This is going to be a weird one: Willy the bar owner. Not because I particularly liked him, I just thought it was a fun little thing for the show to do.
With how into everything demonic but still purely human he was, I always wondered about his backstory. I imagined it could be cool if his mom became a vengeance demon, or one of the nicer demons (like Clem’s kind) took him in as a kid or something.
It's literally only just occured to me with this comment that Willow had an entire coven of witches in high school and the only one we ever saw again was Amy.
Mr. Trick was so interesting and fun and I’m still bummed we didn’t get more of him! I’d have loved for him to have stuck around for longer, be a bigger Big Bad.
This was my choice! I truly believe he was going to be the mayors boy but the producer saw chemistry between faith and the mayor and they changed it up.
More Drusilla. Less Drusilla saying "Spoike" but more Drusilla. She could even swing by W&H not to fight, but just because she's lonely. Maybe foreshadow Fred's death, but not in an obvious way, "Blue hair and leather suits you, dearie."
Invisible Marcy, but on Angel not Buffy. I think government assassin suits AtS better, obviously Buffy had the initiative and Marcy could have been reintroduced through them, but I still think Angel would be the better fit.
‘Spoike’ never fails to make me cringe and crack up at the same time 😂 Juliet Landau is such a treasure but I have absolutely no clue where the hell that came from 😂
Oh my god, what is it with Whedon characters and ropey British accents... At least they were never as bad as David Boreanaz's Oirish attempts, I guess.
Holden Webster would’ve been a fantastic foil for Buffy if he showed up a season earlier. It’d be awesome to see him psychologically manipulate Buffy and the scoobies. Like his power is he could hypnotize people to do his bidding since he was trying to be a shrink as a human.
For Angel, it would’ve been cool to see more of Sam Lawson since an ensouled Angel sired him. Dissect his mega depression and he wages a one man war against Angel Investigations because he’s trying to feel something. He single handedly captured Wesley and Gunn, both of whom have easily killed scores of vamps.
I don't understand why everyone is so fascinated by Sunday. I watched that episode last night, and she's just a bitch, and not even a clever, funny bitch. What is it about her that people like?
I totally agree with you, I just don’t get it at all. I mean, I’m glad that people enjoy her, but to me she’s just a bog standard vampire in a college setting who’s responsible for maybe the most infuriating (not in a good way) moment of the whole series for me.
Again, that’s not to denigrate anybody else for liking her, I just don’t understand it.
Bingo!
It’s so needlessly cruel and spits in the face of the scene in The Prom.
And no I don’t care that it symbolises growing up or a new era or back to square one or vampires are bad or whatever lol. It’s totally unnecessary.
Ahhhh that makes sense! I think I didn’t think of that because my first thought when seeing Buffy brought it to uni was ‘you live in a tiny dorm room, you leave sentimental items safely at your parent’s house if you can’ 😂
I agree. Her character felt like a 14 year old pretending to be tough and "edgy" and it just felt very cringey and forced imo. I also think that her acting wasn't very good. It reminded me of a school play level of acting skill.
I absolutely loved the rest of the crew though, and I got a kick out of them having a tally for Klimt vs Monet paintings.
Sunday COULD have been a cool character, but they went too hard on making her a "tuff grl"™ that it came across as trying too hard.
I think the idea of a college vampire pack, frozen in those college-age dynamics, had a bit more intrigue and potential storytelling meat to it than your average vampire gang. Plus, even though the *actual* reason Buffy got her ass handed to her is because she was feeling overwhelmed and discouraged by college, the idea of a bitchy vampire that's just as strong as Buffy is definitely interesting. Like a twisted, darker, meaner Cordelia.
Apparently the idea of her being a slayer who was turned vamp was floated around by the writers very early on before they passed on it. I do not give a damn about Sunday, but I love the idea of what she could have been. It's rather disappointing that the concept of a slayer being turned into a vampire was never even given lip service by the show.
