First order of business: I didn't know what what Faith meant when she says she uses the smelly bags on the dark circles under her eyes. On the assumption she's being straight with Giles, I did a brief internet search, and found that chamomile has a wide variety of uses, including being placed in a heated bag and used as a fomentation to reduce swelling caused by abscesses. Well, I kind of doubt that Faith is having issues with pus-filled regions near the sinuses, but perhaps the fomentation could also reduce swelling from bruises, say from a punch in the face? Faith has never struck me as someone particularly concerned with her well-being, so long as she got the job done. Or perhaps the dark circles are a result of lack of sleep**, which might be a sign of her state of mind. It seems fairly obvious, even within the arc, that Faith is troubled by many things: her life before being Slayer, the killing of the deputy Mayor***, working for the Mayor, the time in a coma, probably her time in prison, and so on. She has a lot considerable weight on her.
What's interesting is, chamomiles are also highly recommended as a sedative, and at least one website listed them as a cure for nightmares. I would figure that Faith learned about the use of chamomile as a facial application from a person, or by doing a little research on her own, so it's seems strange she wouldn't have stumbled across that bit of information as well. If lack of sleep is causing dark circles under the eyes, why not drink the tea to get a sounder sleep?
1st hypothesis: She doesn't know it can be used in that manner. This means the dark circles are caused by something not sleep-related, like say, getting punched in the face. It's possible, but I don't like it. Again, I think the use as a sedative is more commonly known than the other (at least, it came up more frequently on the websites I checked. Heck using chamomile to ease menstrual issues came up more often than to reduce abscessed induced swelling). Besides, Faith plays at being none too bright, but it's not accurate. She may not have shown much interest in school, but that doesn't make her dumb. She's usually pretty quick on the uptake, especially when it comes to reading people****, and she picked up enough of what Giles threw at her in this arc to fool Gigi into believing she came from an upper class family. I think she's capable of looking up medicinal uses of chamomile.
2nd hypothesis: Faith does know chamomile can aid sleep, and does use it that way, and doesn't want Giles drinking up her supply. Giles comments that her cupboards are fairly bare, which combined with her crapbox apartment suggests a shoestring budget. I have no idea how expensive chamomile tea is, but Faith might not want to spare any. In that scenario, she mentioned the use she did to put Giles off-kilter. You notice that in the next panel, Rupert sets the cup down and wipes his mouth, suggesting this was information he could do without. Faith doesn't lose any more tea, and she doesn't have to be overtly rude to do so, which I think is important to her when it comes to Giles. Faith may know she isn't his beloved Buffy, but that doesn't mean she doesn't wish she was. Faith would very much like to have people that care about her as much as the Scoobs care about Buffy, but outside of (maybe) Angel, and (in Season 3, pre-strangling) Xander, she doesn't have it. She doesn't have much, which probably could stoke feelings of protectiveness towards what she does have, but she wouldn't want to offend Giles, so she just tries to mildly gross him out.
3rd hypothesis: Faith knows about chamomile's use as a sleep aid, and chooses not to use it in that manner anyway. One thing I noticed with Faith (especially in Angel Season 4 and Buffy Season 7) is she doesn't have the highest sense of self-worth. She sits in prison, when she could easily escape, because she thinks that's where she belongs*****. She's willing to throw her life away to bring Angel back, because she thinks that's proper, or take a punch in the face from Buffy without retaliating, because she wants to prove she's on Buffy's side this time. She takes whatever bit of friendliness or compassion people toss her, and pretty much figures it's the best she can hope for, or that she deserves. In that light, I can see Faith feeling she shouldn't get relief from any nightmares, because she did those things, and ought to suffer for them. She might still play at being the party girl that let everything slide off her back that she pretended to be in Season 3, but it's even less true in Season 8 than it was then.
4th hypothesis: I also considered the possibility that Faith kept the chamomile there in case of a visitor, namely Wesley (since I don't suppose she would know he was dead) or Giles. I can't think of any other company she might get that would enjoy tea, that she might care enough about to keep some handy for. But that raises the question of why she would make a comment that would make Giles set it aside, if she kept it hoping he might visit. The easiest answer there is that while Faith wants to belong, she isn't willing to admit it, and telling Giles she had the tea hoping he might swing by would cause him to look at her with pity, which I doubt she would take well. So I don't find that one likely.
Personally, I prefer the 2nd hypothesis, because it suggests just a bit of wicked humor on Faith's part, knowing how to rattle Giles a little without truly upsetting him, and protect her stuff. I think it maybe demonstrates the healthiest state of mind for her, on the whole. Which is perhaps not the best commnetary on Faith's state of mind, but she's had a hard life, it's going to show through.
