Kennedy--A character we wish we knew more?

[Chasing Cordy]

Kennedy seems to be getting the cold shoulder a lot.
She seems to take a back seat to either Oz and/or Tara.
But could it be we didn't know her enough?
From what I recall, she was on the series for about 10 episodes (or less)
Is that enough time to get to know somebody?

 

[Edmund Blackadder]

Kennedy seems to be getting the cold shoulder a lot.
She seems to take a back seat to either Oz and/or Tara.
But could it be we didn't know her enough?
From what I recall, she was on the series for about 10 episodes (or less)
Is that enough time to get to know somebody?

Your last three points answer the first two.
I think it is evident that is the case.

We had 2x 2 season loves versus a 10 episode 'fling'.

I don't see some huge debate breaking out over this thread, I'll be honest.

 

[Joyce Summers]

Kennedy annoyed me in the extreme as single girl, more so in her pursuit of Willow and even more so when she was with Willow.
I didn't like her as a character and so I wasn't going to like her with our Will. Buffy/Willow is a preference to Kenndy/Willow for crying out loud. Haha.

She was pushy, brattish and I just didn't like her. And like BotD said- the other two loves were like two seasons long so of course we're going to prefer those relationships no matter what. Plus, they seemed more right. No matter how much we could get to know Kennedy, the concept of her and Will as a couple wigs me out.

 

[Rowan Hawthorn]

I like Kennedy. She can be a little abrasive at times, but so could every other Slayer we've seen so far. Including Buffy and Faith. I'd like to know a little more about her background; she seems totally secure with herself, and a lot of the "points" people make against her are completely unfounded. For example, I've seen people on-line make the claim that she kept throwing her money up to the other Slayers-In-Training, but that's simply not supported by what was on-screen. Willow is the only person we ever saw her even mention it to, and that scene was written and played as a slip of the tongue: she was caught up in their conversation and said something she didn't really intend to, and then kept digging herself deeper into the hole while trying to dig herself out - which is why she abruptly changes the subject to Willow's "deal".

I wrote up a whole big mini-essay once on the subject, which can be found here:
The Killer In Me--thoughts - Buffy-Boards

 

[Spirit_Of_Fred]

i just had a new thought about this. you probably dont want to hear my old thoughts. its an i-don't-like-kennedy rehash.

a lot of people who like or defend kennedy say we should have had more time to get to know her. had that happened, maybe we would have liked her better. but, when i think about it now, there are sometimes characters who lasted a long time, who we like, and yet we still think had their "bad moments" or "bad seasons". for instance, many people dont like dawn until she grows up in season 7. my current speculation is that were we to have seen more about kennedy, we might like her in the "later years", but i doubt we'd come to like her as she was in season 7. that is, if we dont like her now. its true we might better understand the reasons for any of her negative actions, but (to use the same example) dawn had reasons for her actions, and some people just feel they were immature/bad reasons. thus, i think it could be possible that even if we knew more about kennedy, we'd still hate her in season 7 (if we didnt like her in season 7 originally, i mean).

 

[GATEGOD]

i just had a new thought about this. you probably dont want to hear my old thoughts. its an i-don't-like-kennedy rehash.

a lot of people who like or defend kennedy say we should have had more time to get to know her. had that happened, maybe we would have liked her better. but, when i think about it now, there are sometimes characters who lasted a long time, who we like, and yet we still think had their "bad moments" or "bad seasons". for instance, many people dont like dawn until she grows up in season 7. my current speculation is that were we to have seen more about kennedy, we might like her in the "later years", but i doubt we'd come to like her as she was in season 7. that is, if we dont like her now. its true we might better understand the reasons for any of her negative actions, but (to use the same example) dawn had reasons for her actions, and some people just feel they were immature/bad reasons. thus, i think it could be possible that even if we knew more about kennedy, we'd still hate her in season 7 (if we didnt like her in season 7 originally, i mean).

