What was the point of Andrew?

[OutForAWalk]

At first I found Andrew's addition to the cast kind of weird but then I actually grew to like him. I actually felt really sorry for him. We can blame him for being a follower or say that he's mentally ill, but when I look at him I see a kid who has always been desperate for someone to accept him and need him. It seems like most of his bad choices came out of trying to fit in or please someone else. Am I the only one who thought this?

 

[SMG14Fan]

I see a kid who has always been desperate for someone to accept him and need him. It seems like most of his bad choices came out of trying to fit in or please someone else. Am I the only one who thought this?

I thought he was desperate to fit in as well.

 

[Kurai]

He just seemed really unnecessary in Season 7. Yeah, sure, he was a nerd, which is something the male audience can relate to, but we already had Xander who fulfilled that purpose, so he was pretty unnecessary. Andrew was pretty annoying too

 

[Ethan Reigns]

I kept waiting for Andrew to come out. It was obvious that his attraction to Warren was far more than buddies and his admiration for Spike (as shown when he was watching Spike and Anya getting it on at the Magic Box) also was more romantic than asexual and he paid more attention to Spike than to Anya. But with Willow, Tara, Kennedy and Larry in the show being gay, it was getting to be a bit of an overload, so there was never a gay story arc for him.

Other than that, he shows the danger of being a follower in a world full of dubious leadership.

 

[fester75]

Hmm, am I the only one who likes Andrew?

Andrew is the best member of the Trio.

 

[Hale Caesar]

Andrew was a complete waste of time, there was no need for another comic relief charcter.

There already was a great number of characters who better fit that role, for example- Xander, who could do the whole comic relief thing in, you know, an actually funny and believable manner.

Andrews ''jokes'' weren't funny as pop culture ''joke'' references is pretty much all he did, the moment he started talking you knew it was going to be one of those lame ducks

But when you watch season 7, it's pretty clear the writers had nothing to do with Xander, they literally gave up on him. The show needed some comedic relief and Andrew became a character who filled that role and became important. And his comedy is purely objective, I like Andrew and thought he was funny

 

[JReed1985]

Do I hate Andrew?

My answer is I don't hate Andrew I prefer Jonathan. Andrew is the stereotypical nerd cowering in confrontations.
I thought it was funny when Amanda referenced the 1998 film was criminally titled Godzilla and Andrew cringed and got Xander to point out the facts to Amanda.

 

[Dazza]

Actually I wouldn't count Willow because she is a powerful witch and, for the purposes of the "helpless humans vs powerful beings" on the show, that makes her not merely human. It was strongly suggested that it was directly because of her inherent powers and her misuse/abuse of the black arts that she turned evil and thus earned her redemption path in the first place. (Sure it's sort of corny but that's what I saw). These are, you know, the kinds of problems that come up among those with greater responsibilities and extra-human power, in the 'verse.

By contrast Andrew was just a regular kid without such a direct and obvious excuse for his actions. Hence we have a reminder of the "real world" in which we don't get to blame dark magic for personality changes or evil behavior.

But he was under the thrall of a mega demon. The ultimate evil.

 

[JReed1985]

Andrew is not bad

I don't think Andrew is that bad a s acharacter, he's more of a nerd than Xander and he does provide Comic relief.
I do miss Jonathan, I was devastated when he died.

 

[Cordynharm]

But he was under the thrall of a mega demon. The ultimate evil.

EXACTLY! I'm glad someone else said it. Thank you. Also, I'm not convinced that there isn't just a bit of homophobia going on with some fans over his character. No one In particular just in general as most of his detractors are usually male.

 

[thetopher]

As I remember in 'Storyteller' Andrew wasn't under the thrall of the First. The First manipulates, lies, tells harmful truths, it can partly invade dreams. But it doesn't control minds, ever. (Does it control Willow, or Wood, or Buffy- no)
That's why Andrew kept changing his story- from self-defence, to 'mind-control' by the seal, etc.
The truth was he killed Jonathan because the First talked him into it, and he was too weak to say no. People should stop making excuses for straight up murder.

That said I don't hate Andrew per se, in Season 7. He has some funny lines, and adds some levity when it is needed. But he really should've died at the end, sacrificing himself and therefore making amends.

'cause boy do I loathe him in the comics. 😡

 

[buffffy]

Tom Lenk is pretty cool

 

[Sweet J]

EXACTLY! I'm glad someone else said it. Thank you. Also, I'm not convinced that there isn't just a bit of homophobia going on with some fans over his character. No one In particular just in general as most of his detractors are usually male.

That's conspiracy theory talk.
Secondly, Andrew, the character, is not homosexual. He's rocking with the ladies in Angel Season 5.

& even if he was a homosexual, just because someone has a certain sexual preference doesn't mean criticising them as pointless is some kind of sexual discrimination conspiracy. 😕

 

[Black Eye Guy]

I dont think it can be homophobia since Andrew couldn't actually be placed in a catagory, there is a lot of evidence, but there are a number of contradictions so I dont think anything definite.

