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Post by Clare on Sept 24, 2008 6:15:44 GMT -5
3.03 Faith, Hope And Trick - Episode #037
Whilst Buffy considers dating a new guy, a new Slayer and a dangerous vampire arrive in town.
Review (also post a score out of 10) and discuss this episode.
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Post by cyclica on Oct 1, 2008 12:23:48 GMT -5
Faith goes to sunnydale, she claims it's to visit buffy, but it turns out a vampire had killed her watcher and she was on the run. Though she wouldn't admit it, I'm sure she wanted the help of another slayer.  This vampire is interesting because he doesnt look like a normal vampire. Joss whedon had said that the Master was so old he had slightly 'de-evolved' into a bat; presumably kikistos was just as old, and he seems to have hooves for hands. This episode starts off the 'faith vs buffy' storyline, but they remain friends until about the second half of s3. Its also the first appearance of mr trick, who appears in a few more eps later on. All in all its a pretty good episode, and story-wise its the first real ep of s3, the previous 2 just finished off the s2 story arc. I give it a 6. |
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Post by jennf10 on Dec 3, 2008 14:09:05 GMT -5
This episode was a great introduction to Faith, the Slayer called after Kendra was killed by Dru. Faith brings with her a vampire that has followed her from the east coast. It is always great to see Buffy's reaction to a new slayer. I wasn't ready for Buffy to try to move on from Angel in this episode, so had mixed feelings about Scott Hope. But, we know now how that worked out. The character Trick, the vampire who helped the demon follow Faith, was very amusing. I was hoping he would stick around for a few more episodes. But, oh well! My score: 6/10 |
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Post by partcynic on Dec 10, 2009 13:45:12 GMT -5
3x03 “Faith, Hope and Trick”
Episode Rating = 6
A welcome palate cleanser after the nastiness of “Dead Man’s Party”, “Faith, Hope and Trick” sees “Buffy“ getting back on its feet, introducing several new characters while making significant advances to many of the existing ones. While not being an astounding episode, it’s filled with high level Buffyverse writing, featuring lots of humorous dialogue, several touching emotional moments and a reasonable foe-of-the-week plot. It’s also interesting to watch in retrospect knowing what will happen with Faith, and I find it both surprising and refreshing to see how strong her rapport with the gang is here (in stark contrast to its state after later events). Overall, this is definitely an episode I find to be underappreciated, and one that deserves a little more praise among the typically strong S3 set.
What I Liked about “Faith, Hope and Trick”:
- I loved Faith’s introduction, and appreciated how the plot avoided retreading “What’s My Line?” by quickly revealing her Slayer-ness. The character herself stands in great contrast to the disciplined-but-whine-prone Buffy and the highly rigid Kendra, and it’s intriguing (and prophetic) to witness how her interaction with Buffy commences with camaraderie, lurches into antagonism, and then smoothes back into friendship. Away from her impact on the other characters, her personal progression was strong, and while the ‘running from a dark past’ angle was a little clichéd, seeing her grief at the loss of her original Watcher made her sympathetic after her snapping at Buffy earlier on. It was also great to see the two Slayers work together, and to witness Kakistos’ ironic reward when he suggested they “get a bigger stake”.
- In general, the plotting is impressive, and the story is very well paced. In the space of 42 minutes, the show answers the ‘new Slayer’ question, introduces a crucial new character with an instantly identifiable and interesting personality, fully re-ingratiates Buffy with her friends, sets her up with a new love interest (as well as bringing an old one back), plays out an entertaining monster-of-the-week narrative, and establishes numerous running themes and sub-plots for the rest of the season. That’s amazing on its own, but the fact that this episode does all that without feeling rushed or overstuffed is testament to how on point the writers were during this period.
- Buffy’s character development is handled very nicely – her dreams and reticence at moving on make it clear that she’s still dealing with the Angel fallout (as anyone would be), but the fact that she was willing to consider dating Scott was good progress. In excellent parallel to how she helped Faith deal with her problems, it was fantastic to see her follow that example and cope with her own. There was some solid, genuine feeling as she confessed the truth about Angel’s death to Giles, and also in the final scene as she laid the ring (and by extension, the relationship) to rest.
