Warren Mears (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)
Title: The Man with the Golden Gun
Author: Fab (fabricatedvoice@yahoo.com)
Spoilers: Seasons 5-7 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Personal Website: Spinning-in-Infinity.com
Thanks to Maddie for her excellent beta work and for offering her interpretation of Warren in ways I hadn't considered before.
It's very difficult to get people to care about a character who's been dead for over five years on a show that's been gone for almost as long. Take into account the fact that the character in question is almost universally reviled, and you don't necessarily have the best basis for a persuasive argument as to why this character deserves your attention. Yet, there is something about a character so driven by his own impotent rage that seems to warrant an explanation for his madness. And that's where Warren comes into the picture.
Warren Mears (or Meers, if you prefer) was introduced in episode 5.15 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (I Was Made to Love You). It's not one of the episodes the series is most remembered for; in fact, its real purpose seemed to be to provide a lead-in to "The Body," Episode 16 of Season 5, in which Joyce dies. But within the episode there lies foreshadowing for most of Season 6's subplot, the Nerdy Trio's attempt to take over Sunnydale, as well as Warren's eventual downfall.
In "I Was Made to Love You," Warren is introduced as a guy who has brought his girlfriend Katrina home to Sunnydale for their Spring Break from the local technical college. However, Warren has a hobby of building robots. Well, robot, really. Her name is April and she's programmed to be his girlfriend, since Warren is socially deficient and did not have a girlfriend, presumably until Katrina. However, Warren's idea of a girlfriend leaves something to be desired, as shown when he and Buffy are looking for April, who is out to get revenge on those whom she thinks are stealing her man:
WARREN: If the batteries are still working and she hears my voice, then ... she'll answer.
BUFFY: She's voice-activated?
WARREN: Well, I made it so that if she heard me and she didn't answer, it causes this kind of feedback.
BUFFY: Wait, if you call her and she doesn't answer, it hurts her? You're one creepy little dweeb, Warren.
Though Warren says he loves Katrina because she was independent and sarcastic, and not at all like April, it is important to note that (initially) his "perfect girlfriend" really had no other purpose in life but to please him. In Season 6's "Dead Things," Warren, still sore from this episode, attempts to turn Katrina into his perfect subservient girlfriend using a magical device he's created, but things turn out very badly for him. At the end of the episode, Buffy saves the day, April's batteries run out, and Katrina dumps Warren. And everyone is happy! Except Warren.
Cut to Season 6. Evil has a new name. And that name is "dorky." Warren teams up with Jonathan, who was first introduced in Episode 4 of Season 2, "Inca Mummy Girl," and then appearing in several episodes after that, including Season 4's "Superstar" (Episode 17) and a new face, Andrew, in order to take over Sunnydale. It is interesting to point out here that Andrew was not the first choice for the third villain (what this has to do with Warren will be answered in a minute). The first choice was actually Tucker, another onetime baddie who appeared in Season 3's "The Prom," (Episode 20) letting loose hellhounds on Sunnydale's Senior Prom:
"Andrew was actually created at the last minute by the show's writers, as a replacement for Tucker Wells. Originally, the writers wanted Brad Kane to reprise the character who would be the leader of the "Trio" with Jonathan and Warren as his flunkies, but the two sides failed to come to an agreement regarding a contract, resulting in Tom Lenk being cast as Tucker's younger brother." (Andrew Wells@Answers.com)
What does this have to do with Warren? Well, the dynamic in the Trio is as such that Warren is the head honcho, the main evil, but what would have happened if it had been Tucker in charge? Would we have a closeted-infatuated-with-Spike Warren running around the Buffy Season 8 comics, acting like a Watcher? (NB: I love Andrew, but let's play to the simplistic view of him to give you a nice "What if?" scenario) It's hard to comprehend, especially since Warren's domineering tendencies and emotional issues make him the perfect Master Manipulator. This is shown in the Trio's first appearance in "Flooded" (Season 6, Episode 4). In it, the boys rob a bank using an M'Fashnik demon as their muscle. The trouble begins when the demon demands his promised payment, "the head of the Slayer." Naturally, the boys can't deliver that, and they have a pow-wow to discuss what to do about their problem. Warren votes for killing Buffy, but Andrew and Jonathan reject that idea due to the fact that Buffy's saved Jonathan a lot, "plus she's hot." Warren grudgingly agrees, and volunteers to get rid of the demon. Now, just last season we saw Warren nearly wet himself when faced with the prospect of a Spike demanding a custom Buffy robot ("I Was Made to Love You," Season 5, Episode 15, and "Intervention," Season 5, Episode 17). This new Warren strides right up to the demon, and in his first show of defiance to his so-called friends, provides the demon with Buffy's information so that he can "make it so." This is our first clue that perhaps despite the absurdity of these "super villains," Warren will do whatever it takes to achieve his own goals.
"Life Serial," Episode 5 of Season 6, consists of the Trio devising ways to torment Buffy in order to find weaknesses to exploit. Though Warren realizes that the Slayer could "pummel [him] into a sludgy substance," he refers to their collective torment as a game, and the three even go so far as to score points off Buffy's misery. We can also see the group dynamic in the Trio forming, with Warren and Jonathan already at odds. Warren never calls Jonathan by his name, and becomes irritated easily by him. However, though Warren and Jonathan butt heads, they both seem to still be friendly towards each other, both expressing their irritation over Andrew's insistence on decking out their mystery machine with the latest in Star Wars crap (a Death Star painted on the side of the van, a car horn playing the Star Wars theme). Warren's manipulations of Andrew don't appear to have started yet, as they seem to be on friendly and relatively equal terms. But there are still signs of danger lurking beneath the surface in the way Warren gets so eager over their new knowledge about Buffy. As he says, "it's not over."
The Trio next appear in a short sequence in Episode 9, "Smashed." In it, they are stealing a diamond from the local museum, for some nefarious purpose as yet unknown to us. Warren again shows his careless cruelty when Jonathan uses the Trio's experimental freeze ray on Rusty, the museum security guard. Warren taunts Jonathan about his now-frozen arm due to the temperamental nature of the freeze ray ("Be a bigger wuss") and expresses his lack of care about Rusty when Andrew questions him ("He'll defrost in a couple of days; no harm, no foul"). Warren then uses the diamond to once again berate Jonathan about his lack of height and manliness ("As it turns out, size does matter").
This all changes when Spike shows up at Warren's house, demanding that Warren inspect the chip in his head. Warren believes he's the alpha dork, but he quavers in the face of Spike. This is a very telling aspect of Warren's character. He bullies those who he feels to be lesser than him (Jonathan and Andrew), but he cowers and flubs his way through encounters with people he knows are stronger than him (Spike, women).
