Warren Mears
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Warren Mears is a fictional character in the U.S. television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, played by Adam Busch.
nb: also spelt "Warren Meers"
Warren was introduced in the season five episode, "I Was Made To Love You", as a lonely young man who built a robotic woman for company (and, indeed, sex). During the course of the show, Warren progressed from such relatively innocuous beginnings to an all-out evil, misogynistic killer. In season six, he was the leader of 'the Troika' ('The Nerds') the crime gang trying to take over Sunnydale through technology and magic, and composed of Warren, Andrew, and Jonathan, whom he constantly got to do what he wanted, much to Jonathan's resentment.
His plans, of course, were thwarted by Buffy, propelling him into a murderous fury in the episode "Seeing Red" where he shot Buffy and Tara, killing the latter, and leading Willow to take bloody revenge in the next episode, "Villains", in which she psychologically toyed with him and then skinned him alive, killing him.
Some fans feel that the character of Warren was written inconsistently, with his misogynism and murderous nature being added suddenly in the episode "Dead Things" for the purpose of setting up the destructive climax of season six. Others say his descent into evil was gradual and well-crafted.
Some fans claim that Warren foreshadows his fate in two key conversations. The first conversation occurs when Warren encounters Xander after obtaining the orbs of Nezzla'khan. When Xander is knocked to the floor, Warren remarks "Let's see how popular you are without a face..." The second conversation occurs when Warren seeks assistance from Rack. In their discourse, Rack says "The Slayer is the least of your problems". Warren replies "Oh you're right, I'm sorry, let's talk about my skin troubles! You know I'd say on the scale of problems that she ranks!" Warren's choice of words alludes to his flaying, which echoes the past conversations. Others claim that Warren's fate is another form of poetic justice. Warren's plan on skinning the innocent Nezzla demon eventually caught up with him. In addition, his misogynism leads Buffy to symbolically emasculate Warren by crushing his orbs (of Nezzla'khan) to powder. Others say its just the writers' way of toying with the audience.