The In-Character-ness Of Willow Rosenburg

[deird_lj]

...and once again, I've seen someone on the internet saying that they thought Willow was "behaving out of character" in season 6.

And I really don't get it.

By "out of character" I'm assuming they mean that Willow would never:
1) start using magic as an easy one-size-fits-all solution
2) wipe her girlfriend's memory
3) go cold turkey on the whole magic thing
4) flay a guy alive
I disagree with every one of those points - I think they were very definitely in character. And I don't see why people would think they weren't.

More specifically, I don't see how anyone can think Willow was in character during season 4, and not in character during season 6.
In particular? I'm thinking about the episode Something Blue.

A seemingly innocent conversation
Here's part of the script from Something Blue:

Buffy: Giles just worries. Spells can be dangerous. It doesn't mean he thinks you're a bad witch.
Willow: I am a bad witch.
Buffy: No, you're a good witch.
Willow: I'm not kidding anyone. If I had any real power, I could have made Oz stay with me.
Buffy: Will, you wouldn't have wanted him to have stayed-
Willow: And I didn't have the guts to do the spell on Veruca. And my "I Will It So" spell went nowhere. The only real witch here is fuzzy little Amy.
Buffy: I think you're being too hard on yourself.

(Emphasis mine.)

This all takes place in a very understated way - we're never really asked to notice it or to take it seriously. But it's kinda relevant. Especially when you think about the events of season 6.

Please remember that this stuff Willow says that she can't do, is all stuff that she thinks proper magic users should be able to do.
Proper witches should be able to make their boyfriends (or girlfriends) stay with them.
Proper witches should be able to get revenge on anyone who hurts them - in particular, anyone who takes their loved ones away from them.
And proper witches should be able to make things better - and stop being in pain - just by willing it to happen.

Willow would never wipe her girlfriend's memory.
Of course not - never. Because it's wrong.

Except she's not doing it because she hates Tara and wants her to suffer. She's doing it because she loves Tara, wants them to stop fighting, and wants to keep Tara around.
And back in season 4, she talked about doing just that - to Oz.

Willow thought that real witches could "make Oz (or whoever) stay with them." And no-one really thought about correcting her.

Willow would never flay a guy alive.
Unless, that is, they hurt Tara.

Back to that season 4 line (because it's so very interesting):

"I didn't have the guts to do that spell on Veruca."

Not "I didn't have the ability to do that spell on Veruca" - but "I didn't have the guts".

She was, if you remember, halfway through the vengeance spell - and then she stopped. She relented. Because she couldn't bear to hurt Oz.

That's called compassion.
And Willow sees it as a weakness.

She always had the desire to take revenge on people, and she'd almost always had the ability, too. But she'd never actually go through with it, because she was nice. And she despised herself for that.

Willow would never just go cold turkey on magic and expect that to solve the problem.
No? Are you sure?

The thing is, by deciding that she's "addicted" to magic, Willow makes the problem into an external one. It's not her fault - it's magic's fault.
She's done this before.

In Restless, Willow mentions that "I'm very seldom naughty".
This is after she has:
- decrypted the city council's security system (not for world saveage - just for fun)
- skipped school to chat online to her internet boyfriend
- stolen Watchers Diaries from Giles' office
- repeatedly made out with Xander behind Oz's (and Cordelia's) back
- raided Giles' office for books on magic he doesn't think she's ready for yet
- accidentally made Buffy fall in love with Spike, Giles go blind, and so forth

None of it's all that major, but it's certainly kind of "naughty". It's just that Willow doesn't think of it that way.
She's Willow, and she's on the good side, so if she does something, it's good by default.

And in season 6, she doesn't actually start taking responsibility for her actions that much. She says "I messed things up", but I think a lot of her is still thinking "magic messed things up, and if I just get rid of that then everything will be okay".
And so she tries to.

Willow would never use magic as a one-size-fits-all solution.
This one, even more than the others, makes me want to ask "what show have you been watching?" because it seems pretty clear to me that Willow's been turning to magic as the first option for a very long time.

