What If: Faith died?

nightshade

nightshade

Your grandfather is a cat
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What if when Faith fell into the truck bed, it was enough to kill her rather than just a coma?
 
Then we'd get a new Slayer. That's the most immediate consequence. The Slayer line runs through Faith after Kendra's death, not Buffy, so it would be interesting to see who the next Slayer called would be. One of the season 7 potentials? Or maybe this hypothetical Slayer was one of the ones hunted down by Caleb and the Bringers.
 
Yeah the next slayer would come along. Perhaps one not in the US so we never see her. Or maybe one older than Buffy this time. Maybe the Slayer with a kid storyline would have happened in real time instead of s7 with Wood. Maybe her kid would be the key instead.
 
Short term: We get a new slayer post-S3, probably one under the guidance of a watcher like Kendra was but maybe not. Perhaps we get to see that slayer in S5 when Buffy needs the council's help with Glory.


Long term: Angelus remains un-captured, Jasmine wins in AtS S4; world peace, at least until we all get devoured and the earth is left a lifeless husk.
 
thetopher said:
Short term: We get a new slayer post-S3, probably one under the guidance of a watcher like Kendra was but maybe not. Perhaps we get to see that slayer in S5 when Buffy needs the council's help with Glory.
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Perhaps the new Slayer falls in the final battle as well? Saving Dawn so Buffy does not need to sacrifice herself? So Buffy lives.

thetopher said:
Long term: Angelus remains un-captured, Jasmine wins in AtS S4; world peace, at least until we all get devoured and the earth is left a lifeless husk.
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Which would be bad.
 
Faith dying was the original (extremely depressing) plan, right? Glad they didn't go through with it, Faith's episodes are fun.

I think Buffy and Riley's relationship would've been more stable in season five. Riley not realizing he slept with Faith clearly really hurts Buffy, doubly so since she recognized Giles was the Fyarl demon earlier in the season. She even references that to Giles earlier in Who Are You?, so it's probably on her mind when they talk at the end.

To me it's one of the earlier moments where she goes, "Oh - even though he's a super-solder he's actually not like me, he doesn't have my insight." It starts her down the lone-wolf route that she's in through season five, which Riley reacts to so badly.
 
Eh, both actor and character had something to still offer, story wise, and frankly, "Two Slayers" isn't one of those plot elements you want to have easy access to. So, I am glad they didn't hijack a pink ranger and give us a fourth Slayer. That would have felt too American Girls Dolls.
 
hannahlibbie said:
To me it's one of the earlier moments where she goes, "Oh - even though he's a super-solder he's actually not like me, he doesn't have my insight."
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But the funny thing is the demon actually had Giles' eyes- as far as I remember they didn't do anything to ASH's eyes and it was just him in makeup playing the demon. So it's kind of not insight on Buffy's part, she just has good attention to detail and it was kind of luck that he happened to be in one place long enough for her to notice in time.
 
hannahlibbie said:
Faith dying was the original (extremely depressing) plan, right? Glad they didn't go through with it, Faith's episodes are fun.

I think Buffy and Riley's relationship would've been more stable in season five. Riley not realizing he slept with Faith clearly really hurts Buffy, doubly so since she recognized Giles was the Fyarl demon earlier in the season. She even references that to Giles earlier in Who Are You?, so it's probably on her mind when they talk at the end.

To me it's one of the earlier moments where she goes, "Oh - even though he's a super-solder he's actually not like me, he doesn't have my insight." It starts her down the lone-wolf route that she's in through season five, which Riley reacts to so badly.
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To be fair, Buffy did end up stabbing Giles before she realized it was him.
 
famicommander said:
To be fair, Buffy did end up stabbing Giles before she realized it was him.
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Which was why Giles remained in one place long enough for Buffy to realise! She had him on the ground and had stabbed him!

Fortunately, Giles' paper opener was not silver.
 
Bop said:
But the funny thing is the demon actually had Giles' eyes- as far as I remember they didn't do anything to ASH's eyes and it was just him in makeup playing the demon.
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famicommander said:
To be fair, Buffy did end up stabbing Giles before she realized it was him.
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These are both good points, but I think there's still something there.

Buffy does stab demon-Giles, but it takes her only a couple of seconds of looking into his eyes to realize it's him. She says in ANM, "You're the only person in the world that can look that annoyed with me," so it isn't just his physical eyes being the same but also his expression. She recognizes Giles' personality in there.

Meanwhile Riley spends a whole night with Faith-in-Buffy and (while he does notice she's acting weird) he doesn't clock that something's badly wrong until she really freaks out. Even then, he still thinks she's Buffy.

I read that as Buffy being able to see past the surface layer in a way Riley can't. It's another thing she's able to do that he isn't, which becomes the big pain point for them in season five.

Let me know if this is getting off-topic or belongs somewhere else.
 
Yes, getting somewhat off topic now.

What impact would Faith dying have had on the Mayor's plans?
 
nightshade said:
What impact would Faith dying have had on the Mayor's plans?
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Nothing as far as I can see. She never came out of the coma until after he was dead, so if she had died in the fall, it would not have changed anything as she had already contributed everything she would have contributed.

However, it might have made it harder to defeat the Mayor; without her being in a coma, she couldn't have shared a dream with Buffy and couldn't have passed on what helped Buffy lure him into a trap.
 
If Faith died then an un-staked Mr. Trick remains The Mayor's right hand for the run-up to the Ascension, not much else changes.

I imagine Mr. Trick would have a rough go of it if the Mayor told him to try and seduce Angel though.

hannahlibbie said:
Buffy does stab demon-Giles, but it takes her only a couple of seconds of looking into his eyes to realize it's him. She says in ANM, "You're the only person in the world that can look that annoyed with me," so it isn't just his physical eyes being the same but also his expression. She recognizes Giles' personality in there.

Meanwhile Riley spends a whole night with Faith-in-Buffy and (while he does notice she's acting weird) he doesn't clock that something's badly wrong until she really freaks out. Even then, he still thinks she's Buffy.
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In Riley's defence it might have something to do with Buffy knowing Giles for years at this point. In contrast Buffy and Riley have only known each other (intimately) for a few months. Buffy and Giles are aware of lots of super-weird magics, Riley is not.

And...I mean, there was that time that Buffy told Riley she was getting married to Spike, was acting very strange and out of character, and then later she dismisses it with 'lol, I was joking, dude, the look on your face'.
Basically, from Riley's perspective, Buffy has acted odd before and nothing came of it.
 
We wouldn’t have had the whole storyline of Angel helping her and fighting for her and encouraging her to redeem herself, which was very interesting, and so important to her character development. I’d argue Angel saved Faith’s life, and their friendship is one of my favorite relationships in the series.
 
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