Act Three

27OOO) "Is Jordy a werewolf? Uh-huh. And how long has that been going on? Uh-huh." CASUAL SUPERNATURAL: We get an interesting little hint here that all of Oz's family might be as laidback and cool as he is. His aunt casually tells him here that Jordy's a werewolf, with seemingy the same gravity attached to it as if she was telling him she just got a new haircut. One can imagine that her original reaction to her son's lycanthropy was similar to Oz's upon discovering that vampires are real (see 25XX).

27PPP) "You said you didn't remember anything about that." CONTINUITY CHECK: See 6QQ and 6RR.

27QQQ) "I'm a big, bad wolf." WHO'S AFRAID?: See 12JJ.

27RRR) "I'm Larry...The guy's practically got wolf-boy stamped on his forehead." DECEVING APPEARANCES: "To remind us again about 'seeing.' Things aren't as they appear on the outside. Larry is the one whose most likely to be and Oz by appearance and nature the 'most unlikely'" to be the werewolf.--submitted by aliera, with small additions by Rob

27SSS) "Oh, yeah, I, uh, I'm trying not to think about it. It's... it's a lot." REPRESSIONY OZ : "Oz's dealing with his werewolf nature is pretty consistent throughout the series. He ignores it as best he can, except for those times when it completely bursts free. It's a pretty good metaphor for repression. Ultimately when he thinks that he has 'cured' himself of the problem in s4 he finds that he has actually forced himself to integrate his forbidden nature into his daily life."--ponygirl, Sun, 04/13/03 at 09:51:55

27TTT) "...after they find out I'm gay." MOVE OVER, ELLEN: "A really big leap for American TV. Looking back through the ep and Halloween, all Larry's crudity can be seen as overcompensation for his true sexuality (see 18UUU and 18Ax4). After admitting this to himself, he becomes a far more gentlemanly person (which may be a slightly rose-tinted view of the human psyche, but who cares)."--KdS, Sat, 04/12/03 at 07:06:09

27UUU) "I mean, all those times I beat the crap out of you, it musta been because I recognized something in you that I didn't want to believe about myself." SHADOW SELVES: "A very interesting statement that gets explored dramatically in season 3 with the Buffy/Faith dynamic, and with their confrontation in Who Are You, and comes up again in the Buffy/Spike alley scene in Dead Things. The shadow self being represented by another person, and the anger against that shadow self is an ongoing theme of the series."--ponygirl, Sun, 04/13/03 at 09:51:55

27VVV) "Larry, no, I am not..." HAPPY AND GAY: "As well as the positive portrayal of homosexuality, I like the way that BtVS doesn't rose-tint things by suggesting that only evil people can be prejudiced. Xander is never really comfortable with Larry after this, and his self-loathing rant in Buffy Vs. Dracula is filled with crudely homophobic metaphor. Similarly, in a very subtle performance from Sarah Michelle Gellar, Buffy is viscerally shocked by Willow's coming out in New Moon Rising, but also shocked at her own shock, as if she'd always considered herself free of prejudice but then found it very different when it involved someone she was close to. Really, Buffy and Xander aren't fully comfortable with Tara until after Family."--KdS, Sat, 04/12/03 at 07:06:09

27WWW) "Aggressive behavior, run-ins with authorities, about a screenful of violent incidents." DECEVING APPEARANCES: "Again a reminder that things aren't always what they seem." Anyone just glancing at Buffy's school record would think she was the worst juvenile delinquent in the world!--submitted by aliera, with small additions by Rob

27XXX) "Maybe you need to make the first move." NOT AGAIN!: "Carpe Diem (see 1NN and 25Q)? Because yeah look how well that worked out for you, Buffy!"--submitted by aliera

27YYY) "...so we just assumed werewolf." WHEN ANIMALS ATTACK: "To avoid excess moral ambiguity, the BtVS scriptwriters are very careful not to have Oz actually kill a human being. The problem comes later, in Lessons, where one of the manifest spirits at Sunnydale High claims to have been killed by a werewolf. Either this is a conflict [or is an off-screen death that we didn't know about at the time], or Veruca was around Sunnydale well before we actually met her, or there was a third werewolf running around that we never had any hint of."--KdS, Sat, 04/12/03 at 07:06:09

27ZZZ) Theresa is laid out in her coffin with a scarf around her neck. SYMBOLISM OF COLOR: "The red roses in the funeral home and Theresa's red sweater - another bit of colour symbolism to represent passion in Buffy and Angel's relationship (see 25EE)."--ponygirl, Sun, 04/13/03 at 09:51:55

27Ax4) "Willow would be Robbie the Robot's love slave, I wouldn't even have a head..." CONTINUITY CHECK: "As well as a very clear moral speech against those who judge Buffy too harshly for her occasional failures, this also refers in continuity to I, Robot...You, Jane (in which Willow was seduced by a demonically-possessed computer--see 8OO) and Teacher's Pet (in which Xander was nearly decapitated by a shape-shifting praying mantis--see 4DD). Notable, both of these eps featured Scooby Gang members romantically linked with evil, subtly echoing the Angelus situation."--KdS, Sat, 04/12/03 at 07:06:09

POP CULTURE TIME: Robbie the Robot was the name of the robot in the classic 1956 science-fiction film, Forbidden Planet.

