Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV Series) Bad Girls (1999) User Reviews

A pivotal episode in the season's story arc

[katierose295 · 7/10 · 3 August 2006]

The highlight of this episode is the introduction of Wesley. This isn't the real Wes, though. The real Wesley, who emerges over on "Angel," is just about the hardest person in the entire Buffyverse. He's the one who makes the tough calls, who fights the wrong battles for the right reasons and who, occasionally, even scares Angel with his ruthlessness. Wesley rocks. The Wesley we meet in "Bad Girls" is the Wesley who's never had a place to belong. Insecure and anxious to please his Uber-Watcher creep of a father, this Wes is still trying to figure out who he is. He's never lived in the "real" world before and he's used to being not-quite-good enough. The more the Scoobies try to exclude him, the stuffier and more determined to assert his authority he becomes. It's only after Wes creates a "family" with Angel and Cordy on "Angel" that he starts to find himself. For all intents and purposes, he becomes Angel's Watcher. So, seeing Wesley introduced in "Bad Girls," and knowing where he'll end up on "Angel" it's interesting to see how far he comes.

The episode itself revolves around Buffy's growing closeness with Faith. The two of them are bonding and slaying and breaking rules and having fun. Being super powered has it's benefits and Buffy is enjoying her walk on the wild side. At the same time, Wesley arrives to serve as Faith and Buffy's new watcher. Faith pretty much ignores him and Buffy's loyalty is still with Giles, so there's a lot of conflict. When a demon named Balthazar and his minions start rising in Sunnydale, Buffy and Faith set out to stop them. Unfortunately, things start going wrong. First they're arrested and have to escape from a police car. Then Giles and Wesley are captured by Balthazar. And, most horrifying of all, Faith accidentally kills the Deputy Mayor, Alan.

The death of the Deputy Mayor is one of the most important events of the season. It changes Faith's character and sets her switch to the Darkside into motion. While slaying, Faith accidentally stakes Alan, thinking that he's a vampire. Slayer's aren't suppose to kill humans and Buffy and Faith certainly didn't want to hurt anyone. Buffy panics. Faith stares at the body in shock. And neither one of them know what to do. After this Buffy will try to reclaim her own life and reconnect to the Scoobies. But Faith, taking Alan's death as further proof of her "badness," begins to spiral out of control. The Mayor's plan is also kicking into high gear as he completes the first step of his ritual and becomes invincible. "Who's up for a root-beer?"

There are plenty of good parts to this episode. I love Wesley and his scenes with Giles are just hilarious. Wesley might be Buffy's Watcher, but Giles is still in charge. Buffy's loyalty to Giles annoys Wes, but it's perfectly understandable and even kind of sweet. And Giles' smugness over Buffy's obvious preference for him is super cute. He's become her father and there's no way Wesley could come between them. Also, you have to laugh when Faith makes a U-Turn as soon as she spots Wes, "New Watcher? Screw that." Plus, it's fun to see Wes in scenes with Angel before they really know each other. By next season on "Angel," Angel wouldn't be taking that medallion thing FROM Wesley to protect it. He'd be giving it TO Wes for safe keeping. It's interesting.

On the downside, I think that the Scoobies made a mistake by deliberately excluding Wes. He could've been a heck of an asset to the team if they'd given him a chance. Also, Buffy brushing off Willow's help is pretty harsh. Will's fought evil plenty of times. She just helped to stop the end of the world in "The Zeppo" and suddenly Balthazar is too big a threat for her to face? No way.

My favorite part of the episode: The Mayor's To Do list, "Meet with PTA, Become Invincible, Get a Haircut..."

Buffy: Whenever Giles sends me on a mission, he always says "Please." And afterwards, I get a cookie.

[bombersflyup · 9/10 · 30 October 2019]

Bad Girls is about the arrival of the new watcher and Faith convincing Buffy to live on the wild side.

A light enjoyable episode, with the introduction of Wesley, who goes on to much grander things. He soon finds it much more difficult and dangerous than his training and glad to have Giles by his side. Unfortunately there isn't much Willow & Xander here, as Faith takes their place, but they still have some quality moments. You'd think it would make things easier having another slayer around, but Faith is reckless, putting Buffy in predicaments she would otherwise not be. The mayor starts his demonic ascension, becoming immortal.

The One Where Buffy Embraces Her Wild Side...

[taylorkingston · 8/10 · 26 January 2018]

I loved this episode. I love the demon, and what happens with Faith.

In this episode, Willow finds out that she's gotten early acceptance to a lot of pretigous universities, including Yale, Harvard, and Oxfard. Buffy and Faith's new Watcher, Wesley, gives Buffy an order to go find an amulet so that the demon Balthazar doesn't get it. Buffy does not like to be given orders. While taking an important test, Faith shows up at the high school and convinces Buffy to go to a vamp nest to take them down. Afterwards, they go dancing at the Bronze, and have a heap of fun. For the first time, Buffy is really letting out her wild side. Then they steal weapons, get arrested, break out of the cop car, and go after Balthazar. Balthazar is super creepy looking. He's fat, has a lot of rolls, sits in a bath, and constantly has someone pouring water on him. But what he says and the way he says it is pretty funny. He's one of my favourite evil guys of the show, and sadly, he's eventually killed. Wesley and Giles are captured by the funny fat bast*rd, but Buffy eventually saves the day. During a vampire fight, Faith accidentally stakes Allan, the Mayor's righthand man. Later on, Buffy confronts Faith about the incident. Buffy says something along the lines of, "You don't get it. You killed a human." Faith responds with, "No, you don't get it. I don't care." It is revealed that Faith took the body, weighted it, and dumped it in the water. Buffy's face during all of this is heartbreaking. And I am extremely disappointed in Faith. However, I love what comes next.

Favorite quote: "No, you don't get it. I don't care." - Faith talking about killing a human.

Best part of this episode: Balthazar.

Worst part of this episode: Nothing.

Overall, I give this episode an 8 out of 10, which in my ratings book is: Awesome.

Great, Dark Episode.

[stamfragk · 10/10 · 6 January 2014]

"Bad Girls" is about the great bad influence that Faith has on Buffy. She tells her about how good she feels when she's killing vampires and how she's always craving for more and Buffy pretty much agrees with her. Buffy leaves her Chemistry test, which we've heard so much about, because Faith comes opening the window all "girlfriend lets kill some vamps!" and the certain scene ends with both of them dancing all sweaty with a bunch of horny guys. Of course one could understand that Buffy's been acting so carelessly, due to the fact that the new watcher's in town, an awful coward I must add... It could be a way of rebellion, an act of disapproving and making a point to herself, she's the Slayer, she wants something? She gets it, according to "F". This episode also shows how much can someone be influenced by his peers, a great metaphor for teenagers who this show was meant for; Buffy starts acting carelessly, dumps her friends and her test, steals, flirts, gets arrested and as you can understand stops being her usual self. Anyway, from my point of view this episode really stresses how different is Buffy from Faith. When Faith kills that man, Buffy is devastated she knows that, that's not what they do, they're supposed to protect people from getting hurt… She wants to solve things out, talk about it, she does have respect for life, whereas Faith wants to act like it never happened, she's in complete denial, she doesn't give a damn says so herself "I don't care". I have to admit to this point that I've haven't finished the third season yet, but I understand that this episode will definitely play a major role to the plot. To sum up, it was a great episode and I must say that there was some serious heat between Buffy and Faith throughout the episode… Anyway, I think it will leave you with a bittersweet feeling. 10/10 without a doubt!

The fall of Faith

[Joxerlives · 10/10 · 19 February 2012]

Bad Girls

The Good; All of it, excellent battle sequences and Faith's luring of Buffy especially good. Nic Brendon's twitching on demand is also wonderful. The silent scene with Faith and the Deputy-Mayor's body is excellent. The Mayor's ritual scene is also great especially his 'things to do' list.

The Bad; Has anyone ever really been able to sneak out of class without the teacher noticing?

Best line; Faith "I like him, He's butch!"

