Faith and Wesley in Dopplegangland

[btvsobsessed]

I'm new to the Forum. I hope this isn't out of place.

The first time I watched the series on DVD I was so confused by Faith and Wesley's almost playful interaction near the beginning of Dopplegangland. The last time we saw them together in Consequences Faith violently escaped from Wesley's custody while being taken to England to face the Watcher's Council disciplinary committee. Then she stakes Trick at the end of Consequences and it seems like by the beginning of Dopplegangland all is forgiven. Like that one act of killing Mr. Trick redeems all her terrible behavior over the last several episodes (killing Allan Finch, blaming it on Buffy, generally acting above the law, etc.).

Did this bother anyone else? I know Buffy continues to have...well...faith in Faith, but the Watcher's Council seems like it would not let her off so easy. Nor would Wesley.

It felt like the writers wanted to have Faith as a double agent (we saw her offer to the Mayor at the end of Consequences) and so needed to get her back in the library but didn't do it realistically.

[dragonweaver]

That's an interesting point you brought up.

First off I think it's a little off to say they were "playful" in anyway. I interrupted the snide comments from Wesley and Faith's reaction to those comments to show an underlying tension between them.

I also think that Wesley figured out pretty quickly, and painfully, that he made the wrong call. Forcing Faith to do anything was not the answer and as far as everyone was concerned she was making an effort to redeem herself. So with that in mind I gathered that Wesley decided to go with a less aggressive approach.

P.S. Welcome to the forum.

[Skytteflickan88]

Welcome to the forum.

And although it was a while since I saw the episodes, I recall thinking it was weird how quickly Faith was accepted back, but namely by Buffy and the others. But as we've seen with Anya and Willow, they're quick to welcome back strays into their fold(is that the word?)

I wonder if Wesley even told the council about his failure. Perhaps those men that abducted Faith were hired. And I agree with dragonweaver, it's likely that Faith and Wesley just wanted to pretend that everything was okay.

[btvsobsessed]

Thanks for the thoughts dragonweaver and Skytteflickan88 and the welcome to the forum. I have been a huge fan of the show since finding it on iTunes a couple years ago. I have yet to convince any friends or family members to watch more than a few episodes so I'm glad to have this place to talk with others who love the show.

I like the idea that Wesley realized his approach in Consequences wasn't a good one and that he should take a more sympathetic approach. In fact he is chastised at the end of Consequences for the approach he took and seems to realize then that he's been approaching Faith wrong [from (http://www.buffyworld.com/buffy/transcripts/049_tran.html)]:

Angel: That's good work. (walks across the room) First, you terrorize her, then you put her back in the streets. (sits on the table)

Wesley: That was hardly my plan. I was trying to save her.

Buffy: (accusingly) But you didn't! You probably destroyed her.

Giles: (interrupts quietly) Buffy, that's enough. (puts his glasses back on)

Buffy: I better find her before she does any more damage. (stands up) We're gonna need to split up. I'll check the docks. That's probably where she is. Giles, why don't you go to her motel? Xander, Willow, her haunts and be careful.

They all get up to leave.

Angel: I'll try the airport. (goes)

Everyone walks past Wesley on their way out.

Wesley: What can I do? I want to help.

But Wesley did call Quentin Travers of the Watcher's council about Faith and presumably the men helping him take Faith from Angel were employed by the Watcher's council, not independently by Wesley. So that still leaves the question of why Faith is let off by the Watcher's Council, since, even if Wesley didn't tell them of his failure they were presumably expecting Faith to arrive and would want to know what had happened to her. Giles has no sway with them at this point. Maybe Wesley convinces them, though they always seem very "by the book". Giles remarks in Consequences:

Most likely they'll lock her away for a good long while.

I'm afraid I'm getting nitpicky here. I absolutely love the show and am willing to forgive some occasional credibility stretching for the sake of creating fascinating drama and characters but this one still feels a bit sloppy to me. But I feel much more settled about the Faith/Wesley relationship after your replies, and that was the part that bothered me the most. So thank you!

[henzINNIT]

We're a nitpicky race us Buffy-uns, it's all good.

My guess; the council have far more bark than bite. They tried to capture Faith and the team got creamed (that rhymes, and you know it rhymes). Upon hearing that Faith had fallen in line (or so they thought), the council were probably more than happy to let things slide, because hey, what the hell would they do about it otherwise. Wesley may have convinced them he fixed her to save face also.

[btvsobsessed]

Awesome! Problem resolved!!

Thank you, Henz. You have put to rest a nagging sense of a narrative glitch I've had since I first watched Dopplegangland a couple of years ago.

You are absolutely right about the council. That does sound like them to just let it slide. They made an attempt to capture Faith and couldn't handle her so they'd probably rather not get shown up again in a second attempt and leave it alone (with, as you suggest, Wesley's encouragement for his own reasons).

After all, Giles really continued as Buffy's watcher (unofficially anyway) after Helpless (3-12), though he'd been officially relieved of his duties by the council. And Buffy eventually turns the tables on the council in Checkpoint (5-12) and realizes she has more power than they and they're mostly bluster. Of course this all comes to a resolution at the end of the series as well.

So, in a real sense it seems almost as if the very thing I saw as a plot hole was, in fact, an intentional indication of the council's underlying weakness in relation to slayers. Very cool.

Thanks again to all of you!