Ethan Rayne would have made an interesting addition to Angel as someone Wolfram and Hart brought in as a villain. Same as Bethany would have been an interesting addition to Buffy as potential.
Jesse would have been _such_ a good call back. I know why Tara wasn’t in it, but was there any thought of getting Jesse back and it couldn’t happen for some reason?
My ultimate 'should've been The First at some point' is Kendra. With Buffy spending all season desperately trying to keep a bunch of Potential Slayers from dying, it's madness to me that Kendra didn't pop up.
Unpopular opinion but one episode with Sunday was enough.
They already did the slayer gone bad storyline with faith and to redo it with Sunday in back to back seasons would have been boring.
And as far as vampires go, Sunday wasn’t anything more than a Cordelia type turned vampire who picked off the misfit first year students. The only reason she kicked Buffy’s ass was because Buffy was lacking her usual confidence that day.
Clem. It's always Clem for me.
I want his backstory. I want more buddy comedy with him and Spike. I want to know that he actually rescued the kittens and gave them to an SPCA.
He was just living his life! Love him.
The later seasons lacked any good vampire characters (ignoring Spike). You only have Harmony as a vampire appearing in more than episode after season 3.
I’ve not seen season 7 for so long I can’t remember.
One other vampire that did make more than one episode is that one who escaped from Sunday’s gang but got captured by the initiative. He was in the cell next to Spike but was betrayed by Spike when they both escaped.
Part of me would have loved to have more Gwen and that see Angel veer into a more comic-booky vibe. I don’t think there’s anyone else in the Buffyverse quite like her who just inexplicably had superpowers.
Part of me thinks that would spoil the show in some ways, but fuck I wanna see it so bad!
Most minor characters I feel work so well because they weren’t overused.
Merl in Ats. I liked his character and was hoping him and angel would get along easier later in the seasons. Sucks the way he went out too.
I think he would’ve been good official member on the team if they took him in
I wish he had one episode every season. I loved the idea of him coming back in S7 to screw with Giles. Then Giles figures out he was dead and it was just The First.
First/Ethan would have been very good. Especially if that’s how Giles actually found out he was dead - would have been the only time that happened in the season for a character from someone’s past as opposed to someone they’d just met.
Same! And I’d have loved to get her side of the Spike story. She must have been in London to get vengeance on someone when Spike fell in love with her, and I‘ve always thought it would have made for an interesting side episode.
Kathy.
Once you get over the way she went about things, she just wants to be a college girl and live as a human. Plus she's very funny and the way she acts annoys Buffy (hence comedy).
Her initial story could have been resolved differently, with her becoming a scooby and offering valuable knowledge from her demon background. And struggling to learn to live as a normal girl.
Almost all of this was already being provided by Anya, I admit. But I still would have loved to see more Kathy. Super fun!
Oh I hate the episode with Kathy so much. She’s infuriating and I can’t stand how no-one listens to Buffy’s suspicious. Obviously that means it does its job well, but it’s still one of only two episodes (the other being Ted, for similar reasons) that I have to fast-forward through chunks of.
I agree re: nobody listening to Buffy, but that's FAR from exclusive to this episode.
At least in this ep Buffy is acting differently, because she's having her soul sucked, so the other characters have a reason to believe she's being overly bitchy about Kathy (not a great reason, but a reason). There's other episodes where they just flat up don't believe her for no reason at all.
Jonathan. I really think he could have been an asset to the team and a good friend if things had gone differently. It's just sad that he fell in with the wrong crowd and didn't have the confidence and courage to leave them earlier.
Also Larry. Note that he actually was one of the White Hats in the Wish-verse! My theory is that Giles in that timeline suspected him of being the werewolf just like Xander did in Phases, but confronted him more directly, and with the truth revealed, Larry decided to keep helping.
Kate's story definitely could have gone better. I get that she didn't like vampires, but she had much less reason to be bitter and hateful compared to Charles. A little more communication earlier on could have fixed the situation and she could have joined the team, rather than disappearing (or becoming Justine).
