re: Aeris's fic, Willow's addiction--includes vague talk of SPOILERS

[danspector@xxxxxxxxx]

Aeris Jade wrote:

>I have a serious problem with the whole "Willow addicted to dark magic"
thing

Well, I can't say I much enjoyed making her so pathetic, and I still
feel the whole concept of the gang suddenly falling apart this year, for
IMO no good reason, is damn silly.

That said, however, I did appreciate what Marti seemed to be trying to
say with "Wrecked". Namely that what Willow's dream in "Restless" meant
was that she was hiding behind the magic (her "costume") because she
felt Tara wouldn't love her without it (Oz's "I tried to warn you" to
Tara in the dream).

Buffy: You don't need magic to be special.

Willow: Don't I? I mean, who was I, Buffy? Just?some girl. Tara
didn't even know that girl.

Buffy: You are more than 'some girl'.

If the point of the "magic addiction" was to admit that giving the
subsidiary characters superpowers was a substitute for good writing (as
the doctor's speech in "Norrmal Again" implies) and to move the focus
back from Willow's witchiness to just plain Willow, then overall, I
applaud that. Despite the fact I liked seeing her work the mojo as much
as anyone (not to mention kicking some serious hell-god ass).

Especially if the point is that Willow needs to stop hiding behind her
current persona, and be who she truly is. And if that means that she
has to "leave Tara's room, where she's safe" as in the "Restless" dream,
and face the truth, and if that presages a shift her affections from
Tara to Buffy, I am entirely for that, of course. A storyline where
Willow realizes that her affair with Tara is a way of avoiding the
difficulty of admitting her love for Buffy would fulfill my wildest
dreams. If Tara=magic=crutch, I'm more than willing to toss the mojo so
Will can go freely to Buffy.

Despite the fact that I felt "Wrecked" was extremely bad television, and
the poor mechanics of the addiction storyline, I really liked what I
felt Marti was trying to say about Willow's relationships and choices,
so I can forgive all of that.

Having said all THAT?

Without going into details of spoilers, which I myself am trying to
avoid and have therefore a necessarily incomplete knowledge of, from
what little I know, it seems like whatever comes next in Buffy and
Willow's lives will be brought on by external events (the spoilers), NOT
internal development of the characters. In which case, the good that I
found in the addiction storyline is invalidated, and I then
wholeheartedly concur with your anger at it.

I guess I ought to clarify this with the use of

T
H
E
 
F
A
M
O
U
S
 
S
P
O
I
L
E
R
 
S
P
A
C
E

In other words, while I'm all for B/W, I'm going to be real disappointed
if it's not because Willow realizes she was using Tara to hide from
Buffy, but because Tara dies. And don't even get me started on the
Spike rumors.

I would much prefer that B/W choose each other out of love, rather than
grief/pain--which would basically mean that Tara's corpse (and Spike's
actions) will always be in the room with them.  

NO SPOILERS IN REPLY, PLEASE

Dan