Andrew Wells

:"For the mayor of St. John's, Newfoundland, see Andy Wells"

Infobox Buffyverse Character


Title=Andrew Wells
First=Flooded
Creator=Joss Whedon
Name=Andrew Wells
Status=Alive
Kind=Human
Affiliation=Tucker Wells
Watchers' Council
Scooby Gang
The Trio
Sunnydale High
Powers=
* Skilled demon summoner, adept with pipes and other instruments to accomplish this end.
* Watcher training grants him moderate fighting techniques and vast knowledge of demonology and the black arts.
Actor=Tom Lenk

Andrew Wells is a fictional character in the television series "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "Angel", played by Tom Lenk. The character also appears in "Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight", the canonical continuation of the series.

Character history

Andrew Wells is the younger brother of Tucker Wells, who summoned hellhounds to attack the Prom in the Season Three episode "The Prom". Andrew himself has skills in demon-summoning and animal control, although these were never used after Season Six; in the Buffy finale "Chosen" he credits his brother with having given him the courage to develop this talent. Andrew was actually created at the last minute by the show's writers, as a replacement for Tucker Wells. Originally, the writers wanted Brad Kane to reprise the character who would be the leader of the "Trio" with Jonathan Levinson and Warren Mears as his flunkies, but the two sides failed to come to an agreement regarding a contract, resulting in Tom Lenk being cast as Tucker's younger brother.

At some point during Buffy's senior year in high school, he summoned "winged monkey demons" to attack Sunnydale High's production of "Romeo and Juliet", apparently for no other reason than to amuse himself. Years after the fact, both Jonathan and Warren recall the incident with amusement; since Warren, Buffy's contemporary, is known to have spent only his senior year at Sunnydale High (he attended the prom to which Tucker sent the hellhounds), his memory of the occasion proves that it occurred during his senior year, which was also Buffy's. The Scooby Gang have no memory of this whatsoever, simply one of any number of supernatural incidents which plagued Sunnydale. They also have no recollection of who Andrew is, until he informs them of his relation to Tucker. This becomes a running joke, as from then on, he is often referred to as "the other guy," "Tucker's brother," and so on.

unnydale

Andrew is only introduced (long after the destruction of the school) in Season Six, as a member of the Trio, Buffy's self-styled "arch-nemeses". He is a crucial member of the group, since many of their endeavors rely upon his ability to summon and control various demons. Warren, the leader of the gang, is almost entirely driven by greed and lust for power; whereas Jonathan apparently joined the gang for excitement, being shocked by Warren's ruthlessness and eventually helping to save Buffy's life. Andrew occupies a sort of middle ground between these two, initially, as before, simply seeking power and amusement, but becoming more evil as the show progresses, for example, cheering "kill her!" as Warren fights Buffy. When Warren accidentally kills Tara Maclay while aiming for Buffy, Tara's vengeful girlfriend and powerful witch Willow Rosenberg hunts Warren down and skins him alive. Andrew and Jonathan then flee to Mexico to avoid a similar fate. While living in Mexico with Jonathan, Andrew is approached by the First Evil, who, in the guise of Warren, convinces him to open the Seal of Danzalthar. Returning to Sunnydale in Season Seven, Andrew murders Jonathan in an attempt to open the seal, but is soon discovered and held hostage by the Scooby Gang. At first, the Scoobies are hostile towards Andrew, partially because he murdered Jonathan and partially because of his annoying habits. Andrew provides much of the comic relief in Season Seven along with the advancement of major plot points. In his own episode "Storyteller", Andrew decides to document the Scoobies' adventures for future generations using a video camera. Andrew has a tendency to exaggerate, or tell his own version of the "truth," routinely relating overly-dramatic personal narratives. Although Xander, Anya, Spike, and Dawn are happy to let him interview them, Buffy is angered by his attempt to turn everything into a story and forces him to finally face up to the seriousness of his actions. After this, he becomes somewhat remorseful and repentant, joining Buffy as a comic sidekick in the fight against the First, surviving the apocalyptic battle at the end of Season Seven. Thus, Andrew is an example of the show's strong emphasis on redemption. When Anya dies in the battle, Andrew comforts Xander by lying to him that she died saving his life. Joss Whedon comments on this in his commentary for "Chosen"; "The thing that [Andrew] is sort of reviled for, making up stories, becomes the thing that he helps Xander with. Becomes the thing that he actually is good at, giving her the epic death she didn't actually get to have."

