Interesting post about Anya and Tara

Agree with most of it.
I think Anya had the potential to be far more interesting than she actually was- given that she was by far the oldest Scoobie on the show. I mean think about it, she's older than both Angel and Spike combined and yet has about one hundreth of their character complexity. Does that make any sense?

Anya often irritated me because she was shallow and static as a character. She never really grew into a 'real', flawed person.

I do take issue with one assertion. Anya's worst season for me was S7 by far. Simply because after Xander left her the writers didn't know what to do with her.
So she's a vengeance demon- no, we should undo that by epidsode 5. She has friends outside the Scoobies- no, have D'Hoffryn kill off Halfrek.

She really is utterly directionless, only really becoming marginally interesting again when she starts to reconnect with Xander again, and then deciding to stay for the Apocalypse because she wants to- because it's right, even if she dies.

The articles right about Tara though. Outside the Scoobies she had no-one for herself (but then again did Riley?) and that's part of her problem.
Though I do think the writers were successful in building a relationship between Buffy and Tara, especially in S6 where Tara became her confidante.

I think if Tara hadn't died they could've become really solid friends- which is why Buffy's relative lack of sorrow at her death always bothered me.

I know there were lots of things going on and Buffy had to be 'The Slayer', but some emotion would've been nice, or maybe some line of dialogue in S7 to indicate that she missed Tara, but we don't get any. 🙁
 
I agree with you on 2 points. I wish Buffy had shown just a bit more sorrow at Tara's death. And also Anya's worst season was definately 7. She hangs around like a bad smell in Buffy's house contributing nothing. It's especially annoying because after the *excellent* episode Selfless, we are led to believe Anya's going to go on a real journey this season. And then.... nothing. At all. Like AT ALL.
 
Taake
Taake
lmao, "like a bad smell", you're right but it's hilariously put :)
I disagree with a lot of things in the article, and agree with some others. First off, I think that Tara got the better treatment not Anya. Yes, seems a bit odd to say, but they never once made an effort to make Anya friends with any of the core. Say what you want about Tara and Buffy, but Tara's the only new person we see Buffy open up too since the first season (excluding boyfriends). Meaning, she's Buffy first true friend outside of Willow, Xander and Giles. We didn't see that with any of the others (Cordy, Anya, Oz). Secondly, Tara is a bit like Dawn's second mom. She is crucial to the dynamic of the group because of this. Actually, Dawn and Tara have one of my favorite dynamic on the show.

To me Anya is the opposite. Even if she has other friends outside of the group, and is more involved in the demon world, she has no place in the group. She interacts with Giles, and they are funny as hell when they bicker, but it doesn't go beyond that. Their relationship is so superficial.

Heck, Tara died in the most hectic time (Buffy was shot, Willow went cray) and still, she got more grieving in her 5 second than Anya did. Yes, I get that they wanted to Chosen to be happy, but reactions concerning Tara's death were still bigger compared to Anya's, even if I think both cases didn't deal well with the grief properly.

Also, it's not all accurate to say that Tara was never shown with people outside of the group. She was in Entropy. Problem is, why would they show and actual scene with her and a friend if it's not relevant to the story, which it wouldn't be unless she befriended a demon, which is exactly what happens with Anya.

I do agree though that they were underused.
 
I'd like to speak briefly about something else "between the lines" of that article. I'm sensing underneath the terms "underused" and "underdeveloped" a feeling of dissatisfaction for how Anya and Tara were incorporated into the circle of core scooby friends, and dissatisfaction for the extent of attention and development they received. So some words on that:

I don't have a problem with certain characters being peripheral. That's real life, among some friends we all have felt as if we were periphery, and that's fine. I have been among friends who knew each other longer and shared more experiences over many years, and I knew I couldn't really "break in" in certain ways, which made me realize I was somewhat peripheral among them, but I was fine with that. And vice versa, I have a few extremely close friends I've had since being a very young boy and we share endless bonding experiences, and among those friends, a newer friend will probably feel a little more distant. Friendship circles are concentric, circles within circles. Not all friends are as close as others. But that's not necessarily a big deal, and that doesn't mean we don't appreciate or love less close friends in profound ways sometimes. I like that the show reflects life in that way: Anya and Tara are the new friends, so it's natural they are not as tight to the original core group as those core friends themselves, and never could be. It's also natural that they found their way into the group through one particular member, and it's natural that they are much closer to that person (the girlfriend/boyfriend) than the others. So for example, Buffy showed much less sorrow at Tara's death than Willow, but that completely makes sense to me. Truthfully, Buffy really wasn't that close to Tara. They shared a few poignant moments, but I never got the impression they were close friends at all.

Why can't Tara and Anya be what they are, in the context of this position? They aren't the focus of the show, they don't get as much attention as the core members, but why does that have to be a big deal? That makes sense, concentric circles remember? They were never the center, they were never primary. When Clem doesn't get any attention, no ones says anything. He is a minor character of course, so he gets about what he deserves really. Tara and Anya are of course more important to the show than Clem (and therefore deserve and require much more time and attention) but they were never Xander or Willow or Buffy or Giles either. They deserve way more attention than Clem of course, but not as much as the core scoobies. Circles within circles. So on the issue of how much time or attention was devoted to Anya and Tara, I feel the balance was about right. They had their poignant moments and screen-time and even full episodes of being the center of attention, but at the same time they were never the focus. Just like life: in this particular group, they were somewhat peripheral.
 
Blaze
Blaze
Couldn't have said it any better
I would have to agree because one thing that I don't like about the show is that Anya and mostly Tara are really only their to be the girlfriends. I think the writers missed an opportunity not making them friends, and seeing them do things outside of Willow and Xander. With Anya they at least gave her a job and her interactions with Giles. But Tara is rarely seen, until they break up, without Willow. I agree that Anya was useless in S7 and that she should have kept developing after 'Selfless'. I have never really liked Tara and this is the main reason. The only time I like her is when she and Buffy are a acting like friends in S6 and in 'I was Made to love You'.
 
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