Kennedy (Buffyverse)
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 Iyari Limon as Kennedy |
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Kennedy (surname unknown) is a fictional character in the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. She is played by Iyari Limon. Kennedy is also known as "Ken."
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[edit] Character history
Kennedy is one of the first three Potential Slayers to arrive in Sunnydale. She comes from a wealthy family with a summer home in the Hamptons and has at least one sibling; a half-sister. An out-of-the-closet lesbian, Kennedy has known about her sexuality since the age of five (commenting that she found out watching Gone with the Wind), and aggressively pursues a relationship with Willow — whose longtime lover, Tara, was murdered at the end of Season Six.
This state of affairs produces unexpected consequences in the episode "The Killer in Me." Eventually, Kennedy and Willow become lovers and remain so through the end of the series, acting as an anchor to keep Willow sane when doing powerful magic. Kennedy fights alongside Buffy and the other Potentials in the final battle against the First Evil's army of Turok-Han; in this battle, she becomes a fully-activated Slayer.
In Season Five of Angel, a year after the end of Buffy, mention is made that Kennedy and Willow continued to be a couple and were then living in Brazil together. Later in the show, though, it's known that Willow went to Himalayas and then to an astral plane. It's unknown whether Kennedy followed her in Asia or remained in South America.
[edit] Personality
Outspoken, confident, and never one to shy away from confrontation, Kennedy made her presence known by both aggressively pursuing her attraction to Willow, and coming to verbal blows with Buffy several times. Continually disagreeing with Buffy's choices, she played an instrumental part in the argument which ended with Buffy's brief ejection from the Summers' residence and the Scooby Gang in the episode "Empty Places." However, Kennedy later admitted her somewhat rash actions in "Chosen," unashamedly pointing out she was a "brat."
Unlike the other Potential Slayers, Kennedy successfully integrated herself into the Scooby core, often becoming involved with actions and events off guards to the other Potentials (most notably in the episode "Get It Done"). In the same episode, Kennedy is seen serving as a martial arts instructor to other Potentials, showing and enjoying a "drill sergeant" attitude, echoing Sergeant Hartman of Full Metal Jacket and Sergeant Foley of An Officer and a Gentleman: like them, she concurred in causing the suicide of the weakest of the "recruits" (in this case, Chloe). Kennedy also chose to dismiss her other responsibilities in the episode "The Killer in Me," opting to feign illness to avoid joining Vi, Rona, and several other potentials on a vision quest to converse with the spirit of the First Slayer, instead choosing to take the opportunity to further pursue her relationship with Willow.
[edit] Notes and trivia
- According to the shooting script for "Bring on the Night," Kennedy is 19, and the oldest of the Potentials to arrive at that time, though this information is never given on-screen, although Kennedy alludes to this in the episode "Showtime" when, after the First Evil, secretly operating under the guise of a deceased Potential, strikes up a conversation, detailing on how the Slayer line operates. After discussing who might be next to follow in the footsteps of Buffy and Faith, Kennedy suggests although she feels "ready," she is "starting to think she is too old" to be the next Slayer to be called.
- Kennedy witnessed her Watcher's death; he was murdered by Bringers. The fact that she knew about Watchers (as well as having some comprehension of how the Slayer line works) before being chosen indicates that she was approached by them at some point during her teenage years, like Kendra Young, although Kendra was raised by her Watcher from infancy. However, this is unlike Buffy and Faith, neither of whom learned about Watchers until after they were chosen.
- Online critic Amy Amatangelo's readers gave Kennedy the "Can We Vote Them Off the TV Island?" award for the "Most Annoying Character" in the 2002-2003 television season, narrowly beating Connor from Angel.[1] Phi-Phenomenon, a site that provides statistical analysis of online Buffyverse opinion, has demonstrated that the number of lines of Kennedy's dialogue is a statistical predictor of an episode's unpopularity, both among committed Buffy fans and among those who were disenchanted with the show.[2]
[edit] Appearances in Buffyverse
Buffy the Vampire Slayer Kennedy appeared as a supporting character in the following episodes:
Season 7
- "Bring on the Night"
- "Showtime"
- "Potential"
- "The Killer in Me" - Focused heavily on Kennedy's character
- "First Date"
- "Get It Done"
- "Storyteller"
- "Lies My Parents Told Me"
- "Dirty Girls"
- "Empty Places"
- "Touched"
- "End of Days"
- "Chosen"
[edit] References
- ^ http://tv.zap2it.com/tveditorial/tve_main/1,1002,276|81936|1|,00.html
- ^ http://www.phi-phenomenon.org/buffy/tastes/characters
