#tara and anya were best friends before the dark magic problem

[aflawedfashion]

I'm listening the the new Buffy Audible drama and I love that in this AU Cordelia is the slayer and Tara and Anya are her scooby gang

[rahirah]

via Barb's Place Ms. Fix-it by Barb C Rating: G Setting: Post-The Gift Characters: Willow, Giles Synopsis: If Willow doesn't take care of things, who will? Author's notes: Written for the 2019 Which Willow Ficathon. This is a stand-alone, canon-compliant fic. (I.e. not part of the Barbverse.) Buffy Summers had been dead for exactly one week, three days, eighteen hours, and forty-two minutes. Not that Willow was counting. She didn't have to; the slow and steady energy drain of the spell she was using to keep the body from decaying while they all decided what to do was counter enough. The click-click=click of her heels on the pavement followed her around the corner as she turned off Wilkins and onto Maple, heading for the Magic Box. The sun's last rays painted the western sky a brilliant orange behind the roofline of the storefronts. The strap of the satchel she carried dug into her shoulder, and she concentrated on the small discomfort, willing it to drown out the whirring of her thoughts. Inside her head, Goody-Two-Shoes Rule-Following Willow kept pointing out that concealing Buffy's death was seriously dodgy, and could only cause more problems the longer they kept it up. Once the authorities did get involved, surely they wouldn't be happyif they found that Buffy Summers' friends had just... buried her in the back yard, well, in Miller's Woods, in a home-made coffin, without a permit or an autopsy or a death certificate, as if she were a pet goldfish or something. Buffy had died without a will, so would the house go to Dawn, or to Mr. Summers? Or to both? Would they have to go through probate? (What even was probate, anyway?) She was pretty sure that they couldn't afford a lawyer, if Mr. Summers wanted to fight for custody, and even if they could, what judge would let a minor stay with a couple of unrelated barely-out-of-minorhood hemselves women instead of her own father? And could they pay the mortgage? Would the bank foreclose? But Dawn didn't want to go live with her father, and no one could contact Hank Summers anyway. And there was also the hiding-the-Slayer's-demise-from-demonkind-because-the-replacement-Slayer-was-doing-ten-to-twentyness of the whole situation. What Willow really wanted to do was curl up somewhere and cry. But if she did that, nothing would get done at all. Dawn was a mess, Xander was obsessing over the planning of the aforementioned back-yard funeral, Anya was great at pointing out problems but not nearly as forthcoming with solutions, Spike was an alcoholic puddle on the crypt floor. Tara could offer emotional support, but not much else. And Giles, the actual certified grownup, was wandering blankly through the motions of, well, just about everything. So (argued Subversive Countrculture Hacker-cum-Superwitch Willow) obviously the only thing to do was fix up the Buffybot yet again, and pretend that Buffy Summers was alive and well. Not that that would really help much on the paying-the-mortgage front, unless they sent the Buffybot out to get a job, which at this point was looking like a better and better idea, but totally aside from all of that, the truth was, part of her simply wasn't able to bear the idea of sealing, stamping, or certifying that Buffy Summers was really most sincerely dead. The sign on the Magic Box door said "OPEN," but only a single light shone in the back of the store, illuminating the rare books section. Willow cupped her hands against the glass and peered through the blinds. She could see a dark figure hunched at the reading table. Was Giles just... sitting there, in the dark? Biting her lip, she pulled the door open. The jangle of the bell was loud in the nearly-deserted street. The hunched figure straightened. "Ah. Willow. I'm sorry. I wasn't expecting you." Giles stood, a slow, jerky unwinding, and came to meet her, a particularly musty volume tucked in the crook of one elbow. His deeply line face was unutterably weary. Not just tired, but lost. Not that Willow imagined she looked particularly chipper herself; it had been a rough couple of weeks. He crossed to the checkout counter, set the book down, and flicked on the switch for the front lights, flooding the store with brilliance. Well, relative brilliance. Willow caught a glimpse of The Rituals of Osiris on the cover, embossed in eye-twisting curlicues. Giles adjusted his glasses. "I beg your pardon. I was just doing some, er, inventorying. I've been composing my final report to the Council, and frankly, I needed a bit of a breather." He trailed off, and Willow gulped. Final report? She wasn't oblivious; Giles had been chafing at the bit to go back to England for years. Or was it champing at the bit? Whatever, Giles had been doing it. But always before there'd been something – someone – to tie him to Sunnydale a little longer. "No, no, I was wondering if Anya was around? For financial-type questioning and answering. I can come back tomorrow if it's a bad time." Were there any good times? "You - you're not already finished with the report, are you? Are you sure you included all the relevant details? The monks, the Knights, the minions? Whatever was up with Ben? There was an awful lot going on." Giles replaced his glasses. "It's quite comprehensive, I assure you." He busied himself behind the counter, doing something mysterious with receipts. "I'll submit it as soon as we determine how to best... handle the details of Buffy's passing. Once that's done, I'd expect to hear back from Travers very shortly with my new assignment." Apprehension blossomed into panic. Giles couldn't leave. Not now. Everything was changing, falling apart, and she