Enemies

These snapshots may contain SPOILERS for the entire series, so if for some reason you haven't yet seen some of the episodes and do not want to know what is going on, read no further.
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As a part of her new alliance with the Mayor, Faith tries to seduce Angel so that he will again lose his soul. When that fails, the Mayor summons a powerful demon to remove Angel's soul with dark magic.

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MAYOR: There's more than one way to skin a cat. And I happen to know that's factually true.


Average character development, average dialogue and a poor plot.

Faith and the Mayor, now that they're working together have all sorts of good ideas to ruin Buffy's life. First off, they snatch the Books of Accession from right under her nose. Then they begin a plan to steal Angel's soul. Faith tries to seduce him, and Angel turns her down. So the Mayor enlists the help of some blue demon guy to use magic and take the soul by force. Faith splashes Angel with blood(?) and suddenly he's Angelus again. The two of them head off to meet with the Mayor.

Meanwhile the Scoobies are investigating the Mayor. It turns out that he's been around Sunnydale for over a hundred years. And Buffy is getting jealous of the time that Faith is spending with Angel. When Faith and Angel show up at her house, claiming to have found the Books of Ascension, she agrees to go with them to Angel's mansion to collect them. Once there, Angel and Faith quickly capture her and chain her to the wall. Faith admits that she working for the Mayor and taunts Buffy that the Mayor will take over Sunnydale come Graduation Day. Then, Buffy and Angel turn the tables on her. It seems that Angel was only pretending to be Angel/us so he could learn more about Faith's plan. He and Buffy fight Faith, but she escapes. The Scoobies begin the count down to Graduation Day, while The Mayor comforts Faith over the loss of her former friends. Buffy and Angel take a 'break.'

Even with the fake out there are still some really good segments in this episode. It brings Angel/us back (sort of) which is always good. You gotta love the Mayor consoling Faith at the end of the episode, after Angel tricked her and the Scoobies learned that she's fighting on the Darkside. "Are you still unhappy? Well, I have two words that will fix everything: Miniature Golf." Mostly, though, this episode brings Faith's character into much clearer focus. Her resentment towards Buffy and her fear that she'll never be good enough. Her willingness to follow the Mayor solely because of her need to belong. Her shame at turning into a killer and then her unwillingness to turn back. It's all good.

Questionable mythology. Faith doesn't need to keep Buffy alive to prevent another Slayer from being called. She is Buffy's replacement (indirectly through Kendra). Faith needs to die for a new Slayer to be called. Otherwise there would have been three Slayers in season six.

Foreshadowing

Angel: ... All of our time together and we never tried chains. Well, can't dwell on the past, especially with the future we have ahead.
Buffy and Spike in season 6


My views/status of characters;
Buffy - like
Willow - like
Xander - like
Giles - like
Cordelia - like
Spike - absent
Angel/us - like
Oz - like

Overall I consider this an average episode compared to the rest of the season.