I recently reewatched this episode. I was impressed with the acting. But I really think Dushku was maybe a smidge better than SMG. When she was captured by the counsil or talking to Giles. I really felt that Buffy was in Faith's body. She had the body language, and when she spoke I really thought it was Buffy. Even her face and eyes was Buffy-like. SMG did a good job, she had to play Faith trying to play Buffy. It was impressive, but I still thought Dushku did a better job. What do other people think?
Who are you? - SMG vs. Eliza Dushku. Who did the better job of playing each other?
- Thread starter Heljar
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Cohen
Hellhound
I agree. Dushku felt like Buffy from the moment the switch happened. The viewer doesn’t quite understand it until Who Are You, but you can see that instant change. And it’s consistent throughout the episode. SMG just felt like... Bad Buffy. Which may have been because Faith was trying to act like Buffy, so she wasn’t really acting like Faith... but it just didn’t hit the right note for me.
white avenger
white avenger
I think that both Sarah and Eliza did an excellent job in this episode, but I would have to say that Eliza had the harder job, considering that she had more to have to incorporate into her portrayal, simply because Buffy was much better known than Faith. As was mentioned above, Sarah basically just played bad (slut) Buffy. Eliza had to portray a much more complicated, well established character that someone else had created.
one eyed chicklet
Scooby
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I would have to disagree there. Although Buffy is a well established character, it was definitely the most difficult of the two - Dushku definitely did an amazing job with it though.
SMG on the other hand, had to play Faith pretending to be Buffy, which is way more complicated than just being someone else's character. She had to show Faith's torn up character whilst pretending she was still the Buffy all the scoobies know and love. I'm not saying SMG did it better at all, but she definitely had the much harder job.
SMG, hands down, though mostly because there is so much more material to work with and because she playing Faith pretending to be Buffy. My favorite example is the bathroom mirror scene, which is beyond brilliant and a great job by Sarah. However, I still adore Eliza's brief version of the Buffster.
thrasherpix
Scooby
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This episode is the one I'll mention if someone says either of them are bad at their job. Too close for me to call, though.
DeadlyDuo
Scooby
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I think SMG had the harder job. She had to play Faith pretending to be Buffy before Faith actually tries to be Buffy. ED's acting is generally decent in the episode but her delivery of the "stop inching...you were inching" line was a little over the top and actually came out quite whiny in my view.
