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Season 2, Episode 15
Written by Rob Des Hotel and Dean Batali
Directed by Bruce Seth Green
Original Airdate: 27 January 1998
"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. Um... Thanks. Yeah,
love to Uncle Ken."
Oz
REGULAR CAST
GUEST CAST
CO-STARRING
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Larry Bagby III as
Larry Blaisdell
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Megahn Perry as
Theresa Klusmeyer
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Keith Campbell as
Werewolf
SYNOPSIS
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Oz and Willow talk about their date the night
before at the movies. Willow continues to try and drop hints for Oz to
kiss her but he doesn't pick up on any of them. Larry, the hormone
driven jerk of the school, harasses Oz about his relationship with
Willow while she complains to Buffy about how far they haven't gotten.
Willow accidentally mentions "boyfriend" to Buffy. Buffy says that she
is holding okay without Angel, but it is still hard.
That night, Xander and Cordelia are making out in her dad's car. He
can't shut his mouth about how he can't stand Willow being with Oz.
Cordelia argues with him and finally gives up. She opts to take him
home, but suddenly a werewolf sticks his hand through the roof of her
Dad's convertible. They knock the werewolf off the car and drive away.
The next day, Buffy and Giles examine the car and prepare for another
force to fight in Sunnydale.
In gym class, the students are learning self-defence. While signing up,
Larry reveals he got thirty-nine stitches from a dog bite, and Oz
reveals that his cousin, who doesn't like to be tickled, bit him. Buffy
sticks up for a girl, Theresa, but Willow spoils her fun by reminding
her that she can't be a super-human in front of others. While pretending
to be weak, Buffy tries to flip her partner, Larry, over to the ground.
He makes the mistake of putting his hand where it isn't wanted and Buffy
flips him onto his back.
Later in the library, Giles explains the whole concept of werewolves to
Buffy, Xander, and Willow. They determine that they won't kill the
werewolf since the werewolf is still human most of the time. That night,
Giles and Buffy go searching at the local make-out spot and hunt for
werewolves. Giles suggests that they knock on a few windows but Buffy
assures him that no one has seen anything.
She wanders off to look for the werewolf but is caught in a poacher's
net. The poacher lets her down and nearly gets his head bit of by Giles
when he mistakenly suggests Buffy and Giles are a "couple". While at the
Bronze, Willow and Cordelia talk about their existent and
not-so-existent relationships. Then a werewolf comes crashing through
the ceiling and scares everyone away. Buffy and Giles get there just in
time. Buffy is locked into the Bronze and finds the werewolf. While
attempting to put a chain around his neck, she is thrown aside and the
werewolf escapes. The poacher, Gib Cain gives Buffy a lecture about how
she let him go.
Meanwhile, Angelus hunts down Theresa. He befriends her and then sucks
her dry. The werewolf finds Theresa's blood trail and encounters Angelus
when it finds the body. Angelus backs off leaving the werewolf staring
at the dead Theresa. Later that night Buffy returns to the car to hear
on the radio that Theresa was found dead. The police linked her death to
those of the recent animal maulings. Early the next morning, the
werewolf is asleep and then morphs into Oz. He wakes up naked and very
much confused. When he gets home he calls his aunt, only to find that
his cousin Jordy (the one who bit him) is a werewolf. At school Oz is
very jumpy and nervous.
In the library, Buffy and everyone talk about how they are going to
catch the werewolf. Xander tries to put himself into the werewolf's
position because he remembers everything from his hyena experience. He
comes to the conclusion that the werewolf is Larry and goes to talk to
him. Oz leaves the library and Willow coldly. Xander goes to confront
Larry about being the werewolf, but Larry reveals to Xander that he's
gay. Xander then finds himself in a very uncomfortable position after he
explained to Larry that he had been in the same situation too. Now,
Larry believes that Xander is gay.
While trying to figure out who could be the werewolf, Buffy and Willow
talk about how Willow is working alone. Afterwards, Buffy and Xander go
to check up on Theresa because of Buffy's hunch that a werewolf was not
the cause of her death. They find that a vampire killed her. While
signing the guestbook, Xander notices that Theresa is a vampire. Buffy
and Theresa fight and just before Buffy stakes her she happens to
mention that "Angel sends his love". Buffy is distracted and the stake
is kicked from her. Xander then stakes the vampire and comforts Buffy.
Cain prepares for the final night of the hunt while Giles and Buffy do
the same. Their intentions are different though. At home, Oz gets out
chains to protect him and others from his werewolf side. However, Willow
interrupts him and goes on about how he's been treating her so terribly
lately. He keeps trying to get rid of her but she refuses. Then he
changes into a werewolf and chases after her through the woods. She
stumbles and falls but the werewolf doesn't attack. He smells something
and heads into another direction. Willow rushes to Sunnydale High to
tell Giles and Buffy. They all head out to tranquilize Oz.
Cain tries to lure the werewolf to him with fresh meat. Before he gets
the chance to fire, Buffy kicks him out of the way. The werewolf attacks
Buffy and she struggles with him for several moments while Giles tries
to get a clean shot. Buffy is thrown into Giles and Willow. Then Willow
gets up and shoots Oz. The next day, Xander and Buffy discuss Larry and
Oz. Buffy notices how Larry is somewhat a changed man despite Xander's
quietness. Willow confronts Oz and they both apologize for what has been
going on. Oz offers to leave Willow alone but she says that she would
like to have him around. She walks off then turns back and kisses him.
She walks away leaving Oz to exclaim that the werewolf is in love.
TRIVIA
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Jack Conley who played Cain in this
episode, turns up as the demon Sahjhan in season three of Angel.
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When Buffy is talking to Willow and Xander
she stops and stands in front of a notice board. If you look to the
right of her shoulder then you'll see a little notice thanking all of
the Buffy fans at the official website.
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It's rumoured that Joss Whedon originally
hadn't decided whether it would be Willow or Xander who turned out to be
gay. Xander's conversation with Larry in this episode could have been a
foreshadowing for his future had Xander been gay and not Willow.
Interestingly, actor Nicholas Brendon thought Xander may have been gay,
while season three's Doppelgangland
cements Willow's future relationships with Tara and Kennedy.
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Seth Green was given a copy of the script
for 'Phases' by Joss Whedon, to persuade him to take the role of the
character of Oz. The script was to persuade him to come onboard as a
series regular. Seth said, "It had all this metaphorical stuff and gave
strong shades to the character. I said, "Yeah, I wanna be a part of
this!""
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As previously noted, Larry comes out of the
closet in this episode, despite actor Larry Bagby III's religious views.
Bagby is a Mormon, a religion that frowns on any homosexuality. Larry
becomes the first of many gay characters in the show's history,
including Willow, Kennedy, Tara and the ambiguous Andrew.
CONTINUITY
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Xander claims to be able to smell the
werewolf due to his hyena sense of smell, which happened in
The Pack. Off course he claimed to
not remember the events and Buffy picks up on the fact that he lied in
this episode.
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Oz is looking at the cheerleading statue of
Catherine Madison from Witch at the
beginning of this episode. He comments that the eyes seem to 'follow you
around.' Funnily enough, Catherine's daughter Amy appears in the next
episode.
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When Buffy blames herself for Theresa’s
death, Xander refers to two other episodes where Buffy has saved people:
I Robot, You Jane (”Willow would be
Robby the Robot’s love-slave”) and
Teacher’s Pet (”I wouldn’t even have a head”).
GOOFS
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In the scene in which Willow tells Giles
and Buffy that Oz is the werewolf, watch Giles. When he is standing
facing the right, he is wearing no glasses, but when he turns around and
faces the left he has his glasses on.
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After the climactic fight, there is an
error with the weather. In the shots of Giles in the forest, it's
raining, but in the shots with Willow and Buffy it's not.
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Giles' car gave the crew trouble in this
episode so they got some extras to actually push the car as if it was
actually working. You can see the extras through the car's rear window.
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When Buffy walks into the Bronze, the left
strap of her backpack is hanging down. When the scene cuts to her back
the strap has returned to her shoulder.
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When Willow is running away from Oz, she
trips in the woods, muddying her overalls. Yet when she enters the
library her overalls are clean.
When She Was
Bad |
Some Assembly Required |
School Hard |
Inca Mummy Girl |
Reptile Boy
Halloween |
Lie to Me |
The Dark Age |
What's My Line? (Part 1) |
What's My Line? (Part 2) |
Ted
Bad Eggs |
Surprise |
Innocence |
Phases |
Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered |
Passion
Killed by
Death |
I Only Have Eyes for You |
Go Fish |
Becoming (Part 1) |
Becoming (Part 2)
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