Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Recap/S3/E17 Enemies

The Mayor and Faith plot to steal Angel's soul and bring back Angelus.

Tropes
"Faith: Do you think you're better than me? Do you? Say it, you think you're better than me. Buffy: I am. [Beat] Always have been."
 * Almost Kiss: Fangel flirts with canon status.
 * Always Second Best

"Xander: I love when you talk, Wesley. I love when you sing, Wesley. Can you say the words "Jail Bait", Wesley? Limey bastard!"
 * Arrow Catch: After Angel makes a few unsubtle threats, the Mayor invites Angel to kill him with the letter open he's fondling in a significant manner. Angel hurls the letter opener and the Mayor quickly moves his hand to block it, catching the blade through the palm. Angel and Faith take this in stride, until the Mayor removes the letter opener and the wound closes itself up.
 * Audio Erotica: Cordelia finds Wesley's voice quite sexy, much to Xander's fury.

"Xander: And on the day the words 'flimsy excuse' were redefined we stood in awe and watched."
 * Axe Crazy Knife Nut: Faith killing the demon informant.
 * Bait and Switch: Faith seems uneasy about her Face Heel Turn, is shocked at the violent manner in which she kills a demon, and so goes to Angel for help, leading to noticeable UST between them.
 * Bait and Switch Comment: Annoyed over Faith's innuendo about Angel, Buffy has only one thing to say; "Duck!' Faith ducks and Buffy punches a demon sneaking up behind her.
 * Blatant Lies: Cordelia asks Wes to help with her studying, which she does best in a nice restaurant.

"The Mayor: There's more than one way to skin a cat. And I happen to know that's factually true."
 * Blood Magic: The ritual to steal Angel's soul involves this.
 * Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick

"Angel: You know, I never properly thanked you for sending me to hell. And I'm just wondering, where do I start? Card? Fruit basket? Evisceration?"
 * Angel reveals to Buffy that he's turned evil.

"Faith: The close-but-no-cigar thing with Angel. I don't know if I could handle, you know, the way you're not handling it."
 * Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Buffy warns that Angelus will turn on Faith once the two of them have killed Buffy. Angelus admits that's true; Faith just smirks and says they'll have to take their time killing her.
 * Double Entendre

"The Mayor: So you couldn't give him that one moment of true happiness. Faith: I was thinking more along the lines of a long weekend."
 * Faith is down because she couldn't get Angel to sleep with her and lose his soul.

"Buffy: You don't know what you're doing. Faith: Really? Weird, because something about all this just feels so right. Maybe it's one of those unhappy childhood things."
 * Empathic Environment: Faith mentions in passing that Mayor Wilikins "built this town for demons to feed on". This would explain a lot about Sunnydale, such as its Weirdness Censor and Absurdly Spacious Sewers.
 * Evil Feels Good / Freudian Excuse
 * Evil Feels Good / Freudian Excuse

"Angelus: "You know what I just can’t believe? All of our time together and we never tried chains.""
 * Evil Is Petty: Angel and Faith are walking down the street when they come across Xander. Angel knocks him unconscious without breaking stride and says, "That guy just bugs me."
 * Failed Attempt At Drama: Xander pretends he beat the information out of Willy the Snitch, but then admits he just bribed him 28 bucks.
 * Fetish Fuel: The episode that launched a thousand Angelus/Buffy/Faith BDSM Slash Fics.

"Angelus: Yeah, I know what you're thinking. Maybe there's still some good deep down inside of me that remembers and loves you. If only you could reach me. Then again, we have reality. Buffy: I will kill you before I let you touch me."
 * Filth: The foreign film Le Banquet D'Amelia that Buffy and Angel saw. It apparently involved Erotic Eating. And a kimono.
 * Green-Eyed Monster: There's noticeable tension between Buffy and Faith even before she reveals her true nature, as Buffy saw her kissing Angel on the cheek during her earlier seduction attempt.
 * Grievous Harm with a Body:
 * Hannibal Lecture: Buffy to Faith
 * Honey Trap: Faith with Angel
 * If You Kill Me, You Will Be Just Like Me: Faith pulls this on Buffy to break a Mexican Standoff where she and Buffy both have knives to the other's throat. Unique in that Faith seems to somewhat want Buffy to kill her and thus become like her, as some form of revenge. Yeah, Faith has issues...
 * "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight / I'll Kill You!
 * "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight / I'll Kill You!

