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1) This review will almost definitely contain spoilers for episodes after this one.
1) This review will almost definitely contain spoilers for episodes after this one.
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With that being said, let’s get started, shall we?
I don’t think this will surprise any of you that have been reading my reviews since the beginning, but I adore Faith. I love emotionally complex characters that you love to hate, but can also empathise with greatly. Faith is the embodiment of that. In this episode, Faith wakes up from her coma and wackiness ensues. Having Faith back makes you realise just how much the show has been missing her in her absence. Take a look back over this season thus far. A certain amount of it has been good (“Pangs”, “Something Blue”, and “Hush” immediately spring to mind), but it has definitely been lacking when compared to the two seasons that came before it. A big part of the reason why is because there hasn’t been much in the way of emotionally complex characters or emotional turmoil in relation to the Scoobies. There has been emotional turmoil for Riley and there have been moments of drama for other characters (like Oz leaving Willow), but something has certainly been missing. Now, Faith arrives for two episodes and delivers arguably the greatest two episodes of the season outside of “Hush”. Why? Because she causes emotional devastation, flips the Scoobies on their heads and then leaves. She shakes things up and helps to separate the vastly inferior Initiative arc.
One of the things that makes “This Year’s Girl” work for me is that Faith was in a coma for eight months. The story wasn’t rushed at all! Faith has deliberately been mentioned very little in this season because they want you to forget about Faith so her return will be all the more dramatic. If Faith had awoken from her coma three or four episodes into this season, would it have held the same emotional weight? I don’t think so. Something that annoys me about television shows in general is that stories are rushed to keep the audience interested and to get the big payoff as soon as possible. While this works sometimes, it also leaves me feeling annoyed for certain stories. Take Connor’s kidnap in “Angel” for example. Angel was devastated after his son was kidnapped and taken to a Hell dimension. THREE EPISODES LATER, he was out of the Hell dimension and running around Los Angeles again as a teenager. This is a story that didn’t have to be resolved that quickly. Why not wait until the beginning of season four? Another example is bringing Angel back so quickly into “Buffy The Vampire Slayer” season three. I understand the need to bring him back as soon as possible, but it they’d held off another five or six episodes, his reappearance would have been more shocking, less predictable, and held more emotional weight. In “This Year’s Girl”, it’s done correctly and the results are superb because of it. I feel that “Buffy The Vampire Slayer” season four gets a lot of unnecessary dislike. It’s not the greatest season of the show, the ‘Big Bad’ is rather lame, and the Initiative plot leaves a lot to be desired, but the standalone episodes are some of the best that the show ever produces. “Fear Itself”, “Pangs”, “Something Blue”, “Hush”, “This Year’s Girl”, and “Who Are You?” are all terrific.
The episode opens with a cryptic dream sequence between Faith and Buffy. Much like their dream conversation in “Graduation Day”, it’s filled with foreshadowing and hard to distinguish messages. For example, Buffy’s “I wish I could stay”, and Faith’s reaction, “you have to go, little sis’ coming”, is foreshadowing Dawn’s arrival at the beginning of the next season. When watching this episode, it could easily be brushed aside as random dream babble, but those of us that are diehard fans of the show know that Joss never puts a dream sequence in without a reason.
The next dream sequence we’re treated to leaves my heart feeling all warm and fuzzy. Faith is dreaming about her and The Mayor having an adorable picnic outside. I’ve mentioned a few times before, but I am a huge fan of the Mayor-Faith relationship. It’s highly dysfunctional and a little disturbing, but at the same time it’s sweet and genuinely affectionate. Faith’s dream is great because it’s so normal. Faith is a character that has a non-existent relationship with her real father and her mother was an abusive alcoholic. She found a surrogate father in Richard Wilkins and he found a surrogate daughter in her...then Buffy comes along, stabs The Mayor, and starts chasing Faith. That cuteness was destroyed rather quickly, wasn’t it? What this shows me is that in Faith’s warped mind, Buffy is the villain. Buffy is the murdering fiend who ruined her relationship with The Mayor and destroyed their happy home. Eventually, Faith drags herself out of a muddy grave and in doing so she wakes up from her coma. The metaphor here being that Faith has found the strength to fight Buffy again and fight to live again.
