Comments
Great reaction Darcie, and as always, excellent insights. As someone who has ten years clean and sober this month, I completely agree with your comments at the end. It is a good depiction of addiction, depression and self-loathing. As someone who spent years in a self-destructive spiral, itβs hard to get out of that place. You may have occasional moments of clarity where you see how bad things are, but until you get to that absolute rock bottom and see just how far youβve fallen, itβs hard to change. And, yes, relapse is a part of recovery. And, as you said, people will not automatically forgive you. My daughter was so angry at me for years, and my husband was so hurt. But now, our relationships are stronger and deeper. It just takes time, support, and lots of hard work!
Teresa Schultz
2023-04-29 18:42:52 +0000 UTC:c
angelcakes
2023-04-28 04:26:16 +0000 UTCI hate season 6.
Matthew Bailey
2023-04-28 00:40:34 +0000 UTCYeah it was that episode way back in season 2. I think Giles explained it as a type of βhighβ but it was a loose metaphor then. Season 6 with Willow is obviously a lot more in your face.
Emma Stacey
2023-04-27 09:21:47 +0000 UTCHi Emma, Thanks for the reminder. I should go back and rewatch those episodes- I think mostly The Dark Age, right? I think I took the meaning to be more like the feeling of power was addictive as opposed to actually getting high off magic but maybe I misunderstood.
StephanieB
2023-04-26 20:44:37 +0000 UTCThey kinda touched on the dark magic as a βdrugβ with Giles in his Ripper days.
Emma Stacey
2023-04-26 12:22:16 +0000 UTCSo this is usually the point where I end up writing an entire character study based on Willow's story arc from season 1, except it's actually me I'm writing about. I'm a tad under the weather, so suffice it to say that I really love the addiction arc for Willow, some heavy handedness with the 'trip' visuals aside I think it is very well done, and I also think that Willow has been at least partly addicted psychologically to magic since season 4 at least. Season 6 of Buffy was one of the first seasons I watched without being on heroin (I was in a methadone treatment program at the time, and working towards getting clean - and succeeded, yay me!). There is a so much of Willow's story arc that I relate to as someone with lived experience of addiction. I mean I can literally write almost my entire history of substance abuse and addiction just using Willow's story arc as a template. It's a really well done story arc, that has been building over several seasons now & this season is where it arrives at it's natural destination.
Claire Eyles
2023-04-25 19:04:28 +0000 UTCI love this episode and I loved how you instantly realised itβs a metaphor for addiction love your videos darcie
Ben
2023-04-25 18:29:30 +0000 UTCYeah that "I'm just gonna take a little tour' scene with Rack was Willow basically prostituting herself for drug magic. Rack talking about how she tasted like strawberries, and then referring to her as 'strawberry' was just one give away, considering the term 'strawberry' is old LA street slang for a prostitute. Also Rack looking like he was getting off on that exchange of energy, Willow crying in the shower, Willow telling Buffy that she did things...(without going into detail); all pretty indicative that there was some sort of sexual exchange as payment for what Willow wanted (ie prostitution).
Claire Eyles
2023-04-25 18:17:51 +0000 UTC9:08: Dawn: "What's the Big Bad?" Um... Spike's um... yeah. You know that's the Buffy writers having a lil' fun. And yes, the tone is getting darker and more serious. And honestly, more human and less supernatural. Starting with the three nerds causing trouble this eason and now Buffy's hate-sex with Spike... and Willow's magic "addiction"/metaphor for substance abuse. I appreciate the parallels that were being drawn between Willow's situation and Buffy's, particualrly in Buffy's conversations with Xander and Anya at the Magic Box. However I think Buffy is being too hard on herself. Yeah, Spike is a souless vampire and evil- sort of. Yet they clearly have a non-evil connection; I love that moment near the end where they wordlessly communicated to each other that he would take care of Dawn so Buffy could focus on taking care of Willow. Thanks for your reaction, Darcie! I'm glad you're appreciating the darker vibe so far this season. I remember really not enjoying it upon my first viewing but I think my more mature self has a new appreciation for this season. I'm really enjoying watching it again with you!
StephanieB
2023-04-25 17:30:47 +0000 UTC