The first clear example of this that I can think of is in Lovers Walk - when she decides to do an anti-love spell without telling Xander about it. He says "I wish we could make it all stop," (and let me just take a moment to be glad that Anya wasn't around to hear that) and she instantly thinks "Ooh! Magical delusting! That'll work!" and starts doing it, without any more thought on the subject.

And it continues.
In Graduation Day, they're all looking into ways to deal with the Mayor - and Willow's answer? "We have to find a spell or something to stop the Ascension."

Trapped in a house of Halloween costumes coming to life? Do a spell to find your way out.
Betrayed by your boyfriend? Get back at him with a spell.
Depressed? Do a spell, and make the pain go away.
Worried about your best friend's weird behaviour? Do a spell to find out why.
Can't see in the dark? Use a spell to light the room up.

Upset by the death of your mother?
Dawn wants to do a spell. Tara is against it. But Willow's reaction?

"I'm not even sure it's possible, Dawn."

Nothing about selfishness, or working through the grief. Just "is it even possible?"

And in season 6, she finds out that it is.
It must be intoxicating.

On a collision course for badness
The thing is, Willow has always been heading towards season 6.

She's always had Giles worrying about her doing magic (check out Faith, Hope, and Trick for one early example), and she's always ignored him.
Her friends tell her how awesome her magic is, how good she is at it, and how special it makes her.
And, Giles excepted, no-one's ever really tried to stop her.

No-one's ever really said "hey, maybe taking revenge on Veruca might not have been the best idea", or "you know, doing spells just because you're bored might be a bit unwise".
The only negative comments she's ever had were along the lines of "I'm worried that you might not be able to handle it." And what does Willow do? She sets out to learn more, and practise more, so that she will be able to handle it.

It was pretty much inevitable that, at some point, Darth Rosenburg would emerge, and try to destroy the world.
That's one of the reasons I'm very glad we got to see the later seasons: because Dark Willow was going to happen, and when season 6 came along we got to see it happen - and got to see her realise what she'd been doing wrong all these years, and start changing.


And to finish? Let me leave you with a quote from Lessons:

Giles: Do you want to be punished?
Willow: I want to be Willow.
Giles: You are. In the end, we all are who we are - no matter how much we may appear to have changed.

Comments

[faymeadows.livejournal.com]

No profound comments to add, but I'd just like to thank you for writing this up - it's given me much to ponder. I'm insatiable for Willow-related characterisation stuff right now, since trying to write her PoV for the first time last week, with mixed success.

Adding to the "interesting meta" part of Memories. :)

[deird1]

I'm glad you found it interesting!

(and I love your icon...)

[shapinglight]

In my experience, people tend to say a character is acting OOC when they don't like a particular turn that character's story's taken, not because it's actually true.

For instance, I loathe the AR scene. It upsets the hell out of me, yet I could never say it was OOC for Spike, even though he's my favourite character.

All this is very true of Willow. I have some quibbles re: her season 6 story - ie. the whole magic=crack thing. I wish they hadn't done that. All the early episodes point to what Willow does as flowing naturally from her character development in earlier seasons, as you point out here, yet suddenly a lot of what she's done can be passed off as the fault of crack magic (though of course, as you point out, it's not that simple). I wish that Joss had been slightly tougher with Willow actually, and made it clear what she did stemmed from her own hubris (as Giles says in an early episode) because I think if she'd been shown going off the rails off her own bat, it wouldn't have needed a horrific event like Tara's death to push her over the edge, and therefore Tara needn't have died at all.

Having said all which, I love Dark Willow's murderous rampage. It's brilliantly done and quite shocking (which is why the retcon of her killing of Warren in the comics is so particularly irritating).

[deird1]

In my experience, people tend to say a character is acting OOC when they don't like a particular turn that character's story's taken, not because it's actually true.

Good point. I guess it's particularly common with characters that people identify with strongly: a sort of "I wouldn't do that, so they wouldn't do that either!" reaction to behaviour that people weren't expecting.

For instance, I loathe the AR scene. It upsets the hell out of me, yet I could never say it was OOC for Spike, even though he's my favourite character.

