Beyond Selidor

. And there's no reason why she had to be written in this way. Faith, the slayer who follows Kendra, is also written as a foil to Buffy, but the show also manages to show us why she is the way she is, and why she makes the choices she does.


I wonder if - perhaps unintentionally - Faith wasn't a bit of a second try for a foil? There's actually a few subtle similarities - I can totally see Faith having knocked out a pilot (it was a pilot, right?) to get where she needed to go, and I think had Kendra accidentally killed someone, she would have stubbornly pretended not to care, although I doubt she would've been taken in by the Mayor. But they gave Faith more personality, and a larger role.

You're right that Kendra seemed to exist almost to emphasize Buffy, whereas Faith was a better foil. Because Faith also provided Buffy with a certain comfort too - hypothetically, Buffy could have turned with Faith. Had she just gone along with Faith and pretended it never happened and snubbed the Scoobies, they may have been rogue slayers together. So Faith's more interesting that way as well.