As Faith is walking around the darkly lit hospital, the musical score “Faith’s New World”, by Christophe Beck, is playing. It’s beautiful and will be used again in the “Buffy The Vampire Slayer” video game, “Chaos Bleeds”. I love the score title “Faith’s New World” because that’s exactly what Faith is experiencing after waking up from her coma. Everything has changed for Faith. Just watch her face as she’s told that The Mayor died during Sunnydale High’s last graduation and that she’s been in a coma for eight months. Eliza Dushku is flawless in that scene. She somehow manages to convey strength, vulnerability, ruthlessness, desperation, heartache, and confusion, all in one scene! It’s so rare to see Faith show weakness, but here she does, even if it’s just for a moment. In that second, Faith’s world fell apart and can never be put back together again. The Mayor is gone, her surrogate father is gone, Sunnydale High is gone, and she’s alone in the world with nobody to guide her.
Having Faith’s nurse be a member of the Watcher’s Council was another fantastic addition to the episode because it makes perfect sense that the Watcher’s Council would want to keep an eye on the formerly murderous and rogue Vampire Slayer. I’m assuming that it’s the Watcher’s Council who call Buffy and make her aware that Faith is awake. After discovering that Faith is now wandering around Sunnydale again, Buffy is willing to give Faith the benefit of the doubt, which is an oddly touching thing to see given their history together. It’s naive and a little stupid, but it’s touching nonetheless. This is something I feel Buffy loses after her resurrection in season six. She becomes a lot more focused on the big picture and the greater good as opposed to the more innocent person she is here, willing to accept that there’s a spark of good in everybody deep down.
I was so damn shocked to see Faith casually turn around and proclaim “you’re not me” to Buffy and Willow, who’re searching for Faith on campus. Faith was out in the daylight, casually waiting for Buffy to find her! It’s such an unexpected and unusual strategy from Faith that I didn’t expect it in the least! It’s really one of those “oh shit!” moments. If it wasn’t for the conversation between Faith and Joyce towards the end of the episode, the conversation between Faith and Buffy here would be the highlight of “This Year’s Girl” for me. It gives us so much information into the mental state of Faith.
Buffy: “Faith, these are innocent people!”
Faith: “No such animal.”
That, right there, has always been one of the biggest differences between Faith and Buffy. Buffy has this wonderful, un-jaded ability to always see the good in people, whereas Faith is suspicious and has a vendetta against the entire world due to the hand life has dealt her. They’re polar opposites, which makes for a great dissection of what it means to be a Vampire Slayer.
Faith: “I kept having this dream, I’m not sure what it means. In the dream, this self-righteous, blonde chick stabs me and you wanna know why?”
Buffy: “You had it coming.”
Faith: “That’s one interpretation, but in my dream she does it for a guy. Try it red and you lose an arm. I wake up to find out that this blonde chick isn’t even dating the guy she was so nuts about before. I mean, she’s moved on to the first college beef stick she meets. Not only has she forgotten about the love of her life, she’s forgot about the chick she nearly killed for him. So that’s my dream.”
This is one of the better speeches of season four, in my opinion. Season four is a little weak on speeches when you compare it to some of the brilliant ones that are voiced during the two seasons that surround it. Faith is angry with Buffy. Not just because Buffy put her in a coma, but because Buffy put her in a coma to save a guy that she isn’t even dating anymore! Just eight short months down the line and Buffy already has a new boyfriend and has forgotten all about Faith in the process. I can understand Faith’s rage. Faith and Buffy have a little scrap before Faith flees from Buffy and the cops.
The Watcher’s Council showing up at Giles’ house was another interesting moment because they haven’t been in contact with Giles since they fired him over a year ago. Now, they need his help in capturing the rogue Slayer. Oh, how the tables have turned...if I was Giles, I’d have charged them for his help and made Quentin Travers write him an apology letter in yellow crayon. One of the three Watcher’s Council members, Jeff Ricketts, is a client of mine. I book all his convention appearances around the world and run his personal Facebook fan page alongside him (www.facebook.com/JeffRIckettsOfficial). He’s a terrific man and a very talented actor. He will also appear in “Angel” season one’s “Sanctuary” as the same character (Weatherby), as well as appearing in “Angel” season four’s “Sacrifice” as the Spider Demon, and two episodes of Joss Whedon’s “Firefly” (“The Train Job” and “Ariel”) as one of the two ‘Hands of Blue’. As far as I’m aware, he’s one of only six actors to appear in “Buffy The Vampire Slayer”, “Angel”, and “Firefly”. Now that I’m done promoting and gushing...