But I did like her in season 7, every point made against Kennedy I've heard don't really make much sense. There are reasons people hate her but petty reasons or one time small trivial things she did reasons..Just like a huge reason people bring up, she hurt Willow, she caused Willow pain. lol I find that hilarious. There wasn't much pain caused by Kennedy she actually alleviated Willow's pain and helped her deal with it. But if ya did hate her, most people are stubborn with their first impressions, and last for a very long time, so you'd still probably hate her. Just like my first impression of Dawn never changed... It probably should have but it hasn't.

But to the question: Kennedy--A character we wish we knew more?

Since I do like her, I wish we got to see more of her, definitely. Sadly the one book I read with Kennedy in it had her cheating on Willow :s ...

 

[Rowan Hawthorn]

Since I do like her, I wish we got to see more of her, definitely. Sadly the one book I read with Kennedy in it had her cheating on Willow :s ...

Which one was that? The only book I've seen her in (but then, I haven't read them all) is Queen of the Slayers. In general, it's a terrible book, but oddly enough, the author did well by Kennedy. Actually, IMO, she did a better job with Kennedy and Faith than any of the others.

 

[Hello Cutie]

Lets just say Kennedy was right when she says to Willow "It may have escaped your notice, but I'm kind of a brat"

Yeah she is. She's irritating, whiney, she thinks she knows it all, she doesn't back down to authority figures that know a HELL of a lot more than she does, and she's gonna wind up getting herself killed if she doesn't learn to tow the line (which is no bad thing).

[Okay, so she sounds alot like me... but I'm not fighting in an apocalypse.]

 

[Rowan Hawthorn]

My position has always been that Kennedy did nothing, and acted no differently than any of the others hadn't at some point. Yet, for some reason, the reaction to her has been so extreme that it borders on irrational at times. It's not that I don't get some people don't like the character (I don't much care for Faith, myself, who's one of the more popular characters,) I just don't get the level of hatred that she generated by showing much the same personality traits that all the other Slayers we've seen have displayed.

 

[Allycat]

I agree with Rowan Hawthorn. I think it's the fact that she came after Tara, but the reaction to Kennedy's personality has been disproportional.

I wish that the writers didn't dump characters the audience reacts negatively to. If they could just bring back characters like Eve and Kennedy for a limited run, they could redeem the characters in the eyes of the audience. They can always dump them afterwards, if they have nothing left to tell about them.

 

[Joyce Summers]

I don't know what it is that makes me dislike her. I mean even annoying characters I grow to like- I grew to like other Potentials- and I'm very rarely the type of person to blatantly go 'I hate this character! Hate! Hate! Hate!' as I like to think I'm quite reasonable but Kennedy just pushed all the wrong buttons for me.
Her very first scene I just didn't like her. I can't even explain it fully. I guess it's just like in real life though; sometimes you just come across a person that no matter how hard you try, you find impossible to like.

 

[Rowan Hawthorn]

I don't know what it is that makes me dislike her. I mean even annoying characters I grow to like- I grew to like other Potentials- and I'm very rarely the type of person to blatantly go 'I hate this character! Hate! Hate! Hate!' as I like to think I'm quite reasonable but Kennedy just pushed all the wrong buttons for me.
Her very first scene I just didn't like her. I can't even explain it fully. I guess it's just like in real life though; sometimes you just come across a person that no matter how hard you try, you find impossible to like.

I can certainly relate to that - I've had a number of people in real life that I simply take one look at them, and I don't like them. Oddly enough, I had that first knee-jerk reaction with Kennedy, too - her very first scene rubbed me the wrong way. But she grew on me pretty quickly, and we had some discussions on the BtVS newsgroup about this, which is why I sat down and worked up that little "essay" to show how my thoughts progressed.

 

[anyatara]

I think she pretty much summed herself up with the words 'I'm kinda a brat' Everytime she says that, and with the 'incase you hadn't noticed' part on the front, my first reaction is always 'Honey, we DID notice, it's kinda obvious' I don't hate her, but she DOES get on my nerves.