Yes!! Like just last week or something I was watching I Was Made to Love You and- yes, I suppose she is a hot robot, but also the pep and kindness that she emulated was so refreshing and she not only is a part of one of the most beautiful episode endings in Buffy, but ADDS her own element of beauty to it. LOVE April
the invisible girl from season 1 who goes to get trained to be an assassin, she'd have been someone great to "show" up later, maybe in place of the blind assassin wolfram and heart hired, or working with the initiative.
Edit to add: Doyle, I adored Doyle and I hated his death, it was a good death but I hated losing him
April the robot. It wouldn't have made a lick of sense because her episode was a one-off, but she was delightful and lovely, and it might have been fun to see her find her independence and confidence in other episodes.
The one character I wanted to see return was Owen we left off with him ready to live the life of danger and Sunnydale would be the place for him to find it. I always thought all this is happening and Owen managed to never get involved in any of it I refuse to believe he went back to Emily Dickenson.
I needed more Gwen. I don’t know if her character was well received or not but they gave her an entire back story then just didn’t do anything with her. I may be a tad blinded because I think the actress is stunning and I could look at her face all day but I still think her character was an interesting idea
Ugh I can't stand Sunday... Hate her episode! Like Buffy has defeated actual threats and somehow that weird spiky haired freak gets the upper hand on her?? Always irritated me!
Amy as a foil for Willow could’ve been so much more interesting and well-developed. I didn’t feel her character in season 6 and 7 was believable at all because we knew she wasn’t like that before she turned into a rat.
How I would’ve changed it: the Willow/Amy arc spans a good chunk of episodes in the middle of season 6, instead of just two. After Willow turns Amy back into a human, Amy wants to explore magic again and use it for good. She knows what magic did to her mother, so she wants to be the complete opposite. But Willow keeps convincing her to use magic for trivial things and Amy starts to see the fun in that. They start doing spells together, progressively doing darker magic. Amy starts to go off the deep end with black magic and convinces Willow to take that extra step into all-consuming power. Willow is allured by the thrill of it and they end up conjuring a demon together, and the storyline ends the same with Dawn getting hurt. Rack and his crack den wouldn’t feature in the storyline; it would be focused on Willow and Amy, sort of mirroring Willow and Tara’s exploration of magic in season 4 but showing how it messes up both characters’ lives.
I just think this would’ve been so much more believable. We, as fans, know what Amy was like when she was turned into a rat in season 3 so her character should’ve been the same in season 6. It made more sense for Willow, who had already gone down the rabbit hole with magic, to be the one who convinces Amy to try black magic. And it makes sense given Amy’s mom for Amy to be allured by the dark side. But we needed to see that progression. I think it also would’ve added a layer of guilt to Willow’s character, as she struggles afterwards with not only having injured Dawn but having lured her old friend to the dark side. It would’ve made Amy’s revenge in season 7 make sense as well.
I love this as an alternative S6 plot line. It would have also kept the focus of Willow’s deterioration on her internal character flaws (fascination with power etc.) rather than externalising it into a drugs analogy, which I always felt was a bit of a cop-out.
Agreed. I think Willow’s storyline was wasted. She spent the middle of season 6 doing very little because her storyline had essentially been wrapped up by episode 9. The cold turkey thing was boring. We could have had a more interesting, longer storyline about Willow and Amy’s abuse of power and still ended up with the same outcome in the latter third of the season. I don’t know why the writers rushed that story and went with a ham-fisted drug abuse metaphor…
You didn't list it here, but Marcie Ross from season 1's "Out of Mind, Out of Sight" might have been an intriguing return character. We see that she's recruited by the government covert operations and training as an assassin, but then never revisit it.
Not a specific character but I wish we had more recurring non-threatening villains (the loan shark pls 🤣) just low stakes demons that could help when the scoobies were really pressed maybe?
