Who Are You
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| Buffy the Vampire Slayer | |
| Season 4, Episode 16 | |
 | |
| Air date | February 29, 2000 |
| Written by | Joss Whedon |
| Directed by | Joss Whedon |
| Episode Guide | |
| previous This Year's Girl | next Superstar |
"Who Are You" is episode 16 of season 4 of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Contents |
[edit] Plot synopsis
Faith (in Buffy's body) stands by Joyce while Buffy (in Faith's body) is carried away in an ambulance. They discuss Faith, and Joyce notes how horribly unhappy Faith must be. After their conversation, Joyce hugs Faith, who is uncomfortable by this sudden affection. Afterwards, Faith goes upstairs to take a bath. She tries to get used to her new body, and practices phrases she thinks Buffy would say. Faith then crimps her hair, puts on sultry makeup, and gets dressed up in black leather. Soon after, she buys a plane ticket with Joyce's credit card, and then goes out to meet the gang. Meanwhile, Willow and Tara talk about Faith, and Tara confesses that she "belongs" to Willow.
An armored truck runs into the cop car carrying Buffy, and the leather-clad members of the Watchers Council jump out. They capture Buffy and put her in the back of their truck. Giles soon informs the gang that the Watchers Council has sent a team to apprehend Faith and take her back to England. Faith is ecstatic at the news, and she celebrates by dancing with several men and women (concurrently) at the Bronze until she runs into Spike. Once she realizes who Spike is, Faith speaks to him seductively and teases him ruthlessly, telling him all the things she could do to his body; when it is obvious that Spike is confused, yet attracted to her, she concludes by telling him that she won't do anything she could do to Spike "... because it's wrong." Frustrated and furious, Spike promises that as soon as he gets his chip out, they will have a confrontation. Faith, however, merely smirks at Spike's threat, and walks away from him, and he storms out of the Bronze soon after.
Elsewhere, a vampire pack return to their nest to find Adam waiting for them. Adam talks to them, discussing things that vampires fear and concluding that vampires are a paradox; because they are immortal, they fear death at every corner even more than mortals do. Meanwhile, Buffy awakes to find herself 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 they are unfazed: she is merely a package for them to deliver. At the Bronze, Willow introduces Tara to Faith. When Willow goes to get drinks, Faith makes no effort to maintain Buffy's persona and says several rude, harsh things to Tara. Willow returns and points out a vampire with a girl, which Faith reluctantly leaves to slay. When the girl thanks Faith for saving her, Faith is stunned by the girl's gratitude.
One of the council members, Smith, enters the truck where Buffy is being held, and she attacks him. However, the other members, Collins and Weatherby, remain focused on the mission. At the Bronze, Tara explains to Willow that Buffy was not Buffy; Tara recognized the dark energy coming from the body, and knows that it is not Willow's friend. As Willow and Tara prepare to perform a ritual to locate Buffy's real energy, Faith visits Riley and seduces him in the guise of Buffy. At first, Faith is overly sexy and provocative; however, she is surprised to find that Riley is not interested in games, and that he wants to make love rather than just have sex. After they sleep together, Riley tells Faith that he loves her, which confuses and disturbs her own identity yet again. In the morning, she attempts to leave quickly from a sleeping Riley and catch her flight, but ends up having a confrontation with Forrest, who is concerned about her influence over his friend.
When the council members realize that they will not be able to get the dangerous Slayer to England, they decide to kill her instead. Buffy, however, is prepared; she uses Collins's gun to break her chains and the lock on the door, and then moves to the driver's seat and leaves with the armored truck.
Faith, meanwhile, now at the airport, prepares to leave town by obtaining a boarding pass for a plane. Buffy arrives at Giles's place and struggles to convince him of the truth about the body swap. She reminds him about his stint as a demon, and about his sexual relationship with her mother, which sufficiently convinces him of her true identity. Willow and Tara arrive, having created a katra that will switch Buffy and Faith back the next time they make contact. After turning on the TV, they learn that the group of vampires are holding hostages at a church. At the airport, Faith sees this on TV and decides to visit the church as well. Riley arrives, wanting to help, but Faith reminds him of his injury and asks him to stay 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. The real 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, a revelation that deeply troubles them both. Faith leaves town in a cargo car of a train.
[edit] Acting
[edit] Starring
- Sarah Michelle Gellar as Buffy Summers/Faith
- Nicholas Brendon as Xander Harris
- Alyson Hannigan as Willow Rosenberg
- Marc Blucas as Riley Finn
- James Marsters as Spike
- and Anthony Stewart Head as Rupert Giles
[edit] Guest starring
- Kristine Sutherland as Joyce Summers
- Amber Benson as Tara
- Leonard Roberts as Forrest Gates
- George Hertzberg as Adam
- Chet Grissom as Detective
- Alastair Duncan as Collins
- Emma Caulfield as Anya
- and Eliza Dushku as Faith/Buffy
[edit] Co-starring
- Rick Stear as Booke
- Jeff Ricketts as Weatherby
- Kevin Owers as Smith
- Amy Powell as Reporter
- Rick Scarry as Sargeant
- Jennifer S. Albright as Date
[edit] Quotes and trivia
- Sarah Michelle Gellar cites this as one of her favorite episodes, saying that "Eliza was brilliant."
- Actresses Sarah Michelle Gellar and Eliza Dushku do a fantastic job playing each other's roles.
- This episode follows immediately after the previous episode This Year's Girl. But nobody's noticed that a side effect of the Katra body-switching spell is to make Buffy's hair curly.
- The credits show "ELIZA DUSHKU as Buffy" (not Faith) as a special guest, so the credits reflect the exchange correctly.
- We learn in this episode that at some point in the past Buffy was issued a U.S. passport. As we see Faith (in Buffy's body) looking at her passport during or after she buys a plane ticket to Mexico.
- Faith (in Buffy's body) comments about how Xander's sexual performance, and of course she knows from personal experience in The Zeppo.