couldn't move fast enough, hold on hard enough, to keep the shards together. I have to fix this, I have to fix this, I have to fix this. "You can't leave," Willow blurted. "I mean, no matter what we do, the Hellmouth is still going to be here, being all hellish and mouthy, and if we're trying to convince the demony types that Buffy's still around – " she unslung her satchel and plunked it down on the counter top, rubbing her aching shoulder. "Shouldn't her Watcher be around too? For verisimilitude?" Giles straightened, sighed, ran a hand over his face. "Willow... we've had this conversation before." "No. No, no, we haven't." She waved her hands in agitation. "Not this one. We had a similar-yet-different, almost but not quite totally unrelated conversation! Last time you wanted to leave because you thought Buffy didn't need you around, and now – " "Buffy is no longer around to need me," Giles finished. "But that's exactly why you have to stay!" Willow pulled a sheaf of printouts from the satchel and fanned them out across the counter – schematics, wiring diagrams, reams of C++. "Buffy's gone. I've got to the get the Bot repaired if we're going to have a hope in heck of fooling Social Services, but that's a walk of the cake variety compared to getting it to fight demons on the regular, and it's – " His expression wasn't softening. Giles had serious leaving-on -a-jet-plane face. Think, think, think – what had snapped him out of it the last time he'd wanted to leave? Buffy, of course. Buffy telling him that she still needed him. But Buffy was gone. (Did it make it better or worse, saying 'gone' instead of 'dead?') Buffy couldn't need him anymore. Except, except... inspiration struck. "Giles, it's not going well. The demon-fighting of the Bot, I mean. I was hoping you could help." "Er." Giles regarded the stack of printouts with an expression of faint alarm. "I'm afraid that my expertise doesn't extend to chipsets. And what do you mean, it's not going well? The robot was quite successful against Glory." "Not that kind of help. And that's because we were basically just using her as a distraction." She leaned across the counter, voice dropping to a confidential whisper, as if the Buffybot were listening in and might get its feelings hurt. "The problem is, the Bot's strong, but she's not very tough. She's actually pretty fragile – all those delicate gears and servos and circuits. She wasn't engineered for heavy-duty demon fighting. She's got all this fighty-kicky programming based on Buffy's combat style, but when she's actually fighting a demon, if it gets its hands... claws... appendages on her, a lot of the time it can just rip her apart. That's fine if we just bring her out once a year to fight some major baddie, but if she's going to be patrolling every night? She can't heal by herself, and we have limited supplies for repairs, and..." she threw up her hands. The glasses were getting a thorough polishing again. "That's unfortunate, but I'm not seeing how I can be of assistance. I'm neither an engineer nor a programmer, Willow." You're not getting away that easily, mister. "You don't have to be! What she needs is a teacher. That's the beauty of it. She's got learning routines. I don't want to think about whatever it was Spike wanted her to learn, but she can incorporate new options into her decision trees. Someone needs to show her a different kind of fighting style, one that minimizes her chances of getting grappled. And there's nobody who can do that better than you can." Giles was wavering, she could see it. Maybe Fake Buffy was better than no Buffy. She stared up at him, beseeching, willing him to say Yes, yes, Willow, I'll stay, I'll help you. Finally, his shoulders slumped in defeat. "Very well. I'll make the attempt, at any rate. But as soon as the robot is capable of protecting herself adequately, I really must – " "Oh, Giles, thank you!" Willow flung herself across the counter to give him an impulsive hug, scattering the printouts and knocking the book to the floor. She let him go with a squeak if alarm and dove after them. Giles knelt to help her pick the papers up, and she stuffed everything back into the satchel willy-nilly. "This will work, I'm sure of it! She's almost ready for a trial run – I'll call you as soon as she's ready! Oh! And I'll come back tomorrow morning to talk to Anya." She couldn't exactly say her heart was lighter as she left the store, but at least one piece of her shattered world was glued back into place, however temporarily. Surely Giles would realize after awhile, that staying was the right thing. Willow hurried along the darkening streets towards Buffy's house, where Dawn and Tara would be waiting. Tomorrow... well, maybe tomorrow Anya would have some ideas for what to do about the money, and the legal questions, and... Willow groaned. There was so much still to do, so many things she had to make right – because who else would do it? It was all too much. Even with the Bot... everything would be so much easier if only... If only Buffy wasn't... She shivered, though the late spring evening wasn't cold, not at all. Buffy was gone. Buffy was dead. And there was nothing she could do to make that right. Her eyes stung. She wiped them defiantly, then ran a thumb under the satchel strap. Her heart might be ligher(ish), but the satchel definitely seemed to be heavier. She opened the flap, peered inside. What on earth...oh. Drat. She'd stuffed Giles' spellbook in there by accident. She should return it. But she was almost back to Revello Drive, and she was going back to the Magic Box tomorrow to see Anya anyway... she'd keep it just for tonight. Maybe read a few chapters. She'd been wanting to brush up on her Egyptian rituals anyway. Maybe it would distract her from her problems, if only for a little while. What could it hurt? End comments

