I don't think Tara felt all that close to Buffy. But I don't think at that stage she was really prepared to hold the line against a Willow determined to act, even if she'd tried. Aside from having been recently brain-scrambled, I think she was still pretty emotionally dependent at that point. Maybe dependent is too strong a word, but she didn't have the confidence then that she did later. At that stage, she'd be more easily pulled along by Willow's emotional manipulation conviction.

But I don't think at that stage she was really prepared to hold the line against a Willow determined to act, even if she'd tried.

Good point. She hadn't realized yet how far Willow would go, so she didn't know what the risks were.

Were there fics written where the plan was to, instead of resurrect Buffy, kill Faith?

I think so, though usually, it's the WC doing the killing.

Unfortunately, the text itself doesn't support the notion that any of them were aware of the line heading through Faith, as much of a no-brainer as it was and despite the authors of said text mentioning it at least once that I dimly recall.

Cindy, you might enjoy this.

Assuming I get the link right. If I don't, scroll down to the comments.

I always felt like Willow was designed to be adorable, which is why she makes me grind my teeth in a way that even Wesley doesn't.

I always felt like Willow was designed to be adorable, which is why she makes me grind my teeth in a way that even Wesley doesn't.

Joss even sort of cops to Willow's adorability by design, or at least how he used it. It's been a dog's age since I've listened to any of the commentary, but I remember him saying something, possibly on the commentary for Surprise/Innocence, about putting Willow in danger, when he needed to evoke strong feelings from the audience.

I have to be clear--I love Willow; I just don't Love Willow. I can't imagine the show without the character. But over the years, the reaction to her, that I've seen from fandom, has always surprised me.

Cindy, you might enjoy this.

Heeeee.

I was so grateful to read that, I didn't even comment on Strega's reference to her delusions opinion of Wesley.

Heh. But that kind of is the difference to me. Wesley, by S2 of Angel, was a great, mostly-consistent character. He's not a kind of person I like, and so I had fun bashing him, but he certainly felt real. Buffy felt real. Willow felt more like a randomly-assigned collection of quirks I was supposed to project an identity onto.

And then Fred was even worse that way.

YES! Fred took it to a whole new level. My favorite Fred moment was her death. I sort of mean that sincerely, because I managed to be emotionally manipulated quite touched by it, because of how it affected the others. I tried for a long time to like her, and succeeded from time to time, but it never lasted. I just didn't get either why all the characters so loved her (I didn't think she earned it) or why fandom did (and AA probably earned it, but it escaped me).

Both Willow and Fred suffer from Dr. Marlena Evans syndrome. Who here watched DOOL?

I hated both Willow and Fred when they were the cutesy-poo nerdy girls. Once Willow went gay and Fred and Gunn broke up, I got interested and I loved both of them by the end of the shows. I never got the appeal of total geek, little girl Willow at all. She just annoyed the hell out of me. Once she grew up, I loved her.