Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Faith, Hope and Trick

Faith, Hope and Trick
Season 3, Episode 3
Airdate	October 13, 1998
Production Number	3ABB03
Written by	David Greenwalt
Directed by	James A. Contner
← 3x02 Dead Man's Party	3x04 → Beauty and the Beasts
Buffy the Vampire Slayer — Season Three

Faith, Hope and Trick is the third episode of the third season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and the thirty-seventh episode overall. A new slayer is in town, but Buffy is too busy getting over Angel to take a liking to her.

Sarah Michelle Gellar (Buffy Summers), Nicholas Brendon (Xander Harris), Alyson Hannigan (Willow Rosenberg), Charisma Carpenter (Cordelia Chase), David Boreanaz (Angel), Seth Green (Oz)

and Anthony Stewart Head (Giles)

Guest Starring: Kristine Sutherland (Joyce Summers), K. Todd Freeman (Mr. Trick), Fab Filippo (Scott Hope), Jeremy Roberts (Kakistos), Eliza Dushku (Faith)

and Armin Shimerman (Principal Snyder)

Co-Starring: John Ennis (Manager)

Uncredited: R. D. Price (Pizza Delivery Guy)

Plot Overview

A new slayer is in town, Faith. While Buffy's friends as well as Giles and Joyce have taken a liking to her, she doesn't rub Buffy the right way. However Faith has brought someone with her; a old and dangerous vampire who already killed her watcher. Buffy is having trouble moving on from her relationship with Angel, especially the events which led to him going to hell, it is actually the slaying that prevents her from growing closer to Scott, who has a crush on her.

Notes

Monster of the Week

Kakistos is a vampire whose name, which is of Greek origin, means "the worst of the worst." The vampire is so old that his hands and feet have become cloven and the only way to kill him was to use a massive stake. He apparently chased Faith to Sunnydale after killing her Watcher and she took a chunk out of the right side of his face.

More notably, he arrived in town with Mr. Trick, a vampire who betrays his master and goes off seeking fortune elsewhere.

Body Count

#	Whom	By Whom	How	Where
1	Drive-Thru Guy	Mr. Trick	Bitten	Happy Burger
2	Vampire	Faith	Staked	Alleyway
3	Pizza Guy	Mr. Trick	Bitten	Lair
4–6	Vampires	Buffy	Staked	Alleyway
7	Manager	Kakistos	Killed Off-Screen	Motel
8	Vampire	Buffy	Staked	Lair
9	Kakistos	Faith	Staked	Lair

Music

• "The Background" by Third Eye Blind: While Buffy is dancing with Angel in the Bronze during her nightmare, "The Background" by Third Eye Blind is playing in the background. The song appears on the band's debut eponymous album, released in 1997. The record was immediately popular and sold over six million copies thanks to popular singles like "Semi-Charmed Life" and "Jumper".

• "Blue Sun" performed by Darling Violetta: At the actual Bronze, when Buffy meets up with Oz and Willow, Darling Violetta is performing "Blue Sun" on stage. The band eventually went on to compose the opening theme music to Angel and this song title was apparently referenced in Joss Whedon's third show, Firefly, in the form of the Blue Sun Corporation.

• "Cure" performed by Darling Violetta: After the gang meets Faith and they go back inside The Bronze where Darling Violetta is still playing. Both "Cure" and "Blue Sun" appear on the band's debut album Bath-Water-Flowers.

• The Brian Jonestown Massacre - "Going To Hell"

Arc Advancement

Happenings

• Watchers Council: According to Giles, there's an annual Watcher's retreat in the Cotswolds which is a great honor to be invited to. He, however, has apparently never been invited and implies that he's been ostracized from the council.

Characters

• Buffy: Buffy is allowed back into Sunnydale High School, much to the disappointment of Principal Snyder.

• Faith: Following the death of Kendra several months prior, Faith was called as a Slayer. However, before long, her Watcher was killed by the vampire Kakistos and she went on the run. Buffy immediately distrusts her, although she's forced to accept her because she's temporarily placed under Giles' guide in this episode.

• Angel: Angel unexpectedly returns from hell after Buffy leaves the ring he gave her on the spot where she killed him.

Referbacks

• 2x22 - Becoming (2): Acathla was the demon which Angelus hoped to awaken in the two-part season finale. It threatened to open a portal and suck the world into hell, but was stopped twice by brave knights with enchanted swords. Buffy closed the portal by stabbing Angel and Acathla with her sword.

Giles: I trust you remember the demon Acathla?