Character death; If we include the vamps killed when Buffy and Faith smash through the doors then this ep must have the greatest number of dustings ever. And of course Faith accidentally kills the deputy Mayor. Watching it it's all the more tragic as Buffy hits him first, if she'd had the stake in her hand rather than Faith did it would have been her that killed him. Of course she would have dealt with it very differently as the events of 'Dead Things' demonstrate. Buffy's killing of Balthazar once more shows her ingenuity.

Shot; No but the cops threaten the Slayers with guns, otherwise they'd never have been able to capture them. Mr Trick ventures that the Illuminati should used Uzis rather than swords but he doesn't follow his own advice.

Tied up; Faith and Buffy in handcuffs. Wes and Giles also tied up by the vamps.

Women good/men bad; As the title suggests, the girls are the bad ones this time

Jeez!; Always horrible to watch Buffy drown, again! Balthazar is grotesque! The Mayor has a 'splitting headache'.

Kinky dinky; Even when being arrested Faith flirts with the cop. Cop; "Spread'em" Faith; "You wish!" Note that when Buffy drags Faith away when dancing in the Bronze she points to 3 guys and goes 'Call me!". When Faith doubts that Buffy has never had sex with Xander she asks 'What are friends for?'. The show that the pair put on at the Bronze is normally the sort of thing you have to pay $15 at the door for. And of course they just have to add it to the opening titles so we see it every week. Buffy comments on Faith's grunting and how slaying turns her on, getting 'sweaty'. Xander describes Cordy's dress as 'hookerwear'

Calling Captain Subtext; The whole thing is just a massive love letter between Buffy and Faith. Doug Petrie drools over them dancing at the Bronze. The symbol Faith makes in the window is basically a valentine to her girlfriend. You could also argue that Willow is jealous of Faith and is trying to win Buffy back. What a shame they dropped the line about Wes and Giles at the Bronze being David Bowie and a boyfriend (wouldn't ASH make an excellent David Bowie?). Interesting according to Petrie that ED was always keen to play the lesbian subtext. You wonder was SMG? Although to judge by her performance in 'Cruel Intentions' she probably wouldn't have a problem with it.

Guantanamo Bay; Faith leads Buffy in burglary and criminal damage, knocking out 2 cops in the process. Balthazar get's Wes to talk by threatening to rip off his kneecaps.

Where's Dawn? I wonder what Dawn's attitude to Faith is? You think that if Faith had a Joyce and Dawn to go home to she'd never have gone bad. Joyce is dieting, I really don't think she needs to.

What the fanficcers thought; Buffy rather than Faith hooks up with the Mayor, 'Buffy the Mayor's Plaything'

Questions and observations; Does Mr Trick follow the Slayers around? He seems to have recovered the swords very quickly. Doug Petrie's commentary is very weird, he rather reminds me of a young Tom Hanks in a dreadful film he made called Bachelor Party. The Mayor can't be killed, what if you cut his head off? The Mayor's comments about the Scouts are a bit disturbing, he wants to 'eat'em up!'. I think it's evident that Faith does care she killed a man or it wouldn't affect her so much. Doug's wrong in his commentary. Buffy and Faith will be friends again. Willow is deciding which university, another benefit of the Hellmouth genius. And here's Wes, no sign yet that he'll last over 5 years in the show and get his name in the opening titles. Xander's dad seems to be currently unemployed. The cops refer to Sunnydale's girl gangs, confirming what we learnt in The Zeppo (even now Faith can't resist teasing Buffy by referring to them as The Slayers). First meeting of Wes and Angel, surely Wes would have read up on him prior to coming to SD?

Marks out of 10; 10 out of 10 or maybe 5x5 would be a better way to put it

The beginning of the most important arc of the season.

[m-47826 · 8/10 · 25 June 2021]

Helpless used to be one of my favorite episodes, for being an homage to the actress's slasher victim's legacy. It was good for the horror and the drama. But a little dull around the edge. It also pales in comparison to last year « Surprise ». The Zeppo was the show mastering its ability at self mockery. And is very enjoyable. Only like Amends was, it's too at odds with the rest. And a bit silly too. Bad Girls finally introduced Wesley Wyndam-Price, and revealed parts of the Mayor's plan. This is also the one that marks the beginning of the Buffy/Faith feud. And shows what happens when slayers let their power go to their heads. And the two heroines way, of following a different path, from this moment on. I liked seeing them bound for real, and their sexy dance at the Bronze. But BTVS remains a teen drama, about life lessons. So all of this had to end badly, to have the plot go an even more exciting way. And pursuing its ultimate goal.

