Buffy for Beginners 4.19: New Moon Rising

By Sabrina Boyer
So Oz is back. But the thing is, Willow’s kinda gay now. She and Tara are even thinking about getting a cat together and naming it Ms. Kitty Fantastico or Trixy. Tara even wants her dorm room to be Willow-friendly. Tara’s even going to the Scoobie meetings. And when she’s there, Oz shows up in the extremely monosyllabic way that he does with “Hey” and things get awkward. Awkward, really, because of Tara. He wants to talk and Willow is understandably thrown. The rest of the Scoobies are thrown as well, wondering why he’s back. Anya, in the way that she does, make it obvious that everyone’s uncomfortable now. Tara is clearly so, and makes an excuse about a study group. Oh this is difficult.

Later that night on patrol, Buffy fills Riley in on the devastation of their break-up and that Oz is a werewolf. Riley didn’t think Willow was “that kind of girl” and Buffy accuses him of being a bigot. Riley simply argues that “it’s a little hard to date someone who tries to eat you once a month.” True. But love isn’t logical, and it’s clear that Buffy’s working through some residual Angel issues. Riley doesn’t know about Angel just yet. Meanwhile Oz shows up at Willow’s dorm all smiley and they talk all night. It seems that Oz has found the ability to control his werewolf transformation through some herbs, charms and deep soul searching in Tibet. And then Oz inquire about Willow not having a “new guy.” Nope. No new guy. New girl. Oz tells her that he can be what she needs now; that’s what he wants and that’s why he’s here. But as they talk, Riley’s commando peeps run in to some other werewolfy monster while out hunting and Graham gets attacked. Willow and Oz are still talking in the morning, and plan to go get breakfast. As Willow goes to freshen up, Tara comes by, sees Oz, and bails.

At a more hostile bed across campus, Buffy and Riley have the black and white vs grey conversation; Riley’s of the people good, demons bad persuasion while Buffy argues that there are different degrees of evil. In the middle of the conversation, Forest lets Riley know that the team got hit and Graham got hurt. “What kind of demon was it?” Buffy asks. “Does it matter?” Riley responds.

As Buffy heads back to the dorm, she and Willow discuss the whoo, the hoo, and the uh oh of Oz’s return. “It’s complicated,” Willow says. “Because of Tara.” Of course, Buffy goes all heteronormative and freaks for a second and keeps saying her name all weirdly. But in the end, Buffy chills and gives Willow some good advice: be honest. So much easier said than done. Willow goes to see Tara to try and explain things, and tells Tara that life was getting good and she’s a big part of that. Later, Oz smells Willow and actually, it’s Tara, wearing Willow’s sweater. “You smell like her. She’s all over you, do you know that?” And then Oz turns, during the day, because of his anger. It looks like he’s not completely in control over his transformation when he gets angry; the initiative guys tranquilize him as Oz chases after Tara. They mistake him for the demon that attacked Graham and later changes back right before Riley almost shoots him.

As the Scoobies try to figure out how to get Oz out, Spike shows up to give advice on how to get in the initiative. Riley tries to help Oz escape and gets in trouble with the army types. It seems his previous viewpoint of “demons bad people good” has been challenged. As the scoobies head in to save Oz, Giles and Anya shut down the grid and Anya so adorably says, “slap my hand now!” as a gesture of success. Buffy frees Riley and takes commando chief hostage; Riley recognizes that he can’t ever go back if he leaves the Initiative this way. They get out; but Riley tells his Commander that he’s an anarchist and punches his lights out. Now he has to stay out of sight so camps in the old burned down high school.

As he gets settled, Buffy realizes that she needs to tell him about Angel. About her past. As they discuss, Oz and Willow talk in his van about what will happen next: as it turns out, the one thing that brings out the wolf in Oz is Willow. It’s obvious; they can’t be together. Willow’s happy. They agree that they will always be a part of each other. Oz decides to take off, pretty much now.

Willow goes to see Tara with a candle that’s extra flamey. Willow has to be with the person she loves. That’s Tara.

About Sabrina Boyer: As a kid my dad would sneak scary movies past my mom and let me indulge in his horror movie fetish. I grew up watching V, Alien Nation, The Thing, The Fog (all originals) and then, in 1992 when Buffy the movie came out, I became obsessed with vampires, girl power, and all things gothic. I once stayed home from school, faked sick, and watched BTVS: the movie 6 times in a row. I know the beginning cheerleading dance by heart (still). Currently, I’m obsessing over Laurell K. Hamilton novels, and dream about Anita Blake being my best friend.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Current TV Series Romances: My Favorites (beliefnet.com)
• Joss Whedon Talks To MTV About The ‘Twilight’ Reveal In The ‘Buffy’ Comics (pinkisthenewblog.com)
• PREVIEW: Jane Espenson Returns To ‘Buffy The Vampire Slayer: Season Eight’ For Riley One-Shot! (splashpage.mtv.com)

Related Stuff: