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{{good article}}
{{Use American English|date=February 2024}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2024}}
{{Infobox television episode
| image = Buffy the Vampire Slayer - Who Are You.jpg
| caption = Faith ([[Sarah Michelle Gellar]]), in Buffy's body, mocks Buffy in front of a mirror.
| alt = Sarah Michelle Gellar (as Faith-in-Buffy's-body) leaning in front of a bathroom mirror, hair wet from a bath and with a towel wrapped around her, sticking out her tongue with her head tilted to her left.
| series = [[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]
| season = 4
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*[[Eliza Dushku]] as [[Buffy Summers]]/[[Faith (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)|Faith]]
| episode_list = List of Buffy the Vampire Slayer episodes
| season_article = Buffy the Vampire Slayer
| prev = [[This Year's Girl (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)|This Year's Girl]]
| next = [[Superstar (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)|Superstar]]
}}
"'''Who Are You?'''" is the sixteenth episode of the [[Buffy the Vampire Slayer
In the series, [[Buffy Summers]] ([[Sarah Michelle Gellar]]) is a [[Slayer (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)|Slayer]], a teenage girl endowed with superhuman powers to fight evil forces. "Who Are You?" is the second half of a two-part story arc featuring the return of the rogue Slayer [[Faith (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)|Faith]] ([[Eliza Dushku]]) and is a turning point in the character's redemptive arc. The [[This Year's Girl (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)|previous episode]] saw Faith use a magical device to [[body swap|swap bodies]] with Buffy, and Whedon wanted to use this premise to explore Faith's psyche and give her a moral epiphany. In Buffy's body, Faith experiences love and acceptance from others
"Who Are You?" was watched by 4.9 million viewers.
==Background==
''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' is an American [[Supernatural fiction|supernatural drama]] television series that ran for seven seasons from 1997 to 2003.<ref name=little>{{cite web|url=https://screenrant.com/sarah-michelle-gellar-buffy-return-revival-wolf-pack-canceled/|title=Sarah Michelle Gellar's Buffy Return Has More Hope Now After The Updates Surrounding These 2 Shows|first=Sarah|last=Little|date=January 31, 2024|work=[[Screen Rant]]|access-date=February 17, 2024|archive-date=February 17, 2024|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240217070637/https://screenrant.com/sarah-michelle-gellar-buffy-return-revival-wolf-pack-canceled/}}</ref> In the series, [[Buffy Summers]] ([[Sarah Michelle Gellar]]) is a [[Slayer (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)|Slayer]], a teenage girl endowed with superhuman powers to fight vampires, demons and other evil forces. With her mother [[Joyce Summers|Joyce]] ([[Kristine Sutherland]]), she moves to the fictional town of [[Sunnydale]] where she befriends [[Willow Rosenberg]] ([[Alyson Hannigan]]) and [[Xander Harris]] ([[Nicholas Brendon]]), both of whom help her in the fight against evil. They are guided by Buffy's [[Watcher (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)|Watcher]], [[Rupert Giles]] ([[Anthony Stewart Head]]). The group collectively refer to themselves as the Scooby Gang.{{sfn|Holder|Mariotte|Hart|2000|p=2}}
In [[Buffy the Vampire Slayer season 3|season three]], [[Faith (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)|Faith]] ([[Eliza Dushku]]) is introduced as a new Slayer with a rough upbringing. Faith originally joins the Scooby Gang but betrays Buffy to team up with the evil [[Mayor (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)|Mayor]] ([[Harry Groener]]). Buffy and Faith fight in the [[Graduation Day (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)|season finale]], which ends with Faith falling into a coma.{{sfn|Holder|Mariotte|Hart|2000|pp=86{{ndash}}88}} In [[Buffy the Vampire Slayer season 4|season four]], Buffy discovers a covert military organization called the Initiative that captures and performs experiments on vampires and demons. One of their experiments is a monster known as [[Adam (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)|Adam]] ([[George Hertzberg]]) who turns on them and escapes.{{sfn|Holder|Mariotte|Hart|2000|pp=26{{ndash}}27, 33, 36}} Buffy also begins dating Initiative commando [[Riley Finn]] ([[Marc Blucas]]),{{sfn|Holder|Mariotte|Hart|2000|p=49}} while Willow grows closer to fellow witch [[Tara Maclay]] ([[Amber Benson]]).{{sfn|Holder|Mariotte|Hart|2000|p=60}} In the preceding "[[This Year's Girl (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)|This Year's Girl]]", Faith awakens from her coma and uses a magical device to swap bodies with Buffy, unbeknownst to everyone else.{{sfn|Holder|Mariotte|Hart|2000|pp=86{{ndash}}88}}
==Plot==
Following their fight, an unconscious Buffy (in Faith's body) is taken into police custody. Faith (in Buffy's body) settles into Buffy's home, giving her new body a makeover, and then using Joyce's credit card to book a plane ticket out of Sunnydale. Buffy is being transported by the police when a [[Watcher (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)#Watchers' Council|Watchers' Council]] retrieval team attacks and abducts her. Meanwhile, Faith skirts Buffy's Slayer duties and goes to the Bronze to party. She runs into Willow who introduces Tara to "Buffy", only for Faith to make fun of Tara. To keep up the pretense of being Buffy, Faith saves a woman from a vampire attack and is taken aback by the woman's gratitude. Afterwards, Faith heads to Riley's dorm and tries to initiate kinky sex with him. Riley insists on being gentle with her, and they have sex. He tells her he loves her, which sends Faith into a panic.
