Who Are You?

Writer/Director: Joss Whedon

Cast : Sarah Michelle Gellar as Buffy Summers, Nicholas Brendon as Xander Harris, Alyson Hannigan as Willow Rosenberg, Marc Blucas as Riley Finn, James Marsters as Spike, Anthony Stewart Head as Rupert Giles.

Main guest stars : Eliza Dushku as Buffy, Kristine Sutherland as Joyce Summers, Leonard Roberts as Forrest Gates, Amber Benson as Tara, George Hertzberg as Adam, Emma Caulfield as Anya, Alastair Duncan as Collins, Rick Stear as Booke, Jeff Ricketts as Weatherby, Kevin Owers as Smith. Original broadcast date : February 29, 2000

My one-line description: Sarah Michelle Gellar fills leather pants almost better than Eliza Dushku.

Note: To avoid confusion, the character played by Eliza will be referred to as Buffy, and the character played by Sarah will be referred to as Faith. Faith, now in Buffy’s body, stands outside the Summers house as an barely conscious Buffy is loaded into an ambulance. The police officer comments that “this Faith chick is really dangerous”, and Faith-in-Buffy agrees. Inside, Joyce wonders why Faith is the way she is. Faith answers that maybe she likes being this way, but Joyce says that she must be very unhappy. She then expresses a desire to spend some time with her daughter, and Faith says that they will – after she’s taken a bath. She goes upstairs, and relaxes in a bubble bath, getting used to her new body. Then, she practices being Buffy in front of the mirror, making faces and rehearsing lines like “You can’t do that! It’s wrong!” In a hospital room, Buffy comes to and tries to shake off her restraints, shouting that she’s not Faith. The doctors inject her with a sedative, and she slips back into unconsciousness. Meanwhile, at Tara’s place, Willow wonders where Faith is; Tara reassures her, saying that nobody knows her and hence no one suspects Willow is here. Feeling bad, Willow comments that she’d like Tara to meet her friends, but that she enjoys having someone who’s just hers. In Buffy’s room, Faith finds something leathery to wear, and then goes to Joyce’s room to book a flight by phone, using Joyce’s credit card. Joyce arrives and tells her that Giles wants the gang to convene at his house. As she prepares to go, Faith picks some lipstick from Joyce’s drawer. Joyce comments that it’s the same one Faith chose; tossing it to Buffy’s mother, Faith says she should burn it. Buffy comes to in a police cruiser; suddenly an armoured truck appears in front of the car, causing an accident. In the confusion, three men take custody of Buffy and hustle her into the truck, “by orders of the Watchers’ Council”. At Giles’ place, the Scoobies learn that “Faith” has been captured by the Watchers’ Council. Finding this very amusing, Faith comments that she’s just happily “Faith” is out of the picture. Willow agrees, a bit too strongly to Faith’s taste – she imagines herself stabbing Willow in the gut. Meanwhile, Anya announces that she and Xander have plans for candles and sex, to which Faith comments that they wouldn’t want to cut into that seven minutes. The couple is insulted, but Faith tells them to lighten up. Giles says that they still have Adam to deal with, and Faith – not knowing who Adam is – comments that she’ll take care of it and patrol as long as it takes. She’s Buffy, after all… Instead of patrolling, Faith ends up at the Bronze dancing the night away, surrounded by studs. She bumps into Spike, whom she doesn’t recognize – but he thinks she’s there to give him a hard time. Listening to him, she finds out he’s Spike, and that he can’t hurt her. She’s quite amused, which insults him even more. She starts playing coy with him; “I could ride you at a gallop until your legs buckled and your eyes rolled up,” she tells him. “I’ve got muscles you’ve never even dreamed of. I could squeeze you until you popped like warm champagne, and you would beg me to hurt you just a little bit more. And you know why I don’t? Because it’s wrong. » Quite satisfied with herself, she walks away, and he promises that the day he gets the chip out, they’ll be having a confrontation. Down in the sewers, a group of vampires are confronted by Adam. One of them attacks him, but he rips his head off. Then he tells the vampires that they’re afraid of death, and actually fear it more than those to whom being immortal comes naturally. He also tells them he relates to the fact that they are caught between two world, neither demon nor human. He asks them to follow him, saying he has much to tell them. Buffy comes to (once again) in the truck, to find that she’s tied up in chains. She tries to convince one of the Watchers – Weatherby – of who she really is, but another Watcher – Collins – isn’t interested. He tells her that she’s just a package, and then comments that she’s perverted the meaning of the Watcher’s Council. He snarls that they should’ve killed her while she was still in a coma, then spits in her face and leaves. At the Bronze, Willow introduces Tara to “Buffy”, who is participating in a beer-chugging contest. She then goes to get drinks, leaving Tara alone with Faith. Faith concludes that “Willow’s not driving stick anymore”, and that Oz is gone. Tara tries to say something, but stutters. Faith cruelly makes fun of her stuttering, and a hurt Tara looks at the floor. Willow comes back and alerts Faith to a vampire; the Slayer follows him and his date outside, and dusts him. The girl profusely thanks her, which confuses Faith more than a little. However, she