No, I didn’t think they weaseled out. I was more worried they were setting up Willow for a second time to be abandoned by the one she loves because of some uncontrolled evil inside. Glad they didn’t go there.
As for her <i>not</i> being a demon, I agree with Trion. It’s much creepier that the evil in this case was the human family, and the demon stuff being a manipulation tool.
I did think they reacted too smoothly to Tara putting the spell on them, and endangering them. But I understand the dynamics of the situation requiring a hard stand immediately.
Regarding the kiss, or lack thereof, I think they are doing a good job of portraying a deep relationship while tenuously treading the topic. A friend of mine is a little too uncomfortable with the amount of the relationship being shown. She tried to interest some other guy, a 50ish man who likes X-files, and the first episode he sees starts with two women in bed together. Either grab him or run him off.
Spike’s chip does present a dilemma. The point of the chip is it is supposed to prevent him from harming people. That’s great, but it makes him a pathetic loser, not a tough bad guy. He becomes comic relief, and his idiom is destroyed. So they let it off by letting him be able to hurt demons, just not people. So how does that work? How can the chip make a determination as Spike takes action? BobSchroeck’s description is a possibility that at least makes some sense. Though if Spike ever figures that out, it seems there could be a way to manipulate the system there.
Personally, I don’t see why Buffy lets him stay around. At first I could, but he’s shown that, in fact, he is far from harmless. He continues to manipulate and plan against them when the opportunity arises, and he did try to get the chip back out. It seems to me he is still a threat, and keeping him around is dangerous. But he stays just useful enough to want around. Which is good, because I like Spike, he’s interesting and very funny.
About the family, I didn’t catch that the girl was supposed to be Tara’s cousin. So I was trying to place her, and the sense I got was she was the Dad’s current girlfriend - pretty depressing that she’s about the same age as Tara. It fits with the part about the mother. While I don’t know that there are plans for the family to resurface, Joss and the writers have shown a knack for bringing secondary characters back again and again. Like the cowboy vampires that were brothers, and then Buffy killed one, and then the other kept hanging around? They tend to keep the history together, and bring back characters. Like the second slayer before Faith. We’ll see what they make of the family.
Dawn is another odd situation. It was very jarring at the beginning of the season to just insert her like she’d always been around - very unlike the show. At first I kinda fit her in as if she’d been living with the dad, but that was still a bad fit. Then they hinted at her unnatural origin, and finally let us in on the explanation. That explains the bad fit at the beginning. The sibling rivalry stuff is very unpleasant, and I hope they work through that quickly. Also, it does have Buffy acting weird in trying to protect her.
I find it funny the demon lady lives in a giant closet. She is very Cordelia.
As for the Scrappy Doo syndrome, that has often been the bane of a good show, but I think the problem is not necessarily the new character, but the changes that drive the need for the new character. Many of the shows that succumb to it are sitcoms, which by definition require a certain situation. In the case in question, the situation is often focused on having young kids - and after a few years the original kids are no longer young. That either forces a change to the premise, or requires the addition of a new young kid. Either way, it alters the dynamic. For sitcoms, that is usually bad. Thus the shows die quickly or suffer long drawn out painful deaths. The original premise doesn’t hold up.
Buffy, however, may be an exception (we will have to wait and see). Why? Because the nature of the show is its continual change. Joss has show immense creativity in introducing and removing characters, and keeping the story growing instead of static. The whole Angel is good, goes bad, is killed, then brought back good again thing, for instance. Buffy growing up, leaving high school and heading to college. Willow going from the nerdy quiet girl to the powerful witch and hot lesbian. This show has shown remarkable adaptability, so the introduction of a single new character is not likely to be its downfall.
What could kill the show, though, is the fact that Buffy continues to grow. At some point, the slayers all tend to die young - Buffy may be a first. Will she stay a slayer past age 30? 40? Will she retire, and a new one get “activiated”? How long can the show continue, when it grows away from the intended audience? (I could bring up the whole 90210 situation here as a parallel, but 90210 sucked anyway). The show is <i>meant</i> to appeal to teenagers and teen situations. (The audience seems to be much broader.) But when the characters are no longer teenagers, it is hard to keep dealing with those situations. Enter the new character, the younger sister and teenager. The question is can they keep the show appealing.
