2.15 Phases

[Clare]

2.15 Phases - Episode #027
Oz reveals that he has a slighty 'hairier' side

Review (also post a score out of 10) and discuss this episode.

[cyclica]

This was a typical buffy episode, fun, clever, emotional, the only thing that stopped it being filler was the revelation that oz is now a werewolf. I give this episode a 7.

For the first time we get to see one of the very rare oz centered episodes. I liked seeing him discover he was a werewolf waking up in the woods, although hey wasn't that the second of the 3 days? When oz attacked cordy and xander at the beginning, did the wolf just go home after, and oz didn't think anything of it?

[partcynic]

2x15 “Phases”

Episode Rating = 5

Acting as a welcome break from the emotional weight of the S2 arc, “Phases” gives the audience some time to recover while simultaneously progressing both Willow’s and Oz’s stories. During the show’s run, Oz-focused episodes were a real rarity, and this one makes me wonder why (it’s no surprise that Seth Green ultimately got to the point that he decided to leave and pursue meatier roles). All of the interaction between he and Willow is sweet, and the revelation that he’s a werewolf allows for both a plot the show hadn't done before, and an opportunity to explore some of the ethics of monster killing. Not everything works brilliantly, but the story deftly juggles its numerous elements and ends up a rewarding and enjoyable watch.

What I Liked about” Phases”:

- The dialogue in the first half of the episode is uniformly excellent, with witty, memorable lines coming one after the other. I was especially fond of Cordelia telling Xander that it was a beautiful, romantic night (“...so shut up!”), as well as Giles’ childlike glee at the prospect of researching werewolves. In addition, I smiled at his response to Xander’s “moon pie” one-liner, and Buffy getting distracted by gossip and high school love triangles while patrolling the lover’s lane area was funny.

- The dynamic between Willow and Oz (and the hesitancy in their relationship) is interesting, and the early contrast between Oz and Larry’s approach to women is a good one (even though we now know the latter’s leering was all put-on). I could sympathise with Willow’s subsequent frustration with the way things were headed, and her talk with Buffy is my favourite scene in the episode. The dialogue is fantastic (“Oh yeah, 1800-I’m-Dating-Skanky-Ho” and “thanks, I’ve never gotten a ‘meow’ before”), and the moment worked as a continuation of the kind of closeness we saw between the two girls in “Surprise”. Their later stuff in the library is also strong, with Buffy being suitably sympathetic and encouraging her friend to make the first move.

- Given the massive trauma Buffy experienced in “Innocence”, any follow-up was going to be put in the tricky position of showing how she’d been affected without making her overly morose. I felt that the writing here did a good job of striking a balance – she was clearly having a hard time dealing with what had happened, but still pulled herself together in order to lead the group and resolve the werewolf situation.

- Acting as a clever continuation of the arc, Angelus’ brief appearance was creepy and sinister, reminding the audience of his ever-present threat without infringing upon the main narrative.

- The reveal that Oz is the werewolf is a classic moment, from his completely nonplussed reaction (“Huh...”) to the hilarious bit where he calls his relatives (“love to Uncle Ken”). Seth Green plays his character’s deadpan responses brilliantly, and he’s awesome to watch. I liked his sense of unease when he went to visit the gang in the library, as well as his fear when Xander was doing his (very funny) hyena impression, and he thought he was going to be identified as the perpetrator.

- Xander and Buffy’s visit to the funeral home was a good scene, with Buffy’s stunned reaction to Teresa’s ‘message’ from Angel being believable. The hug she then shared with Xander was quite intriguing – between this and the ending of the next episode (both of which hinted at a Buffy/Xander pairing), I wonder if getting the two together was an intended development, but one that ended up being abandoned.

- Willow’s march over to Oz’s (and her subsequent, rambling speech) was great, as was her bewilderment when she noted that he was alone in his house... with chains. His subsequent transformation was funny in a silly way, and the chase scene was tense (at least until the contrived events in the woods occurred – see my negatives list).

- The ending was lovely, with a charming resolution to the Oz/Willow issues introduced earlier on, and the promise of some fantastic stuff for the future.

What I found to be a mixed bag about “Phases”:

- Gib Cain was a reasonable character who served his purpose in complicating the plot (since it was not only about protecting innocents from the wolf, but also the wolf from Cain), but I can’t say I enjoyed his scenes. On one hand, he created ambiguity, presented a unique perspective and had a couple of great lines (thinking Buffy and Giles were a couple, and his later quip about “People for the Ethical Treatment of Werewolves”), but his position as a chauvinistic critic got old fast, and his lack of interesting personality traits meant I was more than happy to see him go.

- Although the locker room scene with Xander and Larry was humorous and helped in granting Larry some extra depth, I found its overall tone irksome. For a series that focused on a young woman and had outcasts and rejects as its heroes (not to mention being one of the first shows to portray a non-stereotypical lesbian relationship with Willow/Tara), it’s weird that “Buffy” persistently pokes fun at gay males (not only here, but later with Andrew). It’s hard to promote your writing as something progressive and daring when you fall into the same old sexual clichés as everyone else.

What I Disliked about “Phases”:

- I give the costuming department kudos for their effort, but the werewolf outfit didn’t work for me. While I liked parts of it (such as how it actually had a snout), the overall impression it gave was poor. The show has always suffered when trying to clothe four-legged and/or mammalian demons, though what we saw here was still better than the werewolf style they eventually settled on for seasons three and four.

- In the Bronze scene with Buffy, Giles and Cain, the characters talk awfully loudly about werewolves considering there are regular people cleaning up only a few feet away from them.

- The logistics of the mortuary visit could have been thought out better. Wouldn’t Buffy have been contacted for being the last person to sign the condolence book before Teresa’s body mysteriously disappeared?

