Season 3, Episode 15 | Aired: 16 February 1999 | Written by: Marti Noxon | Directed by: Michael Gershman
The immediate aftermath of Allan Finch’s death. Faith tells the Mayor, who covers it up. She then tells the Scoobies that Buffy did it. The episode is about how far Faith will go to not be responsible — and about how the Mayor responds to that information, which is to offer her exactly the parental protection she’s been lacking her whole life. It is a turning point that feels inevitable in retrospect.
What Happens
Faith shifts the blame to Buffy, and the Watchers Council sends a team to detain and evaluate. Xander tries to reach Faith privately and she nearly chokes him to death before Angel stops her. Angel’s attempt to reach Faith — based on his own history of choosing wrong — comes closest to working, but the Mayor gets there first. He offers Faith a home, a place, a father. She takes it. By the episode’s end, she’s working for the enemy.
Key Moments
The Mayor welcoming Faith with hot cocoa and total acceptance — no conditions, no judgment. It’s the scene that explains everything about Faith’s arc and about the Mayor as a villain. He is genuinely kind to her. That’s what makes him effective.
Monster / Villain
The Mayor — finally stepping forward as the season’s primary threat, and doing so by becoming Faith’s family.
Notable Quote
“I’m not going to prison.” — Faith. She means it. She won’t. But the path she chooses instead is its own kind of cage.
Where It Fits
Consequences completes the turn Bad Girls began. Faith is now fully on the other side — not evil, exactly, but aligned with evil in exchange for something she needed more than righteousness. The tragedy of her arc is that what the Mayor offered her was real. He did care about her. It just didn’t make him less of a monster.