The next episode the boys are in, "Gone" (Season 6, Episode 11), shows just how ruthless Warren is becoming in his quest for domination. He uses the diamond the Trio procured in "Smashed" to make an invisibility ray, and the three accidentally shoot Buffy with it. Well, the boys then discover that the things that they have made invisible lose their molecular structure and disintegrate. Warren has no problem letting Buffy share a similar fate, but Jonathan and Andrew agree that they should re-visible Buffy. As he did in "Flooded," Warren once again grudgingly agrees. Willow, investigating Buffy's invisibility, comes upon the Trio's lair in Warren's basement, and a now-invisible Trio capture her to lure out Buffy. When all of them are in the same room, Invisi-Warren promises to make her visible again, but Willow sees on the ray that he's planning to speed up the disintegration process. Jonathan and Andrew turn against Warren and all three are discovered by Buffy. They escape in order to think of a new Cunning Plan, and for the moment, the day is saved.
The next episode the Trio appear in is the turning point in Warren's character. Up until this point, Warren's issues with women and his obsession with control had been hinted at, but they come out in full force in "Dead Things" (Season 6, Episode 13). The Trio has created what they term a "cerebral dampener," which, when activated, "can make any woman we desire our willing sex slave." In less disgusting terms, it gives the activator the power to control the mind of the person they've targeted. Warren says he knows where to start, and he is then shown at a ritzy piano bar, his target chosen. He sidles up to the woman, and it turns out to be his ex-girlfriend Katrina ("I Was Made to Love You," Season 5, Episode 15). Needless to say, she is not pleased to see him:
KATRINA: What the hell are you doing here?
WARREN: It's nice to see you again too, Katrina.
KATRINA: Yeah, it's the seeing you part that's throwing me here, Warren, because I thought I was pretty clear with the never wanting that to happen again.
WARREN: Never's a long time, baby.
KATRINA: Apparently not long enough.
WARREN: Oh, you're not still sore about that thing, are you?
KATRINA: What thing would that be exactly? What, the wind-up slut you tinkered together? Or when Little Miss Nuts and Bolts tried to choke me to death?
WARREN: Okay, so I've made a few mistakes.
KATRINA: No. No, I did. For ever lowering myself to be with a jerk like you.
I think it's important to note here how Warren talks to Katrina compared with the language he uses in "I Was Made to Love You." While he's never been considerate to her, he's never been so sleazy before. What once was "Katrina, please be quiet, okay, this is important" has become "Never's a long time, baby." Warren has had a taste of success post-Katrina (the bank robbery, the testing of Buffy, the invention of both a freeze and an invisibility ray), and now, with his mind-control device, he's become overly confident to the point of smugly superior.
Warren is unable to communicate with women. He either deals with them in a sleazy manner when he believes he has the upper hand ("Seeing Red") or he runs away from them when he knows he's cornered ("Gone," "I Was Made to Love You"). He has no idea how to relate to a woman he really cares for, instead falling back on his habit of creating the perfect woman ("I Was Made to Love You"). After Katrina tells Warren that she wants nothing to do with him, he pleads "I just thought we could talk. I thought maybe we could work things out," but Katrina holds her ground. It is then when Warren uses the dampener on her, but what if Katrina had offered to listen to what he had to say? Would Warren have explained to her his feelings of loneliness that prompted him to create a robot girlfriend? Would he have shared with her all the reason he fell in love with her, from her sarcastic attitude to her penchant for model trains? And would he still have used the dampener on her, or was that Warren's "Plan B"? It's questions like these that make me see Warren as more than just the ultimate in evil humans.
However, Warren does use the dampener on Katrina and attempts to engage in sexual relations with her. Katrina comes out of her trance just in time, and she turns on Warren. She attacks all three boys, revealing that not only is she Warren's ex-girlfriend, but that "this is not some fantasy, it's not a game, you freaks! It's rape!" Jonathan and Andrew are horrified, but they obey Warren's orders to prevent her from escaping. Warren smashes the back of her skull with a champagne bottle, and she crumples on the stairs, dead. The fun and games has ended. The Trio (Warren, really, with Jonathan and Andrew as accessories) has now committed murder. Andrew is inconsolable, Jonathan is freaking out, and Warren? Well, Warren is trying to figure out a way to save his own ass. Jonathan suggests they turn themselves in to the police, but Warren is having none of it.
It is here where Warren's truly evil nature starts to bubble to the surface:
"We have two problems; the body and the Slayer. Well, what if there was a way that we could take care of them both ... with one big stone."
Warren has Andrew summon a Rwasundi demon, which, according to Anya later in the episode, "causes a sort of localized temporal disturbance. Being exposed to the Rwasundi for more than a few seconds can cause vivid hallucinations." Buffy, who had decided to turn herself into the police after thinking she killed "a girl," discovers that the body is Katrina's, and connects her with Warren. Which is what Jonathan told Warren would happen: "There's a link. You knew her, so there's a link. You don't think Buffy'll be able to put that together? That's what she does, she'll figure it out!"
The end of the episode is a terrifying look into the current mindset of the Trio. Fearless Leader Warren has no remorse about what has happened, and his mindset has affected Andrew, who is rapidly becoming infatuated with Warren's power. The way the three boys react to the fact that they have committed murder will set the tone for the rest of the season:
WARREN: We're gonna get away with it. "Injuries consistent with a fall." The coroner's ruling it a suicide.
JONATHAN: What about Buffy?
WARREN: Well, it wasn't that hard messing her game up. If she figures it out ... we'll take care of her.
ANDREW: We really got away with murder. That's ... kinda cool.
JONATHAN: (weakly) Yeah. Cool.
The balance of power has shifted from Warren versus Jonathan and Andrew to Warren and Andrew versus Jonathan. Warren already had a lot of power in the Trio by virtue of being the leader, but with Andrew in his corner, Jonathan didn't have much of a say, if any, for the rest of the season. Warren then used this shift in power to his advantage, something that is hinted at in the next couple of episodes.
The next couple of episodes show the shift in the dynamic of the group. In "Normal Again" (Season 6, Episode 17) Andrew has summoned a demon to make Buffy believe she is living in an alternate universe. In this episode, we learn that the Trio has gone into hiding. Jonathan is a wreck, but Warren seems unaffected by the events of the recent past. Andrew, who had been chanting "Oh God, oh God," when they killed Katrina no longer shows any emotional reaction related to her death.
As an aside, Katrina's death served its Machiavellian purpose for Warren, who was able to finally convince Andrew that he had the power to succeed in their quest. If we look at previous episodes, Warren had always been friendly to Andrew. He always called him "Andrew," not "Sparky" or "Spanky" or "Frodo," as he did to Jonathan. Warren would make fun of Andrew, but his taunts were not as mean-spirited and cutting as the ones he made to Jonathan ("two guys and a mime" ("Smashed") as opposed to "short and insane" ("Life Serial")). Perhaps this was because Jonathan is, at heart, a good guy, and Warren was suspicious of that. Warren might have seen that Jonathan was not as into the whole super villain idea as he had initially been, due to his disturbed and guilt-ridden reaction to Katrina's death. While Warren might have always seen Andrew as more malleable, due to the fact that he's a follower (something Andrew readily admits in "Two to Go," Season 6, Episode 21), the realization that Jonathan was more likely to desert them made Warren more certain that he had to get Andrew in his corner.
