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Post by stargazer1682 on Apr 27, 2020 17:05:12 GMT
I started writing this out in a general review about Tabula Rasa and it grew into a more specific reflection on Willow's arc in season 6; so I thought I'd put it in its own thread.
I've always had an issue with them trying to use Willow for a "magic is drug" analogy. Apart from Giles' comments in season 2 about a particular spell he'd cast in his youth as being an 'extraordinary high,' they had never really made magic out to be any thing like drug use. Certainly at no point prior to Smashed do we even see Willow's mind being altered by magic or her experiencing a drug like effect; and likewise Smashed uses magic as this generic, ambiguous thing that someone like Rack can whip at you and make you trip balls.
But Tabula Rasa was a good example of the real issue with Willow and magic; because it's not dependence on magic that's the problem, it's that she doesn't see the downside to magic, the consequences or way it might affect other people. In this particular instance, Tara confronts her with violating her mind with magic, and Willow doesn't understand how Tara could think that using magic to manipulate her memory was somehow a violation; which is on the heels of her not seeing an issue with zapping the people at the Bronze into another dimension just to look for Dawn two episodes prior. She's not doing these things for a high or whatever, this is and always was an issue of Willow's hubris. She thinks just because she can do something gives her the authority to decide if she should do something and regardless of whether it might affect anyone else.
I've often said that Willow's and Warren's stories in season 6 kind of mirror each other; throughout the season both characters are arrogant and act selfishly, taking extreme measures to get what they want, regardless of what anyone else thinks. There are also moments where Willow loses her temper, even before she goes dark, where she says things that could just as easily be attributed to Warren. Like in All the Way, when Tara and Willow fight and Tara says, "What do you want me to do, just, just sit back and keep my mouth shut?" and Willow responds, "Well, that'd be a good start.
" Then there's the way she threatens Giles for admonishing her bringing Buffy back in Flooded.
With Tabula Rasa, Tara tells Willow how she knows that Willow used magic to violate her mind. A statement that's entirely true, but one that takes Willow by surprise, because she never thought of it as violating Tara and still doesn't see it that way. Yet this concept comes back around with the Trio and specifically Warren, when they plan on using magic to make some unsuspecting woman their unwitting slave; and Warren uses it on Katrina in an attempt to make her subservient to him and have sex with him under this spell. Considering where thing were suggested to have lead between Willow and Tara during the...climax, so to speak, of "I'm Under Your Spell" during OMwF, there's some disconcerting implications of Willow and Tara having sex in the wake of Willow altering her memory. Where Warren was stopped short, it's implied that Willow actually went further with Tara; and while Tara was much more alert and more in control of her faculties than Katrina, her mind had been altered by magic in a way that could have influenced her ability to consent. And even the song itself, "I'm Under Your Spell" has the intentional extra layer to it of Tara literally, but unknowingly being under Willow's spell in that moment.
In the end, Warren kills Katrina in an act of combined desperation and anger; and Willow more or less does the same with Warren, though her motivation is perhaps slightly more justified, at least in her desire if not the actual execution of Warren's...well, execution. It's arguably one thing to want the man who killed your lover dead, and it's something else entirely to not only make it happen, but do it in the most horrific way after torturing him.
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Post by stargazer1682 on Apr 28, 2020 19:37:19 GMT
Smashes offers further insight into Willow's thought process, as she uses a rat-mate for Amy as a metaphor for her own relationship; saying how said companion would "one day leave you leave for no good reason."
And there's the rub when it comes to Willow's character, especially by this point in season 6. It has nothing to do with the magic itself and everything to do with the fact that she just doesn't understand why what some of the things she's done and how she uses magic are wrong.
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Post by stargazer1682 on Apr 28, 2020 20:06:57 GMT
Meanwhile, in the same episode, Xander and Buffy get all nervous when they think Willow's going to use magic to research the diamond theft, happy when they see her take out the laptop, only to get their undies in a twist again when she uses magic to interface with the laptop - and it's that sort of absolutism that defines this story arch that makes me roll my eyes. They're putting Willow using magic to expedite their research on the same level as Willow using magic to mess with everyone's minds. They may have the same common denominator of Willow using the magic, but they're not the same fucking thing. Stuff like erasing Tara's memory after the fight, wiping everyone's memory when trying to mess with Tara's and Buffy's, that sort of thing goes beyond the pale, because she's trying to use magic to do things to other people against their will.
