Willow Gone Bad (Don’t read this if you don’t want to know what happens to Tara!)

Joss, you’ve done it again. I even knew that the death of a certain character was coming and I still was surprised and upset when it actually happened. This is why I love Buffy. Yes, there are moments of angst that border on soap opera cheese, but the whole Buffy mythology holds together so well (except for Spike and that is another entry) that you forgive those moments because you want to see what will happen next. I really loved Willow and Tara together; which makes it so much more painful when Tara is killed. But how can you not love Bad Willow! She is so much more powerful than Buffy. Since she gave up her powers in the first half of the season, Willow had turned back into sweet, cutesy Willow. But when she is bad, she is really bad. And in this case, you have to side with her. Wouldn’t you want to torture and kill the one who killed your beloved? Even though you know it’s wrong, there is something satisfying, albeit gross, with what she does to Warren.

Willow rounds out the trio in this episode of the three powerful women in this season: Buffy, Anya, and herself. Buffy, whose supernatural power is a birthright uses her power to protect humans; Anya, whose power is reignited through betrayal uses her power to avenge the jilted; and Willow, whose power is driven by pure rage uses her powers for revenge. Joss says that Buffy is an exploration of female power and it is no where better illustrated than in this episode.

Only two more episodes until the end of this season. Spike is gone (I was getting tired of that drama anyway) and I miss Giles; maybe he’ll come back? The previous two seasons had great season finales, so I am looking forward to this one. Hopefully, we will get to see lots more of Bad Willow.