 WILLOW - "THERE'LL BE NOTHING LEFT OF ME."
The roots of Willow's unhealthy use of magic began in high school. Willow was smart and talented, but she lacked confidence, no matter how skilled she was at academics. Magic gave her a way to be special. Oz was the first to warn Willow about using magic, but he left town before she realized how much power she truly had. Then, she met Tara.
Although lacking Willow's raw power, Tara had experience and knowledge. She understood how magic should and shouldn't be used. As Willow's powers grew, Tara was supportive, as it was something the two of them could share. Glory’s season five draining of Tara’s brain made Willow dive into strong powers for the first time, and Tara, sans sanity, likely never knew what Willow had done.
Tara turned a blind eye to the issue of Buffy's resurrection because she trusted Willow. After she brought Buffy back for the dead, Willow became more confident in her talents, and Tara finally began to notice the power abuse. Her pleas went unheeded, even when she threatened to end their relationship. When Willow went too far, Tara left her. Even then, Willow still wasn't able to stop using her powers. Although they were concerned, neither Buffy nor Xander realized how bad Willow’s situation was since they were embroiled in their own issues. The de-rat-ification of Amy in SMASHED was no help, as Willow then had a "magically-inclined friend" who encouraged her when she needed a voice of caution.
With magic, Willow was no longer the "softer side of Sears" girl. Magic made her special, but magic also became more important than her identity. As she said in WRECKED, "If you could be, you know, plain old Willow or super-Willow, who would you be?" It's very telling that the next line she said to Buffy was, "I guess you don't actually have an option on the whole super thing." Willow had been the self-professed sidekick for years, and whether it was conscious or not, there'd been underlying jealousy. This came into play during the season's climactic battle.
After hurting Dawn, Willow finally began confronting her issues. She stumbled along the recuperation path and she even won back Tara, but everything shattered when Warren's stray bullet killed Tara.
Unable to resurrect Tara as she did Buffy, Willow soaked up power to avenge Tara’s death. She tortured and killed Warren, then pursued the other members of the Nerd Trio, willing to destroy anyone in her path. Even Buffy. In fact, Willow was downright eager to confront Buffy in TWO TO GO: "Come on! This is a huge deal for me! Six years as a side man. Now I get to be the Slayer."
Without Giles and his timely entrance - possibly the best entrance in BUFFY history - Willow would have continued unchecked. Giles brought a potential key to defeat her, but no mystical forces or super-powers could defeat Willow the Uber-Witch. There was only one person who could save her, and he got to her in time without realizing that saving her was possible. David Fury wrote the fantastic episode GRAVE, and the lines bear repeating: "The first day of kindergarten you cried 'cause you broke the yellow crayon and you were too afraid to tell anyone. You've come pretty far. Ending the world, not a terrific notion... but the thing is, yeah. I love you. I love crayon-breaky Willow and I love scary veiny Willow. So if I'm going out, it's here. If you wanna kill the world, well, then start with me. I've earned that."
Xander was the one person who'd known her all her life and accepted her as she was. He knew the good and the bad, the past and the present. Xander reminded her of who she was; not the witch-part, but the Willow-part. No matter what she did, she was still Willow to him, and he still loved her. Thanks to Xander, Willow found Willow again.
 GILES - "I'M STANDING IN THE WAY."
With Buffy dead, Giles stayed through the summer to help defend the hellmouth, but he believed that his charges had grown up and that his presence was no longer necessary. He did what he’d hoped to do a year prior: he went home. Of course, as hellmouth luck would have it, he leaves on the day of Buffy's resurrection.
The fact that the remaining Scoobies hid this fact from Giles showed that they realized their course of action wasn't the wisest one. Their desperation to have Buffy back outweighed their misguided belief that she was trapped in a "untold hell dimension," for if that was the main factor, they would have included the others - especially Giles - into their plan.
Giles returned when he learned that Buffy was alive, but not to stay. He was disturbed by what he saw - Buffy's depression, Willow's abuse of magic, and Xander's engagement – but he used the "sink or swim" strategy: if they were forced to rely upon themselves, then they would grow as individuals. They do grow, but the results were still disastrous.
In GRAVE, Giles admitted that he may not have made the right decision, but reminded Buffy of their greatest collective error: "Sometimes the most adult thing you can do is ask for help when you need it."
DAWN - "DOES ANYBODY EVEN NOTICE? DOES ANYBODY EVEN CARE?"
In the middle of it all, Dawn was mostly forgotten. She was left out of the loop about the plan to bring Buffy back to life - and think of the guilt she carried with her all summer, knowing that Buffy had died in her place. Buffy was her only family, and she felt abandoned by her death; when Buffy returned, Dawn wasn't her priority, which made things worse. Nobody had time for her because they were too busy being grown-ups... Of course, she didn't realize that they were failing as grown-ups. Also, for the first time in her entire existence, Dawn wasn't "special." She wasn't the Key to be protected at all costs. When Willow's actions resulted in Dawn's fractured arm, she was angrier with Buffy than with Willow because Buffy let it happen.
Dawn's unintentional wish to Halfrek was exactly what she wanted to happen. Everyone was forced to spend time with her and no one could leave her. Selfish? Yes, but she was still dealing with the loss of her mother, and her remaining "family" couldn't give her the quality time that she craved. Above all, she wanted to be involved, but Buffy repeatedly shut her down, citing the desire to protect her.
When Dawn and Buffy emerged from the ground at the end of GRAVE, Buffy finally acknowledged her as a person rather than a little sister: "I want to see you grow up. The woman you're gonna become... because she's gonna be beautiful. And she's gonna be powerful. I got it so wrong. I don't want to protect you from the world - I want to show it to you." It was exactly what Dawn needed to hear.
 THE TROIKA (A.K.A. THE NERD TRIO)
No matter what calamities strike in life, mundane problems never go away. They may seem inconsequential by themselves, but they can push you over the edge just as easily as major issues. For Buffy, mundane problems include pesky plots to take over Sunnydale. When Jonathan, Warren, and Andrew decided to be Buffy’s arch-nemisis-es-es, it was the last thing the Scoobies needed.
The Troika served another purpose: comic relief. Season six's darkness desperately needed balance, and Jonathan and newcomer Andrew provided a goofy counterpoint. In past seasons, we'd looked to Xander to lighten the mood, but he had developed far too much to be relegated to such role. The Trio was the lightest note of the season - except for one.
Warren was a human villain. There'd been others, such as Faith and Professor Walsh, but Warren was one of the most despicable characters to appear on BUFFY. 100% human, he had a soul and wasn't under the slayer's jurisdiction. The furious Willow didn't care what Warren was, only what he’d done. By killing a human, no matter how vile, she crossed a line. Her actions as the true Big Bad of the sixth season had consequences that continued throughout the entire final season.
WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?
The Scoobies were finally ready to answer that question. They ended the season battered and emotionally drained, nowhere near the same as they were the year prior. What they had regained was themselves. And thank goodness for that, because they still had one more season to go.
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