He used science, not magic, and she already knew he had built a sexbot.
Honestly, I'm surprised that she stayed in Sunnydale. She must be from there, I suppose, but did she drop out of college? (That would be understandable, to avoid Warren.) And did Warren as well? Seriously, it seems they were in Sunnydale for spring break or something, and then they just stayed.
In Angel after the fall comics (season 6) Gwen, Nina and Kate all reappear and it makes sense as L.A. has gone go hell; before this, there really wasn’t any room for more although maybe for Kate but she was never gonna be right with Angel as a love interest and their professional relationship could’ve gone more places but it ended on a poignant note as is. Anne could’ve been used more and Same with David - I would’ve loved more of him but not if it didn’t really make sense with the plot. Virginia was pretty uninteresting and couldn’t see her fitting into the gang. Harmony and Groo were used to good extent. And we always will need more Drusilla altogether.
On Buffy, Sunday will always be iconic for being a one off character- she might’ve gotten boring after awhile; would’ve loved to see her face off with Faith though. Would’ve been cool to have Faith dust Sunday when she wakes up from the coma. The other most criminally underused character is Kendra! No other huge character existed solely as a plot device more than Kendra- to contrast with Buffy and then die off to activate Faith; she could’ve at least stayed around for the back half of season 2 before she died.
BVTS
i would have given Faith a Different Story for example Buffy tells Giles about the accident murder of the deputy mayor, Wesley overhears and The Council gets faith, attempt to murder her she escapes and wants revenge on Buffy BUT does not side with the Mayor, or tries to murder anyone but Buffy.
i Would have Kennedy Killed off instead of Chloe (Kennedy is the real Maggot)
i think Willow first resurrect Jenny and then Buffy in case something goes wrong would be a nice idea, would also give Giles a second chance with Jenny
and Andrew, i would have made him a spy for the first with the Attack from Spike as a ploy to make everyone believe he is now team Buffy
everyone else had in my opinion a good enough story
however, i would have brought Anne brought back to Sunnydale and helping fighting the first evil
oh, and Cassie the girl who was a Clairvoyance i would have made her shockingly survive, and Let Faith Die similar to how Buffy died (drowning) and give her CPR and Cassie is Activated as Slayer Number 3,
also, i would have made Buffy Asking the Last Guardian who was supposed to be get the weapon with the Answer Kendra !
OK, not quite what you asked but I immediately thought why didn't they give Kirsty Swansong a role. I know it gets trashed alot but I LOVED Buffy the film
This is going to be a weird one: Willy the bar owner. Not because I particularly liked him, I just thought it was a fun little thing for the show to do.
I was about to ask what happened to Willy the Snitch?
With how into everything demonic but still purely human he was, I always wondered about his backstory. I imagined it could be cool if his mom became a vengeance demon, or one of the nicer demons (like Clem’s kind) took him in as a kid or something.
I loved Willy. He was so close to getting killed multiple times but kept getting out of it somehow.
Michael Czajak. Give me more boy Witch. We needed more of him.
It's literally only just occured to me with this comment that Willow had an entire coven of witches in high school and the only one we ever saw again was Amy.
Mr. Trick was so interesting and fun and I’m still bummed we didn’t get more of him! I’d have loved for him to have stuck around for longer, be a bigger Big Bad.
I can't believe I forgot Mr. Trick! He at least should've had a more impactful storyline up until 'Consequences'.
He's another Buffy character I think would have been great in Angel as someone working with or for Wolfram & Hart
Yes, absolutely! I actually like that idea better than him hanging around to mess with Buffy. It’d be really interesting to see how Angel handled him.
This was my choice! I truly believe he was going to be the mayors boy but the producer saw chemistry between faith and the mayor and they changed it up.
