffy and Faith sequences were plain badass on a purely vacuous level. Their big bitch-off in the middle of the UC Sunnydale campus? Willow hitting Faith with her backpack and running away? Willow's uncanny impression of Faith ("I'm wicked cool, five by five")? The huge Summers home chick-fight, with folks smashing into glass, flying over dining-room tables. All of it is plain freakin' awesome.

I also loved Faith's interaction with Joyce, and her perceptions were pretty much on point. Obviously Buffy has to carve out a life of her own, but there's definitely that feeling that Joyce has been ignored all year, and you wonder if she's pretty lonely. I've always liked Joyce, and I adored her whip-smart banter with Faith ("How do I look?" "Psychotic").

But while This Year's Girl features some incredible Faith sequences, the first twenty minutes or so whenever Faith isn't on-screen are pretty painful. Buffy and Riley aren't the most dynamic of couples, while all the Initiative talk isn't hugely fascinating either. I think maybe the problem with this arc is that there's only one thing to do with it. It's always about breaking into the lab and finding clues or whatever. And Adam, as intriguing as he is, entirely lacks the personality of Buffy's previous big bads. Same with Riley. They're cool characters in theory, but they don't have the personality needed to successfully drive this story arc forward. Meh.

However, Faith's return is stunning. She's nuttier than ever, and her interaction with the Scoobies is wonderful. I also loved the dream visuals, too. The blood dripping on the bed, Faith cowering in the open grave. This show is gorgeous. B+

Credits
Guest stars Kristine Sutherland (Joyce Summers); Amber Benson (Tara Maclay); Leonard Roberts (Forrest Gates); Bailey Chase (Graham Miller); Chet Grissom (Detective); Alastair Duncan (Collins); Harry Groener (Mayor Richard Wilkins III); Eliza Dushku (Faith)
Writer Douglas Petrie Director Michael Gershman