How do you feel about Faith?

[Samuel Reyes]

Yes, heroic Faith was awesome! She did a great job defeating Angelus and I would have really liked to see more of Faith as a good guy. Shame she didn't become a regular on Angel Season 5, or get her own spin-off, either way would have been great.

 

[Yumisushipjs]

I think if Faith was your friend she would be the friend you would go out and party with, and you could trust her to be loyal to you (as long as you didn't turn your back!). She is so vulnerable and damaged she would never be able to trust you entirely. I wouldn't trust my boyfriend with her either! I can see her being so insecure that she would see seducing another girl's boyfriend as fair game.

 

[Faith Monroe]

Ahh- I loved her. She totally would be the party friend, always a good time. Honestly- In the later seasons Buffy began to annoy me- I loved having Faith around during the last season. I loved her transformation throughout the two shows. I guess I liked Season 3 of Buffy the best? It's hard to choose one.

 

[Samuel Reyes]

Couldn't agree more. Faith is the kind of person you wanna have a few drinks with. Then afterwards maybe cruise around town... start a rumble... ride a mechanical bull... maybe blow something up. Seems like she'd be down for anything fun.

 

[Mr Trick]

She's great, a really powerful, exciting, but also scary character, with a sly sense of humor all of her. ED does a great job of playing her too.

Of course the only thing better than Faith herself is Fuffy Baith!😛

 

[Samuel Reyes]

I think what made Faith a good character was how was she written (such a layered, three-dimensional character) and how excellent a job ED did embodying her. She had it down from the first moment she appeared on the show.

 

[thetopher]

I read a very insightful article recently about what makes a 'good' television actor, and one of the key things mentioned was the ability of the actor to give their character an 'internal world', as in- how they act when their not acting.
How they convey emotion and intent when they don't have any lines/directions in the script. Do they have believable reactions to other things around them.

I think that's one of the things that struck me about Faith as a character (especially in my recent viewing of S3)- how we the viewer know so little about her but we get a sense of that internal world of hers, even if its just through the inflection of a line of dialogue or the way she looks at a certain person.

It adds a richness to her character that is, quite frankly, some very impressive acting for a 17 year old Eliza who was really only brought in for a throwaway role.

The fact that she just keeps on improving every time she's brought back is just a nice bonus. 🙂

 

[Fuffy Baith]

It adds a richness to her character that is, quite frankly, some very impressive acting for a 17 year old Eliza who was really only brought in for a throwaway role.

The fact that she just keeps on improving every time she's brought back is just a nice bonus.

That's a good point, about acting. It's one thing to read the lines but another like you said to continue that even when you have no lines. It's like Seth Green with Oz. Oz doesn't have a lot of lines yet it's SG's reactions and expressions that make Oz such a great character. Same with Faith. And I agree, it's easy to forget that Eliza was the only one of the cast that was actually the right age for her character. At 17 (heck even now) I couldn't pull off what Eliza had to do as Faith, even if I was an actor. But people also forget that she had been acting since she was like 9. But it's different when you see teen actors these days, and most of them are not nearly as good as ED was, they could never play Faith as well as she does. ED has said a lot that at the time she really connected with the character, and I think that really shows with her acting.

 

[Samuel Reyes]

I agree. Take, for example, the ep "Who Are You?" SMG did an extremely convincing job as Faith-in-Buffy's-body, but for me only ED could ever be Faith.

 

[Mr Trick]

I agree. Take, for example, the ep "Who Are You?" SMG did an extremely convincing job as Faith-in-Buffy's-body, but for me only ED could ever be Faith.

You ae right, but don't you think that like wise SMG can only really be Buffy (don't start on me KS fans😱), and that AH can only be Willow? etc...

 

[Samuel Reyes]

Of course. ED was spot-on in her impersonation of Sarah Michelle Gellar, but SMG is Buffy.

 

[Skanky Vamp]

Of course. ED was spot-on in her impersonation of Sarah Michelle Gellar, but SMG is Buffy.

I was thinking about this earlier and decided that SMG clearly had a harder role to play. ED was simply trying to play Buffy- because she did not change her mannerisms, etc. But SMG was trying to play Faith trying to play Buffy.. so she not only had to get Faiths mannerism down (which you see when she is not 'acting') but then incorporate those into her 'Buffy' performance that she gives to others.

 

[Samuel Reyes]

I agree; SMG had more to do because the episode was mainly focused on her as Faith. Despite this I think both actresses did a great job.

 

[Fuffy Baith]

You ae right, but don't you think that like wise SMG can only really be Buffy (don't start on me KS fans😱), and that AH can only be Willow? etc...

I agree. SMG is the only Buffy for me, and I can't imagine a better Willow. I think the difference is that ED brought a lot of herself to Faith. Even her background of growing up in Boston. I don't imagine AH is much like Willow. I do love SMG's sense of humor though in real life and it is a bit similar to Buffy.

 

[thetopher]

You ae right, but don't you think that like wise SMG can only really be Buffy (don't start on me KS fans😱), and that AH can only be Willow? etc...

I think the difference is that ED only got...26-ish episodes to establish her character as opposed to SMG and AH who got over 100.
I think that's saying something for ED to put such a powerful stamp on the character of Faith in such a short ammount of time. I've actually never seen her in a better role.

 

[Mr Trick]

I think the difference is that ED only got...26-ish episodes to establish her character as opposed to SMG and AH who got over 100.
I think that's saying something for ED to put such a powerful stamp on the character of Faith in such a short ammount of time. I've actually never seen her in a better role.

No very true, sometimes when you are on the fringes of a show and don't have as many episodes then it can be harder to establish the character. Although on the plus side if you make an impact then it stands out even more because of the character not being over exposed.

 

[Under Her Spell]

I read a very insightful article recently about what makes a 'good' television actor, and one of the key things mentioned was the ability of the actor to give their character an 'internal world', as in- how they act when their not acting.
How they convey emotion and intent when they don't have any lines/directions in the script. Do they have believable reactions to other things around them.

I think that's one of the things that struck me about Faith as a character (especially in my recent viewing of S3)- how we the viewer know so little about her but we get a sense of that internal world of hers, even if its just through the inflection of a line of dialogue or the way she looks at a certain person.

It adds a richness to her character that is, quite frankly, some very impressive acting for a 17 year old Eliza who was really only brought in for a throwaway role.

The fact that she just keeps on improving every time she's brought back is just a nice bonus. 🙂

I'd love to read that article. I'm currently doing a re-watch of every BTVS episode, in order, and it's brought back to me time and again that the regular (and recurring) cast were always consistently strong, even when the writing failed them, even when they're not the focus of a particular episode. It just leaves me flabbergasted just how talented these actors and actresses are, especially Sarah, Aly, James, Eliza, Emma...pretty much all of them! Best. Cast. Ever.

Now if only Faith became a regular cast character on one of the two shows or better yet, got a show of her own, we could see even more of Eliza giving Faith even more nuances to her character.

 

[EVIL UU]

Faith sucks! 🙂

Nah, just kidding. I find Faith entertaining and that's about the most important feature a character can have in my opinion. So there's that but there's one thing about her that really grinds my gears. It's her reliance on ( creepy ) older men, which is, considering her supposed rebelliousness, kinda...ridiculous? Major, Angel, Giles, back to Angel again - one sugar daddy after another and even the one actual boyfriend she had? Still, like, 10 years older. Faith - get over it! Go build some relationships with people your age, preferably the ones who don't want to exploit you. Fingers crossed, seriously.