Back in her dorm, Tara realizes something is wrong with "Buffy{{" '}}s [[Aura (paranormal)|aura]], and she and Willow perform a ritual to find the real Buffy. Meanwhile, Buffy escapes from the Council's captivity and heads to Giles's house, where Willow and Tara give her a magical device they conjured that can switch the Slayers' bodies back. Inspired by Adam to face their fears, a group of vampires attack a church and hold its congregation hostage. Faith is about to board her flight at the airport when she sees a news report about the hostages. She goes to the church where she is able to kill most of the vampires and save the hostages. Faith is nearly overpowered by the last vampire when Buffy shows up and saves her. With the vampires gone, Buffy and Faith fight. Using Willow and Tara's device, Buffy is able to restore herself and Faith to their rightful bodies. Faith escapes and leaves town.
==Production and writing==
{{Multiple image |align=right |direction=horizontal |total_width=300
|image1=Sarah Michelle Gellar.jpg
|alt1=Sarah Michelle Gellar speaking into a microphone in a dark sleeveless top
|image2=Eliza Dushku lk (cropped).jpg
|alt2=Eliza Dushku smiling at a convention in a maroon top
|footer=[[Sarah Michelle Gellar]] (left) and [[Eliza Dushku]] (both pictured in 2004) played each other's characters in the episode.}}
"Who Are You?" is the sixteenth episode of the
For this episode, Whedon wanted to explore what would happen if an embittered person like Faith was given the opportunity to ruin her nemesis Buffy's life
According to Whedon, many viewers were shocked that the typically honorable Riley had sex with Faith even though he could sense something was amiss. Whedon explained that Riley is ultimately "just a guy" and this scenario throws a wrench in his relationship with Buffy that is "good and harsh".<ref name=overview/> The "Buffy and Riley
"Who Are You?" originally aired on [[The WB]] on February 29, 2000.{{sfn|Topping|2004|pages=12, 259}}
==Analysis==
"Who Are You?" is a turning point in Faith's redemptive arc
===Morality===
While Faith has long envied Buffy's more privileged life, she has always held Buffy's moral obligations in contempt,<ref name=stevenson/> believing instead that she is better off being evil than a "joyless", "stuck-up tight ass" like Buffy.<ref name=forster/> Philosophy professor Karl Schudt says Faith's cynical [[Nietzschean]] view of morality is revealed in the scene where she, in Buffy's body, mocks Buffy in front of a mirror by pulling faces and repeating meaningless value statements like "Because it's wrong".<ref name=schudt/> While pretending to be Buffy over the course of the episode, Faith gets to experience the acceptance and admiration others have for Buffy, which Buffy herself earned through years of altruism. Academic researcher Greg Forster calls Faith's encounter with Riley the breaking point that shatters her cynical world view; having probably never experienced tenderness from a sexual partner, Faith cannot deny Riley's genuine love for Buffy. Thus, he says, Faith is forced to confront the ugly truth: being morally good has led Buffy to a happier life, while being evil has left her miserable.<ref name=forster/>
Philosophy professor Dean Kowalski and Forster both draw parallels to the [[thought experiment]] put forth in book two of [[Plato]]'s ''[[Republic (Plato)|Republic]]'', which asks if it is more desirable to live as a moral person who is mistaken for an immoral one (as with Buffy-as-Faith) or an immoral person who is mistaken for a moral one (Faith-as-Buffy).<ref name=forster/><ref name=kowalski/> Both separately conclude the episode supports Plato's position that the moral person is always happier than the immoral one, as reflected by Faith's inner turmoil even as she gets to live Buffy's life.<ref name=forster/><ref name=kowalski>{{cite book|title=Joss Whedon as Philosopher|chapter=On Being Horrible (and an Angel)|publisher=[[Lexington Books]]|year=2017|first=Dean A.|last=Kowalski|isbn=978-0-7391-9666-3|pages=36{{ndash}}38}}</ref>
