Opinions on The Killer in Me?

[quillandfang]

I'm not a big fan of this episode, but I feel like conceptually it had a lot of potential (no pun intended). I dislike how it was used to push Willow into a new relationship she wasn't ready for, but there's a lot to be said about her working through her guilt while wearing Warren's face: both her guilt over Tara's death and her previous actions.

Even though Warren is incomparable to Willow in terms of his shallow, downright evil goals and intentions, I could see how she would compare herself to him in her own self-hatred. She panicked and hurt people when she felt desperate, and she took away the agency of her friends (raising Buffy, the memory wipe etc.). Also, as shown in the episode, she blames herself for Tara's death since it wouldn't have happened if they weren't together that day. I already had the opinion that Willow's arc in season 7 should have been about self-reflection and connection to the greater good, but thinking about this episode makes me see just how well that storyline would have fit if it was expanded upon or given more depth. Thoughts?

(Sorry I know I just made another Willow thread, but I've been having a lot of thoughts about her the last couple days.)