Go Ask Malice, Week 4: March 25th - April 24th

Taake

Taake

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Black Thorn
Book Club: Go Ask Malice
Fourth week (week 42): October 16th - October 23rd​


The book is in diary format and this week we will be reading the book dates
March 25th - Apri 24th (pages. 94-121)

Discuss these dates here.

🙂
 
It's time for week 4 everybody! So Faith is now a potential and she knows about Slayers and vampires!

I haven't finished these pages yet but my reflections so far are:
  • It's interesting that Faith gets picked up as a potential, I always thought she didn't get to know her Watcher until after she was called. Not sure why. Maybe because she felt more Buffy-ish than Kendra-ish in terms of knowledge and preparation?

  • It is also interesting that Faith so far seems to be a pretty good Slayer student. Way better than Buffy at least. But I suppose that's because Faith doesn't have anything else in her life. It does speak to why she's so much more passionate about being a Slayer than Buffy is. I mean there is nothing here about just wanting to be a "normal" girl, in fact she has always wanted to be tapped as something other than just, well, a loser etc, so for Faith this is pretty much the golden ticket.
 
It's interesting to parallel things happening in the novel with what was going on in the show as well. I was thinking about how around this time, Buffy was dealing with her life being turned upside down by Angel's curse at the same time Faiths life is kind of spiraling downhill. And while Buffy is dealing with the events leading up to "Becoming" now faith is identified as a potential.

This also got me to thinking about how the beginning of this novel was just after Buffy met Kendra for the first time, how the dreams for Faith seem to start just after Buffy and Kendra's interaction. Like fate was already preparing Faith for Kendra's inevitable death.
 
Oh I didn't think about that at all, it's some good points about both of their lives kind of being turned upside down.

I'm a little bit disappointed in Faith's Watcher, I mean I know that Giles is all rigid at the start too, but somehow Faith's watcher comes across as too stiff and... I don't know. I'm not getting any kind of good 'vibe' between her and Faith, y'know. On the show I got the feeling that she cared for her Watcher, and maybe she will at the end, but for now I feel like the lady (blanking her name right now sorry!) kind of looks down on Faith.

Again the book has me thinking about the movie though. The movie-Buffy has dreams of past Slayer's lives and right now I'm getting that feeling from Faith's dreams about the maenads. When she's talking to the other captured girl in the dream it just seems like it's not a dream but someone's memory. What do you guys think, is it the life of a past Slayer she's dreaming about?
 
I loved the action in this set of dates! Faith's dreams seem to be full of foreshadowing and at the same time, I agree with you @Taake that there's some slayer memories going on here. I loved that we were getting to dig into some demon lore with the maenads...felt like old scooby times! I still wonder what the heck Alex's role is in all of this.

I found the Watcher to be pretty consistent with what we already know about Watchers in general- recall that Giles was something of an anomaly and wasn't highly regarded by the Council. If I remember correctly, many of their portrayals in BtVS indicated they were a bunch of stiffs.

Also, I think the reason Faith embraces the Slayer identity more so than Buffy is that it gives her what's always needed- some sort of positive identity that isn't associated with her sordid past and her mother's abuse. As if she gets to rewrite her own story in a way.
 
Good point about the Watcher being very watchery, maybe I just really want Faith to have a bit of Giles in her life... I mean from the series we already know that the Watcher is going to die, so maybe it's good if they're not that close, but still... I just want someone to give her a proper hug I guess.
 
I absolutely think Faith’s dreams are Slayer memories.

I think I’m liking this book more after this section. It made me think about the potentials though: all the training they got, did they really not use them unless they were called? And if they did, how many died ?
 
Finally Faith gets to "go to" Slayer School! And she's amazing at it, or at least better than she was at regular school.

Buffy Summers: I absolutely think Faith’s dreams are Slayer memories.
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Yes! I agree. And it seems like they are getting worse. I guess all the Potentials get these types of dreams??

Taake: Good point about the Watcher being very watchery, maybe I just really want Faith to have a bit of Giles in her life... I mean from the series we already know that the Watcher is going to die, so maybe it's good if they're not that close, but still... I just want someone to give her a proper hug I guess.
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I feel the same way. Like there's no need for them to be best friends right away but Diana did seem colder than I expected. The whole "I don't do chicks - I'm your watcher - What are you gonna watch me do? Take a shower? - GET OUT OF THE CAR" exchange was both hilarious and sad. Like Diana reacted so upset about it, when Faith was mostly being a smartass. It seems unnecessarily harsh by Diana. After that though, Diana seems nicer / normal.

(Also, I'm one of those people that believes Faith is bisexual, so Faith's admission that "I wouldn't kick Angelina Jolie out of bed, but still..." had me clapping. Like Faith, no one was asking you to explain that, you're just needlessly oversharing here.)

I also felt bad for Faith about her mom dying. Her conflicted feelings about it. Missing her Mom's crooked smile but also remembering the bad stuff.
 
Bop
Bop
I can believe Faith is bisexual or a lesbian based only on the show
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Bop: I can believe Faith is bisexual or a lesbian based only on the show
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Yes I have heard both of these and can see space for both of them! The comp het argument is believable, for me personally I head canon Faith as bisexual. There's also people who see her as hetero but that's a more boring head canon for me. 🙂
 
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watcherless said:
Yes I have heard both of these and can see space for both of them! The comp het argument is believable, for me personally I head canon Faith as bisexual. There's also people who see her as hetero but that's a more boring head canon for me. 🙂
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Yeah I can see the argument for Faith being either straight, gay or bi but obviously straight is the one that the show says she is so it's less interesting to argue that 😄
 
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