Bad Girls (Buffy episode)

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Bad Girls
Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode
Image:Buffy314.jpg
Episode no. Season 3
Episode 14
Written by Douglas Petrie
Directed by Michael Lange
Production no. 3ABB14
Original airdate February 9, 1999
Episode chronology
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"The Zeppo" "Consequences"
List of Buffy the Vampire Slayer episodes

"Bad Girls" is Episode 14 of Season 3 of the TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Contents

Buffy gets a new Watcher; Faith lures Buffy into reckless abandon.

While patrolling, Faith asks Buffy if she's ever had sex with Xander, and Buffy says they're just friends. They slay a vampire wielding a short blade and long blade. The next day at school, the gang is looking into college and they discuss future plans. Wesley, Buffy's stuffy new Watcher annoys Giles in the library while both Slayers attempt to ignore him. Buffy is instructed to go retrieve an amulet that once belonged to a demon named Balthazar, who led a cult of swordsman vampires before he was killed. Faith expresses to Buffy her belief that as the Slayers, they can do what they want, and enjoy it. Buffy is skeptical, but Faith believes Buffy gets off on slaying as much as she does.

That night, Buffy finds the amulet but a group of Balthazar's vamps enter before she can take it. Faith arrives and the two slay some of the vamps before retrieving the amulet. After handing over the amulet to Wesley, Buffy leaves to take a necessary chemistry test, but she can't stop talking through the whole test about the previous night and how much she ended up enjoying it. Faith shows up at the window and she and Buffy leave to destroy a vampire nest. The two go dancing afterwards at the Bronze where Buffy meets up with Angel. She's acting very strange and he tries to ignore it and tells her that Balthazar isn't dead and he's looking for his amulet. When Wesley comes looking for Buffy, she takes the amulet from him and gives it to Angel.

Buffy and Faith go out and find Balthazar, an obese and ugly demon that must live in a large pool of water and constantly be kept wet. At a loss for weapons against a large group of vampires, they break into a hardware shop and steal some. Faith continues to expound on her philosophy of being a Slayer to Buffy. "Life as a Slayer is very simple. Want, take, have." The police arrive and arrest them, but in the car, the two Slayers kick down the metal gate separating them from the cops, causing the car to crash and the cops to be injured. The following morning, Buffy checks the local newspaper for any news regarding the accident, but finds nothing. The Mayor is attacked by one of Balthazar's vampires, who is foiled by Mr. Trick.

Balthazar demands his minions bring him the Watchers and kill the Slayers. No matter the cost, he must have his amulet. The enemy who crippled him is about to gain ultimate power and he refuses to let this come to pass. Willow presents Buffy with a protection spell and is ready to go slaying that night, but Buffy tells her that it's too dangerous and that she's going with Faith instead. This leaves Willow feeling hurt. The two run into several vampires and stake them, then Allan, the Mayor's secretary walks out and Faith accidentally stakes him, too. He dies before anything can be done and both Slayers flee the scene of the crime in separate directions. Buffy runs into Angel and he tells her about Balthazar taking Giles while Faith returns to the scene where Allan is and just stares at the body.

With the two Watchers in his possession, Balthazar searches for answers as to who has his amulet. Wesley is cowardly willing to give up anything in exchange for his life. Angel shows up with Buffy, frees Giles and everyone fights. When Balthazar captures Angel, Buffy tosses a live wire into his tub of water, electrocuting him. With his dying breath, Balthazar warns them of his enemy. "When he rises, you'll wish I'd killed you all." In his office that night, the Mayor performs a ritual that makes him invincible. He is now unable to be killed. Buffy confronts Faith about Allan's death but Faith doesn't want to talk about it.

Buffy is aghast. "Faith, you dont get it, you killed a man."

Faith's reply: "No you dont get it, I don't care."

Faith follows Angel as a character who fought on Buffy's side but turns into a villain. While Angel's turn was sudden and caused by his curse, Faith's transformation is more gradual; the seeds were planted in her first appearance.

After Faith accidentally kills Allan, Buffy finds her in her hotel room obsessively scrubbing his blood from her shirt. As Richardson and Rabb note, this scene is reminiscent of Lady Macbeth’s "equally futile attempt to wash away guilt by washing away its physical signs." When Buffy reminds Faith that "you can shut off all the emotions that you want... but eventually, they’re gonna find a body," she is referring to the authorities’ finding Allan’s body; however the ambiguous grammar suggests that it is Faith's emotions of guilt and shame that will eventually find a body as well.[1]

Buffy's instantly antagonistic relationship with Wesley recalls her first meeting with Giles, revealing how far they have come.

  • Curve - "Chinese Burn". - Plays whilst Faith and Buffy dance in the Bronze.