shrugs it off and goes back inside, where Willow informs her that Tara isn’t feeling well, and that they’re going back to her place. In the warehouse where the Watchers’ truck is hidden, Buffy starts making some noise. One of the Watchers – Smith – goes to see what’s going on, and she manages to get one of her chains around his throat. She then threatens to kill him if they don’t untie her. However, Collins calmly explains that the Watchers are all prepared for just such an “accident” when they’re on a mission, and apologizes to Smith. Then Collins and Weatherby, out of earshot, comment that it’s all getting to be more trouble than it’s worth, since they’re not even guaranteed to be able to get out of the country. Collins decides to call the Council, to inform them it may be time for the “contingency plan”. Meanwhile, Buffy throws Smith out of the truck. Faith shows up at Riley’s room at Lowell House, in a quite suggestive posture. “Hi, baby”, she greets him. At Tara’s place, Willow assures her girlfriend that she’ll get to like Buffy. “She’s not your friend”, Tara comments; she explains that Buffy’s energy seemed fragmented, as if something that didn’t belong there had been forced into her. Plus she was kind of mean… She offers Willow to access the Nether Realm, in order to find out what’s wrong with Buffy. Now on Riley’s lap, Faith starts kissing him and asking him what “nasty little desire” he wants to try out. Having closed the door, an alarmed Riley asks her what game they’re playing; he tells her he doesn’t want to play, then kisses her. Meanwhile, Tara and Willow have begun their incantation. A light builds around them, then fades as Willow falls back to the floor, arching her back and moaning. Riley and Faith have finished making love; looking at who he thinks is Buffy, he tells her he loves her. A freaked Faith pushes Riley away and demands what he wants with Buffy. She tells him it’s meaningless, but he just holds her. Underground, Adam is telling the assembled vampires that he has something they don’t – a clear understanding of his purpose, to extinguish life. He tells them they are to let “them” know he is coming, and then asks them to think of what they fear the most. The next morning, Faith leaves the dorm, clad in one of Riley’s shirts. She runs into Forrest, and they argue about her not letting Riley get much rest. He points out they have a mission, but she tells him she’s been fighting demons since before he could shave. “Yeah, you’re a killer,” Forrest comments; Faith argues that she’s a Slayer, not a killer. He asks if she really cares what he thinks; she answers that she doesn’t, and leaves. Meanwhile, Collins announces that the Council has agreed the “contingency plan”, and they start looking for materials to torch the place. Smith argues that Faith could’ve killed him, but didn’t. However, Collins is bent on killing her, and he sticks his gun through the barred door of the truck. But Buffy is lying in wait, and she wrestles the gun from him. Then she slips into the cabin and drives away. Buffy arrives at Giles’ place, startling the willies out of him. She states that she’s Buffy, but he doesn’t believe her. She implores him to look into her eyes and be intuitive, and starts telling him things that only Buffy would know. Just as he finally recognizes her, Willow and Tara arrive, carrying something they’ve conjured up that should allow Buffy to switch bodies with Faith again. Suddenly, the phone rings – it’s Xander, asking that they turn on the TV, where a news alert states that three “disfigured” men have taken some churchgoers hostage. At the airport, Faith, who’s waiting for her flight, also sees the report on TV. Inside the church, one of Adam’s vampires is commenting that his fear of God was for nothing, since He’s not showing up… Outside, a police officer is ordered to defer command of the operation to Riley. After ordering the police to back off until the military arrives, he runs into Faith. He tells her to wait for the troops to arrive before acting, but she doesn’t want to – she’s Buffy. She goes inside and tells the vampires they’re not going to kill these people – it’s “wrong”. Giles and the Scoobies arrive in the armoured truck, and while Giles creates a diversion for the police, Buffy quietly goes to the church building. She goes up to Riley and hugs him – of course, he doesn’t recognize her. She starts to explain, but instead asks how many are in the church. Inside, Faith is doing quite a job of fighting the vampires, even though they claim they’re not afraid of her. The lead vampire is telling her that Adam has shown him the way, when he turns to dust, revealing a glaring Buffy. In the fighting that ensues, Faith gets the upper hand, angrily shouting at Buffy (at herself, actually) that she’s a murderous bitch, and that she hates her. Buffy grabs Faith’s hand, and in a blaze of light, the two revert back to their bodies. Faith gets up and runs away, while Buffy, out of breath, just sits there. Later, Buffy informs Riley that Faith has disappeared, and so have the Council goons. Sitting on his bed, she listens to him berate himself for not seeing that Buffy was actually Faith. “You slept with her,” she realizes. He argues that in his mind, he was sleeping with Buffy. Changing the subject, he wonders where Faith is; Buffy answers that she doesn’t think Faith is coming back. Faith is sitting alone in a freight car on a moving train, her eyes deeply pensive…

