people have a problem with the "magic is a metaphor for drugs" but that was introduced super-early on: Giles used to use magic to get high...that's his entire backstory. Willow is using magic to get high. Its the same thing. In fact the demon being released & attacking his friends is the same situation as the second season episode The Dark Age
Its also not one or either. Willow is addicted to specific magic, literally but she's addicted metaphorically to the idea of power magic overall gives too.
@@Henrik_Holst It just takes it from metaphor to completely literal. It also really lacks imagination. There are so many ways they could have had her get hooked into that world and they choose a disappearing dope den? It's lame and takes away from the message by beating you over the head with it. Also why the hell would Rack's place be such a shithole anyway? He can snap his fingers and turn the place into a swanky mansion. Might attract a higher class of customer. Just saying. It also removes all subtlety from the metaphor.
@@hardybryan well my questions more why being more literal or "beating on the head" is wrong? Perhaps a personal difference but I have never understood why shows should tip toe around subjects with long reaching metaphors. Regarding the state of the den I simply imagine that Rack doesn't care enough to waste any of his precious magic on cleaning it up. Or it could also be that the state of his den is simply the price of the magic that he performs.
Interestingly, when you think about it, the show portrays magic in a couple ways throughout the series. There's Rack and Ripper and the culture of using magic to get high for fun, but then there's Willow who got into magic to help people. She cast her first spell to try and help Angel, she learned and worked on magic to support and protect Buffy. In a lot of ways it's like someone who took drugs when they got sick or hurt themselves and got addicted.
@@The_One_In_Black Not really. Just showing that a lesbian isn't immune to drugs like all other normal people prooves that she is a normal person, too. Many tolerant people are annoyed by the actual "propaganda" suggesting nonstraights are better than straights and get repellt, so a distance is generated unnecessarily. Showing that there isn't an immunity avoids such feelings. Tara is the best being - yes, BEING!!! - possible, and that she loves another woman - who cares?! This is the archievement of this show, they created two likeable/loveable characteres and a need in the audicene for them to become a couple. And no normal person is saying "omg, they are gay, how dare they!?" I don't know (m)any contemporary shows that were able to create that.
@@CvSp22 I do remember being bothered back in the day that the show had both the "witchcraft/wiccan = lesbian" metaphor going and the "magic spells = drugs" thing going at the same time. But people mentioning that the "magic = drugs" thing came in with Giles backstory helps me a little with that.
Willow’s scene at the end begging for Buffy’s help makes me tear up every time I’ve seen it. I’ve been in a similar situation with a friend who came to me for help before and this scene just nails it right on the head. In a show full of monsters and magic they got so much of the human element exactly right
Buffy put garlic over her bed when Angelus was around and had access to her house. Being soulless doesn't mean you don't have feelings even Angelus felt things. The master cared about Darla, Darla cared about Angelus, Harmony...is Harmony they all have feelings. It's about how those feelings are expressed that's the problem. Spike genuinely felt like he loved Drusilla but the way he expressed that was by obsession and torture. Similarly Spike does believe he loves Buffy but the way he pursues that love is toxic and obsessive.
I just noticed Willow's outfit first thing in the morning was reminiscent of vampWillow's style. Not exactly the same but definitely heading there. 🤣 And then her closing the curtains against the daylight felt hella symbolic too.
That's right Dawn, she was most certainly "wrestling with a monster" last night. Even back when this aired in 2001-2002, and I was young and stupid I realized the Buffy and Spike relationship was incredibly toxic and when it would eventually crash it will be rough. Also Willow's arc hit home a little back then because of my mom's addiction to alcohol, at this point the family had been dealing with it for year's
The Buffy-Spike relationship reverses a common trope: good girl falls for bad boy, tries desperately to make him good and sometimes thinks it's working, but ultimately he is who he is. In this case it's a soulless bad boy madly in love with a good girl and thinking he can change her.
Has anyone else noticed Rex is the same guy who played the vampire Buffy had to go against in her test for the Council when she turned 18? And Andrew is one of the vampires in Harmony's group of minions?
Recursing Angel 🤭? The Problem is, that she forgot that magic comes often with a price. Garlic was used all over in the highschool in the Wishverse.Since no one is there to deinvite Spike from the Summershouse and Buffy didn't want to tell anyone also, she has no other protection against him. Finally: Tara and Dawn were so amazing in this two episodes, incredible chemistry.
Season 5: 'Willow is my favourite character. Wait, who the hell is this Dawn girl?' Season 6: "Are they okay? Actually, I don't care about Willow, is Dawn okay?"
Mad how they can make you love characters that quickly and hate characters you’ve loved for the whole show just like that. I’m saying that in general. I personally still love Willow. In fact I love Willow much more than ever before now.
I love season 1 Willow so much. But if you rewatch Buffy from the start you'll notice in some cases Willow isn't such a goodie two shoes, she always had a darker side. But now she also has the power to do what she wants, which makes her dangerous. I think every single love relationship in the show has been toxic as one point in time. Some more some less. But it's realistic like that, because in real life where are no perfect relationships. Even when you love someone and try to always do well for them you might still end up hurting them. This episode Willow did some terrible things, and it could have ended so much worse than it did. She could have had Dawn killed in the car crash, or by that monster and if that happened I don't think Buffy would have been able to ever forgive her.
Some people find the drug metaphor a bit inconsistent with how magic has been represented in the past, but dark magic, specifically, being addictive has been set up since 'The Dark Age' in Season 2, and Willow's addictive spiral really started in 'Tough Love' when she absorbed black magic to take on Glory (although her tendency to control things through magic was set up looooong before that). I actually like magic portrayed this way, as an energy you let into your body/life and have to be responsible with. As a witch, it's a lot more true to my own practice, and has more personal and psychological depth than a lot of portrayals of magic you usually see on TV, which are basically just "shoot glitter at enemy".
@@MrSupertallblackman I think it has a lot to do with magic having been used so beautifully as a stand-in for intimacy between Willow and Tara in the fourth season. I mentally get around that by making a distinction, which I definitely think the show also makes, between "good magic" and "dark magic".
@@athena450 Personally I think magic being representational of sex as well as drugs is appropriate given Willow raped Tara in ‘Once More, With Feeling’. So even then, it was used in a dark way, it just wasn’t portrayed as such. Having mixed metaphors is only a problem if there’s no logic behind it. Sexual intimacy between Tara and Willow was portrayed through magic. Willow becomes sexually abusive…. Thus, the magical roofy-ing of Tara. I think it makes total sense to be perfectly honest.
People talk a lot about how toxic Spike is, which is fair, but I feel like it's often ignored how often Buffy communicates with her fists in relationships (which are always with people who are bigger, but weaker, than her).
When’s he’s soulless he is very toxic and quite creepy, he has his moments where he shows real emotion and care but during these times his views on love are very messed up
The realism of Willow's addiction to magic (a mirroring of one being addicted to drugs) is brilliant. Alyson Hannigan brings out every single emotion needed.
In the previous episode, when Spike thought the chip had stopped working, it seemed to me that he kind of had to talk himself into biting his victim. So, although he was not completely changed, Buffy had some kind of effect on him, enough that he was not quite the same person in his pre-chip days.
