sum1

This guy was great. He lit up season 3 all the time he was there and it was saddening to see him finally bow out in Consequences.

The story is told that Freeman was at the White House, I forget what for (a fundraiser maybe?) and a member of the Secret Service took him aside. He was worried, because, you know, the whole thing with law enforcement mistreating black men. He was thinking what did I do now? Turned out the Secret Service man was a Buffy fan and had called him aside to ask him if he was Mr Trick.

K Todd Freeman brought great vigour, personality and sense of fun to his role. It's a pity they couldn't have kept him around. I would have watched a spinoff show about this guy.

BlackWhiteRose

Thanks for starting the thread! We can add some arts to the OP and some quotes from Mr Trick.

Butterfly85

I loved Mr. Trick and wish he wasn't killed off halfway into S3. I think it would of been interesting to see him interact with Faith after she joined The Mayor. If not, I wish he just left and showed up again from time to time. One of the FEW negatives about BTVS was its lack of diversity, so that's another reason he should of stuck around IMO.

sum1

There is one way in which the show did have diversity, there were lots of Jewish and part-Jewish actors on the show, among the regulars, the recurrings and the guest stars.

And for anyone who doesn't think Jews are a minority: In proportion to their numbers Jews are the number one target of hate crimes in the US. In general, Jews are the number one target of hate crimes over religion in the US. In New York city Jews are the number one target of hate crimes, period. Also, even Ashkenazi ("white-looking") Jews are about 50% Middle Eastern in ancestry. Jews are both an ethnic and religious minority and bona fide diversity.

That said, there aren't enough black characters in the Buffyverse shows and they tend to be treated poorly. Or stereotyped like Gunn, who's always being shoved into the "angry black man" role.

I do feel that a character as good as Mr Trick might have been allowed to stay around longer if he hadn't been black. He got kind of short shrift.

wickedrum

I’d doubt any of the cast members shouted from the rooftops they were Jews before they were hired. I’d say nobody knew because they don’t particularly look different. It was probably accidental diversity.

sum1

A whole lot of obvious Jewish surnames would make it clear many of them were Jewish (Shimerman, Gellar, Landau, Trachtenberg, Lerner, etc, not to mention the commonly Jewish surname Green combined with the commonly Jewish first name Seth, or the often Jewish surname Benson). Plus some of the actors employed on the show were well-known figures, with their background a matter of public record, like Oscar-winner Joel Grey (Doc).


Re Mr Trick: He proved a lot smarter than his ancient boss Kakistos, surviving until he made the same mistake himself later, taking on two slayers.

wickedrum

Personally, I had no idea they were Jewish before you pointed it out. It’s just not something I would think about and I count as the general public in a matter like that.

sum1

European general pubic. The American general public is more aware of Jews.

Now let's bring the topic back to Mr Trick. He had a great sense of fun. He always seemed to see the humorous side of things.

BlackWhiteRose

Loved when he ate a lollipop (I mean Mr Trick of course)

sum1

He had personality. That's what makes me feel they should have kept him around like they dud with Harmony and Spike.

BlackWhiteRose

eternalfate

BlackWhiteRose

No problem.