#43: Amy

For a minor character, Elizabeth Anne Allen's Amy has shown a remarkable longevity, appearing as a central character in the first 'regular' episode of the series, following the two-part début, showing up off and on throughout the seasons all the way to season 7, and carrying on even into the comic book continuation, “Season Eight”. All this despite spending several of the show's seasons as a rat.

Amy's first appearance, in the Dana Reston-scripted “Witch”, is already an atypical one. Though she shows up at #5, with 393 words, 239 of those words are spoken by Amy in the body of her mother. Only 154 of Amy's words are from Elizabeth Anne Allen's mouth (though she says 312 words as Catherine Madison in Amy's body, most of which are spoken before we realise the switch has occurred: if we counted actors and not characters, she'd be #4). We then get an appearance per season: another #5 in season two's “Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered” and a surprisingly small 67 words in the witch-centred “Gingerbread”.

Then, she's a rat until season 6, barring the series' best visual joke in season four's “Something Blue”, where she appears for only a split-second. But as she says no words, her next speaking appearance is a stretch of three appearances in season six as 'enabler' to Willow's magic addiction, scoring number-fives in “Smashed” and “Wrecked” and a minor in “Doublemeat Palace”. Amy's final appearance is in season seven's “The Killer in Me”, the episode that provides closure to Willow's main plotlines. Quite surprisingly, it is here that she scores her highest number of words: 447, and a number four finish. She survives season seven.

• Overall ranking: #43
• Ranking on Buffy: #27
• Total words spoken on Buffy: 2241
• Season 1: 393
• Season 2: 355
• Season 3: 67
• Season 6: 979
• Season 7: 447
• Total speaking appearances on Buffy: 7
• Ranking #4: 1
• Ranking #5: 4
• Minor: 2

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