I think if anything his geek stereotyping would be more annoying/offensive for people, he could be taken as a cliché, but I dont think he is, Joss has said Andrew was like him in the group.


I love Andrew, Anya was darker in season 7, Andrew worked really well with Anya and by himself as comic relief, I dont think Anya would have been the same type of comic relief without him.

I think Andrew also makes a great reflection of the scoobies in season 7, everything is new to him, from the side of good away, working in a group to take down bad guys he shows more excitement for it, kinda like the scoobies did in the early seasons. They are a little jaded with their lives as scoobies in season 7. I always drew a connection with how he records the slayers and tells the story of the "Vampyrs" and Willows line about them being the "slayerettes" - there's a level of nerdy amusement to it for them, which is all but gone for the core group by season 7.

 

[Robb Stark]

I think the main purpose of Andrew was simply to add another male to the cast. By the beginning of S7 Xander and Spike were the only regular guys on the show.

 

[EVIL UU]

[MENTION=12657]Cordynharm[/MENTION]

as most of his detractors are usually male.

Now that's a bold statement. Do you have anything to back it up?

Also, I'm not convinced that there isn't just a bit of homophobia going on with some fans over his character.

That's interesting because Andrew himself ( if he's indeed gay ) is a walking homophobic stereotype. If I was a gay hating rainbow munching troglodyte I'd be delighted with Andrew's portrayal as a gay man.

 

[Ethan Reigns]

In "Touched 7ABB20", Andrew acts as the voice of the Bringer, following what Buffy had said about him earlier, that he is like a mushroom that soaks up whatever flavour of evil is going around, so they can watch him to see what evil is coming down the pike. Apart from being comic relief and the biographer in "Storyteller 7ABB16", he is also the one who fails to protect Anya in the final fight.

With all of the brave people gearing up for a fight they don't expect to survive, you need one individual to voice the fears of the entire group and Andrew performs this admirably.

 

[Merrick]

To play devil's advocate I'd argue that maybe there was a good reason: to have a constant reminder that evil isn't something that exists merely within the demon community. I mean, ok, that was the idea behind the Trio in season 6. But keeping Andrew around kept that thread of an idea around. Obvious? Yeah. But I didn't mind it.

And clearly at some point the writers decided that they really liked redemption arcs. Not that Andrew achieved his in season 7, but the potential was there. Personally, it didn't move me very much but I like the idea that he goes on to play such a big role in slayer training.

Honestly what bothered me the most about Andrew was the idea that he could be living in the house with them--with Willow--in the aftermath of what happened in SR. And the vengeance that followed.

As for Tom Lenk, I think he's an excellent comedic actor. Sure his lines were cheesy as all heck and the delivery was painfully whiny and annoying. But to that end, I think that's evidence that he's doing his job well! Also from a purely comedic perspective, how brilliant is this: apparently, the line "I have swimmer's ear!" in the final fight was improvised by him. I mean come on, that was hilarious...

I agree. Though i kinda think he does achieve a small piece of redemption. This is a guy who has spent his whole time telling stories to try to detach himself from the gravity of situations, many of which he has caused. But in the end he "tells stories" to Xander 'She was incredible. She died saving my life.' His lie gives Xander a wonderful final memory of Anya. It becomes the thing he is good at. He gives her the epic death she didn't actually get. So finally, his stories do serve some good. This, in my opinion is Andrew's redemotion.

 

[nmcil12]

As I remember in 'Storyteller' Andrew wasn't under the thrall of the First. The First manipulates, lies, tells harmful truths, it can partly invade dreams. But it doesn't control minds, ever. (Does it control Willow, or Wood, or Buffy- no)
That's why Andrew kept changing his story- from self-defence, to 'mind-control' by the seal, etc.
The truth was he killed Jonathan because the First talked him into it, and he was too weak to say no. People should stop making excuses for straight up murder.

That said I don't hate Andrew per se, in Season 7. He has some funny lines, and adds some levity when it is needed. But he really should've died at the end, sacrificing himself and therefore making amends.

'cause boy do I loathe him in the comics. 😡

The entire point of Andrew is that he chose to follow Warren and become an accomplice and ultimately, he had to take full responsibility for his actions. This is one of the major themes of the entire series, although the writers very fast and loose with having any of the characters actually suffer for their actions. It's one of the strange elements of the series - that the primary characters all cause the deaths of others but never really suffer real and long term consequences. Andrew is just another case of the message/metaphor but it's a very important case because the Nerds had no excuses for going down the path of evil.

All of the characters state that when they were approached by The First, they had free will to either accept or reject what The First told them. Andrew being the weak young human and Robin being the adult human showed that people have the choice of free will.

I love the character of Andrew and I wish that the comic book had not taken him backward in his personal development.