Buffy the Vampire Slayer (2x15) Phases

[fajrdrako]

Buffy (2x15) Phases

Feels like a change of pace, because it isn't about Spike and Angel. I'd be happier if it was, but that's okay, it was an interesting story anyway.

Confession: I thought Oz was more interesting before he was a werewolf, but that's okay. I didn't anticipate that he was going to be the werewolf, which was pretty cool.

Actually I'm not too fond of werewolf stories, despite attempts to read Kelley Armstrong's novels. One exception: the 12th century story "Bisclavret" by Marie de France about a knight who was a werewolf. And it's slashy, too. Oz doesn't much resemble the knight of "Bisclavret". But in some ways... not too dissimilar, either: both are sympathetic characters who get a happy ending. (At least in the short term - I'm not predicting anything about Oz beyond this.)

1. We see Amy's mother's trophy again. Cute. Oz likes it. I like it that he's... observant.
   
   
2. I have a friend who talks like Oz. I'm wondering why. Don't think she's a Buffy fan - I don't think it's deliberate. "My time was also of the good" sounds just like her. Willow sometimes sounds similar, but not consistently.
   
   
3. Good Oz line: "You've really mastered the single entendre."
   
   
4. Oz says of Willow, "Yeah, she's actually an evil mastermind. It's fun." This sounds more true than it ought to be.
   
   
5. Love the conversation between Willow and Buffy:

   Willow: He's great. We have a lot of fun. But I want smoochies!
   Buffy: Have you dropped any hints?
   Willow: I've dropped anvils.
   Buffy: Ah, he'll come around. What guy could resist your wily Willow charms?
   Willow: At last count, all of them. Maybe more.

   Aaah, I feel for you, girl. Been there, done that.
   
   
6. And poor Buffy: "I was going on two minutes there without thinking about Angel."
   
   
7. So Xander is making out with Cordelia while worrying about Willow - and says so. Oh, Xander, Xander, that's bad form. When they get menaced by a werewolf - it's no less than he deserves!
   
   
8. I enjoyed this bit:

   Giles: Meaning the accepted legend that werewolves only prowl during a full moon might be erroneous.
   Cordelia: Or it could be a crock.

   In some ways, I like the Giles/Cordelia exchanges even more than the Xander/Cordelia banter.
   
   
9. I like the way Buffy wants to defend Theresa against Larry. And her sour thoughts about men linger:

   Giles:It acts on pure instinct. No conscience, predatory and aggressive.
   Buffy: In other words, your typical male.
   Xander: On behalf of my gender, hey.
   Giles: Yes, let's not jump to any conclusions.
   Buffy: I didn't jump. I took a tiny step, and there conclusions were.

   Can't blame her. Angel has a lot to answer for.
   
   
10. So they go werewolf-hunting. This seems to be different from vampire-hunting in that werewolves target parked cars with people in them, rather than people strolling in parks or on the street.
    
    
11. The theme of male posturing and female defensiveness continues:

    Cain: Well, it's good to get the fruit while it's fresh.
    Giles: You'd be wise to take that back.

    Cain makes the notion of selling werewolf pelts totally repellent - like skinning pandas or something. He has an interesting deal with his conscience:

    Buffy: And it doesn't bother you that a werewolf is a person twenty-eight days out of the month?Cain: That's why I only hunt 'em the other three.

    And at last we get an explanation of the lover's lane situation:

    Buffy: You're looking for a party?
    Cain: No, but the werewolf is. They're suckers for that whole sexual heat thing. Sense it miles away. Since this little doggie ain't here, I guess he found another place.

    And then Buffy calls him "mein furrier". Good one. I love the way this show handles recognizable 'types' from popular fiction.
    
    
12. Then poor Theresa falls in with Angel, as if being hounded by Larry wasn't bad enough. Frying pan to fire. And Angel is smooth as Larry could never imagine being.
    
    
13. I love it that Willow and Cordelia discuss their man-troubles together. "Oz and I are in some sort of holding pattern, except without the holding." They fall back on the sexist answer:

    Cordelia: What's he waiting for? What's his problem? Oh, that's right, he's a guy.
    Willow: Yeah, him and Xander. Guys.
    Cordelia: Who do they think they are?
    Willow: A couple of guys.

    This all seems very convincing to me!
    
    
14. Love Buffy's description of the Bronze as "Sunnydale's own house of hormones."
    
    
15. The theme of sexism gets replayed when Cain turns up:

    Cain: You let it get away.
    Buffy: I didn't let it do anything. I had the chain around its neck.
    Cain: Chain? What were you gonna do, take it for a walk?
    Buffy: I was going to lock it up.
    Cain: That's beautiful. This is what happens when a woman tries to do a man's job.

    
    
16. On the whole, I think Buffy out-toughs Cain:

    Cain: You know, sis, if that thing out there harms anyone, it's going to be on your pretty little head. I hope you can live with that.
    Buffy: I live with that every day.
    Cain: First they tell me I can't hunt an elephant for its ivory... Now I've gotta deal with People for the Ethical Treatment of Werewolves.
    Giles: Pillock!

    When Buffy says "I live with that every day," I assume she's thinking of the deaths caused by vampires she hasn't prevented from killing? How often does this happen? Does she pretty much keep up with the death rate, or is it always beyond her, or do we even know?
    
    
17. Cute Buffy line: "I'm guessing you didn't see anything either from that vantage point of having your eyes closed."
    
    
18. Giles says, "We have another whole night. There's nothing more we can do now. It's nearly sunrise. That werewolf won't be a werewolf much longer." Until next month, presumably.
    
    
19. So now we find out about Oz. Love his phone conversation with his aunt: "Aunt Maureen. Hey, it's me. Um, what? Oh! It's, uh... actually it's healing okay. That's pretty much the reason I called. Um, I wanted to ask you something. Is Jordy a werewolf? Uh-huh. And how long has that been going on? Uh-huh. What? No, no reason." Only in Sunnydale. And Aunt Maureen didn't think to warn Oz? I guess not. Presumably Jody is just a puppy werewolf.
    
    
20. I continue to love Oz's speech patterns:

    Oz: Is everybody okay? Did anyone get bitten or, or scratched?
    Willow: No, we're fine.
    Oz: Gladness.

    
    
21. So Xander confronts Larry, lone hero-style: "I know what you've been doing at night." And it just gets funnier (and sadder) as we see that what Xander's thinking about and what Larry's thinking about aren't the same thing.
    
    
22. I like Xander's distress at the friendship between Willow and Cordelia: "Wow, those two gals are hanging out a lot together. This would be a good time to panic."
    
    
23. And when Theresa attacks, she knows just what to say to Buffy: "Angel sends his love."
    
    
24. So Willlow learns that Oz is the werewolf and tells the others: "Can't you just trust me on this? He-he said he was going through all these changes. Then he went through all these... changes." Then they save Oz from Cain and save everyone else from Oz. Good.
    
    
25. It seems that Larry's confession to Xander has given him a change of heart where it comes to dealing with women. Not entirely convincing, but cute. They made me want to see things turn out all right for Larry.
    
    
26. Good for Buffy for telling Xander that Willow's relationship with Oz isn't for him to meddle in. And the conversation between Willow and Oz is great:

    Willow: Well, I like you. You're nice and you're funny. And you don't smoke. Yeah, okay, werewolf, but that's not all the time. I mean, three days out of the month I'm not much fun to be around either.
    Oz: You are quite the human.
    Willow: So, I'd still if you'd still.
    Oz: I'd still. I'd *very* still.

    And then Willow is brave enough to kiss him.

Comments

[janne-d.livejournal.com]

Aw, have a Spike icon to make up for his lack.

I have to say I really quite adore Oz, werewolf or not. Though I think this is the absolute worst werewolf makeup I have ever seen! And where did the extra foot of height Oz suddenly had as a wolf come from? (Thankfully, this does improve.)

Oz says of Willow, "Yeah, she's actually an evil mastermind. It's fun."

One of my favourite Oz lines. Though he usually does well in the good lines stakes. I remember something from the writers about them taking a little while to really hone in on Oz's style because he is a more laconic character than the others. Speaking of, I also adore his reaction to waking up naked in the forest: "huh".

In some ways, I like the Giles/Cordelia exchanges even more than the Xander/Cordelia banter.

I think one of my favourite Giles moments is when he actually gets really tickled by Xander's comment about Moon Pie and laughs. And I like that he gets so excited about a werewolf in the first place. There's something sweet about the way he can get enthusiastic about new weirdness.

So they go werewolf-hunting

I like Buffy getting distracted by the hot gossip on who's snogging who.

Cain makes the notion of selling werewolf pelts totally repellent - like skinning pandas or something. He has an interesting deal with his conscience

Yup, Cain is repulsive. I like this episode for making the distinction between kinds of monsters - usually Buffy is going after something that chooses to do evil or whose nature makes it evil by human standards, but with the werewolf it is just something beyond control and it isn't painted as evil.

I love it that Willow and Cordelia discuss their man-troubles together.

It's an entertaining scene, but I still wonder how they got to that point. Last heard of, Willow was calling Cordelia a skanky ho.

The theme of sexism gets replayed

There is kind of a theme going on. Cain is like the manifestation of male chauvinism and there is definitely some male stereotyping going on, but I think they are also doing things to subvert that - Oz is nothing like the profile of the werewolf the gang work off, Larry turns out to be gay and his sexism was all about denying it, and Cain gets run out of town by the girl he dismissed. All of which I like.

When Buffy says "I live with that every day," I assume she's thinking of the deaths caused by vampires she hasn't prevented from killing? How often does this happen? Does she pretty much keep up with the death rate, or is it always beyond her

My assumption is that it is always beyond her. One girl in all the world - how many vampires and demons just in Sunnydale, let alone the rest of the globe? She stops the apocalypses, but there will always be people that are killed by vampires or demons because she can't get them all and never can.

So now we find out about Oz. Love his phone conversation with his aunt

Heee!

it just gets funnier (and sadder) as we see that what Xander's thinking about and what Larry's thinking about aren't the same thing

It's funny, I remember being very amused by watching that scene before, but now I do find it a bit sad. Not because of Larry, because I love the way he gets happier because of it, but because of Xander's reaction. It kind of bothered me this time around that he gets so freaked out.

That said, Larry is cool even if his sudden conversion isn't hugely convincing. He does pop up a couple more times, btw.

Buffy: Instead of not protecting Theresa from a werewolf I was able to not protect her from something just as bad.

Girl carries a lot of guilt, I think. Not helped by the knowledge that Angel killed Theresa - especially since Buffy did have the chance to kill him and couldn't make herself do it.

I love this Willow moment:

Buffy told me that sometimes what the
girl makes has to be the first move and
now that I'm saying this I'm starting to
think that the written version sounded
pretty good but you know what I mean!

Makes me smile every time.

Willow: So, I'd still if you'd still.
Oz: I'd still. I'd *very* still.

Aaaaaw. *huggles them*

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Lovely, lovely Spike icon.

I have to say I really quite adore Oz, werewolf or not.

What I love most about Oz is his wonderful dialogue. So far, as wolf, he just grunts and growls. A waste!

Speaking of, I also adore his reaction to waking up naked in the forest: "huh".

Yes, that was wonderful too.

There's something sweet about the way he can get enthusiastic about new weirdness.

Yes. He really does love his work.

I like this episode for making the distinction between kinds of monsters -

I like the way the werewolf is not a monster and the human werewolf-hunter is one.

Last heard of, Willow was calling Cordelia a skanky ho.

At some point very soon I want to talk about Willow and her various relationships - I get confused. She was so upset about Cordelia and now she's talking to her like a friend? And then she seems to have fallen for Oz, and then is all strung out over Xander and we don't see Oz for a bit, and - well, I don't quite get it. It's as if the continuity is a bit messed up. Issues that are resolved get unresolved and then fixed up without explanation.

Oz is nothing like the profile of the werewolf the gang work off, Larry turns out to be gay and his sexism was all about denying it, and Cain gets run out of town by the girl he dismissed. All of which I like.

I like it too, and I like the way we see all these different angles, one after another.

I love the way he gets happier because of it, but because of Xander's reaction. It kind of bothered me this time around that he gets so freaked out.

Me too. There's quite a bit of homophobia in Xander's reaction. I think partly it's that ten years ago the world was more homophobic and that kind of fear-reaction to learning someone was gay was considered more 'normal' than it is now. (As if it were contagious or something.) It doesn't make Xander look very sympathetic, but he isn't mean to Larry, and maybe learns from it.

Not helped by the knowledge that Angel killed Theresa - especially since Buffy did have the chance to kill him and couldn't make herself do it.

Of course, I'm glad she didn't. But I like her sense of guilt here. Guilty because she didn't do it; guilty because of the feelings that prevented her from doing it.

Makes me smile every time.

Willow often makes me smile.

Willow: So, I'd still if you'd still.
Oz: I'd still. I'd *very* still.

Young werewolf-love. So cute.

[janne-d.livejournal.com]

Last heard of, Willow was calling Cordelia a skanky ho.

At some point very soon I want to talk about Willow and her various relationships - I get confused

I had a look at a transcript - it seems as though there is a whole bit missing from the self-defence class where Willow and Cordelia face off and then bond over beating up Xander. Shame they lost that because it makes their sudden chumminess less confusing.

she seems to have fallen for Oz, and then is all strung out over Xander and we don't see Oz for a bit, and - well, I don't quite get it

That never really occurred to me. She's been crushing on Xander a long time so it makes sense to me that those feelings don't just disappear despite the fact she has now fallen for Oz. I suspect Willow is a bit confused over it all herself.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Shame they lost that because it makes their sudden chumminess less confusing.

Or at least odd. We were so conditioned to take Willows hatred of Cordelia seriously - and then suddenly it's gone for no reason. Makes Willow look ... capricious.

I suspect Willow is a bit confused over it all herself.

I think that's how we have to interpret it, but I do wish it had been done more smoothly and coherently.

[liliaeth]

I'd say that 16 is all about Angel. She let him go, because she couldn't kill him, because she feels responsible for making him loose his soul. And now she feels guilty over every death he might cause because of her inability to take him out when she had the chance.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I'd say that 16 is all about Angel.

Oh, yes. I love that interpretation. I have been arguing that for Buffy here (and for Angel too) it's still all about each other - first they were lovers and now they are enemies, but it's really just flip sides of the same thing, and their mutual obsession/concern is still there. And they're both at am impasse - neither can manage to kill the other.

[teaphile.livejournal.com]

When I was a kid we had close friends with a corgi named Jordy, so I always picture cousin Jordy's were-form as a corgi.

From an earlier comment you made:

There's quite a bit of homophobia in Xander's reaction.... It doesn't make Xander look very sympathetic, but he isn't mean to Larry, and maybe learns from it.

I've heard that by this point in the series they decided to make one of the characters gay. This scene (and at least one next season) make me think it was supposed to be Xander before Actor Stuff got in the way.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I always picture cousin Jordy's were-form as a corgi.

So cute!

This scene (and at least one next season) make me think it was supposed to be Xander before Actor Stuff got in the way.

"Actor stuff"? Do you mean Nicholas Brendon didn't want to play a gay character?

[teaphile.livejournal.com]

I think it had to do with Seth Green leaving and what they were going to do with Willow's character after that.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Seth Green leaves?

No, don't tell me!

[janne-d.livejournal.com]

I've heard that by this point in the series they decided to make one of the characters gay. This scene (and at least one next season) make me think it was supposed to be Xander before Actor Stuff got in the way.

Interesting. Some of Xander's lines would make that fit rather nicely - he does tend to be very aware of how attractive other male characters are.

Though I have heard that in the long term, they had quite a different plan for Xander romantically and that they ultimately didn't go there because of lack of chemistry between the actors.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Remind me to ask you about this when I know more about what's about to happen.

[walkingowl.livejournal.com]

I'm far behind on commenting on your comments, but I can start here!

5. Buffy and Willow's conversation here was, to me, incredibly slashy. The two of them have many such moments, and the two characters remain visibly clueless throughout. I enjoy all of them.

16. Yes, Buffy is going through major guilt and angst right now about not being perfect -- every person harmed by a creature of the night, she is taking as her personal failure.
Do you know the term "pillock"? It's new to me. And it's not in my OED.

19. I think this phone chat is good evidence that Oz has a perfectly normal family!... all of them just like he is.

21. I think that this "I know what you've been doing at night" confrontation between Xander and Larry might have been one of the first mainstream-type gay-character-outed situations on tv. And it was just a minor subplot. I loved it.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Buffy and Willow's conversation here was, to me, incredibly slashy.

I just wrote a long paragraph about my attitude to slashiness in this show and then erased it all. Basically I don't see the slash because I don't want to see it because the young characters seem like children to me. Perhaps I will get over this in a season or so. I like Buffy with Angel (as on the show) but on the whole I find them way too immature in style to be sexually interesting in any way. It's not their ages per se, it's how they are depicted; there's a squick factor. I am trying to overcome this. But this is one of the things that kept me from watching Buffy for a decade. (It still gives me a level of difficulty, and not just with regard to the idea of slash.)

Yes, I know "pillock" well - I don't even think of it as being rare. From Chambers (http://www.chambersharrap.co.uk/chambers/features/chref/chref.py/main?query=pillock&title=21st):
Brit slang a stupid or foolish person.

it was just a minor subplot. I loved it.

I didn't love it because (a) Xander came off as homophobic - I can forgive that, but it is clear he was uncomfortable with Larry's comments, and that was mildly distressing, and (b) it was kind of predictable. But I still enjoyed the scene.

might have been one of the first mainstream-type gay-character-outed situations on tv

Really? Clearly, we were watching different TV!

[walkingowl.livejournal.com]

I apologize, right at the top, for how I've misspoken. Rather, how I've forgotten myself in time. I never was able to look at the slash aspect of Buffy, either, and was also very put off by the fact that they were high school kids who were written to act and talk like high school kids... only after the college seasons did I start to look at the show in that way, and it is from that vantage point that I wrote that bit about their slashy dialogue. At the time I first saw it, I also did not think that way about it, and in fact it made me uneasy to see how they were linking Buffy and willow up in so many subtle ways -- forming a close-friend relationship, of course, but also it could be seen as setting up slash possibilities. This show gets even more subtext (to borrow a Xena-fandom word) as the seasons go on.

(And I just erased my own little paragraph... similar!)

Again, waht I said about the scenes with Larry came from that detached-from-time perspective. yeah, Xander was homophobic; it turned me off big time. But Larry was a good character, you have to admit. And, yes, this episode was one of the first on mainstream American TV to address such an issue without making it into a big deal.

I was writing that from the union office after a long, sensory-muddled day, with a lot on my mind... didn't say things very well, did I? Sorry!

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I never was able to look at the slash aspect of Buffy, either, and was also very put off by the fact that they were high school kids who were written to act and talk like high school kids...

I think all the young ones act younger than their age. (Compare, for example, with "Veronica Mars".) There's a style to the show... I still have trouble with the way the young females look and talk, even when I like them and like their dialogue. I deal with it by ignoring it so I try not to talk about it.

And I see no proto-slash Buffy/Willow implications.

The word 'subtext' didn't come from Xena fandom, though it got used a lot there.

[walkingowl.livejournal.com]

The word 'subtext' didn't come from Xena fandom, though it got used a lot there.

I know.

I'm with you on the "younger than their age" stuff. It all seems like some kind of pseudo-high-school from another dimension.

I keep getting the feeling that I've missed something by not having seen Veronica Mars! You speak so highly of it. The one episode I saw was good, although too realistic for me -- the man getting killed by having someone smash a baseball bat against his head, I mean. The moment the swing started, the man was dead... hate it that I know too much about injuries like that.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I'm with you on the "younger than their age" stuff. It all seems like some kind of pseudo-high-school from another dimension.

And they show flashes of maturity. The story works becuase (a) it's fantasy anyway and (b) it has a lot of internal consistency - it convinces us despite itself. Otherwise - why it was written that way, I'm not sure. Perhaps because the producers originally wanted a show for kids?

I keep getting the feeling that I've missed something by not having seen Veronica Mars!

Well, yes - ! It was a brilliant show. Especially first season, which had a tight structure. When I saw it I had no idea how much it had in common with Buffy, but it was more mature, and grounded in something much more like the real world. With its own touch of surreality, of course - Lily was a recurring character, and a ghost. It didn't have Spike, but it had Logan Echolls, whom I adored. (Not at first. Everyone hated him at first.)

I'm not sure I understand your comment about the baseball bat, but it's probably better if you don't explain. None of the violence in Veronica Mars was so graphic or gross as to bother me.

[walkingowl.livejournal.com]

OK, nix on the baseball bat from here.

You're right: Buffy was set as a fantasy, and the internal oddness of the high schoolers' behavior and language thus didn't jar so much. After a while, it became something believeable all by itself. (I've told you about the papers written about "Buffy-speak," no?) Hm. Fantasy, taking itself as fantasy. With internal consistencies. Neat.

Oh, my, yes, I see I've missed something with Veronica Mars. Now I'm going to have to acquire that on DVD too... thanks so much for another obsession-in-waiting!

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

After a while, it became something believeable all by itself.

It builds its own strange reality. Which I like. I might (and do) wish is were different in some ways, but it's fun as it is. I also think that some of the things Buffy does wrong, Firefly gets absolutely right. (Age issues, for example.)

The first season of Veronica Mars sets up an interesting murder mystery (and rape mystery) at the outset and each episode explores the mystery a little futher, while presenting a story of its own, usually based in the high school. Veronica is very like Buffy in many ways, without the Slaying, and with considerably higher intelligence. (I'm not saying that Buffy is dumb; it's more that Veronica is brilliant, and equally troubled.)