The Big Picture
- Jenny Calendar’s death felt rushed in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and her storyline wasn’t given enough development, leaving her character feeling incomplete.
- The show missed an opportunity to explore the intriguing Kalderash backstory of Jenny’s character, leaving a sense of emptiness in hindsight after she is killed by Angel..
- Keeping Jenny alive would have been beneficial to the rest of the characters, particularly Willow’s journey into witchcraft and her relationship with Giles. It would have provided more depth and clarity to the show.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer introduced many characters throughout its run, some that fans loved, some that fans hated, and some who simply deserved better. Fitting in the latter category is Ms. Jenny Calendar (Robia LaMorte), the school’s computer science teacher who met a tragic end in the Season 2, Episode 17 “Passion,” at the hands of a soulless Angel (David Boreanaz). Her time on the show was limited but she made a huge impact, sparking up a sweet romance with Giles (Anthony Stewart Head) and being the catalyst that inspired Willow’s (Alyson Hannigan) journey into witchcraft. She became a beloved character by characters and fans alike, and deserved a much longer stint on the show. More than that, her storyline deserved to be more fleshed out, as so much potential was wasted by the show in killing her off so early on.
How Did Ms. Calendar Die?
In the Season 2 episodes “Surprise” and “Innocence” Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar) and Angel share a passionate night together that results in Angel losing his soul. Following this major event, it’s revealed that Jenny is a part of the Kalderash people, the very people who reinstated Angel’s soul, and was sent to Sunnydale to keep an eye on him. However, as she tells Giles, she wasn’t told what would happen and had no idea Angel could lose his soul, and if she had known she would have warned Buffy. Still, the Scooby Gang holds this against her, hurt and betrayed that she lied to them and concealed her identity.
Following the loss of Angel’s soul, Jenny works tirelessly to find a way to reinstate it again, translating lost ancient text that holds the key to the ritual needed. But on the night she makes the discovery and manages to translate the text, Angel shows up, having been warned of Jenny’s plan by Drusilla (Juliette Landau). What results is a cat-and-mouse chase that is so tense and worrisome, it’s almost hard to watch. For a time you think Jenny may just make it out, but Angel surprises her and there’s simply no hope left. He snaps her neck quickly and brutally, and as if he needs to prove just how evil he is, leaves her lifeless body in Giles’ bed, with an array of romantic clues leading him to the devastating scene.
Despite breaking her computer and printer, Angel failed to notice and destroy the disk she had saved the ritual to. It is eventually found by Willow and Buffy, and with Willow’s newfound interest in witchcraft thanks to Jenny, she attempts the ritual herself. It works, meaning Jenny’s efforts were not for nothing, but it is still a shame that she didn’t get to see such a positive outcome. In fact, it’s a shame that a lot of her storyline turned out the way it did.
Ms. Calendar Deserved Better Than ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’
As sad as Jenny’s death is, it was made worse by the fact that her storyline didn’t feel complete. That may seem obvious as her death was quite shocking and unexpected, but the entire lead-up to her death felt quite rushed and thrown together which didn’t do it many favors. There is no indication of Jenny having any sort of ties to Angel or the Kalderash people leading up to the big reveal. It was never hinted at or shown to the audience, it was just sort of sprung on us and the rest of the characters. That’s not to say it’s a bad storyline, in fact, it’s quite the opposite. It’s a fascinating storyline, as is Angel’s reverting back to his former self. The issue lies in the fact that it felt so thrown together that there was no time to process or connect to the plot. It felt like as soon as it was introduced and Jenny was getting deep into the lore of it, she was dead and there was no more to be explored. Yes, Willow performed the ritual, but it’s more than that.
If the show was always going to go down this route, then it should have planted the seeds for it much earlier on. Instead, we get a few episodes of explanation, little knowledge, and then Jenny is dead and with her any chance at more of the Kalderash lore. It’s such an intriguing backstory for her character that it’s surprising the show didn’t dig into it more. There’s hardly any development to it, and the episode that we do start to learn more is in the episode which she dies. It’s like the show kept dangling this really cool idea in front of audiences but yanked it just out of reach every time we tried to latch on. That’s not to say Jenny had to live to the end of the show (no matter how great that would have been) but a little more time with her would have been nice and would have provided a lot more clarity on a story that feels rather empty in hindsight.
But aside from that whole storyline, keeping her alive for a while longer could’ve been beneficial to not just Buffy, but to the rest of the characters as well. She clearly knows her way around the occult, as we saw in her very first episode “I, Robot… You, Jane.” She would have been a great asset to have around for future battles. And as previously mentioned Willow’s journey into witchcraft likely would’ve benefited greatly from Jenny’s guidance. Ms. Calendar described herself as a technopagan, and when she died Willow took over her computer science class, thus discovering saved sites on witchcraft and inspiring her to take it up. We did see while Jenny was alive that she and Willow had a bond, the extent of which we don’t entirely know, but could’ve found out and seen blossom had Jenny stuck around a while longer. Willow’s character journey is one of the show’s best, and it would have been really great to see her find a true mentor in Ms. Calendar for that part of her journey. And of course, there’s the relationship between her and Giles that was just starting to look up before her untimely death. And really, don’t we all just want Giles to be happy in this show? He deserves it.
Jenny Calendar’s death has long since been a done deal, and there’s nothing we can do about that, but we can think of what could have been. Ms. Calendar is a character who deserved a lot better, and her backstory was utterly wasted by the show. So maybe, just maybe, if the show had planted the seeds of her storyline a little sooner, and allowed her the chance to work through it with the rest of the Scooby Gang, fans could have gotten a little more time with her. We can dream, right?
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Khushi Patel is a science fiction author who lives in Austin, Texas. She has published three novels, and her work has been praised for its originality and imagination. Khushi is a graduate of Rice University, and she has worked as a software engineer. She is a member of the Science Fiction Writers of America, and her books have been nominated for several awards.