In "Normal Again," Warren and Andrew return to their new hiding place with boxes of stuff, and a suspicious Jonathan confronts them, demanding to know what they were doing. Warren, knowing that the best defense is a good offense, counters with "Well, what do you think, Spanky, you think we're plotting against you?" And Jonathan lets it go for a minute, and Warren thinks he's won. But when Jonathan gets up to go out on his own, Warren placates him by reassuring Jonathan that "it's just not safe out there. Alone. You saw how close the Slayer got. Look, we're a team. Something happens to you, it happens to all of us, right? Look, I know you're antsy, we all are, but you see things, they're about to pick up, big time. You just gotta be careful right now, alright? Stick together, 'kay?" And, as we've learned by now, Warren will do or say anything to get people to stick with him until he has no more use for them, just like Katrina.
And so we move on to "Entropy," Episode 18. Here is where things start to pick up a bit for the Trio. Warren has conned Jonathan into doing something magic-related for him (one of Jonathan's special talents, see "Superstar", (Season 4, Episode 17) and "Life Serial" (Season 6, Episode 5)), and Jonathan grudgingly does. Jonathan makes a reference to dead ex-girlfriends, and Warren, clearly pissed off, reassures Jonathan that the work they are doing will help them to get anything they want. However, Warren and Andrew have a discussion that shows Jonathan is just the patsy in Warren's master plan. One thing Andrew says during the discussion is that he feels sorry for Jonathan, and Warren snaps at him, "That's a weakness." Andrew is a bit confused by that, but to Warren, feeling sorry for someone just hinders one's attempts to gain power. Later in the episode, the boys catch Spike and Anya on their camera that they've hidden in the Magic Box, the Sunnydale magic shop that Giles owns ("The Real Me," Season 5, Episode 2). Andrew makes an appreciative comment about Spike, something else that Warren can file away into his brain to use in his manipulations of Andrew.
In "Seeing Red," Episode 19 of Season 6, we finally learn what the Trio have been planning all season. The first time we see the boys, Andrew is being advanced upon by a large and vicious Nezzla'khan demon. Warren then attacks the demon with a cattle prod, and his subsequent statement of "These things are a tougher than I thought. One jolt from this should have dropped an elephant," makes it likely that he was the one who convinced Andrew to be the sacrificial geek. Later, Andrew advances on an electrical-looking barrier, about to touch it, when Warren pulls him back, telling him that it will fry anything that's not a demon. While he's saved Andrew from a crispy fate, he has no qualms about disposing of Jonathan, who comes up wearing the fresh skin of the demon and then is tossed through the barrier by Warren, who "wasn't sure if that was gonna work." Warren and Andrew then discuss how after tonight, they'll be rid of Jonathan, if all goes according to Warren's plan. Jonathan arrives, carrying a box containing the Orbs of Nezzla'khan, which infuse the possessor with strength and invulnerability. Warren activates them and tests their power by brutally killing one of the demons.
Since his first appearance, Warren's never been shown to be the most masculine and confident of guys. He feels inferior ("I Was Made To Love You," Season 5, Episode 15) he sends others to do his dirty work ("Life Serial," Season 6, Episode 5) and he has issues with strong women ("Dead Things," Season 6, Episode 13). It is for these reasons that the Orbs of Nezzla'khan prove to be more than dangerous for him. The Orbs represent power, strength, and in an anvil of symbolism, virility. By using the Orbs, Warren becomes A Man (albeit a sleazy and arrogant one). He approaches women in a bar, much like he did with Katrina previously; this time, instead of cowering; he tosses out sleazy pick up lines and beats up the bullies who tormented him in high school. He even belittles Xander, who is in a state of turmoil after witnessing Anya and Spike having sex in the Magic Shop; "You think maybe you could put in a word for me with that Anya chick? 'Cause if she's taking it from a vamp, I think I might have a chance."
Although Xander is smarting from Warren's words, he faces Warren's Orb-fueled punches and fires back with a crack about Warren not being able to get a girl. This stings Warren to the quick, because he's always been sensitive about that issue: "I felt like I deserved to have someone. You know, I mean, everyone deserves to have someone" ("I Was Made to Love You," Season 5, Episode 15). Warren's inferiority complex will eventually prove to be his downfall, in that he attacks Buffy after she strips him of his power, leaving him humiliated and wanting to feel like the big man again. His actions eventually lead to his death at the hands of Willow.
Warren is about to attack Xander when he's stopped by Jonathan, who reminds him about "the thing" that they had planned. As the boys leave, Andrew wonders what will happen if Buffy comes after them, but Warren isn't worried.
"The thing" that Warren had planned was an armored car robbery. As Warren uses his ill-gotten strength to steal the money, Andrew and Jonathan stand by; and Andrew mentions wanting to "get his hands on [Warren's] orbs." As the Orbs are a thinly veiled masculinity reference, we can make an educated guess about how and why it is that Andrew switched his loyalty from Jonathan to Warren. Buffy, on a tip from Willow and Tara, appears at the scene of the crime ready to confront Warren, and they begin to fight.
Warren had always had a difficult relationship with Buffy. While Warren was ultimately to blame for what happened between himself and Katrina, in his mind, Buffy is the catalyst. Buffy saved Katrina, but, to Warren, her interference with his April Robot caused him to lose his girlfriend and eventually kill her. Not to mention that when Buffy shows up to stop the robbery, she has a few choice and cutting insults for Warren that doubly piss him off, "You really got a problem with strong women, don't you?" All of Warren's actions towards Buffy have been aimed at taking away her power (and thereby increasing his own, in his mind), from sending the M'Fashnik demon after her ("Flooded," Season 6, Episode 4) to shaking up her mental stability with the Trio's trials ("Life Serial," Season 6, Episode 5) to trying to accelerate her death via his invisibility ray ("Gone," Season 6, Episode 11). Now, with his added strength from his stolen Orbs, he feels no need to cower from her as he had done in the past ("Life Serial," Season 6, Episode 5). In fact, when Buffy shows up to stop him from the robbery, he acknowledges her presence with "I was wondering when Super Bitch would show up." Buffy correctly states his problem when she counters with the aforementioned, "You really got a problem with strong women, don't you?" Warren shrugs off her comments.
