Maggie Walsh
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Professor Maggie Walsh was a UC Sunnydale psychology professor and Director of The Initiative. The character is played by Lindsay Crouse.
History
Maggie is introduced in Season Four, initially as an ally of Buffy, but becomes an enemy when she plots to kill Buffy and remove her as a threat to the Initiative. She first becomes involved with Buffy when the young Slayer is enrolled in her Psychology class, along with Willow Rosenberg and Daniel "Oz" Osbourne in their first year at UC Sunnydale. At the university, Maggie has a fearsome reputation as an academic and taskmaster. However, like Buffy, she also leads a secret double life -- as a chief member of the Initiative, a secret government agency located below the university. The Initiative employs a team of commandos, led by Riley Finn, tasked with capturing demons and vampires. The captured demons are taken back to the Initiative, where experiments are performed on them. Maggie is also involved in Project 314, a secret part of the Initiative which creates a hybrid demon-humanoid-mechanoid (demonoid) known as Adam. Demons captured by the Initiative are dissected to provide parts for Adam.
Maggie maintains a close relationship with Riley, who looks upon her as a mother figure through most of Season 4. As Riley develops a relationship with Buffy, the identity of the Slayer becomes known to Maggie. Though she initially thinks that Buffy is a useful ally, Maggie soon takes a dislike to her unpredictability and unwanted curiosity, especially as regards Project 314. She also grows jealous of Buffy's hold over Riley, and spies on them making love on the Initiative's monitors.
Eventually, Maggie tries to kill Buffy by sending her on a mission on which she is ambushed by two demons released from the Initiative's holding cells. However, Buffy defeats the demons and appears on the monitors when Maggie prematurely announces Buffy's death to Riley, causing the latter to lose trust in her. An embittered Maggie retreats to the labs of Project 314, where she plots how to use Adam to defeat Buffy. However, Adam awakes and impales Maggie, killing her, and escapes from the Initiative.
Maggie reappears in the penultimate episode of Season Four, "Primeval," as a walking corpse, employed by Adam to finish off Project 314. This project involves the creation of more beings like him, manufactured from the parts of demons and humans combined. It is also revealed that Maggie set Riley up to be part of 314, by planting a chip within his body that could be used to control him. Maggie's corpse attacks Buffy with a bone cutter when she comes to rescue Riley, but is easily knocked down and defeated.
Appearances
- The Freshman (1st Appearance)
- Beer Bad
- Wild at Heart
- The Initiative
- Hush
- A New Man
- The I in Team (Killed)
- Primeval
