Season 4, Episode 15 | Aired: 22 February 2000 | Written by: Douglas Petrie | Directed by: Michael Gershman
Faith wakes up from her coma. She’s been in a hospital bed since the Graduation rooftop fight, and she wakes up angry, confused, and in possession of a device the Mayor left for her — a body-switching gadget activated by touch. She uses it on Buffy at the episode’s end. The cliffhanger is one of the season’s best, and Eliza Dushku’s work throughout is the finest of her run on the show.
What Happens
Faith wakes up and immediately goes to find Buffy — not to make peace, but to finish what started. She’s been in a coma for eight months and processes this as something done to her rather than as a consequence. The Mayor’s gift is a small device that transfers consciousness when pressed between two people. Faith activates it just as the Initiative arrives to detain her. She wakes up in Buffy’s body. The episode ends.
Key Moments
The dream sequences at the episode’s opening — Faith and Buffy making beds together, the Mayor appearing, the imagery of something domestic and irretrievably broken. And the body switch itself: the look on Dushku’s face as she wakes up in Gellar’s body, taking inventory.
Monster / Villain
Faith — who is a villain here in the direct sense, though the show maintains its sympathy for how she got here.
Notable Quote
“Five by five.” — Faith, waking from her coma. Her first words. She hasn’t changed.
Where It Fits
This Year’s Girl is setup for Who Are You?, the two-parter’s stronger half. But it earns the cliffhanger fully, and Dushku’s performance carries the weight of everything that happened in Season 3 without needing to recapitulate it.