Getting the info on the heist was just another method of achieving the same result the group wanted to achieve; just faster and more precise - the ramifications are exactly the same. No one got hurt doing it, she was violating any more laws than she would hacking in, which the others had no compunction with when they thought she was going to use the laptop the normal way. It's not like she had to sacrifice a goat first and promise her first born to Satan, just to avoid the more roundabout, non-magical way of doing the exact same thing she did more quickly with magic.
It's the same damn issue when Tara made a stink about Willow conjuring the decorations for Xander and Anya's engagement party; like big fucking deal. These things aren't all on the same level of concern with Willow's behavior, but they lump them all together to force this narrative that magic's the problem, not Willow's behavior or how she uses it.
I can't stress enough how much I hate this story and loath watching it anytime I rewatch the series...
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Post by PreachCaleb on May 15, 2020 15:16:22 GMT
I'd say they did a good job of showing the progression of addiction. A lot of times, it really does start with the little things. A drink here. A hit there. And then it snowballs.
That's what was happening with Willow. It's not that she's using magic. It's that she resorts to magic right away for every little thing. And that's what leads her to using magic for the big things. She doesn't respect its power. She uses it as a quick fix to avoid inconvenience. Like an addict or alcoholic.
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Post by stargazer1682 on May 15, 2020 17:30:56 GMT
I'd say they did a good job of showing the progression of addiction. A lot of times, it really does start with the little things. A drink here. A hit there. And then it snowballs. That's what was happening with Willow. It's not that she's using magic. It's that she resorts to magic right away for every little thing. And that's what leads her to using magic for the big things. She doesn't respect its power. She uses it as a quick fix to avoid inconvenience. Like an addict or alcoholic. This is where I disagree. She there were plenty of instances where she used magic no differently than the average person in the real world would use some new technological development that makes life easier. And yet, no would suggest that we are too "dependent" on plumbing or electricity (okay, may most people wouldn't suggest that). And that's one of the big problems with the way they try to tackle the characters' objections; and especially the way they relegate Tara into being the writers tool for telling us that what Willow is doing is bad, with virtually nothing else to do. The fight over the party decorations was idiotic and forced, all because it had to fit the narrative that any magic Willow did was now bad. The real issue with Willow was her lack of empathy when it came to how she used her powers, particularly when it effected others; and the question of, just because she could do something, should she? For Willow, the answer was always "yes," because despite every past instance from which should have learned to be more cautious, she continued to believe herself infallible. It was her own arrogance and ego that was the issue. In real world terms, it be like if Willow studied chemistry, which in its own right would be all fine and well; until she starts using the knowledge to make roofies and slipping them to her friends and her lover in order to manipulate them to conform to her will. It's not until Smashed that suddenly she's personally intoxicated by generic "magic" and starts chasing that dragon; which comes out of nowhere. Then just like that in season 7, it's no longer a dependency issue; Giles even says as much and that it's a question of Willow's state of mind and acting responsibly.
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Post by PreachCaleb on May 17, 2020 15:28:36 GMT
And it snowballed with the little things. She didn't see using magic for quick fixes as a bad thing, which led her to using magic for the bigger things. Remember how in Wild at Heart she actually stopped herself from cursing Oz and Veruca. But by season 6, she didn't think twice about mindraping Tara. It had build up. Her dependency on magic for quick fixes mirrors a lot of addicts resorting to their addiction for the slightest reasons.
It wasn't just any magic, it was the way Willow saw it as a first and only resort.
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Post by stargazer1682 on May 17, 2020 18:27:17 GMT
And it snowballed with the little things. She didn't see using magic for quick fixes as a bad thing, which led her to using magic for the bigger things. Remember how in Wild at Heart she actually stopped herself from cursing Oz and Veruca. But by season 6, she didn't think twice about mindraping Tara. It had build up. Her dependency on magic for quick fixes mirrors a lot of addicts resorting to their addiction for the slightest reasons. It wasn't just any magic, it was the way Willow saw it as a first and only resort. The thing is, the attitude reflected in her wanting to curse Veruca and Oz wasn't unique to magic, it's just inherent in her character, going back to the start of the series; and the idea that because she can do something, there's no reason she shouldn't. It's why she was a hacker, it's why she got so defensive with Buffy when she suggested her online boyfriend may not be who she though he was (which was flashes of fight with Giles about bringing Buffy back five years later); it's the entire reason she started practicing magic, and her general Type-A personality that drove her to be the best at everything she applied herself to. The fact that she showed restraint in this one instance is remarkable, in that it showed she had a glimmer of sentimentality towards Oz, but it's really the only time where her proverbial better angels prevailed. Any other time she set her sights on doing something, she became determined to do it regardless of the consequences. It's why, only a few weeks after she stopped herself from cursing Oz and Veruca, that she performed the "thy will be done" spell that not only blew up in her face, but earned an offer to become a vengeance demon by D'Hoffryn. There's no qualification of "in season 4 she didn't do this, but by season 6, she did that," because in spite of that one exception, she was blurring those lines even in season 4; and not because the magic was compelling her to do, but because her ego was. She possessed virtually no impulse control and had a such a high estimation of herself and her abilities that in spite of any past failures, she saw herself as infallible. I was originally going to add in my earlier post, that I've recently been re-watching Charmed; and noticed that they didn't their own storyline drawing an analogy between magic and substance abuse during, I think the 7th season. Which, apparently I have either not watched the series recently enough or possibly hadn't re-watched the later seasons since the first aired, because there were a lot plots I didn't recall later in the series, including this one. A love interest of Paige's was a witch from a magical family who had been involved in a magical feud with another family for years; and the way they spun it was probably more like alcoholism. It was arguably better than done than how Buffy did it. The story was paced a lot better, certainly, spanning several episodes and plaid a little more subtly. It wasn't as heavy handed as Buffy; he wasn't suddenly going to some back-alley wizard to get high off generic "magic".
