Why was it only Tara and Giles caring about Willow's magical abuse?

[Joshua]

How come it seems like that the only people who cared about Willow's magical abuse in season 6 was Tara and Giles?

Buffy
Xander
Dawn

never did a thing to help. Sure Buffy had her own problems too but if she loved Willow like she does, she should have put Willow through an intervention or something

 

[sleecin]

Maybe Tara and Giles understood it better. Both have been dealing with real magic. Knowing how it feels , what it can do and so on.

 

[Ethan Reigns]

Buffy, Xander and Dawn expected at times to be beneficiaries of any magic being done and really gave no thought to the dangers. After "Something Blue 4ABB09", they should have been clued in to the dangers but no such sense of self-preservation materialized. I guess they expected Willow to eventually master what she was doing. In "Triangle 5ABB11", Willow and Anya conjure up a troll, but the good side is, he has Thor's hammer which they use at the end of Season 5 to bludgeon Glory into submission. This may have given them a mindset that there will be some teething troubles with magic but that it would eventually be a useful capability to have around.

Giles and Tara were both experienced in magic and knew the problems but still didn't influence Willow to believe there was a problem.

 

[EVIL UU]

Well, Buffy does seem supportive of Willow's decision to stop using magic after shit hits the fan in "Wrecked", but you know what, it's all bollocks. Willow is Buffy's, in her own words, big gun. Buffy doesn't really want Willow to stop using magic because addicted or not, Willow's abilities are too important for Buffy as the slayer. Without Willow's magic Buffy wouldn't have survived past season 4 and she has to realize that, OK? She needs super Willow, she needs her power, regardless of what that power might be turning her into. It's toxic and unfair but that's just how it is.

Dawn? Dawn's still just a kid and Xander? Well, Xander is being Xander but mostly he has his own history of causing chaos and misery with magic, see "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered" and "Once More, with Feeling" so he's not exactly in the position of moral superiority, plus, he's too busy with the marriage.

 

[Evil Angelus 95]

I think it's because Xander, Anya, Dawn or Buffy quite possibly didn't understand how bad Willow's addiction really was. That was the issue. They weren't knowledgeable about what exactly Willow was doing. Tara and Giles, on the other hand, were, and knew what could have eventually happen.

 

[Blaze]

Because most of the time people are really oblivious to those kind of things. People in general are way too self absorbed in their own problem to see the pain others are going through.

Giles was older, more mature, it makes sense that he noticed as the "dad" of the group. Tara, well it's pretty obvious as to why she noticed. Everyone else didn't notice because they didn't want to. All the signs were there, but it's so much easier to ignore it, especially when you yourself are dealing with your own, just as bad, problems (like Buffy was). It's one of those things where they had to have known, or should have had known, but didn't know what to do.

 

[ILLYRIAN]

When is using to much magic a problem?
Answer: When the person using the magic doesn't fully understand it.
Tara was a Wiccan, the religious aspect of witchcraft. And Tara was a relative newbie to witchcraft. So Tara saying to Willow she was using to much was crap.
Giles was well read but he wasn't a witch, the point being that when Willow did to much for her to keep control of it effectively he took her to meet and be taught by those in the coven.
Willow did more after seeing the coven than she did while Tara was about but it didn't cause her any problem, why? Because Willow had gained the knowledge of how to control it.
Ask yourself this, what would have happened if Willow had tried to give Buffy other slayers in season three?
The potentials would have been there, it's just that they didn't know about them.
Had Giles told Willow about Miss Harkness in season two, and Miss Harkness had been Willow's mentor at that stage there wouldn't have been any problems.

 

[itssmiletime]

Did Giles really care about Willow's abuse of magic? I mean, he leaves straight after Tabula Rasa. Their is zero implication of him calling to check up on her. He is pretty much voiceless after Flooded.

Dawn didn't care much because I don't think she knew how bad it was. Apart from being involved in a car crash in Wrecked, I don't think she ever figured out the spell in All The Way. I think her desire for a 'happy family'- where Willow and Tara were together, clouded her judgement about the severity of it all.

Buffy over-identified with Willow too much (for example, the end scene in Wrecked) to actually do anything productive about Willow. Her mindset that you could simply just 'stop' the bad stuff and continue with the good stuff was incredibly problematic. She had good intentions, but when it came to productivity, well, yeah.

