Buffy: Who Are You? (4.16)

It's almost too easy to just compliment Sarah Michelle Gellar and Eliza Dushku on their acting throughout this episode. Their performances are pretty extraordinary regardless, but the real wonderment in Who Are You? is found in the psychological insight that the script explores. Faith spends a lot of this episode in one way or another trying to 'corrupt' Buffy. She dresses in revealing outfits, she's sexually aggressive, she's mean. She has fun making this 'image' so repulsive, and she loves every second of it.

But at the same time, Faith deliberately embraces Buffy's moralism. It starts out as an ironic joke, Faith taking pleasure in mimicking Buffy's arguably annoying stoicism. She's a hero who does the right thing, who saves the day and stops the monsters. She uses the term 'it's wrong' as a self-aware catchphrase, imitating this humorless caricature of what a hero is. She doesn't see Buffy as a person in moments like this, but as a kind of moral construct, a boring 'nothing' consumed with doing the right thing.

But gradually as the episode evolves, Faith begins to embrace that heroism. When she saves a girl from a vampire (because it's what Buffy does), she's freaked out by the girl's abject gratitude. It's an emotion that Faith doesn't understand, and it rattles her. And then when she sees that a group of vampires have taken a group of churchgoers hostage, she decides to save the day. No longer simply because that's 'what Buffy does', but because there's finally a feeling of self-worth that occurs within her when she does the right thing.

Another groundbreaking moment for Faith is her sex scene with Riley. It starts out as a salacious, almost soap opera twist ("Ohmigod! Faith's banging Buffy's BF!"), but quickly becomes something far more important. She seduces Riley, plays the role of the sexy bad girl to entice him and rolls around on his bed suggestively. The first shocker comes when Riley isn't automatically turned on by this. Then, when Faith gives in to his pleas to just have ordinary, emotional sex with him, Faith initially likes it. But after Riley tells her that he loves her, Faith is repulsed. Not only because she's not who she appears to be, but because it's the kind of emotion that she's never experienced in her own body. Faith's relationship with sex has always been rough, hard and 'dirty'. She always confuses somebody offering sympathy with somebody wanting to get into her pants, and she doesn't understand why someone would only want to be with her or support her, with sex not being the ultimate goal. It's one of the most interesting scenes in the episode, and one that speaks volumes about her issues with identity.

Of the other scenes, the Willow/Tara relationship truly reaches its most overt level, the subtext rapidly becoming the text midway through the hour. Their spell together is essentially a sex scene, with all the panting and sweating that's absent from Faith and Riley's uncomfortable love scene. Faith's treatment of Tara is horrible to watch, but it was interesting that she was the first to notice that there's something between the two women. Similarly interesting was the fact that Tara was the first person to realize something was 'off' with Buffy, despite never having met her before. Meanwhile, Faith's scene with Spike is ridiculously sexy, Faith embracing her most aggressive and seductive qualities to throw this goofy vampire for a loop. Wow.

Some people have argued that Faith's decision to save the hostages is too abrupt to truly work, but I think those folks have entirely missed the point of the episode. Faith is all about self-hatred, how much she hates her attitude, her body, her status. But what begins as a fun exercise in creating sparks suddenly becomes so much deeper for her. She doesn't just mess with Buffy's friends, she begins to enjoy the respect Buffy gets from others, and those feelings of confidence and strength that Buffy naturally exhibits. That is why Faith goes to the church, and that is why she takes such pleasure in attacking Buffy-in-Faith at the end. She hates herself.

Who Are You? is another season four masterpiece, an episode that works not only on a basic level of 'body swap' fun, but on a truly character-driven level. Sarah Michelle Gellar's mannerisms, body language and vocal patterns as Faith are extraordinarily perceptive, and while Eliza Dushku takes a backseat for much of the hour, her scene with Giles at the end is equally well-performed. But it's really a showcase for Sarah's remarkable talents, as well as the most honest depiction of Faith as a character so far. An underrated classic. It's also the first episode during this re-watch that I feel like I've 'discovered', having completely missed the point of it when I first watched it years ago. A+

Credits
Guest stars Kristine Sutherland (Joyce Summers); Amber Benson (Tara Maclay); Leonard Roberts (Forrest Gates); George Hertzberg (Adam); Chet Grissom (Detective); Alastair Duncan (Collins); Emma Caulfield (Anya); Eliza Dushku (Buffy/Faith)
Writer Joss Whedon Director Joss Whedon