This episode is one of the few times garlic is shown as a vampire issue on BtVS but I still cannot remember if its a real thing or if Buffy just decided to overdo it. I love that Dawn slaps Willow. It was deserved. _Magic is a metaphor for drugs_ is something I have seen some fans struggle with. But it was unofficially introduced in S1, and directly stated in S2. The show doesn't explicitly state it until _The Dark Age_ when Giles talks about how he once got high and dreams about a specific badness it led to. But an obvious argument can be made that S6 Willow is no better than Amy's mom from episode three, who is literally addicted to the magic, but it isn't stated directly. I think Buffy should have taken Dawn home and left Willow to cry in the street or with Spike or called another person in the group to come get her. After what Willow does to Dawn, Dawn should have been Buffy's priority. Willow becomes a victim to her own addiction in this episode for the first time only because she _finally_ takes responsibility for said issue(s). But Dawn should still be Buffy's priority. Buffy is Dawn's guardian. I also don't think Willow should be anywhere near Dawn (move out of Revello Drive) after breaking her arm. Willow has been on a slow decline with magic and personality ever since the power of restoring Angel's soul, which culminated in this episode. Resurrecting Buffy was the point of no return that guaranteed _Smashed_ and _Wrecked_ or something similar would be Willow's arc. Metaphorically from _Becoming Part 2_ through _Bargaining_ Part 1 was Willow's gateway into _Bargaining Part 2_ through this episode.
A great song in this episode Laika "Black Cat Bones". Great episode, the analogy with the drug is obvious, but this is will be more interesting about the writting then, the power of the magic is why Willow can't stop. Excellent performance by Alyson, and Sarah's too. Even more subtle Whedon and Noxon did a great work with the actors this season.
Tara did fall in love with super Willow, though. Remember in Restless, Willow's whole new confident self was a costume over the shy nerd. Until she can find worth in that helpless version of herself, she can't really believe that she deserves love.
This guy was also the vampire the Watchers Council set on Buffy when they took her powers away for the coming-of-age test. They should have used magic to explore the effects of power on Willow rather than a drug metaphor, I think.
Great reaction and comments overall.. about Dawn i think shes like the big victim in a way in this season in general, everybodys faults and mistakes affects her and she kinda ultimate alone.. Well , good that you are enjoyin the season :) depressin and all it keeps you hooked up .. Lookin forward for more reactions
Alyson should have gotten an Emmy nomination for this episode. The black magic dealer is played by Jeff Kober, who played the psychotic vampire in "Helpless" (3x12).
I don't know if it's just a coincidence in circumstances, but the whole thing makes the timing of Giles leaving so much worse because he's the only other one aside from Tara who saw Willow heading towards this & the only one realistically to *fully* understand the depths just how dangerous & reckless Willows actions were. Not only that, but I think Giles would be the only one in a position to actually be able to get Willow the help she needs. It makes Giles leaving (again I totally get Anthony Head's reasoning & fully support it, I'm just talking character) so much worse because Giles should have known how much danger he was leaving them all in after Willow threatened him when he confronted her, not to mention the whole MEMORY ERASING SITUATION.
Wrecked is of course a pivotal episode, where we see addiction to magic overcoming Willow, and to some extent Buffy as well with her addiction to sex with Spike, even though she hates herself for doing it. S6 is such a departure from the earlier Seasons, as due to the network change we can really see how more adult the show is in tone. Dawn becomes collateral damage in Willow's addiction, and when Willow says to Buffy in the bedroom 'it will never happen again' we just know it wont be the end of this. Great acting by Alyson Hannigan, it's hard to believe the innocent Willow from S1 could end up like this, but that is the nature of addiction. Great writing from Marti Noxon who also wrote some of the best episodes of Grey's Anatomy and Mad Men.
Can I just clarify something regarding the way I perceive Willow's Season 6 arc with both power corruption and magic addiction? I wouldn’t say it was that Willow hated herself as such because hate’s a strong word but she was clearly unhappy with who she was - or who she perceived herself as. Constantly trying to be anything but her. Some people refer to it as 'imposter syndrome'. A condition of identity insecurity. She was never happy with being plain old Willow. But plain old Willow is fucking awesome. She’s something special. And she could never see that. She did not need to use magic as an emotional crutch. She didn’t need to make up for anything at all. There was nothing wrong with her other than the fact that she thought there was something wrong with her. Deep self-beliefs/insecurities like that can really fuck with the mind. You can convince yourself of being something that’s entirely nothing like you because identity is a mind-fuck. That’s why I’d rather not. When you have self-awareness, you don’t worry about your identity. You just be yourself. Simple. Easy. That becomes your identity instead. Identity is not who you are. Who you are is your identity. And if you spend more time figuring that “who” out than you do actually being it, you miss the point of it. Like the phrases “find yourself” or “discover yourself”. How do you “find” or “discover” who you already are exactly? Where is the distinction between a “me” and a “not me”? You are ALWAYS who you are because you can’t be anything but who you are. And that’s why identity is fucking bullshit. It doesn’t actually exist. You are what you are moment to moment and none of it is ever not you. What your mind does in the meanwhile is irrelevant. It doesn’t matter. ‘Cause you're not your thoughts and you're not your feelings and you're not your memories. You’re your entire experience of consciousness. You’re awareness itself - observing, listening, touching etc… Nature is fluid. It moves and it flows. It never stays still. Nature changes. Nature IS change. And why anyone ever thinks contrary to that is something of which I will never be able to understand because my mind just doesn’t think in solid or permanent ways. Identity is solid and permanent. Least that’s how people seem to define it since it’s always something they appear to be looking for as if they’re not it already. As if who they are is not their entire nature. Their body. Their consciousness. Their DNA. Their spirit. Their whole fucking experience of everything. No, most people just take one little piece of that, examine it x1000 and say “Oh, that’s who I am.” And I think that's what Willow has done with magic. She recognises it as an extension of who she is but she's sort of only identified with that extension and not the rest of her as the rest of her is the part she wants rid of. The "plain old Willow' as she refers to it. But she's really missing the point. She'd never have her magic self without her non-magic self. Her magic self is the extension. Her non-magic self is the foundation. And she needs to reconcile with both sides of herself to come to understand that there's nothing wrong with her. Can we really call her nerdy, geeky persona her “true self" though? It's her past self for sure. Who she used to be. But her true self is her present self which at the moment she mistakes for only her magic self. The extension. While neglecting and outright ignoring the foundation. Her non-magic self. What is the true or real her is a combination of all of this without the need to identify any one specific part from another. Lots of people in the real world do that when it comes to identifying themselves. They'll take the label/term for that identification, apply it to everything they do and mistake it for their whole being. So suddenly they see it as their identity is who they are instead of who they are is their identity. They attach themselves too closely and intensely to the label and definition and completely forget to just be. And I would say that's Willow's problem. She sees the magic as everything she is, everything that's useful and valuable about her, everything her loved ones care about. She's becoming 'the Magicks' and leaving 'Willow'. It's really quite fascinating how much identity insecurity plays a part in Willow's entire arc with power corruption and magic addiction. I mean you have to question why exactly does Willow feel like a fraud in herself when she's not using magic? Why does she perceive the person she is without magic as not good or worthy enough? What's the root cause of that insecurity? That's what's fascinating to me as somebody who has always had a high self-esteem in all aspects of who I am. 'Imposter syndrome' or 'perceived fraudulence' as it's sometimes called too.... it's such a fascinating mental illness to study. It definitely comes under the umbrella of an anxiety disorder. For example: OCD, as I've already mentioned. But it's a particular type of anxiety. It's social anxiety. As in... it only comes about because of sociality. It just makes you wonder that if Willow spent more time alone and developed on her self-awareness as a result, would she even have these disorders? Because her goal seems to be to seek attention and validation from everyone around her. It's not enough to pay attention to and validate herself. And in fact, without magic, she doesn't seem to know how to do that at all. It's so fascinating. What's even more fascinating to me is that this season in particular Willow complicates this even more by putting an extreme false sense of confidence and security on top of what and how she actually feels inside. Playing the role of someone completely put together, knows exactly what they doing and how best to go about everything... when the whole thing is smokescreen because she's only doing all of this to make herself feel better about her own complex trauma instead of actually addressing that complex trauma. And that's the whole problem here in Season 6... She's not dealing with her insecurities and anxieties properly and honestly. She's covering it up with her ability and capacity to do extremely advanced and powerful magic. So she's got multi-layered conditions going on... Imposter syndrome Obessesive compulsive disorder Power corruption Addiction There's all sorts of psychological complex trauma going on with this character and that's why she's the most compelling character in the entire Buffyverse to me. God I just fucking love her! She's an extremely compelling character with an extremely profound character development arc.
Willow problem is not magic / drugs / whatever. If you listen to Xander and Willow exchange at the end of the season about the yellow crayon you understand what the real problem is for Willow. And you will understand why Willow reacts like a little child when things go emotionally wrong.
@@painlord2k I know it’s not. Her real problem doesn’t really have anything to do with magic. More so the power and control she can accumulate from it to offset her insecurities and anxieties. But I’m saying because the writers go as far as to depict her addiction to magic literally, I’d like to know what drug they conflate the magic usage in this episode with. I think it’s heroin.
@@Girl4Music It is heroin for sure. Alcohol and benzos would much worse (and dangerous). We would not like to see Willow trying to take things from the floor that are not there or believing there are cockroaches crawling on the wall.
I feel for sure at some point Whedon held a meeting with the writers and the producers and keenly said "We need more HEARTBREAK!" Let's make Buffy expelled from heaven! Let's make Willow a drug addict! Let's make Giles and Tara abandon us! More Cowbell!
I'm old fan of buffy since I was 6 or 8,and I love watching your reaction, Im watching buffy like every time every year like 2 or 3 times 😂 so it's cool and interesting to see someone discovering that's show for the first time, sry for my English I'm French 👌😁
Willow’s magic/drug addiction conflation Question: What kind of drug does the writers relate magic to in ‘Wrecked’? Is it Heroin or some other high-level drug? I just noticed that Willow goes through a powerful physical withdrawal after she swears off doing spells to Buffy. And considering the writers literally conflate the use of magic with use of drugs for her in this episode, I just want to know what kind of drug magic is meant to be simulating? I would say it’s Heroin because of the extreme similarities to a Heroin withdrawal but it could be Crack or even prescription Opioids. I just find it interesting to know. It’s a fascinating storyline to me and she’s a fascinating character.
actually I would say that it matches most substance abuse including alcohol. But that said I do think that you are correct in that Heroin (which being an opioid by chance includes prescription opioids even though that wasn't such a big issue back then) was the intention mainly based on Racks place that really looks like a Heroine den.
@@Girl4Music Heroin is usually presented in shows and media as being injected since that is #1 icky so great to do when trying to present something as bad and #2 done by long term addicts since Heroin is expensive as hell and injection give a harder rush and quicker effect. Few first time users inject though, and you can both smoke, snort and consume it.
@@Henrik_Holst yes, I knew there was other ways you could take heroin. But still I wasn’t sure given - like you said - in media they portray it as being injected all the time. I wasn’t sure what they were trying to get across with it with it being absorbing magic.
@@Girl4Music The idea was probably that Willow and Amy had to pay in sex for the drugs and they changed it into them "transferring magic" as the metaphor if I have to make a guess.
NOT-SO-FUN FACT: "Rack" the Magic Dealer tells Willow she tastes like strawberries, which is a reference to how some male drug dealers who would refer to their female customers as "strawberries"... the strawberries would pay their dealers with sex 🍓😬
Many see Willow's problems with magic like a metaphor for drugs, but I see it like a metaphor for power. Willow is growing in power faster than she is growing in wisdom. She is still emotionally insecure. Probably this derive from her relation with her mother She fear everyone become angry with her and she react to that fear like a little child and because she feel small and weak, she can be manipulative or petty if the occasion arise. E.G. She manipulated Cordelia in deleting the assignment instead of saving it when Cordelia mistreated her. E.G. She allows Dawn to find the book to resurrect her mother without Tara knowing it and against her opinion. Like a child doing things to appease a parent she loves knowing it would upset the other. Her relations with Xander, Oz, Tara show us she is good but she become too attached to people she love and when there is a break up, she overreact, just like would do a little child. Also, what happens with Glory changed the dynamic with Tara. Mindwiped Tara become a baby Willow must manage for a while. And she get Tara back with magic. These feelings in an emotionally insecure and unstable Willows open the doors to further management and magic manipulation. But like Tara remarked in their argument, it could have started with good intentions but it has devolved in self-serving actions. Actions aimed to self-reassure Willow.
I have to counter with the moment Willow got back at Cordelia for being nasty to her in The Harvest (1x02). She does help Cordelia with the computer over the phone in an episode of Angel. However, you're right about Willow's attachment issues (it tells a lot of you-know-who) because she, pre-Buffy, got the short end of the stick for being smart.
Regarding the "Big Bad" my take is that in season 6, the big bad is nit the external threats, but internal to the characters. You've got Willows magic addiction, Buffy's depression and trauma, and [spoiler redacted]. The three bozos are more in the way of gadlies, no more thwn annoying, or that's all they would be without the real problem. Many reqctors have noted the parallels between Buffy's toxic and mutually abusive relationship with Spike and Willow'smagic addiction, but no one I've seen has mentioned the key difference. In Willow's case, the addiction is the problem. In Buffy's, the relationship with Spike is a _symptom_. The rral problem is her depression and trauma.
Look - I’ve said this before Metaphors can have multiple meanings or representations that work together to progress the narrative or develop a character’s arc. Yes, magic is a metaphor for sex in Season 4. Yes, magic is a metaphor for drugs in Season 6. Yes, magic is used as a date-rape drug specifically for sex. It makes sense. Just think about it deeper. In an upcoming episode they literally do the same thing with technology. Use it as a way to rape/sexual assault. I’m starting to think that what people really have an issue with is that the sex as magic metaphor was portrayed as something sweet and romantic and cute but the drugs as magic metaphor is portrayed as abusive and manipulative and horrific. What they have a problem with is the tonal change, not the metaphors being changed. But there was nothing sweet or romantic or cute about THAT scene. It’s framed that way because Whedon didn’t understand the implications behind it. That Tara being literally under a spell that would negate her consent to have sex means that Willow took sexual advantage of Tara because she knew and didn’t care about being physically intimate with Tara all the while she was unable to truly consent. There’s no mixed metaphor really. What’s actually happened is the metaphor has evolved into something negative because the character the metaphor is used with has and people don’t like it. The technological equivalent of Lethe’s Bramble is the Cerebral Dampner. It does the same exact thing. It’s intended use is mind control. Putting the victim under the influence of its effects to be willing to perform sexual acts with the perpetrator unawares.