Warren advances on a bruised Buffy, aided by cheers from Andrew, "Kill her! Kill her!" and Buffy lets on that she knows he murdered Katrina. Warren nonchalantly admits that he did, and taunts that he's the one that's going to beat the Slayer. "I'm the guy that beat you. And it's not the muscles, baby. It's the brains." Buffy starts in with one of her trademark quips, but Jonathan jumps on her, to the surprise of everyone. Jonathan whispers to Buffy that the only way to defeat Warren is to sap him of his power, namely, to smash his Orbs. With that bit of innuendo, Buffy is able to stop Warren, afterwards saying that he's nothing but a sad little boy who needs to grow up and pay for what he's done. Warren is undaunted, and reveals a jetpack strapped around his waist (a nice bit of continuity from "Flooded," Season 6, Episode 4). He takes off and Andrew whips off his jacket, displaying that he too has a jetpack. He motions to follow Warren, but smashes into an overhang and is carted off to jail with Jonathan. Warren's true plans are finally revealed as Jonathan and Andrew are led into the prison.
JONATHAN: Jet packs. You jerks were setting me up to take the fall.
ANDREW: He left me. He flew away and left me!
JONATHAN: Oh god. The Big House.
ANDREW: How could he do this to me? He promised we'd be together. He was just using me. He never really loved… hanging out with us.
This shows Warren's ruthlessness, how he not only used Jonathan, but Andrew as well. From Andrew's words in this and other episodes, we can piece together the relationship Warren created with Andrew in order to fulfill his own goals. But while Jonathan and Andrew are cooling their heels in jail, Warren has thought of another way to get rid of Buffy. He storms into her backyard with a gun, and shoots her in the chest. He runs away, firing threatening warning shots into the air, and one bullet zooms through Buffy's upstairs window and shoots Tara right in the heart. She collapses into Willow's arms, and the look on Willow's face lets on that there will be no fairytale ending for the trigger-happy Warren.
Warren, on the other hand, is well convinced of his victory, as his first scene in "Villains" (Season 6, Episode 20) shows us. Warren's in a demon bar, bragging about how he took out the Slayer with a common gun: "Don't underestimate science, my friend. Good old fashioned metal meets propulsion." The demons start laughing, and Warren thinks they're laughing with him rather than at him. He is soon set straight: "Metal meets propulsion, yeah. But you still better be a good shot." The demons tell him that he's screwed, because Slayers heal fast and she's going to be coming after him. Warren seeks assistance in the form of Rack, a dark magic dealer first introduced in "Wrecked" (Season 6, Episode 10). Warren demands that Rack supply him with things to protect him from Buffy, but Rack warns him that "if I were you, I'd worry about the witch." Warren has no idea what he's talking about, and Rack says that he feels death:
"Somebody's stone cold. And that is why the witch wants your head. She can sense your essence right now, man. It's just a matter of time before she finds you."
Warren throws money at Rack, buying spells and trinkets to both hide from and fight Willow.
Meanwhile, Willow, insane with grief and fury over Tara, has soaked up dark magic from all the books in the magic shop. She goes to the hospital and Xander watches as she heals Buffy, levitating the bullet out of her chest. The three then go on the hunt for Warren, driving through the desert. Willow, sensing Warren, stops the car with a wave of her hand and attacks him as he gets off a bus, but is turns out that this Warren was a robot imbued with his essence. Willow then says that when she finds Warren, she's going to kill him, despite the pleas from her best friends to do otherwise. The next time Willow appears, she is walking through the woods, sensing that Warren is nearby, which is confirmed when he ambushes her with an axe to the back. Willow is unaffected, and Warren, fearing for his life, runs from her, throwing out spells to slow her down. Warren runs to the middle of a clearing, where Willow is waiting for him. He tries to appeal to her, "it was an accident, you know," but Willow is having none of it. She strings him up between two trees, and even faced with the certainty of imminent demise, Warren can't stop his hate-filled ramblings: "I'm gonna walk away from this - and when I do, you're gonna beg to go join your little girlfriend." Willow realizes that Warren has killed before, and uses her magic to summon a spiritual manifestation of Katrina to the clearing:
KATRINA: I should have strangled you in your sleep back when we shared a bed. I should have done the world a favor.
WARREN: It's a trick.
KATRINA: Why, Warren? You could have just let me go...
WARREN: You shut up! Make it go away-
KATRINA: It didn't have to be like that-
WARREN: I'm not kidding!
KATRINA: How could you say you loved me, and do that to me?
WARREN: Because you deserved it, bitch!
This exchange further proves Warren's inability to deal with strong women. He hated Katrina for leaving him, hated her for not being what he wanted her to be, hated her… for not being the perfect love-stricken robot he claimed he didn't want. Willow realizes this, taunting Warren with the fact that he was after Buffy because of her power. Willow then gets down to business, threatening Warren with the bullet she took out of Buffy. She sews his mouth shut, slowly driving the bullet into his chest, explaining how she's killing him. After Willow rips out the stitches in Warren's mouth in order to hear his cries of mercy, Warren begs and pleads through his pain:
"Please, God... I did wrong, I see that now. I need... jail! But you - you don't want this. You're not a bad person. Not like me - When you get caught - you'll lose them too. Your friends. You don't want that. I know you're in pain, but-"
But Willow has had enough. With a "Bored now," she skins him and sets him on fire, and Warren is no more.
Warren's influence does not end there. He is used in Season 7 as a form of the First Evil to coerce Andrew into killing Jonathan, ("Conversations With Dead People," Season 7, Episode 7) and appears as a result of a spell used to make Willow suffer with a physical manifestation of her guilt ("The Killer In Me," Season 7, Episode 13). He could potentially be seen as one of the most evil villains on the show, due to the fact that in a canon full of the supernatural, he storms in and uses a gun to try to take Buffy out.
And now, the million-dollar question. How can I possibly like someone so horrible, so disgusting, so evil as Warren? Why, he's not even conventionally good-looking! Well, Warren's not just pure woman-hating evil. He's a geek. If he hadn't become a murderer, he'd be sitting in front of the computer writing essays for idol_reflection. He's smart and he's capable, originally a lonely guy who just wanted someone to love him. However, the choices he made to achieve his goals leave everything to be desired. And what if the show had been able to get Tucker for the third villain? Would Warren instead be the loyal sidekick cheering on his main man? Would he have been the one going through everything Andrew went through in Season 7? Warren's a complex individual, a man capable of many choices; ultimately choosing what was easy over what was right. It's both frightening and tragic, but always compelling. And that's why Warren is not only an effective villain, but a character worth giving a second glance.
Resources Used
- BtVS Episode Guides and Transcripts
- Buffyverse Dialogue Database
- Warren Mears@Answers.com
- Andrew Wells@Answers.com
More Warren-Related Offerings
- Warren at the BtVS Writers' Guild
- Katrina Silber: Beaten, Never Broken - Katrina essay at idol_reflection
- Behind the Camera: The Story of Andrew Wells - Andrew essay at idol_reflection
- Part of Your Plan - Warren/Andrew essay at ship_manifesto
Author: Fab (fabricatedvoice@yahoo.com)
Spoilers: Seasons 5-7 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Personal Website: Spinning-in-Infinity.com
Thanks to Maddie for her excellent beta work and for offering her interpretation of Warren in ways I hadn't considered before.
