Willow Rosenberg Deep Dive

Dive into the magical world of Sunnydale's favorite witch as we explore Willow Rosenberg's extraordinary journey. This deep-dive episode examines how Willow's character managed to maintain her endearing nerdiness while evolving through some of Buffy the Vampire Slayer's most dramatic transformations.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello and welcome to Dead but Still Pretty Podcast
hosted by me, caitlin Young.
This season we will be talkingabout the main characters from
the TV show Buffy the VampireSlayer, and we are going to
start off with everyone'sfavorite red-haired witch,
willow Rosenberg.
Willow may not be my favoritecharacter on the show, but I can
say for certain that she is anicon.
In this episode we will betalking about her journey, her

(00:21):
relationships and some of hercentral episodes.
Willow's character is quiteinteresting as she stays the
nerdy girl throughout the show.
But as her character developsshe has to learn how to survive,
not just the hardship she facesbut herself.
She struggles with her identityand addiction throughout the
show but in the end goes throughone of the biggest character
developments of the whole show.
In the early high schoolseasons Willow finds love with

(00:42):
Oz, finds out she has a knackfor magic and ends up assisting
Buffy in saving the world.
Oz and Willow's relationshipwas tender and a great first
romance, while she discoveredmagic and came more into herself
.
I really think Oz was a greatmatch for Willow, especially
after her little crush on Xander.
And then you know, she cheatson Oz with Xander, but then she
gets back with Oz and then Ozleaves.
I do think Oz was a veryimportant part of her life and

(01:04):
I'm really glad we got to seethat relationship on screen.
While her relationships areimportant, her friendship with
Buffy also helped bring Willowout of her shell.
Overall, in the first threeseasons I enjoyed Willow's
innocence and her discovery ofmagic, and I think that is when
she's at her best, even thoughseason four does hold a special
place in my heart for Willow.
Two of the best episodes ofseason four with Willow are

(01:24):
Something Blue and Hush.
In Something Blue we see Willowusing her magic for her will to
be done, and this causes notonly chaos for everyone, but the
viewer really gets to see howmuch Willow wants everything to
go for her way.
For me it was the start to seelike her path towards Dark
Willow.
In the episode Hush we meetTara for the first first set and
tara is one of my favoritecharacters and, if I do say so,

(01:46):
the love of willow's life.
Tara and willow are the one ofthe most memorable and timeless
relationships in all of buffy,the vampire sleigh, willow isn't
just remembered for being abadass witch, but for being one
half of one of the first lesbianrelationships on television
tillo.
Their relationship isn't themain focus on this episode today
.
I'll save that for their ownepisode that they get next

(02:06):
season.
But I do love them together andI think Tara did bring out the
best version of Willow, while inthe later seasons Willow finds
love with Tara, becomes addictedto magic and then turns into a
villain once Tara ultimatelydies, I personally think that
Dark Willow was going to happen,no matter what.
Willow abused magic.
Yes, she did many great thingswith it and helped save the

(02:26):
world, but most of the time hermagic was used for her own
benefit and to control others,such as in tabula rasa.
She makes everyone forget whothey are and while it is a fun
episode and it's one of thefunniest episodes it really just
shows how lost to magic willowwas.
Dark willow will also have herown episode, but we are gonna
have to talk about her sincewe're talking about willow today

(02:47):
and it only makes sense tomention willow's villain era.
Dark willow is not one of myfavorite villains.
I like the idea and theexecution, but to be honest, I
would rather have tara be alivethan have dark willow, and
that's that.
Dark willow was brought off theledge by none other than xander,
and that shows how deep herfriendship with him was.
Willow and Xander are eachother's best friends.
Throughout the show.

(03:07):
Willow starts off crushing onhim and they ultimately have a
fling that ends with lots ofdrama.
Their relationship is probablythe closest of any of the
friends on the show, even closerthan their relationship with
Buffy, if I do say so myself.
Speaking of Buffy, willow andBuffy are besties as well, but
they don't always treat eachother the best.
I'll talk more about how buffywas as a friend in her episode,

(03:27):
but I truly believe that willowcould have been such a much
better friend to buffy.
When buffy ran away, willow wasupset rightfully so, but buffy
just killed the man she loved atthe time.
And when willow's spell broughtbuffy back from heaven in
season six or end of season six,beginning of season five,
willow was barely there for her.
I know willow was going througha lot with her addiction to um

(03:47):
magic, but buffy went throughtrauma, she died and willow
never seemed to care as much asshe did when it came to xander
or her other love interests.
It just seems like willow didnot put buffy first as a friend,
and I just don't think willowwas the greatest friend.
She was a very self-centeredperson, but also a kind-hearted
person, so it's just it's a veryinteresting dynamic that she
had.
Anywho, willow may not havebeen the greatest friend, but

(04:10):
she did help buffy count withtimes and saving the world and
by the end of the show in chosenwillow spell turned all
potential slayers into actualslayers.
This always gets me emotionaland is my favorite thing that
willow has done in the entireshow.
Seeing her feel the magicreally turned her character
around and is a solid ending forher.
Overall.
If I had to rate Willow'scharacter arc, I would give her
a solid A she changed a lot forthe better, but I personally

(04:34):
think that there are so manyother great characters that I
can't wait to talk about thisseason.
Willow paved the way forwitches of the 21st century and
I think that's nothing to sneezeabout.
In my personal ranking, I wouldgive Willow a seven and a half
out of ten.
Thank you for listening to Deadbut Still Pretty's first
official episode all aboutWillow Rosenberg.
If you enjoyed this episode, besure to tune in to the next one
, where I'll be talking allabout Spike.