Buffy the Vampire Slayer: 2x15 – Phases
May. 9th, 2022 09:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jedi_of_urth posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
tori_reviewsI kind of spaced on Friday, and barely remembered tonight, but at least I did.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: 2x15 – Phases
This is sort of an odd episode for me, both in how I was remembering it and how I’m feeling coming out of seeing it again. Going in, my memory as to rating was very unsteady; in that I was pretty sure I remembered it fondly, in so far as I remembered it much at all. And I didn’t have an easy time remembering much about it, but if pressed (or reminded) I think I did remember a lot of it because a lot of this was ultimately familiar.
But the stuff I ended up liking the most was stuff that I really didn’t remember; while the stuff that I sort of thought I remembered fondly was just okay. This episode oddly put together. The main plot is fairly straightforward, but also not very strong. It involves a lot of coincidence and assumption and isn’t all that deep. Grafted onto it are two smaller plots (Angel’s machinations and Xander’s girl-confusion) that are important to the main plot is some ways but also not unified with the main plot very well. These plots are mainly there to hang character scenes on, and the character scenes are mostly good, but they’re very separate and distinct moments that are a lot of different tones.
As I’ve seen in a few prior episodes that at first glance might be called character episodes for other characters (especially Willow it seems), it’s not really about the character it looks like it’s about. In this case, one would think that was Oz, at least kind of. Oz is still in the guest cast and this is the first time we’ve spent any significant time with him as a character, but he’s not the central character. Willow is almost the central character, in that (of the main characters) her emotional arc makes the most sense as tied to the plot, but it’s still not her story.
Xander’s story is not tied to the main plot, but his scenes (especially with the rest of the Scoobies) are largely about him and where he is emotionally at this point in things. Willow could have been the focal character, but her scenes keep shifting to be about Oz or Buffy mostly.
Buffy is actually what stands at the nexus of the plots at play in this episode; and is actually the one whose emotional state reacts to the plot the most directly. In that Buffy’s guilt is kind of the emotional through-line of the episode. We don’t really see Oz struggling with the idea that he killed someone or trying to come to terms with being a werewolf in general. It kind of makes sense for his character and the order in which things happen, but Buffy is the one we see respond to the idea of what was done by the werewolf/Angel.
Cordelia is mostly wrapped up in Xander’s plot (I’m still not sure I should call it a plot, but it’s more than an offshoot). She only has a couple of scenes and is nowhere in the running for this being her episode, but I do want to acknowledge at least her scene with Willow. I kind of kept expecting there to be some comment on how they’re having this kind of conversation when they’re clearly not actually friends at this point, but that button on the scene never came.
Look, I mostly threw in mentioning Cordy so that I don’t forget her when I get on my Giles ramble. By which I mean, Buffy and Giles go to lovers’ lane and I’m pretty sure Giles is in the process of falling hard but doesn’t know it yet. I’ve said before and likely will say again, I do find pre-s3 B/G is rarely something I can get into. The squickiness then goes down pretty rapidly in s3, but largely because it’s all in the eye of the beholder rather than the show itself. It works *because* it’s non-canon; but if you read Giles as pretty much in love with her by that point (which I seem to recall I do), you also see that he’s not doing anything squicky with it. From there, if one imagines it or writes it going further, what squickiness there might be to whatever happens is on the fic instead of the canon characters.
But mainly Giles here is just carrying on the support and respect promise of last episode. The Scoobies, especially the rest of the main four, are being there for Buffy as much as they can through this and she has good scenes with Xander and Willow too. Still, like Buffy’s emotional arc being the most reflective of the story going on, Giles is the most aware of what’s bothering her in this. And he just wants to be there for her, more than they have time for sometimes.
Giles gets affronted when Cain thinks he and Buffy are a thing; but Giles also isn’t supper happy with Cain assuming they’re a father-daughter team, and only one of those things would be considered a bad-wrong for their relationship to be.
I’m mostly in agreement with the show that the person is not responsible for the actions of the werewolf they turn into. That said, I think they should have thought of tranquilizers as a go to before trying to catch it. Because in wolf form (as non-wolf as the costume is) the werewolf is a threat because the human mind isn’t in control. And the cold calculation would say that if a werewolf is running wild then it can hurt a lot of people; I don’t want to say it’s one life or many, but it could be and they should have a better plan.
Having it be Oz puts the audience on the side of the person-side being someone worth protecting even if the wolf is a threat, and it is a better piece of fiction with it being someone they know. But objectively speaking, they get to the idea of it being someone they know really quickly. Sunnydale has plenty of people in it that don’t go to Sunnydale High.
Maybe I should have remembered that this was the episode where Xander let slip that he remembered more about the hyena incident than previously admitted, but I didn’t remember that. In fairness (or further shame), I also thought the scene with Larry happened during Go Fish for some reason. There probably should have been more repercussions for Xander having been aware of what happened and lying to the rest about it, but I’m pretty sure this is the last we hear of it.
What am I shipping?
I think at this point we can all see that I’ve at least got my boarding pass for the Buffy/Giles ship.
I’m pretty nearly convinced myself that Xander is polyamorous. That or he just wants to be the guy in the middle of a harem anime (oh right, next episode is a thing); maybe the jury is still out on this one.