27*1) "Angel sends his love." VAMP TELEPATHY?: See 5OO.

27Bx4) Behind her Xander has grabbed the easel and jams one of its legs through Theresa's back. XANDER THE BRAVE: "[T]his is the first time that Xander deliberately dusts a vampire (Jesse being accidental)." Notice how Xander bravely steps in and saves Buffy when she is incapacitated.--KdS, Sat, 04/12/03 at 07:06:09, with additions by Rob

27Cx4) "Oh, no, my life's not too complicated." DEBATEY GOODNESS: "The closest that Xander and Buffy have ever got to turning subtext into text."--KdS, Sat, 04/12/03 at 07:06:09

"I'd suggest it points us instead to Xander's lifetime dilemma -- no matter who he nominally dates, his true love is Buffy."--Sophist, Sun, 04/13/03 at 15:18:05

"It's sometimes dubious to draw interpretations purely from an actor's delivery, but whenever I've seen this ep I see at least potential romantic interest in the way SMG plays Buffy's look at Xander."--KdS, Mon, 04/14/03 at 03:44:17

"At the time I remember thinking the same thing. In retrospect, after Forever and much of season 6, I'd say that at times of emotional stress Buffy sometimes turns her need for comfort into a romantic vibe. Perfectly natural, but it does complicate things up a lot."--ponygirl, Mon, 04/14/03 at 09:00:32

There's also the fact that for the first time Xander singlehandedly saved Buffy here in the heat of battle. For a short time, this allows her to see him in a new light.

"If we see Buffy's look as hinting at affection for Xander (boyfriend type affection), then, strictly speaking, we should interpret Xander's comment in light of Buffy's look. I'm wondering, though, if the scene doesn't reverse that interpretive sequence; that is, do we tend to interpret Buffy's look as affectionate because of Xander's comment? I suspect so...Buffy has never shown any romantic interest in Xander. I think it makes more sense to interpret her look as brotherly and Xander's comment as recognizing his continuing attraction to Buffy despite his fling with Cordy. This gives us continuity in Xander's character throughout his relationship with Anya, while preserving Buffy's brotherly attitude towards Xander."--Sophist, Tues, 04/15/03 at 08:30:08

27Dx4) He sets the melting cup aside and breaks open the mold. OOPS!: "Surely the metal should still be hot to touch after only a few seconds."--KdS, Sat, 04/12/03 at 07:06:09

Act Four

27Ex4) She runs down the hall and out a back door. FROM THE ORIGINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT: In the original script, before running out, Willow is able to bend forward and flip the werewolf over, as she learned in self-defense class. She says, "Wow. It worked!" before running out the back.--"Phases" by Rob Des Hotel & Dean Batali, available through Pocketbooks, Inc. as Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Script Book, Season Two, Volume 3

27Fx4) "Angel sent her to me. A little token of his affection." HOW DO I LOVE THEE: "The first of many…he seems to get enjoyment out of vamping people and rubbing Buffy's face in it."--submitted by aliera

27Gx4) "Not now, Giles. We can all have ourselves a good cry after we bag us a werewolf." BUFFY COLD: This is one of the first examples (if not the first) we have of Buffy stating her need to cut off her emotions, or postpone them, while doing her Slayerly duty. This will become a major theme of the seventh season.

27Hx4) "In the woods." INTO THE WOODS: "Movement from the house [society, civilization] to the woods [primal, unexplored nature]. Self to liminal space."--submitted by aliera See 27MMM.

27Ix4) "I put enough Phenobarbital in this thing to sink a small elephant." MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR: "Phenobarbital is a barbiturate, nonselective central nervous system depressant which is primarily used as a sedative hypnotic and also as an anticonvulsant in subhypnotic doses."--submitted by aliera, from http://www.rxlist.com/cgi/generic3/phenbarb.htm

27Jx4) "I shot Oz." LINKAGE: "Willow's shooting of Oz forshadows Buffy's (at the time) far more permanent stabbing of Angel."--KdS, Sat, 04/12/03 at 07:06:09