[sorryforbeingcrazy]

I posted 5290 times in 2021

25 posts created (0%)

5265 posts reblogged (100%)

For every post I created, I reblogged 210.6 posts.

I added 34 tags in 2021

#netflix - 5 posts

#mcu - 4 posts

#marvel - 4 posts

#bucky - 3 posts

#buffy the vampire slayer - 3 posts

#sam wilson - 3 posts

#tfatws - 3 posts

#spike - 3 posts

#instagram - 3 posts

#sex education - 3 posts

Longest Tag: 88 characters

#heisenberg with neil newman’s body would have been the immediate implosion of my ovaries

My Top Posts in 2021

#5

I think that the line “You seem like a calm and reasonable man. Are you a calm and reasonable man?” , Thor is talking to Atreus and not Kratos.

That’s what I think.

68 notes • Posted 2021-09-10 19:55:11 GMT

#4

I just had to draw them.

If you want to check the rest of my art stuff my instagram is: @artsince1996

74 notes • Posted 2021-08-25 21:13:25 GMT

#3

I reaally have a problem with well written villains with smooth voices…

And yes, I’m looking at you Maul, Loki and Silco.

82 notes • Posted 2021-11-25 22:50:33 GMT

#2

I just finished watching Season 3 of Sex Education and I loved it.

But I’m so disappointed…I came to Tumblr expecting good vibes on the Sex Education tag and what do i find?

Fucking hate everywhere… like….guys….what the fuck?

This series is a fucking treat. Some of the best content we have nowadays and you are just talking shit and going on about ship wars…

I’m disappointed…

95 notes • Posted 2021-09-17 21:29:52 GMT

#1

Buffy and Spike deserved more...talking.

I´ve been marinating this in my brain for a couple of days, so here I go.

I really liked the relationship between Buffy and Spike. And I´m not only focusing on the “romance” part, but in general. I loved their transition from enemies to allies to....friends? I just enjoyed how when it came to serious threats, they always looked  and relied on one another for help.

That´s why one of the things that disappointed me the most about the last season was the fact that they never really talked about how wrong they did to each other on season 6.

Season 6 is a very very dark season, for all of the characters: Willow´s addiction to magic and the effects it has on Tara, Xander´s fears that end up leaving Anya on the altar, Giles feeling that he is useless...But who really takes the trophy home in this one, is Buffy. I don´t even know how to start.