Posting my BUFFY REWATCH recap for ‘Wrecked’. May contain spoilers. ‘Wrecked’ is all about what can happen when the magical power Willow accumulates throughout the show becomes so corruptible mentally that she loses all rational thinking and informational processing cerebral capacity, and she is responsible for causing serious damage to both herself and others because of it. Due to the events of this episode she finally has to come to terms with her selfish choices and actions and get a handle on the addiction nobody other than Tara noticed that she has till now. Something to keep in mind about Willow in understanding why she gets to this low point in going through all her sudden tumultuous changes in her negative character development in Season 6 is all her insecurities and anxieties that she doesn’t express herself on unless asked. Honestly, the character is really quite paranoid when it comes to how she thinks or feels or believes other people perceive of her. Her paranoia is something she doesn’t really address with anyone, if at all. Not even Tara. Those internal and intimate thoughts and emotions stay suppressed inside of her so that every time she voices her opinion on something when she develops the bravery to do so later in the show, she often comes across as arrogant and entitled. But if she could better communicate her thoughts and emotions with people, those people would understand her point of view better and realize that her intention is not to be that. She just doesn’t understand - and her way of understanding isn’t to ask questions, like it is for Anya. But it’s to automatically assume that she does understand. That’s because she lacks self-awareness on the most flawed and negative traits of her personality. So for example: when she has a fight with Tara in ‘All The Way’ - instead of communicating with her on how she feels about Tara’s expressing of her overusing magic, she goes for the attack instead and automatically assumes her and Giles are talking about her behind her back when Tara asks her to consider what Giles would say. It makes her come across as arrogant and entitled. But really, she deeply worries how both Tara and Giles perceive of her and can’t effectively communicate that. That’s her constant paranoia. Her fears of how people, especially her loved ones, perceive of her, and that she may lose them because of her belief of their perception of her. I have said several times now that the character most likely has an undiagnosed variant of OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder) because she exhibits the same or similar behavioural patterns in the effort to control her experience: the situation, the environment, the people. Sometimes those behavioural patterns can manifest themselves physically, like in ‘The Body’ where she’s constantly changing her clothes because she’s so anxious and she can’t deal with her emotions, and so projects that by trying to control her appearance to others. Other times they remain entirely emotional and mental and she will project her thoughts and feelings on to people. Twisting their words and manipulating the context of whatever concept she and them are talking about in effort to control the situation and her involvement in that situation. Once again, that comes across as arrogance and entitlement, but really, it’s just lack of self-awareness or self-enquiry. She doesn’t know herself very well and so the way she processes information is in a very unhealthy way. She doesn’t ask questions. She doesn’t talk through her emotions with anyone. She just goes for the attack every time she’s called out and reprimanded for something she does in the need to control something or someone. It is honestly all about control for Willow. And if she can’t control it, she doesn’t know what to do about it and falls into a pit of self-doubt. What she has to learn is that not everything is within her control and accept that things just happen the way they happen. It’s better to express and communicate her thoughts and emotions with not having that control than to actively try to control it more. She’s not a bad person. Not really,… she just doesn’t know how to handle bad experiences. And like I said, that comes from not knowing herself very well. Not understanding her subconscious thought/feeling patterns. Why she thinks and feels a certain way. What the root cause for thinking/feeling that way is. How to deal with her insecurities and anxieties in healthy and non-judgemental ways so that those experiences are better for her. So that she can be happy and be a hero in her own right as that is really all she wants out of life. That’s Willow’s absolutely profound character arc and I adore it. And therefore I adore her character because of it. The fact she is so flawed and frustrating is why she is such a beloved character for me. As I said - negative character development is a good thing to me. It’s something I don’t run or shy away from in interacting with art/entertainment because it helps me learn things about myself and the world around me. I look for characters that struggle psychologically because understanding the human condition is so very important to me. I just think her character is incredible representation for that. For helping people to acknowledge, address and deal with all their internal shit and realize that they might be in the wrong sometimes because it happens. And thus, growing and expanding in their consciousness evolution. Learning their mental well-being. I think that is so very important to be represented in art/entertainment because we only learn from either what we personally experience ourselves or what we vicariously experience through reflections of ourselves that we may not recognize. For me, this is what Willow Rosenberg represents in ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’. A human being that experiences and interacts with the supernatural to the point where she becomes less and less human, and yet, at the same time because of her flaws, shows herself to be as human as they come. Because humans are flawed and it’s important to understand that that’s okay. We can only do the best we can in the moment. We must allow ourselves the space and time to work through our issues and struggles any way we can. That’s why Willow’s arc is so profound to me. There is very few characters in TV like her with such immense written character development. It really is a shame. Furthermore, Alyson Hannigan’s portrayal and performance in this episode especially is remarkable to me. She absolutely nails the wreckage of Willow and makes you really feel for her character despite the fact it’s entirely her fault what happens. Watching Willow fall to the floor in the climatic scene brings me to tears every time I watch it. The way the actress was able to stay in control of her performance and clearly and concisely deliver her lines while falling to pieces. It’s award-winning level acting skill and talent. Alyson Hannigan deserved an Emmy for this scene right here.
I don't think it's so much that Buffy is using Spike to feel better about herself, but to feel SOMETHING. I mean, not any better in the using department, just that she still doesn't really feel better. I mean except for that better that sex makes you feel.
Buffy's addiction is more like alcoholism - what harm can one night of drinking (aka shagging) do, if it helps me forget for a short while - but, boy the hangover is rough
Right now Buffy and Spike just had sex. It's not that bad thing. Of course there are some issues, of course, because she came back from dead recently and he is a soulless vampire. But we got it already so I don't see the point in me mentioning it for the hundredth time. They are both kind of half dead half alive, that's also the reason why authors put them together. She had couple of reasons for sex and he always wanted it. And we learned that it was rought, passionate, long and she didn't even notice that the building had collapsed😆And even wanted to stay when he asked her. Untill the authors made him compare his experience. Reminded her that he is a soulless vampire. And of course, she is scared and starts making excuses and trash him. But I would like to note that for Spike, a vampire the most perverted time is still with her, not with any of his psychopathic girlfriends. But what is important is how they (authors and characters) will treat this thing between them later. Their attitude and behavior. While staying in this affair. And that's where it wasn't right. Not particular sexual relationship and affair. You can have it all and still make something good out of it. But how she comes to him only when she needs help and now sex and keeps trashing and beating him at the same time. And he is getting used to it. That's create really bad context.
I agree about the Spuffy relationship, it's like the song 'Use Me' by Bill Withers. And you're right about the blunt instrument MAGIC = DRUGS. The show was better written before this season, where's the subtlety? Is Willow off to the magic rehab clinic next? The magic anonymous meetings? 'It's been 15 days since my last spell.'
What intrigues me is you seem to perceive magic as not being all that serious to be the equivalent of drugs if not drugs itself. But this is their world. Magic is obviously extremely serious and so it’s entirely appropriate that they can double for drugs in this world.
The beginnings of drug addiction can be subtle. However, once the spiral has begun in true it can become much more obvious. Heroin and meth usage leap to mind. No subtlety there.
Can I *SKIP* all the Spuffy scenes?!?!🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮And can I also skip all the Rack/Addicted Willow Scenes?!?💔💔💔💔💔💔💔Come to think of it...can I just skip the entire episode?!?!X-[ 05:54 - 05:58 *ME TOO!!!😭ALWAYS!!!!* 🖤💛(And,for the record,I'm *NOT* quoting Snape:I'm quoting BUFFY!>o
“Oh no, not Willow inventing self-driving cars!” Mm… still less evil than Elon Musk! 😅
people have a problem with the "magic is a metaphor for drugs" but that was introduced super-early on: Giles used to use magic to get high...that's his entire backstory. Willow is using magic to get high. Its the same thing. In fact the demon being released & attacking his friends is the same situation as the second season episode The Dark Age
Its also not one or either. Willow is addicted to specific magic, literally but she's addicted metaphorically to the idea of power magic overall gives too.
I have no problem with magic as a metaphor for drugs. But the magical crack house is a bit on the nose.
@@hardybryan what is the problem if something being "on the nose" ?
@@Henrik_Holst It just takes it from metaphor to completely literal. It also really lacks imagination. There are so many ways they could have had her get hooked into that world and they choose a disappearing dope den? It's lame and takes away from the message by beating you over the head with it.
Also why the hell would Rack's place be such a shithole anyway? He can snap his fingers and turn the place into a swanky mansion. Might attract a higher class of customer. Just saying. It also removes all subtlety from the metaphor.
@@hardybryan well my questions more why being more literal or "beating on the head" is wrong? Perhaps a personal difference but I have never understood why shows should tip toe around subjects with long reaching metaphors.
Regarding the state of the den I simply imagine that Rack doesn't care enough to waste any of his precious magic on cleaning it up. Or it could also be that the state of his den is simply the price of the magic that he performs.
Interestingly, when you think about it, the show portrays magic in a couple ways throughout the series. There's Rack and Ripper and the culture of using magic to get high for fun, but then there's Willow who got into magic to help people. She cast her first spell to try and help Angel, she learned and worked on magic to support and protect Buffy. In a lot of ways it's like someone who took drugs when they got sick or hurt themselves and got addicted.
True. So it's basically like medicinal drugs. Can use them to help, can abuse them to get high.
