Buffy The Vampire Slayer: 10 Most Underused Characters

There's really not much to say about Hank Summers. He turned up in first season as the distant but ultimately caring father of Buffy, who he got together with every now and again to catch up. But then he vanished from the show.

Not only did he disappear though, but he left a trail of emotional debris in his wake. Buffy was always heartbroken when he didn't come to visit, written-out as having run off with a new girlfriend or being too busy to turn up. Even when Joyce died, he didn't come to Buffy or Dawn's aid, which was just plain awful, and made little sense.

Though Giles ended up filling the parental void he left in Buffy, it would have been nice to see him a few more times, maybe with more build-up to his eventual estrangement or a reaction to his ex-wife's death.

If you really sit and think about it, Hank's character made no sense, and his lack of screen time was more of an annoyance than a compelling narrative decision.