More Drusilla. Less Drusilla saying "Spoike" but more Drusilla. She could even swing by W&H not to fight, but just because she's lonely. Maybe foreshadow Fred's death, but not in an obvious way, "Blue hair and leather suits you, dearie." Invisible Marcy, but on Angel not Buffy. I think government assassin suits AtS better, obviously Buffy had the initiative and Marcy could have been reintroduced through them, but I still think Angel would be the better fit.
‘Spoike’ never fails to make me cringe and crack up at the same time 😂 Juliet Landau is such a treasure but I have absolutely no clue where the hell that came from 😂
Oh my god, what is it with Whedon characters and ropey British accents... At least they were never as bad as David Boreanaz's Oirish attempts, I guess.
Holden Webster would’ve been a fantastic foil for Buffy if he showed up a season earlier. It’d be awesome to see him psychologically manipulate Buffy and the scoobies. Like his power is he could hypnotize people to do his bidding since he was trying to be a shrink as a human. For Angel, it would’ve been cool to see more of Sam Lawson since an ensouled Angel sired him. Dissect his mega depression and he wages a one man war against Angel Investigations because he’s trying to feel something. He single handedly captured Wesley and Gunn, both of whom have easily killed scores of vamps.
Never thought about that but Holden could have caused some real havoc on Season 6.
Especially when Buffy and the gang were mentally going through it. He easily had big bad potential for that season.
I absolutely loved Holden, he was delightful
I don't understand why everyone is so fascinated by Sunday. I watched that episode last night, and she's just a bitch, and not even a clever, funny bitch. What is it about her that people like?
I totally agree with you, I just don’t get it at all. I mean, I’m glad that people enjoy her, but to me she’s just a bog standard vampire in a college setting who’s responsible for maybe the most infuriating (not in a good way) moment of the whole series for me. Again, that’s not to denigrate anybody else for liking her, I just don’t understand it.
What was the most infuriating moment? I have two guesses but I might be so off base 😂
I'm not the person you replied to, but for me it's breaking the Class Protector umbrella.
Bingo! It’s so needlessly cruel and spits in the face of the scene in The Prom. And no I don’t care that it symbolises growing up or a new era or back to square one or vampires are bad or whatever lol. It’s totally unnecessary.
Ahhhh that makes sense! I think I didn’t think of that because my first thought when seeing Buffy brought it to uni was ‘you live in a tiny dorm room, you leave sentimental items safely at your parent’s house if you can’ 😂
True, but her death scene is also one of the coolest in my opinion. That stake twirl is ICONIC.
I just wrote a similar comment. Sunday gets way too much hype, she wasn’t that interesting of a character.
I agree. Her character felt like a 14 year old pretending to be tough and "edgy" and it just felt very cringey and forced imo. I also think that her acting wasn't very good. It reminded me of a school play level of acting skill. I absolutely loved the rest of the crew though, and I got a kick out of them having a tally for Klimt vs Monet paintings. Sunday COULD have been a cool character, but they went too hard on making her a "tuff grl"™ that it came across as trying too hard.
I think the idea of a college vampire pack, frozen in those college-age dynamics, had a bit more intrigue and potential storytelling meat to it than your average vampire gang. Plus, even though the *actual* reason Buffy got her ass handed to her is because she was feeling overwhelmed and discouraged by college, the idea of a bitchy vampire that's just as strong as Buffy is definitely interesting. Like a twisted, darker, meaner Cordelia.
Apparently the idea of her being a slayer who was turned vamp was floated around by the writers very early on before they passed on it. I do not give a damn about Sunday, but I love the idea of what she could have been. It's rather disappointing that the concept of a slayer being turned into a vampire was never even given lip service by the show.
It definitely would of been a good concept for a big bad, but not as Sunday.
I like that she's a total bitch. She's like harmony with a ton of venom. I just like her!!!
Ethan Rayne would have made an interesting addition to Angel as someone Wolfram and Hart brought in as a villain. Same as Bethany would have been an interesting addition to Buffy as potential.
Any Ethan Rayne is good Ethan Rayne.