Summary by OttsFiveByFive.

Episode Ratings

Mac -

“A lot of fun. Great work by Sarah and Eliza.”

DJ Angelus -

“Still biased.. Nice conclusion to the mini-adventure with Faith trying to redeem herself. I like that.”

Quotes

(B=Buffy, B(F)=Faith in Buffy, F(B)=Buffy in Faith, G=Giles, W=Willow, X=Xander, J=Joyce, A=Anya, S=Spike, T=Tara )

Cop: I’m glad we finally got the kid. B(F): She’s not a kid. I just mean that she’s very strong. Cop: Yeah. This Faith chick - definitely dangerous. B(F): She truly is.

J: Faith… why do you think she’s like that? B(F): Well, you know, she’s a nut job.

J: I think she’s horribly unhappy. B(F): Well, could be things are looking up. I mean, the little stint in the pokey, show her the error of her ways. I’m sure there’s some big old Bertha just waiting to shower her ripe little self with affection. J: Buffy!

J: I’ve missed you. B(F): ’Cause I haven’t visited, right? I knew it.

J: But maybe, we could spend some time together soon? Some night when I’m not being held hostage by a raving psychotic.

B(F): Why, yes, I would be Buffy. May I help you? Buf-fy. You can’t do that - it’s wrong. You can’t do that because it’s naughty. Because it’s wrong. Because it’s wrong. You can’t do that. It’s wrong, I’ll kick your ass. I’m gonna kill you.

W: I wish she would make a move. She’s making my stomach all acidy.

W: Tara, it’s not like I don’t want my friends to know you. It’s just… well, Buffy’s like my best friend, and she’s really special. And there’s this whole bunch of us, and we sort of have this group thing that revolves around the slaying. And- and I really want you to meet them. But I just kinda like having something that’s just, you know, mine. And I usually don’t use so many words to say stuff that little, but do you get it at all?

T: I am, you know. W: What? T: Yours.

Cop: She’s coming to. Man, I want this kid’s constitution.

Watcher 1: By order of the Watcher’s Council, you are being taken into custody until such time… Watcher 2: Skip the speech.

G: It’s about Faith, not surprisingly. B(F): Didn’t Joyce tell you? I already kicked that ass. X: I feel a high-five coming on.

B(F): Cops took her off my hands about an hour ago. Poetic justice. A: How’s that? B(F): Well, she did all those crimes, and now she’s being arrested. I guess that’s just regular justice.

G: This is a special operations unit. They handle the Council’s trickier jobs - smuggling, interrogation… wetworks. W: What’s wetworks? X: Scuba-type stuff. A: I thought it was murder. X: Well, yeah, but there could be underwater murder, with snorkels.

B(F): Faith is evil. W: Yeah, I hope they throw the book at her. G: I’m not sure there is a book for this. W: They could throw other things.

W: I wish those Council guys would let me have an hour alone in the room with her… if I was larger and had grenades.

A: So what you’re saying is that everything’s fine? G: Um, yes. A: Well, I’m glad you called us all here, because that information could never be conveyed by telephone.

X: We kind of have a romantic evening planned. A: We were gonna light a bunch of candles and have sex near them. B(F): Well, we certainly don’t want to cut into that seven minutes. A: Hey! X: I believe that’s my “hey.” Hey!