Watcher

Andrew returns in two episodes of "Angel"'s fifth season, and he appears to have matured slightly. Now under the mentorship of Rupert Giles, who is training him as a Watcher, Andrew comes to Los Angeles to help contain psychotic Slayer Dana (cf. "Damage"). When Angel tried to take Dana back to Wolfram & Hart, Andrew asserts his authority, standing up to Angel (one of the few who does) and explains that she belongs with them, not him.

In Italy, Andrew reappears in the "Angel" episode "The Girl in Question", explaining to Spike and Angel that Buffy is now dating the Immortal, a long time rival of Angel and Spike. It is later retconned in the "Buffy" Season Eight comics that Andrew had fabricated the notion of Buffy dating the Immortal, as a measure of protective misdirection. In the Season Eight comics, Xander refers to Andrew as the leader of a Slayer cell in Southern Italy. He is seen giving a group of Slayers a lecture about why Slayers never use guns, which had somehow progressed into a commentary on Lando Calrissian.

In "Wolves at the Gate, Part I" Willow flies Andrew to the Scottish castle where Buffy, Xander, Dawn and the other slayers operate. He is among the group that walks in and catches Buffy and fellow slayer Satsu in bed together. Assisting the team against a shrewd cabal of Japanese vampires, he instructs Dawn on how to destroy a mecha version of herself.

Characterization

Andrew is occasionally hinted to be homosexual in the series. However, in the "Angel" episode "The Girl in Question", Andrew is shown leaving for the opera with two attractive women. Joss Whedon later clarified:

"It has to be said: the Andrew scene in "The Girl in Question" was a victim of me dropping the ball. I specifically said there should be a party of men AND women, all glamorous and Italian, waiting for Andrew. I wasn't there when it was shot, and didn't have the time/money/energy to change it after the fact, though it made me crazy. Andrew's sexuality is always on the cusp of self-awareness because Andrew is stunted emotionally and because it's hilarious."

He also added that the "people change" line as spoken by Andrew was originally intended for the character of Dawn, to show her development into a more mature young woman. [ [http://whedonesque.com/comments/15286 Whedonesque : Comments on 15286 : Ten Best Gay and Bisexual Science Fiction Characters ] ]

Despite commenting upon the ambiguity of Andrew's sexual orientation, gay men's website AfterElton.com awarded Andrew the status as the tenth best gay or bisexual character in modern science fiction, prompting Joss to more formally comment on Andrew's sexuality. [cite web |url=http://www.afterelton.com/print/2008/1/tenbestscificharacters?page=0%2C0&loc=interstitialskip|title=Ten Best Gay and Bisexual Science Fiction Characters|accessdate=2008-01-21 |date=2008-01-20 |format= |work= AfterElton.com]

Appearances

Andrew has been in 34 canonical Buffyverse appearances.; "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" : Andrew appeared as a guest in 26 episodes:
*Season 6 (2001, 2002) - "Flooded"; "Life Serial"; "Smashed"; "Gone"; "Dead Things"; "Normal Again"; "Entropy"; "Seeing Red"; "Villains"; "Two to Go"; "Grave"
*Season 7 (2002, 2003) - "Conversations with Dead People"; "Never Leave Me"; "Bring on the Night"; "Showtime"; "Potential"; "The Killer in Me"; "First Date"; "Get It Done"; "Storyteller"; "Lies My Parents Told Me"; "Dirty Girls"; "Empty Places"; "Touched"; "End of Days"; "Chosen"

; "Angel" : Andrew has appeared as a guest in 2 episodes.
*Season 5 (2003, 2004) - "Damage"; "The Girl in Question"

; "Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8 Comics": Andrew has appeared in five issues so far:

*"The Long Way Home, Part 2 and 3"
*"The Chain"
* "Wolves at the Gate, Part 1 and Part 2"

References