- The little scene with Faith, Buffy and Joyce was fun. I smiled at Faith’s enthusiasm and the way she gobbled all of the food in sight, and I understood Buffy’s displeasure at having someone new ‘invade’ her life just as she was getting it going again. The Buffy/Joyce chat in the kitchen provided some more good material, from the thoughtful introduction of the ‘going to college’ subplot, to the sweet moment where Joyce stated that she didn’t want her daughter to die (it sounds silly in text form, but really works on screen).
- Willow is particularly amusing in this episode, making up for how horrid she was in its predecessor. Between her early exuberance about being able to leave campus for lunch; “do[ing] that thing with your mouth that boys like”; the comments about Giles’ ‘cluck cluck’ sound; her sudden interest in her drink when Scott revealed she’d told him Buffy would be at the Bronze; “that’s not what making out sounds like – unless I’m doing it wrong”; Sunnydale being the home of the ‘big brewin’ evil’, and “you should find the fun a little, B... uffy”, I found her funnier than in any episode besides “Doppelgangland”.
- Scott Hope is rather bland, but he’s fine as a brief love interest, and most of his dialogue was charming (like Oz, I give bonus points for the use of the word ‘mosey’). The little chats between he and Buffy had the right tone, and it was kind of him to buy her the Claddagh ring, despite her reaction to it.
- Despite his lack of flashiness, Giles has always been the series’ dark horse, and the character’s age (and Anthony Head’s ever-reliable acting) permits the writers to do subtle things with him that wouldn’t work with the younger characters’ lack of experience/maturity. I loved everything connected with his fake spell plan – it was the perfect way of having Buffy reveal the truth in her own time and of her own volition, and furthered Giles’ position as the only member of her inner circle to realise/understand what drove her to run away.
- Both of the episode’s vampires are cool, particularly Mr Trick. I liked the differences in approach and opinion between he and Kakistos, and they felt like good representations of ‘old’ and ‘new’ vampirism (I enjoyed seeing Trick leave Kakistos to the Slayers and state that vengeance gigs were out of style). It’s noteworthy that at this point, the show was still managing to present interesting vamp threats without repeating itself or resorting to stereotypes; and it’s nice to see the series’ original premise being remembered.
What I Disliked about “Faith, Hope and Trick”:
- It helps knowing that Angel returns at the end of the episode, but Buffy’s dreams of him still feel tacked on. I could also have done without the two flashbacks to the moment where she stabbed him – it’s not one of David Boreanaz’s best pieces of acting, and having to see his gormless, shocked expression twice is inadvertently funny.
- Though it’s nowhere near as bad as “Dead Man’s Party”, Buffy’s friends are still being remarkably unsympathetic towards her. I’m hoping Faith was exaggerating or simplifying for time when she stated they’d said Buffy needed to wake up and get over Angel – such a statement is merely thoughtless coming from someone who doesn’t know the full situation, but horrendous from someone who does.
- A minor thing, but since Kakistos was apparently comparable to the Master age-wise (in having permanent vamp-face and obvious physical deformities), why didn’t he leave bones when staked? It would have been a nice bit of continuity to include, and would have avoided putting the story of “When She Was Bad” in as questionable a position as it is now.
- Why did the being that was responsible for Angel’s return (Jasmine?) wait until now to bring him back? Couldn’t she/it have pulled him out sooner, and if not, why? I also wasn’t too keen in the (unintended?) insinuation that Buffy had something to do with it (the glowing Claddagh ring), though I understand why the writers would choose to have Angel reappear just as she was starting to get over him.
Do I like this episode more or less than the last time I watched it?
