We always need more Faith!!!! My girl! Nah, but really I agree with what you said about her in this reaction. All my defense of her in previous season was because... she's still a kid. And coma be damned, she was still conscious in it and now she's an adult. I feel like we always need to take a person's historical past into perspective with who they are in the "now" or who they could potentially be in the future. But... it's not okay to almost kill Joyce. Or anyone for that matter. I soooo can't wait for you to see the continuation episode. Hyped for it. Be well and good vibes.
Hekate_TanyaTMS
2025-11-13 22:35:12 +0000 UTC
Agree that Adam is a bit of a slog so far.
But I am so excited for your commentary on what's coming up! It's some of my favorite performances in the entire show.
Out of the Nox
2025-11-08 05:07:52 +0000 UTC
Very good episode and very good video from you Tyler.
I can't comment on a lot of things you said because of spoilers and (as it is often the case in two parters episodes) this episode is a big set up for the next episode (when we can finally go deeper in Faith's mind).
Concerning the pacing of the season and how you felt not very concerned about Adam's character and his role as the Big Bad of the season, you're not the only one to feel that. The Initiative story arc was interesting (and still is to a certain extent) with Walsh and Riley and didn't need the introduction of an invincible Frankenstein monster to stay that way. By focusing on the humans inside The Initiative, a lot could have been said about the good and evil inside each human being and how a system can manipulate and transform people into a better (but more often a worse) person.
Adam being part demon, part human and part machine has a unique mind and that could have raised interesting questions on that topic but I think the writers failed at making him an interesting (and even an entertaining) character. The scenes with Harry Groener as Mayor Wilkins in this episode only reminded us how good the previous Big Bad was (and especially his interactions with Faith) and demonstrated one of the main weaknesses of season 4. Season 4 is not the weakest season of BTVS (because of wonderful episodes such as the one you've just seen and the next) but Adam is the weakest Big Bad and season 4 also had the least interesting overarching plot in the show. At least characters' arcs are amazing throughout the season.
At last, I particularly liked your comment about how Faith only knew to be a Slayer and nothing else. In this episode Wilkins offered her a way to escape her life and begin a new one. She could have chosen anyone for the body swap but she chose Buffy (which is a bad move strategically speaking because targeting someone whose entourage knows magics exist makes her vulnerable to those people being able to reverse the spell). I think it wasn't even a choice for Faith in her mind. She is The Slayer and she doesn't know how to be someone else so Buffy was the only option for her. Once again you are very spot on with your analysis of the characters because you made that comment even before knowing what the device purpose was.
I'm eager to see your next BTVS video (but I think ATS is next, which is fine because I seem to remember it being a great episode too). Take care of yourself.