This Year's Girl

"This Year's Girl"
Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode
Faith uses the Draconian Katra device the Mayor gave her on Buffy which will cause them to swap bodies
Episode no.	Season 4 Episode 15
Directed by	Michael Gershman
Written by	Doug Petrie
Production code	4ABB15
Original air date	February 22, 2000
Guest appearance(s)
Eliza Dushku as Faith Kristine Sutherland as Joyce Summers Amber Benson as Tara Maclay Leonard Roberts as Forrest Gates Bailey Chase as Graham Miller Chet Grissom as Detective Alastair Duncan as Collins Harry Groener as Mayor Richard Wilkins Jeff Ricketts as Weatherby Kevin Owers as Smith Mark Gantt as Demon Kimberly McRae as Visitor Sara Van Horn as Older Nurse Brian Hawley as Orderly Jack Esformes as Doctor
Episode chronology
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List of Buffy the Vampire Slayer episodes

"This Year's Girl" is the 15th episode of season 4 of the television show Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Written by Doug Petrie and directed by Michael Gershman, it originally aired on February 22, 2000 on the WB network.

In this episode, Eliza Dushku returns as Faith. While Buffy and the Scooby Gang (now with Riley on board) try to find Adam, Faith wakes up from a coma and finds the Mayor has left her a device which she uses to switch bodies with Buffy. Members of the Watchers' Council arrive in Sunnydale, alerted to Faith's waking.

In a dream, Buffy and Faith make a bed, until Faith's blood begins to drip onto the clean white sheets. Buffy twists the knife in Faith's stomach. Xander is investigating the Blaster gun from The Initiative, but lacks the knowledge to fix it. Giles is concerned about Buffy, who has been patrolling non-stop for days without finding Adam. On patrol, she finds Adam has strung up a demon on a tree, opened up like a dissection experiment. When Riley wakes up in the military hospital, he attempts to leave but Forrest and Graham try to talk him out of it. Buffy explains her plans for breaking Riley out, but it proves unnecessary as he has escaped and is waiting in Xander's basement.

At the hospital, Faith, still in a coma, is dreaming she is having a picnic with the Mayor. The dream becomes a nightmare when Buffy arrives, slits the Mayor's throat, then chases Faith into an open grave. As Faith climbs out of the grave in her dream, she awakens from her coma. Pulling free of the tubes in her body, Faith walks out into the hospital halls and encounters a girl. She thinks it's still Graduation Day, but the girl informs her of the date and that the Mayor died at the graduation ceremony. Faith leaves the hospital in the girl's clothes. When the hospital staff discovers Faith is gone, a nurse makes a call, asking for a team to be sent out.