If anything, I think I like it more. Despite it not being a top-notch episode, “Faith, Hope and Trick” has everything I would expect from a good edition of “Buffy”: a fast paced and interesting plot that introduces many important concepts, strong character development, excellent dialogue and a meaningful theme. In previous rating sessions, I gave it a ‘five’ score, but I now feel that’s too low, and have thus raised it to a sturdy six out of ten.
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Post by cyclica on Dec 15, 2009 16:42:06 GMT -5
I loved the opening, when willow makes such a big deal out of leaving school grounds, and is afraid she'd get into trouble for it even though it's allowed. Enter new character #1, scott hope, the love interest. He's an ok character, but I'm glad he only stuck around for a few episodes. His subplot didn't leave much of an impression on me at all. Meanwhile, at night... enter new characters #2 and #3, kakistos and mr trick. Like I said before kakistos was interesting in that he's so old he looks different to your average vamp. Cloven hooves aside, he looks too 'chunky' to be a vampire, he doesn't look capable of performing the aerobatic fight scenes all other vampires seem to be able to do. With mr trick, they made a big deal about him being 'modern' and using the internet. I suppose this was to make him different to the other vamps on the show up to this point, but for me it's not enough to make him interesting. Overall both these new villains are only ok. Buffy dreams about angel again. I'm asleep too.  Buffy gets accepted back into school, in a nice scene involving joyce going 'nah nah nah' to snyder. There's also a name drop of the mayor, which by this point is starting to become annoying. Giles tells buffy he needs information on how she killed angel for a spell, this is the start of the subplot where he lies to her and tricks her into revealing she killed angel, not angelus. Why couldn't giles just ask her what happened? And why is he going to so much trouble if he had no reason to think she was keeping something from him? Enter new character #4, faith. It's a nice callback that she identified a guy as being a vamp based on his outdated clothing, which hasn't been done since buffy did the same thing in the first episode. From this point on the episode becomes a lot more fun, as all the best scenes and lines revolve around her. My favourites include the revelation that slaying makes buffy hungry and horny (and the hungry part at least is proven true), buffy telling faith that oz's werewolf side is a long story, only for him to explain it all with 'I got bit', faith referring to giles as young and cute (and everyone's reactions to that), faith being given a tour of the school and influencing willow for a brief time (does faith actually go to school there?) and the dinner scene where she steals chips from an exasperated buffy. Though there is one thing I don't like about this scene, and that's when buffy blurts out to joyce that she died. There was no reason for buffy to say that, other than the writers feeling the need to fill joyce in on everything. Things get dark though when buffy and faith go patrolling through the street (even though every partol so far on the show has been in a cemetary), and get attacked by vamps. Faith takes out all her anger and issues on one vampire, while buffy struggles to fight off the rest of vamps, one of whom felt the strange need to mention his master's name to her. Faith is a fascinating character to watch. Certainly she's more interesting than kendra, but then again we're given a lot more backstory (some of which she just blurts out, "my dead mother hits harder then that!"). When buffy and faith are attacked by kakistos in her apartment, faith becomes really scared, which is a side to her I don't think we ever see again. They escape and choose to hide in some building, which it turns out is kakistos's lair (and buffy for some reason says 'he drove us here' even though they picked the building to hide in). They get into a fight, and faith ends up the winner, staking kakistos with a broken plank of wood. I always appreciate seeing a little variety in the fight scenes like that. Later on buffy reveals she killed angel, and manages to move on by asking scott out on a date. She returns to the mansion where she killed angel, and leaves the ring behind... which is apparently all you need to do in order to bring someone back from the dead.  In later episodes it's implied he was brought back by the first (or possibly jasmine), but watching this scene it looks a lot like buffy did it somehow, seeing as how he only returned after she left his ring on the spot where he died. One more thing I noticed upon rewatching- xander vanishes from the episode about halfway through. This may be the first time a member of the scooby gang hasn't appeared throughout an episode. Even willow in B, B & B at least got mentioned at the end. Upon rewatching, I've decided to bump this one up to a 7. It's an enjoyable episode with no big flaws (though I love finding little ones), and it's fascinating seeing the beginnings of faith and her storyline. |
