maggie2 | Notes on Buffy 1.08: I Robot, You Jane

Notes on Buffy 1.08: I Robot, You Jane

Standard disclaimer: I'll often speak of foreshadowing, but that doesn't mean I'm at all committing to the idea that there was some fixed design from the word go -- it's a short hand for talking about the resonances that end up in the text as it unspools.

Standard spoiler warning: The notes are written for folks who have seen all of BtVS and AtS. I'll be spoiling through the comics as well. Basically -- if you are a spoiler-phobe and haven't seen or read it all, read further at your own risk.
Standard Credits: I've written the material in black; Strudel (aka my Bro) writes in blue;

local_max writes in purple. Or at least, that's what they've done when I finish editing and formatting!

I Robot, You Jane, In Which Willow Finds Love and World Domination Through the Internet

After three episodes on Buffy’s love life, we get an episode on Willow’s love life. Except the main lessons to be drawn (such as they are) are still about Buffy. (Max: Well....) Moloch is a demon who lures people with the promise of love and then kills them. Buffy will know something about that midway through the next season.

Like Buffy, Willow falls for someone without knowing he’s a demon. Willow’s demon doesn’t have any redeeming features, alas, so the love is short-lived.

We conclude the episode with Xander, Willow and Buffy reflecting on the fact that their love lives are doomed because they live on top of a hell mouth. Thus we wrap the sequence of episodes running from Teacher’s Pet (Xander’s praying mantis), the three on Buffy’s love life (ending with Angel) and this episode on Willow.

Sex is scary. There is a countervailing note, however. We meet Jenny Calendar, and while Giles’ love for her is doomed, it’s not because she’s a demon.

Buffy/Xander/Willow: Again we reaffirm that Xander is not interested in Willow that way. He is, however, a bit jealous when Willow falls for someone else. The Scoobies aren’t always going to be very good at welcoming significant others into the group.

Strudel: both points are deftly done. Xander makes no pretense of wishing to stay late in the library to help Willow with the scanning project. Quite pointedly, he goes chasing after Buffy out of the library, clearly setting the stage for Willow to find comfort in the virtual arms of Moloch. Max: He does make a point of saying that he loves Willow, though--Xander doesn't shy away from expressing his platonic affection. Strudel: It's also interesting how easily Buffy sees Xander's jealousy, and her jab at him -- "you are used to being the belle of the ball" -- once again returns to her consideration of him as one of the girls.

Another interesting little hint at the Buffy/Willow relationship: Buffy seeks Dave's help saying, "well, you're a computer geek ... genius." This little throw-away joke likely sheds some insight on Buffy's sense of social superiority over Willow, which is part of the resentment package that comes to a boil in Season Six.

Max: I'd note too that Buffy's attitude toward Willow, while reasonable from Buffy's end, must look pretty bad from Willow's. Willow makes the point that she doesn't understand why Buffy isn't supportive of her--after all, she says, boys don't fall at her feet. There's jealousy there, and also a sense of entitlement--after all this time of being ignored by guys, doesn't Willow deserve one? After all this time encouraging Buffy to go out with Angel, whom Buffy barely knew anything about, why isn't Buffy encouraging Willow? After all this time of being diligent and going to class and getting straight A's (which Buffy doesn't), doesn't Willow deserve to blow off some classes? Willow is being unfair to Buffy here, but I get the sense that Buffy really doesn't get where Willow is coming from, and attributes all of it to Malcolm's manipulations.

Speaking of resentments, there's a telling Xander moment in the episode, when he supplies the information to Buffy and Giles about what CRD is. They both look at him, stunned--is this the same boy whose idea of literary is "To read makes our speaking English good"? (That line happens later in the episode, but you get my point, and I can't resist an opportunity to quote it.) Giles states that Xander providing information is unprecedented, and Xander cops to the fact that his uncle worked there as a janitor, with some embarrassment. There is some condescension in Buffy and Giles' reaction, and some shame in Xander's self-via-family-deprecating response. Both Xander's shame about the Harris clan and the gap between his actual and perceived contributions to the group are going to get major play going on.

Willow & Abstraction: Max: Buffy and Xander live in the physical world, but Willow lives abstractly; she falls for Malcolm because of his spell, yes, but it's significant that Buffy, who fell for Angel's wicked energy, is completely flabbergasted that Willow could fall for someone without seeing him or knowing what he looks like, whereas for Willow this is natural. "He might have a hairy back!" Buffy exclaims, perhaps thinking of how much better smooth, tattooed backs look. Willow responds that when you care about someone it doesn't matter if they have a hairy back. This hints at Willow's ability to distance herself from the physical reality of her situation, which sets her up as a spell-caster and as being able to slaughter a deer, a geek, and (nearly) a planet without blinking. It also is a trait that helps make later revelations about her sexuality play particularly well: while her feelings for Xander and Oz were no doubt genuine, it isn't until Tara in "Hush" that there is a highly emphasized tactile component to her relationships. (Compare: in "The Pack," Willow describes her attraction to Xander by saying that he "makes my head go tingly.") On the Dark Willow watch, we also see Willow's capacity for revenge at the episode's end, though nothing that Moloch doesn't clearly deserve.

