Before it was undermined here, Willow's reliance on magic appeared to originate from her need for power and control, turning to Wicca in order to prove her own worth or importance. There was also that element of the girl being plain lazy. Why bother performing menial tasks like buying party supplies when you can just magick shit in? Elements of both explanations appear here and there throughout Wrecked, and there's a wonderful coda where Willow seems to reveal that the only reason she's become so wrapped up in her abilities is because of her own fear of returning to her pre-magic self, where she was, in her own words, 'some girl'. Unfortunately, most of this is drowned out by the hideous 'magic equals drugs' metaphor, one of the laziest and most unintentionally hilarious storylines Buffy ever attempted.The build-up to this episode was ridiculously fascinating, as we all slowly watched this sweet young woman became harsher and meaner, driven by her own desperation for control. If anything, it's depressing to see so much interesting character work get petered away in one fell swoop. Amy's six year-long arc is destroyed in order to get Willow from point A to point B in the story, becoming this junkie wingnut in the space of an episode. Marti Noxon relies on such easy plot twists to get Willow to hit rock bottom (endanger Dawn! Wah!), and the druggie demon thing is ridiculously perfunctory. It's a storyline misfire in the most overt sense.
However, the rest of Wrecked isn't entirely heinous. Buffy's post-coital characterization is interesting, as she runs the gamut of emotions we all experience after we do something 'different'. She subtly tries to defend her actions, she insults Spike to his face, and later pledges that it was a mistake that she'll never repeat. The only problem for Buffy is that Spike knows exactly what she's doing, and that no matter how she tries to cover it up, she had fun with him.
Willow's addiction is both the best and worst thing about Wrecked, since it's so wonderful in theory but entirely misjudged and cringe-worthy in execution. What should have been an interesting exploration into identity is instead made a poor collection of cold turkey shakes and child endangerment. Ugh. But Alyson Hannigan gives it her all, and that final scene is pretty remarkable. C-
Credits
Guest stars Elizabeth Anne Allen (Amy Madison); Jeff Kober (Rack); Amber Benson (Tara Maclay)
Writer Marti Noxon Director David Solomon
I think this arc is one of the most controversial in Buffy's history. It tore fans down the middle, and its easy to see why.
ReplyDeleteI'm pretty much on the side of "bad", along with you, on the whole magic = drugs thing. It ruined a lot of the mystique. I think the magic used to get willow "high" should have been specifically categorized as something completely separate if they were going to tackle it at all.
I think you said that you aren't a fan of the whole "dark Willow" saga, but I'm curious to know why, so I'm looking forward to those reviews. Great reviews this week too, of course. =)
Absolutely. But a lot of this season divides fans right down the middle, you get folks who think it's the best season the show ever did, and then others who absolutely despise it. Agreed about the magic, too. Initially magic was used as a metaphor for lesbianism, and then used as a representation of love and power. Here it got all mixed up in some horrible junkie-dom metaphor and it's fug as hell.
ReplyDeleteOn Dark Willow, it actually wasn't as omnipresent as I had remembered it being, but it ended up being kind of a missed opportunity in the end, with badness becoming contrived purely to up the stakes for the finale. At least that's how it read to me.
Panda "Oh, it was definitely about "raising the stakes", for sure, but I think I got drawn in by the flashiness of it all. [REDACTED] Ugh, I shouldn't be getting ahead of myself, I'll save my thoughts for when that review is posted in a few weeks!
ReplyDeleteI must really watch this whole series back again, and I might consider reviewing it, even if its just in a condensed 'season-by-season' format. There's still a lot to discuss about it, even all these years later(nearly 10 years now, Christ)."
I should have probably written something like this already, but I had to remove your comment Panda because you wrote about a major future plot development. Ordinarily I wouldn't be so gun-crazy, but I know that there are readers on here who haven't watched the show before, so I'm kind of eager to keep things spoiler-free in the comment section. It's totally my bad, though. I should have made that clear at some point in the past.