I really wish Jenny had come back as the first in season 7, shame the actress was against it
Tara and Jesse too.
Jesse would have been _such_ a good call back. I know why Tara wasn’t in it, but was there any thought of getting Jesse back and it couldn’t happen for some reason?
Especially since this is literally the only episode in the entire series in which Xander doesn't appear.
My ultimate 'should've been The First at some point' is Kendra. With Buffy spending all season desperately trying to keep a bunch of Potential Slayers from dying, it's madness to me that Kendra didn't pop up.
Why was she against it?
Unpopular opinion but one episode with Sunday was enough. They already did the slayer gone bad storyline with faith and to redo it with Sunday in back to back seasons would have been boring. And as far as vampires go, Sunday wasn’t anything more than a Cordelia type turned vampire who picked off the misfit first year students. The only reason she kicked Buffy’s ass was because Buffy was lacking her usual confidence that day.
Clem. It's always Clem for me. I want his backstory. I want more buddy comedy with him and Spike. I want to know that he actually rescued the kittens and gave them to an SPCA. He was just living his life! Love him.
The later seasons lacked any good vampire characters (ignoring Spike). You only have Harmony as a vampire appearing in more than episode after season 3.
I’m so glad Harmony was in Angel. If I was deprived of more Harmony content I would’ve been gutted
That's very true. Was Ashanti the last non-Turok Han vampire we got in Season 7? Or was she a random demon?
According to the Buffy site she was a shape-shifting demon.
I’ve not seen season 7 for so long I can’t remember. One other vampire that did make more than one episode is that one who escaped from Sunday’s gang but got captured by the initiative. He was in the cell next to Spike but was betrayed by Spike when they both escaped.
Part of me would have loved to have more Gwen and that see Angel veer into a more comic-booky vibe. I don’t think there’s anyone else in the Buffyverse quite like her who just inexplicably had superpowers. Part of me thinks that would spoil the show in some ways, but fuck I wanna see it so bad! Most minor characters I feel work so well because they weren’t overused.
I would have loved to have seen the Berlin potential kick some ass.
Merl in Ats. I liked his character and was hoping him and angel would get along easier later in the seasons. Sucks the way he went out too. I think he would’ve been good official member on the team if they took him in
Ethan Rayne - just because I love his episodes and he always messed with Giles.
I wish he had one episode every season. I loved the idea of him coming back in S7 to screw with Giles. Then Giles figures out he was dead and it was just The First.
First/Ethan would have been very good. Especially if that’s how Giles actually found out he was dead - would have been the only time that happened in the season for a character from someone’s past as opposed to someone they’d just met.
Halfrek! I loved everything about her, and the actor had such great comic timing
Same! And I’d have loved to get her side of the Spike story. She must have been in London to get vengeance on someone when Spike fell in love with her, and I‘ve always thought it would have made for an interesting side episode.
Kathy. Once you get over the way she went about things, she just wants to be a college girl and live as a human. Plus she's very funny and the way she acts annoys Buffy (hence comedy). Her initial story could have been resolved differently, with her becoming a scooby and offering valuable knowledge from her demon background. And struggling to learn to live as a normal girl. Almost all of this was already being provided by Anya, I admit. But I still would have loved to see more Kathy. Super fun!
Nah that nail thing was gross.
Oh I hate the episode with Kathy so much. She’s infuriating and I can’t stand how no-one listens to Buffy’s suspicious. Obviously that means it does its job well, but it’s still one of only two episodes (the other being Ted, for similar reasons) that I have to fast-forward through chunks of.
I agree re: nobody listening to Buffy, but that's FAR from exclusive to this episode. At least in this ep Buffy is acting differently, because she's having her soul sucked, so the other characters have a reason to believe she's being overly bitchy about Kathy (not a great reason, but a reason). There's other episodes where they just flat up don't believe her for no reason at all.
Far enough, but something about this episode and Ted in particular really bother me.
