Who Are You?

"Who Are You?" is sixteenth episode of the fourth season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and is the seventy-second episode altogether. It was written and directed by Joss Whedon. It originally broadcast on February 29, 2000.

Buffy Summers (in Faith's body) is abducted by the Watchers Council Special Operations Team, while Faith (in Buffy's body) has ruthless fun at Buffy's expense. After rescuing a group of people in a church that has been attacked by vampires, they switch their bodies back.

Synopsis


Faith (in Buffy's body) stands by Joyce Summers 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. Afterward, 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 Rosenberg and Tara Maclay talk about Faith, and Tara confesses that she "belongs" to Willow.

An armored truck runs into the police car carrying Buffy and leather-clad operatives of the Watchers Council jump out. They capture Buffy and put her in the back of their truck. Rupert 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, led by Boone, 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 even more than mortals do. Meanwhile, Buffy awakes to find herself chained in the back of a truck with the Council team. 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 recognizes the fragmented energy coming from Buffy, and knows that "Buffy" is not the real Buffy. She informs Willow, and then Willow and Tara prepare to perform a ritual to locate Buffy's real energy.

Faith visits Riley Finn 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 Gates, who is concerned about Buffy's influence over his friend.



When the Council team realizes 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' 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' 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.

Continuity

 * This episode follows immediately after the previous episode "This Year's Girl".


 * Faith (in Buffy's body) comments on Xander's sexual performance (that it lasts seven minutes), about which she gained firsthand experience in "The Zeppo".


 * Faith (in Buffy's body) becomes the first person to recognize Willow and Tara's romantic relationship when she comments that Willow "isn't driving stick anymore." This makes her the only character, apart from Spike, to recognize it without being told, Spike figures it out himself in a later episode The Yoko Factor. Tara herself references it when she states that she is Willow's.


 * This episode also contains the first explicit references stating that Tara and Willow are having a romantic relationship (previously all that had been given were "hints").


 * Faith ends up escaping to Los Angeles and in the Angel episode "Five by Five".


 * Spike and Faith do not meet again until three years later, when the Slayer returns to Sunnydale as an ally against the First Evil. Faith reminds him of this in conversation, and he clearly remembers it, noting that it is "not the kind of thing a man forgets."


 * When Faith flirts and teases with Spike in Buffy's body, Spike clearly reveals some of the repressed lust he harbors for Buffy, foreshadowing their later relationship.


 * After Faith (in Buffy's body) finishes teasing Spike, he says to her "I get this chip out, you and me are gonna have a confrontation." 3 years later, after his chip is removed by The Initiative, Spike and Faith actually do end up 'confronting' each other twice, in "Dirty Girls" and "Touched".


 * Faith (in Buffy's body) says to Tara that "I guess you never really know someone 'til you've been inside their skin." That's one of the points of the whole episode: she gets to be inside Buffy's skin and gets to really know her. She experiences for the first time people loving her and being grateful to her and the attraction of helping others and doing good. She also, if only briefly, starts to care about doing what's right, as if Buffy gets under her skin even while she's in Buffy's skin. She says about rescuing the people in the church, "I'm Buffy; I have to do this." Interestingly, the reverse doesn't seem to be true: Buffy doesn't appear to get to know Faith better by being inside her skin.


 * Faith (in Buffy's body) states that "Faith's" arrest was "poetic justice". This references Faith and Buffy's earlier confrontation in "Graduation Day" in which Buffy states that sacrificing Faith's blood as a cure for Angel would be "poetic justice", as Faith was the one who poisoned him


 * When Willow and Tara are discussing what could have possessed Buffy, Willow mentions Hyena Possession, as Xander was possessed by Hyenas in "The Pack".


 * Buffy reminds Giles of his transformation into a Fyarl Demon in "A New Man" and the occasion he had sex with Joyce, which happened offscreen in "Band Candy". Buffy found out that the two had had sex when she read Joyce's mind in "Earshot".


 * Buffy (in Faith's body) stakes the vampire Boone from behind when it is attacking Faith (in Buffy's body), revealing her standing there when it dusts. This scene echoes Faith staking Mister Trick in "Consequences".

Body Count

 * One vampire, snapped by Adam
 * two vampires, dusted by Faith (in Buffy's body)
 * One vampire, burned by the sun after fighting Riley
 * Boone, dusted by Buffy (in Faith's body)

Production

 * The credits read "Eliza Dushku as Buffy" (not Faith) as a special guest, so the credits reflect the exchange correctly.


 * This episode marks the halfway point of the series.

Deleted Scenes

 * This line of Adam's was cut:
 * Adam: "You are here to be my first. To let them know I'm coming. I am the end of all life, of all magic. I'm the war between man and demon, the war that no one can win. You're a part of that now. You have to show me you're ready."

Pop Culture References

 * Katra: The use of the term "katra" to refer to an exchange of consciousness could be a reference to Vulcan mythology on Star Trek, more specifically Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, in which the "katra" is an individual's living spirit. The katra can be transferred to another body via a mind meld.

Goofs, Bloopers & Continuity Errors

 * In the scene where Willow, Tara, Buffy and Giles try to enter the church, when Willow says "but we can't, we've gotta, you don't understand", her mouth isn't moving.


 * After Adam decapitates a vampire, you can see he still has his head when his body falls to the ground.

Music

 * Headland - "Sweet Charlotte Rose"
 * Nerf Herder - "Vivian"
 * The Cure - "Watching Me Fall"

Other

 * Sarah Michelle Gellar cites this as one of her favorite episodes, saying that, "Eliza was brilliant."


 * This episode is Faith-centric.