The Mayor leaving Faith a videotape is really cool for a number of reasons. Firstly, it’s a videotape! Like fez’s, videotapes are cool. Secondly, I love how confident The Mayor was that Faith would wake up. I also love how well he knew Faith. He knew that after his death, Faith would be directionless, without a friend, and her days would be numbered. After making her smile in the video (The Mayor managed to make Faith genuinely smile! No other character can do that! Ugh, I’m having Mayor-Faith feels!), the tone of his message gets rather dark. He explains to Faith that after she wakes up and he’s gone, she won’t have a place in the world anymore. It’s not exactly an inspiring message to leave Faith, but what he says is absolutely true. Faith is feeling alone and directionless. Faith is feeling abandoned and miserable. The Mayor made Faith feel needed and without him she has nothing. However, just because Faith’s remaining days are numbered, it doesn’t mean she can’t go out with a bang. The Mayor leaves Faith a magical device that allows her to switch bodies with Buffy. Not only does this give us a fantastic way to explore both characters in the next episode, but it also makes us wonder about The Mayor’s ultimate plan regarding the device. Did The Mayor intend to give Faith a second chance at life through Buffy’s body? Did he intend for Faith to live in Buffy’s body forever after the body-switch? I’m inclined to think that he did. He knew that Faith was wanted for murder so he gave her a way out and a fresh start at life without him. Kinda adorable in a sick, twisted, disturbing kinda way, right? Finally, having The Mayor back is always a great thing. Harry steals every scene he’s in and he’s arguably the greatest ‘Big Bad’ in the history of the show.
Armed with the magical body-switching device, Faith arrives at the Summers’ household. Joyce hasn’t been in an episode since “Fear Itself”. That’s eleven episodes ago! I’ve missed you, Joyce! The reason for this was primarily because Kristine Sutherland wanted some time off to concentrate on her family and other things. Joss granted Kristine this time off under the proviso that she returned for quite a few episodes in season five, ready to be killed off. The confrontation between Faith and Joyce is easily my favourite part of the episode. However mean she is in saying it, Faith is right in her analysis that Buffy has forgotten about them both...to a certain extent at least. It’s understandable though! Buffy has gone off to college and a whole new world of life and opportunities have opened up for her. It’s perfectly natural – especially considering Buffy’s responsibilities as the Slayer – that she’d get caught up in this new bubble and forget to visit her mother very often. The cool thing about this scene is that Faith and Joyce understand each other so well. Faith knows exactly what to say to upset Joyce because what she says has elements of truth hidden within it. In contrast to this, Joyce’s complete lack of fear and complete...faith in Buffy (see what I did there? Faith in Buffy? Nevermind...) is heart-warming. Joyce’s complete confidence in Buffy is proven correct when Buffy comes crashing through the window to save Joyce in the nick of time.
The fight scene between Faith and Buffy to close the episode is very well choreographed. It’s probably my second favourite Buffy-Faith fight scene, after their fantastic one in “Graduation Day Part One”. Every fight they have is memorable and has a high level of intensity. The last fight these two characters had was in Faith’s apartment after Buffy went to confront Faith. In this episode, it takes place in Buffy’s family home after Faith has come to confront Buffy. Very interesting parallel. Faith’s taking the fight to Buffy this time. While we’re on the subject, how many times has the Summers’ house been trashed over the past four years?! I hope Joyce has contents insurance...
The episode closes on one of the most shocking, unexpected, greatest moments in the show’s history, with Faith (in Buffy’s body) proclaiming that she’s “five by five”, and smirking to herself. When I first saw this episode, I was literally sat there for two full minutes, gaping at the screen open-mouthed. It’s a terrific cliffhanger and sets up the next episode, “Who Are You?”, very nicely.
In addition to the primary story of the episode, “This Year’s Girl” also holds some other noteworthy moments...
Xander: “It’s called a blaster, Wil. A word that tends to discourage experimentation. Now, if it were called the ‘orgasmator’, I’d be the first to try your basic button-press approach.”
Xander’s subsequent jealousy over Riley easily getting the blaster working is absolutely hilarious. I’m glad there’s a moment of humour or two amidst all the darkness and chaos involving Faith.
