I don't get people turning on Willow either. Look at the other characters in the Buffyverse that have killed humans: Angel, Spike, Faith, and Anya (off the top of my head). All of them were redeemed and became good guys. No reason to think the same can't or won't happen to Willow.

Also, I can't help but think that Osiris (or whoever that big head dude was) told Willow the rules about resurrection for a reason other than the obvious one. Remember, humans killed by mystical means can be resurrected, but those killed by man-made means stay dead. I didn't see a knife and a book of matches there at the end, so I'd say Willow still has an out on the whole killer thing.

I thought the episode was pretty good, but then again, I've liked quite a bit of the "buffysomething" episodes from this season. That said, I am growing tired of the doom and gloom, and I'm looking forward to the rumored return to the show's lighthearted roots next season.

I had to work to see this episode (forget to set the VCR to record it, so I had to resort to the newsgroups).

I'm just exhausted by Buffy at the moment.

Xander now has almost nowhere to turn: Willow's gone wiccany, Anya's gone vengeancey, Buffy's gone recovery, and Dawn's gone crypty. If I were Xander I'd get the hell out of Sunnydale.

The whole hunt Warren down, and bringing back the girlfriend he murdered (to provide more evidence of why he needed to be put down) was a bit ham-fisted. Willow is definitely in judge/jury/executioner mode, but Buffy is still fighting to the good human fight, that humans don't handle justice by the "an eye for an eye" view of justice. Buffy had to teach that to Dawn in the eye of the Willow storm.

Next week preview comment:



Willow's pretty powerful, the only thing that can stop her is Willow (like having the dark magic eat her up from the inside, thus weakening her in her battle with Buffy).

Has Alysson Hannigan signed for next season? I notice that she has been placed at the end of the credits with the "and" title, and that seems to indicate the end of a run.

IMO, Alysson is the best actress on that show and might be one of the better young stars around in terms of range and ability. Want proof: watch her in the American Pie films and look at her last night, two totally different personas. I hope she finds a good dramatic film role soon so she can move beyond Buffy.

I hope the same for the rest of the cast, and see it happening for SMG in spite of Scooby-Doo. However, as TV series go, that seldom happens after the show goes off the air.

The and title in the end of the intro was always used for Anthony Stewart Head who stayed on the show five seasons. That's usually reserved for the person who's after the star of the show. If that makes any sense.

That last spot (the "and" or "with" spot) is reserved for established actors/special guests/whatever - those who are important to the show but not the major star. That role was reserved for Anthony Head, an established actor who was bringing a level of stability to a young TV show. When he moved on, it somewhat made sense to slide Hannigan into that spot. I wouldn't read anything more into it other than respect for her as an actress.

As for range as an actress, while I do enjoy Hannigan's acting, SMG is so incredibly talented it's frightening. Within Buffy alone, she's showcased an unbelievable ability, and once you branch out to her film and soap work, you get a sense of how strong she really is. Hopefully she won't be labelled by her TV success and stuck in the "teen star" role.

das

While I hate to see the show end, I do hope it gives both SMG and Alysson more time to pursue other roles, and I truly hope they find them.

Anyone who ever caught SMG in Cruel Intentions or her soap opera stint would know how good she is at playing evil. Her brief time as Faith proved it as well. If they had an evil Buffy, she would be the best big bad the show ever had.

TV guide next week on the 2 episodes:

Part 1:



Part 2:

Hmmm...

great episode !

i was on Willow's side all the way!

i was actually getting pissed off at Buffy and Xander for trying to stop her!

glad to see that Warren got what was coming to him, i would have hated to see a feel good ending.

so now we have a few things in the fire for the finale. Willow or Spike ?

Maybe a tag team!

It's gonna be hard because viewers like both Willow and Spike, they just seem cooler in the way they go about their violence than Buffy. Then of course there's vengeance demon Anya into the mix.

No one else has said it, so I guess I will:

Hasn't Joss said several times that he would never, EVER, kill off Willow?

In the overall scheme of the show I thought the episode was just a little above average. On the otherhand though I loved it because my favorite episodes are the ones centered around Willow, my favorite still being Dopplegangland.

I would love to see Hannigan in movie where she just plays an ultimate bad-ass, sort of like the role in this episode.

I agree with those here saying that the episode felt a little contrived and ham-fisted in parts.

This definitely opens up for a LOT of storyline possibilities (I can see them in my mind now). It could make for an excellent last season if they do it right.

Bring on the final episode!

True, but does that mean she has to be good?

Warren did have it coming, but not in such a sadistic manner. Having a bunch of rocks crush him or something like that would have sufficed. Bear in mind he was a regular person, and using supernatural stuff against normal people is frowned upon in the Buffy universe. I have no idea what Faith did, but I doubt she tortured, skinned alive, and burnt her victim.

Well I still didn’t like it. I loved the idea of Dark Willow, but they junked up its execution with the whole drug metaphor thing, and now throwing it in at the end of the season. After all the slow buildup it almost feels like an afterthought- “Well, we gotta’ have a big finale”. I guess I just preferred the more clearly stated ‘Big Bad’ arcs, instead of the subtle implication of Willow turning bad and it finally coming around in one big swoop.

