4.19 New Moon Rising

[Clare]

4.19 New Moon Rising - Episode #075
Willow is torn between two loves when Oz returns with a werewolf cure.

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

[cyclica]

I'm giving this ep a 6.

Oz returns, and willow doesn't know what will happen next. In the end though she chooses tara, but remains friends with oz. The first time I watched this ep I knew nothing about seth green leaving, I assumed he'd be back for good and like willow I had no idea how this story would end up. Looking back, I'm glad willow and tara stayed together, but I still wish oz had returned (and not just in a dream).

I loved the conversations between buffy and riley, talking about willow and oz but really talking about buffy and angel, and later on about willow and tara ("you found out that Willow was in kind of an unconventional relationship, and it gave you a momentary wiggins. It happens").

[partcynic]

4x19 “New Moon Rising”

Episode Rating = 7

Out of the roster of “Buffy” writers, no-one seems to be more random in their quality than Marti Noxon. While you can usually guarantee that Joss will be great; David Fury average and Drew Z. Greenberg abysmal, Marti’s a wild card who oscillates between classics (“Surprise”; “Bewitched...”; “I Only Have Eyes For You”; “The Wish”) and stuff that’s either sub-par or sucks (“Dead Man’s Party”; “Consequences”; Living Conditions”; “Goodbye, Iowa”). Thankfully, “New Moon Rising” has her back at the top of her game, with an intelligent script that provides many significant developments and some of the most understated, moving material the show has ever featured.

What I Liked about “New Moon Rising”:

- The central concept of non-traditional relationships works, and can be taken as equally applying to Buffy/Angel, Willow/Oz and Willow/Tara. Buffy’s conversation with Riley as they patrolled was an interesting way of broaching the subject, and her anger at his well-meant but ignorant comments understandable given her past. In terms of Buffy’s development, it was also fantastic that she was there for Willow despite being thrown by her revelations, and then came to realise that she had to be honest with Riley about her history with Angel.

- It’s very interesting to have Oz return now, and his monosyllabic reintroduction at Giles’ was a classic and wholly in-character moment. I liked how he’d obviously thought long and hard about who he is and what it was he wanted, and also recognised the pain he’d caused Willow and wanted to make amends. In general, he was as sympathetic, funny and charming as he’s ever been, and it added a huge amount of depth to the ‘love triangle’ that all of its players were good-but-flawed human beings.

- Due to the parameters placed on her story, Tara has spent most of her time hidden in the background, and this is the first episode that shows her proper personality. It’s easy to feel her hurt when she realises Oz has returned for Willow, and it’s pretty sad to think that her first assumption is that she’ll be discarded. Yet despite her pain, she’s still selfless, thinking only of Willow’s happiness and not using Oz’s capture as a way of getting rid of the competition. The final scene ends up making all of the suffering worthwhile – after seeing who she really is, it’s clear that the character deserves both Willow’s and the audience’s affection, and it’s great that she gets her girl.

- As “Doppelgangland” was to S3, this ep is to S4 in terms of Willow’s development, and despite what seem to be massive differences, there’s a substantial link between the two. In “Doppelgangland”, Willow learnt the value of being able to stand up for herself, and in this episode we got to see how much she’s matured as a result. Right from the start, I could understand her conflicting feelings regarding Oz’s return, and I didn’t doubt the affection she demonstrated towards him. Her clear love for Tara and her desire not to hurt anyone were both very touching, and it said a lot that she decided to follow her heart instead of returning to what was old and familiar. Her final two scenes (with Oz in the van; and then choosing Tara) were beautifully written, and conveyed powerful feelings of loss/grief and then hope – being among the loveliest in the series, and truly adult in their handling.

- The coming out scene was nicely done, with no contrived drama and a believable response from Buffy.

- I’d long been hoping that the ethics of the Initiative would be brought up, and I liked hearing Buffy point out that not all demons are the same (it’s a shame the characters constantly forget this, though). It was disturbing to see how the scientists were happy to treat Oz as a piece of meat for testing, as was witnessing his various injections and electrocutions. It was also an awesome mechanism for having Riley confront his own, dichotomous view of the world, and he scored major points by being willing to jeopardise his future to do the right thing and help Oz escape. It was a fine moment of growth for him, and he got his single coolest line in punching the colonel down and declaring “no sir, I’m an anarchist”.

- It’s neat to see how the pieces of Adam’s puzzle are slowly fitting together (Riley’s comment about the Initiative being busier than ever; the suspiciously easy fight he and Buffy have with the demon while patrolling), and recruiting Spike was a good next step. In fact, his scenes with the vampire were his best yet, and the character managed to be funny for the very first time (the boy scout joke).

What I Disliked about “New Moon Rising”:

- Marti’s writing, so that means we’re in for a dose of the melodramatic Buffy. Fortunately, our heroine only really suffered in her patrol scene with Riley (her over-the-top response to his ‘dangerous guys’ comment), and rebounded by the end.

- I like Amber Benson, but some of her acting choices bother me. She has a tendency to be wooden and slack-jawed instead of fluid and gracious, and the gratuitous stuttering on a few lines detracted from the otherwise high emotional power of Tara’s scenes.

- As is their trend, the Initiative scenes were drab and slow. I wasn’t particularly interested by the new colonel or the question of Riley’s loyalty, but I at least appreciated that it was all tied in to the main plot with Oz. However, this critique may just be because I enjoyed everything with Willow/Tara, and didn’t want to be pulled out of it for something less substantial.

- The idea of Oz finding a cure (of sorts) is cool, but is this supposed to completely overwrite what we were told about lunar phases? Or was the mechanism of the cure such that it displaced the werewolf trigger from the full moon to the specific individual’s emotional restraint?

- More information on why Adam/Spike helped the Scoobs would be good. Why would Adam be willing to hack into the Initiative system and shut it down for them, when he wouldn’t gain anything by doing so? Was it all a ruse for Spike to gain the gang’s trust, so that he could then split them apart more effectively in “The Yoko Factor”?

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

I’d say I like it a bit more. Big portions of this episode feature what is among the most mature, sophisticated and touching writing of the season, and I admire the writers’ guts in being willing to finally make a bold statement about Willow and Tara’s relationship. Scene after scene, Marti, Alyson, Seth and Sarah do fantastic jobs, and the script has massive character development for multiple key players while also providing the arc with some subtle progression. This episode may be one of the last truly emotionally affecting ones in the series (granted, we have “The Body” and “The Gift” still to come, but they’re both big downers, while this one’s happy), and possesses my all-time favourite uplifting moment with its final scene and lovely fade to black. I wouldn’t have minded it if its Initiative material had more spice, but the bulk of “New Moon Rising” is heartfelt and intelligently written, and that easily earns it a seven out of ten on my scale.