Re: OT: My Season 6 review

["debvii" <debvii@xxxxxxxxx>]

--- In buffywantswillow@y..., danspector@w... wrote:
 
> But I did want to quickly comment on the point DEM responded to.
> While Willow's power has not reached the heights you've imagined in
> her battles from "Tough Love" on, it has increased enough to make her
> a significant force in any battle she partakes in. After all, in
> "The Gift" Buffy said Willow was the strongest of any of them, the
> "big gun". Thus it became necessary to slap her down, powerwise,
> since it ain't her show, after all.

...and more's the pity. i mean, i nearly wet my pants with joy during 
that final scene of "Gone" when Buffillow {heh} are standing there 
confronting the Nerds. i want a poster of that two-shot!

i waver, however, on the question of whether ME consciously decided 
that Willow needed to be checked. i firmly believed that to be the 
case at the beginning of the season, but if DeKnight is to be believed, 
that wasn't their motivation at all. eh, who knows?

> This could have been accomplished either by making her
> become the Big Bad (which I felt would damage the show thematically,
> and which could only be explained by a hackneyed "power corrupts"
> motivation--conveniently ignoring that Buffy's power hasn't corrupted
> HER),

Dan, we are SO on the same page on this. I've tried many a time to 
make that same point... and people just don't seem to get it. i think 
many see a big diff between power one is "born" with and power that is 
acquired, or somesuch. I get the sense that ME might have been trying 
to stay away from inevitable comparisons to the Angelus, Faith, and 
Riley arcs, but they overcompensated and entered the realm of Dishonest 
Storytelling. for example, there is NO WAY She of Guilty Feelings 
wouldn't be castigating herself by now for harm done to friends and 
others.

> or by the current addiction arc, which has been badly executed,
> but which I still prefer to the Evil Willow they seemed to be headed
> for earlier.

you know, were it not for the rampant Willow-bashing that would (did) 
go with an Evil Willow story, i'm starting to believe i would have 
preferred it to this addiction garbage. i read DeKnight's recent 
comments on the Bronze-beta and he asserted that Willow's addiction has 
been in the works for two seasons. FEH! That Willow would/might face 
a Big Test regarding her use of magick, yes, that had been built up.  
But that Rack thing? eh, came out of nowhere. ME had to FORCE Will 
into an addiction using an outside source.

if Marti were so hard-up to do this addiction storyline, she could have 
at least made it slightly more metaphorical.

> It would be more alarming if Tara was worried by Willow kicking
> undead booty all over the place, rather than by some party
> decorations. For a good little Wiccan, Tara apparently missed "An'
> harm none, do what ye will" in the Wiccan Rede.

feh on Tara, the Second Coming of Gaia. feh! <g> seriously, was i the 
only whose eyes rolled when Tara showed up in the Mature Woman, 
Estranged Stepmother, Earthtones garb of "Wrecked"? gah!


Misc. Remarks

1) The biggest problem with this season, by far, IMO, is that they're 
taking 4-6 times as long to accomplish things as they've taken in 
previous seasons. While there have been times that I thought stories 
were resolved too quickly (e.g., When She Was Bad should have been a 2-
parter and Bad Girls/Consequences a 3-parter), one can't break sooo 
radically from the rhythm one has established over the course of 5 
years.

2) I waver on the question of whether Willow was displaying incipient 
evilness in the Kitchen scene with Giles. Yeah, she was chilling, but 
her behaviour wasn't radically different from other times Willow has 
felt angry and backed into a corner. In addition, Giles has never 
called her "stupid" before. That's gotta sting. Frankly, Willow's 
reaction was mild compared to what *I* might have said in her position.

3) if anyone is looking for a great double feature, try "Something 
Blue" and "Tough Love". plenty of foreshadowing of the GENERAL ideas 
of S6 and lots of B/W goodness.

DEM