Strudel: I love this point about the abstracted nature of Willow's love here. The episode makes clear that there is an ominous shadow over this love of the abstract. Fritz is decidedly demented by it ("the only reality is virtual. If you're not jacked in, you're not alive") and of course we get plenty of previews of the nature of Moloch's abstracted power as he sets about making the world over in his image, meddling with databases worldwide (from altering student records to messing with church finances to tinkering with the FBI's serial killer profiles). It's rather amusing when Buffy and Giles one up each other on the list of horribles that Moloch could achieve on the internet (with Giles conceding that Buffy got the better of him with the nuclear War Games scenario).

Max adds: The emphasis on abstraction, and tangible vs. intangible, actually runs throughout the ep--notice the mentions of riddles ("Oh, I know this one...does it involve a midget and an ice block?") on the one hand, and construction companies on the other. Moloch's desire to have physical form with which to snap people's necks, in addition to his abilities to seduce through words, prefigures the First Evil as well. And this all connects with Giles speech to Jenny, which you quote below, as well: Giles is a creature of the mind but he wants his learning to be associated with the senses. Moloch is defeated in two different ways: either by binding him so that he no longer has physical form, or by binding him to a physical form and then destroying that form. I think the message, if one exists, is that the physical and the ethereal are both necessary.

Willow and Power: Strudel: The interesting thing to come of this is that Moloch offers this power to Willow and she rejects it out of hand. Ah, these were the days of the good Willow. She may have been smitten by Moloch/Malcolm, but once she sees through him, she has no problem rejecting him and everything he has to offer. Of course, by Season Six, Willow will once again have the controls of the world at her beck and call. And she was so far gone by then that she is willing to use her powers to destroy the world. So, the question to watch going forward is what happens to Willow to make her lose this sensibility she once had. Maybe one superficial correlation to note between here and the ultimate Xander/Willow confrontation at the end of Season Six is that Willow isn't swayed in the least by Moloch because she knows he doesn't love her. In Season Six, Xander brings her back from the edge of the destruction of the world by repeatedly telling her that he does love her.

Max again: Great catches! To go further, Willow's role in the show (summarized in season four as "spirit") is all about the non-physical--she's good with computers and then with witchcraft, both of which are about concepts and words. As I said, the disconnect from the literal, physical world is part of what allows her to do what she does later in the show. But you're right that she's not there yet by any means. Note that when Moloch tells Willow he loves her, the way she knows he doesn't love her is because he lied to her--interesting in terms of later developments with Tara, on both sides, though more notably deceptions from Willow. Xander's utter honesty on the bluff does contrast well.

One crucial difference between Moloch here and Willow in "Grave" though: Moloch doesn't make any bones about his reasons. He wants power and destruction, and he presents it as such to Willow. Willow's averted apocalypse comes out of a desire for those, too, but it's also connected with wanting to end other people's pain. No matter what evil things Willow does, there's always some in, even if slight, that allows her to write it either as good or harmless, or coming from an (already referenced) sense of entitlement. (It'll be interesting to track the way, over the next five years, Willow gets better and better at the sorts of mental gymnastics that allow her to be a good person when erasing her girlfriend's memory.) Anyway, Moloch is very bwahaha villain, with no in at all. Regardless, Moloch offers Willow "knowledge and power"--it's a very common association, but interesting in light of the way Willow's drive for power initially presents itself as an insatiable thirst for knowledge.

Maggie replies: Wow, guys, I go off and leave a document sitting around and come back to find all this cool discussion. It’s incredibly useful to contrast Willow’s easy rejection of power here, with her later seduction by it. Max is right that part of the difference is that Willow tells herself it’s for good purposes. But underneath that, I think there’s also a growing hunger for the power because Willow is jealous of Buffy’s powers and all that comes with it (not least Xander’s attraction to her). Everything that gets spewed out in season 6, basically – and which we’ll find is clearly set up from very early on. Here in season 1, Willow doesn’t yet have that power, and isn’t going to make the leap to infinite power. It wouldn’t occur to her to think she deserves it. What she does do is incrementally acquire power (to help), and with each step up the power ladder comes an increased sense of entitlement to the status that goes with it – and with that status comes more confidence in reaching out for yet more power. It is a remarkably well-crafted character arc!

