Re: "and he proudly named Willow."

[danspector@xxxxxxxxx]

Well, JW seems to like Aly (or at least he enjoys taking credit for her
success as a sex symbol), but after listening to his "Hush" commentary
on the Season 4 DVDs, it's clear he was over Willow a long time ago.

He says several times that because Willow's been a Slayerette for years
that she can't be scared, that she's not vulnerable enough, and so he
shifted the "innocent" focus to Tara (as if I needed another reason to
dislike the character) and of course, later, Dawn. Meanwhile, Willow
gets turned into a cartoon superhero, a cartoon villain, and then gets
Yet Another Redemption (Hallelujah!) Story, and the IMO poorest-written
one of them all. (The only two times all year Aly was allowed to show
emotional depth ["The Killer in Me" and "Empty Places"], it seemed that
Willow was in **very** deep pain and on the verge of seriously
cracking--and the rest of the year she got pushed aside and relegated
to "you must do magic/I'm scared to do magic!" flatness.)

Why Joss thinks that Willow's magic skills as of early S4--aside from
the occasional pencil floating, magic is still being portrayed as
requiring incantations and tools, not the Sabrina-esque superpower it
became--render her incapable of being physically vulnerable, I don't
know. Why Whedon thinks that Aly couldn't play emotionally vulnerable
any more, I couldn't begin to guess. And how the subtext here--that
if Willow shows any strength and growth she's only good for villainy;
that girls are only good people as long as they're weak an
helpless--makes me want to retch, I can barely control myself from
ranting about.

But Willow's story ends dead smack the moment Amber Benson does her Aly
Sheedy (in "The Breakfast Club") impression. From then on, Aly's only
there to make us like Joss's new sweetie, to get him awards for being
"daring" (evil lesbians and dead lesbians--gee, that's new) and to be a
tool to punish Buffy and remind us that only Joss's Homoerotic Fantasy,
St. Sunkencheeks, is Truly Redeemed (Hallelujah!) and the One Pure
Friend that Buffy has.

What a waste.

Dan

Bitterness calcifying in my bones.