- There’s a little continuity/editing error when Willow is escaping from the Oz-wolf. When she heads through the forest and falls to the ground, her dungarees get stained, but they’re clean in the next scene when she arrives at the library.

- Even though it’s explained by Cain setting a lure, the Oz-wolf choosing to simply abandon his quarry was contrived, and let’s not even get to Buffy et al’s miraculous appearance. Even if Willow was able to tell the others the rough area of forest where she last saw Oz, they had no way of knowing where in the woods he’d be now, or even if he was still there at all. Having Buffy manage to find Cain and Oz just in time to prevent the shooting was too much of a coincidence, no matter how tense or dramatic it was.

- I like Xander, but he’s slowly but steadily making his way to idiot-dom. His snipes at Oz were uncalled for, and I was thankful when Buffy reminded him that it wasn’t his place to make decisions about Willow’s love life. Is he taking the perspective that although he doesn’t want her, no one else can be with her either?

Do I like this episode more or less than the last time I watched it?

I enjoyed this ep a little more, though that’s because it’s one I don’t usually think of in relation to “Buffy”, meaning that I’m always pleasantly surprised by its excellent dialogue and solid development. However, I still think that my original mark of five out of ten was accurate, as while I enjoy everything “Phases” has to offer, nothing in it really blows me away. To its defence, that’s definitely not a bad thing, and its solid plot, pacing and progression are more than enough to make it another big check in the season two column.

[cyclica]

Upon rewatching, I still like this episode. There's nothing really to hate, it's definitely an enjoyable episode, yet when I think of great buffy episodes I never think of this one. There's no one awesome scene or hilarious joke or emotional moment that stands out.

There are a lot of nice little touches though. Like the past references to catherine the witch cheerleader statue, and xander revealing he retained his hyena memories (though again hyenas are treated as predators ) And I liked larry being intimidated by buffy (does he know she is strong?), and the later reveal that larry was gay was a funny scene. I'm glad larry was set up in previous episodes, I don't think that reveal would have worked as well if he was introduced this episode.

Speaking of setting things up, I liked how oz mentioned being bit by his cousin jordy early in the ep, and discovering he's a werewolf later on (apparently a werewolf bit and turned a toddler... I'd hate to be his babysitter on a full moon .

The changes to the werewolf myth were a good idea in my opinion. Having a werewolf 3 days in a row means a werewolf story doesn't have to take place over several months, as we wait for each next full moon. Though the idea of wolves being attracted to sexual heat doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me, and anyway it doesn't come up again in later episodes (unless you count oz and veruca, but they weren't drawn to sexual heat in the same way, they were just attracted to each other). Cain the werewolf hunter was an ok villain, I liked how he brought back holtz and flitted about in a manly way was willing to kill werewolves for their fur, seeing them as less that human (much like the good guys in werewolf movies I suppose).

Overall it was an enjoyable story, about a werewolf in love. I liked it. Though there wasn't enough of a 'hook' for me to watch it much outside of a season marathon. I'm bumping down to a low 7.

Nitpicks!

I liked seeing him discover he was a werewolf waking up in the woods, although hey wasn't that the second of the 3 days? When oz attacked cordy and xander at the beginning, did the wolf just go home after, and oz didn't think anything of it?

- Speaking of nonsensical timing, when buffy and giles are in the car on the second day listening to the radio, the announcer said someone was killed by an animal (= werewolf) 2 days ago. So before there was a werewolf then.
- I found it odd that buffy would tell cain she was hunting werewolves, she could easily have made up a more believable story. It was lucky that he was a werewolf hunter too, or she would have looked like an idiot.
- Where as oz should have said he's a werewolf, after willow discovers his chains and stuff. Instead of telling her he's going through changes, he should have told her he's a wolf, so she would have ran straight away and had an extra 30 seconds or so.
- This episode has one of the most infamous goofs- In the scene where giles in the library first gets out the tranquilizer, his glasses disappear and reappear in alternate shots. Either he's whipping them on and off at the speed of light or something's not quite right there.

[cyclica]

Nov 7, 2009 17:30:17 GMT -5 partcynic said:

- Xander and Buffy’s visit to the funeral home was a good scene, with Buffy’s stunned reaction to Teresa’s ‘message’ from Angel being believable. The hug she then shared with Xander was quite intriguing – between this and the ending of the next episode (both of which hinted at a Buffy/Xander pairing), I wonder if getting the two together was an intended development, but one that ended up being abandoned.

Interesting.

I read somewhere that they were planning to make either xander or willow gay, and the conversation with larry (seeing something in xander he saw in himself) was meant to be a setup to xander becoming gay later on.

In fact I beleive the deciding factor in them choosing to make willow gay was seth green's descision to leave in s4. And as you know he was supposed to be killed off in passion, but they killed jenny instead. So just think, if jenny wasn't killed, xander would have become gay, and there would be no tara, and possibly no anya. It would be a totally different show.

As for a xander/buffy relationship, it's news to me. But given the evidence you've pointed out, it does seem like they were hinting towards it. I wonder if a xuffy relationship would have meant no riley, and consequently no season 4 army storyline, and possibly no anya again?

Speculating is fun.

Nov 7, 2009 17:30:17 GMT -5 partcynic said:

- I give the costuming department kudos for their effort, but the werewolf outfit didn’t work for me. While I liked parts of it (such as how it actually had a snout), the overall impression it gave was poor. The show has always suffered when trying to clothe four-legged and/or mammalian demons, though what we saw here was still better than the werewolf style they eventually settled on for seasons three and four.

It doesn't matter how good the costume is, if a guy in a suit is running on all fours you know it's gonna look bad.