Dude, she's a researcher...does she really need a bigger purpose than "to see what happens?" Although I would agree that the narrative would have been enhanced by having one...but iirc, they found out sooner than expected that the actress that played Dr. Walsh couldn't be there and compressed the arc. Unless I'm crazy(SORRY MARK!) But that could be, too.(Also, that was about eleven million fandoms...or at least eleven, ago...I could have become unmoored from BTVS arcana.)

iirc, they found out sooner than expected that the actress that played Dr. Walsh couldn't be there and compressed the arc.

Yep.

That's right - I'd forgotten about that. They had that a bit of that season 4, what with Seth Green asking to go.

I think what they intended was probably more interesting. Not that I hated those eps or anything(rewatching for fanfic *right now* AIFG, although still without all of Mark's feels.) But there are places where things feel rushed sometimes(Riley, who's generally not the kind of character a latter-day hippie like me is primed to dig anyway, but they really didn't get much time to decide who he was before he had to go be something else.)

I think Adam could have been a lot more interesting of a big bad then they made him, and based on the actor's appearence in Restless it doesn't look like a lack of acting ability (unlike, say, if Adam had been played by Bailey Chase or Charlie Weber).

Not that the Mayor's or Angelus/Drusillas' motives/plans made all that much more sense, but they did their villiany with panache. But a decent plan for Adam would have made up for the (I assume) deliberate lack of style.

The Mayor's plan made a lot of sense: attaining apotheosis into an ageless colossal demon that could push around anyone he wanted. He'd just been at it so long he failed to take into account the ready availability of modern explosives.

An error in judgment that was also the Judge's undoing, as I recall.

I've been trawling the archives on cracked.com, and the lack of follow up on the sex mantis from Teacher's Pet as one of the five most maddening unresolved plotlines on TV.

I had never really given it much thought, but luckily Sunnydale is gone, so that's all good.

The Mayor's plan made a lot of sense: attaining apotheosis into an ageless colossal demon that could push around anyone he wanted. He'd just been at it so long he failed to take into account the ready availability of modern explosives.

Well, except, didn't he want to eat the world? Which he seemed to enjoy. Kill everyone and there's no more miniature golf or icies. Which he may be beyond at that point, but still. But how sanitary is devouring creatures whole when you're not immortal anymore? Since he seemed to know his own weakness once ascended. Or was it only when ascending? It's been a while.

And, DAMN, I really need a rewatch!

I don't recall anything about eating the world in his plans. Presumable he would have gone around eating lots of individual people and generally doing whatever giant serpent demons enjoy doing.

Are you mixing his plan up with what Acathla was supposed to do once Angel woke him up?

I didn't get much idea of what the mayor planned post-ascension either, but I noticed on rewatch that in his video message to Faith he seemed to envisage himself still being mayor of Sunnydale.