This Year's Girl

"This Year's Girl" is the 15th episode of season 4 of the television show Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Written by Douglas Petrie and directed by Michael Gershman, it originally aired on February 22, 2000 on the WB network.

In "This Year's Girl", guest star Eliza Dushku returns as Faith. While Buffy and the Scooby Gang (now with Riley on board) try to find Adam, Faith wakes up from a coma and finds the Mayor has left her a device which she uses to switch bodies with Buffy. Members of the Watchers' Council arrive in Sunnydale, alerted to Faith's waking.

Plot

In a dream, Buffy and Faith make a bed, until Faith's blood begins to drip onto the clean white sheets. Buffy twists the knife in Faith's stomach. Xander is investigating the Blaster gun from the Initiative, but lacks the knowledge to fix it. Giles is concerned about Buffy, who has been patrolling non-stop for days without finding Adam. On patrol, she finds Adam has strung up a demon on a tree, opened up like a dissection experiment. When Riley wakes up in the military hospital, he attempts to leave but Forrest and Graham try to talk him out of it. Buffy explains her plans for breaking Riley out, but it proves unnecessary as he has escaped and is waiting in Xander's basement.

At the hospital, Faith, still in a coma, is dreaming she is having a picnic with the Mayor. The dream becomes a nightmare when Buffy arrives, slits the Mayor's throat, then chases Faith into an open grave. As Faith climbs out of the grave in her dream, she awakens from her coma. Pulling free of the tubes in her body, Faith walks out into the hospital halls and encounters a girl. She thinks it's still Graduation Day, but the girl informs her of the date and that the Mayor died at the graduation ceremony. Faith leaves the hospital in the girl's clothes. When the hospital staff discovers Faith is gone, a nurse makes a call, asking for a team to be sent out.

Faith walks around Sunnydale looking at all the things that have changed, ending up outside Giles' house eavesdropping on the Scooby Gang's plans to attack Adam. A phone call informs Buffy that Faith is awake and on the loose. On campus the next day, Buffy and Willow run into Faith. The two Slayers talk about what happened and fight briefly before the cops arrive and Faith runs. At the hospital, a helicopter lands, and three men carrying briefcases exit.

Xander and Giles search the streets for Faith and Adam but instead encounter Spike, who claims he intends to help Faith kill them all. Buffy and Riley discuss their jobs working to fight the forces of evil. Buffy tells him he has a choice in what he does with his life. When the conversation turns to Faith, Buffy doesn't mention she stabbed her to save Angel. Faith is approached by a demon who tries to give her a gift, but she kills him and runs off with the box. She breaks into a multi-media store to watch a video tape of the Mayor on a VCR and then opens a box from him that contains a special gift.

Giles finds the three men with briefcases are at his apartment. One of them says "Hello Rupert", and then both Giles and the audience know they are from the council.

Faith arrives at Buffy's house and takes Joyce captive; she is surprised when Buffy flies through the window. The Slayers have a fight that travels through almost every room of the house while Joyce calls the police. Faith, holding the gift from the Mayor, grabs Buffy's hand. A light flows through them and Buffy punches Faith, knocking her unconscious. Buffy smashes the metal contraption from the Mayor and when Joyce asks if she's okay, Buffy responds with Faith's characteristic answer: "Five by five."

Acting

Starring

• Sarah Michelle Gellar as Buffy Summers
• 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 starring

• Kristine Sutherland as Joyce Summers
• Amber Benson as Tara Maclay
• Leonard Roberts as Forrest Gates
• Bailey Chase as Graham Miller
• Chet Grissom as Detective
• Alastair Duncan as Collins
• Harry Groener as Mayor Richard Wilkins
• Eliza Dushku as Faith

Co-starring

• Jeff Ricketts as Weatherby
• Kevin Owers as Smith
• Mark Gantt as Demon
• Kimberly McRae as Visitor
• Sara Van Horn as Older Nurse
• Brian Hawley as Orderly
• Jack Esformes as Doctor

Quotes and trivia

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Buffy the Vampire Slayer#This Year's Girl

• "This Year's Girl," the name of the episode, is a song by Elvis Costello.
• This episode foreshadows the arrival of Buffy's sister, with Faith actually saying "...little sis coming..."
• Some Buffy fans think that by mentioning "little sis coming" Faith is referring to herself, since she is younger in her slayer years than Buffy. She is also referred to many times as Buffy's little sister. However, by "Graduation Day: Part 1" she feels that the roles have reversed and claims to Buffy that "[Buffy has] decided to try on big sister's clothes". In many ways Faith is like Buffy's younger sister, since she always claims the attention of Buffy's friends and family.

Themes

In their book discussing existentialism in Buffy, Richardson and Rabb argue that this episode and the next (intended or not) explore the impact of Sartre's Look - the outside view that causes a person to redefine themselves from the perspective of the Other. They interpret Faith's defection to the Mayor and relentless dreams of Buffy stalking her as Faith's attempt to escape Buffy’s judgmental Look and the accompanying guilt it brings. When the two Slayers meet again, Faith immediately denies her possession by Buffy, saying, "You’re not me." However, she is beginning to acknowledge the guilt brought on by Buffy's Look; when Buffy expresses concern for the innocent people surrounding them, Faith claims there is no such thing as an innocent person. Richardson and Rabb point out that, therefore, Faith herself "must realize at some level she is not innocent, but is in fact guilty of horrendous crimes."^[1]

Translations

• Italian title: "La Ragazza dell'Anno" ("The Girl of the Year")
• German title: "Böses Erwachen" ("Bad Awakening"; it can be interpreted as German idiom indicating that due to an incident someone suddenly has to face a bad situation after he ignored it for a long time)
• French title: "Une Revenante, Première Partie" ("A Ghost - Part 1"; the word "Revenante" is a way of saying "ghost" typically used to talk about a person that has not been here for a while, as opposed to "Fantôme" which often means "ghost" in a literal sense only)
• Spanish title: "La Chica del Año" ("The Girl of the Year")
• Japanese title: "今年の女" ("Kotoshi no Onna" - "This year's woman/girl")

External links

• "This Year's Girl" at the Internet Movie Database
• "This Year's Girl (1)" at TV.com

Reviews

• Soulful Spike Society analysis of This Year’s Girl

References