Buffy starts to enjoy her slaying; Faith enjoys it a little too much

[Tweekums · 9/10 · 25 April 2018]

As Buffy and Faith slay vampires together the latter tries to get Buffy to enjoy herself a bit more; if they are to risk their lives they may as well enjoy themselves. During this fight one of the vampires they slay is wielding two swords; these identify him as a member of 'El Eliminati' a vampire cult dedicated to the apparently dead demon Balthazar. New watcher Wesley Wyndam-Pryce believes that they are looking for an amulet which belonged Balthazar so tasks the slayers to retrieve it. While this is going on the Mayor prepares for the final hundred days before his 'ascension'.

This was an impressive episode; it opens really well with Faith and Buffy's chat while slaying vampires. We then get Wesley's introduction; at this stage he doesn't come across as the most dynamic of characters but no doubt living on the Hellmouth should toughen him quickly. The scenes between Sarah Michelle Gellar and Eliza Dushku, as Buffy and Faith, were some of their best; firstly as Buffy becomes a bit of a bad girl then when things turn much darker in tone after an innocent bystander is killed as they slay a group of vampires. No doubt this will affect the slayers in upcoming episodes. Similarly the scenes with the mayor hint at things to come. If there was a fault in the episode it was that when we finally see Balthazar his blubbery body stops he looking menacing. Overall this episode did a fine job introducing a new main character, developed established characters and provided some impressive action.

Buffy's Breaking Bad

[ossie85 · 8/10 · 11 August 2022]

Buffy and Faith are really starting to bond and both are becoming addicted to slaying. Buffy is missing class and breaking into stores. Wesley Wyndham-Price, the girls' new watcher arrives with little success and a new demon Balthazor is after a magical amulet. But Faith makes a crucial mistake that could change her life.

Why It's So Good - A great example of how to keep major story arcs flowing, while also having a contained one episode story arc. The introduction of Wesley and his annoying habits is a stark contrast of what Giles is now, and does make you realise how far Giles has come. The demon Balthazar is very funny and his history with The Mayor is intriguing. Buffy turning into a bad girl is effective with more dire consequences. Mr. Trick's death and Faith's change in alliances are good touches.

Watch Out For - It's Unacceptable!

Quote - "If you want to criticise my methods, fine. But you can keep your snide remarks to yourself. And while you're at it, don't criticise my methods." - Giles (talking to Wesley)

When good girls go bad

[Realrockerhalloween · 2 October 2016]

Buffy & Faith are out slaying when they run into a master vampire Balthazar's minions trying to steal an amulet. As they stop their plans to gain more power they take a ride on the wild side. Bad girls explores how far slayers are allowed to go in developing a superhero complex and how it can easily lead to the dark side that fight everyday. We've had hints of Buffy taking a trip down this road in when she was bad, but here we actually see her stealing, dancing at the club, skipping school and avoiding arrest because she's able to. Another aspect is Joss putting subtexts in this ep between Faith and Buffy in the romantic sense with her heart on the school window like a lover would do along with jealousy of Angel. I guess two slayers would be close as they fight together, share secrets and know what the loneliness is like that no one else could understand.

Balthazar is scary in his hot tube and his powers of telekinesis. I'm glad they used a villain trying to stop the mayor's plans, but I wish we could find more about the amulet or how he could stop him with his current state of immobility. Also its strange to see evil afraid of others bringing about the end setting up his plans for graduation very nicely as it seems unmentionable horrors are about to implode.

Is it just me or does the head of the boyscout troop look like a relative of the actor playing the mayor?

[sarah-86551 · 8/10 · 14 February 2022]

I'm rewatching Buffy and I never caught this before and almost missed it again. I caught a glimpse of the actor playing the boyscout troop leader and went back. That actor looks very similar to Harry Groener(the mayor). Is it just me?

IMDB doesn't list the cameos for this episode.