Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Jenny Calendar

Jenny was the beautiful computer science teacher at Sunnydale High. She was brilliant and playfully cocky, making her an awesome teacher and a huge headache to Giles (who wasn’t a fan of her modern approach). Jenny, who was a techno-pagan and a member cyber-coven, helped out the Scooby Gang quite a bit in the first two seasons of Buffy. While fighting evil together, Jenny and Giles eventually fell in love, in spite of her love for gadgets and his for antiquities.

Jenny first appears in the episode “I, Robot… You, Jane” as a computer science teacher, whose teaching methods and interests drove poor Giles crazy. She then later appears in the season finale “Prophecy Girl”, when she goes to Giles after she notices several signs of an impending apocalypse. Shortly after, Giles revealed the truth about the Master’s plan and Buffy’s true identity.

In the beginning of the second season, Jenny flirts more and more with Giles, and gradually it becomes a sweet, but slow-burning, romance. However, the romance is stalled in the episode “The Dark Age” when Giles’ past comes back to haunt him, and Jenny is possessed by a demon Giles had summoned when he was a teen. Afterward, Jenny avoids Giles for a while, but by the episode “Ted”, she is finally ready to forgive Giles, and by the end of the episode, the romance is rekindled and burning brightly again.

When Angel loses his soul and becomes Angelus, Jenny is revealed to be Janna of the Kalderash gypsy clan, which is the very clan that had cursed Angel with his soul. Jenny had been sent to watch over Angel, though she was never told that Angel would lose his soul, but in spite of this, the Scooby Gang was still angry that she had concealed her true identity. She tried to make it up to Buffy by attempting another soul restoration and translates the spell using a computer. But Drusilla senses Jenny’s plan and warns Angelus, who kills Jenny before she can cast the spell to return his soul. The cruel Angelus then left Jenny’s dead body in Giles’ bed with a trail of flower petals leading to the horrific scene. Giles is obviously devastated and seeks revenge for her death, whiles Xander viewed Jenny’s murder as evidence that Angel was beyond redemption.

Shortly after Buffy rescues Giles from his ill-conceived act of revenge and visits the grave of the Jenny (buried under her assumed name of “Jennifer Calendar”), Buffy reveals that due to Jenny’s death, she is finally ready to destroy Angel. Willow eventually finds Jenny’s diskette containing the spell to restore Angel’s soul, and shortly after she casts the spell and restores Angel’s soul, he his killed by Buffy. After all is said and done, the grief-stricken Willow winds up teaching Jenny’s computer class.

Favorite Jenny Quotes!

[everyone begins to leave library]
Giles: “I’m just gonna stay and clean up a little.”
[walks towards the stacks carrying books]
Giles: “I’ll-I’ll, uh, I’ll be back in the middle ages.”
Jenny: “Did you ever leave?”

“Please. Call me Jenny. Ms. Calendar is my father.”

Jenny: “Honestly, what is it about them that bothers you so much?”
Giles: “The smell.”
Jenny: “Computers don’t smell, Rupert.”
Giles: “I know. Smell is the most powerful trigger to the memory there is. A certain flower, or a-a whiff of smoke can bring up experiences long forgotten. Books smell musty and-and-and rich. The knowledge gained from a computer is a – it, uh, it has no-no texture, no-no context. It’s-it’s there and then it’s gone. If it’s to last, then-then the getting of knowledge should be, uh, tangible, it should be, um, smelly.”

[to Giles] “I know our ways are strange to you, but soon you will join us in the twentieth century, with three whole years to spare.”

Jenny: “I’m lying, Rupert. The book’s fine. I just love to see you squirm.”
Giles: “Well, I trust I gave good… Squirm.”
Jenny: “Did anyone ever tell you you’re kind of a fuddy duddy?”
Giles: “Nobody ever seems to tell me anything else.”
Jenny: “Did anyone ever tell you you’re kind of a sexy fuddy duddy?”
Giles: “No, actually, that part usually gets left out. I can’t imagine why.”

– Moonlight

By Moonlight

Moonlight (aka Amanda) loves to write about, read about and learn about everything pertaining to vampires. You will most likely find her huddled over a book of vampire folklore with coffee in hand. Touch her coffee and she may bite you (and not in the fun way).

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