S04.E06: Wild at Heart

[Joe Hellandback]

Wild at Heart

The Good; If you have tears in your heart please prepare to shed them now, terrific performances from AH and SG. Spike is also fantastic.

The Bad; The werewolf makeup hasn't any got any better.

Best line; Willow; "Oz don't you love me?" Oz; "My whole life I've never loved anything else"

Character death; Buffy nails another vamp. Oz kills Veruca

Shot; Oz tranqulised again whilst Spike get's zapped.

Tied up; No but Oz and Veruca have cage sex.

Knocked out; Oz and Spike although

Spoiler

he's not a Scooby for another couple of seasons.

Women good/men bad; Actually here we actually have 2 females fighting over their man. Note Willow can't go through with her spell. Willow asks Xander for some advice from the Y side of things but may regret it as he defines love as either 'Wild-monkey-love' or 'Tender-Sarah Machachlan love' (who provides some of the music for the series).

Kinky dinky; Werewolf sex! Plenty of backscratching there! Veruca even says 'I like it rough'. Also Veruca parading around in a black lace bra and Willow attempting to dress more rock chick. Xander's mum won't let him put a lock on the door in case he starts having 'The sex'. Too late! Even Giles considers Veruca 'Quite striking' as indeed does Xander to judge by his expression. Xander thinks there are only 7 minutes a year where a guy isn't thinking about sex. Buffy is sure that Oz is 'flogging and punishing himself'. Oz blushes behind the ears when he's attracted to someone.

Calling Captain Subtext; The scene with the speaker discussion is so laden with subtext, it might as well be Jane Austen, Willow feeling she's being frozen out. Buffy later tells Willow she loves her.

Spoiler

Where's Dawn? You wonder what Dawn's attitude to Oz was? To judge by the comics she loved him too
 

Questions and observations; Goodbye to Oz as a regular character which is a shame as he was terrific, he's sorely missed. But it does leave

Spoiler

room for Tara. Oddly Prof Walsh doesn't recognise werewolves when she sees them. All the Scoobies at one time or another have walked in on their beloved whilst they were cheating except for Giles who walked in on Jenny when she was dead

. Buffy seems to be doing well in class, once again she's more than some superpowered bimbo. Is the stuff in Xander's basement salvaged from the vamp's house from 'The Freshman'?  Giles' watches gameshows rather than PBS.. Buffy has often been accused of constantly falling for diversionary tactics but here she figures out Veruca's ruse.

Marks out of 10; 8/10

[illdoc]

BTW, was that a typo or deliberate (the title of this thread says "Wild at HEAT (lost the R)")???

[Joe Hellandback]

24 minutes ago, illdoc said:

BTW, was that a typo or deliberate (the title of this thread says "Wild at HEAT (lost the R)")???

Oh bugger, I'll fix it. 

[illdoc]

47 minutes ago, Joe Hellandback said:

1 hour ago, illdoc said:

BTW, was that a typo or deliberate (the title of this thread says "Wild at HEAT (lost the R)")???

Oh bugger, I'll fix it. 

Works either way :)

[Spartan Girl]

Oz really disappointed me. His character assassination was painful to watch.

But I did love Buffy's death stare at him, and how she coldly cut off whatever mealy-mouthed excuse he tried to use to gain her sympathy.

[Joe Hellandback]

On ‎02‎/‎08‎/‎2018 at 10:19 PM, Spartan Girl said:

Oz really disappointed me. His character assassination was painful to watch.

But I did love Buffy's death stare at him, and how she coldly cut off whatever mealy-mouthed excuse he tried to use to gain her sympathy.

I didn't think it was character assassination, Verucca had a literally animalistic allure for him which he couldn't resist much as he wanted to. Buffy's reaction is interesting, she never cheats on her partner (unless you 'count' Dracula) whilst Willow and Xander do.  

[Spartan Girl]

5 hours ago, Joe Hellandback said:

I didn't think it was character assassination, Verucca had a literally animalistic allure for him which he couldn't resist much as he wanted to. Buffy's reaction is interesting, she never cheats on her partner (unless you 'count' Dracula) whilst Willow and Xander do.  