Jenny Calendar: Max: It's significant that Jenny is introduced in a Willow episode. The two don't interact much in this ep, but she probably represents a model for Willow's behaviour, and after Jenny's death by Angel Willow replaces her as computer teacher, technopagan/witch, and even (in "I Only Have Eyes For You") as Giles' confidante. I believe that some of Willow's (subconsciously?) taking over Jenny's role has to do with Giles' proximity to Jenny, and Willow's admiration of Giles--blink and you'll miss it, but it's in this episode that we see that Willow has a picture of herself and Giles in her locker.

Giles and Jenny start off with antagonism, and then grow into a mutual respect as the episode goes on, aided in great part by the fact that, in spite of being opposed to each other in some significant way (book man vs. computer woman), they share work: they are both teachers and both are (ahem) jacked into the mystical, and on the side of good. This is a fairly standard romantic trope, but it is notable (besides being effectively done) in that it somewhat mirrors Buffy & Angel, who are also opposed (slayer vs. vampire) but bond through their common work. Jenny, like Angel, has a secret (technopagan/vampire) which masks a darker secret (Gypsy spy/vampire with detachable soul). There are also parallels running the other way: Giles and Angel are the older, "Old World" partners to the more modern and younger Jenny and Buffy. But Giles/Jenny is much healthier than Buffy/Angel, and the superficial similarities help to identify why. Giles and Jenny ultimately do get to know each other quite well and are both adults, and deal with their conflicts sensibly.

Also, I just can't help but paraphrase a line from a TV guide review of "The Dark Age" here, when it comes to some (incidental) Jenny foreshadowing: don't get too attached to Jenny, because Ms. Calendar's days are numbered.

Strudel: While Giles is almost always under-written, he gets a very nice, almost poetic little speech to Jenny about the tangibility of knowledge derived from books, as epitomized by the smell of a book vs. the de-contextualized nature of knowledge stored on the internet.

A couple of other minor themes at play here

Buffy as a hero watch: Strudel: Once again, Buffy is wicked clever: she figures out that Moloch was let loose on the internet, and then she comes up with a clever way to get him to destroy himself. She also is rightly concerned about Willow's infatuation with Malcolm, and she takes charge and issues orders to Giles to get Ms. Calendar to help him remove Moloch from the internet. I rather like noting that all this clarity takes place in an episode with hardly a mention of Angel.

How long ago 1998 [Max: Checked: It aired in April, 1997 apparently] was: Back then, you could make jokes like this:

Willow: I met him online.
Buffy: On line for what?

Today, that would be ludicrously bad writing.

Max: Speaking of ludicrously bad writing--or at least widespread perception thereof--there's a few chance details that prompt me to begin:

Willow's addictive personality watch. Max: Moloch the Corruptor's influence affects Willow, Dave, and Fritz. We see Willow alternately euphoric and exhausted, having blown off classes and other responsibilities. Dave seems in a constant hyperactive, paranoid state. Fritz, as well as being generally crazy, happens to stick a needle in his arm--admittedly, as a tattoo. All three of the above seem to relate to forms of drug use. The drug connotations here are, I think, incidental (the central metaphor is obviously that "beware of internet stalkers, because they may be demon robots," plus the Buffy/Angel-related "don't trust anyone over 225"), but I'd still argue they are present and represent the first "Willow + drugs" story element. Moloch's influence works on Willow because she wants to feel better about herself and has few internal ways of doing so. But at this point, she is able, once she sees how dangerous and evil Moloch is, to say no. I like too the way that Moloch's proposed exchange--power for his victims' love--seems like a very Season One version of Rack's similar trade of magic power for his mystical/sexual "little tour." (Willow, of course, gets even with both of them, though Buffy delivers the killing blow here.) A discussion of the interpretation and the merits (or lack thereof) of Willow's story in and about "Wrecked" are a long ways away in these notes, but I think it's worth keeping an eye on what resonances pop up until then

Maggie replies: I’ve always hated that metaphor, so it’ll be good to see how much it really gets developed as we go along!

And that concludes the set of notes that I was sure was going to be the shortest one of the season. Thanks to Max and Bro for showing how even the lamest-seeming episode has a lot worth commenting on! I can’t wait to see what they manage when we get to Go Fish.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

She may have been smitten by Moloch/Malcolm, but once she sees through him, she has no problem rejecting him and everything he has to offer

I think there's also a crucial difference in that she doesn't want to be handed power. She wants it on her own terms. When she does get powerful, she's going to boss Mighty Forces around in her own language. Doing Moloch's dirty work would never appeal to later season Willow either, but she would be able to zap him herself.