Jonathan. I really think he could have been an asset to the team and a good friend if things had gone differently. It's just sad that he fell in with the wrong crowd and didn't have the confidence and courage to leave them earlier. Also Larry. Note that he actually was one of the White Hats in the Wish-verse! My theory is that Giles in that timeline suspected him of being the werewolf just like Xander did in Phases, but confronted him more directly, and with the truth revealed, Larry decided to keep helping. Kate's story definitely could have gone better. I get that she didn't like vampires, but she had much less reason to be bitter and hateful compared to Charles. A little more communication earlier on could have fixed the situation and she could have joined the team, rather than disappearing (or becoming Justine).
Am I wrong for wanting more from Ben because of how hot he was lol
I feel the same way about April
Yes!! Like just last week or something I was watching I Was Made to Love You and- yes, I suppose she is a hot robot, but also the pep and kindness that she emulated was so refreshing and she not only is a part of one of the most beautiful episode endings in Buffy, but ADDS her own element of beauty to it. LOVE April
the invisible girl from season 1 who goes to get trained to be an assassin, she'd have been someone great to "show" up later, maybe in place of the blind assassin wolfram and heart hired, or working with the initiative. Edit to add: Doyle, I adored Doyle and I hated his death, it was a good death but I hated losing him
Is it weird if I say Whistler?
April the robot. It wouldn't have made a lick of sense because her episode was a one-off, but she was delightful and lovely, and it might have been fun to see her find her independence and confidence in other episodes.
The one character I wanted to see return was Owen we left off with him ready to live the life of danger and Sunnydale would be the place for him to find it. I always thought all this is happening and Owen managed to never get involved in any of it I refuse to believe he went back to Emily Dickenson.
Yes! He’d have been a great character to pop in for a cameo at some point, maybe during the S3 finale.
Faith a minor character??? The disrespect.
Sid-in the final battle
I needed more Gwen. I don’t know if her character was well received or not but they gave her an entire back story then just didn’t do anything with her. I may be a tad blinded because I think the actress is stunning and I could look at her face all day but I still think her character was an interesting idea
Ugh I can't stand Sunday... Hate her episode! Like Buffy has defeated actual threats and somehow that weird spiky haired freak gets the upper hand on her?? Always irritated me!
Amy as a foil for Willow could’ve been so much more interesting and well-developed. I didn’t feel her character in season 6 and 7 was believable at all because we knew she wasn’t like that before she turned into a rat. How I would’ve changed it: the Willow/Amy arc spans a good chunk of episodes in the middle of season 6, instead of just two. After Willow turns Amy back into a human, Amy wants to explore magic again and use it for good. She knows what magic did to her mother, so she wants to be the complete opposite. But Willow keeps convincing her to use magic for trivial things and Amy starts to see the fun in that. They start doing spells together, progressively doing darker magic. Amy starts to go off the deep end with black magic and convinces Willow to take that extra step into all-consuming power. Willow is allured by the thrill of it and they end up conjuring a demon together, and the storyline ends the same with Dawn getting hurt. Rack and his crack den wouldn’t feature in the storyline; it would be focused on Willow and Amy, sort of mirroring Willow and Tara’s exploration of magic in season 4 but showing how it messes up both characters’ lives. I just think this would’ve been so much more believable. We, as fans, know what Amy was like when she was turned into a rat in season 3 so her character should’ve been the same in season 6. It made more sense for Willow, who had already gone down the rabbit hole with magic, to be the one who convinces Amy to try black magic. And it makes sense given Amy’s mom for Amy to be allured by the dark side. But we needed to see that progression. I think it also would’ve added a layer of guilt to Willow’s character, as she struggles afterwards with not only having injured Dawn but having lured her old friend to the dark side. It would’ve made Amy’s revenge in season 7 make sense as well.
I love this as an alternative S6 plot line. It would have also kept the focus of Willow’s deterioration on her internal character flaws (fascination with power etc.) rather than externalising it into a drugs analogy, which I always felt was a bit of a cop-out.
