BtVS: Phases

Phases is one of my favorite episodes, mainly because it focuses on the Oz character, but for many other reasons as well. in this episode we discover that Oz is a werewolf, cementing his place as a member of the scooby gang. as Giles says "werewolves... it's one of the classics". but like everything else in the world of Joss Whedon, how Oz becomes a werewolf is slightly unorthodox. while tickling his cousin Jordy, who just recently got his "grownup teeth", Oz is biten by the toddler who is himself a werewolf. sure we've all heard of Teenwolf, but Toddlerwolf is quite a switch, making Oz a less likelier suspect than Larry (Larry Bagby III), who's sporting a large bandage from where he was bitten by a "large dog" last week.

Speaking of Larry:
Larry is another one of those characters in the buffyverse that turns up now and then. he starts out as just another chauvanistic football jock, but (as revealed in this episode) that's just a smokescreen to hide his homosexuality. Xander confronts Larry in the men's locker room, thinking he's a werewolf. Xander, trying to coax a confession from Larry, implies that he understands because he's been there (having once been possessed by a hyena), only to discover that the secret Larry is hiding isn't that he's a werewolf, he's gay.

on with the show...
so, there's a werewolf in Sunnydale. do we hunt it down and kill it like they do in the movies? no. here in Sunnydale we capture it and put it through werewolf therapy i.e. lock it in a cage three nights a month. afterall, it is a human 28 days a month, right? but just because the scooby gang is pro-active doesn't mean everyone is. enter Cain (Jack Conley), the werewolf hunter. Cain doesn't care that it's a person, which is why he only hunts them when they're not. his only interest is the money he can make selling their hides in Sri Lanka.

Trivia Note: though this is the only time the character Cain appears on the show, the actor Jack Conley later appears in the spinoff Angel series as Sahjhan. there are a few actors on the two shows that play more than one character throughout the run of both series. Brian Thompson being another example.

okay, where was i?...
oh yeah, Cain... so now it becomes a race to see who can find the werewolf first. meanwhile Oz (and the viewing audience) discovers that he's the werewolf when he wakes up naked out in the woods. in the meantime, Angel has been busy. one of Buffy's 'friends' (not so much a friend as an aquantence at school) bumps into Angel walking home at night (a stupid thing to do in Sunnydale) and ends up in a coffin. Buffy and Giles hear about her death on the radio and assume she's been murdered by the werewolf, as does Oz who is freaked out about it (having just learned that he's actually the werewolf ). but, while visiting Theresa (Megahn Perry) Buffy and Xander discover she's a vamp-o-gram from Angel when she tells Buffy "Angel sends his love." just before Xander stakes her with a flowerstand.

Meanwhile...
Willow, confused by Oz's 'hot and lukewarm' behavior towards her decides to make a move. unfortunately she picks the wrong time i.e. sunset, to do it. boldly going over to Oz's home, interupting his plans to chain himself up for the third night of the full moon, she excitedly makes her feelings known, and very nearly gets reduced to werewolf kibble for her efforts.

a Werewolf in Love
in the end, Cain is sent packing before he can kill Oz for his pelt, and Willow and Oz, after some discussion about their relationship and the dangers of dating a werewolf, share (if i'm not mistaken) their first onscreen kiss. and so officially begins the tumultuous romance that is Oz and Willow. like all romances in Sunnydale theirs is not always smooth sailing, but it is forever, even when they aren't together.