But as Willow pointed out, he could have chosen to inform the others about her to begin with. Instead his solution was to lock himself in a cage with her.

And it wasn't so much the cheating as his behavior following it. His excuses that "he had no choice" and that he "couldn't control himself" were the lines of every cheater caught with his pants down. And bringing up Willow's past transgression with Xander?! That was low.

Not to mention that when all was said and done, his solution was to leave Willow instead of staying and trying to work things out. Yes, he said that he needed to come to terms with his wolf side, but seriously bad timing.

[Joe Hellandback]

17 hours ago, Spartan Girl said:

But as Willow pointed out, he could have chosen to inform the others about her to begin with. Instead his solution was to lock himself in a cage with her.

And it wasn't so much the cheating as his behavior following it. His excuses that "he had no choice" and that he "couldn't control himself" were the lines of every cheater caught with his pants down. And bringing up Willow's past transgression with Xander?! That was low.

Not to mention that when all was said and done, his solution was to leave Willow instead of staying and trying to work things out. Yes, he said that he needed to come to terms with his wolf side, but seriously bad timing.

You're quite right, he should have told her but I feel his animal attraction to her was as irresistible as Xander and Willow's soul mate longing for one another, I feel Willow writes off her cheating with Xander a little glibly in their conversation, he forgave her and I think she forgives him too but it's wrong for her to imply there's no comparison. 

 As for leaving (one thinks of Harmony asking Xander why men just leave) you have to think that this is something he needs to work out for himself and is always scared that he might hurt her? 

[Spartan Girl]

31 minutes ago, Joe Hellandback said:

You're quite right, he should have told her but I feel his animal attraction to her was as irresistible as Xander and Willow's soul mate longing for one another, I feel Willow writes off her cheating with Xander a little glibly in their conversation, he forgave her and I think she forgives him too but it's wrong for her to imply there's no comparison. 

 As for leaving (one thinks of Harmony asking Xander why men just leave) you have to think that this is something he needs to work out for himself and is always scared that he might hurt her? 

Xander and Willow just made out, they didn't have sex. Oz and Veruca fucked. So no, there was no comparison. And forgiving someone for cheating doesn't mean you save it for a trump card to defend your own cheating. Even if Oz didn't mean it that way, it was still a bad move.

[Joe Hellandback]

21 hours ago, Spartan Girl said:

Xander and Willow just made out, they didn't have sex. Oz and Veruca fucked. So no, there was no comparison. And forgiving someone for cheating doesn't mean you save it for a trump card to defend your own cheating. Even if Oz didn't mean it that way, it was still a bad move.

Xander and Willow didn't have sex...yet, it was the sentiment rather than the physical act. With them it was love, with Oz and Verruca irresistible animal attraction. I agree bringing it up wasn't the best idea for Oz but in those circumstances he was pretty desperate and I think anyone would have done the same. 

[Joe Hellandback]

21 minutes ago, nosleepforme said:

I don't think it was character assassination, he was still the same character that he was before. He made a mistake in how he handled his (sexual) attraction to Veruca, but I generally feel like this story could actually happen even to a character who is as loyal to his girlfriend as Oz. People do mistakes all the same and I don't think Oz's love for Willow was ever in question. 

 

I thinK New Moon Rising does a bit of character assassination to him, but this episode is pretty much in line with the Oz we know, even as it shows him struggle between his love for Willow and his sexual desires, something that IMO is easy to relate to.

No, I actually think NMR was a great ep and very credible for both Willow and Oz but we'll discuss that then. 

[Spartan Girl]

1 hour ago, nosleepforme said:

I don't think it was character assassination, he was still the same character that he was before. He made a mistake in how he handled his (sexual) attraction to Veruca, but I generally feel like this story could actually happen even to a character who is as loyal to his girlfriend as Oz. People do mistakes all the same and I don't think Oz's love for Willow was ever in question. 

 

I thinK New Moon Rising does a bit of character assassination to him, but this episode is pretty much in line with the Oz we know, even as it shows him struggle between his love for Willow and his sexual desires, something that IMO is easy to relate to.