That's interesting - because most people who do hate that scene seem to object on the 'out-of-character' basis.
I personally hate that it happens, and hate what it does to their relationship, but love that fact that it did happen because of what it led to. If that makes any sense whatsoever...

I have some quibbles re: her season 6 story - ie. the whole magic=crack thing. I wish they hadn't done that.

Gotta agree with you. It took me a long time to come to terms with that particular story arc. When I did, it was mostly for the reasons I listed above.

because I think if she'd been shown going off the rails off her own bat, it wouldn't have needed a horrific event like Tara's death to push her over the edge, and therefore Tara needn't have died at all.

True. I think Tara's death was helpful (from the writers' perspective) because it allowed them to have Willow go completely off the rails without making us hate her: after all, Tara's death makes her so little, and hurt, and heartbroken, that we kind of end up on her side... even though she's busy destroying the world.
But it would have been pretty interesting to see Willow go nuts just by herself, and to see Tara's reaction to that.

Having said all which, I love Dark Willow's murderous rampage. It's brilliantly done and quite shocking (which is why the retcon of her killing of Warren in the comics is so particularly irritating).

Isn't it WONDERFUL!
As someone who (these days) keeps track of the comics purely for mocking purposes, I've gotta say: I would have been much more inclined to take them seriously if it wasn't for Warren's sudden appearance. As it is, they're almost like a "best of" edition of Buffy villains and plotlines. I'm expecting the Mayor to return hand-in-hand with Drusilla and Lindsey, any day now...

[shapinglight]

I guess it's particularly common with characters that people identify with strongly: a sort of "I wouldn't do that, so they wouldn't do that either!" reaction to behaviour that people weren't expecting.

Yes, exactly, or a natural desire of people that their favourite should never be truly at fault.

That's interesting - because most people who do hate that scene seem to object on the 'out-of-character' basis.
I personally hate that it happens, and hate what it does to their relationship, but love that fact that it did happen because of what it led to. If that makes any sense whatsoever...

Oh, it makes perfect sense. It took me a while to come to terms with it (for RL sexual politics reasons, I still wish Joss had chosen something a little less, let's say, sensational to make Spike realise he needed to change, and hadn't botched the soul quest story so his motives were clearer) but I can see now it works perfectly to get Spike from Point A) I'm fine without a soul to Point B) Oh boy, I really, really need one!

I'm sorry that it impacted so badly on his relationship with Buffy too, though I don't think it ruined it (as long as you stay firmly within the parameters of the Buffyverse. If you come out of them into RL, of course it does). However, like I said, I could never say it was OOC for Spike, especially given the fact that he was clearly at the end of his tether - way past being able to recognise any boundaries, which he had a lot of trouble with in the first place. What's astonishing about the scene in a way is not so much that it happened but that once Buffy kicked him away, he stopped.

But leave that aside.

But it would have been pretty interesting to see Willow go nuts just by herself, and to see Tara's reaction to that.

I agree. I always thought that Tara could have helped bring her back from it. However, you're right of course that Willow's rampage would have been unforgiveable without the motivating factor of heartbreak - and even then, it's a very fine line, which the viewer only stays on the right side of because Warren is such an a**hole.

I would have been much more inclined to take them seriously if it wasn't for Warren's sudden appearance

I agree. I still can't quite get over Joss ruining one of the best and most shocking scenes in the whole of BtVS, and then not even remembering that Warren was actually dead (not that there can be any doubt if you watch that scene. He's dead. D.E.A.D. Definitely not just resting.

:needs dead parrot sketch icon:

[speakr2customrs.livejournal.com]

What's astonishing about the scene in a way is not so much that it happened but that once Buffy kicked him away, he stopped.

And that it was such a half-hearted attempt anyway; he never even unzipped his jeans!

[shapinglight]

True. Without going into the dynamics of the scene too closely (because I don't really want to), it's like he's determined to make her realise this really is what she wants (despite her protests) before he gets to that point.

[neutralalienist.livejournal.com]

Oh, yes, definitely.

I can understand having problems with how her arc was handled. I'd have much rather it been an addiction to power, rather than a...literal addiction to magic, complete with dealer.

