“Werewolves! It’s one of the classics!”
Inevitably, we get a somewhat light-hearted episode after all the recent heaviness. But there’s still an awful lot of arc and character stuff going on. Plus, it’s the inevitable werewolf episode.
I’ve commented before about the series of apparent tributes to classic Universal Horror movies which I happen to have seen recently. Of course, they’re also referring to the obvious novels / tropes, but it’s amusing to look for similarities between Out of Mind, Out of Sight and The Invisible Man, what with the invisible naughty person theme, and there are clear nods to James Whale’s Frankenstein in Some Assembly Required, and to The Mummy in Inca Mummy Girl. I don’t think that there are many obvious parallels between this episode and the Lon Chaney Jr version of The Wolf Man, though. Yes, Oz has a love interest (Willow) and there’s a scene where he changes in a forest, but I think we’ve now reached a point where the show is no longer in the business of overt tributes.
That isn’t to say that it doesn’t have lots of fun with the tropes, of course. In fact, there’s a lot of metatextual fun going on here, from the Giles quote up there to Oz’s phone conversation to his aunt (“Is Jordy a werewolf? Uh huh. And how long has that been going on?”). Best of all is the treatment of Kane, the inevitable silver bullet-using werewolf hunter, who is pretty much explicitly paralleled with the sort of big game hunter who goes after endangered species with no concern for ethics. He is, as Giles says, a pillock.
This being Buffy, the whole Oz-being-a-werewolf thing is probably some sort of metaphor for male sexuality, and how it’s all wild and dangerous and stuff. Er, I’m really not sure about that; I’m male, and there’s nothing violent or nasty about my sexual urges. And isn’t it a little misogynistic to hint at the whole “men are horny, women are innocent, chaste and passive” sort of thing? Then again, I’m not sure that’s what’s meant at all. After all, it’s explicitly stated that werewolves can be either gender. Perhaps, even on Buffy, we shouldn’t always look for a metaphor.
Certainly, Oz is now a fully-fledged Scooby just like Cordelia, who now seems to be hanging out with the gang pretty much exclusively. And his relationship with Willow is developing nicely, if not quickly. There’s even a very brief kiss towards the end. I like the character; he’s a nice guy and he’s witty, even if he does seem to have a tendency to be the voice of the author with some of his quips.
Oh, and then there’s Larry, background character, master of the single entendre and red herring, who is revealed to be gay in a nice bit of misdirection. It’s a great comic scene (Xander’s reaction to realising what he’s implied about himself is hilarious), but also a nice little nod to an issue that many teenage viewers must be going through. Being a teenager is bad enough as it is, but being a gay teenager must be so much more difficult, not only because of homophobia but with the lack of obvious outlets to express your sexuality in a mainly heterosexual culture. Surely, though, this general theme deserves an episode of its own?
Obviously this is a pivotal episode for Oz, and for Willow’s relationship with him, and an overdue use of the werewolf trope, but there’s other arc stuff, too. Angel continues to mess with Buffy’s head, and there’s an interesting scene where Xander saves Buffy, she hugs him, and suddenly they both realise the awkwardness of the situation. He also accidentally “outs” himself in a second way, letting slip that he remembers being possessed by a hyena, which is interesting in the light of this. What’s in store for him…?
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