In her book discussing the representation of identity in media, Caroline Ruddell writes that Buffy's appearance, as dictated by Faith, is a prominent focus of the episode. Faith spends significant time inspecting Buffy's appearance in a mirror, and also changes her hairstyle and dresses her in darker and more revealing clothes. Ruddell analyzed the mirror scene from the perspective of the [[Lacanianism|Lacanian]] [[mirror stage]] and how it can lead to self-alienation. Namely, Faith sees Buffy's reflection in the mirror as the ideal image that she aspires to be, and her inability to be Buffy causes her to lash out. The body swap thus creates a dissonance between Faith's mind and Buffy's body, which is emphasized in the mirror scene through the use of [[jump cut]]s, and later alluded to by Tara's description of "Buffy{{"'}}s aura as "fragmented".<ref name=ruddell>{{cite book|first=Caroline|last=Ruddell |title=The Besieged Ego: Doppelgangers and Split Identity Onscreen|year=2013|publisher=[[Edinburgh University Press]]|isbn= 978-0-7486-9203-3 |chapter=The Monster Within|pages=72{{ndash}}74}}</ref> In her chapter on Faith in ''Sexual Rhetoric in the Works of Joss Whedon'', Pnina Moldovano rejects the idea that the body swap is a manifestation of Faith's desire to be Buffy. Rather, she argues, Faith's identity as Buffy is a performative mockery of Buffy and her stereotypical white, middle-class life. Faith-as-Buffy's actions can then be explained as her attempts to ridicule Buffy's "good girl" image; from her antics in the mirror (which Moldovano compares to a clown's act) to donning black leather pants and red lipstick.<ref name=mol>{{cite book|title=Sexual Rhetoric in the Works of Joss Whedon: New Essays|editor-first=Erin B.|editor-last=Waggoner|publisher=[[McFarland & Company]]|first=Pnina |last=Moldovano|year=2010|chapter=Virtually a Femme Fatale: The Case of ''Buffy''{{'s}} Faith|pages=208{{ndash}}210|isbn=978-0-7864-5691-8}}</ref>▼
The first sign of Faith's redemption occurs when she decides to save the hostages at the expense of her own escape. In his book ''[[Televised Morality]]'', Gregory Stevenson says this is the moment that Faith acknowledges the emptiness of her life and accepts the moral responsibility of being a Slayer.<ref name=stevenson/> Schudt argues that Faith has come to realize a "basic moral truth" that it is the moral duty of the strong, such as Slayers, to protect the weak, and ignoring this duty is what made her an outcast to society.<ref name=schudt>{{cite book|title=[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Philosophy: Fear and Trembling in Sunnydale]]|editor-last1=South|editor-first1=James B.|publisher=[[Open Court Publishing Company|Open Court]]|year=2003|isbn=0-8126-9531-3|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/buffyvampireslay00sout/page/30/mode/2up|via=[[Internet Archive]]|chapter-url-access=registration|pages=30{{ndash}}32|author-first=Karl|author-last=Schudt|chapter=Also Sprach Faith: The Problem of the Happy Rogue Vampire Slayer}}</ref> In the end, Faith's self-hatred is made clear when she, in Buffy's body, batters her own face, inhabited by Buffy, yelling, "You're nothing! You're disgusting!".<ref name=stevenson/><ref name=forster>{{cite book|title=[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Philosophy: Fear and Trembling in Sunnydale]]|editor-last1=South|editor-first1=James B.|publisher=[[Open Court Publishing Company|Open Court]]|year=2003|isbn=0-8126-9531-3|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/buffyvampireslay00sout/page/14/mode/2up|via=[[Internet Archive]]|chapter-url-access=registration|pages=15{{ndash}}18|author-first=Greg|author-last=Forster|chapter=Faith And Plato: You're Nothing! Disgusting, Murderous Bitch!}}</ref><ref name=schudt/> For Forster, Faith's self-hatred serves as her "moral awakening" because "a key feature of morally good personalities [is] that they are ashamed and angry with themselves when they do wrong".<ref name=forster/>
===Identity===
