"" is the 15th episode of season 3 of the television show ''
Buffy The Vampire Slayer ''. See also
List Of Buffy The Vampire Slayer Episodes .
Faith's plan to hide her accidental murder in the last episode fails when Finch's body is quickly found. Wesley orders her and Buffy to investigate and see if anything supernatural was involved. Privately, Faith asks if Buffy is going to turn her in, and Buffy isn't sure. After some deep thinking she decides to tell Giles what happened, only to discover that Faith has already told him that Buffy was the killer. Luckily Giles instantly sees through the lie, though he lets Faith think he believes her so the gang can keep closer tabs on her and get her off the slippery slope she's on. Xander tries to reason with Faith, only to have her try to kill him. He's rescued by Angel, who tries his own brand of reasoning and seems to be making progress. Unfortunately, Wesley has also learned what happened and goes by the book, yanking Faith away for trial in England. She quickly escapes, and plans to hop a boat out of Sunnydale. Buffy finds her, but their meeting is interrupted by several vampires led by Mr. Trick. As he is about to bite Buffy, Faith stakes him and saves her. Buffy returns to the library, sure now that there is still good in Faith. However, in the final scene we see that she only did it to take Mr. Trick's place at Mayor Wilkins' side.
Buffy dreams that she is underwater and being held there by Alan. As she breaks away, and reaches the surface, Faith is there and pushes her back under. When Buffy wakes, she finds her Mom is watching the news and they're covering the murder of Alan Finch.
The next day, Wesley instructs the two Slayers to investigate the murder, which Buffy is fearful of doing. Cordelia shows up briefly, looking for a book, and Wesley ogles at her before he finds out that she's a student. Buffy and Faith go to an empty classroom where Faith wonders if Buffy is going to rat her out; Buffy wants to tell Giles what happened. Buffy tries to talk to Willow but she's still hurt by Buffy spending so much time with Faith and ignoring her. The police inspect a dumpster which a woman saw blood on, as Angel watches from the shadows. The Mayor shreds Finch's files, and Mr. Trick presents him with information that suggests that Finch was killed by a Slayer with a wooden stake.
Meanwhile, the Slayers go to Finch's office in search of answers but find all his files are gone. As they try to leave, they spot the Mayor and Mr. Trick talking, but luckily aren't caught. While walking on the streets later on, they get into an argument over Faith's lack of emotion for her situation. Buffy tries desperately to convince Faith that just because they're Slayers doesn't mean they have the right to take the life of a human. They were born with their strengths to fight demons and evil, not humans. Faith still doesn't want to listen, claiming that she's not going to feel remorse for killing a human that maybe deserved to die. The police interview both Slayers and their two stories are pretty close to the same.
After confessing what happened to Willow, Buffy goes to Giles and plans to do the same, but finds that Faith has beaten her to it. The problem being that Faith told Giles that Buffy was the one who killed the Deputy Mayor. After Faith leaves, Giles reveals that he knew all along that Faith was the killer, but couldn't let her know that. He and Buffy agree upon bringing the others in to try and fix the problem. What they don't know is that Wesley is standing outside the office listening to every word they say and he later calls Mr. Travers to have Faith taken away to England to be put before the council.
The Mayor and Mr. Trick view a security tape of the two Slayers breaking into the office and he instructs Mr. Trick to do something about it. Buffy fills everyone in on the current situation and then they try to find a way to help Faith. Xander suggests that he should talk to her on account of their "connection". He casually reveals that he slept with Faith which is disturbing to both Buffy and Giles and upsetting to Willow. Willow ends up crying in a bathroom stall.
Xander goes to Faith and tries to talk, but she thinks he's only there for sex. She kisses him for a while and then begins to strangle him. Before she can kill him, Angel bursts in and hits her over the head with a bat and takes her to the mansion. He chains her up and, despite her lack off cooperation, attempts to talk some sense into her. He leaves the room to talk to Buffy and he tells her he'll keep trying but if she doesn't want to be helped there's nothing he can do.
After talking to Faith for a while, and trying to convince her that he knows what it's like, Wesley and several others come in armed with crosses and crow bars. They tie Angel up in a net and beat him while Wesley frees Faith but quickly handcuffs her in order to take her back to England. In the van, Faith manages to get one of the guards down on the floor and threatens to kill him if Wesley doesn't un-chain her. He does, and she escapes.
After freeing Angel at the mansion, Buffy goes to the library where the gang discusses how they're going to deal with Faith. Willow mentions that after all that Faith has done, she thinks maybe Faith belongs in jail. Wesley shows up and informs them all that Faith got away. They split up in search for her and Buffy is the one who lucks out and finds her at the docks. They argue, then a bunch of crates are dropped down and Buffy quickly pushes Faith out of the way, taking the fall for her.
Mr. Trick and several other vampires attack Faith, leaving Buffy to escape on her own. After getting free of the crates, Buffy is attacked by Mr. Trick who wraps a scarf around her neck and throws her around before going in for the bite. But before he can taste the blood of a Slayer, Faith stakes him. Later that night, Buffy tells Giles she's not going to give up on Faith. Faith goes to the Mayor and tells him she killed Trick and is interested in the position he now has open.
The unexpected death of Mr. Trick, a very interesting and entertaining villain, is similar to the death of Jenny Calandar at this point in the previous season. Faith also cements her alliegence to evil.
- Stories that take place around the same time in the Buffyverse:
