38A) Beauty and the Beasts. WHAT'S IN A NAME?: "The title, Beauty and the Beasts, refers to the classic fairy tale, Beauty and the Beast. The...[earliest] version of the plot is that a [good prince]...cursed to live out his life as a monstrous beast...[by a wicked fairy], falls in love with a kind-hearted and beautiful woman. The curse is lifted once the woman learns to love the beast despite his monstrous exterior." Interestingly, in the later, post-feminist Disney version of the story, the tables are turned; the prince of this version was turned into a beast by a good fairy, as "punishment for his cruelty and selfishness," and in order for Beauty to fall in love with him, he must make himself more of a kind, gentle soul. Only once she has helped him internally change from monster to man can his physical transformation occur. In the original, Beauty is the true beast, in not being able to see past his physical ugliness to the kind soul inside; in the current version, the Beast must transform, through Beauty's help, into a psychological and physical beauty himself. --Anneth, Thurs, 07/10/03, at15:14:02, with additions by Rob

Teaser

38B) Buffy reads from 'Call of the Wild' in a voiceover. LITERATURE CORNER: "The full moon has a range of mythic/folkloric associations, but in the horror genre its strongest association is with the werewolf (see 27CC). This is reinforced in this opening, first by the woodland setting (the forest being the habitat of non-were wolves), then by the reading of The Call of the Wild, and finally confirmed by the image of wolf - Oz in his cage.

The Call of the Wild, by Jack London (1903), is the somewhat romanticised story of a large dog, raised as a domestic animal ('Buck') in California, which is kidnapped for training as a sled-dog in Alaska. Buck is perfectly initially happy in symbiosis with his human family. Extreme stress, and the loss of that comfortable environment, causes him to discover inner strengths, rooted in instinct. As a result, he becomes a fitter dog, both physically and mentally, but in this new form he finds he has more in common with his wild relatives, the wolves, than with his human companions, many of whom abuse and mistreat him. He has great loyalty to one man, and when that man dies, he finds himself released to the wild. This is seen as a positive experience: the culmination of Buck's difficult journey, and his reward for his emotional survival.

TCotW was followed by White Fang (1906), in which a feral wolf/dog cross is trained as a sled-dog, then exploited as a fighting dog, and finally finds happiness as a domestic animal in California. Both books are influenced by the Darwinian concept of 'survival of the fittest', and possibly by Rousseau's 'noble savage', the idea that civilisation has in some way degraded an essential human (= here, animal) nobility, but in WF the return journey is traced, and the possibility of happiness in a domestic, civilised setting allowed. Although the details of the dogs'/wolves' lives were treated naturalistically, they also paralleled London's experience - he balanced a tendency to roving, alcoholism and wild behaviour with his education, writing career and a gradual settling into domestic peace.

Oz has, in becoming a werewolf, discovered an animal side to his nature. While his human persona is extremely controlled, deliberate, cerebral, as a wolf he is instinctive, violent, hyperactive. Initially horrified by this side of himself, he has been happy to collude with the Scoobies in caging it, in giving himself up to restraint in his wolf hours. However, the reading implies, this may not be a permanent state. It's even possible that the wolf in Oz is suffering, as a result of being caged, that he is doing violence to a part of himself by denying it, even though to release it would result in violence towards others (see 38Tx4).

White Fang might have been a better choice to read to wolfOz - it's no wonder that TCotW is making him restless, and it may not just be the rabbits! Although it does eventually turn out, later in this ep, that the initial werewolf implication is misleading, and Oz is not the villain of the piece, the theme of Oz's wild side is picked up in S4, Wild at Heart."--MsGiles, Thurs, 07/10/03 at 07:57:06

P.O.V.: "We start off in a POV (point-of-view) shot. Whose POV are we meant to be in? The shot reflects the text of the book so it could be the dog in the passage, Buffy is narrating so it could be hers, however we discover later in the episode, when the POV shot in the woods repeats, that this is actually Angel’s viewpoint. He’s the one character in this episode whose motivations are impossible to understand so it’s an interesting choice. Of course the purpose of The Call of the Wild is to try and understand the nature of something unknowable – an animal – to try and make this creature something besides the Other, so we’re getting the aims of this episode right up front in the opening shot."--ponygirl, Sun, 07/20/03 at 15:27:20

38C) Buffy's voice dissolves into that of Willow... FADE OUT: "The dissolve from Buffy’s voice to Willow’s links the two girls and the dilemma they face in the episode. It also shows that no matter how on the surface the episode starts out as being about Willow and Oz it is in fact all about Buffy."--ponygirl, Sun, 07/20/03 at 15:27:20

38D) "He was sounding the deeps of his nature and the parts of his nature that were deeper than he, going back into the wombs of time." HYDE AND SEEK: "Thematically there are many similarities between this episode and Robert Louis Stevenson’s [classic novel,] The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, [in which the good Dr. Jekyll creates a potion that turns him into the monstrous Mr. Hyde,] henceforth referred to as J&H, in that both are an examination of the inner beast. J&H has the line ‘My devil had long been caged, he came out roaring’. We see exactly this from Oz later on (see 38Ox4)."--Celebaelin, Sun, 07/20/03 at 09:29:57 See 38Q, 38AA, 38JJJ, 38VVV, and 38YYY.

38E) "Private Harris reporting for Oz watch." SOLDIER XANDER: "There is an obvious throwback here to Halloween in which Xander was turned into a soldier (see 18EEE). Following that episode, Xander is often (sometimes mockingly) associated with military knowledge, imagery, and soldier-like duties. (i.e. 'the cavalry' in Becoming II [see 34SSS], his Apocalypse Now dream in Restless, the boot camp argument at the end of season 4, and his identification of Spike's brainwashing including a trigger in Season 7)."--Tyreseus, Sat, 07/19/03 at 00:46:31

38F) "Oh! 'Call of the Wild.' Aren't we reading the Cliff Notes to this for English?" POP CULTURE TIME: "Cliff Notes are a well-known series of study guides." It is common knowledge that most students who reads these guides and claim that it is in order to help them understand the book are actually only reading the synopses that Cliff Notes provide.--MsGiles, Fri, 07/11/03 at 11:06:18, with additions by Rob

38G) "Seems to soothe the savage beast." LITERATURE CORNER: "Two quotes turn up after some googling: the better known but often misquoted, is from William Congreve (1690-1729):

'Music hath charms to soothe the savage breast,
To soften rocks, or bend a knotted oak.'
(The Mourning Bride. Act 1, Scene 1.)

The other is from James Bramston (1694-1744):

'Music hath charms to soothe the savage beast,
And therefore proper at a sheriff's feast.'
(Man of Taste)"--MsGiles, Fri, 07/11/03 at 11:06:18

38H) "Except for the parts about...rabbits." CONTINUITY CHECK: "In Phases, Willow expressed concern for bunnies when she heard about the mauled animals. Oz told her bunnies could take care of themselves (see 27X)."--Ace of Sevens, Sat, 07/19/03 at 23:29:37

THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT BUNNIES: "Interesting, isn't it, how both Willow and Xander have dated people with 'bunny' issues? Anya's fear of rabbits is first revealed in Fear, Itself, while Oz, apparently, has some sort of visceral longing to get as close to them as possible."--Anneth, Fri, 07/11/03 at 14:00:31

WASCALLY WABBITS: "A possible explanation for the bunnies theme occurred to me during Latin class one day. For a special treat, our teacher decided to spend the lesson teaching us swear words and other naughty epithets. One of which happened to be the origin for 'cunt.' It derives from the Latin word... ['cuninculus,'] which...means ['rabbit']. The 'Coney' of Coney Island apparently has its origins from this...[This] Latin origin...give[s] Anya's fear of bunnies an ironic tint, as her vengeance demon career was started when she cursed Olaf for cheating on her, and her specialization became cases of wronged women. D'Hoffryn and his 'girls' have been likened to a pimp and his prostitutes by some posters...and in the flashback to Anya's human days, she said something about liking to raise and give rabbits to people out of kindness."--Elenphant, Sat, 07/19/03 at 02:57:48, with minor changes by Rob, from a post by curious, Sat, 07/19/03 at 19:08:24

38I) "Now, he's had his 2:00 feeding, and, uh, after sunrise, if he forgets where his clothes are, they're on top of the file cabinet in his cage." WILLOW IN CHARGE: "The references to '2:00 feeding' in particular make this speech similar to a small child being handed over to a babysitter. Interesting to consider the possibility of a maternal element to Willow's feelings for Oz."--KdS, Thurs, 07/10/03 at 04:12:18

38J) "I can handle the Oz Full Monty." HOT STUFF: "Refers to the well-known British comedy The Full Monty about a group of...[out-of-work and out-of-shape men who take up stripping in order to get money, later turned into a hit Broadway musical.] 'The full monty' is an old British slang term for the whole of something."--KdS, Thurs, 07/10/03 at 04:12:18

38K) "Tomorrow night, the total full moon, that's when he's a real wolfer." BUFFYVERSE WEREWOLF MYTHOLOGY: See 27II.

38L) "Do you ever catch kids doing the diddy out here?" THE DIDDY: "'Diddy' might refer to 'diddle,' an archaic euphamism for coital penetration."--Anneth, Fri, 07/11/03 at 11:07:19 See 38O.

38M) "There's a smooch spot up by the woods. That's usually where kids go." LOVERS WALK: "The make out spot was shown in the previous werewolf-centric episode, Phases."--ponygirl, Sun, 07/20/03 at 15:27:20

"Possibly the place where Dawn parks with a vampire in S6's All the Way?"--Anneth, Fri, 07/11/03 at 11:07:19

38N) "Bet you and Scott have been up there kicking the gearshift." TOO SEXY FOR MY SHIRT: "Faith in Buffy's body, in Who Are You, refers to Willow's relationship with Tara in a fashion remarkably evocative to the above quote: "So Willow's not driving stick anymore..."--Anneth, Fri, 07/11/03 at 11:07:19

38*1) "And when you think about him, you get that...good, down-low tickle, right?" CONTINUITY CHECK: As we saw in Faith, Hope & Trick (see 37RR), Faith's overt sexuality (which at times reaches the point of vulgarity) many times makes Buffy uncomfortable.

38O) "And quite a muffin." IDIOM TIME: "As in 'studmuffin', sexually attractive guy. 'Muffin' is originally slang for the female genitals (as in 'muff'). 'Stud' is presumably from animal husbandry, breeding males being referred to as 'put to stud'. Also a type of bun. The English muffin is a type of flattish bread suitable for toasting and buttering, while the American muffin is a sweet bun, often containing fruit or chocolate chips (yum!)."--MsGiles, Fri, 07/11/03 at 11:06:18

"Both 'muff' and 'diddle' (see 38L) are used in Victorian pornographic novels and serials regularly. Victorian pornography shares a couple of characteristics with Faith - aggressive sexuality, crudeness and a lack of subtlty. With this in mind, it's interesting to consider Joss Whedon's stage directions for Faith in Chosen: that she raise her hand to her breast in almost 'Victorian' shock upon Wood's suggestion that he's prettier than she."--Anneth, Fri, 07/11/03 at 11:07:19

CONTINUITY CHECK: Interestingly, after we see Faith make her first kill in Faith, Hope & Trick, she hungrily wolfs down a muffin (see 37PP)!

38P) "Blueberry. That crunchy, munchy stuff on top." YUMMY: "That crunchy, munchy stuff on top is generally, I believe, referred to as 'crumbles' and is a combo of brown sugar and butter. (and dern yummy.)"--Anneth, Fri, 07/11/03 at 11:07:19

38Q) "All men are beasts, Buffy." CHESTNUT: "A variation on the common saying 'men are pigs.'"--Anneth, Fri, 07/11/03 at 11:07:19

NON-META: "Warning to over-sensitive male interpreters - even this early in Season 3 Faith is not the authorial voice."--KdS, Thurs, 07/10/03 at 04:12:18

THEMATIC OVERLAPS: "The feminist message in Beauty and the Beasts isn't Faith's anti-male 'all men are beasts, Buffy.' It's a powerful message about the contrasting attitudes of three particular men towards their own beastliness. We see Oz struggle with the possibility that he may have killed a human being, even though if he had (he didn't), it would have been in a non-rational werewolf state he couldn't control. However, when changing into Oz-wolf gives Oz the ability to do things that he as a human finds morally acceptable--such as fighting Pete (or saving Willow from Veruca)--Oz's attitude changes. The Oz vs. Oz-wolf ambiguity is also played on when Willow refers to her boyfriend  as "cold-blooded".

The moral ambiguity inherent in using the name "Angel" when discussing the deeds of the demon Angelus are played up in Buffy's conversation with the school psychologist, Mr. Platt. Buffy has to talk to the psychologist to be let back in school; but when he asks her about the events that led to her running away, Buffy can't tell him the truth about her vampire boyfriend. As a result, she talks about Angel and Angelus as if they were the same person--a good man she loved who "changed" and "got mean" but that she didn't stop loving. The problem with this is that while Buffy found it hard to kill the demon with her boyfriend's face, she didn't love Angelus.

Pete's misguided decision to use chemicals to turn himself into a more "macho" man reflects the classic human sin of pride. Debbie no doubt found strong, assertive men attractive. But she didn't want what she got, a jealous, insecure abuser who hit her and demeaned her. Debbie is depicted as (1) co-dependent--she "enables" Pete's violence by accepting it, covering for it, and making excuses for it, and (2) weak--willing to accept such evil in exchange for security and freedom from choice. Debbie lives for the moments when Pete is doting, non-violent, and charming; but she can never win."--Masquerade, "Beauty and the Beasts" Analysis, from http://www.atpobtvs.com

HYDE AND SEEK: "Interestingly the use of the term 'men' in J&H for the human race could be seen to have lain the minefield that allows Faith to freely assert that all men are beasts. A maid in J&H states that ‘never had she felt more at peace with all men or thought more kindly of the world’. The animalistic references to Hyde (ape-like fury, ape-like spite and bestial are all used, amongst some other choice epithets) in J&H should be viewed in the context of the time the book was written. J&H, which speaks of being ‘sold a slave to my original evil’ was published in 1885, by 1882 Charles Darwin’s Origin of Species had already been described as a ‘bombshell’ that brought about ‘a revolution in every mode of thought and feeling’ and any commentary on animalistic nature in man in the two stories should consider the standpoint of Darwinian evolution i.e. that we are in fact animals by our nature, elevated above nature by natural selection. As an aside Darwin had died in 1879 but his wife considered this description ‘prancing’."--Celebaelin, Sun, 07/20/03 at 09:29:57 See 38D, 38AA, 38JJJ, 38VVV, and 38YYY.

38R) "Okay, I was hoping to not get that cynical till I was at least forty." AGIST BUFFY?: "Buffy's contact with many-hundred-year old vamps, and even older demons, hasn't destroyed her sense of teen timescales, wherein 40 is unimaginably old."--MsGiles, Fri, 07/11/03 at 11:06:18

38S) "Every guy from...Manimal down to Mr. I-Love-The-English-Patient has beast in him." POP CULTURE TIME: "Manimal - cheesy 1980s action show about a hero who could transform into various types of animal (usually a panther or hawk). The English Patient - novel by Michael Ondaatje adapted into a successful and highly romantic film" that divided audiences between those who found it breathtaking and those who found it pretentious and slow-moving. Seinfeld devoted an entire episode to the character, Elaine, finding out that she is the only person in all of New York City to hate the film, or at least admit to it.--KdS, Thurs, 07/10/03 at 04:12:18, with additions by Rob

38T) "And I don't care how sensitive they act. They're all still just in it for the chase." FAITH AND SEX: Faith's extremely cynical attitude towards sexuality and men is another aspect of the hard, tough veneer she has created for herself, which leads to her taking sex both casually and roughly, two words that perfectly describe her brief sexual relationship with Xander in The Zeppo.

38U) A boy runs through the bushes in a panic. VISUAL IRONY: The cut from Faith's last line (see 38T) to this shot is probably meant to be ironic. Faith says that boysdon't want anything more than to chase girls, and here is a shot of a boy himself being chased. Similar irony occurs again in the episode. See 38W.

38V) The boy screams loudly... FROM THE ORIGINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT: "...the creature pursuing him, still UNSEEN...GRABS HIM BY HIS LEGS - yanking him out of frame and to a hideous (off camera) bone-crushing, flesh-tearing fate."--"Beauty and the Beasts" by Marti Noxon, available through Pocketbooks, Inc. in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Script Book, Season Three, Volume 1

Act One

38W) "Hey Buffy!" THE CHASE: As with the ironic cut earlier in the episode (see 38U), here Scott appears, chasing after Buffy, just as Buffy and Willow had decided that not every guy is only in it for the chase.

38X) Scott's friends Debbie and Pete approach the group. WHAT'S IN A NAME?: "The name Pete may refer to Peter and the Wolf and Pete’s fight with Oz. The physical appearance of Pete and Debbie seems to be obviously (too obviously some might say) echoing that of Buffy and Angel. Pete even has hair that sticks straight up."--ponygirl, Sun, 07/20/03 at 15:27:20

38Y) "Yeah, but, you know, since the best jazz is improvisational, we'd be going off in all directions, banging into floats... Scary." SCAT: "Great image, Oz. It's left to us to wonder whether his development, his tendency to avoid rules and restraints, is actually being influenced by his newly realised wolf side. Clearly he was not above taking part in the jazz band before."--MsGiles, Fri, 07/11/03 at 11:06:18

38Z) "I get to convince him that I'm Little Miss Stable so I can stay in school." LINKAGE: An oblique reference to Little Miss Muffet and Dawn?

CONTINUITY CHECK: This is one of the conditions Snyder gave Buffy in order to return to school, in Faith, Hope & Trick (see 37X).

38AA) "Senior bio? I kinda aced that final." CONTINUITY CHECK: As we learned in What's My Line?, Oz is a genius at test-taking, even though he is not as interested in school as one would expect from someone so incredibly smart. See 21EEE.

THE WONDER OF OZ: "The Cool Oz Jungian persona, the effortless intellectual giant. Oz’s introspection is as much a cage as the physical struts and mesh in the library. He’s locked in a box with his thoughts all the time in endless self-examination, which must be interesting for him. Later, in Earshot, we see the extent to which Oz values his private thoughts, especially his knowledge. In Jekyll’s statement of his original intent he refers to his duality and his desire to separate the elements ‘the unjust might go his way, delivered from the aspirations and remorse of his more upright twin; and the just could walk steadfastly and securely on his upward path doing the good things in which he found his pleasure, and no longer exposed to disgrace and penitence by the hands of this extraneous evil’. Similarly we read ‘I have been made to learn that the doom and burden of our life is bound forever on man’s shoulders, and when the attempt is made to cast it off, it but returns upon us with more unfamiliar and more awful pressure. This is reminiscent of Jung but pre-dates Jung’s doctoral thesis by 17 years."--Celebaelin, Sun, 07/20/03 at 09:29:57 See 38D, 38Q, 38JJJ, 38VVV, and 38YYY.

38BB) They kiss lightly on the lips. FROM THE ORIGINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT: In the original script, Scott's exit is followed by Buffy, Willow, and Oz discussing the kiss:

"WILLOW: Okay. You. Scott. School kiss.

BUFFY: Not a deal. We've kissed before.

WILLOW: But in the dark. Alone. A school kiss is a whole 'nother deal. It's statement-y. it says - hey, peers - we're smooching!

BUFFY: (anxious now) Do you think it was too much?

OZ: I thought it was right. It said "nice seeing you" - not - "take me now."Not that I have anything against a
"take me now" kiss, mind you. But it's not very school.

WILLOW: Totally. That kind of kiss in school is all about showing off. The "haves" rubbing it in the faces of the "have-nots."

Now Willow stops at her locker. Oz lingers with her as Buffy, preoccupied, moves on down the hall.

BUFFY: So I'm good. Yeah. I think…

And she's gone. Willow turns to Oz.

WILLOW: I'm not sure I completely understand. What was the first kind of kiss?

OZ: Oh. That would be the "nice seeing you kiss."

WILLOW: And - how does that go?

Oz smiles - getting it. He leans in, kisses her sweetly but quickly.

OZ: Nice seeing you. (then) Of course - it can be a fine line. The "nice to see you" kiss can easily morph into…

Now he gives her a slightly longer, more intense kiss.

OZ: Really nice seeing you. And if you aren't careful, that becomes...

A pretty intense smooch which shows no signs of stopping. So intense, in fact, that they don't notice TWO FRESHMAN BOYS who pass them and roll their eyes. Show offs."--"Beauty and the Beasts" by Marti Noxon, available through Pocketbooks, Inc. in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Script Book, Season Three, Volume 1

38CC) "Just a thought: poker: not your game." POKER FACE: "A reference to the idea of a 'poker-face.' Poker is any of various card games played by two or more players who bet on the value of their hands. The intent is to not reveal the value of a hand by keeping your face totally straight and devoid of emotion. Giles has an impressive inability to deceive anyone as to the fact that he's panicking about something. Poker makes one or two more appearances over the course of the show's run," including a games demons play for kittens, instead of money, in Life Serial.--Anneth, Fri, 07/11/03 at 14:00:31

38DD) "Jeff Orkin." WHAT'S IN A NAME?: "Maybe in line with the many bugs that have featured and will feature on Buffy, the Orkin company is a well known US bug-disposal firm, as in 'getting in the Orkin man.'"--MsGiles, Fri, 07/11/03 at 11:06:18

38EE) "Wolf you, not you you." SEPARATION: The difference is important. See 27MM and 38Rx4.

38FF) Cut to the school psychologist's office. FROM THE ORIGINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT: "The office sports standard school shrink décor - "Your Brain on Drugs" posters, etc. But there are also a few surprising touches of whimsy."--"Beauty and the Beasts" by Marti Noxon, available through Pocketbooks, Inc. in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Script Book, Season Three, Volume 1

38GG) Mr. Platt is sitting in his chair facing away, looking out the window while his ever-present cigarette smolders in his fingers. SMOKING KILLS: "Platt may be the most morally upright smoker in the history of BtVS, although it doesn't save him from doom."--KdS, Thurs, 07/10/03 at 04:12:18

WHAT'S IN A NAME?: "The name, Platt, is possibly a mislead; the audience is supposed to expect that a school counselor named Platt will speak in plattitudes. Of course, he ends up being quite hip - and quite dead (see 38XXX)."--Anneth, Fri, 07/11/03 at 14:00:31

38HH) "...I'll look at your ink blots and everything..." PSYCH 101: "A reference to the Rorschach personality test, which involves asking the subject to explain what images they see in various symmetrical ink blots."--KdS, Thurs, 07/10/03 at 04:12:18

38II) "Look, Buffy, any person -- grownup, shrink...pope -- any person who claims to be *totally* sane is either lying or not very bright." LITERATURE CORNER: Perhaps a reference to the Cheshire Cat from Lewis Carroll's classic children's novel, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, and his claim that in Wonderland, "We're all mad here!"

38JJ) "...demons can be fought." SUBTEXT RAPIDLY BECOMING TEXT: This statement obviously has especial meaning to Buffy.

38KK) "And you didn't stop loving him." SUBTEXT RAPIDLY BECOMING TEXT: Again here Platt takes the metaphors of the series but deals with them in literal, mundane terms. He describes her relationship with Angel and his transformation into Angelus as what it was meant to symbolize or allude to: a seemingly great guy turning into a different, not nice person after the girl has sex with him. A similar method is used by the psychiatrist in Normal Again, in trying to break down the fantastical events of Buffy's life into easily explainable, psychological phenomena.

38LL) "The hitch is, you can't stay lost. Sooner or later, you...you have to get back to yourself." BUFFY AS COOKIE DOUGH: "What struck me about this quote is how it paralells to Buffy's final dialogue (the 'cookie dough' similie) with Angel in Chosen. A great deal of Buffy's mental anguish and stress over the years has been related to her love life, her desire to find the man who 'completes' her - but the final feminist message is that you don't need a man to complete you - you complete yourself. Platt offers advice here that Buffy won't fully understand for years." [Editor's Note: While the final message of Chosen does certainly have feminist overtones, it does not necessarily have to be interpreted through that lens, as its message of completeness can be just as meaningful to a male.] --Tyreseus, Sat, 07/19/03 at 00:46:31

38MM) "Well, love becomes your master, and you're just its dog." BEE-YATCH: "See Spike's later 'love's bitch' speech [from Lovers' Walk] and self-image. It should also be noted that Angel's desire for Buffy to 'get over' their doomed relationship eventually drives him to leave, and some would say that Buffy never really did."--KdS, Thurs, 07/10/03 at 04:12:18

"Buffy thought that her new relationship with Scott should enable her to put Angel behind her (symbolized by her abandoning his claddagh ring at the mansion at the end of Faith, Hope, and Trick, saying 'goodbye'--see 37Sx4), but it's not always that easy. The ring seems to become the focal point for Angel's return from hell. Is Buffy just love's bitch, or is there Something Else going on?"--MaeveRigan, Mon, 07/21/03 at 10:42:14

"...it also serves to link the werewolf/Call of the Wild theme to love and Buffy. The idea of control is very important here, the suggestion being that Buffy may have to fight against losing herself just as Oz or Pete does."--ponygirl, Sun, 07/20/03 at 15:27:20

38NN) "Okay. Uh, you know that thing where you bail in the middle of an upsetting conversation? I have to do that. It's kinda dramatic, I know, but... sometimes, it's a necessary guy thing." THE WONDER OF OZ: Not much to add here, but I just had to point out one of my favorite examples in the series of Oz being Oz. Recognizing the conventions of the situation and his attempted storming-off and stating that fact might have also been intended as a subtle parody of the WB teen drama, Dawson's Creek, in which none of the characters would take any action before psychoanalyzing themselves to death, with increasingly and absurdly verbose dialogue. Here, Oz does a similar sort of thing, but far more succinctly and poetically.

38OO) He turns his back to her. EXCLUDEY OZ: "It's rare for Oz to be unable to articulate his feelings. His relationship with Willow is heavily based on words. As he moves into his werewolf self, she finds herself excluded, unable to share, unable to understand the change."--MsGiles, Fri, 07/11/03 at 11:06:18

MONSTER VS. MONSTER: Note the extreme difference between Oz, who wants his girlfriend to be protected from his inner darkness, and Pete, who literally beats his girlfriend down with it.

38PP) It's Angel, and he growls and snarls at her. There is blood around his mouth, but he has on his human face... KEEPING UP APPEARANCES: Ironically, every time Angel appears in this episode, as a snarling animal, he is in human face, not vamp. Perhaps this is meant as a subtle clue that he can recover from his current feral state.

WHO ARE YOU?: "We saw Angel, or something like him, materialise, at the end of the last episode (see 37Sx4). Now he reappears as another possible suspect in the Boy in the Woods murder case. Is he Angelus? Has his mind been destroyed? We don't know."--MsGiles, Fri, 07/11/03 at 11:06:18

Act Two

38QQ) Angel continues to growl at Buffy. FROM THE ORIGINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT: "His instincts working overtime. It's clear to us that this is not the Angel we knew. He's more beast than man." --"Beauty and the Beasts" by Marti Noxon, available through Pocketbooks, Inc. in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Script Book, Season Three, Volume 1

38RR) She sets her metal Scooby-Doo lunch box on his chest... POP CULTURE TIME: Another Scooby reference pops up! See 21Rx4.

38SS) When Xander reaches her he takes one look at the body and nearly vomits. FROM THE ORIGINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT: "To gaze on this dude is clearly more than a mere mortal can handle. But Willow keeps her cool."--"Beauty and the Beasts" by Marti Noxon, available through Pocketbooks, Inc. in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Script Book, Season Three, Volume 1

CONTINUITY CHECK: Xander's inability to look at "this dude" without nearly vomiting is one of the factors that will lead to his outsider-in-his-group-of-outsiders feeling in The Zeppo. Although Willow finally does faint (see 38VV), up to this point, she is keeping her cool. Is the fact that she's dealing with things that are "more than a mere mortal can handle" meant as a clue to her future witchy darkness? Xander will also feel nauseous while riding in the RV in Spiral.

38TT) "Scarred for life! Oh, God!" A CORDY IN PROGRESS: "Cordelia will have gone through big changes in a year or so, when one anticipates her hacksaw-waving insouciance in The Prodigal."--KdS, Thurs, 07/10/03 at 04:12:18

38UU) "I mean, there are a lot of incised wounds, but they could be from anything." DR. WILLOW, MEDICINE WOMAN: "An 'incised wound' is a wound inflicted by slicing with a sharp blade. The other types are abrasions, lacerations (tearing wounds from barbed-wire etc), puncture wounds from pointed objects, and bruises. One would have expected more lacerations and punctures from a werewolf, although this matches Pete's claws revealed later."--KdS, Thurs, 07/10/03 at 04:12:18

38VV) She drops the tweezers and faints dead away... THAR SHE GOES: "The first time Willow faints from stress, horror, shock, emotion. She's been knocked out, but never overwhelmed by the gruesomeness of any merely scientific project. It's probably safe to say that what's really bothering her is the possibility, even remote, that her beloved Oz may have been responsible for mutilating and killing the hapless Jeff."--MaeveRigan, Mon, 07/21/03 at 10:42:14

38WW) Buffy finds Drusilla's trunk and knocks Miss Edith and the other dolls from it... CONTINUITY CHECK: This might lead to a slight bit of discontinuity later, when Drusilla returns to Sunnydale in the fifth season's Crush, with Miss Edith in tow. It is possible, however, that having realized that Spike had dragged her out of Sunnydale without letting her pack (see 34YYY) that she later replaced the missing Miss Edith with another doll. The fact that in Crush she leaves Miss Edith in an overhead compartment on a train might lead one to infer that she has a history of accidentally abandoning her dolls and later getting new ones, also supported by the fact that Spike finds some charred dolls in the burned-out factory in Lovers Walk (see 42O). The idea that I might be reading too much into this is not even crossing my mind, nor should it!

38XX) There she finds a heavy chain and shackles. S&M DRU: "Given Drusilla's tastes, one wonders who the chains were actually for..."--KdS, Thurs, 07/10/03 at 04:12:18

38YY) She steps back as he lies unconscious on the floor, with one arm held high by the chain. LINKAGE: "Angel’s appearance, in chains with a bloody mouth, is echoed somewhat by Spike in Never Leave Me. It’s worth noting that while Angel is too feral to put on a shirt he was not only able to put on pants but also lace-up boots."--ponygirl, Sun, 07/20/03 at 15:27:20

38ZZ) There is a silhouette of him on the floor surrounded by scorch marks from the intense light. FALLOUT: "A reference to the effects of the nuclear bombs at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, where the energy release was so great that casualties were instantly vaporised but recorded as less-burned silhouettes on the burned ground."--KdS, Thurs, 07/10/03 at 04:12:18

38AAA) Angel continues to growl and struggle with the chain. FROM THE ORIGINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT: "She stares at Angel - in a state of shock. Angel, tugging at his restraints, gives no sign that he's still aware of her in the room. Much less aware of who she is to him."--"Beauty and the Beasts" by Marti Noxon, available through Pocketbooks, Inc. in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Script Book, Season Three, Volume 1

38BBB) Buffy comes in behind her and taps her on the shoulder. Instinctively Faith spins around and lands a swinging backhand punch to Buffy's face. OUCH!: An excellent example of Faith's "loose-cannon" nature--her instinct is always too attack before she thinks--that will lead to very bad things in upcoming episodes, particularly in Bad Girls.

LINKAGE: "It’s the third sneak-up from behind in this episode – the first two being Xander and Cordelia in the morgue – and none of them has worked out well."--ponygirl, Sun, 07/20/03 at 15:27:20

38CCC) "Get out of jail free, huh?" POP CULTURE TIME: This refers to a card in the popular board game, Monopoly. If you land on the "jail" square in the game, you must stay there and not make any more moves unless you "pay" a certain amount of bail money, unless that is you draw the "get out of jail free" card, in which you can return to the game without losing any fake money!

ISN'T IT IRONIC?: Oz will "get out of jail free" himself, in wolf form, when Pete lets him out later in the episode.

38DDD) "Faith and her nutty books." SECRETIVE BUFFY: See 7JJ.

38EEE) "After Jenny was killed...I had dreams that she was s-still alive, that I saved her." CONTINUITY CHECK: See 29UUU.

38FFF) "Three-dimensional, sensurround, the hills are alive..." DEFINITIONY GOODNESS: "Sensurround:
An audio special effects device that encodes on the content of the film medium signals for audio waves which cannot be detected by the human ear but which can be felt as a vibration against the body and ear-drum. This effect was devised and employed in the making of the film Earthquake to impress the audience with the sensation of tremors. The medium was only effective in theatres, however, that could install speakers capable of handling low-end audio waves."--Tyreseus, Sat, 07/19/03 at 00:46:31

POP CULTURE TIME: "The hills are alive" is a reference to The Sound of Music (see 20ZZZ).

38GGG) She stops when she realizes her use of Jenny's metaphor. CONTINUITY CHECK: Jenny used this metaphor to describe the antithesis of how she was feeling, in The Dark Age (see 20ZZZ).

38HHH) "Well, there's no record of anyone returning from a demon dimension once the...gate was closed." CONTINUITY CHECK: Although through the course of Buffy and Angel, we have seen people returning from demon dimensions after the gate was closed, this statement isn't necessarily inaccurate due to the extreme difficulty in opening the portals to other dimensions. On Angel, for example, Fred was trapped in a demon dimension for many years with seemingly no way to return; had Angel and Co. not travelled to Pylea, she might have stayed there forever. In fact, had they not figured out how to open another portal, all of them might have been stuck there forever. In Anne, remember, Buffy was only able to return because the doorway between our world and that hell dimension was not closed. Most likely, the cases of someone returning from a demon dimension are so rare that they have not been known about or documented, which shows what a great miracle occurred in Angel's return and gives us greater cause to wonder who brought him back (see 37Sx4). The only real exceptions to this rule are the interdimensional-travelling demons, such as Sajhan, and to some extent D'Hoffryn and the vengeance demons (in being able to teleport back and forth from their home dimension of Arashmaharr and back to our dimension), but their ability to travel from dimension to dimension is part of their physiological make-up.

38III) "I remember. So he would've been down there for hundreds of years." LINKAGE: "Buffy is recalling her experience in the hell dimension in Anne (see 35VVV). Angel in Deep Down gave the length of his stay as a hundred years."--ponygirl, Sun, 07/20/03 at 15:27:20

38JJJ) "It would take someone of extraordinary...will and character to survive that and, uh, retain any semblance of self...Most likely, he'd be, be a monster." MONSTER IN THE MAN: "Angel’s cage is his soul but as he is a vampire his inner beast is a literal demon rather than a metaphorical one. Animal urges are replaced by something altogether more Mephistopholian. J&H gives us ‘Ah, it’s an ill-conscience that’s such an enemy to rest! Ah, sir there’s blood foully shed in every step of it!’ which whilst not true of Angel in this episode as far as we can tell it is inferred by souled Spike in Season 7 that this is usually the case, Lady Macbeth only more so if you will."--Celebaelin, Sun, 07/20/03 at 09:29:57 See 38D, 38Q, 38AA, 38VVV, and 38YYY.

38LLL) "The second is void of humanity, cannot respond to reason...or love." EVIL AND EVILLER: "This is the important distinction, the key difference we are meant to understand between someone like Pete and Angel. The show has pretty consistently maintained willingness to change as the indicator for redemption, but it sets up a number of problems. How does one judge if someone else’s efforts are sincere? Does the second type of monster forfeit any sort of consideration? And most importantly, considering the very heavy metaphor of abusive relationships being worked in this episode, how much love or reason does one give to a person before deciding they are a lost cause?"--ponygirl, Sun, 07/20/03 at 15:27:20

"A statement that will apply as much to discussions of Spike in the future, as it does to Angel now. The question will also be raised over Oz, and over Anya. Although the majority of monsters will continue to fall into the second camp, Giles' neat duality will come to seem a little more blurry in future episodes."--MsGiles, Fri, 07/11/03 at 11:06:18

LINKAGE: "Giles's comments shed some interesting light on Connor in Angel season 3 and 4…Connor, sent to the demonic dimension Quor'toth with a father-figure motivated almost purely by hatred and vengeance, returned to L.A. with an apparent desire to respond to reason and love, but was ultimately unable to understand either, because of the abusive way he had been taught the meaning of these terms as a child."--MaeveRigan, Mon, 07/21/03 at 10:42:14

38MMM) "I thought Faith was on duty." HMMM...: "Is it possible that Willow doesn't totally trust Faith with Oz?"--MsGiles, Fri, 07/11/03 at 11:06:18

38NNN) "I've been at Mister Donut since the TV did that snowy thing." LET IT SNOW: "In case The Annotated Buffy survives a few more years, and all of us who remember the days before 345 channels die: back before nearly everyone had cable- or satellite-television--before the dawn of time, about 1998--most broadcast TV stations simply stopped broadcasting in the wee hours of the morning, on the assumption that no one in his or her right mind would be watching TV at that hour. Now, of course, everyone knows that this is prime time for selling strange devices and for showing old episodes of Three's Company. Actually, Willow's statement is somewhat anachronistic even for 1999. It can probably best be explained as an aspect of the Sunnydale-effect."--MaeveRigan, Mon, 07/21/03 at 10:42:14

38OOO) "I mean, this time, it's not your boyfriend who's the cold-blooded..." ISN'T IT IRONIC?: This statement is extremely ironic, because for all we know at this point in the episode, Buffy's (former) boyfriend could be the 'cold-blooded jelly donut'!

38PPP) "Jelly doughnut?" CONTINUITY CHECK: This line is followed up most amusingly later in the episode. See 38Fx4.

38QQQ) "Buffy. Over here." FROM THE ORIGINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT: "He waves her over. A beat - then Buffy pastes on a smile and joins them."--"Beauty and the Beasts" by Marti Noxon, available through Pocketbooks, Inc. in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Script Book, Season Three, Volume 1

38RRR) "Oh, what's that, like, a Barbie thing? Dear Dream Journal, how come Ken hasn't come around since he got that earring?" POP CULTURE TIME: The "Dream Journal" pun is a reference to the fact that all of the accessories to the ever popular Barbie doll are labelled "Dream," such as Barbie's Dream Car and her Dream House. The earring "may be a reference to the early-1990s scandal relating to 'Earring Magic Ken', an official Barbie product who, whether deliberately or accidentally, wore fashions which were, shall we say, somewhat associated with the gay community."--KdS, Thurs, 07/10/03 at 04:12:18

38SSS) "That's really sweet." FROM THE ORIGINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT: "He's making smitten eyes at her. Buffy knows she should be making them back - but she's too spun."--"Beauty and the Beasts" by Marti Noxon, available through Pocketbooks, Inc. in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Script Book, Season Three, Volume 1

38TTT) "Check out Scotty liking the manic-depressive chick." ISSUES MUCH?: "People keen to question Buffy's mental health may be likely to have issues of their own? (ref Go Fish--see 32FFF)."--MsGiles, Fri, 07/11/03 at 11:06:18

38UUU) He suddenly and very violently lashes out at her and roars. FROM THE ORIGINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT: "Angel SNARLS like a wounded dog - as if he's been touched by acid. Shackled hands fly out to defend himself. And his eyes burn into Buffy. Angry - unrecognizing."--"Beauty and the Beasts" by Marti Noxon, available through Pocketbooks, Inc. in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Script Book, Season Three, Volume 1

38VVV) All that's left in it is the last few drops of a green fluorescent fluid. HYDE AND SEEK: "J&H’s potion is also green."--Celebaelin, Sun, 07/20/03 at 09:29:57 See 38D, 38Q, 38AA, 38JJJ, and 38YYY.

38WWW) "...there's nobody else that I can talk to." ALONE?: Buffy and Debbie are being paralleled here (see 381x4); Platt was also the only other person she felt she could talk to, which is why Pete killed him. Of course, both of them are incorrect: Buffy could talk to Giles and her friends about Angel, even though it might have been difficult for all involved at first, and Debbie should have, if nobody else, spoken to the police about Pete.

38XXX) ...Mr. Platt, sitting dead in his chair. His face and chest have been severely mauled. OFF THE HOOK: And now we know for sure that Angel and Oz are both innocent of the crime.

AUTHORITY FIGURES: "The final example of the early BtVS trope of authority figures becoming murdered as soon as Buffy makes a connection to them - see also Dr. Gregory, Flutie, and to a lesser extent Jenny. Some might put Joyce here too, but the ups and downs of her relationship with her daughter are too complicated to fit."--KdS, Thurs, 07/10/03 at 04:12:18

Part Two