she did have good reason to assume Buffy was in hell since Buffy died jumping into the gateway to a demon dimension.

I still don't get this ... no one that's been to a hell dimension went there because they died. What's the good reason, again?

They've dissappeared whole episodes from my brain.

Ooh! This could be good though:

Dear Monks,
Please dissappear all the icky sex scenes from Where the Wild things Are and that awful orange striped sweater vest thingy Xander was wearing in that one ep where he is trying to make the Initiative's gun work.

Thanks,
tina

But the other posted lines make it pretty clear, to me, that she didn't know Dawn would use it as a roadmap. She thought it might make some of the why's more clear to Dawn, even if they weren't completely clear to her.

Damn. I had the whole thing supported by transcript snippets laid out, then Hec beats me to it as my network goes off-line for a moment.

P.S. - Also monks, Buffy's outfit in The Replacement.

I don't know about tina, but my eyes are still bleeding.

Buffy's outfit in The Replacement.

I don't have that on tape. Remind me - unless it is too painful.

In that scene where Dawn is pouting because Willow and Tara won't help her, she whines how nobody knows how she feels. I always wonder why Tara never pointed out that she lost her mother when she was young to Dawn like she did to Buffy.

But the other posted lines make it pretty clear, to me, that she didn't know Dawn would use it as a roadmap. She thought it might make some of the why's more clear to Dawn, even if they weren't completely clear to her.

I don't think she knew Dawn would use it as a roadmap, but I don't think she thought it would just psychologically satisfy Dawn into giving up the quest, either. I think it intrigued her. I think she knew she should accept Tara's reasoning as morally/ethically sound, but a good Willowy bit of Willow thought it was hogwash, so she was rash, and popped the book out for the kid, not to educate her into giving it up, so much as to educate her, and let the chips fall where they may.

I don't think Willow credited Dawn with being determined enough, or resourceful enough to follow the trail. Most likely, Willow hadn't studied these resurrection issues very deeply then (or later), and she wasn't too concerned. But given she later resurrected Buffy, I really have a hard time believing she was only trying to give Dawn the kind of closure that comes when you decide to give up on something. Willow's brain didn't think that that far through, either. And this is (to me) her interesting flaw. She's a bright, deep thinking woman, but she spends a lot of time in denial and ignorance, because she doesn't want to learn things that she doesn't want to know.

edited to make sense, and smaller huge blocks of text

If she really wanted to give Dawn closure on the whole resurrection spell idea, she wouldn't have popped the book out. She would have waited 'til she had time for Dawn, and researched it with her. She would have taken a moment to think about the temptation she was popping in the kid's face, and been there to walk her through the explanations. And she would have included Tara in the session, for good measure.

Thinking about Willow and her ways - I keep thinking of The Wish. And the eating the banana, lunchtime be damned speech. And it all kind of starting there.

Magic was the thing that let Willow not be Old Reliable. But only if she ignored the "it always has consequences" part. So she did. Always. And that is what she is freaked out by in Restless. That inside she is not just the nerd, that she is the girl who understands the bit about consequences and she knows she is ignoring them. Just like they all did in calling on the power of the First Slayer.

And that is where the thinking stops so far.

Was Buffy's outfit in the Replacement the leopard print and pink ensemble? Whatever ep that was - by all means Monks - please make it disappear.