[continued from previous message]   
      
     Like Cordelia, she was paired up with Xander – only this relationship   
   allowed both to flourish as characters.   
     Anya certainly evolved throughout Buffy, but the unique and joyful “I   
   march to the beat of my own drum” aspect of her was never lost in   
   Caulfield’s   
   magnetic performance.   
      
      
           10 SAVED:  NATHAN FILLION AS CALEB   
      Adding Nathan Fillion is never a mistake. Buffy season 7 had a particular   
   conundrum in that the Big Bad, the First Evil, was an incorporeal being who   
   could, at worst, manipulate and hurt people’s feelings.   
     This doesn’t exactly make for the scariest threat ever.   
     Enter The First's chief minion Caleb, the misogynistic super powered   
   priest. In Buffy’s domain, he was the ultimate expression of evil and   
   malice.   
      As portrayed by Fillion, he was often both menacing and loathsome. This   
   is some kind of feat, because Fillion is surely one of the most charming   
   actors out there.   
     As Caleb, he provided the right kind of physical menace necessary – and he   
   was a hoot.   
      
      
           8 SAVED: TOM LENK AS ANDREW   
       With the Scooby Gang dourly fulfilling plot-heavy duties in the back   
   half of season 7, and with the Potentials taking up a lot of space, Buffy   
   was in dire need of a good dose of fun.  Enter Andrew, a member of the   
   villainous trio from season 6, who was now a reformed good guy travelling   
   the redemptive road.   
     As the comic relief ally, he didn’t just liven things up – his episode   
   “Storyteller”, a meta-commentary of Buffy almost exclusively told from   
   Andrew’s unreliable point of view, is one of the sharpest and most   
   unexpectedly poignant episodes of Buffy ever produced.   
     Although he was surely one of the show’s goofier characters, his evolution   
   was quietly remarkable and often hilarious.   
      
      
           6 SAVED: ALYSON HANNIGAN AS WILLOW   
      A certain segment of fans point to season 6 of Buffy as its worst. Some,   
   however, point to it as one of its greatest.   
     What almost everyone can agree on, though, is that Willow’s magic   
   addiction storyline was somewhat fumbled, not least of which due to the   
   unsubtle addiction metaphor barely holding together within the show’s   
   established universe.   
      Yet, Alyson Hannigan knocks it out of the park as a fallen Willow,   
   especially during the season’s last few episodes.   
     It’s a clear example of an actor elevating the material.   It’s difficult   
   not to get chocked up when Willow lets go of her all-consuming rage and   
   allows herself to grieve Tara’s loss.   
      
      
           4 SAVED: JULIET LANDAU AS DRUSILLA   
      As the Nancy Spungen to Spike’s Sid Vicious, Juliet Landau as the vampire   
   Drusilla played a huge role in getting Buffy out of its tepid B-movie mire   
   and taking it to exciting new places.   
     Drusilla might’ve been a crazed and broken monster, but her electric   
   chemistry with Spike instantly endeared her to fans.   
     She also had the unusual power of influencing her victims to her will   
   through her eyes. As Landau’s eyes have a particularly mesmerizing quality,   
   this was a clear example that any of an actor’s natural strengths and charms   
   can enhance their character.   
     It’s a shame that she wasn’t on Buffy more often, but her few appearances   
   on Angel were also worthwhile.   
      
      
           2 SAVED: D.B. WOODSIDE AS ROBIN   
      As the new and improved principal of the new and improved Sunnydale High,   
   D.B. Woodside as Robin Wood was initially something of an enigma – was he   
   going to be the new Big Bad or was a good guy?   
     Buffy season 7 hemmed and hawed on this point for perhaps too long, but   
   D.B. Woodside’s performance was consistently charming and fun.   
      However, when the truth of Robin Wood is revealed – that he’s the son of   
   a Slayer Spike took down decades ago – and Wood confronts a newly   
   re-ensouled Spike, Woodside unearths years of pain and anger with only a few   
   lines.   
     “Lies My Parents Told Me” is a standout Buffy episode, and his   
   performance   
   contributes to its greatness.   
      
      
      
   David   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)