Except that she was hot, I never had an opinion of her one way or the other and am constantly surprised to see her slammed every time her name is mentioned. Is there any tangible reason why? I can only assume that the Willow romance that came out of nowhere has something to do with it but that can’t be the only reason.
Anyone?
What else did she do besides the out of left field “oh, shit, we have to give Willow a happy ending” plot? She was Buffy lite (or perhaps Faith ultra-lite [which sounds like a feminine hygiene product]). She could have been turned into something more interesting, but they never got around to it.
She was also the most visible of the potentials. Who, as a group, did little but be annoying and dsitract from the core cast, just as the series was wrapping up.
I never understood it either. Actually, IIRC, when we were discussing season 7 a couple of yeasr ago, people LIEKD her when she first appeared! Saying such things as:
“She’s hot! I lvoe her”
and
“SHe’s got some moxie! So much better han the other slayerettes.”
I liked her better than Tara, that’s for sure.
I can understand being annoyed by the rushed coupling… what I don’t get is the *degree *to which she’s disliked.
You’d think she was Wesley Crusher in drag to read about her.
You know, while not reviling her, I didn’t much care for her on TV. On the DVD, it comes across better–the rush job she does seems more realistic when you are allowed to wallow a bit.
I think some of it is the way they did the equally reviled Killer Inside Me episode–they deliberately asked Warren and Willow to not try to act like each other, and I think that was a big mistake–to me, as a viewer, it just looks like they didn’t nail down the details of the transformation very well. And this affects the way Kennedy comes across, since this is supposed to be the episode where we warm up to her heroism.
From what I understand a lof of the Buffy audience were really pissed at Joss for bringing the dead lesbian meme to the show. So, forcing a new relationship on Willow just added salt to the wound.
Hmm, the terrible plot lines, bad acting and general sense that they decided to shove this untalented hack down our throats at the expense of screen time for many of the regulars.
Other then that. . .
I disliked Kennedy immensely. I didn’t like it when they turned Willow gay in season 4 not because they made her gay, but one moment she’s with Oz and then the next BAM she’s a wiccan lesbian. I eventually got used to her and tara and then when Tara died and Willow went psycho, I thought for some reason hey, maybe they’ll turn her straight again. And then Kennedy arrives in season 7 and I could never get attached to her character, I was always waiting for her to die. But that wouldn’t have been good for TV to have another love interest of willow’s die so…
meh.
I can only imagine the carnage from gay groups if Willow had turned straight again. “Oops! Being gay isn’t really real. It was a college thing.” :smack: No, no. no.
I understand the need to bring another romantic relationship into Willow’s life. Thematically, we and she would never be “over” Tara until that was tested. I have no problem with that. Willow would never emotionally grow up and get on with life without overcoming her need for her Tara crutch (a romantic crutch, just like Giles and the Coven were her magickal crutch, and Buffy her fighting crutch and Xander her emotional crutch). It even follows the Wiccan pattern, for those interested in such things. Tara = Earth (Terra! Get it?), Giles/Coven = Air, Buffy = Fire, Xander = Water. Until Willow masters her own Spirit, she cannot master the other elements alone. Season Seven is when Willow finally grows up.
What I didn’t like was the character of Kennedy herself. I think the actress was fine, really. But I didn’t like Kennedy’s aggressiveness (which was written on purpose to be totally different from Tara - I get it, just don’t like it) and I thought they were trying to play her as both Rich Girl (she talks about her houses having wings in The Killer Inside) and Street Smart Girl, but they never gave her a strong enough backstory to support that dichotomy. It took them several YEARS and a vamping to adequately explain a similar dichotomy in William/Spike. Kennedy just didn’t have a chance.
Kennedy, for me, felt like that new romantic interest your best friend brings around and you’re like “meh.” I really, really wanted to like her for Willow’s sake, but just couldn’t. Tara was just so much better for Willow, I couldn’t love Kennedy the way I loved Tara.
The main reason I hate her is that she’s a lousy actress. I remember seeing her after the series in a tampon commercial, I thought she had finally achieved a role equal to her talents.
The lousy, heavy-handed, pushing all the well worn buttons plot device didn’t help.
Well, besides the fact that she was annoying, the actress was lousy, the character was forced, she wasn’t Tara, she was a Potential, and she never needed to be one the show in the first place…what’s not to like?
You nailed it. People hated Tara because she “took Willow away from Oz and made her gay.”
People warmed up to Tara when she died (dying does that), and then people hated Kennedy for “taking her away from Tara.”