Unfortunately, there's also a direct line that can be followed of magic = developing security -> lesbianism -> drug addiction
@@The_One_In_Black Not really. Just showing that a lesbian isn't immune to drugs like all other normal people prooves that she is a normal person, too. Many tolerant people are annoyed by the actual "propaganda" suggesting nonstraights are better than straights and get repellt, so a distance is generated unnecessarily. Showing that there isn't an immunity avoids such feelings. Tara is the best being - yes, BEING!!! - possible, and that she loves another woman - who cares?! This is the archievement of this show, they created two likeable/loveable characteres and a need in the audicene for them to become a couple. And no normal person is saying "omg, they are gay, how dare they!?" I don't know (m)any contemporary shows that were able to create that.
@@CvSp22 I do remember being bothered back in the day that the show had both the "witchcraft/wiccan = lesbian" metaphor going and the "magic spells = drugs" thing going at the same time. But people mentioning that the "magic = drugs" thing came in with Giles backstory helps me a little with that.
Willow’s scene at the end begging for Buffy’s help makes me tear up every time I’ve seen it. I’ve been in a similar situation with a friend who came to me for help before and this scene just nails it right on the head. In a show full of monsters and magic they got so much of the human element exactly right
Buffy put garlic over her bed when Angelus was around and had access to her house.
Being soulless doesn't mean you don't have feelings even Angelus felt things. The master cared about Darla, Darla cared about Angelus, Harmony...is Harmony they all have feelings. It's about how those feelings are expressed that's the problem.
Spike genuinely felt like he loved Drusilla but the way he expressed that was by obsession and torture. Similarly Spike does believe he loves Buffy but the way he pursues that love is toxic and obsessive.
"Uhg, You're bent!"
"Yeah, and it made you scream, didn't it?"
That one went way over my head when I was young. 😅
I just noticed Willow's outfit first thing in the morning was reminiscent of vampWillow's style. Not exactly the same but definitely heading there. 🤣 And then her closing the curtains against the daylight felt hella symbolic too.
That's right Dawn, she was most certainly "wrestling with a monster" last night. Even back when this aired in 2001-2002, and I was young and stupid I realized the Buffy and Spike relationship was incredibly toxic and when it would eventually crash it will be rough. Also Willow's arc hit home a little back then because of my mom's addiction to alcohol, at this point the family had been dealing with it for year's
♥️
The Buffy-Spike relationship reverses a common trope: good girl falls for bad boy, tries desperately to make him good and sometimes thinks it's working, but ultimately he is who he is. In this case it's a soulless bad boy madly in love with a good girl and thinking he can change her.
Honestly, the latter case might be common in adult movies.
Has anyone else noticed Rex is the same guy who played the vampire Buffy had to go against in her test for the Council when she turned 18? And Andrew is one of the vampires in Harmony's group of minions?
When Spike is unimpressed and speechless, you know Willow fucked up.
This season is so rough… it’s painful and it keeps kicking when we are already down.
You know Willow's in a bad place when she says it doesn't matter if they miss the trailers. 😔
Omgsh… I never even thought of that. She loves movies and part of the reason is watching the trailers.
Nice catch!
Recursing Angel 🤭?
The Problem is, that she forgot that magic comes often with a price.
Garlic was used all over in the highschool in the Wishverse.Since no one is there to deinvite Spike from the Summershouse and Buffy didn't want to tell anyone also, she has no other protection against him.
Finally: Tara and Dawn were so amazing in this two episodes, incredible chemistry.
Season 5: 'Willow is my favourite character. Wait, who the hell is this Dawn girl?'
Season 6: "Are they okay? Actually, I don't care about Willow, is Dawn okay?"
Mad how they can make you love characters that quickly and hate characters you’ve loved for the whole show just like that.
I’m saying that in general.
I personally still love Willow. In fact I love Willow much more than ever before now.
I love season 1 Willow so much. But if you rewatch Buffy from the start you'll notice in some cases Willow isn't such a goodie two shoes, she always had a darker side. But now she also has the power to do what she wants, which makes her dangerous.
I think every single love relationship in the show has been toxic as one point in time. Some more some less. But it's realistic like that, because in real life where are no perfect relationships. Even when you love someone and try to always do well for them you might still end up hurting them.
This episode Willow did some terrible things, and it could have ended so much worse than it did. She could have had Dawn killed in the car crash, or by that monster and if that happened I don't think Buffy would have been able to ever forgive her.
Some people find the drug metaphor a bit inconsistent with how magic has been represented in the past, but dark magic, specifically, being addictive has been set up since 'The Dark Age' in Season 2, and Willow's addictive spiral really started in 'Tough Love' when she absorbed black magic to take on Glory (although her tendency to control things through magic was set up looooong before that). I actually like magic portrayed this way, as an energy you let into your body/life and have to be responsible with. As a witch, it's a lot more true to my own practice, and has more personal and psychological depth than a lot of portrayals of magic you usually see on TV, which are basically just "shoot glitter at enemy".
Giles backstory is all about how he used magic as a drug so those people are either ignorant or foolish.
@@MrSupertallblackman I think it has a lot to do with magic having been used so beautifully as a stand-in for intimacy between Willow and Tara in the fourth season. I mentally get around that by making a distinction, which I definitely think the show also makes, between "good magic" and "dark magic".
@@athena450 Personally I think magic being representational of sex as well as drugs is appropriate given Willow raped Tara in ‘Once More, With Feeling’. So even then, it was used in a dark way, it just wasn’t portrayed as such. Having mixed metaphors is only a problem if there’s no logic behind it. Sexual intimacy between Tara and Willow was portrayed through magic. Willow becomes sexually abusive…. Thus, the magical roofy-ing of Tara.
I think it makes total sense to be perfectly honest.
People talk a lot about how toxic Spike is, which is fair, but I feel like it's often ignored how often Buffy communicates with her fists in relationships (which are always with people who are bigger, but weaker, than her).
Spike is a soulless creep of a vampire, who cares if Buffy uses her fists, its her calling she should have staked him.
When’s he’s soulless he is very toxic and quite creepy, he has his moments where he shows real emotion and care but during these times his views on love are very messed up
The realism of Willow's addiction to magic (a mirroring of one being addicted to drugs) is brilliant. Alyson Hannigan brings out every single emotion needed.
In the previous episode, when Spike thought the chip had stopped working, it seemed to me that he kind of had to talk himself into biting his victim. So, although he was not completely changed, Buffy had some kind of effect on him, enough that he was not quite the same person in his pre-chip days.
The last three episodes of this season are maybe the best episodes of the entire show. My favorite for sure! Can’t wait to watch with you!
This episode is one of the few times garlic is shown as a vampire issue on BtVS but I still cannot remember if its a real thing or if Buffy just decided to overdo it.
I love that Dawn slaps Willow. It was deserved.
_Magic is a metaphor for drugs_ is something I have seen some fans struggle with. But it was unofficially introduced in S1, and directly stated in S2. The show doesn't explicitly state it until _The Dark Age_ when Giles talks about how he once got high and dreams about a specific badness it led to. But an obvious argument can be made that S6 Willow is no better than Amy's mom from episode three, who is literally addicted to the magic, but it isn't stated directly.
I think Buffy should have taken Dawn home and left Willow to cry in the street or with Spike or called another person in the group to come get her. After what Willow does to Dawn, Dawn should have been Buffy's priority. Willow becomes a victim to her own addiction in this episode for the first time only because she _finally_ takes responsibility for said issue(s). But Dawn should still be Buffy's priority. Buffy is Dawn's guardian. I also don't think Willow should be anywhere near Dawn (move out of Revello Drive) after breaking her arm.
Willow has been on a slow decline with magic and personality ever since the power of restoring Angel's soul, which culminated in this episode. Resurrecting Buffy was the point of no return that guaranteed _Smashed_ and _Wrecked_ or something similar would be Willow's arc. Metaphorically from _Becoming Part 2_ through _Bargaining_ Part 1 was Willow's gateway into _Bargaining Part 2_ through this episode.
