Seven Seasons of Buffy: Science Fiction and Fantasy Authors Discuss Their Favorite Television Show (Smart Pop series) (23 page)

Tara does keep one secret from Willow for a time but, instead of driving a wedge between them, its revelation draws them even closer to one another. In the fifth-season episode “Family” (5-6), Tara’s father, brother, and cousin arrive in Sunnydale and try to convince Tara to come home with them. Her father insists—and Tara grew up believing—that she has magic abilities because she is part demon, a curse theoretically passed down through the female side of their family. Tara reluctantly prepares to abandon the life she’s built for herself in Sunnydale, rather than risk having Willow and her friends learn her “dark secret.” However, before she is whisked away by her relatives, Spike proves there is no demon in her, and cleverly guesses the truth: “It’s just a family legend, am I right? Just a bit of spin to keep the ladies in line?” The Scoobies prevent Tara’s father from taking her away; when he challenges their right to interfere, Buffy’s response is short and to the point: “We’re family.” Their support mirrors Willow’s unconditional acceptance. Instead of feeling threatened or betrayed by the fact that Tara concealed an important part of her background, Willow understands and sympathizes with her fears, and states her admiration that, despite everything, Tara has overcome her difficulties to become the warm, open-hearted woman Willow loves.

This brings us to a crucial question. Why does the Willow-Tara pairing succeed when all other relationships in the
Buffy
verse fail? Part of the credit must go to Willow. Of all the members of the Scooby gang, she seems the most sympathetic and supportive of her friends and the least prone to holding a grudge. When she does make a mistake—as in “Something Blue” (4-9), where her inadvertent curses of her friends start her down the path to becoming a vengeance demon—she recognizes it, apologizes sincerely, and does what she can to make amends. Still, all of Willow’s sterling qualities can’t sustain her relationship with Oz. There has to be another factor at work—and that factor is Tara.

In her early appearances, Tara didn’t make a strong impression on most people (either the other characters, or the audience watching the show). She was shy and self-effacing. Under the least bit of social pressure,
she blushed and stuttered and ducked her head as if she were not only afraid to speak up for herself, but convinced before she started that it wouldn’t do any good to try. To outside observers, she seemed to be no more than an appendage to Willow—a friend and, later, lover who made Willow happy, and a moderately talented magic user who could help the more powerful Willow realize her full potential. But that was all.

Such surface impressions, however, don’t do justice to Tara’s true personality. Beneath the shy, quiet exterior lay untapped reserves of moral courage and emotional strength. In her first episode, “Hush” (4-10), she braved the dark, silent campus and the threat of capture by The Gentlemen to bring Willow information that might enable them to break the spell of silence that had crippled the town. In “Who Are You?” (4-16), she provided the knowledge Willow needed to search for Buffy’s essence, and an anchor to guide Willow back when her search was complete. In “New Moon Rising” (4-19), Tara was prepared to stand aside and let Oz resume his place as most significant person in Willow’s life, if that was what would make Willow happy. Again and again, as the series progressed, Tara consistently acted with Willow’s welfare uppermost in her mind.

This doesn’t mean that Tara and Willow’s relationship was completely lacking in conflict or challenges. However, although they occasionally disagreed with or disappointed one another, they both knew how to give and accept apologies. Most important of all, they knew how to forgive.

Willow’s addiction to magic in the sixth season strained her relationship with Tara to the breaking point. By the end of “Tabula Rasa” (6-8), when Tara moves out of the Summers house and, for all practical purposes, out of Willow’s life, it looks as if they’ve been defeated by the Sunnydale Curse: too many lies culminating in an unforgivable betrayal.

