Awww !  Oz and Willow!  *sniff*  They used to be so cute together!  Which couple do you like better, Oz / Willow, or Tara / Willow?  Discuss on the Board.

Oz stands looking in the cheerleading display case at school.  Willow shows up and asks what he's doing, and in a very nice moment harkening us back to the first season's "The Witch", he tells her that the cheerleading trophy within seems to follow you with it's eyes, wherever you go.  They discuss the movie they saw the night before, and seem to like each other, but don't really seem to make any headway in the relationship.  Willow leaves with Buffy just as Larry and his buddies surround Oz, wanting to know if she's "putting out".....they figure she must be since she's just a junior.  Cut to Buffy and Willow, and Will laments that Oz hasn't made the first move yet.  They end up talking about Xander and his "poor choice" in Cordelia.  We then see Cordelia and Xander making out in her car.....or at least TRYING to.  Xander keeps stopping and wondering what it is that Willow sees in Oz.  Suddenly a hairy arm bursts through the top of the car, and they take off, making the creature fall off the top of the car.  It was a werewolf. At school the next day, Cordelia and Xander relate their experience.  Willow points out that last night was only the night before the true full moon, and Giles determines that he needs to research that oddity (from the accepted notion that werewolves are only such once a month, on the full moon).  He seems kind of excited about it.saying that werewolves are "one of the classics".  In gym, the class is about to train a little in self defense.  Xander notices a bandage on Larry's arm, and Larry tells him that a huge dog jumped out at him last week and bit him.  Oz holds up his finger and says that he's "been there"....that his little cousin Geordie just got his grown-up teeth in, and doesn't like to be tickled!  They break up into groups after Willow warns Buffy that she needs to remember she's supposed to be "normal" and can't show her super-powers.  Buffy means to heed this advice, but throws Larry to the floor anyway when he grabs her butt. In the library, Giles tells the gang that the werewolf will, indeed, be out and about for the three consecutive nights of the full moon.  Xander mentions that they need to start cranking out the silver bullets, but Giles says no.  That whoever the werewolf is, he/she has no idea that he/she is, and shouldn't be made to suffer for it.  Buffy says that means they have to bring it back alive that night. That night, Giles and Buffy patrol the prime make-out spot in the woods, looking for signs of the werewolf.  Separating, Buffy gets caught in a net by a guy with a gun.  She calls for Giles, who comes running.  The man says his name is Caine, and he's a werewolf hunter.  He sells werewolf pelts to Sri Lanka.  He determines that the werewolf isn't in the woods, and leaves.  Elsewhere, one of the girls from Buffy's self-defense group in gym that day  - Theresa - is walking home at night.  She hears something in the bushes behind her, but runs into Angel in front of her.  He asks her if she goes to school with Buffy, and - knowing that they know someone in common - she relaxes and lets him "walk her home".  Cut to the Bronze, where Cordelia and Willow are kind of bonding over Xander's idiosynchrasies, and the problems with guys in general.  Suddenly the werewolf drops in, and everyone starts running around screaming.  Buffy and Giles show up, and Buffy enters the Bronze.  She meets up with wolfie, but it manages to escape, jumping through the same window that Buffy fell through in "Surprise", and that she knocked out behind Luke  in "The Harvest".  (Nice continuity here)  Caine shows up and berates Buffy for not killing the werewolf, saying that if it hurts anyone now, it'll be on her head. In the alley, the werewolf follows a trail of blood to Angelus, who is feeding upon Theresa.  They snarl over the body, but Angel backs down.  Back in the woods, it's almost dawn and Buffy and Giles decide to give up for the night.  Just then they hear a radio announcement about the death of Theresa.  Believing the werewolf got to her, they resolve to hunt again the next night......the last that the werewolf will be around for that month.  As the sun rises, we see the werewolf lying on the ground.and he gradually changes into Oz, who  looks around in bewilderment.  Back home, he calls his aunt, and asks if his little nephew is a werewolf.  He goes to school, and appears to be struggling with this newfound development.  Entering the library, he finds out the developments of the night before, including the death of Theresa.  Xander tries to "get inside the mind of the werewolf", as he himself was once a hyena ("The Pack", season 1), and thinks that Larry must be their man.  He heads off to "force a confession out of him".  Willow tries to get Oz to come over that night so they can research this together, but he says he's got plans, and runs out.  In the locker room, Xander confronts Larry....saying he knows what he's been doing, and hiding.......that he knows his secret, and can help because he's been there.  Larry breaks down and confesses that he's gay.  Xander is surprised, but now knows that Larry is not the werewolf.  Back in the library, Willow tells Buffy her insecurities with Oz, and Buffy tells her that maybe she should make the first move.  Xander joins Buffy just as Willow leaves, and tells her Larry's not the werewolf.  Buffy suddenly realizes that they have no evidence that Theresa's death was linked to the Werewolf, so they go to the funeral home to look at her body, and discover that she was killed by a vampire......when she suddenly turns into one.  Buffy's just about to stake her when Theresa says "Angel sends his love", throwing Buffy off guard.  Eventually, Xander stakes her, and holds Buffy as she realizes that Theresa's death is in some ways due to her.  At Oz's house, Oz starts putting manacles on his wrists, but is interrupted by Willow banging on the door.  She barges in and basically asks him what is going on with him.  He tries to get her to leave, but she won't go, and discovers the chains and stuff.  Suddenly Oz starts to change, and he begs Willow to leave.   He falls to the floor, and Willow witnesses his transformation.  The werewolf jumps up and chases her out of the house.  Buffy finds Giles at the library and tells him Theresa was a vampire.  Meanwhile, Oz hunts Willow through the wilderness, but when she falls to the ground, the werewolf smells some bait that Caine has left out for him.  While Willow goes and tells Giles and Willow what's going on, Caine prepares to shoot the werewolf.  Buffy shows up and puts Caine down for the count, and Willow ends up shooting the werewolf with the tranquilizer gun that Giles brought.  At school the next day, Larry comes up and thanks Xander for his help, and Xander commiserates with Buffy about the weirdness of Willow and Oz having a relationship now that he's a werewolf.  Outside, Willow finds Oz sitting on a park bench.  Oz says that Giles told him this is a permanent thing, for three days each month.  Willow apologizes for shooting him, and Oz apologizes for almost eating Willow.  Oz says that if Willow wants him to just kind of stay out of her way for awhile, because this werewolf thing is a complication, he would understand.  Willow tells him that she likes him, and basically that his being a werewolf is not enough to make her not want to be with him.  She kisses him, and leaves.  Oz stares after her with a cute look on his face, and says "a werewolf in love..", smiles, and walks away. FLAWS:       Not really a flaw......just a confusion, really.  What's up with the whole Geordie thing, anyway? I mean, they never really explain at all how this little kid got to be a werewolf, or anything.  Oh well. THOUGHTS ON THE EPISODE:       I really liked this one.  Oz totally rocks, at this point.  It was also a very cute scene at the end where Willow tells Oz that she's still interested in him. BEST LINE:       Giles (about the werewolf):  "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 conclusions." Buffy:  "I didn't jump! I took a tiny step, and there conclusions were."

"Phases"

Awww !  Oz and Willow!  *sniff*  They used to be so cute together!  Which couple do you like better, Oz / Willow, or Tara / Willow?  Discuss on the Board.