Buffy wants Spike and it scares her, she tries to resist, but her passion for him does not allow her to break up with him
Damn, the rest of this season is a rollercoaster. You will be so very deeply entertained. Looking forward to your next reactions. 😭😱😖
Willow crying had me tearing up too
19:30 And people who happen to be in the buildings they collapse...
A great song in this episode Laika "Black Cat Bones". Great episode, the analogy with the drug is obvious, but this is will be more interesting about the writting then, the power of the magic is why Willow can't stop. Excellent performance by Alyson, and Sarah's too. Even more subtle Whedon and Noxon did a great work with the actors this season.
“Hush” is the only episode that scared me. Season 4, episode 10.
Yay more lexi reactions! interesting description.. on your intro: lets see how far our characters can fall
Tara did fall in love with super Willow, though. Remember in Restless, Willow's whole new confident self was a costume over the shy nerd. Until she can find worth in that helpless version of herself, she can't really believe that she deserves love.
❤ perfectly said!
That's Willow's interpretation though, not Tara's. The latter could've seen through the costume.
@@jp3813 Tara loved her with or without magic. She loved ALL OF HER. Every single aspect. The bad, the good, the beautiful and the ugly.
@@Girl4Music Tell that to the OP.
This guy was also the vampire the Watchers Council set on Buffy when they took her powers away for the coming-of-age test.
They should have used magic to explore the effects of power on Willow rather than a drug metaphor, I think.
Oh yeah, Buffy is totally over it.
I feel like everyone should have been madder still in the last episode after having found out Willow messed with their minds.
Has no one mentioned that Rack is also the actor who played the crazy vampire in the episode where Giles drugged Buffy?
So first he wanted pills, pills, pills-and now he sells them. Full circle.
Great reaction and comments overall.. about Dawn i think shes like the big victim in a way in this season in general, everybodys faults and mistakes affects her and she kinda ultimate alone.. Well , good that you are enjoyin the season :) depressin and all it keeps you hooked up .. Lookin forward for more reactions
Buffy and Spike went to town and then they went downtown.
That slap was pretty intence. Not because of Willow's state of mind but of how hurt Dawn was, not just physically.
Alyson should have gotten an Emmy nomination for this episode.
The black magic dealer is played by Jeff Kober, who played the psychotic vampire in "Helpless" (3x12).
She should have won an Emmy. Never mind just nominated. This is fantastic acting!
@@Girl4Music I agree. Sarah, Alyson and Tony are the most talented of the main cast.
Girls just want to have fun, they just wanna 😆
I don't know if it's just a coincidence in circumstances, but the whole thing makes the timing of Giles leaving so much worse because he's the only other one aside from Tara who saw Willow heading towards this & the only one realistically to *fully* understand the depths just how dangerous & reckless Willows actions were. Not only that, but I think Giles would be the only one in a position to actually be able to get Willow the help she needs. It makes Giles leaving (again I totally get Anthony Head's reasoning & fully support it, I'm just talking character) so much worse because Giles should have known how much danger he was leaving them all in after Willow threatened him when he confronted her, not to mention the whole MEMORY ERASING SITUATION.
They didn’t go to town they never left the house 😂😂😂😂
The feels
Wrecked is of course a pivotal episode, where we see addiction to magic overcoming Willow, and to some extent Buffy as well with her addiction to sex with Spike, even though she hates herself for doing it. S6 is such a departure from the earlier Seasons, as due to the network change we can really see how more adult the show is in tone. Dawn becomes collateral damage in Willow's addiction, and when Willow says to Buffy in the bedroom 'it will never happen again' we just know it wont be the end of this. Great acting by Alyson Hannigan, it's hard to believe the innocent Willow from S1 could end up like this, but that is the nature of addiction. Great writing from Marti Noxon who also wrote some of the best episodes of Grey's Anatomy and Mad Men.
Can I just clarify something regarding the way I perceive Willow's Season 6 arc with both power corruption and magic addiction?
I wouldn’t say it was that Willow hated herself as such because hate’s a strong word but she was clearly unhappy with who she was - or who she perceived herself as. Constantly trying to be anything but her. Some people refer to it as 'imposter syndrome'. A condition of identity insecurity.
She was never happy with being plain old Willow. But plain old Willow is fucking awesome. She’s something special. And she could never see that. She did not need to use magic as an emotional crutch. She didn’t need to make up for anything at all. There was nothing wrong with her other than the fact that she thought there was something wrong with her.
Deep self-beliefs/insecurities like that can really fuck with the mind. You can convince yourself of being something that’s entirely nothing like you because identity is a mind-fuck. That’s why I’d rather not. When you have self-awareness, you don’t worry about your identity. You just be yourself. Simple. Easy. That becomes your identity instead.
Identity is not who you are. Who you are is your identity.
And if you spend more time figuring that “who” out than you do actually being it, you miss the point of it. Like the phrases “find yourself” or “discover yourself”. How do you “find” or “discover” who you already are exactly? Where is the distinction between a “me” and a “not me”? You are ALWAYS who you are because you can’t be anything but who you are. And that’s why identity is fucking bullshit. It doesn’t actually exist. You are what you are moment to moment and none of it is ever not you. What your mind does in the meanwhile is irrelevant. It doesn’t matter. ‘Cause you're not your thoughts and you're not your feelings and you're not your memories. You’re your entire experience of consciousness. You’re awareness itself - observing, listening, touching etc…
Nature is fluid. It moves and it flows. It never stays still. Nature changes. Nature IS change. And why anyone ever thinks contrary to that is something of which I will never be able to understand because my mind just doesn’t think in solid or permanent ways. Identity is solid and permanent. Least that’s how people seem to define it since it’s always something they appear to be looking for as if they’re not it already. As if who they are is not their entire nature. Their body. Their consciousness. Their DNA. Their spirit. Their whole fucking experience of everything. No, most people just take one little piece of that, examine it x1000 and say “Oh, that’s who I am.”
And I think that's what Willow has done with magic. She recognises it as an extension of who she is but she's sort of only identified with that extension and not the rest of her as the rest of her is the part she wants rid of. The "plain old Willow' as she refers to it. But she's really missing the point. She'd never have her magic self without her non-magic self. Her magic self is the extension. Her non-magic self is the foundation. And she needs to reconcile with both sides of herself to come to understand that there's nothing wrong with her.
Can we really call her nerdy, geeky persona her “true self" though? It's her past self for sure. Who she used to be. But her true self is her present self which at the moment she mistakes for only her magic self. The extension. While neglecting and outright ignoring the foundation. Her non-magic self. What is the true or real her is a combination of all of this without the need to identify any one specific part from another. Lots of people in the real world do that when it comes to identifying themselves. They'll take the label/term for that identification, apply it to everything they do and mistake it for their whole being. So suddenly they see it as their identity is who they are instead of who they are is their identity. They attach themselves too closely and intensely to the label and definition and completely forget to just be.
And I would say that's Willow's problem. She sees the magic as everything she is, everything that's useful and valuable about her, everything her loved ones care about.
She's becoming 'the Magicks' and leaving 'Willow'. It's really quite fascinating how much identity insecurity plays a part in Willow's entire arc with power corruption and magic addiction. I mean you have to question why exactly does Willow feel like a fraud in herself when she's not using magic? Why does she perceive the person she is without magic as not good or worthy enough? What's the root cause of that insecurity? That's what's fascinating to me as somebody who has always had a high self-esteem in all aspects of who I am.