27Kx4) "How about you let the door hit you in the ass on the way out of town?" PACIFIST BUFFY: "I do like that Buffy takes a least violent approach here in spite of the fact that she' s stronger than Cain. I also like the symbolism in using her strength to disable the gun (evil power) as her method of scaring him off." Also, Buffy harming Cain's phallic symbol, the gun, is reminscent of Buffy harming Angel's phallus in Innocence!--submitted by aliera

"Buffy defeating the misogynist villain by destroying his material 'genitals' will come into play again in Seeing Red, where she defeats a superhumanly strong Warren by smashing the source of his power-- his magic 'orbs '."--Nitz the Bloody, Sat, 04/12/03 at 23:48:10

27Lx4) "All I know is I'll never be able to look at him the same again." SEEING IS BELIEVING: "Final reminder. Seeing what's inside."--submitted by aliera

27Mx4) "He's still a human being. Most of the time." HUMANS: "Kinda interesting reminder of the vamps who seem so human most of the time."--submitted by aliera

27Nx4) "Hey, let me get those." LARRY NICE: "And a final riff on the title Phases which refers not just to the changes of the moon but the different phases that people go through, with the final thought that being human means that no matter how dark we get, we still have the capability for change. The change at the end for Larry is a positive one, which bodes well for Oz and perhaps (eventually) for Angel as well."--submitted by aliera

27Ox4) "What relationship? I mean, what life could they possibly have together?" LINKAGE: "This is very similar to the little fantasy recitation that Xander gives in Surprise about Buffy's future (or lack thereof) with Angel (see 25LLL)." Making the links between the Buffy/Angel story and the Willow/Oz story even stronger."--submitted by aliera

27Px4) "I don't know. I kinda see Oz as the loyal type." MAN'S BEST FRIEND: This line can be seen as a subtle joke on the fact that they know now that Oz is a wolf, a relative of the dog, known as a very loyal animal.

ISN'T IT IRONIC?: "Interesting, given what happens with the female werewolf Oz meets in Season 4's Wild at Heart."--submitted by aliera

27Qx4) "I just have to lock myself up around the full moon." MORE WEREWOLF KIBBLES N' BITS: "Much popular media werewolf imagery comes from the 1941 George Wagner film, The Wolf Man. This film contains the idea that at least some of the transformation's power came from the inner bestiality of the human. The sense that powerful inherent predatory/sexual impulses are rendered uncontrollable by the onset of the lycanthropy, rather than that the man simply changes into an animal, give the film much of its interest and power...[Many werewolf] films clearly link the werewolf with sexuality and the release of impulses that are normally controlled by the mores and customs of society...[In Oz's case, a]lthough the practical explanation for his wolf-side is his cousin's bite, it could also be seen as the other side to his incredible coolness, the price he pays. All his inborn animalism (sexuality, aggression, fear, predation), is not present in his daily life, has been sublimated maybe, but it has found another way out, it is concentrated into one discrete package, expressed three nights a month...In a sense, if drives are repressed in one place, they'll pop out in another. In Oz, his drives pop out in his werewolf persona.

Once the identity of the wolf is discovered, what Oz and the others then try to do, is contain, imprison, the werewolf within him. Although Xander makes many flip remarks about Oz burying things in the back yard and being hard to train, they do not actually attempt to engage with the wolf in the man at all. They work out a system whereby Oz can be locked up during his lycanthropic phases. He must voluntarily submit to being caged. This appeals to logical, cool, (repressed) Oz. He likes the sensible solution, that allows him to carry on in his level-headed persona as before. However, future developments are to prove that this cannot be a long term solution - he has to face, eventually, that the werewolf part of him is a part of his nature, and it is incompatible with his genuine but highly cerebral relationship with Willow."--MsGiles, Wednesday, 04/16/03 at 06:49:13

27Rx4) "You're nice and you're funny. And you don't smoke." SMOKING IS BAD: "Another reference to smoking. We saw Angelus smoking right after he turned and killed the woman in the previous ep." Perhaps the fact that Angelus smokes and Oz doesn't comments on the fact that, sans soul, Angelus is completely evil and has no humanity in him, whereas Oz will just revert back to human form when the sun rises.--submitted by aliera, with additions by Rob See 15F, 26F, and 32O.

27Sx4) "I mean, three days out of the month I'm not much fun to be around either." THAT TIME OF THE MONTH: This line overtly underlines the gender twistage theme underlying Oz's changes. His "time of the month" is a nice satirical twist on PMS.

27Tx4) "A werewolf in love." THE WONDER OF OZ: "Probably the best summary of Oz's character, in typically concise Oz fashion. Instead of rejecting being a demon three nights a month, he's accepted it; Willow is what matters most to him, and since she accepts him, life as a werewolf isn't so hard, and may just be another piece of the taciturn puzzle that is Oz."--Nitz the Bloody, Sat, 04/12/03 at 23:48:10

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