Willow and Oz remain cute.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: 2x15 – Phases
This is sort of an odd episode for me, both in how I was remembering it and how I’m feeling coming out of seeing it again. Going in, my memory as to rating was very unsteady; in that I was pretty sure I remembered it fondly, in so far as I remembered it much at all. And I didn’t have an easy time remembering much about it, but if pressed (or reminded) I think I did remember a lot of it because a lot of this was ultimately familiar.
But the stuff I ended up liking the most was stuff that I really didn’t remember; while the stuff that I sort of thought I remembered fondly was just okay. This episode oddly put together. The main plot is fairly straightforward, but also not very strong. It involves a lot of coincidence and assumption and isn’t all that deep. Grafted onto it are two smaller plots (Angel’s machinations and Xander’s girl-confusion) that are important to the main plot is some ways but also not unified with the main plot very well. These plots are mainly there to hang character scenes on, and the character scenes are mostly good, but they’re very separate and distinct moments that are a lot of different tones.
As I’ve seen in a few prior episodes that at first glance might be called character episodes for other characters (especially Willow it seems), it’s not really about the character it looks like it’s about. In this case, one would think that was Oz, at least kind of. Oz is still in the guest cast and this is the first time we’ve spent any significant time with him as a character, but he’s not the central character. Willow is almost the central character, in that (of the main characters) her emotional arc makes the most sense as tied to the plot, but it’s still not her story.
Xander’s story is not tied to the main plot, but his scenes (especially with the rest of the Scoobies) are largely about him and where he is emotionally at this point in things. Willow could have been the focal character, but her scenes keep shifting to be about Oz or Buffy mostly.
Buffy is actually what stands at the nexus of the plots at play in this episode; and is actually the one whose emotional state reacts to the plot the most directly. In that Buffy’s guilt is kind of the emotional through-line of the episode. We don’t really see Oz struggling with the idea that he killed someone or trying to come to terms with being a werewolf in general. It kind of makes sense for his character and the order in which things happen, but Buffy is the one we see respond to the idea of what was done by the werewolf/Angel.
Cordelia is mostly wrapped up in Xander’s plot (I’m still not sure I should call it a plot, but it’s more than an offshoot). She only has a couple of scenes and is nowhere in the running for this being her episode, but I do want to acknowledge at least her scene with Willow. I kind of kept expecting there to be some comment on how they’re having this kind of conversation when they’re clearly not actually friends at this point, but that button on the scene never came.
Look, I mostly threw in mentioning Cordy so that I don’t forget her when I get on my Giles ramble. By which I mean, Buffy and Giles go to lovers’ lane and I’m pretty sure Giles is in the process of falling hard but doesn’t know it yet. I’ve said before and likely will say again, I do find pre-s3 B/G is rarely something I can get into. The squickiness then goes down pretty rapidly in s3, but largely because it’s all in the eye of the beholder rather than the show itself. It works *because* it’s non-canon; but if you read Giles as pretty much in love with her by that point (which I seem to recall I do), you also see that he’s not doing anything squicky with it. From there, if one imagines it or writes it going further, what squickiness there might be to whatever happens is on the fic instead of the canon characters.
But mainly Giles here is just carrying on the support and respect promise of last episode. The Scoobies, especially the rest of the main four, are being there for Buffy as much as they can through this and she has good scenes with Xander and Willow too. Still, like Buffy’s emotional arc being the most reflective of the story going on, Giles is the most aware of what’s bothering her in this. And he just wants to be there for her, more than they have time for sometimes.
Giles gets affronted when Cain thinks he and Buffy are a thing; but Giles also isn’t supper happy with Cain assuming they’re a father-daughter team, and only one of those things would be considered a bad-wrong for their relationship to be.
I’m mostly in agreement with the show that the person is not responsible for the actions of the werewolf they turn into. That said, I think they should have thought of tranquilizers as a go to before trying to catch it. Because in wolf form (as non-wolf as the costume is) the werewolf is a threat because the human mind isn’t in control. And the cold calculation would say that if a werewolf is running wild then it can hurt a lot of people; I don’t want to say it’s one life or many, but it could be and they should have a better plan.
Having it be Oz puts the audience on the side of the person-side being someone worth protecting even if the wolf is a threat, and it is a better piece of fiction with it being someone they know. But objectively speaking, they get to the idea of it being someone they know really quickly. Sunnydale has plenty of people in it that don’t go to Sunnydale High.
Maybe I should have remembered that this was the episode where Xander let slip that he remembered more about the hyena incident than previously admitted, but I didn’t remember that. In fairness (or further shame), I also thought the scene with Larry happened during Go Fish for some reason. There probably should have been more repercussions for Xander having been aware of what happened and lying to the rest about it, but I’m pretty sure this is the last we hear of it.
What am I shipping?
I think at this point we can all see that I’ve at least got my boarding pass for the Buffy/Giles ship.
I’m pretty nearly convinced myself that Xander is polyamorous. That or he just wants to be the guy in the middle of a harem anime (oh right, next episode is a thing); maybe the jury is still out on this one.
Willow and Oz remain cute.