Oh no, I never doubted that he loved Willow. But that doesn't mitigate what he did. He loved Willow, but as Willow stated, he wanted/lusted after Veruca -- more than he ever did with Willow. And that's what really broke her heart.

[lembergwatcher]

With all due respect to Willow/Oz shippers, but this episode IMHO shows why their relationship was doomed from the very beginning. For me it's pretty hard to disagree with the whole "you're a wolf all the time and this human face is just your disguise" statement coming from werewolf groupie's mouth.

W/X can be seen one-on-one (onscreen) probably first time since The Zeppo. "Guy friend that knows about girl stuff" meets "a translator from the "y" side of things"... Quite a lovely piece IMO.

Then again this moment from Buffy/Oz dialogue.
 

Quote

Buffy : You know, I find wolf number two out on patrol tonight, and you might have a roomie in there.

Did it ever occur to Buffy that the wolf # 2 might be a female? Did she ever think 'bout Willow's possible reaction after finding her boyfriend locked up in a cage with another gal the next morning? Nice job, Buffy. Though most in the fandom will find it disputable, what if Buffy's "two wolves - one cage" idea was something that led indirectly to the whole Oz-Veruca deal the way it happened?.. JMO.

[Joe Hellandback]

On ‎07‎/‎08‎/‎2018 at 11:27 AM, Spartan Girl said:

Oh no, I never doubted that he loved Willow. But that doesn't mitigate what he did. He loved Willow, but as Willow stated, he wanted/lusted after Veruca -- more than he ever did with Willow. And that's what really broke her heart.

But you can't blame him, Verucca was as irresistible to him as changing into a wolf on the full moon. 

On ‎19‎/‎08‎/‎2018 at 1:45 PM, lembergwatcher said:

With all due respect to Willow/Oz shippers, but this episode IMHO shows why their relationship was doomed from the very beginning. For me it's pretty hard to disagree with the whole "you're a wolf all the time and this human face is just your disguise" statement coming from werewolf groupie's mouth.

W/X can be seen one-on-one (onscreen) probably first time since The Zeppo. "Guy friend that knows about girl stuff" meets "a translator from the "y" side of things"... Quite a lovely piece IMO.

Then again this moment from Buffy/Oz dialogue.
 

Did it ever occur to Buffy that the wolf # 2 might be a female? Did she ever think 'bout Willow's possible reaction after finding her boyfriend locked up in a cage with another gal the next morning? Nice job, Buffy. Though most in the fandom will find it disputable, what if Buffy's "two wolves - one cage" idea was something that led indirectly to the whole Oz-Veruca deal the way it happened?.. JMO.

I don't think it did and I still hold out hope for Xillow, they belong together (and we'll talk about Grave when we get there)

[lembergwatcher]

Ironically, it was Oz-centric episode, where I could finally see my favorite couple in bed together!

[Joe Hellandback]

On ‎01‎/‎09‎/‎2018 at 1:02 PM, lembergwatcher said:

Ironically, it was Oz-centric episode, where I could finally see my favorite couple in bed together!

Yeah, when things get tough they're always there for one another. 

[Halting Hex]

Hey, is Xander checking out the want ads?  Maybe there's a new strip club that needs someone with X-perience.

One of a trillion things that gets me pissed at this episode (and Oz in it) is that he doesn't go tell Buffy about Veruca.  I mean, Buffy's entire reason for existing is to stop dangerous creatures…how dare Oz put civilians at risk because he wants more wolf-pussy!  The first night is forgivable; he didn't know Veruca was a werewolf, okay.  (Although where his stupid SuperNose was this time, let's not ask…)

But now he knows, and he's lying and hiding her just so he can fuck her in the interest of public safety or whatever.  And, had Willow not caught them, he would have done it again on night #3. Wonderful.

Plus, how does he not expect Willow to come catch him?  I mean, it's Willow, of course she's going to bring him breakfast; he knows that.  I grant you, he somehow managed to skip out on an entire semester of summer school without her knowing (and I still call bullshit on that), but even so.