Speaking of Riley, Buffy comparing his situation with The Initiative to her previous dealings with the Watcher’s Council was pretty cool. Buffy explaining to Riley that she chose to walk away from the Watcher’s Council definitely played a part in Riley’s decision to walk away from The Initiative in “New Moon Rising”. The difference is that Riley isn’t a leader, he’s a follower. He needs the structure and command of solider life in order to feel fulfilled. Without The Initiative to give his life meaning, Riley falls deeper and deeper into insecurity and depression during the next season and eventually he chooses to walk away from Buffy and rejoin The Initiative.
Adam studying and experimenting on humans and demons alike is a pretty interesting concept. The only problem is that his eventual plan of a hybrid army comes across as rather lame. Adam is like a child. He’s new to the world and he wants to discover and explore everything he can get his hands on in order to study how everything works.
Spike: “I’ll head out, find this girl, tell her exactly where all of you are and then watch as she kills you. Can’t any one of your damned little Scooby club try to remember that I hate you all!”
Oh, Spike, there’s a fine line between love and hate.
Quote Of The Episode
Faith: “It’s like you keep sinking a little deeper every day and nobody even sees.”
Joyce: “Were you planning to slit my throat anytime soon?”
Faith: “Don’t tell me you don’t see it, Joyce. You’ve served your purpose, you’ve squirted out the kid, raised her up, and now you might as well be dead. I mean, nobody cares, nobody remembers, especially not Buffy-fabulous-superhero. Sooner or later, you’re going to have to face it, she was over us a long time ago, Joyce. Too busy climbing onto her new boy-toy to give a single thought to the people that mattered. I mean, you’re her mother, and she just leaves you here to die.”
Firstly, sassy Joyce is amazing. I like to think it’s where Buffy gets her sassiness from. Secondly, I could talk about Faith’s speech forever. So much is happening in that speech. I think that the first part of it (“It’s like you keep sinking a little deeper every day and nobody even sees.”) is actually a prelude to Faith’s breakdown in L.A. in a few episodes time, when she begs Angel to kill her. Since killing Allan Finch in “Bad Girls”, she’s been on a massive downward spiral and she’s just about to hit rock bottom. She’s depressed, she doesn’t care anymore, and she just wants to “go out with a bang”, as The Mayor put it.
FINAL SCORE: 8/10
What are your thoughts on "This Year's Girl"? Did you enjoy this episode? Dislike it? Let me know all your thoughts in the comments section below!
With that being said, let’s get started, shall we?
I don’t think this will surprise any of you that have been reading my reviews since the beginning, but I adore Faith. I love emotionally complex characters that you love to hate, but can also empathise with greatly. Faith is the embodiment of that. In this episode, Faith wakes up from her coma and wackiness ensues. Having Faith back makes you realise just how much the show has been missing her in her absence. Take a look back over this season thus far. A certain amount of it has been good (“Pangs”, “Something Blue”, and “Hush” immediately spring to mind), but it has definitely been lacking when compared to the two seasons that came before it. A big part of the reason why is because there hasn’t been much in the way of emotionally complex characters or emotional turmoil in relation to the Scoobies. There has been emotional turmoil for Riley and there have been moments of drama for other characters (like Oz leaving Willow), but something has certainly been missing. Now, Faith arrives for two episodes and delivers arguably the greatest two episodes of the season outside of “Hush”. Why? Because she causes emotional devastation, flips the Scoobies on their heads and then leaves. She shakes things up and helps to separate the vastly inferior Initiative arc.
One of the things that makes “This Year’s Girl” work for me is that Faith was in a coma for eight months. The story wasn’t rushed at all! Faith has deliberately been mentioned very little in this season because they want you to forget about Faith so her return will be all the more dramatic. If Faith had awoken from her coma three or four episodes into this season, would it have held the same emotional weight? I don’t think so. Something that annoys me about television shows in general is that stories are rushed to keep the audience interested and to get the big payoff as soon as possible. While this works sometimes, it also leaves me feeling annoyed for certain stories. Take Connor’s kidnap in “Angel” for example. Angel was devastated after his son was kidnapped and taken to a Hell dimension. THREE EPISODES LATER, he was out of the Hell dimension and running around Los Angeles again as a teenager. This is a story that didn’t have to be resolved that quickly. Why not wait until the beginning of season four? Another example is bringing Angel back so quickly into “Buffy The Vampire Slayer” season three. I understand the need to bring him back as soon as possible, but it they’d held off another five or six episodes, his reappearance would have been more shocking, less predictable, and held more emotional weight. In “This Year’s Girl”, it’s done correctly and the results are superb because of it. I feel that “Buffy The Vampire Slayer” season four gets a lot of unnecessary dislike. It’s not the greatest season of the show, the ‘Big Bad’ is rather lame, and the Initiative plot leaves a lot to be desired, but the standalone episodes are some of the best that the show ever produces. “Fear Itself”, “Pangs”, “Something Blue”, “Hush”, “This Year’s Girl”, and “Who Are You?” are all terrific.
