In the series, Buffy Summers (Sarah Michelle Gellar) is a Slayer, a teenage girl endowed with superhuman powers to fight evil forces.

Often regarded as some of the best acting of the series,[3] critics were impressed with the way Gellar and Dushku adapted their physical and verbal mannerisms in their performances as each other's characters.

[4] In the series, Buffy Summers (Sarah Michelle Gellar) is a Slayer, a teenage girl endowed with superhuman powers to fight vampires, demons and other evil forces.

With her mother Joyce (Kristine Sutherland), she moves to the fictional town of Sunnydale where she befriends Willow Rosenberg (Alyson Hannigan) and Xander Harris (Nicholas Brendon), both of whom help her in the fight against evil.

[6] In season four, Buffy discovers a covert military organization called the Initiative that captures and performs experiments on vampires and demons.

[7] Buffy also begins dating Initiative commando Riley Finn (Marc Blucas),[8] while Willow grows closer to fellow witch Tara Maclay (Amber Benson).

Meanwhile, Buffy escapes from the Council's captivity and heads to Giles's house, where Willow and Tara give her a magical device they conjured that can switch the Slayers' bodies back.

[13] To prepare for the swapped roles, producer Doug Petrie said the script gave both actresses a lot of direction, but Gellar and Dushku also studied each other's mannerisms and brought their own interpretations to the screen.

[14] The actresses did not get to watch each other's performances when they were filming, and Dushku said both she and Gellar had to place a lot of trust in Whedon, the show and the writing.

Whedon explained that Riley is ultimately "just a guy" and this scenario throws a wrench in his relationship with Buffy that is "good and harsh".

[12][16] Elyce Rae Helford, an English professor and women's studies researcher, says this arc focuses on Faith's anger as it "shifts from externalized rage with underlying self-doubt to vicious and unrelenting self-hatred".

Thus, he says, Faith is forced to confront the ugly truth: being morally good has led Buffy to a happier life, while being evil has left her miserable.

[22][24] Both separately conclude the episode supports Plato's position that the moral person is always happier than the immoral one, as reflected by Faith's inner turmoil even as she gets to live Buffy's life.

Faith-as-Buffy's actions can then be explained as her attempts to ridicule and liberate Buffy's "good" Slayer identity; from her mirror antics and leather outfit, to her overt sexuality with Spike and Riley.

"[28] The original broadcast was watched by 4.9 million viewers, making it the 86th most-watched prime time network television program for the week of February 28 to March 5, 2000.

[31] The Mary Sue's Lauren Coates said this "beautifully and brutally written" look into Faith's insecurities and fears would not have been possible without the body swap premise.

Club, Noel Murray emphasized Whedon's ability to turn the comedic scene in which Faith mocks Buffy in front of a mirror, into a touching character moment by the episode's end.

[32][33] Paste's Mark Rabinowitz wrote that when watched together with "This Year's Girl", the two-parter is the "gold standard" for body-swapping storylines.

[3] Coates said it was their acting that truly elevated the episode, citing Dushku's "remarkable" embodiment of Buffy's physical and vocal inflections, as well as the comedic and dramatic range that made Gellar the "unquestionabl[e]" standout.

as the 18th best Buffy episode, with Caroline Framke praising Gellar's ability to embody Dushku's body language without crossing the line into mimicry.

in their retrospective lists of the best Buffy episodes, including The Guardian's Rebecca Nicholson (ranked 4th),[37] TVLine (12th)[38] and Screen Rant's Julia Tilford (top 20).

[37][40] Some commentators found the Faith–Riley sex scene problematic in retrospect, citing Buffy and Riley's lack of informed consent.

[12] BBC Cult TV's Kim took the episode as confirmation that Willow and Tara were in a same-sex relationship and liked how the show handled their romance in a nonchalant manner, neither baiting controversy nor being too "PC".