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

["debvii" <debvii@xxxxxxxxx>]

--- In buffywantswillow@y..., danspector@w... wrote:

> 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.

Dan, could you say more about this? I gotta say honestly that I don't 
understand this POV, and that bit in the final scene of Wrecked...well, 
tho it seemed impossible, I loathed the ep even more than I already had 
been up to that point. Honest-to-god, I hurled epithets at Marti-via-
the-tv-screen (once Will had stopped talking, of course). I was 
literally yelling. Willow has been doing magick since S2. At what 
point does a characteristic of a person become part of the "plain-old" 
package? From my way of thinking, a person who's been spellcasting 
since she was 16 is a witch, if ever a witch there was.

Yes, Will's magick use increased once she met Tara, but it was ALREADY 
Will's plan to hone her talents. Indeed, she met Tara BECAUSE of it. 
So, while excelling in the magick department may have, in part, been 
driven by a desire to shine in Tara's and/or others' eyes, it was by no 
means the only reason or even the main reason, IMO.

As horrid a hack as I think S DeKnight is, at least he acknowledged 
that Will got into magick because she wanted to help people. If Marti 
were TRULY being honest about the S5 writing issue, she would have 
acknowledged that and delved into the idea that Willow got to where she 
did because of necessities (Glory, death of Buffy). But, noooo, she 
just swept that under the rug. Also, in eps like Older, the 
consequence of Willow not using magick is, well, nil ("See, kids...!"). 
I consider that cheaty to the max. In contrast, the single redeeming 
thing about As You Were was Petrie slipping in the idea that Willow, 
like the shamans, got caught up in dark magick as a consequence of 
duty.

So, Willow's witchiness is a complicated thing, but this "you/we-as-
Scoobs don't *need* magick" is a big ole lie and a cheat, and it makes 
me insane.

DEM