further her goals. She saves Buffy by removing the bullet from her chest, but later commandeers a tractor trailer, making it slam into Xander's car while he and Buffy are inside protecting Jonathan and Andrew, the other two members of the Trio. She floats, flies and dismantles the local jail where Jonathan and Andrew are held. She is cruelly honest to Dawn and Buffy, and overpowers everyone with whom she comes in contact. When she takes Giles' magic from him, she gains the ability to feel the world's pain, becoming determined to put the world out of its misery. She does not acknowledge her grief, and only Xander can force her to face it when he tells her that he loves her no matter what or who she is, and if she is determined to end the world she must start by killing him. Only then does Willow return, sobbing. At Salon.com, Stephanie Zacharek writes that Dark Willow is "far from being a cut-out angry lesbian, is more fleshed out, and more terrifyingly alive, than she has ever been before. More than any other character, she has driven the momentum of the past few episodes; she very nearly drove it off a cliff." Several writers state that Willow's transition into Dark Willow is inevitable, grounded in Willow's self-hatred that had been festering from the first season. Both Dark Willow and even Willow herself state that Willow's sacrifices for her friends and lack of assertiveness are her undoing. In "Doppelgangland", Willow (posing as Vampire Willow) says "It's pathetic. She lets everyone walk all over her and gets cranky at her friends for no reason." In "Two to Go", Dark Willow remarks "Let me tell you something about Willow. She's a loser. And she always has been. People picked on Willow... and now Willow's a junkie." Vamp Willow served as an indicator of what Willow is capable of; immediately before she flays Warren in one violent magical flash, she uses the same line Vamp Willow used in the third season: "Bored now." Following the sixth season, Willow struggles to allow herself to perform magic without the darkness within her taking her over. She is no longer able to abstain from magic as it is such an integral part of her that doing so will kill her. In the instances when she is highly emotional the darkness comes out. Willow must control that