Season 4, Episode 16

Written by Joss Whedon

Directed by Joss Whedon

Original Airdate: 28 February 2000

Giles "Look, I know what you are going to say, and..."
Buffy "I'm Buffy."
Giles "All right, I didn't know what you were going to say, but that doesn't make you any less crazy."

REGULAR CAST

• Sarah Michelle Gellar as Faith Lehane

• Nicholas Brendon as Xander Harris

• Alyson Hannigan as Willow Rosenberg

• Marc Blucas as Riley Finn

• James Marsters as Spike

• Anthony Stewart Head as Rupert Giles

GUEST CAST

• Kristine Sutherland as Joyce Summers

• Amber Benson as Tara Maclay

• Leonard Roberts as Forrest Gates

• George Hertzberg as Adam

• Chet Grissom as Detective Clark

• Alistair Duncan as Collins

• Emma Caulfield as Anya Jenkins

• Eliza Dushku as Buffy Summers

CO-STARRING

• Rick Stear as Booke

• Jeff Ricketts as Weatherby

• Kevin Owers as Smith

• Amy Powell as Reporter

• Rick Scarry as Sergeant

• Jennifer S. Albright as Date

SYNOPSIS

• In Buffy's body, Faith stands by Joyce while Buffy is carried away by an ambulance. The police know how dangerous she is. Joyce and Faith talk about the evil Slayer and then Faith goes up to take a bath. She tries to get used to her new body, and practices phrases she thinks Buffy would say. Willow and Tara talk about Faith, and Tara confesses that she belongs to Willow. Faith gets dressed up in leather and after buying a plane ticket with Joyce's credit card, then goes out to meet the gang.
  
  Buffy is being taken away by the police but an armoured truck runs into the cop car and the leather-clad members of the Watcher's Council jump out, free Buffy and put her in the back of the armoured truck. Giles informs the gang that a special team of Watcher Council members have taken Faith's body and will take her back to England. Faith is dancing away at the Bronze and runs into a vampire. After he identifies himself as Spike, Faith has fun, speaking to him seductively and teasing him ruthlessly.
  
  A group of vampires return to their lair to see that Adam is there. Adam learns about what the vampires fear, concluding that vampires are a paradox. Buffy wakes up chained in the back of a truck with the council members. She tries to convince them that her body has been switched with the other Slayer, but she is merely a package for them to deliver. At the Bronze, Willow introduces Tara to Faith and when Willow goes to get drinks, Faith is incredibly rude to Willow's new friend. Willow returns and points out a vampire with a girl, which Faith reluctantly goes to slay.
  
  One of the council members, Smith, enters the truck where Buffy is and she attacks him. However, the other members, Collins and Weatherby don't seem to care as long as their mission is successful. Tara explains to Willow that Buffy wasn't Buffy because her energy was different. With a ring of Buffy's, Willow and Tara plan to perform a ritual to cross to the Nether Realm and find Buffy's real energy. Faith visits Riley and tries to seduce him with her bad girl attitude, but he's not buying it. Just as she's about to leave though, he stops her and kisses her.
  
  When Riley says he loves Buffy, Faith freaks out and tries to get away. Adam instructs the vampires on how to face their fears and tell them to face their greatest fear of all. Forrest and Faith have a confrontation as Faith leaves Riley's room. When the Council realizes that they won't be able to get the dangerous Slayer to England, they go to kill her. She is prepared though and after using Collins's gun to break her chains and the lock on the door, she gets in the driver seat and drives the armoured truck away.
  
  Faith gets her boarding pass for a plane. Buffy arrives at Giles's place and tells him about him turning into a demon and his having sex with her mother which convinces him that she's really Buffy and not Faith. Willow and Tara arrive and have created a 'katra' that will switch Buffy and Faith back if they make contact again. After turning on the TV they see that the group of vampires are holding hostages at a church. At the airport, Faith sees this on TV and then goes to the church as well. Riley arrives and wants to help, but Faith reminds him of his injury and he stays outside.
  
  Faith challenges the vampires inside, and as the last one is hitting Faith, Buffy stakes him from behind. The two Slayers fight and Faith lets out her anger towards Buffy and herself. Buffy grabs Faith's hand and the two switch back to their own bodies. Faith runs away and is gone without a trace. The next day, Buffy and Riley talk and Buffy realizes that Riley had sex with her while Faith was in her body. Faith leaves town in a cargo car of a train.

TRIVIA

• There were six drafts for the script for this episode.

• Faith was supposed to tell Riley about the whole Buffy/Angel relationship but it was edited out of the final script because rumours of this got out to fans before the episode aired.

• Sarah Michelle Gellar and Eliza Dushku do very good impersonations of each others characters in this episode. For example, when Sarah is playing Faith at Giles' house she says "about" in a Boston accent, which is Faith's accent. The opening credits name Gellar as Faith and Dushku as Buffy. Sarah told Entertainment Weekly in 2003 that this is one of her favourite episodes. She said, "I loved the episode in which Buffy and Faith switched. That was one of my all-time favourites because I thought Eliza was so great."

CONTINUITY

• After her comment in the previous episode about Faith going for her boyfriends, Buffy has a shock when Faith does indeed go for and seduces Riley during this episode.

• While trying to convince Giles of her true identity, Buffy mentions various things that only she would know, by mentioning his being a demon (A New Man), his girlfriend Olivia (The Freshman and Hush), blowing up the High School (Graduation Day (Part 2)) and his having sex with Joyce (Band Candy). She also makes reference to her being able to read minds, which happened during an encounter with demon blood in Earshot.

• Channel 14 reports on the hostages held in the church by vampires. They also reported on the dead boy in Goodbye Iowa.

• When Tara says that there's something wrong with Buffy, Willow says, “You didn’t sense a hyena energy at all, did you? Because hyena possession is just… unpleasant.” She's referring to Xander's possession in The Pack.

• Faith may have kick-started Spike's obsession with Buffy in this episode when she flirts with him in her body. She also references The Zeppo when she mentions that she wouldn't want to cut into Xander's 'seven minutes' of sex with Anya.

• Willow and Tara's relationship is advanced some more as the two perform a powerful spell together. Tara later tells Willow that she is "hers". Faith is the first to notice their budding romance.

GOOFS

• At the end of the last episode, Buffy had straight hair, but at the beginning of this episode she has wavy hair. This could be a way to acknowledge the characters' body swap.

• Faith and Buffy broke the glass door in the Summers house when fighting in the previous episode, but it's fixed now.

The Freshman | Living Conditions | The Harsh Light of Day | Fear, Itself | Beer Bad

Wild at Heart | The Initiative | Pangs | Something Blue | Hush | Doomed

A New Man | The I in Team | Goodbye Iowa | This Year's Girl | Who Are You | Superstar

Where the Wild Things Are | New Moon Rising | The Yoko Factor | Primeval | Restless