Faith manages to disarm all the cops in the alley, and begins fighting them. Inside the Bronze, an SPD chump with a rifle guards the doors and tells the Junior Misses to stay back. Dawn, with some Angry Arms of her own, tells him, "You can't keep us in here." More Faith-y fighting in the alley. Those nightsticks are gonna leave a mark! Inside, Dawn tells Rifle Chump she's going to make a call, so he fires into the ceiling, smashing a light fixture, and again recommends that the girls just wait for the alley encounter to be over. Faith is still fighting in the alley, and the fact that the cops are getting up after she knocks them down leads me to believe she's going easy on them. Unimpressed by the blast from his phallic substitute (is it any coincidence that all the cops in this scene are male?), the Junior Misses advance on him. Kennedy sasses that he'll have to shoot them all, and he replies he's not too concerned about that. For the slower viewers in the audience, Rona expositions, "These cops are really getting Hellmouth-y." In what I must admit is a really nice move, Kennedy then grabs the cop's rifle and swings it suddenly upwards, using it to smack him in the face. She then pulls the weapon away from him. Some of the other girls whack at him with pool cues and then, shrieking (could we expect anything less?), Dawn leaps on his back. The other Junior Misses rush out the door and into the alley, where they see Faith on the ground, being beaten by a circle of SPD jerks.

Junior Misses attack! Faith and Kennedy have just managed to trounce all the 'roid-rage boys in blue when Buffy arrives on the scene. She appears absolutely gobsmacked as she demands, "Faith! What are you doing!" Rubbing her arm, Faith explains that they were "just blowing off steam" until being confronted by the death squad. Buffy gapes, her jaw hanging open, as scads of Junior Misses, led by Dawn, come rushing out of the Bronze. Buffy tells all the Junior Misses to head for home 'cause Faith has some 'splaining to do. Dawn tries to say something, but Buffy interrupts and tells her to leave too. Once they're alone, Buffy shows how angry she is, dismissing Faith's explanation that the girls needed a break. Buffy snips that fighting doesn't count as "blowing off steam" (ignoring about seven seasons' worth of evidence that it does), and is particularly annoyed that the girls were drunk, although I'm not sure how she knew that from her two-second contact with them. Faith admits that things "got out of hand" and looks pretty uncomfortable, which is about as much of an apology as you're likely to get from her. Buffy won't let up, though, harshing that she "need[s] to know that [the] girls are gonna be safe when [she's] not around." Aw, poor Buffy. Are Faith and Giles playing with her fighty toys too much? Taking them out of the box and having fun when she's not there? Buffy and Faith argue, with Faith taking the stance that Buffy should give the Junior Misses more credit and a few more opportunities for experience. Buffy isn't having it, saying that Faith shouldn't have "thrown children" into such a dangerous situation. Faith counters that they aren't children, so Buffy falls back on classic schoolyard loser's argument: "That really isn't the point!" Oh, it isn't? I thought it was exactly the point that you were just trying to make. Buffy stomps away, but Faith, fed up with what she might perceive as Buffy's full-on hypocrisy, calls after her, "What about the vineyard?" When Buffy turns around, Faith continues, "How safe were they when you dragged them off to meet Caleb? How safe were Rona or [Millie] or Molly?" Which leads Buffy to resort to another schoolyard loser's favorite gambit -- punching Faith real hard. In the face. That's right, Buffy. You put your minions in their place. They're there to fight for you, not have opinions, right? Buffy walks away, leaving Faith on the ground, holding her cheek. I have to give Faith a lot of credit for not rushing after Buffy and beating the crap out of her, because that's what I was itching to do.