It's very difficult to get people to care about a character who's been dead for over five years on a show that's been gone for almost as long. Take into account the fact that the character in question is almost universally reviled, and you don't necessarily have the best basis for a persuasive argument as to why this character deserves your attention. Yet, there is something about a character so driven by his own impotent rage that seems to warrant an explanation for his madness. And that's where Warren comes into the picture.
Warren Mears (or Meers, if you prefer) was introduced in episode 5.15 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (I Was Made to Love You). It's not one of the episodes the series is most remembered for; in fact, its real purpose seemed to be to provide a lead-in to "The Body," Episode 16 of Season 5, in which Joyce dies. But within the episode there lies foreshadowing for most of Season 6's subplot, the Nerdy Trio's attempt to take over Sunnydale, as well as Warren's eventual downfall.
In "I Was Made to Love You," Warren is introduced as a guy who has brought his girlfriend Katrina home to Sunnydale for their Spring Break from the local technical college. However, Warren has a hobby of building robots. Well, robot, really. Her name is April and she's programmed to be his girlfriend, since Warren is socially deficient and did not have a girlfriend, presumably until Katrina. However, Warren's idea of a girlfriend leaves something to be desired, as shown when he and Buffy are looking for April, who is out to get revenge on those whom she thinks are stealing her man:
WARREN: If the batteries are still working and she hears my voice, then ... she'll answer.
BUFFY: She's voice-activated?
WARREN: Well, I made it so that if she heard me and she didn't answer, it causes this kind of feedback.
BUFFY: Wait, if you call her and she doesn't answer, it hurts her? You're one creepy little dweeb, Warren.
Though Warren says he loves Katrina because she was independent and sarcastic, and not at all like April, it is important to note that (initially) his "perfect girlfriend" really had no other purpose in life but to please him. In Season 6's "Dead Things," Warren, still sore from this episode, attempts to turn Katrina into his perfect subservient girlfriend using a magical device he's created, but things turn out very badly for him. At the end of the episode, Buffy saves the day, April's batteries run out, and Katrina dumps Warren. And everyone is happy! Except Warren.
Cut to Season 6. Evil has a new name. And that name is "dorky." Warren teams up with Jonathan, who was first introduced in Episode 4 of Season 2, "Inca Mummy Girl," and then appearing in several episodes after that, including Season 4's "Superstar" (Episode 17) and a new face, Andrew, in order to take over Sunnydale. It is interesting to point out here that Andrew was not the first choice for the third villain (what this has to do with Warren will be answered in a minute). The first choice was actually Tucker, another onetime baddie who appeared in Season 3's "The Prom," (Episode 20) letting loose hellhounds on Sunnydale's Senior Prom:
"Andrew was actually created at the last minute by the show's writers, as a replacement for Tucker Wells. Originally, the writers wanted Brad Kane to reprise the character who would be the leader of the "Trio" with Jonathan and Warren as his flunkies, but the two sides failed to come to an agreement regarding a contract, resulting in Tom Lenk being cast as Tucker's younger brother." (Andrew Wells@Answers.com)
What does this have to do with Warren? Well, the dynamic in the Trio is as such that Warren is the head honcho, the main evil, but what would have happened if it had been Tucker in charge? Would we have a closeted-infatuated-with-Spike Warren running around the Buffy Season 8 comics, acting like a Watcher? (NB: I love Andrew, but let's play to the simplistic view of him to give you a nice "What if?" scenario) It's hard to comprehend, especially since Warren's domineering tendencies and emotional issues make him the perfect Master Manipulator. This is shown in the Trio's first appearance in "Flooded" (Season 6, Episode 4). In it, the boys rob a bank using an M'Fashnik demon as their muscle. The trouble begins when the demon demands his promised payment, "the head of the Slayer." Naturally, the boys can't deliver that, and they have a pow-wow to discuss what to do about their problem. Warren votes for killing Buffy, but Andrew and Jonathan reject that idea due to the fact that Buffy's saved Jonathan a lot, "plus she's hot." Warren grudgingly agrees, and volunteers to get rid of the demon. Now, just last season we saw Warren nearly wet himself when faced with the prospect of a Spike demanding a custom Buffy robot ("I Was Made to Love You," Season 5, Episode 15, and "Intervention," Season 5, Episode 17). This new Warren strides right up to the demon, and in his first show of defiance to his so-called friends, provides the demon with Buffy's information so that he can "make it so." This is our first clue that perhaps despite the absurdity of these "super villains," Warren will do whatever it takes to achieve his own goals.
"Life Serial," Episode 5 of Season 6, consists of the Trio devising ways to torment Buffy in order to find weaknesses to exploit. Though Warren realizes that the Slayer could "pummel [him] into a sludgy substance," he refers to their collective torment as a game, and the three even go so far as to score points off Buffy's misery. We can also see the group dynamic in the Trio forming, with Warren and Jonathan already at odds. Warren never calls Jonathan by his name, and becomes irritated easily by him. However, though Warren and Jonathan butt heads, they both seem to still be friendly towards each other, both expressing their irritation over Andrew's insistence on decking out their mystery machine with the latest in Star Wars crap (a Death Star painted on the side of the van, a car horn playing the Star Wars theme). Warren's manipulations of Andrew don't appear to have started yet, as they seem to be on friendly and relatively equal terms. But there are still signs of danger lurking beneath the surface in the way Warren gets so eager over their new knowledge about Buffy. As he says, "it's not over."
The Trio next appear in a short sequence in Episode 9, "Smashed." In it, they are stealing a diamond from the local museum, for some nefarious purpose as yet unknown to us. Warren again shows his careless cruelty when Jonathan uses the Trio's experimental freeze ray on Rusty, the museum security guard. Warren taunts Jonathan about his now-frozen arm due to the temperamental nature of the freeze ray ("Be a bigger wuss") and expresses his lack of care about Rusty when Andrew questions him ("He'll defrost in a couple of days; no harm, no foul"). Warren then uses the diamond to once again berate Jonathan about his lack of height and manliness ("As it turns out, size does matter").
This all changes when Spike shows up at Warren's house, demanding that Warren inspect the chip in his head. Warren believes he's the alpha dork, but he quavers in the face of Spike. This is a very telling aspect of Warren's character. He bullies those who he feels to be lesser than him (Jonathan and Andrew), but he cowers and flubs his way through encounters with people he knows are stronger than him (Spike, women).
