Jesse McNally
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 Eric Balfour as Jesse McNally |
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Jesse McNally was a fictional character on the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. He was a major character in the series premiere (broken into two episodes in reruns) and was played by Eric Balfour.
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[edit] Biography
[edit] Character information
Jesse McNally was a student of Sunnydale High and a close friend of both Willow Rosenberg and Xander Harris at the time that Buffy Summers transferred to Sunnydale High from Hemery High. He also had a crush on Cordelia Chase. While at times summoning enough confidence to talk to her, she constantly dismissed him due to his nervous "puppy attitude" around her, which caused Jesse to back off until he once again worked up the nerve to approach her again.
During a visit to The Bronze, Jesse was lured by the vampire Darla of the Order of Aurelius and taken to one of the entrances to the Order's lair in order to be offered as food for The Master. While briefly rescued, the Aurelian vamps took Jesse back from Willow and Xander and later sired him as part of a trap for The Slayer.
The newly sired Jesse went alongside Darla, Luke and other vampires to The Bronze to celebrate The Harvest, a ritual which would release the Master from his prison. Jesse, however, only had one thing in his mind: make Cordelia like him. When Jesse saw her, he took her to dance without actually asking. Somewhat mesmerized by Jesse's new attitude and look, Cordelia accepted, ignoring the danger she was in. Minutes later, when Darla tried to take Cordelia to Luke, Jesse took her away, not wanting to see her made into a sacrifice.
When Jesse disponed to sire Cordelia, Xander interrupted him. Rupert Giles had earlier warned Xander that when he saw Jesse, he wouldn't be looking at his friend but rather at the creature that killed him. In the ensuing fight, Jesse was killed by accident when someone running away from the Bronze pushed Jesse onto the stake that Xander was using to defend himself and threaten Jesse with.
[edit] Powers and abilities
Jesse possessed the common powers and weaknesses of vampires in the Buffyverse. He also showed the typical attitude of newly-sired vampires, astonished by his newfound powers and immortality.
As a vampire, Jesse was filled with self-confidence and bravado, unlike his past self who strived for Cordelia's attention. His potential to be a confident, seductive man perverted into the confidence of a stalker who was obsessed yet always in control.
[edit] Romantic Relationships
- Cordelia
- Darla
[edit] Appearances
[edit] Quotes
(After being turned into a vampire) "I feel good, Xander! I feel strong! I'm connected, man, to everything! I, I can hear the worms in the earth! . . . You're like a shadow to me now." ("The Harvest")
(To Cordelia) "Shut up!" ("The Harvest")
(To Xander) "Okay... Let's deal with this. Jesse was an excruciating loser who couldn't get a date with anyone in the sighted community! Look at me. I'm a new man!" ("The Harvest". In the DVD commentary, Joss Whedon expresses remorse for making him say excruciating loser through prosthetic vampire teeth.)
[edit] Character trivia
It is rumored that Joss Whedon planned for Jesse to return as an "avatar" or shape of the First Evil for the seventh-season episode "Conversations with Dead People" to provide a dead person for Xander to talk to, but when Eric Balfour was unavailable, the Xander act was scratched. [citation needed]This led to Xander not appearing in the episode at all, his only non-appearance throughout the series.
Joss Whedon planned to include Balfour in the opening credit sequence of the pilot, to make it even more shocking when this supposed main character was immediately killed off. There was not enough money to do this at the time, but Whedon later used the trick in the sixth season, putting Amber Benson in the credits for the first time in the episode where her character Tara was killed.