Philosophy professor Amy Kind argues that the body swap supports [[Derek Parfit]]'s [[Personal identity#Psychological continuity|psychological continuity theory of personal identity]], in that it asks viewers to identify Buffy by where her psychology is, regardless of whose body it is in.<ref name=kind>{{cite book|title=The Philosophy of Horror|author-first=Amy|author-last=Kind|page=93{{ndash}}94|editor-first=Thomas|editor-last=Fahy|publisher=[[University Press of Kentucky]]|year=2010|chapter=The Vampire with a Soul: ''Angel'' and the Quest for Identity|isbn=9780813173702}}</ref> In her book discussing the representation of identity in media, Caroline Ruddell writes that a key element of the episode is the way in which Buffy and Faith use each other's bodies; this in turn "allows the viewer to see who Buffy really is (despite being in Faith's body) and this is central to the notion of autonomy and identity which are two of the show's recurring themes".<ref name=ruddell/> In Buffy's body, Faith spends significant time inspecting Buffy's appearance in a mirror and also changes her hairstyle and dresses her in darker and more revealing clothes. Ruddell says this prominent focus on Buffy's appearance, as dictated by Faith, helps the audience appreciate how different the two Slayers are given that their appearances are simply a visual representation of their contrasting personalities and beliefs.<ref name=ruddell/>
▲
In their book discussing [[existentialism]] in Whedon's works, Michael J. Richardson and J. Douglas Rabb contend that the body-swap scenario allowed Whedon to explore [[Jean-Paul Sartre]]'s notion of "[[Being and Nothingness#Part 3, Chapter 1: The look|the Look of the Other]]",{{sfn|Richardson|Rabb|2007|pages=43{{ndash}}45}} whereby an individual's self-identity is predicated on how others perceive them.{{sfn|Richardson|Rabb|2007|page=40}} By inhabiting Buffy's body, Faith gains an external perspective of herself such that when faced with her own body at the end, "Faith is finally seeing herself as Buffy sees her and is even harder on herself than Buffy has ever been."{{sfn|Richardson|Rabb|2007|pages=43{{ndash}}45}}
==Reception==
The original broadcast was watched by 4.9 million viewers, making it the 86th most-watched [[prime time]] [[Television broadcaster|network television]] program for the week of February 28 to March 5, 2000.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/41303577/the-los-angeles-times/|title=National Nielsen Viewership|date=March 8, 2000|work=[[Los Angeles Times]]|page=F11|access-date=January 29, 2024|via=[[Newspapers.com]]|archive-date=January 31, 2024|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240131013127/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-los-angeles-times/41303577/}}</ref>
In Jack Francis's ranking of all 144 ''Buffy'' episodes for
Gellar and Dushku's performances as each other's characters have been repeatedly described as among the best acting of the series.<ref name=allrath>{{cite book|title=Narrative Strategies in Television Series|author-first=Gaby|author-last=Allrath|editor-first1=Gaby|editor-last1=Allrath|editor-first2=Marion|editor-last2=Gymnich|publisher=[[Palgrave Macmillan]]|page=139|year=2005|isbn=978-1403996053|chapter=Life in Doppelgangland: Innovative Character Conception and Alternate Worlds in ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' and ''Angel''}}</ref> Coates said it was their acting that truly elevated the episode, citing Dushku's "remarkable" embodiment of Buffy's physical and vocal inflections, as well as the comedic and dramatic range that made Gellar the "unquestionabl[e]" standout.<ref name=marysue/> Francis highlighted Gellar's ability to adapt her physical demeanor to match Faith's sexual nature, along with Dushku's ability to adopt Buffy's mannerisms.<ref name=rs/>