But to say it doesn't fit...no, that's just not true. It's like saying Wesley's ruthless streak came out of nowhere. It just means you weren't paying attention.

[deird1]

I'd have much rather it been an addiction to power, rather than a...literal addiction to magic, complete with dealer.

Uh-huh. Rack takes second place in my "most annoying character" list (beaten only by Sam Finn, who wins every time), just because he was so pointless - and his entire function was to make Willow get high by... um... smelling of strawberries.

But to say it doesn't fit...no, that's just not true. It's like saying Wesley's ruthless streak came out of nowhere. It just means you weren't paying attention.

Exactly. The signs have been there since at least season 3, if not a lot earlier.

[neutralalienist.livejournal.com]

*snort* Yeeah. That was. ...Yeah.

It was gradual, and it looks sudden going from one point to another, but if you look at the progress...

[deird1]

Ditto with Wesley, actually. It's all so gradual that you barely notice... but have you ever tried watching Bad Girls back-to-back with Shells? He's so very different...

[swsa.livejournal.com]

I don't really even have that big of an issue with the magic crack portion of the storyline, because I think it's continually undermined and thus shown as being mostly a handy excuse on Willow's part. It's the actual physical detoxing that's so eye-roll worthy, but by the very fact of her needing to embrace magic again in S7, they're admitting that quitting "cold turkey" was always just a way for Willow to externalize her own issues.

I also don't completely get the desire for it to be more of an exploration of her issues with power, because I think it IS. From the S6 premiere, we see her both power tripping and trying to deny her own power. That's Willow's MO. She craves the power but at the same time, she doesn't actually want the responsibility.

BUFFY: I need you, Will. You're my big gun.
WILLOW: (alarmed) I'm your - no, I-I was never a gun. Someone else should be the gun. I, I could be a, a cudgel. Or, or a pointy stick.

I think that attitude fits pretty well with her need to pawn off her misdeeds on her "addiction".

[deird1]

Rather unsurprisingly, I agree with you!

The physical detoxing annoys me, as does the so-completely-taking-drugs filming style in Wrecked (not the plotline so much as the flying-through-space, and spinning-in-circles, and lying-on-the-ceiling), but for the most part I think it's clearly shown as Willow externalising the problem so that she doesn't have to deal with it.

That's Willow's MO. She craves the power but at the same time, she doesn't actually want the responsibility.

Exactly.

[rahirah]

I never thought it was that Willow was OOC in S6 - what it looked like to me was that the writers got cold feet about taking the full Dark Willow plunge and tried to soften it up with the 'magic addiction.' It's not just Willow who calls it that; everyone else does too, including people like the Finns, who provide corroborating stories about other 'magic addicts' they've known.

Which is a shame, because I agree that up to that point, the story had been leading inexorably up to Willow going bad in a spectacular way. At the time S6 aired, the scuttlebutt among the spoiler community claimed that "Normal Again" was originally supposed to air around ep 9 or 10. Buffy was supposed to break up with Spike, and Tara was originally supposed to die mid-season, and Willow was to the big bad for the last half of the season, rather like Angelus. But Joss kept putting off Tara's death, leading to dragging out the Buffy/Spike relationship to fill the gap. If that's even halfway accurate, I wish to heck I could have seen that season the way it was originally planned.

[deird1]

At the time S6 aired, the scuttlebutt among the spoiler community claimed that "Normal Again" was originally supposed to air around ep 9 or 10. Buffy was supposed to break up with Spike, and Tara was originally supposed to die mid-season, and Willow was to the big bad for the last half of the season, rather like Angelus.

Really? I've never heard that.
It really would have been pretty interesting.

I'm not actually sure if they could have sustained Willow-as-big-bad for a whole half season, just because she was so insanely powerful by that point. But it would have been fascinating to see them try...

[next_to_normal]

Like most of the other commenters, I can't quibble with anything you've discussed in your post. The only thing that I felt was "out of character" was the sudden crack magic addiction. Magic was never shown to be addictive in the first five seasons of the show. To suddenly shift gears and say that magic is now an addictive drug not only contradicts the previously qualities of magic, but it actually in a sense negates the character arc that Willow has been developing, which you described very well in your post.

The crack magic metaphor and Willow's "cold turkey" give the impression that it's not really Willow's fault - addiction is a disease, and it's something that she can't really control. But that's not the character arc that's been developing for five years.

Willow's need to use magic is rooted in power - she wants to be able to control things (her own and others' emotions, dangerous situations,and even life and death), and she wants to feel important and useful to the group, and magic allows her to do that. If Willow has any addiction at all, it's to power and control, not the magic itself. The magic is just an avenue. She could just as easily have become an evil computer hacker and taken over the world that way, had she stuck with her original skills and not dabbled in magic.

I could understand if it were just Willow using the crack magic as an excuse. It's true that she doesn't like to take responsibility for her own actions. But that's not the way it's presented. It's presented as an actual drug, with a dealer and everything. We have other examples of addictions (Amy's ransacking the house; Riley and Sam's comforting stories), and everyone accepts that Willow is an addict. No one questions it, or suggests that Willow's transferring blame.

We're supposed to believe that Willow actually isn't to blame for her addiction, which I think was a bit of cowardice on the writers' part. If Willow was really at fault for her behavior, it would be a lot harder to redeem her later on. She'd need a lot more than a summer in England to be "good" again. It's much easier to say "the magic made her do it" and give her a quicker recovery.

Basically, I agree that Dark Willow was inevitable, but I do think they took a weird side road in season 6 in order to get there.

[deird1]

I've gotta say, the magic-as-crack thing threw me out of the story quite a bit. It took me a long time to stop rolling my eyes at those scenes in Wrecked.

But as long as I ignore the ceiling-floatiness, and Sam Finn's comments (I am more and more convinced that Sam is a malevolent being with dark purposes), the whole thing goes back to centering around Willow's love of power. And really, that's much more interesting...

[shapinglight]

(I am more and more convinced that Sam is a malevolent being with dark purposes),

Heh! Or possibly a killer-robot.

Sorry for butting in, but this made me laugh.

[deird1]

I dare you to write a robo!Sam fic...

[shapinglight]

I should! Or maybe you should? I think you'd be better at it.

[deird1]

Maybe we could race?

And, dammit, you're giving me plotbunnies. Stop that!

[shapinglight]

:)

[snowpuppies]

In a crazy nutshell. ;)

Nicely done - and so true!

[deird1]

Thanks!

[owenthurman.livejournal.com]

I was never one who disagreed with the thesis, but I did like riding with you through the story of Willow Rosenburg.

She'd been heading toward Season 6 ever since I Robot, You Jane at the latest.

[deird1]

She really has.

I'm glad you enjoyed it!

[lavastar.livejournal.com]

*applauds* This makes so many kinds of sense to me, and really turns all of my much-less-cohesive arguments about the validity of Willow's breakdown (which were all along the lines of, "Oh, yeah? Well, so's your face!") into much-more-cohesive arguments. I think a lot of fans don't want to see bad in Willow - and so they ignore all the signs of how much she doesn't really have the greatest morals or ethics when it comes to magic. And there are signs, as you've pointed out - a lot of them really really big signs. Especially if you look at the difference between Tara and Willow's arguments of why Dawn shouldn't try to resurrect her mother - Tara talks about how it goes against the laws of nature and you can't use magic to change something that big, and Willow goes 'Hmm, would that work? Interesting.' Willow was on the path towards Darth Rosenburg ever since her first big spell - getting Angel's soul back. We should go 'Hmmmmmm' when Giles talks about magic opening a door she might not be able to close, but I certainly didn't the first time around - we think that sweet little Willow would never change from that. But she does, and it's sort of pre-destined for quite a while as part of her character.

Anyways, I don't have much to add - really, you did a fantastic job of cohesion here. Thanks for putting this all together, I really haven't thought about this particular thing in a while!

[deird1]

*applauds*

*bows*

"Oh, yeah? Well, so's your face!"

Also a cohesive argument.

And there are signs, as you've pointed out - a lot of them really really big signs.

Lots, yeah. But as you said, lots of fans don't want to see anything bad in Willow, so they gloss over all the foreshadowing.

I think a lot of people sort of think that badness in the character makes the character less fun to watch, or less easy to relate to. Which I really don't get, personally speaking. I love the fact that Buffyverse characters do a lot of things wrong - and some of my favourites are the ones who went the evilest... like Faith. But then, one of the reasons I love watching the show is to see characters go evil and then turn good again - maybe the "but Willow can't possibly do anything wrong" crowd aren't interested in those sort of story arcs.

(Please ignore the text of my icon. This post has made me realise just how many Willow icons I have, and left me with a perverse desire to use them all...)

[lavastar.livejournal.com]

It's definitely about whether you want your morality black-and-white or murky gray - and whether you can be okay with the fact that fictional characters don't have to be perfect to be interesting - and in fact, can't really be interesting without having flaws. Some are bigger than others, okay, but generally it's a good thing to not have everyone either be a Mary/Gary Sue/Stu or a BIGBADEVILPERSON.

(And hey, I'll ignore the text of your icon with pleasure. But let's not talk about how many icons I've snagged...*glances nervously at Photobucket album*

[deird1]

and in fact, can't really be interesting without having flaws

Exactly. I became much more interested in Gunn after he made the deal to keep being lawyer-guy.
And, for that matter, in Xander after he lied about Willow's message, in Giles after we found out about Ethan, and in Fred after she killed her professor...

[a2zmom.livejournal.com]

I 100% agree. I like Willow (I like them all) but I've always thought she was extremely passive/agressive.

In the second episode of the series, she's illegally hacking into a secure site and it's obvious, she's loving it.

Willow thinks of herself as a good girl, so she has very little sense of boundaries when when it comes to questionable activities. She always convinces herself it's for the good of everyone.

[deird1]

Willow thinks of herself as a good girl, so she has very little sense of boundaries when when it comes to questionable activities.

Exactly. She's never really had to think about the possibility that she might be wrong - so she tends to assume that everything she's doing is fine, because... well... she's doing it.

I think it really was going to take the insanity of the end of season 6 to make her see what she was doing wrong.

[zgirl714.livejournal.com]

I agree so much with this! I thought season six, awkward and uncomfortable it might have been, was something that had to happen character development wise.

Great essay!

[deird1]

Thanks!

(Love your icon, BTW...)

[zgirl714.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

[wigbee71583.livejournal.com]

I found this from su_herald so I hope you don't mind if I comment. I found your thoughts interesting. To be completely honest both Willow and Buffy are my favorite characters. I think one of Willow's main character traits is that she is extremely self-loathing. She doesn't love geeky nerdy Willow, so she questions why anyone else would either. I agree that Willow is lying to herself when she says that she is very seldom naughty just like Spike was deluding himself when he said in Entropy that he never hurts her(meaning Buffy). In the next episode, when Spike tries to rape Buffy, his whole self-perception is shattered, so he goes out to change himself. In the beginning of season six, Willow doesn't think her magic use hurts anyone even though she mind wipes all of her loved ones, she can't see the damage because it isn't physical. It's only when she hurts Dawn does she see the physical consequences of her actions and she stops doing magic. I wonder what would have happened to her if she had accidentally hurt someone else earlier and was given some kind of mentor ship.I've never seen Willow become some kind of big bad like Angelus. I would think her stint on the darkside would be more like Jasmine.

[deird1]

Comments are always welcome.

She doesn't love geeky nerdy Willow, so she questions why anyone else would either.

True. I think that's sort of what her part of Restless was about, actually - the fact that she's creating a non-nerdy persona for herself, because she's worried that people won't like the real her.

she can't see the damage because it isn't physical. It's only when she hurts Dawn does she see the physical consequences of her actions and she stops doing magic.

That's a good point! After all, she sort of glosses over the Tara thing because it's only a spell - and she's not really hurting Tara. She doesn't seem to understand the consequences of what she's doing unless she can see it right in front of her.

