Season 3 Episode 03 - Faith, Hope, & Trick

Now that they are seniors, the gang can leave the Sunnydale High campus for lunch, which they do. Lunch is a picnic with Buffy, who is longing to get back to her normal life — shopping, hanging out, going to school, and saving the world. Maybe even dating, as Willow points out a boy named Scott Hope, who's liked Buffy since last year. Buffy seems reluctant. That night, there are some new arrivals in Sunnydale: a limo pulls up to the local Happy Burger. In the back is a black vampire named Mr. Trick, who is positively salivating over the prospects that Sunnydale presents, and his cloven-hoofed master who has but one thing on his mind: killing the Slayer.

Buffy has another disturbing dream about Angel and how she killed him to save the world. That morning Principal Snyder is forced to readmit her to school on the condition that she takes makeup tests and gets a psychologist to see to her violent tendencies, and Buffy and her mother leave his office in triumph just as the Mayor calls. Later, Willow and Buffy go to the library, where Giles tells Buffy that he's casting a binding spell to make sure that Acathla, the demon Buffy killed Angel to stop, is truly bound, and he needs some details about how she stopped the demon. Buffy provides them, briefly, then runs off to a test as Willow accidentally reveals her dabbling in witchcraft to Giles. That night at the Bronze, Buffy is happy about having her life back, but is again hesitant when Scott Hope shows up and asks her to dance. Then Cordelia points out that the date of a striking girl on the dance floor is a throwback to the 70's. As the girl and her date leave, Buffy gets a feeling he's a vampire and follows them. They find the girl kicking the snot out of her date who, as Buffy thought, is a vampire. "I'm gonna go out on a limb and say there's a new Slayer in town," says Oz.

There is a new Slayer, called upon the death of Kendra. Her name is Faith, and she quickly charms Buffy's friends with her wild Slaying stories. She even wins over Giles, who tells the two Slayers about missing people on Sunset Ridge. Buffy says she and Faith will patrol (after reluctantly inviting Faith to dinner with her mom), and then her friends run off with Faith. Buffy is not happy about the whole thing, and again gives short answers when Giles requests details about her experience with Angel and Acathla so he can cast the binding spell. Faith comments to Willow and Xander about Buffy's down attitude, and then Buffy arrives to see Faith flirting with Scott Hope. Meanwhile, Mr. Trick just loves Sunnydale for its high-tech possibilities, but his master is still only interested in killing the Slayer. When Trick points out that Sunnydale already has a Slayer, it becomes clear that they came in pursuit of Faith. The cloven-hoofed master points to his destroyed right eye, saying, "She's going to pay for what she did to me." That night, even Joyce is completely taken with Faith. When Joyce suggests that Buffy could just let Faith take over as Slayer, Buffy exasperatedly lets slip that a new Slayer can only be called when the old one dies. Joyce is devastated to find that Buffy died, even for a moment, but Buffy comforts her. Later, Buffy and Faith argue while on patrol when Faith nonchalantly mentions Angel. They're about to fight each other when a group of vampires shows up. Faith is just hitting one repeatedly and not staking him. Buffy yells at her to help, but then gets pinned by a vampire who says, "For Kakistos we live, for Kakistos you die."

Buffy manages to kill her vamps, and the one that Faith was hitting too, but when she confronts Faith about her behavior, Faith lightly blows it off. Buffy complains about the incident to Giles the next day, and he promises to call England and ask her Watcher. Then Buffy mentions Kakistos, and Giles is disturbed. Kakistos is a very old vampire, and Buffy guesses he followed Faith to Sunnydale. As she goes to ask Faith about it, she runs into Scott Hope, who invites her to a Buster Keaton film festival. Buffy brightens and accepts his offer, but then he gives her a Claddagh ring and memories of Angel come flooding back. She drops the ring and nearly bursts into tears, scaring Scott off. Then Giles shows up with more bad news: Faith's Watcher is dead. That night Buffy goes to Faith's motel room and confronts her about Kakistos and her Watcher, and Faith angrily says she can deal and prepares to leave again. A knock on the door appears to be the motel manager, but when Faith opens the door, the manager's dead... and there stand Kakistos, Trick, and a whole bunch of vampires.

The two Slayers run, but the vampires herd them into their hideout. Faith reveals that she saw what Kakistos did to her Watcher and she ran, but Buffy reassures her she did the right thing, just as the vamps show up and a fight ensues. Buffy takes on several vampires, but Faith freezes before Kakistos, who has her at his mercy. Buffy intervenes, and seems to be beating Kakistos. Mr. Trick, citing "the big picture," takes the other vampires and leaves. When Buffy's normal-sized stake isn't enough to finish Kakistos off, Faith comes to and shoves a massive wooden pole through the ancient vampire, finishing him for good. The Watcher's Council agrees to have Faith stay in Sunnydale indefinitely under Giles' care until a new Watcher is assigned. Buffy, inspired by how Faith dealt with her issues, reveals to Willow and Giles what really happened the night she killed Angel — how he was Angel again before she kissed him and killed him. Feeling better she walks off (as Giles tells Willow the "binding spell" was just a ruse) and takes Scott Hope up on his date offer once and for all. That night she goes to the mansion where she killed Angel and, placing the Claddagh ring Angel gave her on the ground, quietly says, "Goodbye." After she leaves, though, a bright shaft of light illuminates the ring, and a naked Angel falls out of the light to lay on the floor, sweaty and trembling.