Consequences

First televised February 16, 1999; Première diffusion française le 22 janvier 2000

Guest Starring: KristineSutherland (Joyce Summers), HarlyGroener (Mayor Wilkins), K. Todd Freeman (Mr. Trick), Jack Plotnick, Alexis Denisof (Wesley Price), James G. MacDonald, Eliza Dushku (Faith); Written by Marti Noxon; Directed byMichael Gershman, Edited by Nancy Fomer

Intro: Buffy dreams that she's being held underwater by Deputy Mayor Alan Finch and Faith. Mom watches the news: Finch's body has been found; Wilkins holds a press conference.

Act 1: Price wants Buffy and Faith to investigate Finch's murder; Giles says that's a job for the police. Cordelia meets Price. Price tells the Slayers to investigate the murder. Buffy wants to tell what happened; Faith (of course) disagrees. Willow is upset at Buffy for dumping her last night. Willow and Michael try to de-rat Amy. Angel watches the police investigate the murder. Trick suggests toWilkins that a Slayer killed Finch.

Act2: That night, Buffyand Faith search Wilkins's office. Buffy and Faith see Wilkins with Trick. Police question Buffy and Faith. Buffy tells Willow aboutwhat Faith did, then goesto Giles, but Faith has beaten herto him-and shetold him that Buffy killed Finch. Faith leaves, and Giles tells Buffy he knows Faith was lying. Giles says accidents have happened before; usually the Council investigates and meets out punishment. Giles says Faith is unstable and unable to accept responsibility. Price overhears them talk.

Act 3: Price calls Quentin Travers. Giles, Buffy, Willow and Xander discuss how best to approach Faith. Xander admits he slept with Faith; Willow is devastated. Xander visits Faith and offers his help. She throws him on the bed and chokes him. Angel enters and knocks her unconscious. She wakes up in Angel's mansion chained up. He wants to talk; she doesn't. He tells Buffy nottogether hopes up; she'stakena lifeandhas a taste for it now-that changes everything. Wilkins and Trick watch a security tape showing Buffy and Faith sneaking into the mayor's office. Angel tells Faith he understands the power of taking a life-you feel like a god, but you're not; itwill ruin you. Price and associates enter, overpower Angel, and "arrest" Faith, to be returned to England to face thejudgment of the Council.

Act 4: Faith overpowers her captors andescapes. Bufflyfinds Angel; they report to Giles and the gang. Price arrives and reports that Faith escaped. The group splits up to look for her. Buffy finds her atthe docks. Faith says what bugs Buffy is that deep down she knows Faith is right-they're above the law. Vampires attack. Trick is about to kill Buffy when Faith kills him. Giles hears about itand tells Buffy that Faith still stands a chance. Faith meets with Wilkins about a "job opening."

COMMENTS: Though not billed as such, "Bad Girls" and "Consequences" comprise a two~parter, and as good as the first half is, the second half is even better. What sets it apart from many other episodes of Buffy is that its foundation is real, human dramaguilt, power. corruption, redemption-that has nothing to do with battles against mythological monsters.

The scenario of a hero accidentally killing an innocent bystander and having to deal with the emotional and moral consequences has been done before, but this episode gives the proceedings an interesting twist by making the "hero" suspect from the beginning. All season Faith has been presented as a loose cannon, believing that Slayers are indeed better than humans, and as such should not be governed by the same laws. That makes her lack of remorse over Finch's death believable. While everyone around her is trying to psychoanalyze her, proposing various theories that generally revolve around the idea that she's burying her guilt, she glides above it all because she really does believe that she's on a different plane. The other characters are presenting theories that would apply if they were in Faith's situation. not recognizing that Faith really is different.

Marti Noxon has been writing quality scripts for some time (only the second-season "Bad Eggs" failed), but "Consequences- is her best yet. Where she really shines here is in the dialogue, and it's best displayed in the character of Angel. His attempts at explaining to Faith (and to Buffy) the. change a person undergoes once that person has killed a human life creates some of the best lines ever in the series. He tells Buffy, "She's taken a life. She's got a taste for it now." Later, he talks to Faith:

Angel: I know what it's like to take a life. To feel the future, the world of possibilities snuffed out by your own hand. I know the power in it. The exhilaration. It was like a drug for me.

Faith: Yeah? Sounds like you need some help. A professional, maybe.
Angel: A professional couldn't have helped me .... Faith, you have a choice. You've tasted something few ever do. To kill without remorse is to feel like a god .... But you're not a god. You're not much more than a child. Going down this path will ruin you. You can't imagine the price for true evil.

Boreanaz's performance gives the dialogue additional power. Rarely has anyone ever looked as good in a long black coat or peering from the shadows-Angel's intense. silent gaze could start a fire.

Alyson Hannigan also turns in a winning performance with several great scenes-her offense at being left out of Buffy's patrols, her anger at Bufty, and especially her devastation at hearing the news that Xander slept with Faith. Clearly Willow still has strong feelings for him, despite her attempts to ignore then in order to make her relationship with Oz work.