Buffy ep by ep; WHO ARE YOU?-bitchin bodyswap

saturn5

Scooby
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Sep 13, 2009
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937
WHO ARE YOU?

The Good;
One of SMG's great performances as Faith-as-Buffy, what a shame we don't get to see more of Buffy-as-Faith. Terrific in every way

The Bad;
Even Adam can't spoil this one but then thankfully he's not in it for too long.

Best line;
"Tiny, tiny babies" ASH overacts to great effect
Wheldon Cliches;

Character death; 1 parishioner killed at the church, Buffy, Riley kill one vamp each and Faith kills two.

Shot;
No, despite the Watcher's Council blazing away during Buffy-as-Faith's escape. Buffy-as-Faith actually uses a gun in her escape.

Tied up;
Buffy-as-Faith in chainsx2. She later tells Giles that this isn't the time for 'bondage fun'. Implying she's open to it at other times?

Knocked out;
Buffy-as-Faith doped to the eyeballs

Women good/men bad;
Buffy-as-Faith effortlessly outsmarts the Watcher Council's goons.

Jeez!;
Your heart freezes when you think Faith-as-Buffy has stabbed Will, thankfully it's only a daydream

Kinky dinky;
Ah, Faith, how the kinky dinky column has missed you! Faith-as-Buffy wears the sluttiest outfit we'll ever see on SMG and then seduces Riley asking 'What nasty little desire have you been itching to try out. Am I a bad girl? Do you want to hurt me?' and 'Well if you don't want to play...'. Riley doesn't like the idea of a 'bunch of marines' watching him during sex but FaB might dig it? Buffy/Joyce wear a brand of lipstick subtly named 'Harlot'. What next, slut? Skank? Ho? I must confess that my favourite ever adult fanfic ('Thanks for lending me your body, B')is based on this story where Faith takes the opportunity to not only have sex with Riley but the rest of the Scoobies, Spike and just about everyone else as well, even Adam (but oddly not Giles?). Of course in the follow up story ('Thanks for taking care of my body, Faith') not only do Buffy and Faith kiss and make up (and a whole lot more!) but we find out that Buffy had her own sexy fun in Faith's body. Check them out at adultfanfiction.net IF you're over 18 and EXTREMELY open-minded.
Birthdate Verification Page and Birthdate Verification Page
Xander refers to the 'Orgasmantor'. Xander and Anya are going to have sex near some candles. FaB says that'll last about 7 minutes (based on Xander's prior performance?) According to BaF Joyce thinks Giles is like a stevedore (docker) during sex which adds another colourful chapter to momma Summers sexual history. Plus Faith-as-Buffy teasing Spike at the Bronze.

Calling Captain Subtext;
Faith-as-Buffy meets Tara and deducts that Willow is 'no longer driving stick' (what a wonderful euphenism!). Once again the villains show their insight. Faith also seems to take the opportunity to, ahem, 'explore' Buffy's body in the bath (finally able to get her hands on it?). Of course when Faith-as-Buffy is hitting Buffy-as-Faith in the end it's perfectly clear that this is actually Faith expressing her own self-loathing at her image, just as she tells Joyce to burn the lipstick because it was Faith's choice. The Watcher's team use the word 'ponce' as an insult. Faith-as-Buffy thinks there's some 'big old Bertha' waiting to shower Buffy-as-Faith with affection in prison. Plus more erotic spellcasting from Willow and Tara and Tara breaking a million hearts and ending a lot of argument by telling Willow that she's 'Yours'. Faith can't help her Slayer instincts, saving the girl at the Bronze. She wants Riley to punish her and Joyce to burn the lipstick because she hates herself. Check out the little look of triumph on FaB when BaF is being carried to the ambulance, holding Joyce's hand as if to say 'She's mine now'. When Joyce hugs her she obviously wants it but is uncomfortable with it (same expression when she saves the girl at the Bronze)

Guantanamo Bay;

Scoobies to the ER;

Where's Dawn?
Does she have any inkling that Buffy is not as she appears to be?

Missing scenes;

Apocalypses; 5,

What the fanficcers thought;
A nice one where instead of Faith and Buffy switching bodies it's Xander and Willow. Willow enjoys not having to queue for the toilets at concerts, Xander pretty much stays in bed playing with Willow's breasts and poor Tara is VERY confused. In your best friends shoes, a Buffy: The Vampire Slayer fanfic - FanFiction.Net Plenty too where Faith-as-Buffy actually kills Buffy-as-Faith etc but she always comes back and they always make up.

Questions and observations;
Such a tour-de-force, brilliant at every level. The one gag I wonder they never did was for Faith-as-Buffy tries to reach for something but can't because Buffy's body is shorter than Faith's. But maybe SMG is sensitive about her height? Although they do joke about it in season 7. This marks Anya's indisputable entry into the Scoobies, she's at the briefing at Giles' house without any back story. This makes the Scoobies;
Buffy
Xander
Willow
Giles
Anya
Shouldn't someone have shown Anya and Riley what Faith looks like? Nice that Riley actually goes to church. I always thought the line for Faith when the lead vamp is mouthing off about where god is should have been 'He couldn't make it but he sent me'. Note how hurt FaB is when Riley says he loves her asking 'What do you want from her?' Adams speech is pretty convincing, he again underlines why humans rule and demons don't. The Bronze loses another pool cue. The guy Spike pushes at the Bronze looks like Asian Joe. Collins says 'Gas', as a Brit he'd probably say 'Petrol'.