I agree about Xander and moral highground. When it comes to magic, he really is quite reckless and doesn't put much thought into said consequences.

 

[Lyri]

Because Buffy, Anya, Xander and Dawn all had their own major issues that they were dealing with. They were too consumed with their own problems to see what was going on with Willow.

Buffy was barely keeping her head above water, dealing with her depression, trying to keep her secret from the rest of her friends - both about the depression itself and the fact that she was pulled out of heaven. She was also dealing with the disgust she felt at sleeping with Spike. She didn't have anything left to worry about anyone else. Without looking deeper, Willow didn't appear to be showing any outward signs that too much magic was having any sort of negative effect. It was only when those negative effects became glaringly obvious in 'Wrecked' and 'Smashed' did Buffy start realizing what Willow was dealing with and tried to help. But by then it was too late.

Xander and Anya were also busy planning their wedding and dealing with the fact that they were both absolutely terrified of getting married and trying to keep that secret to themselves.

Dawn was dealing with her own problems of believing that she was useless and unwanted now that she was no longer the Key and took that out by compulsively stealing.

Plus, it wasn't like Tara or Giles made a point of sitting everyone down and making their fears known. It was only after Tara left Willow that people started to wonder WHY she left. The next two episodes involved Willow going off the deep end and everything came out into the open. Before that, Willow wasn't really acting irrational or causing any major problems or doing anything dangerous even though her addiction was worsening, so Buffy never saw anything that would make her think that Willow needed help. Like a lot of addicts, Willow acted mostly normal with everyone when she was in public, but it was Tara, the closest person to her, who saw that she had issues, which is mostly how it works in real life with real life addicts.

 

[thetopher]

Yeah, but Anya realises right after Tabula Rasa that Willow has a problem. She tells Xander and Buffy and they pretty much shrug and go 'well, I'll guess we'll wait and see'. Okay so Buffy is depressed, is hiding a shameful secret (sleeping with Spike) and trying to juggle the world of work/supporting her sister. I get her not being terribly involved (I don't like this version of Buffy- but she has always been kind of self-centred 🙁)
But what's Xander's excuse? he's her bestest friend ever and he can't take time out from planning his wedding to be a shoulder to lean on. What, does the planning take every waking moment. Isn't he supposed to be the 'one who see's things'? Douche. 🙄
Plus, aren't Willow and Anya meant to be closer now, since they both love Xander and aren't threatened by each other? Or did the writers just forget about Anya character growth? Don't these relationships change and develop?
Man, I hate season 6.

 

[Lyri]

But what's Xander's excuse? he's her bestest friend ever and he can't take time out from planning his wedding to be a shoulder to lean on. What, does the planning take every waking moment. Isn't he supposed to be the 'one who see's things'? Douche. 🙄

He was also dealing with the fact - as came out in OMWF - that he didn't want to get married and he spent a long time and a lot of energy making sure no one figured that out, going so far as to conjure a demon to try and get everyone to sing out their true feelings as a way to prove to himself that marrying Anya was the right thing to do.

But all he got was the knowledge that Anya was just as scared about getting married as he was, which only caused his fears to grow and therefore he had to work harder to hide them, which he did by throwing himself into planning the wedding 100% leaving no room to worry about any problems that Willow might be hiding.

And let's not forget, Willow didn't actually show any outwardly signs of her addiction until 'Wrecked'/'Smashed', only Tara really saw a problem starting and that was only because she has magic herself. She could see first had that Willow had a problem because Willow was using magic for every day, mundane tasks - the decorations, getting herself dressed - and she only really started to become majorly concerned in 'All The Way' when Willow wanted to zap every non-teenage girl in the Bronze to another dimension.

The only point of S6 was to split the group with with 'mundane, real life problems' - addiction, depression, fear of commitment, isolation, neglect, self-harm, all with a supernatural twist.

EVERYONE'S problems were kept from everyone else - no one knew about Xander's fears until he walked out on his own wedding because Buffy was depressed and Willow was dealing with her addiction. No one knew Buffy was depressed and using Spike as an elaborate form of self-harm because Willow was dealing with her addiction and Xander was fighting his fear of commitment. No one knew about Willow's addition and reliance on magic because Xander was fighting his fear of commitment and Buffy was depressed. No one knew about Dawn's feelings of isolation and neglect and stealing because Buffy was depressed, Xander was fighting his fear of commitment and Willow was dealing with her addiction.