Makes me wonder if the whole fandango was some sort of passive-aggressive crap designed so Willow could catch him and he could "pay her back" for the fluke.  I mean, I'd like to think not, but this episode shows us an Oz who's so awful that it IMO retroactively damages the character as a whole.  So even if I'd argue that the Wolf-Boy we generally see is not an Angelus-esque mastermind trying to give Willow her own "was I not good?" moment, this episode actually makes me wonder about it.

After all,

Spoiler

as Robin Wood will say years later, "once you see something, you can't unsee it." (Which, ironically enough, applies equally well to Robin's own suck-hole of a season, but I digress.)

[Joe Hellandback]

3 hours ago, Halting Hex said:

Hey, is Xander checking out the want ads?  Maybe there's a new strip club that needs someone with X-perience.

One of a trillion things that gets me pissed at this episode (and Oz in it) is that he doesn't go tell Buffy about Veruca.  I mean, Buffy's entire reason for existing is to stop dangerous creatures…how dare Oz put civilians at risk because he wants more wolf-pussy!  The first night is forgivable; he didn't know Veruca was a werewolf, okay.  (Although where his stupid SuperNose was this time, let's not ask…)

But now he knows, and he's lying and hiding her just so he can fuck her in the interest of public safety or whatever.  And, had Willow not caught them, he would have done it again on night #3. Wonderful.

Plus, how does he not expect Willow to come catch him?  I mean, it's Willow, of course she's going to bring him breakfast; he knows that.  I grant you, he somehow managed to skip out on an entire semester of summer school without her knowing (and I still call bullshit on that), but even so.

Makes me wonder if the whole fandango was some sort of passive-aggressive crap designed so Willow could catch him and he could "pay her back" for the fluke.  I mean, I'd like to think not, but this episode shows us an Oz who's so awful that it IMO retroactively damages the character as a whole.  So even if I'd argue that the Wolf-Boy we generally see is not an Angelus-esque mastermind trying to give Willow her own "was I not good?" moment, this episode actually makes me wonder about it.

After all,

  Hide contents

as Robin Wood will say years later, "once you see something, you can't unsee it." (Which, ironically enough, applies equally well to Robin's own suck-hole of a season, but I digress.)

Do you know that? He locks her up to keep people safe. Okay maybe that was just an excuse on his part. Plus telling Buffy is tantamount to telling Willow, you know what her reaction will be. We don't know what Oz was going to do really. And he wasn't thinking, that was the whole point. 

[Halting Hex]

So my unspoiled podcaster is complaining that Maggie and Riley are extraneous, they keep popping up in the episodes and don't do anything.  And his spoiled partner reminded him that Riley does do something in the episode; he saves Willow when she wanders out into the traffic.

And his response is along the lines of "yeah, but that could have been anyone with a SAG card who just happened to be on set that day;  I don't see any reason it had to be Riley, specifically.  I mean, it could have been Parker."  Which led the other podcaster into imagining the horror show that would been:  Buffy hates Parker, but Parker saved her bff, so…maybe she loves him again, after all?

In other words,

Spoiler

kind of like a test run for "Spike protects Dawn, I'm so grateful, yada-yada-yada".  Hmm, Boophead 2.0, return of the Poophead is looking pretty good by comparison, I suppose.

[Joe Hellandback]

8 hours ago, Halting Hex said:

So my unspoiled podcaster is complaining that Maggie and Riley are extraneous, they keep popping up in the episodes and don't do anything.  And his spoiled partner reminded him that Riley does do something in the episode; he saves Willow when she wanders out into the traffic.

And his response is along the lines of "yeah, but that could have been anyone with a SAG card who just happened to be on set that day;  I don't see any reason it had to be Riley, specifically.  I mean, it could have been Parker."  Which led the other podcaster into imagining the horror show that would been:  Buffy hates Parker, but Parker saved her bff, so…maybe she loves him again, after all?

In other words,

  Hide contents

kind of like a test run for "Spike protects Dawn, I'm so grateful, yada-yada-yada".  Hmm, Boophead 2.0, return of the Poophead is looking pretty good by comparison, I suppose.

I would have liked that, it's too easy to have characters all bad or all good you should have had layers for everyone, look at how Parker tries to save Willow when the cavemen break in? One of the things I liked about Buffy Wes was he's established as this stuffed shirt who's there to just get in the way but then he saves CC.