I'm feel like there are other things I should be picking up from this scene, beyond Faith's tendency towards remarks that unsettle her company. One is how quickly she shifts from a jovial attitude to a defensive one. She goes from making cracks about what happened to Sunnydale in reference to how long it's been since she's seen Giles to turning away from him in the space of one panel. Probably also worth noting that in panel 3 on that page, she and Giles both appear to be in a well-lit room, but in panel 4, it's darkened, especially around Faith. It's remarkable work by Georges Jeanty, Andy Owens, and Dave Stewart that Faith seems shrouded in darkness but without the typical tactic of actually obscuring facial features with shadows. It's more as if she's projected a cold, grey cloud around herself.
It's a fascinating sequence to me, because in panel 3 I think she's enjoying his discomfort, and so she gently chides him, trying to hide a little hurt that he hasn't bothered to check in on her. Then when he starts to tell her he's glad to see her, she brushes it off, rejects his attempt at bridging the gap. I think she regrets even making the comment in the first place. She started to banter with him, but it only served to remind her that he isn't her Watcher, never was, and she throws the walls back up immediately, returning to sarcasm and a rather pessimistic view of herself as the Slayer that's get the dirty jobs. She doesn't get to be the symbol that the rookies follow, instead she gets to clean up the messes they aren't ready for (as seen earlier in the issue when Robin asks her to go and clean out a house full of vamps that happen to be little kids, because Heaven forbid the newbies learn they'll have to slay monsters that look adorable sometimes). Hye, I didn't say it was an inaccurate view, that seems to be the role she's been assigned, but it still stinks.
So I think we can pick up a few things from the scene, though I'm sure it helps I was familiar with the character before this. She has a quick wit, she enjoys teasing people. She wants to be accepted, but isn't willing to admit that, and I think she's smarter than she lets on. At some point, she either had to read up on that use for chamomile, or someone taught it to her and she retained that knowledge for later use. Could have been her mother, though the general impression I got from the series was Momma LeHane was no Joyce Summers, but everyone has their good days.
* I'm reminded of some little skit from the end of a Simpsons' episode, with the skit revolving around Ned Flanders. it had its own theme music which would say 'Hens love roosters, geese love ganders, everyone else loves Ned Flanders', only to have Homer burst through the screen and proclaim, 'Not me!' I feel like Homer when it comes to Buffy Summers. Not so much Flanders, though. I mostly feel bad for him, being saddled with Homer as a neighbor.
** Though the Mayo Clinic's website informs me lack of sleep is not the common cause of dark circles under the eyes. They pin it on fluid which drains to that region while we sleep.
*** Well, we never see any mention of the deputy mayor in this arc, but it bothered her even back in the time when she tried to deny any wrong-doing, so I doubt that trauma has vanished. Though seriously, the deputy mayor was a dumbass. Hey, there's the Slayers, in a dark alley, in the middle of the night, looking back the way they came and breathing hard, as if they had been running for their lives. Why, I think I'll walk right up without first announcing my presence and grab one of them by the arm. I'm certain that isn't a bad idea! Hey, if Angel can be a pawn of the Powers That Be, why can't Faith be a pawn of Natural Selection?
**** Though she's less perceptive when dealing with legitimately good people, since she tends to seek ulterior motives in their actions. Unfortunately, she doesn't seem to meet very many people that are legitimately good.
***** Which, hey, at least she took responsibility for her actions. Warning: long-winded rant ahead! It lasts to the end of the post, so if you're not interested, we're done for the evening. I didn't see Willow offering to go to prison for her rampage at the end of Season 6, nor did I see Buffy demanding she go to jail the way she was for Faith. Double standard on that show kills me, man. The 3 core Scoobs let each other skate on everything, compared to how they treat others. I know, I'm completely biased towards Faith, she killed 2 people, threatened to kill Willow, strangled Xander, beat up a bunch of people in Sunnydale and L.A., swapped bodies with Buffy, tried to kill Angel (really, she wanted him to kill her), tortured Wes (which I was not bothered by) and was helping the Mayor with his plan to turn Sunnydale into demon paradise (for the record, I don't count trying to poison Angel in s3, because he was a vampire that tried to destroy the world, and she is a vampire slayer, so yeah, there you go). Will's only got 1 kill, since Warren is somehow alive without skin, but toss in trying to kill Giles like she did the magic dealer, threatening to revert Dawn to a blob of energy, which would end Dawn's life as she knows it, she was choking Anya to death before Buffy stopped her, tried to kill Jonathan and Andrew multiple times, tortured Warren (I know, scumbag, he deserved it, but I can't see it being a check mark in Willow's good column), mind-wiping her girlfriend to keep her in line, which also lead to mind-wiping all her friends by accident, and oh yeah, trying to destroy the fucking planet! I'm not sure the tally is that uneven, folks. Yeah, I know, Willow went to a coven to learn how to control herself, but I figure that was a lot more pleasant than the women's correctional facility Faith was living in. Yes, Willow was grief-stricken, except when she was mind-wiping people or otherwise using magic to get her way, but I think you could make some arguments about Faith's state of mind in season 3, especially after Wes screwed the pooch by trying to haul her off to England, and she thinks she has no allies. A Watcher is supposed to defend their Slayer, you betweeded twit. No wonder I didn't mind her torturing you.
No comments:
Post a Comment