Also, not to be a Dark Willow apologist or anything, but the episode also seeds the huge problem of nobody taking Willow seriously. She looks young, she is a nerd, what trouble can she get up to? It'll happen again in S2/early S3 when Giles tries to get her to Just Say No to magic instead of getting her to some healthy role models, then again in Doppelgangland when she asks that her friends notice something non-homework-based about her and then again in Something Blue when everyone tsk-tsks at her for taking a whole two weeks to get over Oz and all the baggage that came with his leaving.

And really, none of that stuff is unreasonable. It's not like she feels undervalued for no rational reason. Her friends always miss clear chances to step in because they underestimate her. I think that's a huge factor in her eventual ability to rationalize, because even when she knows she is extremely powerful, I am not sure she believes that she can actually do a whole lot of harm: you can only be told so many times that you don't have any impact on the world before you start believing it. It doesn't excuse S6 Willow, but it goes a long way towards explaining her.

(I am not sure if I have commented on one of these yet, but I have been thoroughly enjoying them!)

And really, none of that stuff is unreasonable.

Exactly. Which is another reason why I love Willow's arc; at no point (at least pre-s6) is it really born out of malice or mere hunger for power in its own right.

Glad you're enjoying!

I completely agree. The series is so tightly written when it comes to character -- we're going to see all the nuances for why people do what they do. It always makes sense. And the best part is that much of it does come out of the group dynamics. The Scoobies are a complex bunch of people.

I really love this comment! I love the point that Willow wants to earn power, not have it handed to her. It's interesting, because Willow also shows a lot of signs of wanting to cut corners, and do things the "easy" way etc. But this comes from Willow's being convinced that the rules are silly and don't/shouldn't apply to her, not that she is actually short circuiting any genuinely necessary steps.

Your point is also taken about Willow not being taken seriously and how that contributes to her increase in power. Giles in particular actually does pretty badly by the kids at times, I think; you can see it in, e.g., Anne, when he's off hunting Buffy and leaves Willow, Xander and Oz to do the slaying, or in Something Blue when he talks about how terrible it is for Willow to be blowing off her "responsibilities" by not coming up with a spell to loosen Spike's tongue, which she is doing for Giles entirely pro bono. I think this comes from a lot of the same unconscious assumptions that most of Giles' crappy behaviour comes from: he's a Council man, and the cognitive dissonance of including civilians in when they shouldn't be involved compels him not to take them as seriously as he should, even when, on a personal level, he likes them (Willow especially, who is definitely his non-Buffy favourite). Giles really doesn't try very hard to stop Willow from doing magic: I'm looking forward to tracking exactly what the ratio of "Willow, th-this could open a door you can't close" to "Willow, y-your responsibility is to do a very dangerous spell for us right now" is for Giles (and of course, it would never occur to him that he's sending mixed signals!).

his comes from Willow's being convinced that the rules are silly and don't/shouldn't apply to her, not that she is actually short circuiting any genuinely necessary steps.

Totally. And again, you can see how she got there, and not entirely unreasonably. Willow has spent her entire life hewing to rules that exist just because to avoid getting into trouble. I think it's more of what

beer_good_foamy is talking about below with not knowing how to be good. She is a smart, disciplined girl in an American high school, every rule that she lives under is pointless and unnecessary to her. Finding magic, which does excite and challenge her, throws that whole framework out the window. Which would actually have been good for her, if she'd had a mentor.

Then this all is reinforced when being a by-the-book Slayer gets Kendra good and dead. And when Snyder shows just how much of a power-abusing asshole he is. And when Giles betrays Buffy in Helpless for the Council's pointless, homicidal test. And when the guy who runs the town ends up trying to eat it. And when a representative of the government tries to kill Buffy. She has every reason in the world to be suspicious of people who expect her to do something just because. Which is why she needs serious, mature guidance.

Giles in particular actually does pretty badly by the kids at times

He really does, in retrospect. And I'm not entirely without sympathy for him, Buffy is the only one who's his job and she's more than enough, but he's (deliberately?) obtuse as to how important he is to the others. I just hurt for the others (especially Willow) when he starts trying to bail in the later seasons.

I'm looking forward to tracking exactly what the ratio of "Willow, th-this could open a door you can't close" to "Willow, y-your responsibility is to do a very dangerous spell for us right now" is for Giles

Ha, exactly. Like adult permission is what protects people from consequences. She stopped buying that a long time ago.

Totally. And again, you can see how she got there, and not entirely unreasonably. Willow has spent her entire life hewing to rules that exist just because to avoid getting into trouble. I think it's more of what beer_good_foamy is talking about below with not knowing how to be good. She is a smart, disciplined girl in an American high school, every rule that she lives under is pointless and unnecessary to her. Finding magic, which does excite and challenge her, throws that whole framework out the window. Which would actually have been good for her, if she'd had a mentor.