I've never seen Willow become some kind of big bad like Angelus. I would think her stint on the darkside would be more like Jasmine.

Ooh. I think you might be right - that had never really occurred to me before. That would have been awesome.

[ellan-vannin.livejournal.com]

Hello, I'm here from su_herald, too.

I thought s6 was not just in character but necessary to Willow's character, as you (and others) have said here. I also had trouble coming to terms with her "path to redemption". I thought the detox bit was sort of a cop out. But the Buffyverse is kind of hit-or-miss when it comes to redeeming the bad behavior of its characters. Take Andrew for instance. Bad guy, but a funny bad guy, so after his "time out" he gets accepted into the band of heroes, so long as he (and we) don't object to the repeated verbal contempt to which he's subjected. Not that it all wasn't highly amusing, just sort of... disappointing.

It's like we are given every opportunity to see and understand a character's decent, but then are expected to believe that such a long and winding road down takes only a quick and relatively easy elevator trip to rise above. (Except for Spike, who struggled through the various stages of his redemption and was therefore more believable.)

[deird1]

Hello, I'm here from su_herald, too.

Hi!

I thought s6 was not just in character but necessary to Willow's character, as you (and others) have said here.

Exactly.
A lot of people don't like the later seasons, and seem to think that finishing at season 5 would have been better - but I'd hate that, because we'd sort of end up stuck with "someday Willow is going to go dark and mess everything up, and we don't know what's going to happen!" And really, Darth Rosenburg was always going to end up happening at some point...

I thought the detox bit was sort of a cop out.

Heh. Yeah. Definitely.

Take Andrew for instance. Bad guy, but a funny bad guy, so after his "time out" he gets accepted into the band of heroes, so long as he (and we) don't object to the repeated verbal contempt to which he's subjected.

I think I probably disagree with you on that one. Andrew started working with the Scoobies in Showtime, but he still didn't actually think that he'd done anything wrong. In First Date, for instance, he tells The First "You made me kill my best friend," - and he really doesn't see anything he did as his responsibility. Someone else is to blame.
I don't think his "redemption" episode comes until Storyteller - when he finally stops making excuses and accepts that he did what he did, and that it was his responsibility.
That's actually seven episodes between getting into Buffy's house and admitting that he did anything wrong. Which is longer than most people get.

Except for Spike, who struggled through the various stages of his redemption and was therefore more believable.

One of the many reasons I loved Spike's character arc...

[ellan-vannin.livejournal.com]

I don't think his "redemption" episode comes until Storyteller - when he finally stops making excuses and accepts that he did what he did, and that it was his responsibility.

Hmm, I hadn't thought about it that way, but will admit it's been a while since I watched those eps. I guess in my memory his redemption arc seemed a bit haphazard to me.

One of the many reasons I loved Spike's character arc...

And one of the many reasons there's so much fic out there devoted to him! *grins sheepishly* Or at least on MY hard drive...

[malfeasanceses.livejournal.com]

Mmhmm. I love Willow's fucked-up ethics and power issues.

[deird1]

Isn't she fantastic?

[arkeus.livejournal.com]

wow, got to say i disagree a bit. I mean, yes, Willow always had power issues. But i interpreted things quite differently.

The passage in something blue? I read it not as willow saying she should have done that, but as saying she wanted to be bad, and would have done it without hesitation. She knows its "wrong", but convince herself it's the "only way".

I see Willow as being too weak to refuse power. She knows the problem with it, but she was "second-fiddle" so long that she wants to prove to herself is in control. I think this trait of hers is almost pathological.

Oh? about magick = crack? i have my own theories about that, and they are on the side that the magic Willow used *was* crack, but that magic isn't crack by itself (and no, it's not because it's "black").

For myself, season 6 was a way to wake Willow up. To tell her: there are consequences to power. You can't get what you want with magic because once you do, it's no longer what you want.

it was Willow's arc, and it wasn't "afraid of jumping the arc". It was, in my mind, giving Willow the chance to grow beyond her power issues.

[deird1]

The passage in something blue? I read it not as willow saying she should have done that, but as saying she wanted to be bad, and would have done it without hesitation. She knows its "wrong", but convince herself it's the "only way".

