I think Kennedy was them not learning the lesson of Riley. Because with the reactions to Tara's death being what they were they didn't want to intro a Tara like character so they tried what they did with Riley, making him the anti-Angel. Kennedy is the Anti-Tara. And it went over just as well
Dark Willow and Redeemability
- Thread starter quillandfang
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hoponlilmama
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Was odd to me for Willow to have a 'love interest' in s7, and Kennedy, of all people as her next girlfriend. She'd just tried to end the world months ago over losing Tara.
The forced relationship didn't fit, into what was already a crammed and problematic season.
NotASlayer
𝕮𝖍𝖔𝖈𝖔𝖑𝖆𝖙𝖊 𝕻𝖗𝖎𝖓𝖈𝖊𝖘𝖘 🍫 👸🏻
It was another failed attempt to try and undo the backlash from season six that just made things worse.
hoponlilmama
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Well, I think they wanted to make the end the world thing separate from Tara's death. They didn't have to make her feel the world's pain if they wanted them directly connected after all.
But I think when they heard they had two guaranteed seasons before season 6 they went nuts. Season six would be the break everything season, season seven the fix everything season. They never considered season six would be so hated SMG wouldn't even Duchovney a season eight. So they had to cram everything in
DeepBlueJoy
Wasnt Sarah at the end of her contract? Had she not stated more than onelce over several years a desire not to continue?
hoponlilmama
In the words of Captain America: I understood that reference (Duchovny)
DeepBlueJoy
Lion Faced Kitteh
David Duchovny ended his run on X-Files by being and occasional guest star when the show continued passed it's intended series finale. He'd disappeared in that ep in a way that meant he might have never appeared again.
I don't know if SMG ever said prior to season 6 she wouldn't renew her contract beyond season 7, but the fact season 7 was the definitive endcwas treated as something that needed to be announced rather than a given
DeepBlueJoy
Lion Faced Kitteh
I agree. While widows & widowers are often lonely enough to sleep wiith someone, i don't think Willow would choose Kennedy. Willow was clearly not ready; she had to be backed into a corner.
Willow had a type. Hostile uber macho was not it. Even if you include men in the calculus, Oz was manly but gentle. Xander was flawed and a mess but also gentle and very caring. Tara was one of the kindest, most caring people ever. Buffy, her friend, was not a bully.
Kennedy was a large, steamrolling bull in a china shop crushing what she could not manipulate.
I have major reservations with Willow but no one deserves Kennedy.
The closest Kennedy gets to Willow's type is early Xander hadca bit of bravado covering his insecurities, but it was very obviously a mask.
The biggest justification for Willow Kennedy is Willow is bad at telling people no
AlphaFoxtrot
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Re: Annoying Gay Character: Eh, I suspect both Lenks and Hallett had a really good impersonation of Jack from Will & Grace, and just went with it.
Re: "Bury Your Gays." Joss understands how to write for his audience, the audience that gets the dark humor of Tara's killing joke. I think he didn't know how to write for the Junior High L-Word audience that had gathered around the show, and he didn't understand the emotional significance which Tillow held for that audience. Which makes sense to me, over a Hays era film trope.
Re: "Bury Your Gays." Joss understands how to write for his audience, the audience that gets the dark humor of Tara's killing joke. I think he didn't know how to write for the Junior High L-Word audience that had gathered around the show, and he didn't understand the emotional significance which Tillow held for that audience. Which makes sense to me, over a Hays era film trope.
DeepBlueJoy
Lion Faced Kitteh
I don't get the joke. I am no juvenile. I find that notion pretty offensive btw - that not appreciating the deliberate trivialization of a beloved character makes us 'high school'. Never watched the L word.
Joss did say as a joke, words to the effect of 'i always wanted to kill someone in the credits". Joss remains a nasty peice of trash (polite version)
Lorne may have read as gay and flamboyant but he did not read as silly. He remains one of my favourite characters of the franchise. I never found him irritating. His musical talent moved me deeply. I still miss Andy.
NotASlayer
Is Killing Joke a Batman reference?
hoponlilmama
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100%, I completely agree. She was drawn to people with a more gentle nature. Even Giles, whom she crushed on had a (mostly) kind nature to him.
That said - someone here (I apologise, I can't remember their name) said that it could've been a case of 'opposites attract'. Now, that's a fair point, but it doesn't appear to be the case here. Also exhibited by the lack of chemistry between Willow and Kennedy.
We as the audience didn't deserve her either!
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It was the 'we have no plan beyond season 5, and also decided to listen to fans about certain storylines', along with other factors. As @NoShip has filled us in previously, SMG had had enough, off the back of the direction of the show/script/her character in s6, that during s7 she told them she was outta there.
They had a chance to lay foundations for the arc of s7 late in s6, but they dropped the ball.
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you know I should have noticed the first time around but I LOATHE the way some fans react to Willow and language
She wants to fix the problem the forced him to leave when he didn't want to. And the response is OMG she wants to make him a slave!
DeepBlueJoy
Lion Faced Kitteh
Forcing someone to do what you want by ANY MEANS is either slavery or making them a puppet.
It matters not at all that she believes she loves him. MAKING him do something not his choice is WRONG unless she is law enforcement and he is inder proper legal sanction.
Doing it by taking away his WILL is the same as roofieing.
I know Willow is pretty and soft looking but she actually is dangerous and pathological.
She believes she has the absolute right to FORCE her lover to stay. That is coercion.
Imprisonment even.
It is illegal by any means. It is immoral. Real world would have her arrested for forcing someone to stay.
Would you like an ex to make you stay with them for ANY reason?
It violates tenets of magic that say we are not supposed to use it for our own selfish desires.
Even if you are following fantasy rules, magic is not to be abused.
Whether the chain is magical mind control or iron, it is still a chain.
Just like those people who force kids to stay with them by threatening to kill the kid's parents. They dont need chains. They have emotional and mental control.
If someone wants to leave and you cannot talk them out of it, there is only one moral option: Let them leave.
If she used anything but magic to make Oz stay, she would have been liable for arrest.
If you want to do magic on someone that you think they will want, you ASK.
She's not making him do anything. Being a werewolf was what was making him do things he didn't want to based on his own words and his actions. Removing the werewolfism means he's no longer having to do things he didn't want to do. And she can't ask because him being a werewolf made him leave town
Of course there's also the fact that her first attempt to test the will be done spell kind of makes the idea she was ever going to do anything to Oz pretty ridiculous