Writer:

Marti Noxon

Director:

Michael Gershman

Regulars:

Sarah Michelle Gellar as Buffy Summers

Nicholas Brendon as Xander Harris

Alyson Hannigan as Willow Rosenberg

Charisma Carpenter as Cordelia Chase

David Boreanaz as Angel

Seth Green as Oz — Not in this episode

Anthony Stewart Head as Rupert Giles

Guest Stars:

Eliza Dushku as Faith

Kristine Sutherland as Joyce Summers

K. Todd Freeman as Mr. Trick

Harry Groener as Mayor Richard Wilkins III

Alexis Denisof as Wesley Wyndam-Pryce

Jack Plotnick as Allan Finch, Deputy Mayor

James G. MacDonald as Detective Stein

Cast:

Amy Powell as TV news reporter

Patricia Place as Woman in alley

Faith's apparent switch to "the dark side" is reminiscent of Darth Vader in Star Wars.

One of Mr. Trick's vampire henchmen

Staked by Faith at the docks.

Another one of Mr. Trick's vampire henchmen

Staked by Faith at the docks.

Mr. Trick

Staked by Faith at the docks.

Total: Three

Willow: "I've been letting things fester. And I don't like it. I want to be fester-free."

Willow: "Oh, Buffy! Don't cry! I'm sorry. I was too hard on you. Sometimes I unleash, I don't know my own strength. It's bad. I'm bad. I'm a bad, bad, bad person!"

Buffy: "Oh."
Giles: "Oh!"
(They all look at Willow.)
Willow: "I don't need to say 'Oh.' I got it before. They slept together."

Angel: "You want to go the long way around, hey I can do that. I'm not gettin' any older."

Mr. Trick (as Faith stakes him): "Oh no. No, this is no good at all."

More quotes from this episode...

Faith: "I hope evil takes Mastercard."

• Cordelia: "Psych. class. Freud and Jung." — Sigmund Freud came up with the original insight that would form the basis of psychoanalysis: the idea that neurotic behavior is motivated by unconscious desires that can be revealed through such things as dreams or slips of the tongue. He also hypothesized that the sexual drive (or "libido") lay behind many of these unconscious desires, and introduced the concepts of the id, ego, and superego. Carl Jung was the most popularly known and influential member of the group that formed the core of the early psychoanalytic movement — students and followers of Sigmund Freud. Jung emphasized a "will to power" and a mythic/spiritual questing as important sources of unconscious energy.

• Cordelia: "Check out Giles the next generation." — "Star Trek: the Next Generation" was a TV series, starring Patrick Stewart, which ran from 1987-1994. It was the successor to the original 1960s Star Trek series, and it led to the movies Star Trek: Generations (1994), Star Trek: First Contact (1996), and Star Trek: Insurrection (1998).

• The Mayor: "Well. This is exciting. A Slayer up for murder one." — "Murder one" is first degree murder, which in California (and most states) is defined as murder that is intentional or premeditated, or that takes place during certain other crimes, including arson, rape, or robbery. This would make an interesting court case: it wasn't premeditated, nor did Faith intend to kill Finch, but she did intend to kill. How would the judge and jury react to the defense that she thought he was a vampire, and that it's her duty to kill them?

• Faith: "So the mayor of Sunnydale is a black hat." — The term, meaning bad guy, villain, etc., stems from the tradition that villains in Western movies always wore black hats.

• Faith: "The guy I offed was no Gandhi." — Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, 1869-1948, was an Indian political and spiritual leader, regarded as the father of independent India. His title "Mahatma" means "great soul." He led a life of abstinence and spirituality, supported passive resistance as a way to end British rule, and preached Christian and Muslim ethics along with Hindu. He was assassinated by a Hindu extremist who objected to his tolerance for Muslim; a period of mourning was observed by the UN. Gandhi's teachings inspired nonviolent movements everywhere, including civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. His life was made into a 1982 movie starring Ben Kingsley.

• Faith: "Whoever did it wasn't hip to the Bronze Age." — The Bronze Age is the period in the development of technology when metals were first used regularly in the manufacture of tools and weapons. It falls in between the Stone Age and the Iron Age.

• Faith: "I hope evil takes Mastercard." — Mastercard is a one of the major credit card companies. They have been around since 1966 — as the Interbank Card Association; they changed their name to Mastercard in the late 1970s.

• Faith: "Little miss goody two shoes?" — The phrase "goody two shoes" comes from the title of a moralistic nursery tale called "The History of Little Goody Two-Shoes," which is thought to have been written by Oliver Goldsmith, and was published in 1765 by John Newbery. Goody owned only one shoe. When she was given a pair of them, she was so pleased that she showed them to everybody, saying "Two shoes." The phrase, along with the phrase "goody goody," now refers to a self-righteous, smugly virtuous person.

• Buffy: "Less than 24 hours ago, you killed a man, and now it's all zip-a-dee-doo-dah?" — "Zip a Dee Doo Dah" is an exceedingly cheerful song from the 1946 Disney movie "Song of the South."

• Revelations — Faith is mad that Buffy won't lie for her even though she pretended Angel was still dead to protect him, which everyone found out about in "Revelations." Buffy also refers to this episode — specifically to the intervention they did on her after Xander caught her kissing Angel.

• Gingerbread — Willow mentions that she and Michael are still trying to de-rat Amy. Amy turned herself into a rat in "Gingerbread," the same episode in which the character of Michael was introduced.

