Agreed, I was never convinced by Willow's redemptive arc either, Anya's worked better - which is odd, because we saw less of her.

Willow's reminded me a great deal of Angel's - in which the character's excused her actions because she was "under the influence" and it wasn't really her. And I don't think that was the case - the writers in a way played with that pov in Killer in Me and Sleeper - as well as Him, demonstrating that it is not that simple.

Also, I think part of the reason we got the comic books - Willow gets a lot of focus in them - is Whedon may have felt unsatisfied with her arc.

Thanks for responding. I'm finding how people responded to be rather interesting.