Jesse McNally

"Okay... Let's deal with this. Jesse was an excruciating loser who couldn't get a date with anyone in the sighted community! Look at me. I'm a new man!"

- Jesse

Jesse McNally was a Sunnydale High student and close friend of Xander Harris and Willow Rosenberg. In 1997, Jesse was sired by a vampire and became a member of the Order of Aurelius, but was dusted shortly afterwards by Xander, who accidentally staked him.

The character appeared in the first two episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and was portrayed by Eric Balfour.

Biography
Jesse McNally was a student at Sunnydale High and a close friend of both Willow Rosenberg and Xander Harris at the time that Buffy Summers transfers to Sunnydale High from Hemery High. He had a crush on Cordelia Chase. While at times summoning enough confidence to talk to her, she constantly dismissed him due to his nervous "puppy attitude" around her, which caused Jesse to back off until he once again worked up the nerve to approach her. During a visit to the Bronze, Jesse was lured by the vampire Darla of the Order of Aurelius and taken to one of the entrances to the Order's lair in order to be offered as food for the Master. While he was briefly rescued, the Aurelian vamps kidnapped Jesse back from Buffy, Willow and Xander, and later sired him as part of a trap for Buffy.



The newly sired Jesse went alongside Darla, Luke and other vampires to the Bronze to celebrate The Harvest, a ritual which would release the Master from his mystical prison. Jesse, however, was only concerned with making Cordelia like him, and when he saw her, he took her to dance without even asking. Somewhat mesmerized by Jesse's new attitude and look, Cordelia accepted, oblivious to the danger she was in. Jesse was then annoyed when Darla took Cordelia away from Jesse to be sacrificed to the Master's vessel. Eventually, Jesse was confronted by Xander, and was accidentally killed when someone knocked him onto the stake Xander was holding.

Jesse is never mentioned again after his death, despite being such a close friend to Willow and Xander, possibly because it may have been too painful. Xander's disdain for all vampires could be attributed to Jesse's death.

Powers and abilities
"I feel good, Xander! I feel strong! I'm connected, man, to everything! I can hear the worms in the earth!"

- The Harvest

Jesse possessed the common powers and weaknesses of a vampire. He also showed the typical attitude of newly-sired vampires, astonished by his newfound powers and immortality.

Behind the scenes

 * Joss Whedon planned to include Balfour in the opening credit sequence of the pilot, to make it even more shocking when this supposed main character was immediately killed off. There was not enough money to do this at the time, but Whedon later used the trick in the sixth season, putting Amber Benson in the credits for the first time in the episode where her character Tara was killed.


 * A scrapped plotline for "Conversations with Dead People" would have involved the First Evil taking Jesse's form to taunt Xander.

Appearances

 * "Welcome to the Hellmouth"
 * "The Harvest"