From: daviderl31@yahoo.com   
      
   https://screenrant.com/buffy-vampire-slayer-faith-story-suicide-worse-reason/   
      
   Original Plan Would’ve Been Much Worse   
      
   Eliza Dushku had a significant impact on both Buffy the Vampire Slayer and   
   Angel as Faith. But the original plan for her would’ve been much worse   
      
   Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s original plan for Faith Lehane would have been   
   much worse. One of the many reasons that Buffy has endured as a seminal   
   piece of pop culture is thanks to its memorable line-up of villains, from   
   Spike and Drusilla to The Mayor, but Faith was particularly noteworthy as   
   she was introduced as an ally to the show’s protagonists.   
      
   Portrayed by Eliza Dushku, Faith made her debut in season 3, episode 3,   
   “Faith, Hope & Trick”, and she’s revealed to be the new slayer that gets   
   called in the aftermath of Kendra’s death. Faith is almost immediately   
   contrasted with Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar) due to her often nonchalant   
   and even reckless attitude. But, as the season progresses, the two begin to   
   form a fraught but intense connection. This relationship would form the   
   basis for Dushku’s character to shift into an antagonist, siding with The   
   Mayor and proving to be an immensely difficult adversary for Buffy to square   
   off against. Perhaps more important than Faith’s initial arc is the impact   
   she had on season 4 of Buffy, as well as the spin-off series, Angel.   
   However, if series creator Joss Whedon stuck to his original plan for Faith,   
   she likely wouldn’t have such a lasting mark on the legacy of the   
   Buffyverse.   
      
      
   In Whedon’s original vision for Faith, she would have been written off Buffy   
   in a very dark and depressing way. The plan was for Dushku to guest star in   
   five episodes. After accidentally killing Deputy Mayor Allan Finch   in   
   season 3, episode 14, “Bad Girls”—mistaking him for a vampire—she   
   would have   
   committed suicide. Because Dushku impressed Whedon with her performance as   
   Faith, he decided to change course for the character. The accidental death   
   of Allan Finch instead became a breaking point which led Faith to join   
   forces with The Mayor, rather than the event which would have led to her   
   tragic suicide.   
      
      
   In some ways, Whedon’s initial objectives with Faith make a lot of sense.   
   The purpose of the character, in those early season 3 appearances was to   
   shed a light on the dark side of being a slayer in an effort to point out   
   the contrast among different slayers in the slayer line. This is a point the   
   show’s writers would revisit on more than one occasion. However, it’s   
   difficult to imagine that Faith’s suicide would have been all that   
   significant in the long haul. She might have been mourned for a handful of   
   episodes, but likely would have been gradually forgotten once more pressing   
   plot developments started coming into focus. In any case, Faith would have   
   been a minor footnote in the history of the Buffyverse rather than an   
   absolute force of nature that changed the course of a season whenever she   
   popped up on screen.   
      
      
   This was the case when Faith returned for two episodes of Buffy in season 4,   
   giving the drama a jolt with an excellent a two-parter that featured the two   
   slayers switching bodies. It was especially true when Dushku moved on to   
   Angel, helping the new spin-off find its footing as writers crafted an   
   emotional storyline which revolved around Faith and Angel  trying to seek   
   redemption for their past actions. Dushku would later return for Buffy   
   season 7, in addition to Angel season 4, with the purpose of offering the   
   character a measure of closure.   
      
   Faith proved popular enough that, when Buffy ended, a spin-off was   
   considered for the character. In her long career, Dushku has built up an   
   impressive filmography that includes prominent roles in franchises such as   
   Wrong Turn and Bring It On. However, for many fans, her stint on Buffy the   
   Vampire Slayer still counts as her best work. It’s a good thing that Whedon   
   saw Dushku’s potential early on and allowed her character to evolve.   
      
      
   David   
      
      
   --   
   This email has been checked for viruses by AVG.   
   https://www.avg.com   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)