I wanted a Fred/Willow hook up. Then they could have brought W over to Angel! Yeah, yeah!

I'll always be convinced that by the time season 7 rolled around, the writers hated SMG and reflected that hatred in the writing of Buffy (the character).

Preach it, sister. I had such a hard time getting that thought out of my head, that most of the S7 posts and LJ entries either had to go meta (which I don't like to do), or I allowed my resentment just tainted much of the watching of it, and bit my tongue and posted all around it.

I certainly understand ASH wanting to go home so he could finally spend some time with his kids, but, wouldn't it have been nice to do more shooting in England? I know, I know, budgets etc., but, dammit, a woman can dream.

Re: Tara being "Something They Had to Do".

I meant that given they were headed for Dark Willow, there was really only one way they were going to get there and that was Kill the Significant Other. I totally buy that, had Seth Green stuck around and Tara never showed, they would have put a bullet in Oz just to get there.

I thought it was pretty brave of them to do it and make it stick. It's just annoying that they had Willow get over it so quickly. But that's my personal opinion.

Oh, yes, Willow should not have gotten over Tara so quickly. At the very least--granted, I didn't watch S7 as closely as I watched others--someone should have been annoyed with Kennedy for slithering in so blatantly.

So, you're saying "The Replacement" was a year too early?

Well, Nick and Kelly have made out with each other on national television... though I imagine that's a place none of the writers would have been comfortable going, regardless of how accommodating the actors might have been.

I wank it as a combo of Tara's low self-confidence and a "Willow's my girlfriend who brought me back from Glory's mindwipe" mindset.

I don't think Tara's complicity can be blamed entirely on Willow. She had a lot of affection for Buffy herself, and made it clear that although she knew the resurrection attempt was wrong, she still wanted to do it.

I'll always be convinced that by the time season 7 rolled around, the writers hated SMG and reflected that hatred in the writing of Buffy (the character).

That's my impression as well, though I'm sure it's colored by the gradual lowering of my own opinion of SMG post-Season 4.

At the very least--granted, I didn't watch S7 as closely as I watched others--someone should have been annoyed with Kennedy for slithering in so blatantly.

They abandoned Dawn's petulance right at the point that it would have had in-story justification and coincided with the feelings of the majority of fans.

Well, Nick and Kelly have made out with each other on national television... though I imagine that's a place none of the writers would have been comfortable going, regardless of how accommodating the actors might have been.

Actually, Matt, I was thinking of follow-up to Anya's "Double the Xander, double my fun" line of thinking.

Right, I was just saying that given their Hollywood Squares performance, the actors probably wouldn't have balked at anything the writers threw at them.

Oh, yes, Willow should not have gotten over Tara so quickly. At the very least--granted, I didn't watch S7 as closely as I watched others--someone should have been annoyed with Kennedy for slithering in so blatantly.

That was a conscious decision by Joss and the writers to repair/address some of the Dead Lesbian Cliche of Tara's death. They purposefully wanted to show that Willow being with a woman wouldn't be punished by killing off the character. They had contemplated her mourning for Tara all year, but then feared that kind of mopeyness would drag the show down and be the wrong arc for her character for storytelling purposes.

I agree with those decisions. I thought Willow's arc through S7 was handled pretty well considering it didn't get a whole lot of time. She mourned for Tara, she tried to learn to control her powers instead of just being cold turkey, they went away from Crack!Magic, there were checks on her power (the FE acting through her), she explored a new relationship (and significantly it was initiated by somebody else) and when the chips were down she was able to do mighty Mojo without corrupting herself.

But... but... did it have to be Kennedy?