Learning from mistakes

The following line of Angel’s was cut from Five By Five due to length:

“I seem to remember trying with Faith once….I had her in a safe place, on the verge of facing herself and what she’d done. Then her watcher knocked me unconscious with a tire iron, took her away, and let her escape. Which gave her the opportunity to put a poison arrow in my back” (stares at Wesley for a moment) “Then I nearly killed Buffy. Not that one should ever learn from mistakes”.

Set again

The library main entrance in Belonging is the same building where Faith shot her crossbow at Angel in Five By Five. It was later reused as the lobby where Illyria opens a portal in Shells.

Eliza Dushku

Eliza Dushku played the vampire Slayer Faith. Eliza was born on December 30, 1980 in Boston. Her middle name is Patricia. She was raised in a staunch Mormon household, though is not particularly religious. She is half Albanian and half Danish and has 3 older brothers named Aaron, Ben, and Nate, who is also an actor. Her parents are both college professors. Eliza was legally emancipated from her parents during the filming of Buffy because of strict laws on the hours that a minor is allowed to work.
Eliza was discovered aged ten at the end of a five-month search for the perfect girl to play the lead role of Alice opposite Juliette Lewis in the film That Night. Since then she has been in several films, and has worked with actors such as Robert DeNiro, Ellen Barkin, Leonardo DiCaprio, Paul Reiser, and Jim Belushi. Eliza played Arnold Schwarzenegger’s daughter in True Lies. She appeared in Bring it On (with Clare Kramer, who played Glory), Wrong Turn, The Kiss, Soul Survivors, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back and That 70’s Show. Eliza also starred in her own TV show Tru Calling.

Faith

Faith was chosen as a vampire slayer when Kendra died. She was tough, sexy and flirtatious and she and Buffy immediately found conflict with each other (Faith, Hope and Trick). Faith spent some time helping Buffy in her slaying work but felt overshadowed by the older slayer and became jealous of her. Faith accidentally killed a man, and realised that she had a dark streak. She teamed up with the Mayor, who was plotting an evil ascension and became the direct enemy of Buffy (Consequences). Faith poisoned Angel, and Buffy discovered the only cure was for him to drink the blood of a slayer. She and Faith fought and Buffy stabbed her nemesis, putting Faith in a coma (Graduation Day (Part 1)). When Faith awoke she found the world a changed place (This Year’s Girl). She left Sunnydale and went to L.A. where she eventually redeemed herself and went to prison to serve time for her murders. Faith was broken out of prison to aid Wesley against Angelus, before heading to Sunnydale to help Buffy fight the First.
Faith’s surname was never mentioned onscreen but the Watcher Sourcebook claims it is Lehane.

Busy little beaver

The Angel episode Five By Five followed the Buffy episode Who Are You? In Five By Five, Lee Mercer calls Faith a, “busy little beaver”. In Who Are You?, Faith in Buffy’s body called herself a “busy little beaver”.

Rob Zombie

In Five By Five, when Faith is dancing and fighting, we hear “Living Dead Girl (Subliminal Seduction Mix)” by Rob Zombie.

Five by Five

Faith often uses the phrase “Five By Five” to say she’s ok. The origin of the phrase is unknown, but it can be related to a poker term, a piece of wood, US Army talk for a radio signal being loud and clear, and it’s also a reference to the movie Aliens. Five by five was used in the space program in the 1960’s, used by Apollo astronauts. In the transcription of the air-to-ground Apollo 11 mission are the words: “Roger, 11, You are coming in five-by-five here. Beautiful signal.”
Five By Five became the name of a Faith-centered episode in Angel’s season one.

Seen at 27.08 minutes:

In many episodes Cordelia’s apartment number was 212 and she had a porch outside her door, but in Five By Five, her apartment number is 6, she has neighbours and her door is inside.