Yes. And Willow has no way to distinguish which rules are actually important and which are frivolous. At the beginning, she tries to follow all of them (though she's already let some moral cracks in by accidentally decrypting city plans...). Her rebellion in season three still consists of eating a banana not at lunchtime. But no one is there to explain the difference between the reasons for "Don't talk with your mouth full" [it's perceived as rude] and "Look both ways before you cross the street" [because motorists don't always see pedestrians and it's dangerous!].

I love the observations about the way authority figures are so thoroughly trashed in seasons three and four! You can argue that this really affects all the Scoobies; in season five they have now found an apparently stable equilibrium where they are all Mature Adults Who Are Adult and Mature, but it's, um, actually not that stable as we find out in season six.... (Xander thinks he's Confident Xander instead of Scruffy Xander by the end of the season, but, no, not there yet.)

He really does, in retrospect. And I'm not entirely without sympathy for him, Buffy is the only one who's his job and she's more than enough, but he's (deliberately?) obtuse as to how important he is to the others. I just hurt for the others (especially Willow) when he starts trying to bail in the later seasons.

Oh absolutely. So much is made of how Giles left Buffy when she needed him the most. But what of Willow, who was becoming a genuine danger to herself and others? But I do sympathize with him tremendously. He has it deeply ingrained that people should be able to grow stronger by working through things themselves. And he didn't choose the Sunnydale life he ends up with, or even to be a Watcher. It's understandable that he'd want to wash his hands of it. But the Scoobies need him so much. (I can't say why, but it's Anya in "Grave" who breaks my heart the most.)

It's funny, despite my initial mockery of this episode and all of the horrible fashion abominations which reside in it, it's really grown on me in subsequent watches.

I've been enjoying all of your watch notes, but this post is my favorite thus far. It's amazing to realize how all of the character arcs began to unfold so close to the beginning.

I have to say, reading Strudel and Max's dialogue on all of this really increased my appreciation for the episode.

LOL! Okay, I have to say this. The way y'all introduce each other in segues just kills me. I'm half-expecting a "and back to the weather with Maggie" by King Russell any day now.

Except the main lessons to be drawn (such as they are) are still about Buffy. (Max: Well....)

*falls over laughing*

I'm a bit silly from the sleep deprivation but seriously, y'all slay me!

*gets serious and reads thoughtful meta*

Edited 2010-09-16 08:07 (UTC)

Hee!

I was a bit worried about it being unwieldy, but then I decided that's a better reflection of the show. There's no one POV. There's just lot to talk about. It's a lot of fun!

I'm really proud of my "speaking of ludicrously bad writing" segue myself (though I think "Wrecked," while not great, is undervalued!).

Due to general fandom burnout I haven't been reading/commenting much on these posts of yours, which is my bad, because it's excellent reading even if I don't agree whole-heartedly.

Willow makes the point that she doesn't understand why Buffy isn't supportive of her--after all, she says, boys don't fall at her feet. There's jealousy there, and also a sense of entitlement--after all this time of being ignored by guys, doesn't Willow deserve one?

I've always said that this scene is the first tiny little glimpse of Dark Willow - or at least the personality traits in Willow that eventually lead her there. Not only the need to have something that's, y'know, hers, and her determination to keep it once she's got it...

WILLOW: Let me tell you something about Willow. She's a loser. And she always has been. People picked on Willow in junior high school, high school, up until college... with her stupid mousy ways and now - Willow's a junkie. The only thing Willow was ever good for... the only thing I had going for me - were the moments - just moments - when Tara would look at me and I was wonderful.

...but also the way she very smoothly (and I guess we can partly blame Sheila Rosenberg's parenting skills for this) flips the argument around and lays the blame with the other person; Buffy brings up one question ("Are you sure you can trust this guy"), and Willow quickly (and probably not even consciously) misconstrues it into a different one, where Buffy's the bad guy and she's the innocent victim ("Buffy doesn't want Willow to have a boyfriend"). She does the same thing in "Something Blue", "Tough Love", "Flooded", etc. It's a common enough defense tactic, but...

I love this point about the abstracted nature of Willow's love here.

Me too.

Moloch's desire to have physical form with which to snap people's necks, in addition to his abilities to seduce through words, prefigures the First Evil as well.

And also, expanding on what Max said, it's what kills him since this is Buffy where practical violence is always the least traumatic option (cf for instance "Lie To Me" or "Shadow"). As Buffy and Giles point out, he could have done a lot more damage if he'd stayed virtual (spiritual/philosophical/psychological). Once he turns himself into a monster, he has an ass, and it is therefore kickable. The Master is only dangerous as long as he's locked up underground; once he gets out, Buffy wipes the floor with him. Monsters are more dangerous as concepts and metaphors than they are as actual physical beings.