The episode opens with a cryptic dream sequence between Faith and Buffy. Much like their dream conversation in “Graduation Day”, it’s filled with foreshadowing and hard to distinguish messages. For example, Buffy’s “I wish I could stay”, and Faith’s reaction, “you have to go, little sis’ coming”, is foreshadowing Dawn’s arrival at the beginning of the next season. When watching this episode, it could easily be brushed aside as random dream babble, but those of us that are diehard fans of the show know that Joss never puts a dream sequence in without a reason.
The next dream sequence we’re treated to leaves my heart feeling all warm and fuzzy. Faith is dreaming about her and The Mayor having an adorable picnic outside. I’ve mentioned a few times before, but I am a huge fan of the Mayor-Faith relationship. It’s highly dysfunctional and a little disturbing, but at the same time it’s sweet and genuinely affectionate. Faith’s dream is great because it’s so normal. Faith is a character that has a non-existent relationship with her real father and her mother was an abusive alcoholic. She found a surrogate father in Richard Wilkins and he found a surrogate daughter in her...then Buffy comes along, stabs The Mayor, and starts chasing Faith. That cuteness was destroyed rather quickly, wasn’t it? What this shows me is that in Faith’s warped mind, Buffy is the villain. Buffy is the murdering fiend who ruined her relationship with The Mayor and destroyed their happy home. Eventually, Faith drags herself out of a muddy grave and in doing so she wakes up from her coma. The metaphor here being that Faith has found the strength to fight Buffy again and fight to live again.
As Faith is walking around the darkly lit hospital, the musical score “Faith’s New World”, by Christophe Beck, is playing. It’s beautiful and will be used again in the “Buffy The Vampire Slayer” video game, “Chaos Bleeds”. I love the score title “Faith’s New World” because that’s exactly what Faith is experiencing after waking up from her coma. Everything has changed for Faith. Just watch her face as she’s told that The Mayor died during Sunnydale High’s last graduation and that she’s been in a coma for eight months. Eliza Dushku is flawless in that scene. She somehow manages to convey strength, vulnerability, ruthlessness, desperation, heartache, and confusion, all in one scene! It’s so rare to see Faith show weakness, but here she does, even if it’s just for a moment. In that second, Faith’s world fell apart and can never be put back together again. The Mayor is gone, her surrogate father is gone, Sunnydale High is gone, and she’s alone in the world with nobody to guide her.
Having Faith’s nurse be a member of the Watcher’s Council was another fantastic addition to the episode because it makes perfect sense that the Watcher’s Council would want to keep an eye on the formerly murderous and rogue Vampire Slayer. I’m assuming that it’s the Watcher’s Council who call Buffy and make her aware that Faith is awake. After discovering that Faith is now wandering around Sunnydale again, Buffy is willing to give Faith the benefit of the doubt, which is an oddly touching thing to see given their history together. It’s naive and a little stupid, but it’s touching nonetheless. This is something I feel Buffy loses after her resurrection in season six. She becomes a lot more focused on the big picture and the greater good as opposed to the more innocent person she is here, willing to accept that there’s a spark of good in everybody deep down.
I was so damn shocked to see Faith casually turn around and proclaim “you’re not me” to Buffy and Willow, who’re searching for Faith on campus. Faith was out in the daylight, casually waiting for Buffy to find her! It’s such an unexpected and unusual strategy from Faith that I didn’t expect it in the least! It’s really one of those “oh shit!” moments. If it wasn’t for the conversation between Faith and Joyce towards the end of the episode, the conversation between Faith and Buffy here would be the highlight of “This Year’s Girl” for me. It gives us so much information into the mental state of Faith.
Buffy: “Faith, these are innocent people!”
Faith: “No such animal.”
That, right there, has always been one of the biggest differences between Faith and Buffy. Buffy has this wonderful, un-jaded ability to always see the good in people, whereas Faith is suspicious and has a vendetta against the entire world due to the hand life has dealt her. They’re polar opposites, which makes for a great dissection of what it means to be a Vampire Slayer.