[lembergwatcher]

Had the pleasure of rewatching the ep recently with an evil grin on my face. Oz getting in his minivan and leaving the town will probably remain my favorite Oz scene in the series.

[Joe Hellandback]

8 hours ago, lembergwatcher said:

Had the pleasure of rewatching the ep recently with an evil grin on my face. Oz getting in his minivan and leaving the town will probably remain my favorite Oz scene in the series.

Really because it makes me cry! Just watching an old ep Hercules and what do you know, Paige Moss as Oedipus' daughter. 

[lembergwatcher]

Did I say I despise Willoz?

Quote

Willow : (Walks in.) Hello.

Oz : Hi.

Willow : What are you doing?

Oz : I'm going.

Willow : Now?

Oz : Mm-hmm.

He zips the suitcase.

Willow : That's your solution?

Oz : That's my decision.

Willow : Don't I get any say in this?

Oz : No. Veruca was right about something. The wolf is inside me all the time, and I don't know where that line is anymore between me and it. And until I figure out what that means, I shouldn't be around you... Or anybody.

Willow : (Crying.) Well, that could be a problem 'cause people... Kind of a planetary epidemic.

Oz : I'll find someplace.

Willow : Well, how long?

Oz : I don't know.

Willow : Oz... Don't you love me?

Oz : (Holding her pressing his forehead to hers as she sobs.) My whole life... I've never loved anything else.

Willow : Oz... Oh, god. Oz...

Willow is left standing crying. Oz walks out and puts his bag in his van. He gets in and starts the van. He pauses then cuts the engine. Then he starts the van again and drives away.

Willow spends weeks groveling for Oz's forgiveness despite committing a lesser "offence".  Everybody's favorite Oz for his part isn't bothered with winning back Willow's forgiveness, he just leaves with his tail between his legs. Furthermore it's Willow who comes to her boyfriend's room... for what? Begging him to stay?  "Don't you love me"??? Why does Willow have to ask these stupid questions? No, of course, Oz doesn't love you, Willow. He's a dick, Am I the only one who sees this? 
So how about some respect for the second most important Buffyverse character, dear writers? Because the whole teary goodbye scene gives the impression that Willow is the guilty party who has to (once again) beg the Werewolf Almighty for forgiveness for the crime she didn't commit. Disgusting.

[Halting Hex]

But, but…public safety!  He HAS to get out of town right away, because werewolf, right?

Huh, what's that you say?  The wolf-moon is over for this month, there's another 28 days or so until he gets hairy again?  And there's no reason why he couldn't spend, say, two weeks that time making things right with Willow, coming up with a better "apology" than "oh, yeah? Well, I remember how I felt when I caught you with Xander!", building a better cage, and maybe planning his and Willow's future decisions together.

No reason except this, I guess…

Quote

WILLOW : Don't I get any say in this?

OZ : No.

Smell ya later, dick.

Edited January 27, 2019 by Halting Hex

[lembergwatcher]

I can only imagine the way naked Oz and Veruca managed to sneak into the campus laundry room in broad daylight without anyone else noticing. Shouldn't there be some gossiping all over the place even before Willow decided to pay her post-wolfy boyfriend a morning visit?

Btw, speaking of Lines You'll Never Hear on BtVS or whatever. I have always wanted that famous W/O dialogue to go a little like this:

Quote

Willow : I knew, you jerk. And you sat there, and you told me everything was fine? And that's as bad as... As... (Now crying.)

Oz : I know how it feels. I remember.

Willow : Oh. So what, this is payback? I had this coming?

Oz : No. It's not--

Willow : Because I thought that was behind us. And you know, what happened with Xander, it doesn't compare. Not with what you and I had. A-although Xander was m-much better kisser than you, you dick!

Really, why couldn't she just say something like that?? 

[Halting Hex]

Hehe, nice.  Although to be fair, it's cousin Jordy's fault Oz's kisses have to be so chaste, no sexy lip-biting or anything like that.  He probably can't even risk giving Willow a proper hickey.

[lembergwatcher]

Did Buffy leave her brains at high school? Apparently, yes.

