A thought about Willow.

[elisi]

Don't know why, but this has been going round in my head recently. It's very obvious, but it gave me insight into Willow (which is a good thing), and how she grows etc.

The thing I noticed was this:

WILLOW: ...the only thing I had going for me ... were the moments - just moments - when Tara would look at me and I was wonderful. (grimly) And that will never happen again.

Now I like Willow/Tara very much, but Willow's statement here seems to me to say that she's really very immature when it comes to love. What she says is all about how Tara made *her* feel... Contrast for a moment with Spike in 'Touched':

I'm not asking you for anything. When I say, "I love you," it's not because I want you or because I can't have you. It has nothing to do with me.

Then I began wondering about Willow/Kennedy - it starts with plain, ordinary attraction, but Kennedy is soon made to realise that Willow isn't 'wonderful'. And Willow is careful that she doesn't forget her lesson. Kennedy doesn't try to ignore the darkness for the sake of keeping peace, she makes herself Willow's link out of it.

*re-reads*

Does that make sense all? I'm not really used to Willow meta, or exploring her character. How much growing up did she do in S7? Did Kennedy help? What did Willow learn about love?

Thoughts? Comments? Anything? Please come bringing insights, because I'm flailing.

Comments

[2maggie2.livejournal.com]

One of these days I'm going to rewatch season 7 for the sole purpose of tracking Willow's story. Cause as of now, my feeling is that they sent her off to England, somebody went 'poof' and she was all growed up now, and so we get the new wise and wonderful Willow of seasons 7/8. I'm hoping that's wrong, of course. But once they loused up her arc with the magic-is-crack stuff, it seems like they cut out the foundation from which to do a credible rehabilitation story. I'm not sure how else to explain it. She got a lot of air time in season 7. I think I read somewhere that it was second only to the time given to Buffy. But I have zero interest in the character or her story... and since I used to find her quite interesting, I want to argue that the Willow who came back from England just isn't related to the Willow who went off the deep end. So I no longer care about her. BTW, I further wonder if part of the problem people are having with season 8 is that it shows no signs of recognizing that the weaknesses of season 7 need to be redressed.

[elisi]

Hmmmm. Well as far as the magic-is-crack, then they addressed that in 'Lessons':

GILES: Everything's connected. You're connected to a great power, whether you feel it or not.
WILLOW: Well you should just take it from me.
GILES: You know we can't. This isn't a hobby or an addiction. It's inside you now, this magic. You're responsible for it.

I think her story is S7 is that she finally has what she always wanted - more power than she knows what to do with. But a) she only knows how to access it from a dark place and b) she knows that her knowledge is far less than her abilities. So it's kinda the reverse of all the other seasons, when she always *knew* a lot, but didn't really have the power to follow through... until (end S5/) S6 when it all went off the rails, and she lost the grip. S7 is her taking baby-steps towards being able to manage all this power, and - in Chosen - having a major break through: Finally she can use the power, and not the other way around.

(s8 has indeed not offered much insight into where she's gone from then. Just a big 'she's been missing for a year'.)