From the moment she is brought back to life, she suffers. We were expecting her comeback to be a happy moment, filled with tears of joy, laughter and hugs. Instead, she wakes up in her grave, has to dig herself out and then she walks around a Sunnydale on fire and full of demons. Can you imagine the shock? Only the crawling up from the grave should be enough to send someone to therapy for the rest of their lives. The mere thought of waking up in a coffin, six-feet undergroundnd makes me anxious...But let´s keep going.

She is back. She is traumatized and shocked beyond belief and at home with Dawn (after reliving everything that happened before she died). She is quiet, trying to process everything while Dawn is constantly talking to her about how things are and asking if she is ok. Her hands still wrecked from the diggin. And suddenly, she is face to face with Spike. (This is a sidenote related to the actors. I cannot give enough credit to James Marsters portrayal of Spike in general. But in this scene...man, 12/10, flawless). He looks at her in disbelief. And despite the fact that he was happier than ever that she was alive again, he does not try to touch her or approach her, and the moment he sees her hands he acknowledges what she has been through. So he just tell her that they are going to take care of her, and sends Dawn away to fetch stuff to clean her wounds. And they are alone in the living room. He does not overwhelm her with questions or hugs or anything. He just stares at her, giving her time to put her thoughts in order.

It may look like a trivial scene but I´m not kidding when I tell you that, for me, this is the most important scene of the whole season. And it is because it defines how the dynamic between Buffy and Spike, and Buffy and her friends is going to be.

When Spike is holding her wounded hands, letting her ask questions, just staring at each other, there´s silence. Peace. Calm. It´s the first moment since she is back that she is at ease. But the moment her friends burst through the door, is chaos. Noise, questions, worry, light, people...And this is why this scene is so important. During the rest of the season, the reason why Buffy goes away looking for Spike is because she wants that peace and quiet. She wants the calmness she gets around him, when she does not have to worry about being fine and happy in front of her friends. She can take her mask off when she is in front of Spike. That´s why she tells him that she was in a good place. That´s why he turns into her confident.

And for sometime, it works. Whenever she feels like she can´t take it anymore she goes to spend sometime with Spike. The problem is that her life gets harder and harder: financial problems, Giles leaves, Willow´s addiction, her relationship with Dawn. Her struggle becomes unbearable to the point were Spike is the only safe constant in her life. The only person she can rely on. And of course, mixing this with Spike´s feelings and their “tension”, their relationship turns physical. Very physical. And here is when Buffy starts using, quite wrongly, Spike.

The first time could be a slip, but not the rest. She may not have been aware at the beginning, but deep inside she knew what she was doing. She knew that Spike had strong feelings for her. She knew that he would never deny her and even if he did (that he actually does a couple of times) he wouldn´t last long. So she takes advantage of him and his feelings.

Someone, blind as a fucking bat, could say “Spike wasn´t minding it. He was enjoying the sex with Buffy. It´s what he wanted.” Fuck, no. He spents the whole season wanting to talk to her about their relationship. To discuss what is going on between them. If you are in it just for the sex, you don´t care to ask questions. You just don´t care. You just take what you came for and then you leave. The way Buffy does. And this bothers him. It bothers him that the moment they are finished she runs away. It hurts him. More than once he calls her out by the fact that whenever they are not “in bed”, she is constantly yelling at him and insulting him and his feelings, and yet, she always comes back to him.

Now, for those who think that Spike was fine with this I want you to imagine for a second, that you are in his shoes. As a human being, and not caring about genders. Imagine you loved someone, beyond reason (i´m not even going to throw in the fact that he saw her die even though i could). And because you care about this person, you spent time with them because they are in a bad place mentally. And that person enjoys your company. And starts spending more time with you. And one day, you kiss. Once. Twice. Then, you sleep together. Once. Twice. And god knows how many more times. You could think “If they like to spend time with me, tell me things they do not to their friends, kiss me and even sleep with me, they must feel something, right?” It´s a fair assumption. But instead, this person is constantly telling you how disgusted they feel with themselves for being with you physically, to the point were they keep what you have in absolute secret from their friends, and they run from you everytime you sleep together.

Fucking. Imagine.

Evil or not. Souless or not. That fucks you up my friends.

