The Buffyverse Character Countdown (#26)

#26.

Hero: Kate Lockley (Angel Seasons 1 - 2)

A lot of Angel fans strongly dislike Kate Lockley. On some level, I can understand the hate: Kate doesn’t exactly feel as if she fits into the main cast of Angel. If anything, she’s a character from a procedural drama about the LAPD who somehow ended up on a show about a vampire trying to get his soul back. Indeed, Angel Investigations never really needed to interact with the LAPD at all in order for the show to work; the partnerships between the members of the investigative team were enough to sustain the plot. If anything, interactions between the LAPD through Kate Lockley served to pad out episodes rather than enhance them. However, if Kate is taken for what she is, she’s certainly not a bad hero – at least not nearly so bad a hero as the rest of the Buffyverse fanbase makes her out to be.

Kate is a dedicated cop who has grown up surrounded by LAPD structure and comaraderie; she's practically the Javert of Angel, right down to the moral righteousness and the suicidal streak. Her allegiance to the force is closely linked to her desire to impress her father, himself a retiring member of the LAPD. While investigating a few supernatural cases, Kate encounters Angel and becomes attracted to the demon hunter. Unfortunately, her eventual discovery that Angel is himself a vampire puts a huge strain on their relationship, a strain that is accentuated when Angel fails to save her father from being slaughtered by a gang of drug-running vampires. For the remainder of her tenure on Angel, Kate proceeds to destroy vampires and other supernatural creatures no matter the cost, even when her quest costs her job and her relationship with Angel.

Unlike most of the other female characters within the Buffyverse, who are genuinely strong by virtue of overcoming their dramatic flaws, Kate suffers from fitting into the “strong female character” stereotype: her strength derives entirely from an unfeeling, nigh stoic approach to encounters and a penchant for violence as a solution for her problems. She’s a character who looks strong as opposed to being strong. Indeed, when the going gets tough, Kate is nearly always reliant upon Angel to cover her tracks. Granted, this does lead to one of the best, most heroic moments in Angel’s personal character arc in “Epiphany,” but it’s ultimately at the expense of most of Kate’s own characterization. Her turn against Angel Investigations after the events of “The Prodigal” is natural, and her paranoia after the loss of her father is a fascinating turn for an otherwise Wonderbread character, but, for most viewers, this character gesture is too little too late.

Yet I don’t think these reasons are sufficient for me to hate Kate in the same way I personally hate Connor and Dawn. She might not be the most interesting hero on the list, but she’s definitely an effective hero who does more good than ill throughout the series. Her assistance in episodes like “Somnambulist” should be enough to her credit to at least put her in the green. Furthermore, I do think the character development afforded to Angel through his interactions with Kate is worthwhile, even if it somewhat comes at Kate’s expense. Do I wish she’d been a more realized character? Most certainly. But, for what she’s worth, I think Kate wasn’t the worst element of Angel’s first season, contrary to most fan opinion. Elisabeth Röhm would eventually go on to play Serena Southerlyn on Law and Order - a fitting fate, given that Kate Lockley always felt as if she were a Law and Order character planted into Angel.

Villain(s): Mr. Trick/Doc (Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 3/Season 5)

I’m splitting this spot between two characters because they effectively fulfill the same function within the plots of their seasons: both are the top henchmen of their prospective Big Bads, and both are pretty much the only villains of their archetype who operate at their fullest when treated as subordinates. Rest assured, there are some higher ranked henchmen on this list, but they are henchmen who go above and beyond the call of duty to distinguish themselves as their own characters. Mr. Trick and Doc are almost entirely subservient to the Mayor and Glory, respectively, and defeating them is only a secondary goal. They’re both fun in their individual respects, but their influence pales in comparison to their masters’.

Mr. Trick is the Mayor’s flunky throughout the first half of Buffy’s third season. Originally introduced as a Monster of the Week villain hunting down Faith, Trick earned himself some memorability points by organizing Slayerfest ’98 in "Homecoming." He exudes cunning and cool in every scene he’s in; he’s a vampire who is wholly willing to use technology and networking to his advantage in order to eliminate his foes. Yet his subordination to the Mayor later in the season actually bolsters his character. Though Mr. Trick was a competent networker and organizer, he was never a particularly superb schemer; given the directives of the far more devious Mayor, Trick's talents are put to better use. Had Mr. Trick served as the Big Bad of Season 3, his cosmopolitan approach to killing humans would have gotten old rather quickly. Instead, by using Trick as a stepping stone to establish Faith’s villainous arc, the writers manage to wring all the use they can out of one of the series’ better vampiric baddies.

Doc, by contrast, actually manages to outlive his master. A seemingly unkillable demon dedicated to restoring Glory to her full villainous potential, Doc manipulates and tricks the Scooby Gang into practically gift wrapping Dawn for the demon god. He’s also got a ton of creepy powers, ultimately using them to bleed Dawn and open a portal to Hell. His sheer eeriness adds a physical dread that’s somewhat absent from Glory herself, who is more psychologically terrifying than physically disturbing. Also, he’s played by Joel Grey: definitely one of the more memorable guest roles in the series.

Mr. Trick and Doc are both a lot of fun, but they are, at the end of the day, just henchmen. Moreover, at no point do they overshadow their masters or bring out an element in their masters that was severely lacking. Thus, they’re not entirely necessary for their seasons to work or for our characters to grow. Sure, they do link to some broader political concepts – Trick, the dangers of the technological revolution, and Doc, the hidden menace of pseudo-feminist allies – but their allegories are somewhat underdeveloped. Their enjoyability is the real charm of their characters, and that only goes so far. That said, these two baddies do their jobs better than almost anyone else of their archetypes in both series.