I think there’s also a growing hunger for the power because Willow is jealous of Buffy’s powers and all that comes with it

True, though I think you're being a little harsh on Willow. There's definitely jealousy, but she also often puts it in far nobler terms - starting in "The Witch" ("That means hacking illegally into the school's computer system. At last, something I can do!") and continuing throughout seasons 2-5 right up until Willow's the "big gun", she is (or, if you prefer, tells herself she is, though I think it's genuine) looking for a way to help, to be as useful as Buffy. For goodness and puppies and, well, making the world a better place. Again, one of my favourite Willow backstory fanwanks; growing up in a family like that and with a limited social circle, she learned a lot about the importance of being a good person, but less about the how.

While Giles is almost always under-written, he gets a very nice, almost poetic little speech to Jenny about the tangibility of knowledge derived from books, as epitomized by the smell of a book vs. the de-contextualized nature of knowledge stored on the internet.

...thereby also anticipating the e-book vs print book debate, where it's apparently all about the smell and not about the context. /Personal aside

If you're not jacked in, you're not alive

Correct me if I misremember things (like I said, the actual ass-kicking bits aren't the most interesting, especially in s1) but don't they kill Moloch by literally jacking him into the wall?

Correct me if I misremember things (like I said, the actual ass-kicking bits aren't the most interesting, especially in s1) but don't they kill Moloch by literally jacking him into the wall?

Interesting! Whether or not that's what happens here (though it seems plausible), it would be cool to track the times throughout the series that the scoobies use electrocution as a solution.

Well, off the top of my head there's the demons Buffy kills in the sewer in "The I In Team", and... I think that's pretty much it. And both there and in this episode, it has a certain air of turning your enemy's weapon back on him. Electricity, like guns, is a somewhat non-Slayery concept. ~~Personal demons~~ Vampires are slain by hand or by dragging them into the light. (Adam feeds on electricity.)

There's probably meta in this. Different weapons for different monsters. In post-war Japan, electricity could kill Godzilla. In post-modern US, you poke monsters with sharp sticks.

Edited 2010-09-16 19:36 (UTC)

There's also Balthazar in Bad Girls, which is the one I was thinking about. But yeah, the mechanics of violence isn't normally what I'm looking for, so my speculations could be way off.

D'oh. Forgot him.

We will discuss again when 2maggie2 et al get to S3 :-D

Also, Gwen Post gets hit by lightning, which I guess counts as electrocution. Though I think we can attribute this more generally to "death by removal of glove."

If we include AtS, there's the Are You Now or Have You Ever Been paranoia demon.

Plus, the other Gwen on AtS kills people by it, though she has the decency to bring Gunn back.

Yeah, but that's natural electricity, which I would say makes a difference - it's not technology*, it's drawing on ancient power and that. Plus, definitely turning her own weapon on herself.

* My theory here is that modern technology isn't very useful to Slayers exactly because the basic metaphor is about fighting your own demons, human weaknesses and societal structures, and you can only do that with your own strength and that of those around you - not with external power. (Which is why both Buffy and Faith feel that the scythe is theirs, for instance - it's not something they are given, it's something they've gotten back. It's also why Willow only becomes a truly successful witch once she accepts that the magic is part of her, not something she can just draw upon when she feels like it.) That may not be a perfect explanation, but I like it.

Good point. (And the paranoia demon's demise makes sense, as AtS has a different set of metaphors and is self-consciously more modern even from episode 1--perhaps to contrast how un-modern Angel actually is?) Your theory holds a lot of weight, I think, and will be particularly interesting to discuss come the Initiative arc! (There's a reason Maggie Walsh is a psychologist after all.)

I like the point about Willow's acceptance of the magic as a part of her. Season six in particular plays a lot with the internal/external dichotomy, and how Willow at times feels powerless to the magic that she's channelling. (Addiction metaphor, time to go cold turkey etc.) I like how Willow's actions in the Dark Willow eps involve taking magic into her and essentially making it impossible to remove: the light and the dark magic are partly metaphors for the light and dark side of Willow's character, but in order to be at peace with herself in Lessons Willow has to take responsibility for all of it, wherever it came from. It's hers now.

(Addiction metaphor, time to go cold turkey etc.)

I'm about five seasons early here, but I really like

stormwreath's take on the addiction metaphor: it's not so much that magic is like a drug, but that the Scoobies (without any sort of mentor at that point) treat it as if it were. They act as if they're in a PSA about not doing drugs, and if they just do what the people do in those it'll work out; they're wrong, the magic is just a symptom of something in Willow that's been unaddressed ever since... well, "I Robot You Jane", and so it blows up in their faces. I'm not sure that's the writers' intention (in fact I'm pretty sure it's not) but it makes that arc a lot better.