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:
Buffy: (sarcastically to Wesley) "Whenever Giles sends me on a mission, he always says 'please.' And afterwards I get a cookie."
  • The song playing during Faith and Buffy's dance at the Bronze is also the song playing during the opening sequence of the Season 3 DVDs.
  • The dance Buffy and Faith perform at The Bronze was duplicated almost exactly in the X-Men: Evolution episode "SpykeCam" by Rogue and Shadowcat, with Rogue as Faith and Shadowcat as Buffy. Joss Whedon has stated that he based some ideas about Buffy on Shadowcat. Also, they were performing the dance to prepare for their auditions for Dracula.
  • In this episode, Oz wears a T-shirt for the early English punk band Eater.
  • Alyson Hannigan first met future-husband Alexis Denisof on the set of this episode. While Alyson was immediately attracted to Alexis and asked him out, he declined saying that he didn't date coworkers. The two remained friends for over a year before they started dating. They married in September 2003.
  • The vampire Balthazar kills a little over 20 minutes into the episode doesn't dust, he just falls down dead.
  • When Buffy tells Faith, "I hate it when they drown me," it's an allusion to the season one finale in which the Master drowns Buffy, causing her temporary death.

  • Italian title: "Balthzar" (sic! Balthazar with an "a" missing!)
  • German title: "Der neue Wächter" ("The new watcher")
  • French title: "El Eliminati"
  • Japanese title: "バッドガールズ" ("Baddo Gāruzu" - "Bad Girls")
  • Spanish title: "Chicas malas" ("Bad girls")

  • This episode is the major turning point of season three. Faith has been a loose cannon with issues of trust, and she enjoys slaying a little too much, but she has been fighting for the right cause. She will not for much longer. The Mayor's plan becomes clearer, and Wesley has arrived and will bug the Scoobies until the end.
  • Willow gives Buffy the protection spell she has been working on since "Gingerbread" in a lavender-scented pouch.

  • Stories that take place around the same time in the Buffyverse:
Location, time
(if known)
Buffyverse chronology: January 1999 - Spring 1999
(non-canon = italic)
Sunnydale, 1999 Buffy graphic novel: Uninvited Guests
Sunnydale, 1999 Buffy comic: The Final Cut
Sunnydale, 1999 Buffy graphic novel: Bad Blood
Sunnydale, 1999 B3.11 Gingerbread
Sunnydale, 1999 Buffy comic: Bad Dog (by Doug Petrie)
Sunnydale, 1999 Buffy graphic novel: Crash Test Demons
Sunnydale, 1999 Buffy graphic novel: Pale Reflections
Sunnydale, 1999 B3.12 Helpless
Sunnydale, 1999 B3.13 The Zeppo
Sunnydale, 1999 Buffy book: The Deathless
Sunnydale, 1999 B3.14 Bad Girls
Sunnydale, 1999 B3.15 Consequences
Sunnydale, 1999 B3.16 Doppelgangland
Sunnydale, 1999 Buffy book: Doomsday Deck
Sunnydale, 1999 Buffy book: Immortal
Sunnydale, 1999 B3.17 Enemies
Sunnydale, 1999 Buffy graphic novel: Angel: The Hollower
Sunnydale, spring, 1999 Buffy book: Prime Evil
Sunnydale, spring, 1999 Buffy book: Revenant
Sunnydale, spring, 1999 B3.18 Earshot
Sunnydale, spring, 1999 B3.19 Choices
Sunnydale, spring, 1999 Buffy book: Power of Persuasion
Sunnydale, spring, 1999 B3.20 The Prom
Sunnydale, spring, 1999 Buffy book: Resurrecting Ravana
Sunnydale, spring, 1999 Buffy books: The Gatekeeper [Trilogy]
Sunnydale, spring, 1999 Buffy book: Return to Chaos
Sunnydale, spring, 1999 Buffy book: Visitors
Sunnydale, spring, 1999 Buffy book: Unnatural Selection
Sunnydale, spring, 1999 Buffy book: Obsidian Fate
Sunnydale, spring, 1999 Buffy book: Deep Water
Sunnydale, spring, 1999 Buffy book: Here Be Monsters
Sunnydale, spring, 1999 Buffy book: The Book of Fours
Sunnydale, spring, 1999 B3.21 Graduation Day, Part One
Sunnydale, spring, 1999 B3.22 Graduation Day, Part Two
Sunnydale, spring, 1999 Sunnydale High Yearbook
Sunnydale, spring, 1999 Buffy comic: Double Cross

  1. ^ Richardson, J. Michael & Rabb, J. Douglas (2007), "Buffy, Faith and Bad Faith: Choosing to be the Chosen One", Slayage 23, <http://slayageonline.com/essays/slayage23/Richardson_Rabb.htm>. Retrieved on 7-26-2007
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