3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The emphasis here is on Faith the Rogue Vampire Slayer, December 21, 2005
This review is from: Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Slayer Collection (Faith) (DVD)
Fans of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" should already have all seven seasons on DVD so "The Slayer Collection" of British imports that offer up four episodes focusing on a particular character are hardly necessary additions to our collection. What they offer instead is an opportunity to render a judgment as to how good of a job they did in selecting those four episodes for the particular character. In this case we have "Buffy the Vampire: The Slayer Collection, Faith" and the verdict is quite favorable. I made my list of possibilities and of the seven episodes I came up with, four are on this DVD:
Faith shows up as the second other Slayer in season three of the series, and when we skip over her initial appearance in "Faith, Hope, and Trick," it is clear the emphasis here is on Faith the Rogue Slayer. First up is "Bad Girls," when Wesley Wyndham-Pryce shows up as the new Watcher for both Buffy and Faith, following Giles being fired. Faith takes Buffy out for a night on the town that embodies her "Want, take, have" philosophy. The two Slayers are caught by the police and have to escape. However, the next night while hunting for the demon Balthazar, who has taken Giles and Wesley, Faith accidentally kills a human, the Deputy Mayor. Faith takes care of the body and when confronted by Buffy with the enormity of what has happened boldly declares, "I don't care."
The story continues in the next episode, "Consequences," as Buffy struggles with Faith's total lack of remorse. Buffy confesses what had happened to Willow and then Giles. The question is what to do about Faith. Xander tries to talk to her, but she starts strangling him, at which point Angel intervenes. Then it is Angel's turn to try and talk to Faith, who he has chained up at his mansion, but he gets nowhere as well. Faith has gotten a taste for killing. Wesley tries to take Faith to England to go before the Watchers Council, but she easily escapes him. By the end of this one, Faith is offering her services to the Mayor, having decided to go over to the Dark Side.
We skip over "Enemies," where Angel pretends to be Angelus to get Faith to reveal the Mayor's plans for the Ascension, and next go to "Graduation, Part 1." While the Mayor is getting ready for his demonic transformation, Faith shoots Angel with a poisoned arrow. The only cure is the blood of a Slayer, and Buffy decides Faith's blood would do just fine. The sight of two Slayers handcuffed to each other during a fight is certainly memorable and the only downside here is that this is part one of two and ends with a cliffhanger (or falling off a cliff, if you would). But Faith is not conscious in Part 2 and she is the focus of this DVD.
Appropriately then, the last episode here is part two of the next appearance of Faith on "BtVS" during Season Four. The first part is "This Year's Girl" where Faith comes out of her coma, finds out what has happened since graduation day (a lot), and comes after Buffy. During their rematch at the Summers home Faith uses a device that switches the consciences of the two Slayers. "Buffy" knocks out "Faith," and in part two, "Who Are You," operatives from the Watchers Council arrive to take the wrong Slayer back to England. The chief attraction here is watching Eliza Dushku and Sarah Michelle Gellar channel the personalities of the other Slayer from the one they usually play. But Faith finds out that being Buffy is a responsibility and the pressure finally cracks her (to be continued in the "Angel" episodes in "Five by Five" and "Sanctuary").
I wanted to argue for the inclusion of "This Year's Girl" as one of the top four, but I could not make up my mind as to which one of the other episodes I would cut. Then I remembered that I all of them on DVD already, along with all five seasons of "Angel," so that there is nothing to stop me from seeing the episodes not included on this DVD. Consequently, the "Faith" edition of "The Slayer Collection" definitely comes in four-by-five as far as I am concerned.
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