All of you are right. Thanks for the comments!
It is important to remember the conversation in the lunch hall. Willow feels Buffy and Oz are too quick to criticize and to worry, while at the same time not taking much of an interest or being very supportive.
I had forgotten the lunch conversation at the beginning of the episode, it totally shows us where their minds are at when thinking about magic and Willow.
I couldn't really understand what Willow was angry about, "I'm not your sidekick!"
Who ever thought that Willow was Buffy's sidekick?
I assumed that the sidekick comment comes as a response to Buffy telling them to leave the house because she cannot be worrying about them, or something like that. And correct me if I’m wrong, but this is the trope sidekick, right? A secondary character that occasionally gets into trouble when trying to help and has to be rescued by the hero? And yes, since they stepped into the house, their worst fears started becoming “real” -- like in the case of Xander and feeling invisible, there are a couple of times where others repeat what he had just said.
It’s the same in Yoko Factor whenthe argument becomes about ‘you have a problem with me and Tara!’ Nobody had a problem with her and Tara and nobody has given her any reason to think they do. Even Spike’s manipulations ‘apparently you’re into the new thing and not doing computers anymore’ could be about magic but she puts it straight to ‘they have a problem with me and Tara!’
The comment in the Yoko Factor comes from New Moon Raising, where Buffy is visibly flustered and uncomfortable (for a few seconds) when Willow reveals that Tara and she are more than friends. Willow does realize that coming out shocks Buffy and asks her why she keeps calling her "Will".
They're all being put under pressure, their worst fears are coming true, and I think this is Willow's reaction to that pressure. She hits out at those closest to her. I also think that now they're at college, and Willow is killing it, enjoying herself and doing well, she might be thinking that she doesn't want to be seen as a sidekick anymore, and that she's taking centre stage in her own life.
It might be undeserved on Buffy's part and an over reaction on Willow's, but this is where we begin to see the change in direction of her character.
This got me thinking how this episode marks the beginning of the change of Willow… pretty much for the rest of the show. I was wondering if her costume is also meant to symbolize more? She dresses as Joan of Arc and her explanation is that she chose the costume because she was almost burned at the stake just too. But more generally, Joan of Arc was the heroine in her story and was also considered a saint (central figure in my reading of the story), which would be compatible with Willow’s claim that she is not Buffy’s sidekick? Or am I overreaching with my interpretation?
(By the way and
off-topic: In "Tabula Rasa", Buffy adopt the name Joan. Is it ever explained why? I see it as callback to "Fear itself" and Willow's costume. I think that it is a metaphorical way of showing that Willow was indeed pursuing to be as powerful and as central as Buffy, and since this episode happens at the beginning of season 6, it's a foreshadow of what's to come. Then again, maybe I am overthinking it. Any thoughts?)
Also, this is really the first time that Willow openly expresses desire for a more central role, am I right?In S3 Willow starts her journey towards magic, but before "Fear Itself" I don’t recall her openly wanting/asking to be a protagonist in the story too – which I absolutely love, as I re-watch it, I’m loving Willow’s desire to be more than a secondary character, and her arc is (mostly) pretty awesome!
But Buffy isn't criticising or worrying in the lunch hall, she thinks the conversation is a 'share my pain' conversation not an 'encouragement' conversation. She says supportive things that a person worried needs to hear. And Oz isn't criticising and he is being supportive - he's worried about her tapping into something too powerful to control and she turns that into a betrayal. When of course it isn't - telling someone to stop if you think they'll get hurt, especially when they don't want to hear it, is an act of love. She calls him 'Brutus' for his pains.
But in the end - Oz is right. Willow can't control her magic- and I don't mean just in this episode. If she'd just listened to the people who loved her instead of seeing unjustified criticism and betrayal ... she might never have repeatedly removed Tara's memories and Warren might still have skin.
This is true. But the more interesting story comes from Willow not listening to them and suffering the consequences of pursuing her desires -- which is somewhat analogous to Buffy's journey in S6 and S7, where she drifts away from her friends, albeit for a very different reason (I think). The way I see it, she wants to be powerful herself and to be defined in her own terms (not simply as Buffy's cheerleader). She sees magic as her conduit for achieving this independence, but she slowly loses perspective and falls into her own darkness. Her quest for power is transformed into an addition.
