About Faith going to prison.

[thetopher]

I recently got into a fairly bizarre disagreement (offline) with somebody who claimed that Faith 'got off easy' by going to jail for three years, instead of doing her job as a slayer and putting her life at risk like a she should.

They seemed to think it was a selfish, cop-out thing to do and not worthy of any credit whatsoever.

Does anyone think they have a point?
Did Faith actually need to go to jail or should she tried to be a slayer on the outside.

Also, why do you think Faith turned herself in to begin with? Was it a cop-out?

 

[Lyri]

Faith going to turning herself in and going to prison had nothing to do with her being a Slayer, other than the fact that her being a Slayer is what led her to murder two people.

She went to prison because she was guilty of those murders and she knew she was guilty. There was no thought whatsoever given to the idea that she doesn't have to be a Slayer anymore if she's behind bars.

Out of all the Slayers we've seen, Faith's the one who revels in it the most, takes pride in it the most. She LOVES being a Slayer, she thinks it makes her better than others. She doesn't want to walk away from that.

But at the same time, she knows she needs to pay for what she's done. She took someone's life - twice. She SHOULD pay for that and I'm still off the opinion that three years wasn't nearly long enough. But she was needed and she redeemed herself on the outside, she's a better person now for going through what she did, a better Slayer. So it was worth it.

But her confession had nothing to do with slaying.

 

[Black Eye Guy]

Odd question, in a way going to prison is easier than the short life she presumably would have had as The Slayer.

I don't think it was a cop out though, I also dont think it was a punishment really. Prison seemed to act more like rehab than as a punishment for Faith, she wanted to be there and it was technically safer in there (one minion of the first not withstanding).

So in that way, it was a cop out. But Faith is like Angel, the pressure they put on themselves to keep them in check is far greater than one the law could have put on them.

 

[white avenger]

I fail to see how willingly accepting a prison sentence of, I believe it was mentioned at some point, 25 years to life, for crimes committed is any sort of cop out, regardless of what fate awaited her on the outside. In fact, as was mentioned above, as much as Faith seemed to enjoy the excitement of the hunt, the fight, and the kill, I would say that willingly depriving herself of that might actually be an extreme hardship for her, as well as a strong act of determination to pay her debts to society, seeing as how it was so simple for her to escape whenever she wanted to.

 

[Xin Rong]

I fail to see how willingly accepting a prison sentence of, I believe it was mentioned at some point, 25 years to life, for crimes committed is any sort of cop out, regardless of what fate awaited her on the outside. In fact, as was mentioned above, as much as Faith seemed to enjoy the excitement of the hunt, the fight, and the kill, I would say that willingly depriving herself of that might actually be an extreme hardship for her, as well as a strong act of determination to pay her debts to society, seeing as how it was so simple for her to escape whenever she wanted to.

I agree, I think Faith going to prison willingly was a sure sign of her realisation that being a slayer did not make her better than other people, she begin to understand that as a slayer she had more excuses for her actions but ultimately she was a human and deserved to be treated as such, regardless of her slayerness, if only season 7 Buffy had made the same realisation, although the cost might have been too high for this epiphany

 

[thetopher]

Well, you all pretty much repeated what I said to my friend word for word. 🙂

I guess he's in a minority. 🙂
Faith went to prison willingly for what she believed would be twenty five years. (I doubt very much she'd get a reduced sentence for good behaviour.) That's in no way a cop-out for a young, beautiful woman who loves what she does.
Faith loves being the slayer, she beleives it makes her a better person. (I actually think she believes its the only thing she's good for, most of the time. 🙁)

Faith broke out, not to save the world, but to come to the rescue her only friend. Afterwards its Angel who pretty much tells her that she can do more good on the outside, being a slayer, than being locked up again.
She seems a lot more balanced, at peace and mature after her time inside, in short I think it made her a better slayer, never mind a better person.

As usual Angel is right. 🙂

 

[The Bronze]

It's an interesting theory and I think it does carry some weight. While Faith was on the inside she wasn't helping the cause and by extension she wasn't placed in the same kind of dangerous situations. So it certainly had the air of an easy option about it. That being said I think it was the best place for her. She needed to be taken off the front line and desperately needed rehabilitating. From what we've seen it does seem to have done the trick. I'd say cop out or not is largely irrelevant because it really was the correct decision.