 

[Rowan Hawthorn]

I think she pretty much summed herself up with the words 'I'm kinda a brat' Everytime she says that, and with the 'incase you hadn't noticed' part on the front, my first reaction is always 'Honey, we DID notice, it's kinda obvious'

Um... I think that's kinda what she meant. I took her remark as acknowledgment that she's perfectly aware she's sometimes over the top. It's like Willow's comment in that same scene: "You know, Buffy - sweet girl, not that bright." I read constant kvetching on-line about "How dare Willow insult Buffy like that after the things she did in Season Six?" but where I come from, a comment like that would be recognized as a self-castigating response to Kennedy's remark that "Buffy believes in you," i.e.: Willow recognizing that "Maybe believing in me isn't a very good idea."

 

[Edmund Blackadder]

The biggest problem people have is that the writers wrote her one way and she was that way?

She was supposed to be a Brat.

Also, alot of Wiloz(or whatever) didn't like Tara for her first few episodes because she followed straight away.

Mix that with the fact Kennedy comes straight after Tara dying and Willow apparently 'moves on' its all an annoyance.

Kennedy, also, was a last minute change as the initial plan was for Tara's return but that was mooted, so the writers brought Kennedy's character to be more than she was. I personally don't like Kennedy because of ALL the above HOWEVER I would be open to her having more of a role because there were many characters I didn't particularly like at first, heck I wasn't a fan of Cordelia until Out of Mind, Out of Sight and Doyle wasn't really floating my boat until Hero.

I so desperately wanted a proper back story explored with Kennedy but we never got that.

Shame, I dislike her because she was kinda superfluous to requirements and never given anything for me to think 'hey, wait a minute'.

 

[GATEGOD]

I can somehow make out why you all hate her as much as you do but I can't help but like her character. After Tara in my opinion replaced my favorite character preAnya (Oz) I couldn't like her no matter how I tried. When she was gone and Kennedy came around I loved it. Tara was gone, Kennedy, like Tara seemed to truly care for Willow and wanted to please and make her feel good. I like Kennedy because to me, what I got from seeing her in season 7 was a kick ass warrior, who would give up her own life to save others, wanted to help, was already familiar with fighting and clearly topped the other weird potential annoyances, plus as I said her relationship with Willow I found very cute and moving. Her scene with Willow at the end of The Killer in Me is probably one of my favorite scenes of the season. But from what I'm taking from what's being said, you guys didn't like her because she was a brat? I don't know about that. Dawn was a Brat when we first saw her.. Kennedy is no comparison to that. But the other point in Willow moving on, Willow wasn't moving on, she was reluctant to move on, but she needed to move on and when she did I liked it. But again if I loved Tara I'd be pissed too that she was replaced so easily buy a character I found to be annoying.

 

[Spirit_Of_Fred]

But I did like her in season 7, every point made against Kennedy I've heard don't really make much sense. There are reasons people hate her but petty reasons or one time small trivial things she did reasons..Just like a huge reason people bring up, she hurt Willow, she caused Willow pain. lol I find that hilarious. There wasn't much pain caused by Kennedy she actually alleviated Willow's pain and helped her deal with it. But if ya did hate her, most people are stubborn with their first impressions, and last for a very long time, so you'd still probably hate her. Just like my first impression of Dawn never changed... It probably should have but it hasn't.

But to the question: Kennedy--A character we wish we knew more?

Since I do like her, I wish we got to see more of her, definitely. Sadly the one book I read with Kennedy in it had her cheating on Willow :s ...

so basically, you agree with me 🙂. sorry if it wasnt clear, but i did say that those who liked her would still like her, and you said yourself that many people's first impressions would last a long time, and maybe never change. thats basically what i was saying, with the addition that some people who grew to like her still might resent her as she was in season 7. does that make better sense?