Anyone who knows me is likely to attest to my love and adoration for everything that Joss Whedon has created — and to give credit where credit is due, I must say that the first creation of his that I ever had the pleasure to watch was Buffy the Vampire Slayer (BtVS). Because of this, BtVS and other works of Whedon are likely to make multiple appearances on this site.

“Bad Girls” is episode fourteen of season three, and episode forty-eight overall.

Note: this post contains spoilers for those who have not watched up to/past “Bad Girls” in BtVS.

Season three sees the introduction of a new character, Faith Lehane. Like Buffy Summers (the titular character of the show), Faith is a vampire slayer. The reason for her existence is slightly complex. A slayer is supposed to exist alone (“One girl in all the world…”) — when one dies, another is brought into existence (“called”). Due to Buffy’s brief death at the end of season 1, a new slayer (Kendra) was called, and after Kendra’s death in the end of season 2 Faith was called.

Faith enters the show in the third episode of season three, and from the time she enters, she and Buffy appear as two sides of the same coin — the light slayer (Buffy) and the dark slayer (Faith). Their identities are shown in the ways that they dress. Buffy often (with some exceptions) has a tendency towards pastels and other light colors and Faith usually (again, with some exceptions) wears dark-colored clothing that appears to be made from heavier material.

 

The two photos above are from Faith’s first episode (“Faith, Hope, and Trick”) and help to show the ways in which Buffy and Faith exhibit their differences in personality through manner of dress. (Images from BuffyWorld.com) Throughout season three Buffy and Faith’s relationship grows and changes in both positive and negative ways.

Arguably, one of the most important episodes (especially for character development) of the third season is “Bad Girls”.

The plot of the episode is not crucial to understand in full —  but if you would like a plot summary, you can click here.

From the beginning of the episode one can already begin to see the shift in both characters. Buffy is wearing a dark red sweatshirt, something far different from her usual pastels and light clothing. Faith is wearing a usual outfit of dark lipstick and a dark blue jean jacket.

However, as the credits finish up and we see Buffy and her friends (Willow, Xander, and Oz) sitting together, we see that Buffy is wearing a light purple sleeveless dress. She has a light sweater to wear (perhaps for the sake of modesty?) and a jacket for when she goes outside. Buffy even has a fake flower clipped in her hair — as if to assert her innocence and desire to “do good” for the world. Her make-up is light and innocent as well, and she wears simple pearl earrings in her ears.

When we see Faith — who enters (when Buffy is in the library) in a bit of a huff — she is wearing all dark clothing, and dark lipstick and makeup as well. While Buffy wears her hair up, Faith’s is down — more wild, less held back. Faith storms out almost in the same breath as she entered. As Buffy goes to attempt to talk some form of logic into Faith, one can see Faith attempting to get Buffy to admit that she enjoys the power that slaying gives her. After initial denial, Buffy blushes slightly and turns her head to the side, as though to silently admit that Faith is right.

When Buffy goes on patrol the same evening (the one she had promised to spend with Willow, studying) she wears darker clothing. Later in the same evening, Buffy runs into Faith and one can see that while Buffy’s clothing is still lighter than Faith’s overall, their resemblance in dress is growing.

The two of them fight a group of demons underground, and once they have acquired what they sought after, Buffy states, “[It] didn’t suck.” Her hair has started to fall around her face and she appears in a darker light than she did earlier that day. What Faith said about slaying seems tobe having more of an effect on her than she might have believed it to.

One of the next scenes cuts to a class, where Buffy is explaining her night, and states to Willow and Xander that they might not be able to understand because “It’s kind of a slayer thing.” Again, she is wearing all dark colors — another notable difference in this case is that her hair is down. (Now, Buffy does wear her hair in many styles, but this change in this episode does still hold importance for the sake of her being more and more influenced by Faith.) The class is about to take an exam and Buffy seems intent on breaking the rules. When Faith shows up by a window, she motions for Buffy to come out with her (and therefore skip the class and the exam [which Buffy was previously so nervous for]). Buffy concedes, and slips out of the room via the open window.

They find a nest of vampires, which they both burst in on, ready to stakes at the ready. The scene then cuts to them in a club, dancing. While Buffy’s clothing is still slightly lighter than Faith’s (and is purple), she is wearing far darker clothing than she was earlier in the episode. Her hair is completely down, and the movements she makes are similar to Faith’s.

The episode moves along, and not too long after the club scene, Buffy and Faith (because they need weapons) decide to rob a store. Buffy is initially apprehensive about this idea, but soon relents and follows Faith’s actions and comments — “Want, Take, Have.” However, a pair of policemen appear, and the two are forced to drop their weapons. Buffy is far more eager to follow the policemen’s orders, although she aids Faith in their escape from the police car. 

The next day, Buffy (still in dark clothing, entirely so now) and Willow have a conversation — in which Buffy blows off hanging out with Willow in order to hang out with Faith. What is interesting about this is that Faith actually manages to wear lighter color (white) while Buffy’s outfit is all dark. They have become far more similar throughout this episode.

Despite Faith’s light colored shirt, this is the time in which she kills a human being — and even she is scared at the prospect of having done so. This is the first time that either she or Buffy has ever killed a human being, and while they are often entirely alright with killing vampires and demons, killing a human is too much. Faith pulls Buffy away from the scene, because both of them are too afraid of living with the consequences. However, Faith returns to the scene, showing worry. (We later learn that she disposed of the body so that she and Buffy would not be implicated in the murder).

Towards the end of the episode, Buffy visits Faith at her motel and we see that both of them have begun to wear lighter clothing, at least for the time being. While Faith still wears black pants, her shirt is white and she wears lighter lipstick than before.

However, Faith still describes herself as being “same as ever.” Of the murder Faith states, “I don’t care.” She still has yet to be redeemed to the extent that she will be in later seasons (and in the BtVS spin-off, Angel.) While she has gained some perspective and therefore some ‘light’, she cannot become quite like Buffy is. Buffy is able to return to her desire to do good and be good despite her experience of a setback in this episode.