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Break Down
This episode is a powerhouse of emotion. It's 99% Faith driven - and it's all about ripping down the trust and friendship between Faith and everyone she knows. In this episode we see just how good things are going for Faith. She and Buffy are going great guns friendship-wise. She likes Giles and has a sense of purpose, possibly for the first time in her life. She's right at home in the library and, as seen in previous episodes, contributes in every way. She even (after a brief protest) follows Post as the so-called Watcher instructs.
Post does an incredible job of undermining everything Faith has become secure with. She tells Faith about secret meetings (one assumes she meant the "intervention talk" the Scooby Gang had with Buffy) that she wasn't invited or included in. This emotionally kills Faith. Faith has invested all her trust, loyalties and friendship in Buffy and the Scooby Gang, only to be let down. What hurts Faith the most though, is Buffy keeping her out of the loop. Faith assumed a sisterhood with Buffy that Faith invested heavily in. Buffy did not.
In a way, this episode, despite being nothing but destructive, lets us see just how trusting and loyal Faith is when it comes to adults. She's so desperate for a parental figure (in this case, Post as a mother) that she doesn't even ask Buffy about the secret meetings.
She assumes Post is telling the truth. She never questioned that Post may be lying to her. She took her on her word the whole time. Buffy and company, however, are riddled with things they won't talk about (Buffy with Angel, Willow and Xander about each other, etc.).
Also, the fact that Faith has never been disrespectful to Giles and seemed to genuinely care about her former Watcher, respects Post and later the Mayor, indicates (again) that she is in desperate need of approval from adults, particularly mother or father figures. Whether she'd admit it or not.
Eliza's acting is amazing in this episode. Particularly the aforementioned scene with Serena Scott Thomas in Faith's motel room. You can actually feel her pain. Writer Douglas Petrie, not content with hurting Faith through Post, also has Buffy letting her down.
The viewer supposes that Faith thinks if Buffy could tell anyone about Angel (aside from Willow), it'd be her. But Buffy didn't and Faith found out through a second 
party, and she was last to know too. This, again, unravels more of Faith's trust.
Upon getting to Angel's mansion, she sees Post on the floor and Angel hovering over her. Faith's wanting to kill Angel proves that if guided properly, she trusts and is 100% loyal to people. She sees her Watcher (she believes) in danger and believes that "Buffy's blinded by love". She believes wholeheartedly that she's about to do a good thing, that she's about to save this Watcher where she failed to save her first Watcher. And to her horror, Buffy stops her. This leads to reactionary Faith. She believes Buffy is misguided and tells her so. Not to mention that by this time, Faith's trust and loyalty to Buffy are all but gone.
Again, believing Post over Buffy, she and Buffy fight. Ostensibly, the fighting is over Angel. But Faith is fighting Buffy because she's been hurt, and she wants to hurt Buffy right back. Assuming that Faith was abused by her mother, physical fighting is the only way Faith knows how to hurt a person. She does this to Willow later in Choices also. It's also why she won't stop to listen to what Buffy has to say.
The final blow for Faith comes when Post pauses to tell her she's "an idiot". Faith obviously swaps sides and she and Buffy team to kill Post. But the damage is well and truly done as far as Faith goes. Practically everything Faith does from that moment on, is thanks to Post. She's been betrayed by Buffy and used by Post. Everything that was so good, is now left in ashes at her feet. No friend can be trusted. No adult can be trusted and she believes she's better off on her own.