'Imposter syndrome' or 'perceived fraudulence' as it's sometimes called too.... it's such a fascinating mental illness to study. It definitely comes under the umbrella of an anxiety disorder. For example: OCD, as I've already mentioned. But it's a particular type of anxiety. It's social anxiety. As in... it only comes about because of sociality. It just makes you wonder that if Willow spent more time alone and developed on her self-awareness as a result, would she even have these disorders? Because her goal seems to be to seek attention and validation from everyone around her. It's not enough to pay attention to and validate herself. And in fact, without magic, she doesn't seem to know how to do that at all. It's so fascinating.
What's even more fascinating to me is that this season in particular Willow complicates this even more by putting an extreme false sense of confidence and security on top of what and how she actually feels inside. Playing the role of someone completely put together, knows exactly what they doing and how best to go about everything... when the whole thing is smokescreen because she's only doing all of this to make herself feel better about her own complex trauma instead of actually addressing that complex trauma. And that's the whole problem here in Season 6... She's not dealing with her insecurities and anxieties properly and honestly. She's covering it up with her ability and capacity to do extremely advanced and powerful magic.
So she's got multi-layered conditions going on...
Imposter syndrome
Obessesive compulsive disorder
Power corruption
Addiction
There's all sorts of psychological complex trauma going on with this character and that's why she's the most compelling character in the entire Buffyverse to me. God I just fucking love her! She's an extremely compelling character with an extremely profound character development arc.
Willow problem is not magic / drugs / whatever.
If you listen to Xander and Willow exchange at the end of the season about the yellow crayon you understand what the real problem is for Willow. And you will understand why Willow reacts like a little child when things go emotionally wrong.
@@painlord2k I know it’s not. Her real problem doesn’t really have anything to do with magic. More so the power and control she can accumulate from it to offset her insecurities and anxieties. But I’m saying because the writers go as far as to depict her addiction to magic literally, I’d like to know what drug they conflate the magic usage in this episode with. I think it’s heroin.
@@Girl4Music It is heroin for sure.
Alcohol and benzos would much worse (and dangerous).
We would not like to see Willow trying to take things from the floor that are not there or believing there are cockroaches crawling on the wall.
I feel for sure at some point Whedon held a meeting with the writers and the producers and keenly said "We need more HEARTBREAK!"
Let's make Buffy expelled from heaven! Let's make Willow a drug addict! Let's make Giles and Tara abandon us! More Cowbell!
I'm old fan of buffy since I was 6 or 8,and I love watching your reaction, Im watching buffy like every time every year like 2 or 3 times 😂 so it's cool and interesting to see someone discovering that's show for the first time, sry for my English I'm French 👌😁
Willow’s magic/drug addiction conflation
Question: What kind of drug does the writers relate magic to in ‘Wrecked’? Is it Heroin or some other high-level drug? I just noticed that Willow goes through a powerful physical withdrawal after she swears off doing spells to Buffy. And considering the writers literally conflate the use of magic with use of drugs for her in this episode, I just want to know what kind of drug magic is meant to be simulating? I would say it’s Heroin because of the extreme similarities to a Heroin withdrawal but it could be Crack or even prescription Opioids. I just find it interesting to know. It’s a fascinating storyline to me and she’s a fascinating character.
actually I would say that it matches most substance abuse including alcohol. But that said I do think that you are correct in that Heroin (which being an opioid by chance includes prescription opioids even though that wasn't such a big issue back then) was the intention mainly based on Racks place that really looks like a Heroine den.
@@Henrik_Holst I figured it would be heroin but then I wasn’t too sure since heroin isn’t usually inhaled, it’s injected.
@@Girl4Music Heroin is usually presented in shows and media as being injected since that is #1 icky so great to do when trying to present something as bad and #2 done by long term addicts since Heroin is expensive as hell and injection give a harder rush and quicker effect. Few first time users inject though, and you can both smoke, snort and consume it.
@@Henrik_Holst yes, I knew there was other ways you could take heroin. But still I wasn’t sure given - like you said - in media they portray it as being injected all the time. I wasn’t sure what they were trying to get across with it with it being absorbing magic.
@@Girl4Music The idea was probably that Willow and Amy had to pay in sex for the drugs and they changed it into them "transferring magic" as the metaphor if I have to make a guess.
NOT-SO-FUN FACT: "Rack" the Magic Dealer tells Willow she tastes like strawberries, which is a reference to how some male drug dealers who would refer to their female customers as "strawberries"... the strawberries would pay their dealers with sex 🍓😬
Buffy should teach Dawn how to punch.
Many see Willow's problems with magic like a metaphor for drugs, but I see it like a metaphor for power.
Willow is growing in power faster than she is growing in wisdom. She is still emotionally insecure.
Probably this derive from her relation with her mother
She fear everyone become angry with her and she react to that fear like a little child and because she feel small and weak, she can be manipulative or petty if the occasion arise.
E.G. She manipulated Cordelia in deleting the assignment instead of saving it when Cordelia mistreated her.
E.G. She allows Dawn to find the book to resurrect her mother without Tara knowing it and against her opinion.
Like a child doing things to appease a parent she loves knowing it would upset the other.
Her relations with Xander, Oz, Tara show us she is good but she become too attached to people she love and when there is a break up, she overreact, just like would do a little child.
Also, what happens with Glory changed the dynamic with Tara. Mindwiped Tara become a baby Willow must manage for a while. And she get Tara back with magic. These feelings in an emotionally insecure and unstable Willows open the doors to further management and magic manipulation. But like Tara remarked in their argument, it could have started with good intentions but it has devolved in self-serving actions. Actions aimed to self-reassure Willow.
I have to counter with the moment Willow got back at Cordelia for being nasty to her in The Harvest (1x02). She does help Cordelia with the computer over the phone in an episode of Angel. However, you're right about Willow's attachment issues (it tells a lot of you-know-who) because she, pre-Buffy, got the short end of the stick for being smart.
Regarding the "Big Bad" my take is that in season 6, the big bad is nit the external threats, but internal to the characters. You've got Willows magic addiction, Buffy's depression and trauma, and [spoiler redacted]. The three bozos are more in the way of gadlies, no more thwn annoying, or that's all they would be without the real problem.
Many reqctors have noted the parallels between Buffy's toxic and mutually abusive relationship with Spike and Willow'smagic addiction, but no one I've seen has mentioned the key difference. In Willow's case, the addiction is the problem. In Buffy's, the relationship with Spike is a _symptom_. The rral problem is her depression and trauma.
If only
Is she going to crash? Literally and metaphorically.
Spike turned out wrong! He's a soulless monster who helps humans, cares for the innocent, and is love's bitch to the enemy of evil.
As a Willow stan, I'm very upset. And not looking forward to what happens next.
Look - I’ve said this before
Metaphors can have multiple meanings or representations that work together to progress the narrative or develop a character’s arc.
Yes, magic is a metaphor for sex in Season 4.
Yes, magic is a metaphor for drugs in Season 6.
Yes, magic is used as a date-rape drug specifically for sex. It makes sense. Just think about it deeper.
In an upcoming episode they literally do the same thing with technology. Use it as a way to rape/sexual assault. I’m starting to think that what people really have an issue with is that the sex as magic metaphor was portrayed as something sweet and romantic and cute but the drugs as magic metaphor is portrayed as abusive and manipulative and horrific. What they have a problem with is the tonal change, not the metaphors being changed.
But there was nothing sweet or romantic or cute about THAT scene. It’s framed that way because Whedon didn’t understand the implications behind it. That Tara being literally under a spell that would negate her consent to have sex means that Willow took sexual advantage of Tara because she knew and didn’t care about being physically intimate with Tara all the while she was unable to truly consent.
There’s no mixed metaphor really. What’s actually happened is the metaphor has evolved into something negative because the character the metaphor is used with has and people don’t like it.
The technological equivalent of Lethe’s Bramble is the Cerebral Dampner. It does the same exact thing. It’s intended use is mind control. Putting the victim under the influence of its effects to be willing to perform sexual acts with the perpetrator unawares.