Anyway, I agree with what you wrote about getting drawn in. It's very much a season where you get wrapped up by certain things and not so much by others, which explains the whole polarizing aspect.
And you should definitely consider reviewing it. It's a big undertaking, but I've really discovered whole new takes on things this time around, including things I never noticed when I was younger and a lot more of a novice when it came to fiction of any kind.
Thanks for commenting, Panda, and again sorry about the deleting thing.
Shit, sorry about that!
ReplyDeleteI was actually thinking about the whole spoiler thing, and I put a note on my Veronica Mars page about them, but I'm thinking of going back and hiding them somehow so I'm not spoiling it for others. It's the hardest thing about retrospective reviews, trying to hide your thoughts on future twists. I'll make sure to keep my lips sealed about things like that, my total bad!
Yeah, I think if I were to watch it again, I might go full nerd on it and do Angel along with it as well, in the intended airing order, which I've never done before. I haven't seen most of Angel since I fist saw it so it'll be a whole new experience. I've seen Buffy a lot, but its been a few years, so I might find myself itching to write something!
Again, sorry about the spoilers, I assure it won't happen again ;)
Maybe it is an easy route to take but I think it makes a lot of sense and I thought the glitchy eye effects were really well done, I also thought the scene in the picture above was creatively amusing too- not one hair escaping from being pulled back from the magical force. I've felt the drug mentality has always been there, the fact that certain people feel the need to harness an enhanced reality. Like what makes a person want to mess with physiologies? Of course magic plays into a deeper more energy/spiritual level but I find it quite interesting that none of the others (minus Dawn perhaps) have had any interest in changing reality, like real life isn't enough.
ReplyDeleteIt was an alright way to tie in Buffy's predicament as well, I liked the hidden aspect of the magic den and Spike being the link between it and Buffy, levels of evil and things not being all that they seem kind of thing.. I always like seeing Buffy work through problems, she's quite a volatile character and it's quite interesting when she doesn't want to let Willow in.
At least it was a logical strait, they did it for Riley too when he was losing a grip on his identity, it didn't just come about because Willow was getting too deep in the magic, she's been dropping hints for ages about how much (misplaced!) disgust she feels about her old self. I thought they did good, maybe things moved too fast, especially with Amy but it was still disturbing and quite scary!
Panda No worries about the spoilers, Panda. And I agree with the awkwardness about them. Sometimes I worry that readers may think I'm watching for the first time, or that these are old reviews written years ago, but I think they work a lot better when you're not discussing totally spoiler-ish details.
ReplyDeleteAnd I was in the same boat with Angel. I didn't want to only watch Buffy again, since I had only watched Angel one time when they first aired, so a lot of it (especially seasons two and three) felt really fresh this time around.
Maya Great comments! I love that type of psychological analysis. I know there are a ton of books out there related to Buffy's psychology, but I've never read them. Agreed about the distinction between Willow as she is here and how she was years ago, and about the 'enhanced reality' that you described. A lot of this season is about Buffy's troubles, too, and she goes to some very volatile places. Not all of it is perfect, but it's a really strong exploration into her psyche which I think you'll like.
Really, books?! That's incredible, goodness so much to discover.. I wonder if I'll ever check them out one day, phew commitment. All of the character's are soo well fleshed out- it's a compliment I'll pay time again and time again! I've just watched 'Hell's Bells' (taking leaps with my Buffy watching) and that was pure psychology! :'(
ReplyDeleteI'm going to chill a while (and wait for your reviews! :-p)... except not- having severely let Angel drag- I have some catching up to do! haha
Oh, yeah, Buffy's a huge deal in analytical circles. There have been college courses and everything -- though I'm not sure they still run anywhere. And that's great to hear that you're running ahead, especially at this point in the show. And I had figured about Angel, since nobody really comments on those reviews. I understand why though, there's definitely a vibe that makes Buffy far more addictive than Angel, even though Angel has equally strong stories and wonderful characters. For me, Buffy just has that certain something that you instantly fall for. Angel is a little hard to truly love. At least in my opinion.
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