"Helpless"
Begins with Buffy and Angel sparring. Y'know, rolling on top of each other, gettin' all sweaty... and the script doesn't shy away from the connotations. Angel is worried that Buffy's seeing someone else. He's getting territorial again.
Faith is "not interested in proper training" and "on one of her walkabouts" because, just like when Spike joins the cast later on, they really don't want to risk turning it into "the new person show."
Buffy is looking forward to celebrating her birthday with her father, but he bails at the last minute (not the last time we have a terrible father figure for a Slayer this season).
The plot of this episode: Buffy is hypnotized and drugged out of her powers because apparently the Watchers do this whenever a Slayer turns eighteen, under the theory that a dead Slayer (and therefore a raw, untested new Slayer) is more useful than one that relies on muscles alone. Giles is the key to all this - hey, remember what I said about terrible father figures? And they plan to lock her in a creepy house with a creepy vampire, but of course the vampire isn't playing their game and things go to pot. Buffy defeats the vamp with cunning instead of strength (although honestly the solution is about as unforeseeable as the solution to The Man With the Golden Gun, that is to say, not at all), but Giles gets fired as her Watcher for spilling the beans.
We've seen "evil Giles" before ("Halloween," "The Dark Age") and we'll see it again ("The Gift"), so the episode works. We're actually relieved that Giles is doing this on the orders of the Council and not an evil evil git in his own right.
Trust becomes horribly important two episodes from now. We see it play out a lot this season. To the extent that Faith's character is altered by the events of "Revelations," it's because Buffy didn't trust her enough to tell her about Angel. The rest of the gang is able to forgive her because they have that shared history, but Faith does not. The shattering love rectangle occupying the other Scoobies all comes down to the fact that Oz can trust Willow but Cordy can't trust Xander. Here, Buffy is initially appalled and outraged by Giles's betrayal. But when he shows up (belatedly, too late) to rescue her, he redeems himself a little bit. And when he gets fired right in front of her because of his affection for his charge, it clearly provokes a reaction from her.
One final note: there's a potion that cancels out a Slayer's abilities, and nobody thinks of keeping Faith dosed with it during her upcoming stint in prison. (Of course, just mentioning Faith in conjunction with this episode's plot opens up another can of worms, but that's a whole 'nother essay.)
"The Zeppo"
Faith is back and working with the Scoobies. Xander is becoming Mr. Useless because Buffy and Faith are Slayers, Willow's a blooming witch, and Giles at least knows things. This is the beginning of a trend for Xander that will last until 5.03, "The Replacement," so get used to it. The good news is that here his uselessness is put front and center. And by "his uselessness is put front and center," I mean we follow him around while Buffy and the Scoobies are averting the apocalypse... while he saves everyone from a demonic plot to blow up the school.
Oh, and he has sex with Faith. And freaks out when his new chums burglarize a store.
That will be important very soon.
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