What leads us to the horrifying events of Seeing Red. You won´t see me coming any close to justify what Spike tries to do to Buffy. There´s no excuse in the world that clears you from that one. But I do see where it comes from. And it´s not just because Spike is evil. That´s a lame excuse of an argument. That scene, is the representation of Spike hitting rock bottom. He wants what he had with Buffy back. Even if it was only physical, it was at least something. And so, he is desperate...and well....we all know what happens. I swear to you, that scene creeped me out so fucking much.

That´s why it angers me how they did not approach these subjects on season 7. They both did terrible things to each other. They should have talked about it in depth. And even though I´m quite satisfied how they ended up acknowledging each other in ways any of the other characters do, I cannot hide my displeasure about that missing conversation. They needed more closure for what happened on season 6.

Good lord. This really turned out long.

Anyway, thanks for coming to my Ted Talk.

160 notes • Posted 2021-08-26 10:52:41 GMT

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[marshmallow-the-vampire-slayer]

MTVS Epic Rewatch #174

VOTE!

BTVS 6x20 Villains

Stray thoughts

1) Just in case you forgot, this is where we had left off…

Fun times, right?

2) So we get to the other questionable writing choice in Seeing Red, one that I chose not to discuss on my previous recap because writing about the bathroom scene had been emotionally taxing.

I’ve talked about this before so I’ll try and keep it short. (omg this is huge lie, I didn’t keep it short after all, moving on) I understand that the writers wanted Willow to get from point A (abusing magic) to point B (becoming Dark!Willow), and it was a plot that I was certainly expecting. It was a narrative choice that most definitely made sense. It was a plot twist that was a long time coming. I don’t remember exactly when Willow started doing magic, but it was as early as season 2. She did it without any guidance, and she enjoyed how useful it made her feel. Useful at first, powerful later on. Occasionally, Giles would frown upon her magic use, but he never truly discouraged it (despite the fact he himself had gone down that same path with disastrous consequences, but that’s beside the point.) My problem is with how they got her to point B. Considering she’d been going down that path for years, I think it could be argued that she hardly needed a trigger. Or, if the writers felt a trigger was needed, it needn’t be Tara’s death. I think it could’ve been a more interesting narrative choice to have a Good Character become The Villain because of her own choice - simply because she was addicted to the power the magics gave her and she wanted more. Remember this?

GILES: Do you have any idea what you've done? The forces you've harnessed, the lines you've crossed? WILLOW: I thought you'd be... impressed, or, or something. GILES: Oh, don't worry, you've... made a very deep impression. Of everyone here... you were the one I trusted most to respect the forces of nature. WILLOW: Are you saying you don't trust me? GILES: Think what you've done to Buffy. WILLOW: I brought her back! GILES: At incredible risk! WILLOW: Risk? Of what? Making her deader? GILES: Of killing us all. Unleashing hell on Earth, I mean, shall I go on? WILLOW: No! Giles, I did what I had to do. I did what nobody else could do. GILES: Oh, there are others in this world who can do what you did. You just don't want to meet them.  WILLOW: No, probably not, but ... well, they're the bad guys. I'm not a bad guy.

So you see, she knew that she had crossed a line, she knew she had used dark magics, but she thought because she was using them to do “good” then it was okay. She wasn’t a bad guy. Right? Well, are you still good if you use dark means to help others/yourself? That’s why I think Willow could’ve gone dark using this same logic. Doing bad things while trying to do “good” (albeit selfishly so) until she crossed the ultimate line and couldn’t turn back.

Okay, you’ll say, but she was on the way to recovery. She had been doing better and not using magics for a while. You’ll say that a trigger was unquestionably needed. Granted, you might be right. Let’s overlook the fact that Buffy was already lying half dead in the backyard, which in my opinion could’ve worked as a trigger. Let’s say Willow truly needed Tara to die to be pushed over the edge.

And so we get to how Tara was killed off. Tara is the only main character that is killed not only with a weapon but with a gun. So you see, it wasn’t just about Tara dying to trigger Willow’s darkness. The writers were trying to make Tara’s an extraordinary and exemplary death. The show had made its stance on gun use blatantly clear numerous times. Guns are bad. The baddest.

