Season 3 Episode 15 - Consequences

Buffy is having a nightmare in which she is underwater, with Finch pulling her down by the ankles. She struggles to the surface, only to have Faith shove her down again. She wakes up in her sheep pajamas and goes down the hall, where her mom is watching the news in her bedroom. Finch's body has been found and identified, and the Mayor promises justice.

That day at school, Wesley orders Faith and Buffy to investigate the murder. Giles thinks it's a waste of time, but Wesley says he is their "commander," so it's up to him. Cordelia interrupts, needing books for psychology. Wesley is obviously quite taken with her, thinking she teaches psychology, but Giles corrects him. Amazingly, Cordelia is quite friendly to Wesley. Buffy and Faith go to an empty classroom, where Buffy tells Faith that she can't pretend she doesn't know about the murder, and that they have to tell the truth. Faith disagrees, and tells Buffy she's in just as deep. Faith leaves, and Buffy seeks out Willow, who is obviously uncomfortable. Willow leaves, with the excuse that she is meeting Michael to try to de-rat Amy.

That night in the alley, Detective Stein is questioning a woman who seems to have heard a man scream last night, while other police are gathering evidence. Angel is observing, and remembers seeing the blood on Buffy's hand.

At City Hall, the Mayor is shredding the paper trail of evidence that Finch has left behind, and he wonders if Finch was going to betray him. Trick has good news, though — the coroner's report shows that Finch was killed with a pointed wooden object, which implicates that a Slayer did it. This pleases the mayor.

Later that night, Faith and Buffy sneak into City Hall to check out Finch's office, because Buffy wonders why he was in the alley. She finds that all of his file folders have been emptied. When they start to leave, they see the Mayor and Mr. Trick together. Back on the street, Faith and Buffy get into an argument about the way Faith is dealing with the murder. Faith thinks that they can do whatever they want because they're Slayers, and therefore better than everybody else.

Buffy arrives home to find Detective Stein waiting for her. He questions her — and, separately, Faith — about the murder. He encourages them to come clean if they know anything. Angel is lurking outside Faith's room and watches the detective leave.

Willow is on her computer when Buffy comes over needing to talk. Willow says she needs to talk, too, and proceeds to berate Buffy for her attitude lately. Buffy starts to cry, and Willow thinks she's a bad person for making Buffy cry. Buffy tells her everything, and Willow stresses that she has to go to Giles.

Buffy goes to the library, and starts to confess to Giles, but Faith comes out of his office and instead she says she's been ditching classes. Faith says it's OK, she told Giles that Buffy killed Finch. Giles orders Buffy into his office. Once Faith is gone, he admits that he didn't believe Faith, but felt he should humor her to keep her from doing anything rash. Giles tells Buffy that this kind of accident has happened before, but that he doesn't want to get the council involved (the normal course of action). Wesley is outside the office, eavesdropping, and looks quite upset. He gets on the phone and calls Quentin Travers, with the code word "monkey."

The next day, the gang (minus Oz) is discussing how to help Faith. Buffy rejects the intervention idea, and Xander offers to talk to her one on one, because he has a "connection" with her. In the course of this conversation, the group figures out that Xander and Faith had sex. Buffy doesn't think this will mean anything to Faith, as she doesn't take sex very seriously. Giles assigns him and Willow to do research about the Mayor and Mr. Trick.

Willow goes to the restroom and sobs. Xander sits in the library looking upset, then goes to Faith's. He tries to reason with her, and says he would testify in court for her, but she throws him on the bed, saying she could do anything she wanted to him, including killing him. She proceeds to strangle him, but Angel bursts in and hits her with a bat.

Angel has Faith chained up at the mansion, but he's not making much progress with her. He goes outside, where Buffy is, and says it could take a while. Angel stresses that things are different for Faith now — she's gotten a taste of killing.

At City Hall, the Mayor and Mr. Trick are viewing the security tapes, on which they see Buffy and Faith, and realize that the Slayers saw them together. The Mayor feels that there's not enough evidence to convict them, so Mr. Trick should think of a "more efficient solution."

At the mansion, Angel tells Faith that he knows the exhilaration of taking a life, and that going down that path will ruin her. Faith is not impressed. Just as it looks like she might actually be listening to him, Wesley bursts in with a couple of thugs to back him up. Wesley heads off Angel with a cross, and the thugs trap him in a net and beat him. Wesley takes the chains off of Faith, only to put her into handcuffs of his own. He takes her, "By the order of the Watchers Council of Britain," to face the disciplinary committee.

Wesley has Faith cuffed to a bench in the back of a van. When he tells his henchman to tighten her restraints, Faith pins him with her foot and threatens to pop his head open if Wesley doesn't let her go. He does, and she jumps out of the van (after a few good hits to Wesley).

Buffy goes to the mansion and finds Angel still in the net. They go to the library, where Angel tells the gang what happened. As they try to plan how to stop Wesley from taking Faith, Willow questions why exactly they shouldn't let her be punished. Wesley enters, telling them that's not an issue, as she has escaped. Angel and Buffy berate him, then they all split up to find her. Wesley, looking guilty, asks Buffy what he can do to help, to which she replies, "You still got your ticket back to the Mother Country?"

Buffy heads to the docks, where she quickly finds Faith. Faith is resistant to what she sees as attempts to make her more like Buffy. Faith thinks what bothers Buffy is that she's scared of the fact that she's just like Faith, prompting Buffy to hit her. "There's my girl" is Faith's response. As they argue, Buffy spots a falling crate and pushes Faith out of the way, getting pinned by it in the process. As Faith goes to help Buffy out, Mr. Trick and some thugs of his attack her. She throws one into the water. When Buffy gets out, Trick hits her, and they get into it. While Buffy and Trick are fighting, Faith dusts the other two vampires. Trick has Buffy at his mercy and is just about to take a bite (he's heard that once you've tasted a Slayer you never want to go back) when Faith stakes him from behind. Before he disintegrates, he manages to say, "Oh no. No this is no good at all!"

Back in the library, Giles and Buffy are discussing Faith. Buffy says she's not going to give up on her, and Giles thinks she stands a chance, even though she has a lot to face.

At City Hall, the Mayor is getting ready to leave for the night, and opens the door to find Faith. She tells him that Trick is dust. "I guess that means you have a job opening." The Mayor contemplates this, lets Faith in, and closes the door.