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Date Posted: 11:24:33 10/27/05 Thu
Author: Sunshine
Subject: Re: Willow's Apologist
In reply to: manwitch 's message, "Willow's Apologist" on 10:06:02 10/27/05 Thu

The chick on Angel was a special circumstance.
How special? I wondered about the ramifications of empowering all these potentials. The WC was destroyed, there was no guidance available to help these girls to deal with this sudden change. It is not clear how many slayers were problematic, maybe only this one, but I think that this empowerment was risky and in no way were the potentials given a choice. I interpreted the Sunnydale potentials choice as a choice whether to stay and assault the Hellmouth or bug out before the battle, not as a choice as to whether to become activated slayers. It seemed once the spell was cast, all potentials were activated. There did not seem to be a vote on the matter so other than the choice to run or fight, I don’t see any choice here. I have to add that I see all sorts of problems with the tactics and the methodology of “Chosen” but I do consider it a totally satisfying end game to the series. Buffy subverts the whole Slayer mythology and makes her own rules. When Dawn asks Buffy “What are we going to do now Buffy?”, for the first time in 7 years, the question is no longer synthetic, she actually is going to have to make a decision. Bloody brilliant in my opinion.

and the rest leads inexorably to addiction, Tara's death, and black Willow.
I don’t see the inexorability in Willow’s journey. She chose that path, it was in mo way forced upon her. In “Choices” in season 3, she turns down scholarships to some of the best universities in the world to stay at UC Sunnydale and become a major Wicca witch. She had a choice (hence the episode title), she was not chosen in the way the potentials were chosen. We might have cheered her choice as BtVS without Willow would have been only slightly less sensible than BtVS without Buffy but as a character she possessed free will and there was no requirement that she stay in Sunnydale. She chose to engage in magic and she chose to sometimes use it for her own purpose. I do think that sometimes she acted with altruism but I often saw a Willow that was intoxicated by the power. I do not really see this as addition per se but rather a character flaw. The whole addiction theme I feel is just an example of the victim syndrome run amok; “It’s not my fault, I am a victim of some horrible disease, it is beyond my control, please excuse my actions, I am not responsible … etc”. I think Willow had ample opportunity to jump off the train but she was too enamored of the ride.

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