Faith and the Mayor

[Zeno]

I'm sitting here and watching "Graduation Day- Part 1" and thinking to myself "Does the mayor actually have legitimate father figure type feelings towards Faith? Or is he just using her only to eat her after the ascension?"

So, I was wondering what you guys thought about this? Did the mayor have fatherly feelings toward Faith?

 

[Bookkitty]

I think he did, and not just because Joss said it later in an interview. I always kind of thought that was how it was between those two. Like when he said "miniture....Golf" and she just looked at him like a girl would look at a goofy dad. He was so upset when he got to her apartment after Buffy and Faith had that fight and he found her placed trashed. He kept saying "She'll be all right" over and over, and that, to me, was him trying to convince himself. I don't know. His eyes were wide, like he was worried he'd show too much emotion or something.

 

[white avenger]

I have no doubt whatsoever that Wilkins truly loved Faith as much as Giles ever loved Buffy. In fact, I believe that he was intended to be Giles' dark counterpart just as Faith was Buffy's dark counterpart. Both Wilkins and Giles cared for and served as mentor for their respective Slayer. If Wilkins had only seen Faith as another warrior in his employ, there would have been no reason for him to provide long term care, or any care at all, for her once the doctors told him that it was almost a certainty that she would never recover from her coma.

An employer doesn't treat his employee to frilly pink dresses, take her to play miniature golf, and feed her milk and cookies. He was never shown displaying that sort of affection toward his other soldiers. Quite obviously he felt genuine affection for her, just as she did for him.

 

[MinwaraYana]

^ What Bookkitty and WA said. 🙂

Have to add that even he died, he still loved her.

Spoiler

He sent that tape and that body swap gadget to her

in Season 4.

 

[Grey Ghost]

Strange at seems, I think that the mayor had genuine feeling for Faith. When I first saw the episodes I thought that his feelings were more of the sexual nature (that was until it was made clear what the Mayor was doing nad becoming). But later I think he truly loved/cared for her as a father or what he a father was should be.

 

[Tome]

Like others said, he loved her like his own daughter. I actually didn't like him dieing at the end of the third season. Obviously he turned into that giant snake monster so they had to destroy him.

But still, his relationship with Faith could have changed him in the long term, or so I hoped when I first watched the series =P

 

[PrincessBuffy16]

I think he did. Just how Giles was father figure to Buffy, The Mayor was to Faith, just you have good and protective dad, and evil and funny dad.

 

[Flannen]

I think he did. Just how Giles was father figure to Buffy, The Mayor was to Faith, just you have good and protective dad, and evil and funny dad.

Despite being 'evil' he was still as protective over Faith as Giles is over Buffy. I think the really basic difference is 'good' and 'evil' but even then I don't think it's as black and white as that.

 

[PrincessBuffy16]

Despite being 'evil' he was still as protective over Faith as Giles is over Buffy. I think the really basic difference is 'good' and 'evil' but even then I don't think it's as black and white as that.

I agree. He was. He was just evil to everyone else. I mean when I've watched Buffy/Giles scenes I thought that's nice, how he feels, and what he does for her, but I never had that thoughts about Faith and Mayor.

 

[Flannen]

I agree. He was. He was just evil to everyone else. I mean when I've watched Buffy/Giles scenes I thought that's nice, how he feels, and what he does for her, but I never had that thoughts about Faith and Mayor.

Aw, you didn't? I actually found their scenes incredibly touching. The Mayor did so much for Faith when he didn't really have to. She was, at the end of the day, just another employee. The hospital scenes in Graduation Day are so powerful. The Mayor is so passionately angry and upset at what Buffy has done to Faith. Plus, the fact that Faith actually trusts him and kind of has a mutual relationship with him, is quite important I think considering Faith had so little belief in herself and others.

 

[PrincessBuffy16]

Um, I don't know, I never found their scenes beautiful or magic, he was funny all the time, but I do agree his protective and angry scene in the hospital was powerful, but then again, I was all about Angel's reaction 🙂

 

[Emzzie]

I have no doubt he had fatherly feelings toward Faith. IMO I think its obvious he did. As he finds the mess she and Buffy left behind, he mutters to himself "She'll be ok. She'll be ok." If he had no feelings, would he not care? Then as he is in the hospital with her, he strokes her hair, an obvious sign of affection. After that, he tries to kill Buffy, trying to get revenge for hurting Faith. A father who is in an unstable crazy condition who just had their daughter put into a most likely permanent coma by another girl who will recover, would most likely do something similar. Lastly, Buffy tricks him into chasing her by holding up the knife and saying "It slipped into her like butter." If he had no feelings, he would have brushed that off. If he did not care about Faith, her being nearly killed by Buffy would have not affected him at all. He would have been merely losing one of his pawns, and he's never seemed to care about them in the past. That comment provoked him though and made him angry.