Buffy herself makes this point repeatedly. And like I said, none of the main characters are hit by a bullet, let alone die of a shot wound. So having one of the main characters being shot dead had to be a deliberate and thought-out choice. It was something they’d never done before. And they chose one of the two gay characters in the show to die this extraordinary death. Of all the characters in the show, a gay character was shot dead. Now, what was the point they were trying to make...?

(if you want to read more about what I’ve said on Willow going dark you can do it here, here, and here.)

3) 

DEMON: You may not violate the laws of natural passing. WILLOW: How? How is this natural? DEMON: It is a human death, by human means. WILLOW: But I- DEMON: You raised one killed by mystical forces. This is not the same. She is taken by natural order. It is done.

I mean, this God or whatever wouldn’t bring her back right then, but what about the spell Dawn had used on Joyce in Forever? Willow still could do that… (even if it meant not knowing if the real Tara would be the one coming back…)

4) Also, how horrifying is it that while Willow was embracing her dead girlfriend her best friend was lying on the grass, barely breathing, in the backyard?

5) “He’s coming for us” How deluded was Andrew, though? I mean, he had seen Warren rape and murder his own ex-girlfriend, and he’d seen him turn on one of their own, Jonathan. What made him believe Warren would be loyal to him in particular? Was it only because of his crush on Warren?

6) I think it’s actually a great choice to have the demons at the bar not only reveal that the Slayer is still alive but also root for her to gut Warren. Like yeah! Even evil soulless monsters want to see Warren dead! I buy it.

7) This whole scene had a very Carrie vibe to it, don’t you think?

8) And then… 

FYI, this is what I imagine having sex with a book would be like. I mean, it’s not that I imagine having sex with a book every day. I mean… well, you know what I mean. I hope…

9) oH GOD…

I feel so bad for Dawn here, I’m almost crying. All season she was complaining about no one paying her any attention, and now there was no one left to warn her that the only person who had been by her side throughout the past year had been shot and was still lying dead on her bedroom floor.

10) On top of everything, Warren was a megalomaniac…

WARREN: I had my own guys. The Trio, yeah, you've heard of us. RACK: Right. What were you, a band or something?

11) “Me? What did I, what did I do to her? Okay, okay, I shot her friend...” as if that wasn’t bad enough? Gtfo warren, die already, you piece of human garbage.

12) Your best friend could never…

13) “Willow, what’s wrong?” I mean, don’t you think the Extreme Makeover From Hell is enough of a clue?

14) Okay, so the first time Willow killed Warren, she didn’t use magic, she just strangled him…

And I’ll touch on this point when I get to the other Warren-killing scene…

15) I’ll always felt Buffy’s lack of emotional reaction in this scene odd… 

WILLOW: When he shot you, he hit her too. Upstairs in my room. BUFFY: Oh my god. WILLOW: Guess the last shot was the charm. XANDER: She's dead? WILLOW: She's dead. Now he's dead too. BUFFY: Oh my god... Tara...

Like, she immediately comes to terms with the fact that Tara’s dead? She doesn’t break down? Tara was the only person who had been by her side the past year, she had been her friend and confidant since her friends had brought her back. I don’t know if the writing was poor, if this is how Sarah was directed, or if it was her own acting choice, but it feels wrong.

In fact, other than Dawn, Xander’s the one who seems to be most affected by Tara’s death and by seeing her dead body.

(btw, these were the directions on the script for Buffy’s reaction:  Buffy and Xander are floored by this. Devastated. Buffy starts to cry.)

16) And then…

DUN-DUN-DUUUUNNNN!

17) 

XANDER: Warren's a dead man if she finds him. DAWN: Good. BUFFY: Dawn, don't say that. DAWN: Why not? I'd do it myself if I could. BUFFY: Because you don't really feel that way. DAWN: Yes I do. And you should too. He killed Tara, and he nearly killed you. He needs to pay. XANDER: Out of the mouths of babes. BUFFY: Xander. XANDER: I'm just saying he's... he's just as bad as any vampire you've sent to dustville. BUFFY: Being a Slayer doesn't give me a license to kill. Warren's human. DAWN: So? BUFFY: So the human world has its own rules for dealing with people like him. XANDER: Yeah, we all know how well those rules work. BUFFY: Sometimes they do. Sometimes they don't. We can't control the universe. If we were supposed to... then the magic wouldn't change Willow the way it does. And... we'd be able to bring Tara back. DAWN: And Mom. BUFFY: There are limits to what we can do. There should be.