The next episode the boys are in, "Gone" (Season 6, Episode 11), shows just how ruthless Warren is becoming in his quest for domination. He uses the diamond the Trio procured in "Smashed" to make an invisibility ray, and the three accidentally shoot Buffy with it. Well, the boys then discover that the things that they have made invisible lose their molecular structure and disintegrate. Warren has no problem letting Buffy share a similar fate, but Jonathan and Andrew agree that they should re-visible Buffy. As he did in "Flooded," Warren once again grudgingly agrees. Willow, investigating Buffy's invisibility, comes upon the Trio's lair in Warren's basement, and a now-invisible Trio capture her to lure out Buffy. When all of them are in the same room, Invisi-Warren promises to make her visible again, but Willow sees on the ray that he's planning to speed up the disintegration process. Jonathan and Andrew turn against Warren and all three are discovered by Buffy. They escape in order to think of a new Cunning Plan, and for the moment, the day is saved.
The next episode the Trio appear in is the turning point in Warren's character. Up until this point, Warren's issues with women and his obsession with control had been hinted at, but they come out in full force in "Dead Things" (Season 6, Episode 13). The Trio has created what they term a "cerebral dampener," which, when activated, "can make any woman we desire our willing sex slave." In less disgusting terms, it gives the activator the power to control the mind of the person they've targeted. Warren says he knows where to start, and he is then shown at a ritzy piano bar, his target chosen. He sidles up to the woman, and it turns out to be his ex-girlfriend Katrina ("I Was Made to Love You," Season 5, Episode 15). Needless to say, she is not pleased to see him:
KATRINA: What the hell are you doing here?
WARREN: It's nice to see you again too, Katrina.
KATRINA: Yeah, it's the seeing you part that's throwing me here, Warren, because I thought I was pretty clear with the never wanting that to happen again.
WARREN: Never's a long time, baby.
KATRINA: Apparently not long enough.
WARREN: Oh, you're not still sore about that thing, are you?
KATRINA: What thing would that be exactly? What, the wind-up slut you tinkered together? Or when Little Miss Nuts and Bolts tried to choke me to death?
WARREN: Okay, so I've made a few mistakes.
KATRINA: No. No, I did. For ever lowering myself to be with a jerk like you.
I think it's important to note here how Warren talks to Katrina compared with the language he uses in "I Was Made to Love You." While he's never been considerate to her, he's never been so sleazy before. What once was "Katrina, please be quiet, okay, this is important" has become "Never's a long time, baby." Warren has had a taste of success post-Katrina (the bank robbery, the testing of Buffy, the invention of both a freeze and an invisibility ray), and now, with his mind-control device, he's become overly confident to the point of smugly superior.
Warren is unable to communicate with women. He either deals with them in a sleazy manner when he believes he has the upper hand ("Seeing Red") or he runs away from them when he knows he's cornered ("Gone," "I Was Made to Love You"). He has no idea how to relate to a woman he really cares for, instead falling back on his habit of creating the perfect woman ("I Was Made to Love You"). After Katrina tells Warren that she wants nothing to do with him, he pleads "I just thought we could talk. I thought maybe we could work things out," but Katrina holds her ground. It is then when Warren uses the dampener on her, but what if Katrina had offered to listen to what he had to say? Would Warren have explained to her his feelings of loneliness that prompted him to create a robot girlfriend? Would he have shared with her all the reason he fell in love with her, from her sarcastic attitude to her penchant for model trains? And would he still have used the dampener on her, or was that Warren's "Plan B"? It's questions like these that make me see Warren as more than just the ultimate in evil humans.
However, Warren does use the dampener on Katrina and attempts to engage in sexual relations with her. Katrina comes out of her trance just in time, and she turns on Warren. She attacks all three boys, revealing that not only is she Warren's ex-girlfriend, but that "this is not some fantasy, it's not a game, you freaks! It's rape!" Jonathan and Andrew are horrified, but they obey Warren's orders to prevent her from escaping. Warren smashes the back of her skull with a champagne bottle, and she crumples on the stairs, dead. The fun and games has ended. The Trio (Warren, really, with Jonathan and Andrew as accessories) has now committed murder. Andrew is inconsolable, Jonathan is freaking out, and Warren? Well, Warren is trying to figure out a way to save his own ass. Jonathan suggests they turn themselves in to the police, but Warren is having none of it.
It is here where Warren's truly evil nature starts to bubble to the surface:
"We have two problems; the body and the Slayer. Well, what if there was a way that we could take care of them both ... with one big stone."
Warren has Andrew summon a Rwasundi demon, which, according to Anya later in the episode, "causes a sort of localized temporal disturbance. Being exposed to the Rwasundi for more than a few seconds can cause vivid hallucinations." Buffy, who had decided to turn herself into the police after thinking she killed "a girl," discovers that the body is Katrina's, and connects her with Warren. Which is what Jonathan told Warren would happen: "There's a link. You knew her, so there's a link. You don't think Buffy'll be able to put that together? That's what she does, she'll figure it out!"
The end of the episode is a terrifying look into the current mindset of the Trio. Fearless Leader Warren has no remorse about what has happened, and his mindset has affected Andrew, who is rapidly becoming infatuated with Warren's power. The way the three boys react to the fact that they have committed murder will set the tone for the rest of the season:
WARREN: We're gonna get away with it. "Injuries consistent with a fall." The coroner's ruling it a suicide.
JONATHAN: What about Buffy?
WARREN: Well, it wasn't that hard messing her game up. If she figures it out ... we'll take care of her.
ANDREW: We really got away with murder. That's ... kinda cool.
JONATHAN: (weakly) Yeah. Cool.
The balance of power has shifted from Warren versus Jonathan and Andrew to Warren and Andrew versus Jonathan. Warren already had a lot of power in the Trio by virtue of being the leader, but with Andrew in his corner, Jonathan didn't have much of a say, if any, for the rest of the season. Warren then used this shift in power to his advantage, something that is hinted at in the next couple of episodes.
The next couple of episodes show the shift in the dynamic of the group. In "Normal Again" (Season 6, Episode 17) Andrew has summoned a demon to make Buffy believe she is living in an alternate universe. In this episode, we learn that the Trio has gone into hiding. Jonathan is a wreck, but Warren seems unaffected by the events of the recent past. Andrew, who had been chanting "Oh God, oh God," when they killed Katrina no longer shows any emotional reaction related to her death.
As an aside, Katrina's death served its Machiavellian purpose for Warren, who was able to finally convince Andrew that he had the power to succeed in their quest. If we look at previous episodes, Warren had always been friendly to Andrew. He always called him "Andrew," not "Sparky" or "Spanky" or "Frodo," as he did to Jonathan. Warren would make fun of Andrew, but his taunts were not as mean-spirited and cutting as the ones he made to Jonathan ("two guys and a mime" ("Smashed") as opposed to "short and insane" ("Life Serial")). Perhaps this was because Jonathan is, at heart, a good guy, and Warren was suspicious of that. Warren might have seen that Jonathan was not as into the whole super villain idea as he had initially been, due to his disturbed and guilt-ridden reaction to Katrina's death. While Warren might have always seen Andrew as more malleable, due to the fact that he's a follower (something Andrew readily admits in "Two to Go," Season 6, Episode 21), the realization that Jonathan was more likely to desert them made Warren more certain that he had to get Andrew in his corner.