Her idea of Were!Oz having a roomie in his cage was not only plain stupid but a disaster in the making. Even if she intended to keep both wolves sedated I don't think Willow would've been too excited seeing Oz caged with some naked girl or guy the next morning.

It didn't even occur to Buffy that leaving Willow alone in her dorm room before going after Veruca wasn't her smartest decision. Even if Willow decided against doing some dark magic in the chem lab, it would've been better for her to spend some time having company. Was it really so hard to dial, say, Xander's (or Giles') number and ask him to come, Buff?

[Halting Hex]

On 8/19/2018 at 8:45 AM, lembergwatcher said:

Did it ever occur to Buffy that the wolf # 2 might be a female?

Did it ever occur to Buffy that, what with being naked and hyperactive and going all lunatic because it's "that time of the month", Wolf!Oz might not particularly care about any new cage-mate's gender?  Why should she be so sure that Highly Hormonal Hairyfolk are all scrupulous about societal norms, exactly?

I grant you, the sort of hypothetical Wolf-Boy-on-Wolf-Boy action that Buffy fails to consider might be doubly taboo (combining the "thou shalt not lie with another man as with woman" prohibition with the "Dude, animals? Really???" one), but I doubt the local lycanthropes are particularly devout about following the Laws of Leviticus.  (Although there's probably good material for a fanfic if they were…)  Two men in the same room, at their most primal, and it might not only be the moon that sets them a-howling.  I'm just saying…

[lembergwatcher]

53 minutes ago, Halting Hex said:

Two men in the same room, at their most primal, and it might not only be the moon that sets them a-howling.  I'm just saying…

Yes. Some cheating is guaranteed one way or another. Or worse. I don't think Willow would be particularly happy to find her precious boyfriend with his throat torn out the next morning.

[Halting Hex]

Oz has a Cibo Matto sticker on the wall of his dorm room.  So…was he at the Bronze during When She Was Bad?  (We don't meet him until three episodes after that, but clearly he's been enrolled all year.)  Did he see Buffy do the Bitch of the Year dance with Xander?  Huh.

*********************

So, wait, Oz's brilliant plan is to lock himself in a cage with Veruca?  The same cage that couldn't keep Oz himself contained the previous night?  I mean it's nice he can do a few spots of spot-welding during the day, but does he really think that he can more than double the cage's impact-resistance in one day?  Without testing it?  Sheesh.

I guess he could just be counting on the power of were-dong to keep Veruca pacified, but eh.  And even if he's right about that, this means that he was explicitly planning more sex with Veruca all day.  Gross, dude.

*********************

Speaking of Oz's cage, since when is Oz living in a crypt at the cemetery?  Are cemeteries just renting out space these days?  Or is he squatting?  That seems dicey; even if they don't find Oz himself naked and caged, just the presence of the cage itself would give the show away.  It would be pretty sucky if Oz went back to the crypt next month and found that the cemetery had dismantled his cage and sold it for scrap.

OTOH, if the cemetery is in the rental business nowadays, maybe Oz could help Xander find a place nearby?  Nice and airy, no intrusive parents upstairs, no smell of laundry.  I mean, Xan's already on a rent strike, perhaps it's time for a change.

*********************

Gotta love how Oz and Veruca's clothing completely vanishes when they wolf out.  No scraps, no nothing, just poof!

I mean, even the Hulk keeps his purple pants.

Edited July 27, 2021 by Halting Hex

[lembergwatcher]

18 hours ago, Halting Hex said:

Oz has a Cibo Matto sticker on the wall of his dorm room.  So…was he at the Bronze during When She Was Bad?

Not necessarily. But as a devoted fan he should've been there (at the Bronze).

 

19 hours ago, Halting Hex said:

So, wait, Oz's brilliant plan is to lock himself in a cage with Veruca?  The same cage that couldn't keep Oz himself contained the previous night?

Even if the cage could keep both Oz and Veruca contained, putting two werewolves in one cage wasn't the brightest idea. Chances were they could've either get out and hurt some innocent people or stay inside and hurt each other.

 

19 hours ago, Halting Hex said:

Speaking of Oz's cage, since when is Oz living in a crypt at the cemetery?