If you take justice into your own hands, aren’t you becoming exactly the type of person you’re trying to take revenge on? Bless Buffy for being the voice of reason, yet again.

18) 

BUFFY: Dawn. I'm serious. You've been through enough for more than one ... ever. You should be someplace where you feel safe. DAWN: Fine. I want to go to Spike's.

BUFFY: Alright.

Alright? Really? That easy? That’s the opposite of alright!

19) At least we’re blessed with Clem’s presence in this episode…

20) Oh, my god, so much shit had gone down in the last couple of episodes that I had completely forgotten Xander still didn’t know Anya was a vengeance demon again.

ANYA: I don't need a spell.  I can feel her. XANDER: You can...? ANYA: Feel her. Her thirst for vengeance, it's overwhelming. XANDER: Is that like, left over from your vengeance demon days? You just sense her? ANYA: No. Not left over.

XANDER: Oh.

21) Okay, this is for all the people who claim Anya didn’t like/care about Willow…

BUFFY: Look, Anya, we don't have much time. Which side of this are you on?

XANDER: If you know where she is, you can help us. ANYA: I'll help. But I'm helping Willow.

She was forced to make a choice here: root for the woman seeking vengeance or help a friend not get lost in the darkness of becoming a murderer. She chose the latter. It wasn’t the first time Anya had willingly chosen to help Willow and it wouldn’t be the last. I think sometimes Anya’s lack of finesse and bluntness get confused with indifference or disregard, and most often than not, that’s not the case. She cares about Xander and all the Scoobies, probably more so than they care about her. But that won’t prevent her from telling it like it is, you know?

22) I had totally forgotten about this scene! She even makes a pun?

WILLOW: Axe not gonna cut it.

Like, I guess all I can always remember about this part of the story is what happens at the end, and the rest is kind of blurry? Like this?

Or this?

or this...?

I have zero recollection of either of those moments.

23) Now, this I remember.

24) “You’re not a bad person, not like me” And that’s the question, actually. I mean, as satisfying as this may be for us viewers…

…I think we should remember that title of the episode is “Villains”, plural. Did Warren get what was coming to him? Absolutely. But in the process, one of the good guys became a villain. Let’s rewind a little bit. Let’s go back to the beginning of the episode. Tara lies dead in Willow’s arms. Willow, devastated by her grief and desperate to see Tara alive again, calls upon Osiris. This mystical force warns her that Tara’s death is a human death by human means. And now I get to the point I was referring to early on. The first time Willow attempted to kill Warren she tried to choke him with her own bare hands. She only failed because it was a robot. But imagine if she had. Imagine Willow had actually killed Warren with her own hands. The end result is the same. Willow is a murderer. Just like Warren. But I feel like if we had seen Willow actually strangling Warren to death, it would’ve been harder for us to forgive and forget. I’m not saying fans tend to forget this moment. It’s an iconic, albeit terrifying, moment in the show. But the way it is framed, with Willow using magic and the same bullet Warren put through Tara’s chest and her voicing her heartbreak and the unfairness of Tara’s death, makes it almost okay. Almost. From a narrative point of view, of course. But it’s sudden. And it’s magical. It’s almost unreal. 

But picture this. Picture Willow closing her hands around Warren’s neck. Picture her choking him and picture Warren gasping for air. Picture her reveling in watching him breathing his last breath. Picture how long it could take her to do kill him that way. Picture Willow letting Warren’s limp body fall to the ground, as a human and not a skinless, faceless body. Picture that and tell me how it would make you feel about Willow. Picture Willow becoming a murderer in that way and tell me if you would still cheer her on, if you would be able to think of Willow as anything other than a murderer, regardless of who she killed. Picture that and tell me it wouldn’t make you feel horrified and disgusted in the same way that Spike makes us feel in the bathroom scene.

I understand the writers’ choice. They wanted Willow to be the villain, but they didn’t want us not to be able to forgive her. They wanted us to still be on her side, throughout it all. And for that, I’m grateful. But we shouldn’t forget that for all intents and purposes, Willow is a murderer. 

25) 

TBC...