Fun
Frisky
Nostalgic
Intense
Adventurous
Choked Up
Curious
Romantic
Weird
Of all the great things about television, the greatest is that it’s on every single day. TV history is being made, day in and day out, in ways big and small. In an effort to better appreciate this history, we’re taking a look back, every day, at one particular TV milestone.
IMPORTANT DATE IN TV HISTORY: December 30, 1980
WHY IT’S IMPORTANT: In many ways, the cast members of Buffy the Vampire Slayer will always be their Buffy-verse characters, no matter what they go on to do. It’s because Buffy is one of those rarest of TV shows that isn’t just a TV show, but it’s a universe unto itself. At least for everybody who was in front of the camera — Joss Whedon can go make Avengers movies and blockbusters galore. But Eliza Dushku will on some level always be Faith, the vampire slayer who came to Sunnydale, showed Buffy the darker side to slaying, went bad, went worse, and then came back from the brink.
From the second she appeared on screen, Faith was a favorite character for many in Buffy fandom. Faith was that quasi-antagonist who shows up and puts all of the borderline aggravating traits of the main character into stark relief. Buffy could be bossy and whiny and holier-than-thou. Faith did what she wanted, fought first and asked questions later, and because she got out of as many scrapes as she got into, she looked great doing it. The season 3 storyline really hits its second gear when Faith accidentally killed a man and pushed herself over to the dark side. That kicked off an arc that wouldn’t fully pay off for four seasons, across both Buffy and Angel. And Dushku nailed the part, playing to her strengths as tough chick with hidden feelings.
Dushku rejoined the Whedon troupe for Dollhouse, and this time she was the lead. The only problem was that Dollhouse was figuring out what show it wanted to be while it was airing episodes, and more and more, the parts of the show that had to do with Caroline (Dushku’s character) were giving way to the parts of the show that were working better. Dollhouse has many great moments, and for stretches, when everything was coming together, it was a really special show. But Caroline never quite worked for Dushku the way that Faith did.
Still, as a star on two (well, three, really) of the best sci-fi/horror shows on television, Eliza Dushku holds a place within fandom that few performers can touch. She’s an icon. She slays.