Oz lived in a crypt at the cemetery

Spoiler

before Spike made it cool.

 

[Halting Hex]

4 hours ago, lembergwatcher said:

putting two werewolves in one cage wasn't the brightest idea.

Not to mention that People for the Ethical Treatment of Werewolves would probably be all over Oz's ass.  Overcrowding kills, people!

(What's that, you say?  Cain was being sarcastic?  That activist group doesn't really exist? Huh.

And also, this being Sunnydale/the Buffyverse and all, don't be so sure…)

[Halting Hex]

Reaction from Domi E:

Quote

Professor Walsh is walking, hears growling

DOMI: Oz, please don't eat her!

Spoiler

Ehhh, actually, wouldn't really change much.

Quote

Oz pulls Veruca into the cage.  They kiss, falling to the ground.  Their hands clasp as they transform into wolves.

Blackout.

DOMI (a devoted Willoz fan):  Oz, I fucking hate you right now.

ME:  Wait three seconds…

Domi also calls Oz playing "innocent" when Sexy Shirt Willow apologizes for making the lunch with Veruca (earlier in Act 2) awkward "gaslighting".  And of course it is, in the classic sense.  

I've condemned him for lying to Willow before, but really, this is straight out of the Charles Laughton Gaslight playbook;  he's making Willow think she's being irrational, that it's all in her head.

Quote

WILLOW: Oh?  Good.  Guess it was just me worrying for nothing…again.  Me and my "busy head", always thinking, thinking, thinking…

And here I flashed back to Xander telling Willow (in Lie to Me) that she had "too many thoughts".  And I started cringing from the patriarchy on display…men find Willow having thoughts of her own odd/strange/annoying.  Her intellectual curiosity is not to be treasured, it's something to "deal with".

Yes, Xander's just trying to get out of an unimportant diversionary topic (do sore thumbs really stick out?) and Oz, when he first says "busy brain" after Willow sleep talks, is allegedly adoring her.  But…it's still triggering.  Giles doesn't get patronized for thinking, after all.  (He might get dinged for dithering, as Buffy does in I Robot, You Jane, but we never get the "Giles thinks, what's up with that?" sense I get here.)  I'm sure it wasn't intended, but it still comes off as 1999 being 1999, as it were.

******************************

Quote

VERUCA:  I sensed you.  Did you sense me?

OZ:  Get in the cage.
VERUCA:  Did you?

Oz pulls her into the cage.  They kiss, falling to the ground.

And here I got the strangest feeling…I felt sorry for Veruca.  She's so lonely.  She's come to believe that her wolf is her true nature, and she can't share that with anyone.  (And wolves are pack animals, you'll recall.)  And when she finally does find someone who can understand her, the mate she's been hungering (pun!) for, he's in denial, locking himself in a cage and pretending his wolf just goes away with the moon.

Mind you, none of this excuses that Veruca is an amoral psychopath who doesn't care who she kills and who tries to kill Willow.  Or that she has mediocre tattoos, shitty fashion sense and the worst "stage presence" I've ever seen.  (Seriously, how is Giles praising her?  Did he scarf down a plate of 'shrooms en route to the Bronze?)  Willow had it nailed last episode:  "Voice like an albatross, dresses like Faith."  Blecch.

But still…I felt for her.  And then I realized…she doesn't have to be alone, since you can make more werewolves.  It's not like vampirism and that "they have to suck your blood, you have to suck their blood…it's a whole big sucking thing" complicated process.  Just one bite, and you're good to howl.

I mean, if freaking Cousin Jordy can turn Oz into a furball, anybody can.  So any loneliness Veruca was feeling was her own damn fault. 

Way to go, dummy.  That's how you get yourself killed.  Good riddance.

Edited October 4, 2021 by Halting Hex

[illdoc]

15 hours ago, Halting Hex said:

So any loneliness Veruca was feeling was her own damn fault. 

Way to go, dummy.  That's how you get yourself killed.  Good riddance.

Seriously! Why doesn't she just turn her bandmates? No awkward "no I can't do the gig this Friday. I'm ... washing my hair that night" (or whatever excuse Oz uses). The whole band would be wolfed out.