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Post by PreachCaleb on May 18, 2020 14:39:04 GMT
And that's exactly why using magic for every little thing was a problem. Tara knew if she acted like that with little things, there's nothing stopping her from using magic with major consequences that she didn't consider. The big difference is that in Something Blue, she wanted to do a spell on herself so she won't feel hurt. But by season 6, she thinks nothing of doing a spell on her loved one just so she won't be inconvenienced by their fight. That's the escalation Tara knew was coming.
A lot of addicts lack impulse control, and it shows in their addictions. Willow is a textbook example.
Willow's spanned several seasons. Now that's pacing.
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Post by stargazer1682 on May 18, 2020 16:22:09 GMT
And that's exactly why using magic for every little thing was a problem. But the problem wasn't magic, it was Willow and her attitude anything she did, with or without magic (like computer hacking) was fine for her to do.It doesn't matter who the spell was for, she and Giles have the same type of exchange they'd have before and after, where he advises her not to perform a spell, and Willow taking it as a personal insult to her ego; and it still earned her the offer from D'Hoffryn. And season 4 wasn't even the first time magic was her go to solution to resolve a problem in her life. In season 3 she was all set to use magic to try and perform a "de-lusting" spell on her and Xander and the only reason she didn't get to do that or have it potentially go awry was because she and Xander got kidnapped by Spike, then found out by Oz and Cordy, making the point mute. She's a textbook megalomaniac. She's not influenced by the power, she pursues it because she believes deserves to be able to do what magic allows her to do; and that she's already strong enough and smart enough to wield it. Her story more closely parallels Warren's season 6 arc; as I outlined my original post. And he's not an addict, he's just an asshole, who uses things like magic and technology to get what he wants - as does Willow. The way she abuses magic, at least until Smashed, is more like someone who abuses pharmacology by slipping someone a roofie. It was all about the external, not internal benefits of magic; how she could use the magic on the world around her to suit her need, rather than using it internally affect her. Again, that is until Smashed. Not the "magic-is-substance-abuse" story, no. If they had gone it from any other angle, addressing Willow's disregard for personal responsibility in the way she uses her powers or the consequences of her actions and the border-line sociopathy of it all; sure, that tracks back over the course of the series. She abused But as an analogy for substance abuse, she's not shown to be chasing the magical dragon or suffering from a magic withdrawal until Smashed in season 6; and by season 7 episode 1, we Giles saying, "This isn't a hobby or an addiction. It's inside you now, this magic. You're responsible for it. " which was basically even the show saying, "that story made no sense, so ignore it, because we're moving on."
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Post by PreachCaleb on May 18, 2020 16:47:31 GMT
Agreed. And magic became her go to addiction.
It does matter because it shows her escalation towards relying on magic and how addictive it's becoming for her. She wants to "fix" her girlfriend. Not so she doesn't hurt someone else (as with the delusting spell) but so that she's not inconvenienced by an angry partner.
True. But we did learn as far back as The Dark Age that magic can used to get high. Giles himself admitted to using it that way. Willow's arc was the far extreme example of what can happen to someone who goes unchecked.
I'd say it's the extreme consequence of abusing so much magic; it is now (keyword from Giles) permanently inside her. After all, Giles, Tara, and Johnathan never seemed to exhibit any problems despite using magic themselves quite a bit. And of course, we didn't move on because Willow still struggled with controlling the magic insider her for the rest of the season.
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