Edited 2010-09-18 09:26 (UTC)

That works for me!

That's my take and/or fanwank as well. Again we're getting ahead of ourselves, but.... Even the memory spells Willow can write off as having good intentions. It's very hard for her to find anything positive to say about her behaviour in "Smashed" and then "Wrecked." So then she really seizes on "it's the magic's fault!" so that she can still be good Willow, and not have to confront the moral rot that's set in. But she also cuts off a piece of herself in the process for the next half-season, and when she loses Tara the explosion is even huger. It's complicated, because Rack really does have druggy magic. But it makes sense for Willow to be drawn to that too, though it's not her big problem.

I'll add a point from Arbitrar of Quality (have you read those discussions? anyway) which is that Willow gives up on magic exactly when she encounters some magic that makes her lose her sense of control.

Who knows what was intended (my guess is that Wrecked et al. was really just a patch on the arc, not necessarily to make Willow look better, but to delay Dark Willow until the end of the season through any means necessary) but it does have some nifty resonances.

Glad to see you!

"Monsters are more dangerous as concepts and metaphors than they are as actual physical beings". Oh, yes!

On me being harsh about Willow -- I completely agree she gives her desire for power more noble motives. She's not even lying. It's just not the whole truth. The argument all the way through is going to be that folks have multiple motives for what they do. Willow really wants to help. She's also jealous. (And you're right that a lot of Willow's real difficulty is because she doesn't really know how to be good.)

looking for a way to help, to be as useful as Buffy

Yeah, I do think Willow has some very good motives mixed in with the control issues. And as ever, I am really uncomfortable with the 'verse's dichotomy of evil and selfish/good and self-sacrificing. Expecting someone who knows the world and especially her home is crawling with vampires and demons not to utilize her innate ability to protect herself is kind of like telling her to bring a spork to a gunfight. If she said she wanted to protect herself, that wouldn't be well-received, even though it is perfectly reasonable. Of course she decides they are trying to keep her vulnerable and subservient, because they are. They tell themselves it's for her own good, so she doesn't become a bad person, but that's only part of it.

she learned a lot about the importance of being a good person, but less about the how.

...oh. That's kind of perfect. She knows not to be bad, she's very seldom naughty, but how to be good is a different story. Which kind of makes me rage at the Scoobies - well, Giles - all that much more, because she does try to learn.

This conversation will probably have more of a home in later seasons? But I guess it starts off here. I think Willow's power is such that it's as innate a part of who she is as as Slayer strength is to Buffy, Willow, and Kendra; as the demon is to the vampire. S3/4 Faith is a story of what happens when you go the wrong way about training people to use their power; Dark Willow is what happens when you pretend the power isn't there and if it is it's something innately wrong with the person who has it. (There's got to be something in here about how the magic/sexuality metaphor could work here.) It can be used as much for good as for bad, just like Slayer strength, but you need guidance. She's not just a better person when she comes back from the coven in S7, she's stronger magically than she has ever been.

I don't think the story is ever that Willow shouldn't try to learn to be a better witch or to find her own power. It's an empowerment story for Willow too. She has serious issues, and they get emphasized come season six, where she ends up sinking by far the lowest of any of the main cast. If you took just up to season six, there is something weird in the way you can read Willow's story as a repudiation of intellectually acquired, abstracted power vs. intuitive, essentialist power like Buffy has. But then, Willow is more powerful than Buffy, and saves the world, in "Chosen," doesn't she? I think discussions of Willow focus on the dark because it's so very well crafted the way the dark rises in poor lovable Willow. But Dark Willow and Chosen-era White Willow come as part of the same package. The way Joss is dealing with Willow in the always-popular season eight is with ambivalence--Willow states that she feels herself that she could go either way (good witch, bad witch). She's definitely empowered, in part by Buffy's entry into her life. But power isn't necessarily good or bad.

And the paradoxical thing is that going dark (I'm talking about Villains-Grave) is actually a very good thing for Willow's personal development--how else could she possibly release all those years of frustration? How else could she learn the strength she gets in season seven? That her strength comes at the cost of Rack, Warren's skin, the Magic Box and, most importantly, Tara (sniff!) is disturbing and scary and heartbreaking.

Yeah, considering her parents, Willow has probably been given the morals she's supposed to follow. But with the non-involvement of her parents, she has less guidance on how to follow these morals. Which results in her first latching on to rules in the beginning, and later latching on to reducing social conflict.

But even as Willow sees herself as the "rule-obeying, good girl", she enjoys her small insignificant rebellions like hacking or acting as lookout for a smoker. Keyword here is insignificant. Willow has trouble seeing that her actions could have big impacts.

