As we all know, Season Six ended with a significant plotline coming to fruition. Throughout the season Willow had delved deeper and deeper into magick, and the writers likened it to an addiction (especially in “Smashed” and “Wrecked”). In “Seeing Red”, Willow turns Black Magic Willow after the death of her girlfriend, Tara. She goes on the hunt for the killer and in the process does battle against Buffy, Giles, Anya, and Xander. She even turns on Dawn, menacing her and belittling her until Buffy steps in. Willow goes on a rampage and upon stealing the power imbued to Giles by a coven in England, feels all the pain and suffering in the world – and decides to end it. Willow, on the verge of destroying the world, is brought back to reality by the unswerving love of her best friend, Xander. And (Phew!) the world is saved. But now – now Willow has to face the fact that she killed two people (Warren and Rack) and turned on her friends while doing it.
Over the summer this character arc was the subject of many a debate. How would the show depict Willow's life and subsequent existence in Sunnydale? She can never go back to being sweet Willow - not with two deaths at her hands. How would the show address the “magick as drug addiction” issue?
The answer to that last question was answered in the first episode, and in my opinion was poorly handled by the writers. After three episodes, we haven't seen a lot of Willow, but we've seen enough to know that Willow was in England with Giles, working to find the balance between ultimate power and abuse. During 7.1, "Lessons", Giles' says to Willow, "[Your magick] isn't a hobby or an addiction. It's inside you now, this magick. You're responsible for it." With this simple phrase the writers turned Willow's Season Six addiction plotline into nothing. A lot of viewers hated the addiction metaphor plotline from Season Six, but I think the writers handled it poorly by basically taking it all back with this one phrase by Giles.
In 7.2, "Beneath You", Willow admits to Giles that she's afraid of losing the control over magick that she gained by studying with the coven in England. She also expresses her fear that her friends may have turned against her after her actions in the Season Six finale.
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