• Helpless — Wesley calls Quentin Travers, the man from the Watchers Council who appeared in "Helpless" to orchestrate Buffy's rite of passage.

• The day after Finch's murder (in "Bad Girls"), Buffy went to Faith's (in bright daylight and a clean outfit). This episode begins with Buffy in her pajamas, waking up from a nightmare; then she goes to school. This means that it is at least the second day since the murder. But the detective questioning the witness at the scene of the crime says, "You heard the man scream at about what time last night?" (Finch didn't scream, but perhaps the witness is confused.) Later that night, Buffy says to Faith, "Less than 24 hours ago, you killed a man." Though this episode has a different writer than "Bad Girls," it's surprising that no one caught that — with what is basically the second part of a two-parter, you'd think they'd be on the lookout for that sort of thing.

• Willow calls Michael a "warlock." This is a questionable choice of wording, since modern-day witches, along with Wiccans, don't use the term warlock to refer to male witches.

• In the aforementioned witness-questioning scene, the blood on the dumpster looked awfully fresh. But we aren't experts on this type of thing, so it may not be a goof.

• Giles' calendar (in his office with Buffy after Faith has just left) appears to be turned to April 1997. Has Giles really not changed it for almost two years?

• Between Faith leaving the library and Wesley coming in, the yellow nameplate (or whatever it is) on the counter moves, as well as the pen that's attached to the counter.

• It's noticeable that it's Sophia in the docks fight scene. For one thing, her body type isn't quite like Sarah's — we're guessing she may have been wearing padding. Also, while Buffy is pinned under the crate, and the camera focuses on Faith fighting, you can see Sophia sitting up by the crate (and at one point even looking at them), but when they focus on Buffy, you can see that she is still stuck laying down.

• In one of the cuts to Wesley's henchman beating on Angel, there is a brief moment when you can see what appears to be Wesley's hand wielding a cross. Wesley walked in with only three other men, and they are all clearly visible in this shot (plus, it looks like his sleeve). However, Wesley is at that moment a few feet away unlocking Faith.

• Where exactly did Wesley get the key to the chains that Angel had Faith in? He didn't pickpocket Angel, which would have been the most likely explanation.

• Joyce and Buffy were watching the news on channel 14.

• Faith calls Cordelia "jailbait," but actually she may not be; she could easily be 18. She failed her driver's test in "The Witch," and got her license sometime between then and "Prophecy Girl."

• Again with the hair-changing (Oz had black hair in the last episode). Willow's hair has been layered; the color looks a little bit brighter, too, but we're not sure about that.

• Kathleen Wilhoite, who sang the featured song in this episode, is also an actress. One of her notable roles was the recurring character Chloe Lewis on "ER."

• Kathleen Wilhoite - "Wish We Never Met" (From Pitch Like a Girl, BMG, 1997)
  This song plays while Willow is crying in the bathroom and Xander is sitting on the stairs in the library, after Willow finds out that he and Faith had sex.

Jeremy:

Another fine episode. I like the development of Wesley, and his interaction with some of the other characters in the show (i.e. Cordelia). Poor Willow's feelings get all tied up in this episode. She is so in love with Xander, but she is happy with Oz; what a terrible choice she is faced with. Faith is on us in full force once again. She was held back in some of the previous episodes leading up to Bad Girls/Consequences, but she is shining through with all the mystery that surrounds her. Is she really being tempted by the "Dark Side" or is she leading a covert operation to find out more about the Mayor? They really are building up my anticipation for the season ender, when we should find out about what this Ascension thing is all about. Mr. Trick's death was too soon, however, as I wanted to see more of what his character was all about. I just guess that means that Spike will have to come back! Yeah! And kudos for giving a glimpse into what the show "Angel" will be like. (7/10)

Jamie Marie:

"Consequences" was a decent follow-up to an excellent episode. I really do like Faith this way — that is, she's the kind of character I could love to hate. Faith's going to the Mayor is a great development; we get to wonder if she's really double-crossing Buffy, et al, or if she's actually double-crossing the Mayor; and we get to see what happens (hopefully) when a Slayer lets it all go to her head and gets carried over to "the dark side." For me, though, the episode was missing two important things: one, actual consequences — there were emotional ones, sure, but only for Buffy (as far as we can tell). Faith was almost sent to the Watchers Council, almost caught by the cops, and almost killed per the Mayor's orders. In the end, it looks like she'll get off scot-free. What really bothered me, though, was the lack of any reference to "Ted." Buffy thought that she had killed a human, and certainly she was basing her ideas of how Faith must/should be feeling on how she herself felt during that time. Maybe she wouldn't have wanted to share that incident with Faith (Faith would take it as proof that Buffy does have some evil in her), however, it really should have come up in conversations with Giles or Willow, or the whole group. Compounding my unhappiness with this is the fact that Detective Stein himself questioned her about Ted's death, and appeared in "Becoming Part Two," as well (when it looked as though she had killed Kendra). Why wouldn't he have mentioned those incidents when questioning her this time? Plus, Faith and Buffy escaped from a cop car last week and ran it off the road, and he doesn't even mention it, let alone prosecute. It's these things that kept this episode from really hitting the spot for me; but at least it opens up potential for some good storylines in the future. Sidelines: an excellent performance from Alyson Hannigan — and to those who think she has no right to cry over it, you're lucky to have never been in her position. And boo-hiss for killing Mr. Trick before he met his potential (even if he did get in a hilarious line first). (7/10)