• 1x12 - Prophecy Girl: Buffy briefly died when she faced down The Master in his underground lair. She unwittingly set him free and drowned in a pool of water. Mysteriously, she returned from the dead after a couple minutes being dead.

Cordelia: There was one, and then Buffy died for, like, two minutes...

• 2x21 - Becoming (1): Kendra was murdered by Drusilla, who hypnotized her and slashed her throat during a siege on the library. The main target was Giles, who was kidnapped, but most of the gang wound up injured as a result of the fight.

Cordelia: ...So then Kendra was called, and then when she died, Faith was called.

• 2x14 - Innocence (2): When the Judge was assembled, Giles warned Buffy the legend said he could not be killed by any weapon forged by man. As it turns out, the Judge could be blown up using a rocket launcher and the chunks of him left over separated so he could not be put back together. Willow nearly being killed by Angel, as Xander mentions, also happened in this episode.

Faith: So, B, did you really use a rocket launcher one time?

• 1x07 - Angel: When asked about her most difficult kill, Buffy starts to tell Faith about The Three, a trio of warrior vampires who attack Buffy and Angel. But, Buffy didn't actually kill the Three. Darla did when they failed her and The Master.

Buffy: Oh, do you guys remember the Three?

• 2x19 - I Only Have Eyes for You: An angry poltergeist haunted the halls of Sunnydale High School around the time of the Sadie Hawkins dance. The ghost, that of a teenager who accidentally shot and killed his lover before committing suicide, lashed out by turning the cafeteria food into snakes and sucking Willow "into a muddy grave."

Willow: And over here, we have the cafeteria, where we were mauled by snakes.

• 2x03 - School Hard: Spike attempted to knock off the Slayer as his first act in Sunnydale by attacking Sunnydale High School during Parent-Teacher night. The vampires stormed the school, but were driven away by Buffy and her mother, who wasn't completely aware of what was going on.

Willow: Oh, and over there in the lounge is where Spike and his gang nearly massacred us all on Parent-Teacher night.

Trivia

Behind the Scenes

• International: Buffy the Vampire Slayer has been dubbed into many different languages and the title translated for each different international version. Some international translations of this episode's title are:
  • French: "La Nouvelle Petite Soeur" ("The New Little Sister")
  • Italian: "L'incantesimo" ("The Spell")
  • German: "Neue Freunde, Neue Feinde" ("New Friends, New Enemies")
  • Japanese: "信念、希望、そして策略" ("Shinren, Kibou, soshite Sakuryaku" - "Faith, Hope, and Trick")
  • Spanish: "Fe, Esperanza y Olvido" ("Faith, Hope and Forgetfulness")

Quotes

• Willow: Maybe we shouldn't be too couply around Buffy.

Cordelia: Oh, you mean 'cause of how the only guy that ever liked her turned into a vicious killer and had to be put down like a dog?

Xander: Can she cram complex issues into a nutshell or what?

• Buffy: First of all, Martha Stewart knows jack about hand-cut prosciutto.

Xander: I don't believe she slays, either.

Oz: Oh, I hear she can, but she doesn't like to.

• Willow: (to Buffy) Ooh, Scott Hope at eleven o'clock. He likes you. He wanted to ask you out last year, but you weren't ready then. But I think you're ready now, or at least in the state of pre-readiness to make conversation, or - or to do that thing with your mouth that boys like.

• Mr. Trick: Sunnydale. Town's got quaint. And the people? He called me "sir". Don't you just miss that? I mean, admittedly, it's not a haven for the brothers. You know, strictly the caucasian persuasion here in the 'dale, but, you know, you just gotta stand up and salute that death rate. I ran a statistical analysis, and hello, darkness. It makes D.C. look like Mayberry, and ain't nobody saying boo about it. We could fit right in here. Have us some fun.

• Willow: Mmm, sage. I love that smell. And marnox root. You know, a smidge of this mixed with a virgin's saliva... does something I know nothing about.

• Oz: I'm gonna go out on a limb and say there's a new Slayer in town.

• Joyce: I like this girl, Buffy.

Buffy: She's very personable. She gets along with my friends, my Watcher, my Mom. Look, now she's getting along with my fries.

• Buffy: Mom, the only way you get a new Slayer, is if the old Slayer dies.

Joyce: Then that means you... When did you die? You never told me you died.

Buffy: No, Mom. It was just for a few minutes.

• Faith: What are you getting so strung up for, B?

Buffy: Why are your lips still moving, F?