The bit where I'm not entirely sure it works is the question of whether Dark!Willow, all colour coordinated black veininess, isn't still a little too convenient. Willow acknowledges that that's her, that those were her actions, that she's responsible for them... but arguably, the quest becomes more about regaining confidence without turning into Dark!Willow again than about facing the deep-seated issues that led to Dark!Willow. I waffle back and forth on that.
Right. I can definitely see that. And I've talked over that point with others before -- about the way Willow's early s6 badness (with Tara, the memory spell) gets so eclipsed by Dark!Willow that they don't get dealt with directly. And I'm sympathetic to that and ultimately would rather see those get vetted more deeply than season seven did. And yet -- I do think that there is a lot of evidence of progress on those fronts, that exchange in Get it Done most of all. (She takes power and violates Kennedy for the cause, but is entirely upfront about it; and not only that, but immediately after a potentially damaging fight with her girlfriend, she pulls herself together and goes to comfort Buffy.) I do think that she's not "cured" by the end of season seven, so much as shown that it's possible to go forward. In fact, I actually don't even know if Willow has a "redemption" story -- which upsets some fans because, well, it isn't fair that Faith "has to" undergo redemption and go to jail and Willow doesn't (quotes because I'm not sure that there is an authorial "has to" per se), and I agree that it's not fair.
I think a lot of the issue is...I don't want to say a matter of taste, but a matter of accepting (or not) the story they decided to tell. On one hand, I do think that the early season six story could have gone a different direction -- one where Willow becomes increasingly darker without going to the Dark!Willow black-on-black obviously evil look, and that might have been more challenging in certain respects, where do you draw the line morally.
But I think that within the context of the season, and the age of the characters, it makes sense that things work out hte way they do. Just as Buffy sees her affair with Spike as entirely bad and dirty and wrong, Willow comes to view using magic and using her power as something that makes her black and dark and evil, and after Wrecked, first runs as far away from magic and power as she can, and then after SR runs toward it as much as she can. It's less a story about corruption -- though it is about that -- as about how damaging binary conceptions of goodness can be. I always figure that Willow picked the black-on-black clothes -- obviously she had to change and couldn't wear the blood-stained shirt all day -- because she was planning on being "evil" and wanted to look the part; like Restless, she needs to have a costume to hide the nerd within.
I always wonder, in Villains, what would have happened had Warren been the one on that bus, rather than the Warrenbot -- i.e. if Willow had killed him before the "I'm not coming back" conversation. She didn't torture him then, when she had her friends at her side. It's partly the feeling that she didn't expect that she could ever go back to her old life or her friends' good graces that sent her careening further and further out.
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The bit where I'm not entirely sure it works is the question of whether Dark!Willow, all colour coordinated black veininess, isn't still a little too convenient. Willow acknowledges that that's her, that those were her actions, that she's responsible for them... but arguably, the quest becomes more about regaining confidence without turning into Dark!Willow again than about facing the deep-seated issues that led to Dark!Willow. I waffle back and forth on that.
Right. I can definitely see that. And I've talked over that point with others before -- about the way Willow's early s6 badness (with Tara, the memory spell) gets so eclipsed by Dark!Willow that they don't get dealt with directly. And I'm sympathetic to that and ultimately would rather see those get vetted more deeply than season seven did. And yet -- I do think that there is a lot of evidence of progress on those fronts, that exchange in Get it Done most of all. (She takes power and violates Kennedy for the cause, but is entirely upfront about it; and not only that, but immediately after a potentially damaging fight with her girlfriend, she pulls herself together and goes to comfort Buffy.) I do think that she's not "cured" by the end of season seven, so much as shown that it's possible to go forward. In fact, I actually don't even know if Willow has a "redemption" story -- which upsets some fans because, well, it isn't fair that Faith "has to" undergo redemption and go to jail and Willow doesn't (quotes because I'm not sure that there is an authorial "has to" per se), and I agree that it's not fair.
I think a lot of the issue is...I don't want to say a matter of taste, but a matter of accepting (or not) the story they decided to tell. On one hand, I do think that the early season six story could have gone a different direction -- one where Willow becomes increasingly darker without going to the Dark!Willow black-on-black obviously evil look, and that might have been more challenging in certain respects, where do you draw the line morally.
But I think that within the context of the season, and the age of the characters, it makes sense that things work out hte way they do. Just as Buffy sees her affair with Spike as entirely bad and dirty and wrong, Willow comes to view using magic and using her power as something that makes her black and dark and evil, and after Wrecked, first runs as far away from magic and power as she can, and then after SR runs toward it as much as she can. It's less a story about corruption -- though it is about that -- as about how damaging binary conceptions of goodness can be. I always figure that Willow picked the black-on-black clothes -- obviously she had to change and couldn't wear the blood-stained shirt all day -- because she was planning on being "evil" and wanted to look the part; like Restless, she needs to have a costume to hide the nerd within.
I always wonder, in Villains, what would have happened had Warren been the one on that bus, rather than the Warrenbot -- i.e. if Willow had killed him before the "I'm not coming back" conversation. She didn't torture him then, when she had her friends at her side. It's partly the feeling that she didn't expect that she could ever go back to her old life or her friends' good graces that sent her careening further and further out.