Villain Introspective: Mayor Richard Wilkins III
Mayor Richard Wilkins: Nice, Pleasant, Nigh-Invulnerable Monster
While one expects local-level politicans to be generally good, if ineffective, there are the occasional exceptions. Richard Wilkins is one of those exceptions. He puts on a pleasant face, and indeed, that seems to be the way he actually is. He has issues with cleanliness and germs, but not to truly obsessive levels (he's not Howard Hughes, in any case). He seems equally concerned with minor municipal issues as he does with his nefarious scheme for demonic ascension. Nothing ever seems to faze him, and he always seems happy and calm.
He is also among one of the more insidious villains of the Buffyverse, turning the newly arrived Slayer Faith to his side, and keeping her loyal with a variety of gifts and niceties that she could never acquire normally, as well as acting as a sort of wholesome father figure to her (he balks at any notion of romance or sex with her, despite her occasional overtures), insisting that she be careful and not stay out late.
The Mayor uses Faith as his greatest weapon, using her to distract Buffy and the others from his plans for demonic acension (during which he would most likely destroy the entire town), and she performs very well in that capacity. She feeds him information that allows him to plan his moves well in advance, and would have undoubtedly succeded in his grand scheme were it not his connection to Faith (Buffy, having recently defeated Faith in combat, uses this to taunt him and lead him into a trap).
He is nothing if not patient. He has been around for well over one hundred years, and in fact founded Sunnydale as a feeding ground for the demons that would appear there, as well as part of a long term plan of eventually becoming a demon himself. During this time, he claims to be the descendant of the original "Richard Wilkins", due to the immortality granted to him. He apparently only ever had one romantic partnership, with a woman named Edna Mae, and seems at times to genuinely miss her, giving him some rather human qualities, something rare for a Buffy villain. He seems unfazed when things go awry, at least until Faith's near-death, which sends him into a rage that he never really displayed previously (I felt bad for him when he saw Faith in a coma, even as he tried to kill the comatose Buffy).
His eventual speech and transformation on Graduation Day is played wonderfully, as he is interrupted halfway through and calmly states his intentions. Notable about this sequence that Wilkins eats the annoying Principal Snyder first (Snyder had been berating him about ruining graduation), which undoubtedly sent up cheers from fans everywhere. His death, in a library filled with explosives, was especially fitting. The Mayor, realizing he's been lead into trap, continues his wholesome family values image with a simple "Well, gosh!" Words to live by.
In the end, how well do we really know our local-level elected representatives?
While one expects local-level politicans to be generally good, if ineffective, there are the occasional exceptions. Richard Wilkins is one of those exceptions. He puts on a pleasant face, and indeed, that seems to be the way he actually is. He has issues with cleanliness and germs, but not to truly obsessive levels (he's not Howard Hughes, in any case). He seems equally concerned with minor municipal issues as he does with his nefarious scheme for demonic ascension. Nothing ever seems to faze him, and he always seems happy and calm.
He is also among one of the more insidious villains of the Buffyverse, turning the newly arrived Slayer Faith to his side, and keeping her loyal with a variety of gifts and niceties that she could never acquire normally, as well as acting as a sort of wholesome father figure to her (he balks at any notion of romance or sex with her, despite her occasional overtures), insisting that she be careful and not stay out late.
The Mayor uses Faith as his greatest weapon, using her to distract Buffy and the others from his plans for demonic acension (during which he would most likely destroy the entire town), and she performs very well in that capacity. She feeds him information that allows him to plan his moves well in advance, and would have undoubtedly succeded in his grand scheme were it not his connection to Faith (Buffy, having recently defeated Faith in combat, uses this to taunt him and lead him into a trap).
He is nothing if not patient. He has been around for well over one hundred years, and in fact founded Sunnydale as a feeding ground for the demons that would appear there, as well as part of a long term plan of eventually becoming a demon himself. During this time, he claims to be the descendant of the original "Richard Wilkins", due to the immortality granted to him. He apparently only ever had one romantic partnership, with a woman named Edna Mae, and seems at times to genuinely miss her, giving him some rather human qualities, something rare for a Buffy villain. He seems unfazed when things go awry, at least until Faith's near-death, which sends him into a rage that he never really displayed previously (I felt bad for him when he saw Faith in a coma, even as he tried to kill the comatose Buffy).
His eventual speech and transformation on Graduation Day is played wonderfully, as he is interrupted halfway through and calmly states his intentions. Notable about this sequence that Wilkins eats the annoying Principal Snyder first (Snyder had been berating him about ruining graduation), which undoubtedly sent up cheers from fans everywhere. His death, in a library filled with explosives, was especially fitting. The Mayor, realizing he's been lead into trap, continues his wholesome family values image with a simple "Well, gosh!" Words to live by.
In the end, how well do we really know our local-level elected representatives?