BUFFY TUESDAY: Happy Birthday, Alyson Hannigan!

Everyone knows Alyson Hannigan from at least one of her three big roles: Michelle Flaherty in American Pie, the adorable Lily Aldrin from the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother, or her first big role (and my personal favorite) on Buffy the Vampire Slayer as the well-rounded, slightly psychotic, always dorky Willow Rosenberg.

Willow and Buffy were that friendship that every girl wanted. Sure, they had their tiffs, but at the end of the day the Slayer could always count on Willow for validation or, you know, dangerous spells. Normal girl stuff.

We see our first glimpse of the potential Willow has to be dag nasty evil in the episode “The Wish”. A little vengeance takes us to an alternate reality where Buffy had never made it to Sunnydale and one of the most notorious vamps is sweet little Willow.

The show’s writers must have sat down and said, “What would be the most awkward, bad body double ever?” when they wrote “Dopplegangland”.

And I think I’m kinda gay.

Once her magical powers start to grow, she even gets a personal invitation to become a vengeance demon.

“Behold D’Hoffryn! Lord of Arashmaharr, he that turns the air to blood and rains death upon—Miss Rosenberg! How lovely to see you again.”

She respectfully declines and lives on normally, a little gayer, until Glorificus (Glory) sucks her girlfriend Tara’s sanity from her brain. Buffy gives Willow a motivational talk about how she simply can’t match Glory’s power and everything will work out. Cocky, Buffy thinks that she talked Willow down and everything will somehow magically work out with hearts and rainbows.

Bag of knives.

Season six is when things really come full circle.

As Willow has been showing slight signs of darkness the whole series, it took a sudden, tragic event to completely shove her off of the deep end. When the love of her life is taken from her so suddenly, Willow tries to summon Osiris to resurrect Tara. He denies her due to Tara’s “natural death” and Willow goes on a total rampage for vengeance.

This is the part that really got to me. When Willow was with Warren in the woods she casually replied with her now signature evil remark.

It just proved that that darkness was always inside of her, always had the ability to come out at the right moment. It definitely ranks as one of the most badass lines of the entire series.

Willow Rosenberg would not have been the same without an actress who was equally amazing. Alyson Hannigan, I cannot wait to see what you accomplish next!

If you enjoyed Amanda’s birthday present, you can find the rest of her work right HERE on Sci-Fi Bloggers. You can also follow her on Twitter @ErukaMoseley.

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