"Consequences" is episode fifteen of season three of the television show Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It was written by Marti Noxon, directed by Michael Gershman, and first broadcast on The WB on February 16, 1999.

Buffy and her fellow Vampire Slayer, Faith, deal with the consequences of Faith's having killed a human, and though the Scooby gang tries to help her, Faith betrays them.

Plot

Buffy dreams that she is being pulled underwater by the corpse of Deputy Mayor Allan Finch; when she manages to reach the surface, Faith pushes her back down. Faith's plan to cover up her accidental killing of the Deputy Mayor fails when Allan's body is recovered from the water. Wesley Wyndam-Pryce orders the Slayers to investigate the death to see if anything supernatural was involved. Privately, Faith asks Buffy not to turn her in, warning Buffy that she could also get implicated. Buffy and Faith sneak into City Hall to try to find out what Allan was doing in the alleyway in the first place. They find that all of his papers have been shredded, and that the Mayor is in league with Mr. Trick.

After much thought and discussion with Willow, Buffy decides to tell Giles what happened, only to discover that Faith has already told him that Buffy was the killer. Giles easily sees through the lie, though he lets Faith think he believes her so the gang can keep closer tabs on her and get her off the slippery slope she is on. Giles tells Buffy that accidental human deaths do occur in the fight against vampires, and that Faith is in denial about the killing. Wesley overhears the conversation and calls the Watcher Council.

While offering to help, Xander reveals to the gang that he slept with Faith. Willow tries to play down her reaction but ends up crying alone in the bathroom. Buffy expresses her worry about Faith and the need to deal with the problem now.

Xander tries to reason with Faith, but she throws him on the bed, teasing she could do anything she wanted to him, and proceeds to strangle him. Angel bursts in and clobbers her with a bat, then tries his own brand of reasoning and seems to be making progress. The Mayor and Trick watch Buffy and Faith's City Hall break-in on CCTV. The Mayor says that the Slayers both have to be taken care of and quickly as there is not enough evidence to put them in jail.

Helped by others with crosses and nets, Wesley attacks Angel and shackles Faith for transport to the Watcher Council in England. She quickly escapes, and plans to hop a boat out of Sunnydale. On his return to the library, a bruised Wesley receives a very hostile reception from the gang. Buffy finds Faith and tries to reason with her but Faith challenges Buffy to join her side instead, eventually inciting Buffy to hit her. Their confrontation is interrupted by several vampires led by Trick. As he is about to bite Buffy, Faith stakes him. Buffy returns to the library, convinced that there is still good in Faith. In the final scene Faith approaches the Mayor and offers to replace Trick as his assistant.

Themes

Theresa Basile, in a series about sexual consent issues in Buffy, argues that Faith's attack on Xander is tantamount to rape, writing, "Faith is a Slayer, and Xander is probably the physically weakest male character on the show at this point, so if she wanted to kill him, there’s no reason why she couldn’t have, say, broken his neck or beaten him. The fact that she combines sexuality with force makes it clear that she wants to taunt him and hurt him emotionally before hurting him physically. ... The 'men are horny dogs' mindset is often used to excuse or dismiss men who rape women, but what happens when the rape victim is male?"^[1]

Reception

Vox, rating it at #26 in a list of all 144 episodes, writes, "With Faith embracing the role of Buffy’s Evil Twin Slayer counterpart, this episode lets Buffy embrace the wild streak inherent in being a teen with superpowers, as she and Faith go slaying and dancing whenever the hell they feel like it. And for being an episode that both introduces Wesley at his stodgiest and ends with Faith accidentally stabbing a human man in the heart — an event that immediately sends shockwaves throughout the show — 'Bad Girls' is a significant episode executed with serious balancing skills."^[2]

Billie Doux, giving the episode two out of four stakes, writes, "It was like the previous episode was a party, and this episode was the morning after. ... [Faith] beat up Mr. New Watcher Giles Clone Wesley Wyndam-Pryce, but hey, that was a good thing. You can actually see the moment that Faith changed sides (there was even percussion) — it was when Faith said that Buffy killed Finch."^[3]

Noel Murray of The A.V. Club said "Consequences" was necessary to progress the story arc, but "doesn't really work as a stand-alone episode".^[4]

References

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to Consequences.

• "Consequences" at IMDb