Classic Foes: Adam, Buffy The Vampire Slayer

By Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues

Photos copyright Mutant Enemy 20th Century Fox

Over three seasons Buffy faced werewolves, zombies and of course vampires but there was one iconic monster that surely had to be covered? No, Dracula would arrive in season five and also in a Spike spin-off comic book.

How would they do Frankenstein’s Monster? Like all other monsters he would have to be similar to but different enough from the classic Boris Karloff movie version.

So was born Adam.

Played By George Hertzberg, Adam was a foe that tested even Buffy’s abilities and, in the end, it would take the combined forces of the Scooby Gang to defeat.

By season four, Cordelia and Angel have left the show for the Angel spin off, so Buffy has no boyfriend and has to face college life after the dramatic events of season three. Life is changing for all the gang. But something else is going on as the supernatural are going missing. Word of Sunnydale’s strange deaths and happenings has reached farther than they knew and beneath the college is The Initiative led by Buffy’s psychology professor Maggie Walsh. Walsh is, in fact, the head of the Initiative.

They want to weaponise the supernatural creatures so they kidnap them, chip them and experiment on them. Spike was captured and chipped. If he tried to kill or feed on a human he could not because his body was flooded with excruciating pain. Walsh then puts together the ultimate soldier. To that end she followed the work of Doctor Frankenstein and created Adam from various and lethal body parts from other monsters. But Adam did not want to be controlled and like the Frankenstein monster, he turned on his creator and killed her, even calling her mummy as she fell dead. But worse; he turned her into a mindless hybrid to serve him. He tasks her and her co-worker to begin augmenting the soldiers into things like, but not superior to, Adam. Adam was initially driven as to self exploration; who was he? What was his purpose?

Adam gained a sense of self and decided that it would be better if he took control. To that end he continued Walsh’s work, adding parts of monsters to unwitting victims. Some of these were the soldiers of the Initiative masquerading as students. Adam also incorporates weaponry into his body making him a virtual Terminator. Walsh has supplied him an unwitting army which is converted at will. Adam revels in his superior body which he vocalises to Buffy’s new boyfriend, Initiative soldier, Riley (Marc Blucas). Adam sees himself as the one to deliver the world from all of its imperfections. One of those imperfections is Spike who makes a deal with Adam. If he breaks the Scooby Gang apart then Adam will remove the chip in Spike’s head. The gang fall apart, their friendships shattered thanks to devious Spike but they realise in time they have been manipulated.

Adam is able to see that alone the Slayer can be defeated but when she has the strength of her friends then she is a serious threat to him and could well bring about his downfall. But he underestimates the bonds between them and not even a huge argument can keep them apart. They know he has an uranium core near his spine that if ripped out will kill Adam.

In one of the most spectacular endings to a storyline in Buffy history, Buffy and friends storm the Initiative while Adam releases all the monsters within leading to a huge battle between humans and monsters. It’s all out war as the Scooby Gang combine all their abilities through Willow’s magic. Buffy becomes a magical being that can turn Adam’s bullets to dust and withstand his weaponry. She turns projectiles into birds before putting her fist through his chest and ripping out his heart crushing it with her magic. As an aside, the magic the Scooby Gang tap into comes from the First Slayer who will come to demand retribution for this transgression.

The government deem the Initiative a failed experiment and orders are given to cover it all up – literally by burying it in concrete.

Season four was a mixed bag. The hole left by Angel and Cordelia was very evident; the wooden Riley completely failed to fill the void left by Angel and while Anya does a decent job of replacing Cordy as Xander’s foil and love interest, it’s still lacks the on-screen chemistry the former had with him. It also started out very slow and took a lot of time to build up. There are a few bright spots throughout, Faith’s return and the episode ‘Hush’ for example, as well as a final episode with a monster mash-up that was such a good idea that Joss Whedon would replicate it all over again for a new generation (thinking they were seeing something new) for A Cabin in the Woods.

Overall Adam, as the season big bad, gained mixed criticism from viewers and critics alike but as the season progressed he successfully brought the Frankenstein’s monster legacy to another level.