I'm rely trying to identify Lexi's accent 🤔
GOD! So many spoilers. 👻🙄
Posting my BUFFY REWATCH recap for ‘Wrecked’. May contain spoilers.
‘Wrecked’ is all about what can happen when the magical power Willow accumulates throughout the show becomes so corruptible mentally that she loses all rational thinking and informational processing cerebral capacity, and she is responsible for causing serious damage to both herself and others because of it. Due to the events of this episode she finally has to come to terms with her selfish choices and actions and get a handle on the addiction nobody other than Tara noticed that she has till now.
Something to keep in mind about Willow in understanding why she gets to this low point in going through all her sudden tumultuous changes in her negative character development in Season 6 is all her insecurities and anxieties that she doesn’t express herself on unless asked. Honestly, the character is really quite paranoid when it comes to how she thinks or feels or believes other people perceive of her. Her paranoia is something she doesn’t really address with anyone, if at all. Not even Tara. Those internal and intimate thoughts and emotions stay suppressed inside of her so that every time she voices her opinion on something when she develops the bravery to do so later in the show, she often comes across as arrogant and entitled. But if she could better communicate her thoughts and emotions with people, those people would understand her point of view better and realize that her intention is not to be that. She just doesn’t understand - and her way of understanding isn’t to ask questions, like it is for Anya. But it’s to automatically assume that she does understand. That’s because she lacks self-awareness on the most flawed and negative traits of her personality. So for example: when she has a fight with Tara in ‘All The Way’ - instead of communicating with her on how she feels about Tara’s expressing of her overusing magic, she goes for the attack instead and automatically assumes her and Giles are talking about her behind her back when Tara asks her to consider what Giles would say. It makes her come across as arrogant and entitled. But really, she deeply worries how both Tara and Giles perceive of her and can’t effectively communicate that. That’s her constant paranoia. Her fears of how people, especially her loved ones, perceive of her, and that she may lose them because of her belief of their perception of her.
I have said several times now that the character most likely has an undiagnosed variant of OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder) because she exhibits the same or similar behavioural patterns in the effort to control her experience: the situation, the environment, the people. Sometimes those behavioural patterns can manifest themselves physically, like in ‘The Body’ where she’s constantly changing her clothes because she’s so anxious and she can’t deal with her emotions, and so projects that by trying to control her appearance to others. Other times they remain entirely emotional and mental and she will project her thoughts and feelings on to people. Twisting their words and manipulating the context of whatever concept she and them are talking about in effort to control the situation and her involvement in that situation. Once again, that comes across as arrogance and entitlement, but really, it’s just lack of self-awareness or self-enquiry. She doesn’t know herself very well and so the way she processes information is in a very unhealthy way. She doesn’t ask questions. She doesn’t talk through her emotions with anyone. She just goes for the attack every time she’s called out and reprimanded for something she does in the need to control something or someone. It is honestly all about control for Willow. And if she can’t control it, she doesn’t know what to do about it and falls into a pit of self-doubt. What she has to learn is that not everything is within her control and accept that things just happen the way they happen. It’s better to express and communicate her thoughts and emotions with not having that control than to actively try to control it more. She’s not a bad person. Not really,… she just doesn’t know how to handle bad experiences. And like I said, that comes from not knowing herself very well. Not understanding her subconscious thought/feeling patterns. Why she thinks and feels a certain way. What the root cause for thinking/feeling that way is. How to deal with her insecurities and anxieties in healthy and non-judgemental ways so that those experiences are better for her. So that she can be happy and be a hero in her own right as that is really all she wants out of life.
That’s Willow’s absolutely profound character arc and I adore it. And therefore I adore her character because of it. The fact she is so flawed and frustrating is why she is such a beloved character for me. As I said - negative character development is a good thing to me. It’s something I don’t run or shy away from in interacting with art/entertainment because it helps me learn things about myself and the world around me. I look for characters that struggle psychologically because understanding the human condition is so very important to me. I just think her character is incredible representation for that. For helping people to acknowledge, address and deal with all their internal shit and realize that they might be in the wrong sometimes because it happens. And thus, growing and expanding in their consciousness evolution. Learning their mental well-being. I think that is so very important to be represented in art/entertainment because we only learn from either what we personally experience ourselves or what we vicariously experience through reflections of ourselves that we may not recognize. For me, this is what Willow Rosenberg represents in ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’. A human being that experiences and interacts with the supernatural to the point where she becomes less and less human, and yet, at the same time because of her flaws, shows herself to be as human as they come. Because humans are flawed and it’s important to understand that that’s okay. We can only do the best we can in the moment. We must allow ourselves the space and time to work through our issues and struggles any way we can. That’s why Willow’s arc is so profound to me. There is very few characters in TV like her with such immense written character development. It really is a shame.
Furthermore, Alyson Hannigan’s portrayal and performance in this episode especially is remarkable to me. She absolutely nails the wreckage of Willow and makes you really feel for her character despite the fact it’s entirely her fault what happens. Watching Willow fall to the floor in the climatic scene brings me to tears every time I watch it. The way the actress was able to stay in control of her performance and clearly and concisely deliver her lines while falling to pieces. It’s award-winning level acting skill and talent. Alyson Hannigan deserved an Emmy for this scene right here.
I don't think it's so much that Buffy is using Spike to feel better about herself, but to feel SOMETHING. I mean, not any better in the using department, just that she still doesn't really feel better. I mean except for that better that sex makes you feel.
Buffy's addiction is more like alcoholism - what harm can one night of drinking (aka shagging) do, if it helps me forget for a short while - but, boy the hangover is rough
Buffy don't be giving aff at the start.
I wrote the longest comment the other day about why it is okay to ship spuffy even though it is a hundred percent toxic
😔willow
Right now Buffy and Spike just had sex. It's not that bad thing. Of course there are some issues, of course, because she came back from dead recently and he is a soulless vampire. But we got it already so I don't see the point in me mentioning it for the hundredth time.
They are both kind of half dead half alive, that's also the reason why authors put them together. She had couple of reasons for sex and he always wanted it. And we learned that it was rought, passionate, long and she didn't even notice that the building had collapsed😆And even wanted to stay when he asked her. Untill the authors made him compare his experience. Reminded her that he is a soulless vampire. And of course, she is scared and starts making excuses and trash him. But I would like to note that for Spike, a vampire the most perverted time is still with her, not with any of his psychopathic girlfriends.
But what is important is how they (authors and characters) will treat this thing between them later. Their attitude and behavior. While staying in this affair. And that's where it wasn't right. Not particular sexual relationship and affair. You can have it all and still make something good out of it. But how she comes to him only when she needs help and now sex and keeps trashing and beating him at the same time. And he is getting used to it. That's create really bad context.
Oh no I wish i could of seen u react to buffy blushing at spikes
I agree about the Spuffy relationship, it's like the song 'Use Me' by Bill Withers. And you're right about the blunt instrument MAGIC = DRUGS. The show was better written before this season, where's the subtlety? Is Willow off to the magic rehab clinic next? The magic anonymous meetings? 'It's been 15 days since my last spell.'
What intrigues me is you seem to perceive magic as not being all that serious to be the equivalent of drugs if not drugs itself. But this is their world. Magic is obviously extremely serious and so it’s entirely appropriate that they can double for drugs in this world.
The beginnings of drug addiction can be subtle. However, once the spiral has begun in true it can become much more obvious. Heroin and meth usage leap to mind. No subtlety there.
@@becca1189 exactly. The mental has become external. And that’s just how it goes.
Can I *SKIP* all the Spuffy scenes?!?!🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮And can I also skip all the Rack/Addicted Willow Scenes?!?💔💔💔💔💔💔💔Come to think of it...can I just skip the entire episode?!?!X-[ 05:54 - 05:58 *ME TOO!!!😭ALWAYS!!!!* 🖤💛(And,for the record,I'm *NOT* quoting Snape:I'm quoting BUFFY!>o