More sloppy writing- The transition between the hospital and the hunt for Warren was bad. They seemed too lackadaze about her appearance and heavy magic use. Haven’t they learned anything? Someone starts popping out bullets, spellcasting like crazy, and wearing all black- they are bad. Plus, I wouldn’t leave Dawn with any demon I barely know, for all we know Clem is some kind of virginity taking rape demon. I agree das, They went to great strides to unsympathize Warren, and now especially with his demise I can see why (soften the blow so to speak), but it was a fitting end- your own evil coming back ten fold.

”I have no idea what Faith did, but I doubt she tortured, skinned alive, and burnt her victim.”
Guess you missed her torture of Wesley on Angel- torture-burning, cutting, and I’m sure she would have skinned him alive if she had the time.

Its an arguable point- Willow may be redeemable. She opened herself up to the darkness while in a fit of rage and sadness, in a way putting herself on darkside cruise control. So she is partly to blame for opening herself to it, but I don’t think it is all completely rationally her doing, it is the darkness. Same goes with Faith, who is a psychotic sociopath. She only knew how to open herself up to dysfunction and anger, because she wasn’t properly nurtured. So she is not completely to blame because she is a product of bad rearing combined with an already existing (and worsened) psychosis. But, they both can see the moraltiy line, they just let their emotions consume them and cross over it. Whetehr or not you want to forgive them for it, accounting their conditions, is up to you. Obviously on Angel, he forgives Faith and sympathizes. We'll see what Buffy and Xander do.

You really need to go watch the episodes leading up to this season. Not only are they some of the best television in the last decade, but there's so much backstory that would help you better appreciate what is happening now (particularly with regard to the comment you just made).

das

I remember Willow from the alternate universe where she and Zander were vampires. She was so bad it hurt . Her whole thing with playing with Warren was 'so her'. I had no trouble with her killing him but don't want her to kill Jonathan. He did help Buffy to get rid of Warren's super power. Even when he was in High School I thought he was interesting. Remember his speech at the prom to Buffy. I don't want him to be anyones 'butt monkey' either.

If you like BtVS, you need to do anything you can to get the first 3 seasons. From about the midpoint of Season 2 through the end of Season 3, it was easily some of the best television I've seen. Faith tried and did do some very evil things.

RE: Faith - you're also missing that she got off on it. It was this whole dark side power trip.

Also, in his Vamp days, look what Angel did. He took Druscilla, drove her insane and then made her into a vampire.

Early on in this season, I wanted to kill Warren. I don't have a problem with what Willow did, but how she did it. Andrew and Jonathan are just tools, however, Andrew was starting to get off on it, but if you notice, when Katrina was with them in the EP where she was killed, when she said Rape, Jonathan freaked. He then realized the level and degree of what they were doing and knew it was wrong. He is redeemable, I'm not so sure about Andrew.

Andrew has a blind thing for Warren. He doesn't know how to think on his own. Jon had been alone for so long that he enjoyed having friends but as soon as he realized that they were driffing into being cruel he was looking for a way out without them coming after him. Jon was using his 'act like the others so they won't discover you have scrupples mode' to keep alive. I always feel sorry for people trapped between a rock and a hard place.
Warren just had no respect for others (woman or man) at all. He may make a lot of friends in hell and come back. Bad people always find a way back.

If by "blind thing" you mean Andrew is in love with Warren, then I think you're right. Or am I the only one that heard him start to say "He never lo..." (ved me), after he and Jonathan were captured and thrown in the cell last week?

His line about "The girl's hot too" when they were watching Spike and Anya on Candid Camera also supports this. I guess Andrew will get pissed at Willow for doing the same thing to him that Warren did to her. Dark Andrew. Now that's scary.

Edit: I checked the episode so I could correct my misquote above. As they were led into the jail, Andrew said to Jonathan, "How could he do this to me? He promised we'd be together but, he was just using me. He never really loved... hanging out with us."

I agree that Andrew is in the closet and in love with Warren. When they saw Spike and Anya on the monitor, Andrew said how cool Spike was and there was affection in his voice. Then as an after thought he's like, Oh and the chick is hot too. So, yea, I saw that.

I was actually hoping the grief would literally kill Dawn...or at the very least "mute" her for a while.

With all that being said, what I don't understand is why Willow can take an ax to the back and live, while Tara can be killed by a single bullet. Supposedly they are both very powerful wiccas, so it looks like they would have seen this coming and could have prevented (sensed) it somehow?

I would like to see Spike and Anya join Willow in taking on Buffy. That would make for one hell of a season finale!

I really liked this episode, definitely the best of this lackluster season so far.

And yes, dark Willow is sexy!

Can someone tell me where I can find a free news server for the newsgroup alt.binaries.multimedia.buffy-v-slayer. My cable went out last night and I missed the episode!!! Grrrr Arrg! You can email me if you don't want to post here. Thanks!

I also didn't like the axe to the back thing. The only way I could see that working is because of the fact that she sensed it was him the whole way and it was some kind of spell where it didn't actually pierce her. That would make sense since she broke that demon's claws with the spell before it could slice Tara last season. So I'm going to say it's that because otherwise her power is too ridiculous.

Uh, wasn't that supposed to be utterly, non-subtily, comedicly obvious?