Faith: “I kept having this dream, I’m not sure what it means. In the dream, this self-righteous, blonde chick stabs me and you wanna know why?”
Buffy: “You had it coming.”
Faith: “That’s one interpretation, but in my dream she does it for a guy. Try it red and you lose an arm. I wake up to find out that this blonde chick isn’t even dating the guy she was so nuts about before. I mean, she’s moved on to the first college beef stick she meets. Not only has she forgotten about the love of her life, she’s forgot about the chick she nearly killed for him. So that’s my dream.”
This is one of the better speeches of season four, in my opinion. Season four is a little weak on speeches when you compare it to some of the brilliant ones that are voiced during the two seasons that surround it. Faith is angry with Buffy. Not just because Buffy put her in a coma, but because Buffy put her in a coma to save a guy that she isn’t even dating anymore! Just eight short months down the line and Buffy already has a new boyfriend and has forgotten all about Faith in the process. I can understand Faith’s rage. Faith and Buffy have a little scrap before Faith flees from Buffy and the cops.
The Watcher’s Council showing up at Giles’ house was another interesting moment because they haven’t been in contact with Giles since they fired him over a year ago. Now, they need his help in capturing the rogue Slayer. Oh, how the tables have turned...if I was Giles, I’d have charged them for his help and made Quentin Travers write him an apology letter in yellow crayon. One of the three Watcher’s Council members, Jeff Ricketts, is a client of mine. I book all his convention appearances around the world and run his personal Facebook fan page alongside him (www.facebook.com/JeffRIckettsOfficial). He’s a terrific man and a very talented actor. He will also appear in “Angel” season one’s “Sanctuary” as the same character (Weatherby), as well as appearing in “Angel” season four’s “Sacrifice” as the Spider Demon, and two episodes of Joss Whedon’s “Firefly” (“The Train Job” and “Ariel”) as one of the two ‘Hands of Blue’. As far as I’m aware, he’s one of only six actors to appear in “Buffy The Vampire Slayer”, “Angel”, and “Firefly”. Now that I’m done promoting and gushing...
Armed with the magical body-switching device, Faith arrives at the Summers’ household. Joyce hasn’t been in an episode since “Fear Itself”. That’s eleven episodes ago! I’ve missed you, Joyce! The reason for this was primarily because Kristine Sutherland wanted some time off to concentrate on her family and other things. Joss granted Kristine this time off under the proviso that she returned for quite a few episodes in season five, ready to be killed off. The confrontation between Faith and Joyce is easily my favourite part of the episode. However mean she is in saying it, Faith is right in her analysis that Buffy has forgotten about them both...to a certain extent at least. It’s understandable though! Buffy has gone off to college and a whole new world of life and opportunities have opened up for her. It’s perfectly natural – especially considering Buffy’s responsibilities as the Slayer – that she’d get caught up in this new bubble and forget to visit her mother very often. The cool thing about this scene is that Faith and Joyce understand each other so well. Faith knows exactly what to say to upset Joyce because what she says has elements of truth hidden within it. In contrast to this, Joyce’s complete lack of fear and complete...faith in Buffy (see what I did there? Faith in Buffy? Nevermind...) is heart-warming. Joyce’s complete confidence in Buffy is proven correct when Buffy comes crashing through the window to save Joyce in the nick of time.
The fight scene between Faith and Buffy to close the episode is very well choreographed. It’s probably my second favourite Buffy-Faith fight scene, after their fantastic one in “Graduation Day Part One”. Every fight they have is memorable and has a high level of intensity. The last fight these two characters had was in Faith’s apartment after Buffy went to confront Faith. In this episode, it takes place in Buffy’s family home after Faith has come to confront Buffy. Very interesting parallel. Faith’s taking the fight to Buffy this time. While we’re on the subject, how many times has the Summers’ house been trashed over the past four years?! I hope Joyce has contents insurance...
The episode closes on one of the most shocking, unexpected, greatest moments in the show’s history, with Faith (in Buffy’s body) proclaiming that she’s “five by five”, and smirking to herself. When I first saw this episode, I was literally sat there for two full minutes, gaping at the screen open-mouthed. It’s a terrific cliffhanger and sets up the next episode, “Who Are You?”, very nicely.
In addition to the primary story of the episode, “This Year’s Girl” also holds some other noteworthy moments...
