"Arbitrar Of Quality" <tsmtsm@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
news:902a6786-c142-4cbe-a08e-f647fa0266c0@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> On Apr 13, 10:35 pm, "One Bit Shy" <O...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>> "Arbitrar Of Quality" <tsm...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in
>>
messagenews:20eb82a7-2734-4ff5-adeb-e97840938158@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>>
>>
>>
>> > On Apr 12, 12:08 am, "One Bit Shy" <O...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>> >> "Arbitrar Of Quality" <tsm...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in
>> >>
messagenews:a1bad5f4-8477-4684-9270-0262824a8fd4@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>>
>> >> > Season Seven, Episode 13: "The Killer In Me"
>>
>> >> Part of the problem with using that as a misdirect is that the issue
>> >> of
>> >> Willow living with the power strikes me as more -er- powerful than
the
>> >> issue
>> >> of letting go of Tara. I know that there's a personal emotional
>> >> element
>> >> to
>> >> the Tara question that the more abstract power issue lacks. But
come
>> >> on,
>> >> even Willow understands (when she thinks about it) that she has to
let
>> >> go
>> >> some day - and the guilt along with it. Living with the power,
>> >> however,
>> >> is
>> >> a genuine mystery that never really does get effectively addressed.
>> >> Unless
>> >> you think that white eyes are better than black eyes is good enough.
>>
>> > It's not really an either-or question, since the show feels it needs
>> > to address both topics, separately. Living without Tara gets covered
>> > here. Living with what she can do is supposed to be this background
>> > thing running through S7 as it weighs on her, and she slowly learns
to
>> > live with it, day by day. In theory. Actually, what happens is that
>> > the series runs out of story for Willow around the time of "Bring On
>> > The Night" and then slaps a few protentious lines in the last couple
>> > episodes and gives her white eyes instead of black. But as much as I
>> > jump at the chance to find another flaw in TKIM, I don't think it's
>> > this episode's "fault" that the rest of the season skimps on Willow's
>> > arc.
>>
>> I'm not so sure. As incomplete as it seems, she did learn from the
Coven
>> and Giles early on and before the season. The power is part of her.
>> Everything's connected. And so on. What the season seems to focus on
is
>> how Willow is scared to use the power and is pushed to get back on that
>> horse. Indeed, living with the power seems to center on actually using
>> it
>> in order to be liberated. The Tara story isn't just about living
without
>> her. I think it's about being released from her restraints - mainly
the
>> restraint from using magic. Remember that the First's primary ploy in
>> CWDP
>> was to reinforce Willow's commitment to Tara not to use the magiks.
And
>> Kennedy's primary function with regard to Willow is to push her to use
>> her
>> power.
>>
>> I think the show pretty much adopted the stance that Willow doesn't
>> really
>> have a problem with power anymore. Maybe she learned her lesson.
Maybe
>> the
>> Coven's dose of humanizing magic really transformed her. Maybe the
>> circumstances of Tara's death created an aberrant result. Maybe the
>> balance
>> she had is who she is and shall always be - a balance that's actually
>> mainly
>> good. Maybe some combination of that and other influences. I don't
>> know.
>> But whatever it is, the problem they actually deal with this season is
>> Willow's shyness from grasping her power. I'm not sure the story in S7
>> ever
>> wanted to go further than that - and that the big reveal was always
going
>> to
>> be how Tara was holding her back.
>
> Okay, that's not something I'm seeing at all. Partly because tying
> the story of this particular episode with the power theme... well, it
> can be done, but it jumps through more philosophical hoops than I
> think it can support And partly because this isn't the turning point
> of that part of the arc, and only someone watching for subtle nuances
> would really say that things are any different, magically speaking,
> pre and post TKIM. Willow still won't-a at the beginning of GID,
> still worries about whether or not she can use her power without it
> taking her over through to the end of the show, etc. Tara isn't so
> much as mentioned again after TKIM either, so if the episode has an
> effect on Willow's magic story that the writers wanted to clearly
> establish for the viewer, it'd be something additive from being with
> Kennedy rather than something subtractive.
CWDP linked (reminded us) Tara to not using magic. A central difference
with Kennedy is that she encourages/pushes Willow to accept and use her
full
power. Since they seem centered on Willow's resistance to using magic,
that's how I take the intent of this episode.
As for taking a couple episodes to manifest and not referring directly to
Tara, this isn't an epiphany. There's no conscious thought from Willow
that, oh, it was the memory of Tara stopping me. It's the removal of a
subconcious, emotionally charged block. She still has to get over the
trauma of the day and get out of the habit of restraint. Inertia and all.
But when the issue is forced in Get it Done, I think she's more ready than
she was before this episode.
I'm not saying it's the only block. She's scared of loosing control too.
She still needs to be pushed. I'm just suggesting that it was the hidden
element making it all that much harder.
Besides, what else would it be? Was it all just so she can have a new
girl
toy? I'd think that at the least it would have to be speaking more
broadly
to releasing herself from her past so that she can move foreward.
And I'm still left with the sense that the only other thing that the show
does to address living with her power is to get her back on the horse.
This
is the only place that really looks back to her big trouble in S6 that
caused the problem. (Well, I suppose that SMTP did a little, but that
seems
kind of tangential to her ongoing struggle.)
Hey, there's only so far I'll go defending the construct of this episode
and
its fit into the season. I'm not thrilled with it. Just trying to give
it
its chance.
>> > I see Kennedy as more of a fit for the defender role, as seen mostly
>> > in the big group argument scenes, than for the kite-string role,
which
>> > plays like a scene written for Tara.
>>
>> Kite-string. That's not ringing a bell for me. What are you referring
>> to?
>
> One or another of their bedroom scenes toward the end of the series.
> Possibly "Touched," but I don't care enough to look it up.
OK. I can wait to be appalled.
BOS
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