Characterization In The Buffyverse — ‘Buffy The Vampire Slayer’ Season 4, Episode 16

This is part of a bi-weekly series concerning the characterization of Buffyverse characters. The first installment in this series can be found here. Arguably the best place to begin reading this series is at the beginning, but that is up to each reader. As a reminder this column will cover major and some minor characters from the shows Buffy The Vampire Slayer (1997-2003) and Angel (1999-2004). Other Buffyverse media, such as the graphic novel Spike: Into The Light (2014) are not pertinent to this series. Also there will be no referencing real world events that have a direct relation to either show in this bi-weekly series.

This week: Buffy Summers (Sarah Michelle Gellar) and Faith (Eliza Dushku) see things from different perspectives than usual. Meanwhile, Adam (George Hertzberg) runs a test.

(Warning of spoilers from this point on!)

(Trigger warning for talk of non-consensual acts)

Buffy blames her boyfriend, Riley Finn (Marc Blucas), for unknowingly sleeping with Faith — a negative moment in her overall characterization. She also displays an ability to efficiently use a gun despite not usually using them. Also, she fights normally despite the fact that she is in the wrong body. Considering the body switch, she and Faith should be a little off in their capabilities due to their differing proportions and differences in muscle memory. Mostly, though, Buffy is just trying to escape from various people, and get her body back.

Riley mainly serves this episode’s story by allowing Faith to get some revenge on Buffy. Unfortunately, this ends by him having a non-consensual encounter with Faith. Yes, he agrees to sexual intercourse, but it is not with the person he thinks it is. Thus, it is non-consensual. Paradoxically, Riley verbally expressing his love to who he thinks is Buffy is one of the things that unnerves Faith. Even though he does not intend to, his actions apparently push her to start considering redemption.

Spike (James Marsters) mainly exists in this episode to have an unknowing confrontation with Faith. It is both a circumstance of him looking for a fight once they bump into each other and his attempt to locate her in the prior episode (Season 4, Episode 15 ‘This Year’s Girl’). Thus, he has some agency, but he is also a victim of the needs of the plot. There is also the suggestion of a possible future relationship between either him and Buffy or him and Faith thanks to Faith’s teasing. Mid-tease, viewers can see his willingness to be tempted right on his face.

Xander Harris (Nicholas Brendon) and Anya (Emma Caulfield Ford) are primarily in this episode to help enhance the sense of danger audiences feel the Scoobies are in within this episode. They are also here for a few quick jokes.

Rupert Giles (Anthony Stewart Head) appears to be horrible at both improvising to distract people and to covertly obtain weapons. He mostly serves the episode by both giving and receiving exposition.

Faith becomes a rapist in two ways. The main way: intentionally taking over Buffy’s body and doing things with it. The second, of course, involves sleeping with Riley under false pretenses due to the body-swap. Faith commits a form of self-harm by beating up Buffy during the switch. Despite this, Faith does have some positive development thanks to nice interactions that affect her outlook. One particular instance is when someone’s date (Jennifer S. Albright) thanks her for saving them. Nevertheless, Faith is like the rest of the characters since she is also a victim of the plot.

Willow Rosenberg (Alyson Hannigan) is moving forward with Tara Maclay (Amber Benson) in a more romantic mode. Or, at least, when it comes to the episode’s subtext since Willow and Tara hold hands. However, Willow still seems closeted — even to herself. Still, she displays a lot of admiration, and vocalizes a lot of trust, for Tara. This episode also sees Willow unable to notice auras, which may be something she never learns to do. Lastly, Willow is not perceptive about Buffy because the plot needs Tara to be.

Tara, in an abstract way, makes a declaration of love to Willow. She also displays the ability to see auras of others. Both of these are big positive developments for her character. Yet, the declaration causes a duality due to two factors. The first being that she and Willow do not have a definition for their relationship yet. Next is the fact that Willow is apparently not out yet to either herself or anyone else. Therefore, Tara’s declaration comes off as a major emotional deal, but oddly timed.

Forrest Gates (Leonard Roberts) exists in this episode for no reason at all. As far as his characterization goes, he is just a cliché angry black/military man.

Joyce Summers (Kristine Sutherland) is the only person who knows Buffy with a justifiable reason for not noticing something is off with her. Buffy is not visiting her much and may think Buffy is acting different due to experiencing college life. Also, Joyce never really understands the supernatural side of the world. Thus, she is easier to deceive when magic is at play in a situation. Sadly, that means she doesn’t really know her daughter.

Weatherby (Jeff Ricketts), Smith (Kevin Owers), Collins (Alastair Duncan) are a part of a wet works retrieval team that works for the Watcher’s Council. They may have slightly differing personalities, but they share a very similar attitude and the same purpose. The aligning attitudes and purpose combine to make them indifferent toward the possible death of a teammate. Also, while Weatherby and Smith defer to Collins’ leadership, they otherwise act as equals to him. This all means that they fit into what TV Tropes describes as “the consummate professional” type of killer. Finally, while all three are horrible people, Weatherby is the most misogynistic of the lot.

Boone (Rick Stear), the reporter (Amy Powell), the sergeant (Rick Scarry), the detective (Chet Grissom), and someone’s date all have stock characterization. Yes, they add to the universe feeling like it has life, but none of them have any real sense of agency, so they are kind of pointless

Adam, in this episode, is essentially Victor Frankenstein’s monster acting like Frankenstein (Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus {1818}) himself. In other words, his ‘experiment’ with the vampire Boone and his cohorts is very much like one Dr. Maggie Walsh (Lindsay Crouse) would do.

The plot is interesting and rather solid. Yet, it relies entirely on dumbing down or removing agency from most of the characters. Also, Adam, this season’s Big Bad, gets inclusion here simply due to a finite number of episodes remaining. This, in turn, reduces the screen time available for long-standing characters like Xander and Giles to possibly affect the plot. Thus, this writer personally feels that the characterization is, at best, haphazardly put together and, at worst, negative and/or non-existent.