Finding Faith

By Tanya Michaels

What I love about Joss is that in addition to the big, sweeping masterpieces (musical, anyone?), he pays attention to little details. Small, ironic touches like a kick-ass woman who must deal with frequent apocalypses–apocali?– whimsically named Buffy. An annoying, backbiting troublemaker named Harmony. A soulless serial killer named Angelus. A selfish hell-goddess named Glory. (Elsewhere in the Whedonverse, a hulking, gun-toting, testosterone-driven mercenary named Jayne.) And a dark Slayer named Faith, played to perfection by Eliza Dushku.

No offense to vampires-with-souls, their rippling pecs and great cheekbones notwithstanding, but Faith has one of my favorite redemption arcs. And her storyline is often shaped by a lack of faith (both her own and others’) and how much of a difference it makes when someone does believe in her (whether that someone is an evil-soon-to-be-snake-creature Mayor or Angel).

Despite her optimistic name and bad-ass attitude, the reason Faith comes to Sunnydale is because she’s running scared after her Watcher’s brutal murder. In the beginning, she and Buffy have a friendship of sorts. . .although Buffy experiences envy and resentfulness over the way Faith moves in that will later be mirrored, when Faith’s wanting to be like Buffy becomes painfully acute when she is Buffy in Season 4′s “Who Are You?” How could their relationship be anything but uneasy? The entire Slayer mythology is that in every generation, there is a chosen one. One. How must it feel to be the second, the accidental Slayer who shouldn’t exist, the Slayer whose destiny is already being lived by the golden girl who has family, friends, education and, basically, everything Faith lacks? Of Faith’s many great lines, the one that may best represent her character is from Season 7′s “End of Days.” Buffy hands her a mystical weapon, and Faith notes its power, saying it feels strong, special, “like it’s mine. . .I guess that means it’s yours.”

It’s easy to assume that blond Buffy–the good guy of a show bearing her name–and dark Faith–who ignores the law, bangs Xander, and eventually commits murder–are opposites. But I would disagree. The biggest differences between them hinge on circumstance. Buffy doesn’t always take advice or follow rules; we see in “Bad Girls” (Season 3, Episode 48) how easily she succumbs to Faith’s philosophy. It could be argued that a Vampire Slayer falling in love with a vampire is the height of self-destruction. (Yeah, yeah, he has a soul. Hey, I liked them as a couple, too, but still. . .) Like Faith, Buffy has a dark side. It’s what Spike tries to explain in Season 5′s “Fool for Love.” Sure, Buffy tries to suppress it long past the time when her brunette, 5-by-5 counter-part has unleashed her inner demons, but the dark side is there. (Witness it in hot, sweaty action in Season 6.) Though it’s Faith who lived in a hotel room, lay alone in a coma for months, then ends up isolated from society by a jail cell, don’t we often see Buffy standing alone even in the midst of her friends?

In Season 7′s “Selfless,” Buffy argues vehemently with Willow and Xander, possibly the two people closest to her, and snaps at them about being the one who has to make the tough decisions, regardless of what others think. “In the end the slayer is always cut off.” Without the guidance or loving influence of Giles or Joyce, without the touches of appreciation such as being presented the “Class Protector” award at her senior prom, Buffy could have been a lot more like Faith. Alone, tortured, self-loathing. Hell, Buffy had moments like that even with Giles, Joyce, and the Scoobies. Conversely, Faith, though a loose cannon, isn’t one-dimensionally evil. She was used as a pawn by a manipulative Watcher, kidnapped by the council when Angel–one of the few to ever truly have faith in her–was trying to bring her back from the edge of darkness, and accidentally murdered a human being. Without those events, could she have been Buffy? Or, if not living in the suburbs and running for homecoming queen, then at least not brutally torturing Wes in Angel‘s Season 1 “Five By Five”?

Despite Faith’s past, despite what she did to Wesley, Angel persists in trying to believe in her, and it’s that which eventually saves her–a favor she returns years later when she busts out of prison at Wes’s request to help re-ensoul Angel. Metaphorically, at least, he was the person who helped Faith find her soul. Once Faith has faced both the best and worst in herself and been present as Angel does the same in Angel Season 4′s “Orpheus,” she’s able to go full circle. She returns to Sunnydale to fight the First alongside Buffy, her friend, mortal enemy, object of envy, and mirror image.

In conclusion. . .pop quiz! Please pick only ONE of the following to answer in the comments so that there will be two winners.

Buffy Trivia Question: Who was the Slayer activated after Buffy’s drowning who was later killed (leading to Faith’s being called?)

Or

Angel Trivia Question: Who were the only two characters present in both the Angel series premiere and the series finale? The first person to answer question 1 correctly gets a prize, as does the first person to answer question 2. (And no Trish, you don’t get to answer these, LOL, since you see all the entries before everyone else–but thanks for giving us such a fun place to revisit favorite shows and characters.)

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When award-winning author Tanya Michaels isn’t watching her Buffy and Angel DVDs, she’s writing for Harlequin American, NAL, and Harlequin NEXT. Motherhood Without Parole will be in stores in November. She’s also working on a nonfiction essay about Grey’s Anatomy for BenBella Books. You can visit her at www.tanyamichaels.blogspot.com

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