Marks out of 10; 10/10, competes with Hush and Restless for the best ep of the season.
 
SMG did a great job acting Faith. Eliza was good with Buffy, but I think she's better as Faith 😀

I never liked that scene in the Bronze, I like to see Buffy as well behaved girl. She actually wasn't Buffy, but it was her body 😀

I felt so bad for Buffy when she found out Riley had sex with Faith.

9/10
 
Who Are You is one of my favourite episodes in season four. I love seeing Faith again, considering she's one of my favourite characters. The thing I especially love about Who Are You, though, is seeing Buffy and Faith finally realise what the other person is going through, and how it was to be them. In season three there was so much rivalry, and that kind of went away, here. Okay, sure Faith using Buffy's body to sleep with Riley, not exactly the best bit of the episode, but that's just how Faith is, I guess. I think SMG did an amazing performance as Faith, and Eliza as Buffy even though she wasn't in the episode as much. Who Are You is a great episode.
 
U
ubi4soft
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MinwaraYana
MinwaraYana
[No message]
Anya2012
Anya2012
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I agree with PrincessBuffy: SMG did AMAZING when she was acting as Faith. I could totally see Faith doing and saying things the exact way she was. Eliza did well too, but she didn't really grasp Buffy as well as SMG grasped Faith.

I loved the Spike/ Buffy scene. Makes me wish they showed us the later confrontation. 🙂 Seeing Buffy turning her bad girl on is kinda refreshing, and very interesting to watch.

The whole Buffy/ Riley thing grossed me out a bit. I mean, Riley isn't even attractive. WHY would she want to sleep with a "corn fed Iowa boy"? It seems to me like a poor attempt from the writers to give Buffy/ Riley couple troubles. It would make a lot more sense if she slept with Spike or something, and if she wanted to ruin Buffy's life, she could have done that a lot better in many other ways.

But yeah, nice episode. Although it confused me a bit as to why Faith started taking on Buffy's personality. If they switched souls, then it'd just be a different body. I can't think of how a body could affect Faith like that.
 
U
ubi4soft
S/B scene reminds us of Buffy/Xander in When She Was Bad
PrincessBuffy16
PrincessBuffy16
I think Riley is hot. I would take him any time :D
K
Kelsey
Loved the Spike scene too, but gotta disagree with you on Riley. He's quite attractive!
I think Faith just wanted everything Buffy had (Joyce, Scoobs etc), that this was a way to get back at her. Of course it's strictly speaking rape, Riley is tricked into having sex with someone who is actually someone else
 
I think Faith just wanted everything Buffy had (Joyce, Scoobs etc), that this was a way to get back at her. Of course it's strictly speaking rape, Riley is tricked into having sex with someone who is actually someone else

I think that too. She was acting like this bad ass girl who tinks she can do whatever she wants because she has super powers, which is in the one hand correct. She has to power. But I think, all she ever wanted was what Buffy had. So Faith had that thing that made her special.. being a Slayer. So she met Buffy, another Slayer, so she thought.. ok, someone who's going to understand me, by my support. But Buffy came with family, friends and most awesome boyfriend 😀 who wouldn't be jealous?
 
I love this ep. It's even better than This Year's Girl. 😉

Oh, that's such a long Kinky Dinky column. 😛 It's like it's a few last episodes that we'll see Faith as kinky as this. So they made it like this. I'm not a fan of Spike/FaB in The Bronze. I just don't like it. And I'd love to see they do joke about Buffy's height too. 🙂

It's good to see Faith's rough path to become good again. These 4 episodes is my favorite arc of Buffyverse. And am I the only one that think Eliza's acting was as well as SMG's? Her accent was so Buffy.

It's funny when Willow introduced Tara to Buffy, but she's in Faith body.

Poor Riley. He must be confused when FaB told him to get off her.

The church scene was epic win. Start with FaB kicking vamps' asses(You can see it's Faith slaying style even she's in Buffy's body), BaF staking vamp in the back to save FaB(I love when they do this), and end with Faith's self loathing. BaF hugging Riley was cute, though.

It's 10/10 like you said. 😉
 
E
Eleftheria
I agree with you about change of accent. I think both actresses did a great job!
My second favorite episode of the season... after Restless. I loved it all!! The first hints towards kinky Spuffy stuff, for one! I found it kind of heartbreaking though that just as Willow decides to introduce Tara to Buffy, it's actually Faith, who she kind of hates. Nice intuition on Tara's part, though.
It's great for Faith development. I love the changing of "because it's wrong." She's all sarcastic about it at first, but once a ton of lives are in danger, it becomes serious. Beating herself up was such a great touch! Her response to Riley saying he loved her was so sad. She's never had a guy be in love with her before; her perception of men is that they're always after something and she can't really understand what Riley "wants" from Buffy. I also find the look on Faith-as-Buffy's face when Joyce refuses to accept that Faith was the way she was because she liked it.
10/10
 
MinwaraYana
MinwaraYana
[No message]
My husband liked the scene at the Bronze. he said, "Wow, Buffy can be hot." LOL I like any scene with Spike. Well, all but one that is.
 