"Xander: I, uh, hate to spoil the mood, but this is so much worse than you think. You know how some people hate to say I told you so? Not me. I told you so. Angel's back in the really bad sense, and uh, I told you so."
 * It Got Worse / I Told You So

"Before we get started, I just want you to know; if you're a screamer, feel free."
 * I Shall Taunt You: Buffy taunting Faith so she'll kill her quickly instead of torturing her to death.
 * Last Second Chance / These Hands Have Killed: Faith plays this card to get Angel's sympathy, in order to seduce him.
 * Loves the Sound of Screaming: Faith is about to torture Buffy.

"Buffy: You're right. Faith would never do that. Willow: Faith would totally do that! Faith was built to do that. She's the do-that girl.
 * Meaningful Echo:
 * The Mole: Faith
 * Moment Killer: "Check out the lust-bunnies."
 * Nightmare Fetishist: On hearing the demon wants $5000 to sell the Books of Ascension, Giles gripes at the fall in standards in the demon world. "Whatever happened to the still-beating heart of a virgin?"
 * Not Helping Your Case: Willow tries to assure Buffy there's nothing going on between Faith and Angel. Unfortunately she's still angry at the whole Faith-sleeping-with-Xander thing.

Buffy: Comfort, remember comfort, here?

Willow: I mean, please, does Angel come up to Faith's standards for a guy? Let's see, is he breathing?

Buffy: Actually, no."


 * Not So Different: Buffy worries that Angel might be attracted to Faith as they have a lot in common. Willow assures Buffy that Angel's not interested, and that her advice should be trusted because, "I too know the love of a taciturn man."
 * Oh Crap

"Angel: You're still my girl? Buffy: Always."
 * One True Love

"Faith: You know, I come to Sunnydale. I'm the Slayer. I do my job kicking ass better than anyone. What do I hear about everywhere I go? Buffy. So I slay, I behave, I do the good little girl routine. And who's everybody thank? Buffy. You get the Watcher. You get the mom. You get the little Scooby gang. What do I get? Jack squat. This is supposed to be my town!"
 * Passive-Aggressive Kombat: The Mayor and Angelus manoeuvring to show who's top demon.
 * Really Seven Hundred Years Old: The Scoobies find a picture of Mayor Wilikins from a century ago.
 * The Resenter

"Angel: Should have known you'd like it on top. Faith: You wanna listen or you wanna die?
 * Sex Is Violence: Angel loses his soul and snogs Faith, then tries to kill her. Eventually Faith gets him pinned down.

Angel: Long as you're there, I mostly want you to wriggle."

"Mayor: And what exactly did this demon look like? Faith: Demonic."
 * Shadow Archetype: Faith in her Parental Substitute relationship with the Mayor (mirroring Buffy re Giles) and Faith/Angelus as the evil Slayer and her soulless vampire lover. No wonder Buffy is freaked out.
 * Shaped Like Itself

"Willow: Faith and Angel? Together? Xander: Imagine the possibilities."
 * She's All Grown Up: The Mayor gets all choked up seeing Faith go on a kidnap/torture/kill date with Angelus.
 * Ship Tease


 * Summon Bigger Fish: The Mayor's reason for bringing back Angelus.
 * "Take That!" Kiss: Once the ruse is revealed, Faith kisses Buffy on the forehead. It was scripted to be on the lips, but either SMG or the network nixed it.
 * That Was the Last Entry: The first info the Scoobies have about the prophesied "ascension" is a journal entry saying "Tomorrow is the ascension, may God help us." It was the last time the town was ever heard of.
 * Throw It In: When the Mayor suggests miniature golf to take her mind off her troubles, Eliza Dushku (Faith) unscriptedly cracks up at the absurdity.
 * Uncanny Family Resemblance: Invoked by the Mayor, who was him, his son, his grandson and his great grandson (he's immortal).
 * Unresolved Sexual Tension / Betty and Veronica: One of the reasons why the thought of Angel getting close to Faith shakes Buffy's confidence, given her relationship with Angel.
 * Vampires Are Sex Gods / Evil Is Sexy: Faith enthusiastically tongue-wrestles with Angelus.
 * Wham! Episode: Angel loses his soul to become the monstrous Angelus and has allied himself with an utterly psycho Faith, who is all for killing all of Sunnydale for the Big Bad. evil Faith is frightening.
 * You Have Failed Me...: Lampshaded by the Mayor when Faith asks what will happen is she doesn't get to the Books of Ascension in time. The Mayor replies that he only likes positive thoughts, after all replacing Mr Trick was difficult enough. At the end however when Faith has failed, the Mayor decides to cheer her up with a game of miniature golf instead.
 * You Owe Me: The Mayor brings in some kind of necromancer demon to remove Angel's soul and bring him over to their side.
 * You Owe Me: The Mayor brings in some kind of necromancer demon to remove Angel's soul and bring him over to their side.