Free Seven Seasons of Buffy: Science Fiction and Fantasy Authors Discuss Their Favorite Television Show (Smart Pop series) by Gilene Yeffeth Page B

the hapless fawn so she could procure its blood for Buffy’s resurrection rite. On some level that act (irresponsible and wrong-headed to the extreme, and yet also necessary, and unavoidable) set things in motion that culminated in the murder, violence, mayhem and brutality of the rest of the season’s narrative arc. One fawn slaughtered, another offered up, the Slayer brought back, the universe in balance again, blessed be.
    I know it’s fashionable just now to be annoyed at Joss Whedon for killing her off. The level of hurt and indignation among fans has been nothing short of staggering. Of course, much of this rage (often inarticulate in its unfocused emotion) is aimed at Whedon’s unthinkableact of betrayal to those viewers who saw Willow and Tara as lesbian role models. I’m one of those lily-livered romantics for whom politics goes right out the window as soon as my heart is ignited. That we were privy to the sweet musings, hot sex, heart-stopping epiphanies and tissue-shredding rifts of these lovers, to me, meant never considering the sociological implications of this couple’s representation as the only loving lesbian relationship on serialized television. These two simply were , from moment one in “Hush” (4-10) by the soda machine. No sooner met but they looked, no sooner looked but they loved, as tall, trousered Rosalind/Ganymede would say. Their own paths of self-actualization converged like overflowing tinderboxes suddenly upended and neatly arranged into cordwood. Willow’s need for approval and Tara’s need for unconditional love allowed their supernova trajectory its singular, incendiary thrust toward its triumphant but tragic end; like all witches who burn, martyred by flames, they move on to a place where their gods are the right ones.
    Of course, this is not over. I don’t necessarily mean Whedon will decide to reunite them, or resurrect Tara or have her serve as some sort of shamanic, psychopompic, or otherworldly mentor, or have Willow find some magical means of contacting her or entering the realm of the dead (although none of these narrative trails would be unreasonable or untenable).
    In season seven, the closest thing we have to a reappearance of Tara occurs when Willow becomes romantically involved with one of the new ”slayers-in-training” named Kennedy. (For the record, I find Kennedy to be bossy, bitchy, and nowhere near as beautiful and dreamily sublime as Tara. It’s like comparing apples and ugli fruit.) When Willow feels her attraction to Kennedy growing, she experiences an unusual transformation; she becomes, to all outward appearances, Warren. In other words, she takes on the mantle of Tara’s killer, because her unexpressed rage, guilt, and most of all, her sense of betrayal, take over her Willow persona. Other characters, in discussing the source of the “big bad” that is destroying Sunnydale and, by implication, the world, agree that it was Buffy’s coming back from the dead “not right” that engendered this new evil. Anya matter-of-factly states it was Willow’s insistence on resurrecting Buffy that has brought them all to where they are now; and this, to Willow, means a burden of unbearable guilt. Heavy stuff for a witch who nearly destroyed the world and everyone in it; far more terrifying for her is the prospect that she was even indirectly responsible for Tara’s murder.
    In “Conversations with Dead People” (7-7), Willow is contacted by Tara through Cassie, a dead girl who claims to know Tara, who says Willow is not allowed to speak to her because of what she did. But there is deception and cruel manipulation here, as several characters are made to confront their worst insecurities and fears: From Beneath You, It Devours. This suggests karmic turmoil to the extreme, and the California Crew of Light is adept at nothing if they aren’t good at speeding up their own karma. But for two lovers to have had the recognition these two did at the beginning, such