10 Most Badass Buffy The Vampire Slayer Baddies
2. The Mayor
Joss Whedon knows how to do spectacle. He's now at the helm of one of the biggest film franchises of all time - and a big part of that, it's not hard to imagine, is due to his handling of bravura scenes like season three's finale.
Mayor Richard Wilkins is a homespun, well mannered goofy guy who likes cleanliness, newspaper comics, and sensible town leadership. He is also a demon worshipping loon who hopes to ascend into the body of a gigantic snake thing and devour the entirety of Sunnydale.
Astute TV viewers will recognise that something is up with the all-too-affable Wilkins from his debut appearance, but it would take an unnaturally savvy audience member to see this one coming. Wilkins' plan to transform himself into a near-immortal demon is built up slowly over the season, and the ramping-up of tension is performed expertly - for the first time in the series, it seems as though Buffy and co have come up against a genuinely insurmountable obstruction.
They haven't, of course, and the Mayor's ultimate downfall stems from the last remaining dregs of his humanity, as his desire to revenge the harming of his apprentice leads him right into a trap. It's madcap horror on a scale the series rarely attempted afterwards, and makes for one of the series' greatest ever finales.