It's just a whole big mess of secrets.

 

[thetopher]

Well, okay, I was more referring to the times after in had become apparent. After 'Wrecked'. I agree he knew something wasn't right with Willow in 'Smashed' (but it always bothered me that Anya realised this right off, Xander is Willow's best friend- and 'the one who sees things', think back to the year before with Buffy/Riley, Xander is the only one who realises what's going on. Where's 'insightful' Xander gone?)

But afterwards Xander is really that supportive (assuming that Willow had cast another spell in 'Gone'- his first assumption.). Willow is pretty much on her own. The viewers knows why Buffy isn't getting involved, it's all part of her depression/self-involvment thing. But Xander?
I'm sorry but wedding-jitters don't really cut it imo, Xander, being the 'heart' of the team should've been there for Willow like he was eventually there for her in 'Graves'.

 

[Lyri]

But Xander never actually SAW Willow's crash in 'Wrecked', he only heard about it after, and, as we all know, you can't really, completely understand a situation when you only hear about it second and third hand. Xander never really ever 'gets' magic, he doesn't understand it or it's effect on someone. It's not until he sees Willow first hand at the end of the season that he 'gets' it, sees just how much magic has twisted and turned Willow and it's then that he understands just what he needs to do to make Willow stop - not appeal to the fact that using so much magic is dangerous to her, but to show her that using too much magic will kill the people she loves, Xander first and foremost.

Up until that point, Willow couldn't be reached like that, which is why she automatically, without pause, turns to magic when Tara is killed. Because it has never occurred to her that what she's doing hurts other people, despite a lot of evidence to the contrary, but it isn't until she's face to face with Xander on that Bluff that she understands it.

It's also one of the reasons why Willow is so reluctant to use her powers in S7, because going dark side means that she loses the ability to care about those she loves and she won't care if they get hurt in the crossfire.

But I have to say, despite all of this, I don't understand this...I don't know, need, I guess, to put them blame for Willow's failures on someone else. Willow messed up, she got herself addicted and, the same with some addicts in the real world, she doesn't listen to those who love her and try to help her, because she thinks she knows best, until it's too late and she almost dies and takes a lot of people with her.

Willow and Willow alone is responsible for her actions throughout S6. Just because Xander was too caught up in getting married and then trying to fix himself and his relationship, doesn't mean that he deserves any kind of blame and I don't think he should be assigned any.

 

[buffffy]

Buffy - Busy with slaying
Dawn - Too young to notice
Xander - Busy with Anya and planning the nuptials.

 

[NeonNightLight]

I can't remember season 6 that clearly right now, but of what I can remember, ALL the scoobies seemed pretty disconnected with each other and oblivious to what each other were going through. No one seemed to have any idea that Xander was freaking out about his wedding with Anya, and nobody really saw Buffy digging herself deeper and deeper into depression, although those things were plain to see from the views of us watchers. The point is, as brought up before, everyone was too enraptured in their own problems to pay full attention to anyone else's. I thought this was a sign of showing how broken apart the Scoobies friendship was really becoming.

Also, Tara and Giles understood magic and it effects much better than Xander, Dawn, and Buffy. I think this was why they were so alarmed about it, because they could see the course of events that could possibly enfold before Willow herself or any of the Scoobies could.

 

[Blaze]

I thought this was a sign of showing how broken apart the Scoobies friendship was really becoming.

I completely agree with your post, except this one line. I think it showed how broken each of the Scoobie was individually, I don't think it necessarily mean that they were broken as a whole. There's been lots of discussion as to why the gang seems to drift apart as the seasons go on (which is sad in itself), but I think it's caused my individual problems that leave less time to deal with each other's problems. I'm not sure if that makes sense, but I think on the inside they care about each other just as much, but life and slaying gets in the way of everything.

...Wow, this didn't come out quite as clear as I anticipated. I guess I find each of them to be individually broken, meaning that yes, their whole life around them starts to break. I just think that the one thing that held up okay is the friendship, at least by the end of the season.

 

[NeonNightLight]

but I think it's caused by individual problems that leave less time to deal with each other's problems.

Haha, no I kinda get what you're saying. And what you said above is really what I was essentially going for. I don't think the Scoobies intended to become disconnected from each other; they still wanted to play a big role in each other's lives, but they all had a lot of especially intense problems going on at the same time which unfortunately prevented them from doing so.