In "Normal Again," Warren and Andrew return to their new hiding place with boxes of stuff, and a suspicious Jonathan confronts them, demanding to know what they were doing. Warren, knowing that the best defense is a good offense, counters with "Well, what do you think, Spanky, you think we're plotting against you?" And Jonathan lets it go for a minute, and Warren thinks he's won. But when Jonathan gets up to go out on his own, Warren placates him by reassuring Jonathan that "it's just not safe out there. Alone. You saw how close the Slayer got. Look, we're a team. Something happens to you, it happens to all of us, right? Look, I know you're antsy, we all are, but you see things, they're about to pick up, big time. You just gotta be careful right now, alright? Stick together, 'kay?" And, as we've learned by now, Warren will do or say anything to get people to stick with him until he has no more use for them, just like Katrina.
And so we move on to "Entropy," Episode 18. Here is where things start to pick up a bit for the Trio. Warren has conned Jonathan into doing something magic-related for him (one of Jonathan's special talents, see "Superstar", (Season 4, Episode 17) and "Life Serial" (Season 6, Episode 5)), and Jonathan grudgingly does. Jonathan makes a reference to dead ex-girlfriends, and Warren, clearly pissed off, reassures Jonathan that the work they are doing will help them to get anything they want. However, Warren and Andrew have a discussion that shows Jonathan is just the patsy in Warren's master plan. One thing Andrew says during the discussion is that he feels sorry for Jonathan, and Warren snaps at him, "That's a weakness." Andrew is a bit confused by that, but to Warren, feeling sorry for someone just hinders one's attempts to gain power. Later in the episode, the boys catch Spike and Anya on their camera that they've hidden in the Magic Box, the Sunnydale magic shop that Giles owns ("The Real Me," Season 5, Episode 2). Andrew makes an appreciative comment about Spike, something else that Warren can file away into his brain to use in his manipulations of Andrew.
In "Seeing Red," Episode 19 of Season 6, we finally learn what the Trio have been planning all season. The first time we see the boys, Andrew is being advanced upon by a large and vicious Nezzla'khan demon. Warren then attacks the demon with a cattle prod, and his subsequent statement of "These things are a tougher than I thought. One jolt from this should have dropped an elephant," makes it likely that he was the one who convinced Andrew to be the sacrificial geek. Later, Andrew advances on an electrical-looking barrier, about to touch it, when Warren pulls him back, telling him that it will fry anything that's not a demon. While he's saved Andrew from a crispy fate, he has no qualms about disposing of Jonathan, who comes up wearing the fresh skin of the demon and then is tossed through the barrier by Warren, who "wasn't sure if that was gonna work." Warren and Andrew then discuss how after tonight, they'll be rid of Jonathan, if all goes according to Warren's plan. Jonathan arrives, carrying a box containing the Orbs of Nezzla'khan, which infuse the possessor with strength and invulnerability. Warren activates them and tests their power by brutally killing one of the demons.
Since his first appearance, Warren's never been shown to be the most masculine and confident of guys. He feels inferior ("I Was Made To Love You," Season 5, Episode 15) he sends others to do his dirty work ("Life Serial," Season 6, Episode 5) and he has issues with strong women ("Dead Things," Season 6, Episode 13). It is for these reasons that the Orbs of Nezzla'khan prove to be more than dangerous for him. The Orbs represent power, strength, and in an anvil of symbolism, virility. By using the Orbs, Warren becomes A Man (albeit a sleazy and arrogant one). He approaches women in a bar, much like he did with Katrina previously; this time, instead of cowering; he tosses out sleazy pick up lines and beats up the bullies who tormented him in high school. He even belittles Xander, who is in a state of turmoil after witnessing Anya and Spike having sex in the Magic Shop; "You think maybe you could put in a word for me with that Anya chick? 'Cause if she's taking it from a vamp, I think I might have a chance."
Although Xander is smarting from Warren's words, he faces Warren's Orb-fueled punches and fires back with a crack about Warren not being able to get a girl. This stings Warren to the quick, because he's always been sensitive about that issue: "I felt like I deserved to have someone. You know, I mean, everyone deserves to have someone" ("I Was Made to Love You," Season 5, Episode 15). Warren's inferiority complex will eventually prove to be his downfall, in that he attacks Buffy after she strips him of his power, leaving him humiliated and wanting to feel like the big man again. His actions eventually lead to his death at the hands of Willow.
Warren is about to attack Xander when he's stopped by Jonathan, who reminds him about "the thing" that they had planned. As the boys leave, Andrew wonders what will happen if Buffy comes after them, but Warren isn't worried.
"The thing" that Warren had planned was an armored car robbery. As Warren uses his ill-gotten strength to steal the money, Andrew and Jonathan stand by; and Andrew mentions wanting to "get his hands on [Warren's] orbs." As the Orbs are a thinly veiled masculinity reference, we can make an educated guess about how and why it is that Andrew switched his loyalty from Jonathan to Warren. Buffy, on a tip from Willow and Tara, appears at the scene of the crime ready to confront Warren, and they begin to fight.
Warren had always had a difficult relationship with Buffy. While Warren was ultimately to blame for what happened between himself and Katrina, in his mind, Buffy is the catalyst. Buffy saved Katrina, but, to Warren, her interference with his April Robot caused him to lose his girlfriend and eventually kill her. Not to mention that when Buffy shows up to stop the robbery, she has a few choice and cutting insults for Warren that doubly piss him off, "You really got a problem with strong women, don't you?" All of Warren's actions towards Buffy have been aimed at taking away her power (and thereby increasing his own, in his mind), from sending the M'Fashnik demon after her ("Flooded," Season 6, Episode 4) to shaking up her mental stability with the Trio's trials ("Life Serial," Season 6, Episode 5) to trying to accelerate her death via his invisibility ray ("Gone," Season 6, Episode 11). Now, with his added strength from his stolen Orbs, he feels no need to cower from her as he had done in the past ("Life Serial," Season 6, Episode 5). In fact, when Buffy shows up to stop him from the robbery, he acknowledges her presence with "I was wondering when Super Bitch would show up." Buffy correctly states his problem when she counters with the aforementioned, "You really got a problem with strong women, don't you?" Warren shrugs off her comments.