Other publications also included "Who Are You?" in their retrospective lists of the best ''Buffy'' episodes, including ''[[The Guardian]]''{{'s}} Rebecca Nicholson (ranked 4th),<ref name=guardian/> ''[[TVLine]]'' (12th)<ref name=tvline>{{cite web|url=https://tvline.com/lists/buffy-the-vampire-slayer-best-episodes-ranked-photos/who-are-you/|title=Buffy's 20 Best Episodes, Ranked!|date=May 20, 2023|author=Team TVLine|work=[[TVLine]]|access-date=January 30, 2024|url-status=live|archive-date=January 30, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240130132826/https://tvline.com/lists/buffy-the-vampire-slayer-best-episodes-ranked-photos/who-are-you/}}</ref> and ''[[Screen Rant]]''{{'s}} Julia Tilford (top 20).<ref name=sr3>{{cite web|url=https://screenrant.com/best-episodes-buffy-the-vampire-slayer/|title=20 Best Episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer|work=[[Screen Rant]]|first=Julia|last=Tilford|date=October 29, 2015|access-date=February 5, 2024|archive-date=February 5, 2024|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240205050344/https://screenrant.com/best-episodes-buffy-the-vampire-slayer/}}</ref> Besides the acting, Tilford took note of the standout dialogue and important character interactions.<ref name=sr3/> Nicholson and [[David Bianculli]]'s only quibble was wishing the storyline had gone on for more episodes.<ref name=guardian>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2020/jun/01/demons-death-and-dynamite-dialogue-the-20-best-episodes-of-buffy-the-vampire-slayer|title=Demons, death and dynamite dialogue: the 20 best episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer|work=[[The Guardian]]|first=Rebecca|last=Nicholson|date=June 1, 2020|access-date=January 30, 2024|url-status=live|archive-date=January 30, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240130120148/https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2020/jun/01/demons-death-and-dynamite-dialogue-the-20-best-episodes-of-buffy-the-vampire-slayer}}</ref><ref name=nydn>{{cite web|last=Bianculli|first=David|author-link=David Bianculli|date=February 29, 2000|title=TV Tonight|work=[[New York Daily News]]|page=78|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-news/139927996/|via=[[Newspapers.com]]|access-date=January 30, 2024|archive-date=January 31, 2024|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240131012836/https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-news/139927996/}}</ref> Some commentators found the Faith{{ndash}}Riley sex scene problematic in retrospect, citing Buffy and Riley's lack of informed consent.<ref name=vulture>{{cite web|url=https://www.vulture.com/2017/03/buffy-and-faith-theres-never-been-a-rivalry-like-theirs.html|title=Why There's Never Been a Female Rivalry Like Faith and Buffy's|work=[[Vulture (website)|Vulture]]|author-link=Angelica Jade Bastién|author-first=Angelica Jade|author-last=Bastién|date=March 10, 2017|access-date=February 4, 2024|archive-date=February 4, 2024|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240204090205/https://www.vulture.com/2017/03/buffy-and-faith-theres-never-been-a-rivalry-like-theirs.html}}</ref><ref name=sr1>{{cite web|url=https://screenrant.com/buffy-vampire-slayer-hated-pitied-riley/|title=Buffy the Vampire Slayer: 5 Times We Felt Bad for Riley (And 5 Times We Hated Him)|work=[[Screen Rant]]|first=Heather|last=Frankland|date=July 22, 2020|access-date=February 4, 2024|archive-date=February 4, 2024|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240204085900/https://screenrant.com/buffy-vampire-slayer-hated-pitied-riley/}}</ref><ref name=sr2>{{cite web|url=https://screenrant.com/harsh-realities-rewatching-buffy-the-vampire-slayer/|title=9 Harsh Realities Of Rewatching Buffy The Vampire Slayer|first=Suzana|last=Mihurko|work=[[Screen Rant]]|date=April 19, 2023|access-date=February 4, 2024|archive-date=February 4, 2024|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240204090939/https://screenrant.com/harsh-realities-rewatching-buffy-the-vampire-slayer/}}</ref> ''Screen Rant''{{'s}} Suzana Mihurko was irked that the show never acknowledges the sexual assault,<ref name=sr2/> while Coates thought it was still a powerful scene despite the assault making it difficult to sympathize with Faith.<ref name=marysue/> [[BBC Cult TV|BBC ''Cult TV'']]{{'s}} Kim took the episode as confirmation that Willow and Tara were in a same-sex relationship
==References==
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Who Are You? (Buffy The Vampire Slayer)}}
[[Category:Buffy the Vampire Slayer
[[Category:2000 American television episodes]]
[[Category:Buffyverse crossover episodes]]
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