I love this ep. It's even better than This Year's Girl. 😉

Oh, that's such a long Kinky Dinky column. 😛 It's like it's a few last episodes that we'll see Faith as kinky as this. So they made it like this. I'm not a fan of Spike/FaB in The Bronze. I just don't like it. And I'd love to see they do joke about Buffy's height too. 🙂

It's good to see Faith's rough path to become good again. These 4 episodes is my favorite arc of Buffyverse. And am I the only one that think Eliza's acting was as well as SMG's? Her accent was so Buffy.

It's funny when Willow introduced Tara to Buffy, but she's in Faith body.

Poor Riley. He must be confused when FaB told him to get off her.

The church scene was epic win. Start with FaB kicking vamps' asses(You can see it's Faith slaying style even she's in Buffy's body), BaF staking vamp in the back to save FaB(I love when they do this), and end with Faith's self loathing. BaF hugging Riley was cute, though.

It's 10/10 like you said. 😉

You should read back through my season 2-3 reviews, the Spike/Buffy subtext could arguably be there right from the start?
 
MinwaraYana
MinwaraYana
Thanks, I'll read. But I'll stick with they started in Something Blue. :)
I picked up on James's portrayal of attraction the very first time Spike saw Buffy, when he was new in town, at the Bronze. It was always there, IMO 🙂 I do think Something Blue was the first time it was remotely mutual (and only b/c of the spell).
 
We know from Spike's conversation in the basement with Faith that Buffy did, in fact, explain the body swap episode at some point. I wouls dave loved to see her choking through that while Spike tried not to burst out laughing. Another great Spuffy moment that we will never see.

(Not that I really care, because Buffy loved Spike the most)
 
T
thevikingsgirl
[No message]
You should check back through my reviews, the Buffy/Spike subtext can actually be traced back through to School Hard, it's there a long time before Out of My Mind (and does that title refer to Riley or Spike?)

Just wait until we get to the Glory/Buffy/Dawn subtext!
 
It is one of the most interesting and best episodes I have seen.

SMG does an amazing job. She WAS Faith. She could do it. And that proves her acting skill. She can be good girl Buffy and she can be bad girl Faith with equal persuation.

I also enjoyed Eliza's performance. She was good, i think she talks in a different way while trying to be Buffy and she succeeds.

Joss said that Spike fell in love with Buffy in the Bronze? Christ!...anyway I don't wanna comment this...

Also,Faith is obviously damaged, i mean she feels so hurt that noone, esp. Buffy didn;t visit her in hospital, she feels abandoned. But still she doesn;t let people being killed by vampires. Good faith is still there, somewhere.

I am glad that after this, Faith goes to L.A and the sweet Angelic boy is there to help her!
 
MinwaraYana
MinwaraYana
Wow, never thought of the no visiting at the hospital before. B stabbed her and all. Poor Faith. :(
I dont get why during the two body swap fights, Faith and Buffy clasp their hands together in order for the device to work. Who the heck does that during a fight ever?
But this ep is worthy of top 5 Buffyverse episodes ever. Its blatantly amazing. 10/10.
 
MinwaraYana
MinwaraYana
It's not hard to grab if one is gonna punch one in the face. But the weird thing is, it'd rather be grabbing fist instead of open-hand like that. Maybe I think too much. :P
I dont get why during the two body swap fights, Faith and Buffy clasp their hands together in order for the device to work. Who the heck does that during a fight ever?

In This Year's Girl, Buffy's gonna punch Faith, so she took that moment to grab her hand to make the device work. And Buffy did it in later episode.

The question is, how could Faith know how the device works? Is that what you're asking? 🙂
 
B
BillyidolwannaB
No, it just kinda looked weird. Like, i imagine it would be hard to grab someones hand like that during a fight.
Hilarious when Faith as Buffy acts in front of the mirror :lmao::lmao: You can feel how Faith change through the episode... she realize how everyone close to Buffy actually like/love her for real. Obviously you see she isn't used to that by her reaction with Joyce and Riley. I know body switch isn't like common stuff but I couldn't believe nobody but Tara noticed how weird Buffy was.

I so hate Witherby or whatever, he's such an annoying loser both on BtVS and Angel(glad he got what was coming for him). Adam with the vampires was a nice touch but why the heck do we just barely see him every episode? He's supposed to be a big bad for a reason... And he already appeared late enough in the season :drunk: It's like they had this idea of a bad guy made of parts of various races and then just thought 'damn that's so lame, let's just give him a few minutes in each episode until the last three/four and get Buffy to blow him up'.
 
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