Reviewed by Rocky Petrella
Rating: 10/10
What a fabulous episode! Joss Whedon once again graces us with his brillance in a well-crafted ep drawn from a fairly cliched premise, the body switch. Any sci-fi fan has certainly seen it more than once, but Sarah Michelle Gellar and Eliza Dushku's spectacular performances playing each other's character helps bring new life to it. They really get the little idiosyncracies of the Faith and Buffy characters down pat.
This is really a character study of Faith and the beginning of her try for redemption, later brought to the forefront on Angel. She gets to see what it is like to be in Buffy's shoes. It's really the perfect revenge from Faith's point of view, since she's always thought that Buffy had everything that should have been hers. But the unexpected side effect is the shattering of her beliefs. She's always thought you could trust no, no one really cares about you (probably because of a rough childhood, which has been mentioned in passing). Plus, she's learned not to get too close to anyone, since she or anyone around her could be dead tomorrow (as evidenced by her Watcher's demise).
But, by getting to be Buffy, she realizes, these people really do care about Buffy and Buffy cares about them. Riley provides the best example. Faith thinks he's just using her for the sex, but she can tell later that he really loves her, and it gives her the wig. All this culminates in the scene at the church, when Faith actually goes there to do the right thing. Also, I must mention here, the wonderful use of the "Because it's wrong" line, it's used 3 or 4 times, each in a different way, and it makes it all the more powerful when she utters it in this scene, because you know she really means it. And finally, to see her utter self-hatred as she beats on her own body at the end was a riveting moment, dramatically illustrating Faith's mixed-up emotions.
Before I conclude, I must mention a few other non-Faith observations. What is up with Tara? She hides the spell to locate demons and as of the end of season 4, we still don't know why this is. I, for one, am dying to find out. Also, the fact that she can tell Buffy isn't Buffy leads me to believe she's a more powerful witch than she's lead Willow to believe. The only thing I really didn't like about this episode was the Council Commandos. They just don't interest me that much, and I hope we don't see much more of them in the future, but there had to be some way to keep Buffy from getting to Faith for most of the show. Finally, I loved Spike's brief appearance, with Faith in Buffy's body. It seemed like he was really getting interested in the idea of Buffy's suggestions. Maybe Spike enjoyed Willow's spell in "Something Blue" more than he let on. :)
Great Buffy Moment: Faith punching her body in the Church.
In a nutshell: This was a great way to bring Faith back and good to know she's not doomed to evil forever. A show with almost no flaws.