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Post by cyclica on Dec 15, 2009 17:06:43 GMT -5
The character herself stands in great contrast to the disciplined-but-whine-prone Buffy and the highly rigid Kendra, and it’s intriguing (and prophetic) to witness how her interaction with Buffy commences with camaraderie, lurches into antagonism, and then smoothes back into friendship. I wonder if that 'full circle' was intentional, if they had always planned on making buffy and faith enemies, only to have them become friends again by the end? - Willow is particularly amusing in this episode, making up for how horrid she was in its predecessor. Between her early exuberance about being able to leave campus for lunch; “do[ing] that thing with your mouth that boys like”; the comments about Giles’ ‘cluck cluck’ sound; her sudden interest in her drink when Scott revealed she’d told him Buffy would be at the Bronze; “that’s not what making out sounds like – unless I’m doing it wrong”; Sunnydale being the home of the ‘big brewin’ evil’, and “you should find the fun a little, B... uffy”, I found her funnier than in any episode besides “Doppelgangland”. This was a good willow episode for humour, though it helps that xander and cordelia were absent for much of it. That 'b... uffy' line always makes me laugh though. - Scott Hope is rather bland, but he’s fine as a brief love interest, and most of his dialogue was charming (like Oz, I give bonus points for the use of the word ‘mosey’). I agree, in fact I'd say that's the most memorable scene involving him, and that includes his later episodes. - A minor thing, but since Kakistos was apparently comparable to the Master age-wise (in having permanent vamp-face and obvious physical deformities), why didn’t he leave bones when staked? It would have been a nice bit of continuity to include, and would have avoided putting the story of “When She Was Bad” in as questionable a position as it is now. I guess kakistos is old, but the master is even older. |
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Post by partcynic on Dec 17, 2009 16:53:10 GMT -5
I actually loved the nuance with which this was handled. Giles wasn't so much 'tricking' Buffy into revealing what happened, as getting her to bring the subject up of her own accord. He knew that whatever had happened with Angel had scarred her deeply, and that it would likely be more than just killing Angelus (hence his being the only character who treated her decently in "Dead Man's Party"). He probably felt that directly asking her might provoke an upset or clammed-up reaction, and he instead chose to empower her to tell the truth of her own volition - a very thoughtful and caring thing to do. I think it was vital to bring that up - Joyce needed to understand that being the Slayer was a serious thing, and not something that could just be delegated to someone else (because most of the time, there is no-one else). If Joyce hadn't learned the truth, she would probably have badgered Buffy about leaving the patrolling to another Slayer for the rest of her time on the series. Yeah, I wasn't keen on that either. I wonder if the insinuation that Buffy was responsible was intended at the time. I hadn't noticed that, but you're right. Though after DMP, I'm more than happy to see the back of Xander. IIRC, Faith was originally supposed to be around for only a few episodes, and then get killed off - but the positive fan reaction led to her being kept around (like with Spike and Anya). |
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Post by cyclica on Dec 18, 2009 17:23:52 GMT -5
I think it was vital to bring that up - Joyce needed to understand that being the Slayer was a serious thing, and not something that could just be delegated to someone else (because most of the time, there is no-one else). If Joyce hadn't learned the truth, she would probably have badgered Buffy about leaving the patrolling to another Slayer for the rest of her time on the series. That's true, but the way the conversation was going, there was no reason for buffy to reveal she had died. Couldn't they have had joyce find out another way, or at least have given the scene some better writing? IIRC, Faith was originally supposed to be around for only a few episodes, and then get killed off - but the positive fan reaction led to her being kept around (like with Spike and Anya). I'm glad she wasn't killed off, not just because I like faith, but because they seem to be doing that a lot- jesse, flutie, jenny, kendra, it wouldn't have been a good idea to kill yet another side character off. |
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In later episodes it's implied he was brought back by the first (or possibly jasmine), but watching this scene it looks a lot like buffy did it somehow, seeing as how he only returned after she left his ring on the spot where he died.