A lot of it is also latent homophobia. Tara wasn’t enough of a woman for Willow, and Kennedy was too much. Willow’s sexuality was established in “Doppleganged” and her magic use was established in Season One, but people still say they didn’t like it when Willow “started doing magic” in Season Four. Fans are reactionary and don’t like change. It’s unsettling.
I liked Kennedy just fine as someone for Willow to bone, and thought The Killer in Me was superb, and I would never trade the R-rated lesbian love scene that Willow and Kennedy got to do. 
Besides, she likes Robert Parker! A lesbian of class. I can always snuggle Tara in the DVDs.
(Upon preview, I think WhyNot made excellent points)
I disliked Tara because she was spineless.
Had nothing to do with her “Stealing” Willow from Oz.
I disliked the writers for deciding to make Willow gay when her heterosexuality was a key character point in the first few seasons. I never disliked Tara (although she was anver a favorite) for that reason, however, because she was a cool character well developed. (And, until Kennedy was thrown in, I could rationalize it that she was bisexual, although I totally understand why the writers would never have Willow end up with another guy) I rather resent the implication that I’m homophobic because I didn’t like Kennedy.
I didn’t like her because she was the lesbian Riley Finn. Bland, bland, bland. She didn’t do anything worth talking about except have sex with Willow in a tacked on exploitive sex montage. She was there because they tought Willow needed a happy ending, and the writers were too unimaginative/spineless to make it come in any form other than another female lover.
Of course, meanwhile, Xander gets no respect - losing Anya, an eye…
I wonder if the people who think Limon is a lousy actress are also people who are generally not attracted to women. I agree that most of what she had to do was give Willow a come-hither stare, but I think she did a hell of a job at it. It was also worthwhile to have someone in the house who didn’t put up with Buffy’s crap, and Kennedy served a useful role there. Even Faith was content to be Buffy’s sidekick until right near the end.
Mostly I think a lot of the animosity has to do with the fact that everyone thought Tara and Willow to be a couple for the ages – especially after they finally got back together in late S6 – and no one wanted to watch Willow forget Tara and hook up with someone else. This was compounded when it was widely reported that Amber Benson had been approached to return to the series.
–Cliffy
That was rather odd. She was supposed to be in Conversations with Dead People and I think Willow’s arc lost a lot of impact without that confrontation.
I’ve dated several men whose hetersexuality was a key character point and plot point in our relationship, until it turned out they were gay. Not everyone is lucky enough to know they’re gay at age 12. Many of them assume heterosexuality first, and even have quite satisfying heterosexual relationships until everything is figured out.
Where was that implied? Are you talking about this thread or elsewhere?
I agree. I just watched it again the other day, and while they tried to invent a rationalization for it (Willow killed Tara, so it wasn’t “allowed” for her to see Tara), it really didn’t work. Logically, there’s no reason The First couldn’t assume Tara’s shape (except some blither I’ve heard elsewhere about Tara being “too pure for Evil to use her form.” Whatever.) It really undercut the emotional impact to have Willow talking to Cassie, whom she’d never even met in life.
And it wasn’t that she was hooking up with another woman after Oz exiled himself to the pound, but that she completely repudiated any heterosexuality on her part. She commented several times that she was no longer interested in guys. Me, I would have been happier had she turned out bisexual; able to be in a successful (well, “success” as defined in the Buffyverse) relationship with a member of either gender. At least it wouldn’t leave us second-guessing her relationship with Oz.
I didn’t care for Tara when she first showed (too meek; besides, Buffy had already claimed the crown as “Mistress Mopey” in Season 4), but she grew on me, especially after seeing her relationship with Dawn.
I know a lot of fans (and for all I know some of the writers) claim that, but it seemed less like a setting up of future events as it did a funny, throwaway exchange between Willow and Angel. Besides, in “The Wish,” Willow Vamp had hooked up with Xander Vamp; I think that, if we’re going to look at “Doppelgangland” for the revelation of her being gay, we’d also have to look at “The Wish” to see that she was, at the very least, bi.
As for Kennedy: I thought she was attractive, but her character was too brash, too arrogant and, overall, just too immature. Plus, other than being pretty, I couldn’t see what Willow saw in her. Kennedy may have been one of the oldest Potentials, but she acted like she was 12–and when I saw Willow with her, I felt like Willow was robbing the cradle. If a relationship had to happen with any of the Potentials, my preference would have been Rona.
Plus, I admit it, it didn’t seem like Willow had enough time to mourn Tara’s death. It seemed like they rushed her into another relationship much too soon.