Xander: “It’s called a blaster, Wil. A word that tends to discourage experimentation. Now, if it were called the ‘orgasmator’, I’d be the first to try your basic button-press approach.”
Xander’s subsequent jealousy over Riley easily getting the blaster working is absolutely hilarious. I’m glad there’s a moment of humour or two amidst all the darkness and chaos involving Faith.
Speaking of Riley, Buffy comparing his situation with The Initiative to her previous dealings with the Watcher’s Council was pretty cool. Buffy explaining to Riley that she chose to walk away from the Watcher’s Council definitely played a part in Riley’s decision to walk away from The Initiative in “New Moon Rising”. The difference is that Riley isn’t a leader, he’s a follower. He needs the structure and command of solider life in order to feel fulfilled. Without The Initiative to give his life meaning, Riley falls deeper and deeper into insecurity and depression during the next season and eventually he chooses to walk away from Buffy and rejoin The Initiative.
Adam studying and experimenting on humans and demons alike is a pretty interesting concept. The only problem is that his eventual plan of a hybrid army comes across as rather lame. Adam is like a child. He’s new to the world and he wants to discover and explore everything he can get his hands on in order to study how everything works.
Spike: “I’ll head out, find this girl, tell her exactly where all of you are and then watch as she kills you. Can’t any one of your damned little Scooby club try to remember that I hate you all!”
Oh, Spike, there’s a fine line between love and hate.
Quote Of The Episode
Faith: “It’s like you keep sinking a little deeper every day and nobody even sees.”
Joyce: “Were you planning to slit my throat anytime soon?”
Faith: “Don’t tell me you don’t see it, Joyce. You’ve served your purpose, you’ve squirted out the kid, raised her up, and now you might as well be dead. I mean, nobody cares, nobody remembers, especially not Buffy-fabulous-superhero. Sooner or later, you’re going to have to face it, she was over us a long time ago, Joyce. Too busy climbing onto her new boy-toy to give a single thought to the people that mattered. I mean, you’re her mother, and she just leaves you here to die.”
Firstly, sassy Joyce is amazing. I like to think it’s where Buffy gets her sassiness from. Secondly, I could talk about Faith’s speech forever. So much is happening in that speech. I think that the first part of it (“It’s like you keep sinking a little deeper every day and nobody even sees.”) is actually a prelude to Faith’s breakdown in L.A. in a few episodes time, when she begs Angel to kill her. Since killing Allan Finch in “Bad Girls”, she’s been on a massive downward spiral and she’s just about to hit rock bottom. She’s depressed, she doesn’t care anymore, and she just wants to “go out with a bang”, as The Mayor put it.
FINAL SCORE: 8/10
What are your thoughts on "This Year's Girl"? Did you enjoy this episode? Dislike it? Let me know all your thoughts in the comments section below!
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Great review again. Faith being back is cool, she's brilliant in Angel. Looking forward to 'who are you?' which is my favorite out of the two. Christina
ReplyDeleteI love the fact that Faith was "awakened" this season, because unfortunately season 4 is pretty average for the most part and having a character as epic as Faith return for even 2 episodes is a highlight. M
ReplyDeleteBuffy/Faith fight scenes are always cool because they are just as good as eachother (skill wise) and are always entertaining to watch. I can understand completely why Faith would feel hurt that Buffy has "forgotten" about her; in Faith's mind whilst their relationship ended QUITE SOUR she felt that she was still somewhat important to Buffy. And seeing her basically living a whole different life is a stab in the gut! (PUN FULLY INTENDED HAHA).
And yes Shangel sandy Joyce rules :)
Really like this episode but Who are you (the episode following this) is more superior in my opinion.
8/10 from me
Sassy Joyce*
DeleteAnother awesome review! :D And I always think about the house too, how many times has it actually been trashed?! Maybe that's why Xander got into building/carpentry :p Looking forward to the next review! :)
ReplyDeleteThe Council has an agent monitoring the hospital, but who is *Buffy's* source that called her, at Giles's, about it? An ex-boyfriend of Cordy's who is now a dispatcher?
ReplyDeleteThe visitor Faith stolle her outfit from was described as "badly beaten." We see Faith hit her once, and it's effective. (Faith certainly has both the strength and skill to kayo an unsuspecting & probably untrained person.) But I can't see Faith sadistically workign ove r a random passer-by. I guess it was just the quickest way to write the dialogue since this epo. had to cove ra lot. D'C'A'