S: Oh, you. B(F): And… you. S: What, are you keeping tabs on me? You’re gonna give me a hard time now? B(F): Do I usually give you a hard time? S: Very funny. Well, you don’t have to worry about me drinking, unless you’re here to protect innocent beers. B(F): You’re a vampire. S: Was. And as soon as I get this chip out of my head, I’ll be a vampire again. But until then, I’m just as helpless as a kitten up a tree, so why don’t you sod off? B(F): Okay. S: Oh, fine! Throw it in my face! “Spike’s not a threat any more. I’ll turn my back. He can’t hurt me.” B(F): Spike… Spike! William the Bloody with a chip in his head. I kind of love this town. S: You know why I really hate you, Summers? B(F): ’Cause I’m a stuck-up tight-ass with no sense of fun? S: Well, yeah, that covers a lot of it. B(F): ’Cause I could do anything I want, and instead I choose to pout and whine and feel the burden of Slayerness? I mean, I could be rich, I could be famous, I could have anything. Anyone. Even you, Spike.

B(F): I could ride you at a gallop until your legs buckled and your eyes rolled up. I’ve got muscles you’ve never even dreamed of. I could squeeze you until you popped like warm champagne, and you’d beg me to hurt you just a little bit more. And you know why I don’t? Because it’s wrong.

Adam: I’ve been thinking… about vampires.

Adam: What do you fear? Vamp: Kill this guy already. Adam: You fear the cross, the sun, fire. And, oh yes, I believe decapitation is a problem as well.

Vamp: Okay, we’re a paradox. That’s cool.

Adam: Demon in a human body. You walk in both worlds and belong to neither. I can relate.

W: The Bronze is the coolest place in Sunnydale. Of course, there’s not a lot of competition. I think the vending machine at Burgin’s came in second.

B(F): Willow’s not driving stick anymore. Who would have thought?

Council guy: This’ll bloody keep you quiet. F(B): How about this? I’ll be quiet and you can scream.

W: We’ll get together with Buffy another time. Sometime soon. I think you’ll really like her. T: She’s not your friend. W: I may have overestimated the “you liking her” factor.

W: You didn’t sense a hyena energy at all, did you? ’Cause hyena possession is just… unpleasant.

B(F): Faith has won a fabulous trip to England, and I got the consolation prize, which is you.

R: I have to admit, I was kind of curious to meet her… or I was, until about 30 seconds ago.

R: Door’s open. B(F): So? R: So my fantasies don’t tend to include a bunch of Marines staring in at me.

R: I’m healing pretty quick. B(F): Maybe we should take you for a test drive. R: I wouldn’t say no. B(F): So, how do you want me?

R: What are we playing at here? B(F): I’m Buffy. R: Okay. Then I’ll be Riley.

F(B): Okay, Giles, you have to listen to me very carefully. I’m not Faith. G: Really? F(B): Really. G: ’Cause the resemblance is striking.

F(B): Stop inching. You were inching! G: Look, I know what you’re going to say, and, and… F(B): I’m Buffy. G: All right, I didn’t know what you were going to say, but that doesn’t make you any less crazy.

G: If you are Buffy, then you’ll let me tie you up… without killing me… until we find out whether you’re telling the truth. F(B): Giles, Faith has taken my body, and for all I know she’s taken it to Mexico by now. I don’t have time for bondage fun.

F(B): Ask me a question. Ask me anything. G: Who’s president? F(B): We’re checking for Buffy, not a concussion.

F(B): Giles, you turned into a demon, and I knew it was you. I mean, can’t you look into my eyes and be all intuitive?

F(B): And you have a girlfriend named Olivia, and you haven’t had a job since we blew up the school, which is valid, lifestyle-wise. I mean, it’s not like you’re a slacker-type, but… Oh, oh! When I had psychic power, I heard my mom think that you were like a stevedore during sex. Do you want me to continue? G: Actually, I beg you to stop. F(B): What’s a stevedore?

W: You’re Buffy. You and Faith switched bodies. Probably through a Draconian katra spell. G: She understands it better than I do.

Vamp: It’s nice! It’s got the pretty windows, the pillars, lots of folks to eat. Where’s the thing I was so afraid of? You know, the Lord? He was supposed to be here. He gave us this address. Well, we’ll just have to start killing off his people, see if he shows up.

B(F): How did you respond so fast? R: I didn’t. I was just late for church.

B(F): Someone comes out, you get ’em to safety, unless they’ve got fangs.

G: Damn it, man, we have to get inside! Our, um, uh… our families are in there! Our, um, mothers, and tiny, tiny babies!

R: Man, would I like to get my hands on her. Not in a… sex way.

Credit: The Sunnydale Slayers