But then something unprecedented happens. Instead of resenting the fact that Tara left her (or simply retreating into self-pity as she does after Oz’s departure in “Wild at Heart”), Willow soon takes responsibility for the damage she did to their relationship, and resolves to set things right. After reaching the low point of allowing her thirst for magic to endanger Dawn’s life (“Wrecked,” 6-10), she finally accepts the advice Tara gave her in “Tabula Rasa” (6-8), and gives up magic entirely, and then sticks to her resolve even when events in such episodes as “Older and Far Away” (6-14) and “Normal Again” (6-17)
tempt her to regret her decision. Tara’s reaction to Willow’s efforts are most significant of all. Although she left Willow for entirely justifiable reasons—Willow lied to her and manipulated her perceptions and memories—she doesn’t abandon her completely. Even though she has been betrayed in the most personal ways possible, Tara acknowledges the betrayal, accepts it . . . and moves on. Her anger and disappointment don’t prevent her from continuing to love Willow. Tara’s inner strength, patience, and commitment give Willow the time she needs to regain her self-control and self-esteem. By the time of “Entropy,” (6-18), Willow has done her best to overcome her magic addiction and make amends for the harm she has caused, and at that point Tara is willing to not only support her but also
forgive
her and build their relationship anew. Together, they learn from their mistakes. Together they are stronger, happier, better people than they ever could be separately.

After Tara’s death in “Seeing Red” (6-19), Willow forgets what she had learned, for a while. But not forever. Xander can’t take Tara’s place, but he can force Willow to remember what she had learned with Tara. In the end, the fact that Willow and Tara’s relationship was cut short by Warren’s careless cruelty doesn’t change the fundamental nature of that relationship, or its ultimate success.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer
isn’t about killing monsters.
Buffy
is about the search for meaning in life. Again and again, that meaning is found in reliable, balanced, loving partnerships between individuals. Saving the world is all well and good, but any accomplishment is hollow without someone to share it with at the end of the day. All of the characters have stumbled in and out of relationships, some lasting longer than others, with friends, family, and lovers—all, with one exception, have failed. Some of the relationships, admittedly, weren’t given the chance to achieve their full potential. Giles and Jenny Calendar, for instance, showed signs in “Becoming, Part 1” (6-21) of being on the brink of achieving a level of trust, communication, and forgiveness that might have overcome their initially rocky start. In season seven, Willow begins a romance with Kennedy, one of the potential Slayers, but it lacks the depth and intensity of her relationship with Tara. Granted, in the final episodes, little time is available for developing personal relationships. However, that doesn’t entirely excuse the essential shallowness of Willow’s and Kennedy’s interactions. Perhaps, given time, they could become equal partners in a rich and complex relationship. Kennedy finds Willow attractive. Willow, who struggles with indecision and self-doubt
throughout the crisis with the First, relies on Kennedy for strength and support. If there is anything more to their love, we’re never given the opportunity to see it.

But we don’t have to rely on what ifs or might have beens to find our model for ultimate meaning in
Buffy.
Tara and Willow showed all of us—their friends and the audience—how to achieve the highest standards of love. Honesty. Communication. Acceptance. Encouragement. Support. Commitment. Conviction. Forgiveness. Determination to never give up.

And
that
is what
Buffy
is all about.

H
ELLO
. M
Y NAME IS
S
ARAH
and I’m a
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
fan. (
Hi, Sarah.
)

I’ve been crazy about the concept of
Buffy
since a friend of mine brought over the original movie one Halloween. When I heard they were making a series, I was actually
worried,
because I wasn’t sure they’d be able to match the quality of the film. Needless to say, I got over that in a hurry.

I’m writing this shortly after the season seven finale, the series finale. Looking back across seven years of Buffy, I think I’ve found the series’ essential underpinning. It’s somewhere in most, if not all, of the stories. It’s certainly been explored at one time or another with each of the regular characters, and most of the incidental characters as well. It’s
the idea of the outsider. Who is an outsider? What does it mean that they are “outside”? When is it better to be an outsider than insider?

But there’s been more to it than that. At the beginning of the show the heroes were energized by their status as outsiders. Being distanced from the norm gave them their ability to see clearly, to move freely and to empathize with others. Insiders, those with power and popularity, were portrayed as shallow, self-centered, or blinkered, where they weren’t actually evil.

Once they left high school, however, the status of the main characters changed from all being outsiders to that of being insiders. They are the only ones in possession of the truth about Sunnydale and its demons. They alone have a clear understanding of how these dangers must be dealt with.

But despite this fundamental change in the portrayal of the characters, the portrayal and consequences of being insiders did not change. Now the heroes are becoming, well, shallow, self-centered, or blinkered, where they aren’t actually evil.