While Sunnydale has never been a normal town, Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar) faces a unique challenge as the chosen Slayer, gifted with incredible powers and a terrible responsibility she never asked for. Despite having a strong support system, Buffy struggles with her impulses over seven seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, always desperate to keep her own internal darkness at bay when giving in would be so much easier. These contrasting motivations are often conveyed through characters that are foils to our heroine.
Take Cordelia (Charisma Carpenter), who initially represents the blissful ignorance of adolescence until she matures into a more complex member of the Scooby Gang, or Kendra (Bianca Lawson), a fellow Slayer who is too rigid and by-the-book for her own good. But the ultimate foil to Buffy is, without question, Faith Lehane (Eliza Dushku), first introduced in the season 3 episode, “Faith, Hope & Trick,” which originally aired 28 years ago today. Faith’s moral complexity makes her compelling — she is a Slayer more inclined to embrace the ruthless aspects of the job, which ultimately leads her down a destructive path.
Faith would eventually be cemented as one of Buffy's most beloved characters, but back in 1998, her introduction expertly set the stage for a much darker plot line. While hanging with the gang at the Bronze one night, Buffy notices a vampire luring a young girl outside. Usually, this would be where Buffy steps in, but in this case, the unnamed woman effortlessly kills the beast herself.
Faith then introduces herself as a new Slayer. Everyone takes a liking to Faith, but Buffy isn’t too happy about the prospect of working with her. During a joint patrol later, Buffy and Faith are attacked by vampires.
Instead of helping Buffy when she’s swarmed by multiple vampires, Faith focuses on beating down a single vamp — and seems to take pleasure in it. That's just the first bad sign of many as it becomes clear that Faith isn't exactly a team player. She's got her own secret motivations, along with a tendency to fly off the handle and act without considering the consequences.
Faith and Buffy eventually track down the ancient vampire Kakistos (Jeremy Roberts), who recently showed up in Sunnydale after killing Faith's old Watcher. The new Slayer gets her revenge, but Kakistos's vampire henchman, Mr. Todd Freeman), gets away and will later serve as a key supporter of season 3's primary villain.
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