Sassy Says Faith wasn’t that bad anyway.

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The relationship between Buffy, and her fellow Slayer, Faith was always strained. In this week’s Sassy Says I want to talk a bit about Faith, and about her relationship with Buffy.

Faith was designed to fulfill the archetype of a nemesis in the classical sense, serving as the dark mirror to Buffy. Similar, but opposite to the hero. I never saw her as such.

I personally felt that Faith was an amazing anti-hero, who through the entire series of both Buffy and Angel, was well characterized, and written perfectly. She had some moments that made me go “seriously?”, like when she took Xander’s virginity, or kidnapped Wesley and tortured him.

Faith’s shining moment for me was when she begged Angel to kill her, so she could atone for everything she had done. Instead of killing her, Angel helped her, and she willingly went to jail.

Upon Faith’s return to Sunnydale in season seven of Buffy, She was changed. She thought before she acted and became a real leader.

Faith’s relationship with Buffy:

The bond that Faith shared with her fellow Slayer was complex. They had unique insight into each other’s personality and the burdens that they shared, but they disagreed about what it meant to be a Slayer. Buffy was alienated by Faith’s enthusiasm for violence and lack of responsibility, and Faith did not understand why Buffy compartmentalized her destiny as if it were a job. The First Evil later commented that Faith always wanted Buffy to love her. Additionally, Faith was jealous of the life Buffy led, surrounded by friends and family. Buffy, never one for rules herself, was somewhat drawn to Faith’s rebellious nature like in the episode, Bad Girls, but was horrified when Faith descended into reckless abandon and accidentally killed a man. After they became enemies, Faith and Buffy still shared a fundamental bond; they also shared a series of dreams while Faith was in a coma.

Faith’s jealousy of Buffy’s life culminated when she stole Buffy’s body. After the events of the “body swap,” Buffy believed Faith incapable of redemption and wanted to kill her, but had to ultimately settle for Faith’s voluntary incarceration. When Faith returned to Sunnydale to help fight the First Evil, Buffy again accepted her as an ally. Faith tried to follow Buffy’s lead, and was hesitant to become the leader after the mutiny against Buffy. However, Buffy surprised Faith by encouraging her to embrace the leadership role. After Buffy and the gang were reconciled, Buffy and Faith discussed their contentious history, and Faith concluded that the reason they had never gotten along was because two Slayers were never meant to exist at the same time. With this, Buffy and Faith finally made peace.

All in all, I feel that Buffy and Faith are essentially the same person inside, and though age, and time, Faith has blossomed into the person Buffy became with her friends and loved ones support.

And that’s what Sassy Says.