I don't really see where you're coming from with this one. After all, Willow said "I didn't have the guts to do the spell on Veruca." In other words, she wanted to do it, but she didn't - because she hesitated.

I see Willow as being too weak to refuse power. She knows the problem with it, but she was "second-fiddle" so long that she wants to prove to herself is in control.

Whereas I don't think she even registers that she's doing anything wrong. She just thinks it's okay - because she'd never actually be doing anything that isn't...

that the magic Willow used *was* crack, but that magic isn't crack by itself

You mean that Rack was peddling a deliberately addictive form of magic, so that he could get his clients hooked? That's a pretty interesting idea.
I must think about this some more...

For myself, season 6 was a way to wake Willow up. To tell her: there are consequences to power. You can't get what you want with magic because once you do, it's no longer what you want.

Very good way of putting it! And I think you're right.

[filmtx.livejournal.com]

I know it's been a while, but I was pretty busy with work and stuff when you posted this. But I saw it and made a mental note to come back and read it. So here I am.

I totally agree that nothing that Willow did in S6 (or S4 for that matter) were OOC. Willow's vengeful side was demonstrated as early as S1, even. Like her telling Cordy to hit the Delivery button on the computer. It wasn't an "evil" act per se. But it was a vengeful act. And we all laughed because, well, Cordy deserved it. Every "naughty" thing Willow did was justified in some way. But then in S6, we're suddenly expected to not justify it anymore. And that's where I think people had issues.

There were other clues as well... In Dopplegangland, she outright tells Buffy how she'd "seen where the path of vice leads" and that her vamp-self "destroyed everything she touched." That's exactly what happens in Season 6. I thought it was really nice foreshadowing myself.

Unlike most, I actually liked that her character got "addicted" to magic. That's probably because I like characters that are flawed and watching them slowly self-destruct. But that's just me. I loved geeky computer nerd Willow. I loved Vamp Willow. I loved magic addicted Willow. And I loved Dark Willow. That said, I wasn't very fond of S7 Willow, but I wouldn't say she was OOC either.

I'm not sure that I agree that the addiction was a way to externalize her turn towards the dark side and to make her seem less culpable. It was very clear to me that Willow's overuse of magic was her own fault... not Rack's or Amy's or even the magic's. Tara warned her time and again that she was doing too much magic. She was showing concerns about Willow's magic use as early as S5. Giles bit Willow's head off about using forbidden magics to bringing Buffy back from the dead. How did she react to that? She made a not-so-veiled threat against Giles. So, there were definitely people telling Willow to stop abusing magic. She even lost Tara over it. Still, she chose not to stop. So, in my mind, it was Willow's fault, not the magic's fault. I think that actually makes her a more interesting character personally.

I also thought it was interesting how Buffy excused Willow's abuse of magics because she herself was metaphorically and literally embracing a different kind of darkness... Spike. It wasn't until Willow's actions hurt Dawn that Buffy woke up and recognized the depth of Willow's problem. It was an interesting parallel.

Another benefit of the addiction arc was that it gave Tara a chance to be something other than just Willow's girlfriend. We got to see a side of the character that we never had before... assertive, independent and so not the victim she had been in S5. I know Amber liked being able to do something different with the character, especially knowing that she wasn't going to be on the show much longer.

Even though I wish Tara hadn't died, I understand why they did it storywise. Now I just wish they'd bring her back because I hate Kennedy.

[deird1]

Another benefit of the addiction arc was that it gave Tara a chance to be something other than just Willow's girlfriend. We got to see a side of the character that we never had before... assertive, independent and so not the victim she had been in S5. I know Amber liked being able to do something different with the character, especially knowing that she wasn't going to be on the show much longer.

Absolutely!
I liked Tara in seasons 4 & 5, but I never really went nuts about her until season 6. Getting to see her stand up to Willow, and let Buffy cry in her lap, and make jokes about Spike and Buffy's relationship... It really fleshed out the character, and made her much more interesting.


I'm glad you enjoyed reading this essay!