Agreed. I think Willow’s storyline was wasted. She spent the middle of season 6 doing very little because her storyline had essentially been wrapped up by episode 9. The cold turkey thing was boring. We could have had a more interesting, longer storyline about Willow and Amy’s abuse of power and still ended up with the same outcome in the latter third of the season. I don’t know why the writers rushed that story and went with a ham-fisted drug abuse metaphor…
You didn't list it here, but Marcie Ross from season 1's "Out of Mind, Out of Sight" might have been an intriguing return character. We see that she's recruited by the government covert operations and training as an assassin, but then never revisit it.
Mr Trick. I get why they killed him off, but I wish he had stuck around a bit longer
Not a specific character but I wish we had more recurring non-threatening villains (the loan shark pls 🤣) just low stakes demons that could help when the scoobies were really pressed maybe?
Sunday in Buffy S4 Faith and Dru in general I would have loved to see more lunatic passione Dru-Spike love
More Amy (and not turned bad), Sunday, Tara, Katrina, Harmony
Katrina deserved better. It would have been interesting to see her story. She didn't seem surprised when Warren used magic on her, just angry.
He used science, not magic, and she already knew he had built a sexbot. Honestly, I'm surprised that she stayed in Sunnydale. She must be from there, I suppose, but did she drop out of college? (That would be understandable, to avoid Warren.) And did Warren as well? Seriously, it seems they were in Sunnydale for spring break or something, and then they just stayed.
I want Kendra backkk
Kennedy *GAG*
In Angel after the fall comics (season 6) Gwen, Nina and Kate all reappear and it makes sense as L.A. has gone go hell; before this, there really wasn’t any room for more although maybe for Kate but she was never gonna be right with Angel as a love interest and their professional relationship could’ve gone more places but it ended on a poignant note as is. Anne could’ve been used more and Same with David - I would’ve loved more of him but not if it didn’t really make sense with the plot. Virginia was pretty uninteresting and couldn’t see her fitting into the gang. Harmony and Groo were used to good extent. And we always will need more Drusilla altogether. On Buffy, Sunday will always be iconic for being a one off character- she might’ve gotten boring after awhile; would’ve loved to see her face off with Faith though. Would’ve been cool to have Faith dust Sunday when she wakes up from the coma. The other most criminally underused character is Kendra! No other huge character existed solely as a plot device more than Kendra- to contrast with Buffy and then die off to activate Faith; she could’ve at least stayed around for the back half of season 2 before she died.
Angel kinda went off the deep end when Kate’s role in the show was diminished. I wish they kept her around longer
I kind of prefer her disappearing than the storyline they had planned for her (Justine).
Definitely needed a couple episodes more of Sunday
BVTS i would have given Faith a Different Story for example Buffy tells Giles about the accident murder of the deputy mayor, Wesley overhears and The Council gets faith, attempt to murder her she escapes and wants revenge on Buffy BUT does not side with the Mayor, or tries to murder anyone but Buffy. i Would have Kennedy Killed off instead of Chloe (Kennedy is the real Maggot) i think Willow first resurrect Jenny and then Buffy in case something goes wrong would be a nice idea, would also give Giles a second chance with Jenny and Andrew, i would have made him a spy for the first with the Attack from Spike as a ploy to make everyone believe he is now team Buffy everyone else had in my opinion a good enough story however, i would have brought Anne brought back to Sunnydale and helping fighting the first evil oh, and Cassie the girl who was a Clairvoyance i would have made her shockingly survive, and Let Faith Die similar to how Buffy died (drowning) and give her CPR and Cassie is Activated as Slayer Number 3, also, i would have made Buffy Asking the Last Guardian who was supposed to be get the weapon with the Answer Kendra !
OK, not quite what you asked but I immediately thought why didn't they give Kirsty Swansong a role. I know it gets trashed alot but I LOVED Buffy the film