Enemies (16 Mar. 1999)

Faith uses a shaman's powers to take away Angel's soul.

Director:

David Grossman

Writers:

Joss Whedon (creator), Douglas Petrie

Stars:

Sarah Michelle Gellar, Nicholas Brendon, Alyson Hannigan

Cast

Episode cast overview:
Sarah Michelle Gellar	...	Buffy Summers
Nicholas Brendon	...	Xander Harris
Alyson Hannigan	...	Willow Rosenberg
Charisma Carpenter	...	Cordelia Chase
David Boreanaz	...	Angel
Seth Green	...	Oz
Anthony Head	...	Rupert Giles (as Anthony Stewart Head)
Kristine Sutherland	...	Joyce Summers
Harry Groener	...	Mayor Richard Wilkins
Alexis Denisof	...	Wesley Wyndam-Pryce
Michael Manasseri	...	Skyler
Gary Bullock	...	Shrouded Man
Eliza Dushku	...	Faith

Storyline

Horned Demon Skyler offers the slayers to sell them the Books of Ascension for $5,000, so he can flee from the Hell-mouth by plane; Faith informs the Mayor, who makes her steal them and kill Skyler, then turn to Angel 'scared' to seduce him but fails. Buffy consults the gang plus Wesley, they find a reference to a 1723 precedent when a whole English village disappeared. The mayor enlists someone in a ninja suit who manages to turn Angel back into Angelus by stealing his soul with Faith's help, they become lovers. The mayor demonstrates his invulnerability and approves Angelus's plan to capture and torture Buffy, just not kill her soon to avoid a replacement, again Faith helps, but actually...

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Plot Keywords:

female protagonist | hero gone bad | kissing | library

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Genres:

Action | Drama | Fantasy

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Certificate:

TV-PG

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

16 March 1999 (USA)

Filming Locations:

1800 Stewart St., Santa Monica, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Mutant Enemy, Kuzui Enterprises, Sandollar Television

Technical Specs

Runtime:

60 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Goofs

When Buffy and Faith go to the demon's apartment, you can see where the front door's jamb was broken away when Faith kicked it in on her earlier visit, but when Buffy closes the door you hear the latch engaging an intact jamb with a strike plate, which we just saw is no longer there. The same goof occurs when Faith pulls the door shut as they leave.

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Quotes

Angel: You know, I never properly thanked you for sending me to Hell.
Buffy: No...
Angel: Yeah, and I'm just wonderin', where do I start? A card, fruit basket, hmm? Evisceration?

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Connections

References Super Friends (1973)

User Reviews

The die is cast

Enemies

The Good; Loads more Faith/Mayor stuff and some strong emotional work between Angel and Buffy. The return of 'Angelus' and a heck of a Keyser Soze. Faith's treachery revealed at last. Also some very nice comedy with Xander and an interesting scene with Angel, Faith and Joyce.

The Bad; Again quite painful to watch Faith's slide to the darkside.

Best line; A toss up between Buffy's triumphant 'Psych!' and 'Minature golf'

Character death; Only the demon. Faith still hasn't gone all the way yet, she still feels guilt about what she does. Again we see a non-dangerous demon spared by Buffy, shades of grey entering the Buffyverse rather than just humans good/demons bad. Willow bags her first vamp who's skin must be awfully soft if it can be penetrated by a pencil.

Tied up; Buffy in chains. Or is she? Angelus comments that Buffy and he never tried chains, Faith comments that bondage looks good on her.

Knocked out; Buffy and Angel (or are they?)

Women good/men bad; The women are very bad in this ep

Jeez!; Faith gutting the demon seems very graphic

Kinky dinky; Faith sitting astride Angelus and him asking her to 'wriggle'. Faith pawing at him in the Mayor's office (weirdly I think ED looks her most beautiful ever in this scene). Buffy chained up with Faith about to 'torture' her smacks mightily of S&M 'If you're a screamer, feel free'. Angel(us) flatters Joyce (love KS's little 'I still got it' look of triumph). Buffy and Angel go to see some sort of arty yet sexy French film which can't help their celibacy towards each other. Faith refers to the then topical Bill Clinton/Monica Lewinsky sex scandal "Close but no cigar". Faith's low cut black top really is hookerwear, her cleavage looking like it's about to explode out of it at any moment. Would Faith having sex with Angel really have robbed him off his soul? To judge by what we learn on Angel (Darla, Nina, The Furies, Eve) almost certainly not. Willow describes Faith as the 'do that girl' although she's done her own boyfriend stealing in her time. Faith and Angelus seem to think beating each other up is foreplay. Angelus refers to himself as a boy toy as Faith refers to Xander in Consequences. The Mayor once again demonstrates his father's love for Faith, concerned that Angelus will keep her out late. Oz refers to Cordy as jail-bait.

Calling Captain Subtext; Faith kissing Buffy even after they fight, even when they're holding knives at each other's throats. Interesting to note Faith's little look when 'Angelus' speaks to Joyce, it's rather guarded, she's not going to let him hurt her. Faith tells Angel she's 'keeping Buffy warm for him'. Her rant whilst Buffy is chained up has the air of a rejected lover, jealous of Buffy's boyfriend. Even now Faith and Buffy still walk arm in arm and refer to one another as girlfriend. Angelus wants the Mayor to call him 'Master'.

Where's Dawn? Presumably at the house when Faith and Angel arrive.When Faith has her rant against Buffy she notes 'you got the mom!' making the subtext pretty much text. Anyone want to bet that in everyone's revised memories she also says 'You got the little sister'? After all, Dawn could very easily have been Faith's sister if things had worked out differently.

Questions and observations; And now the die is cast! So what would have happened if Angel had really turned? Either Buffy defeats them, the Scoobies rescue her or Faith doesn't go through with it? When Faith is about to torture Buffy she seems to still be psyching herself up, as if she can't quite go through with it. Read a very good fanfic once where Angelus does start to torture Buffy but her screams revive memories of Faith' own childhood abuse and she rescues Buffy. When Faith goes to Angel with blood on her hands is it all a ruse or is she partly genuine? She's obviously genuinely upset at facing the demon murder scene and Buffy's reference to 'Someone's idea of a party' What would Faith do if Angelus started to suck on a passerby? Would her Slayer instincts kick in as they do in 'Who are you?' There are texts that Giles doesn't want Willow looking at, fearful of her growing magic power.

Some great acting by DB, he can effortlessly slip into Angelus now with just a look. Interesting that EDs crack up at the Mayor's line at the end was unscripted. If Angel was going to lose his soul again wouldn't the gypsy woman see the signs? Angel says it's been a while since he's been to the movies, not since his Charlton Heston fad in the 70s. From what we learn in the later seasons of Angel it's highly unlikely that Angelus would have been content to be The Mayor's lackey. Wes is more and more part of the gang and seems to be on better terms with Buff and co. Nice to see 'Waiting for Godot' mentioned in an American teen TV series. Actually if Angelus had killed Buffy we wouldn't have had a new Slayer as The Gift shows, Faith would have come back to the good guys. Angelus calls Buffy sleepyhead which is Joyce's pet name for her. Love Buffy's Union Jack top (this is when the Spice Girls were huge). Faith hasn't been informed on all the details of the Ascension. Would she still love the Mayor when he's a great big snake? Also obvious that Faith would like the Scoobies to be hers.

This appears to signal Cordelia's return to the Scooby gang, she's back in research mode and will be a permanent fixture in all future Scooby adventures.

Marks out of 10;

6/10