Pissed-off Rant--SPOILERS

[danspector@xxxxxxxxx]

Spoilers for what little I know about the rest of the season, not that I
know (or want to know) everything.

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Well, I went to EW.com to read Jeff Jensen's review of "Entropy" and the
format of their "Buffy" pages is all messed up, so I went to the main
"Buffy" page, hoping it would reset.

And there, staring me right in the face, was that spoiler pic everyone's
been talking about.

(Thanks, assholes. I'm glad AOL-TimeWarner's going to hell.)

Willow with black hair. Well, now I know what that "Black Widow Willow"
post heading was about. (I was thinking, "I'm pretty sure Will doesn't
kill Tara during sex.")

I would say this is extremely stupid, but the way this season has gone,
that's pretty much a given, right? Yeah, black hair because evil
affects your hair color.

Plus, since they're giving "Evil Willow" a distinct look (it's like when
comic books change character's costumes to sell more action figures;
hell, that may actually be Marti's motivation), this probably means
they're going to stretch this crap out for the rest of the year. Here I
was hoping for 15 minutes of pissed-off magic and then Buffy talks her
down. Stupid me, thinking that ANY plot this year would move faster
than a speeding glacier.

Which means they'll probably have Willow cross a line and do something
actually evil. Which means good-bye to the show. I have NO interest in
"Willow Rosenberg, tortured soul". I don't even care if this is, as I
still think the year seems to be, a set up for B/W. Because to me, B/W
doesn't mean "Buffy and Angel, The Lesbian Years".

"Oh, Willow, I love you, but how can I ever trust you after what you
did?"

"You shouldn't love me, Buffy, I'm dangerous. I have evil in me, and
I'll never be completely free of it."

Barf. Barf. Barf.

Goddamnit, the whole point of Scooby-shipping, from my p.o.v., is to get
Buffy to move beyond this immature "bad boy" crap and into a real loving
relationship. Making Willow Buffy's "bad girl" blows the entire f*cking
point of the ship.

I know, I know, there are people who say Buffy is drawn to the darkness
because she's the slayer, but Willow's experience with black magick
enables her to understand the darkness, too, so they can still be
together. These people have every right to their opinion.

It just happens to be wrong. If I wanted Buffy with Drusilla, I'd ship
Buffy/Dru. Turning Willow into the female equivalent of Spike doesn't
stop B/S, it gives them the game. Willow is supposed to be the opposite
of all that garbage, love as being with your best friend forever,
keeping you safe and warm.

This doesn't she has to be a saint: Willow has made plenty of mistakes,
but she's still human, still a warm, caring person. Get blood on her
hands (even the Trio's) and that's all out the window. "Once-crazed
killer struggling to atone for her mistakes and control her dark urges
for the sake of Buffy's Love" is NOT the Willow I signed aboard this
'ship for. Heck, it's the thing I started 'shipping B/W to get away
from, to register my disgust with.

And didn't we just get through, in "Normal Again", with the Doctor
saying (and the show thus admitting) that giving supporting characters
superpowers instead of personalities is why the show has sucked these
last few years (er, why Buffy's "Sunnydale delusion" isn't as
compelling, same diff)? So now they're going to move Willow to the
foreground by playing up her magic and giving her an evil alternate
personality or whatever that she'll have to control. Yeah, that's
realistic character development. Blow me, Joss. 

Not to mention that now ALL of Xander's women are demons or psychos.
And I thought "Demon Cordy" was a dehumanizing, interest-killing plot
development. Does nobody understand that there's a segment of the
audience that actually identifies with HUMAN characters? I could give a
rat's ass about "The Slayer", but I love Buffy. It's her human
personality that's interesting, not the kung fu. (Mind you, I love
action, but the reason I choose to get it from "Buffy" and not a Jet Li
film festival is the characters, not that the stunt double kicks in a
particularly interesting way.)

It's one thing if Willow learns a skill and throws a spell now and
again. It's another if she changes into Dark Magic Bitch and her whole
purpose on the show is defined by her "superpowers", the way nobody
would give a rat's ass for Angel if he didn't have fangs. (That's an
exaggeration, of course, but you can't contemplate him without
contemplating his vampiric history, that's what I mean.) Willow's magic
has never been her defining characteristic, until, possibly, now. 

Pardon the length and crudity, but it just had to come out. And, since
I don't think anyone can reply to this without discussing additional
spoilers that I don't want to know, I won't read any replies.

So I guess I should also apologize for wasting the list's time with this
bit o' bile. Indeed, I'm tempted not to send it. Ah, what the heck,
maybe someone will appreciate it.

Dan

"Okay, I don't feel better and [nothing has changed]."--Willow, after
her first emotional outburst ("Reptile Boy")