Warren advances on a bruised Buffy, aided by cheers from Andrew, "Kill her! Kill her!" and Buffy lets on that she knows he murdered Katrina. Warren nonchalantly admits that he did, and taunts that he's the one that's going to beat the Slayer. "I'm the guy that beat you. And it's not the muscles, baby. It's the brains." Buffy starts in with one of her trademark quips, but Jonathan jumps on her, to the surprise of everyone. Jonathan whispers to Buffy that the only way to defeat Warren is to sap him of his power, namely, to smash his Orbs. With that bit of innuendo, Buffy is able to stop Warren, afterwards saying that he's nothing but a sad little boy who needs to grow up and pay for what he's done. Warren is undaunted, and reveals a jetpack strapped around his waist (a nice bit of continuity from "Flooded," Season 6, Episode 4). He takes off and Andrew whips off his jacket, displaying that he too has a jetpack. He motions to follow Warren, but smashes into an overhang and is carted off to jail with Jonathan. Warren's true plans are finally revealed as Jonathan and Andrew are led into the prison.
JONATHAN: Jet packs. You jerks were setting me up to take the fall.
ANDREW: He left me. He flew away and left me!
JONATHAN: Oh god. The Big House.
ANDREW: How could he do this to me? He promised we'd be together. He was just using me. He never really loved… hanging out with us.
This shows Warren's ruthlessness, how he not only used Jonathan, but Andrew as well. From Andrew's words in this and other episodes, we can piece together the relationship Warren created with Andrew in order to fulfill his own goals. But while Jonathan and Andrew are cooling their heels in jail, Warren has thought of another way to get rid of Buffy. He storms into her backyard with a gun, and shoots her in the chest. He runs away, firing threatening warning shots into the air, and one bullet zooms through Buffy's upstairs window and shoots Tara right in the heart. She collapses into Willow's arms, and the look on Willow's face lets on that there will be no fairytale ending for the trigger-happy Warren.
Warren, on the other hand, is well convinced of his victory, as his first scene in "Villains" (Season 6, Episode 20) shows us. Warren's in a demon bar, bragging about how he took out the Slayer with a common gun: "Don't underestimate science, my friend. Good old fashioned metal meets propulsion." The demons start laughing, and Warren thinks they're laughing with him rather than at him. He is soon set straight: "Metal meets propulsion, yeah. But you still better be a good shot." The demons tell him that he's screwed, because Slayers heal fast and she's going to be coming after him. Warren seeks assistance in the form of Rack, a dark magic dealer first introduced in "Wrecked" (Season 6, Episode 10). Warren demands that Rack supply him with things to protect him from Buffy, but Rack warns him that "if I were you, I'd worry about the witch." Warren has no idea what he's talking about, and Rack says that he feels death:
"Somebody's stone cold. And that is why the witch wants your head. She can sense your essence right now, man. It's just a matter of time before she finds you."
Warren throws money at Rack, buying spells and trinkets to both hide from and fight Willow.
Meanwhile, Willow, insane with grief and fury over Tara, has soaked up dark magic from all the books in the magic shop. She goes to the hospital and Xander watches as she heals Buffy, levitating the bullet out of her chest. The three then go on the hunt for Warren, driving through the desert. Willow, sensing Warren, stops the car with a wave of her hand and attacks him as he gets off a bus, but is turns out that this Warren was a robot imbued with his essence. Willow then says that when she finds Warren, she's going to kill him, despite the pleas from her best friends to do otherwise. The next time Willow appears, she is walking through the woods, sensing that Warren is nearby, which is confirmed when he ambushes her with an axe to the back. Willow is unaffected, and Warren, fearing for his life, runs from her, throwing out spells to slow her down. Warren runs to the middle of a clearing, where Willow is waiting for him. He tries to appeal to her, "it was an accident, you know," but Willow is having none of it. She strings him up between two trees, and even faced with the certainty of imminent demise, Warren can't stop his hate-filled ramblings: "I'm gonna walk away from this - and when I do, you're gonna beg to go join your little girlfriend." Willow realizes that Warren has killed before, and uses her magic to summon a spiritual manifestation of Katrina to the clearing:
KATRINA: I should have strangled you in your sleep back when we shared a bed. I should have done the world a favor.
WARREN: It's a trick.
KATRINA: Why, Warren? You could have just let me go...
WARREN: You shut up! Make it go away-
KATRINA: It didn't have to be like that-
WARREN: I'm not kidding!
KATRINA: How could you say you loved me, and do that to me?
WARREN: Because you deserved it, bitch!
This exchange further proves Warren's inability to deal with strong women. He hated Katrina for leaving him, hated her for not being what he wanted her to be, hated her… for not being the perfect love-stricken robot he claimed he didn't want. Willow realizes this, taunting Warren with the fact that he was after Buffy because of her power. Willow then gets down to business, threatening Warren with the bullet she took out of Buffy. She sews his mouth shut, slowly driving the bullet into his chest, explaining how she's killing him. After Willow rips out the stitches in Warren's mouth in order to hear his cries of mercy, Warren begs and pleads through his pain:
"Please, God... I did wrong, I see that now. I need... jail! But you - you don't want this. You're not a bad person. Not like me - When you get caught - you'll lose them too. Your friends. You don't want that. I know you're in pain, but-"
But Willow has had enough. With a "Bored now," she skins him and sets him on fire, and Warren is no more.
Warren's influence does not end there. He is used in Season 7 as a form of the First Evil to coerce Andrew into killing Jonathan, ("Conversations With Dead People," Season 7, Episode 7) and appears as a result of a spell used to make Willow suffer with a physical manifestation of her guilt ("The Killer In Me," Season 7, Episode 13). He could potentially be seen as one of the most evil villains on the show, due to the fact that in a canon full of the supernatural, he storms in and uses a gun to try to take Buffy out.
And now, the million-dollar question. How can I possibly like someone so horrible, so disgusting, so evil as Warren? Why, he's not even conventionally good-looking! Well, Warren's not just pure woman-hating evil. He's a geek. If he hadn't become a murderer, he'd be sitting in front of the computer writing essays for idol_reflection. He's smart and he's capable, originally a lonely guy who just wanted someone to love him. However, the choices he made to achieve his goals leave everything to be desired. And what if the show had been able to get Tucker for the third villain? Would Warren instead be the loyal sidekick cheering on his main man? Would he have been the one going through everything Andrew went through in Season 7? Warren's a complex individual, a man capable of many choices; ultimately choosing what was easy over what was right. It's both frightening and tragic, but always compelling. And that's why Warren is not only an effective villain, but a character worth giving a second glance.
Resources Used
- BtVS Episode Guides and Transcripts
- Buffyverse Dialogue Database
- Warren Mears@Answers.com
- Andrew Wells@Answers.com
More Warren-Related Offerings
- Warren at the BtVS Writers' Guild
- Katrina Silber: Beaten, Never Broken - Katrina essay at idol_reflection
- Behind the Camera: The Story of Andrew Wells - Andrew essay at idol_reflection
- Part of Your Plan - Warren/Andrew essay at ship_manifesto