It is interesting to think about how Willow's parents and school experience have shaped her personality to this point.

I agree with pretty much of all this.

Again, one of my favourite Willow backstory fanwanks; growing up in a family like that and with a limited social circle, she learned a lot about the importance of being a good person, but less about the how.

So much yes. You know, on Whedonesque I once argued that Willow could almost be said to lack a moral compass. That's not quite right; she genuinely wants to be good, and I don't think there's anything fake about that. But she is very divorced from any sense of how, or any instinctual understanding (ala Buffy) of what good actually is.

One of the great things about her arc is the way Willow's ability to make moral distinctions actually changes very little between season 1 and season 6. It's just that the personal signposts of what constitutes bad behaviour is FOR HER change completely. In Lie to Me, Willow is convinced she's a terrible, terrible person for telling one lie. She's wondering if making a move on Oz at all makes her a slut. Buffy et al. talk her out of holding herself to such a ludicrous standard. And so c. Doppelgangland she becomes convinced that she can still be good while letting her standards slip. By season 6, she's convinced she's still a good person when she's erasing Tara's memories. In both cases, she has a bit of an essentialist definition--good people do good things, and bad people do bad things--it just gets flipped from "I do bad things, ergo I'm a bad person" to "I am a good person, therefore the things I do are good." (Of course, this also leads to "Cordy/Faith/Anya does bad things, therefore she is a bad person.")

This is, naturally, not all bad--Willow really does need to ease up on herself from season 2. And she does do a lot of good up to season five. But....

Great point about Willow's Sheila-esque ability to turn the conversation topic around. It's most obvious in "Tough Love" but it's there a lot.

And yes on the monster-metaphor!

One of the great things about her arc is the way Willow's ability to make moral distinctions actually changes very little between season 1 and season 6. It's just that the personal signposts of what constitutes bad behaviour is FOR HER change completely.

Yes.

In both cases, she has a bit of an essentialist definition--good people do good things, and bad people do bad things--it just gets flipped from "I do bad things, ergo I'm a bad person" to "I am a good person, therefore the things I do are good." (Of course, this also leads to "Cordy/Faith/Anya does bad things, therefore she is a bad person.")

Absolutely.

This is, naturally, not all bad--Willow really does need to ease up on herself from season 2. And she does do a lot of good up to season five.

I would say including s5, though having just rewatched it, I'd say that's where it gets really complicated. The other characters, at this point, have more or less stopped questioning Willow's use of magic and started taking for granted that she can deliver if they need her ("You're my big gun, Willow"). And in the season where Buffy starts to question what being the Slayer is doing to her as a person, nobody - except maybe Tara - thinks to ask that of Willow; she continues to push herself harder, which is necessary in order to defeat Glory, the world would have ended without her, but then you end up in s6 with no big bad, and what do you do with a big gun in peacetime...? Apparently Joss had originally intended to kill Tara off and have Willow go completely dark in s5, and I'm really glad he decided to hold off on that, not just because I'm a huge Willow/Tara fan but because that's a story that needed time to develop.

And we're really getting ahead of ourselves here, aren't we? :)

I agree with your assessment of Willow in season five. Tara doesn't know how to broach the subject, and of course the first time she does Willow freaks out on her and changes the topic, and then Tara gets her brain sucked and is incredibly thankful to Willow and owes her everything and (one presumes) doesn't question her again over the summer. Anya sort of sees the dark aspects to Willow--accusing her of stealing, for example--but she doesn't know enough about human morality to be able to communicate what she sees to Xander or the others.

I agree too that Willow going nuts at the end of season five wouldn't have worked anywhere near as well. I think the story needs some opportunity to show us exactly how dependent Willow is on Tara, and while there are some elements in season five it's not as much as the opening eight of season six does to show the unhealthy aspects there.

and what do you do with a big gun in peacetime...?

Great line!

Oh, and one thing that just struck me, speaking of Willow's morality: The title of the episode.

I, Robot is the book by Isaac Asimov which introduces the three laws of robotics, which have formed the basis of a lot of moral discussion in SF since then - the themepark version is that you need those laws to stop robots going on a killing spree, yet anytime you program something to follow them to the letter, it still somehow leads to killing sprees or worse. It's an enforced morality (see also: Spike's chip).

You Jane is obviously from Tarzan, the man abandoned in the jungle, raised by apes and teaching himself to read from books he found.

Put it together, what do you have? A character taught a fixed set of rules that aren't always applicable and frequently contradict each other, and with no outside guidance has had to make up their own - and often flawed - way of implementing them.

You just floored me!

What norwie said!

This song makes me cry, poor Snape. I? love him :(
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Notes on Buffy 1.08: I Robot, You Jane

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