the greatest nightmare. Xander learns that hard way that actions have consequences and that revenge never works out the way you hope. It was written by the incredible Marti Noxon and directed by James A. Contner. The episode starts off with Xander showing Buffy a neckless he bought Cordelia for Valentines day. Buffy in turn makes it clear that she thinks he could do better. She's not a fan of Cordy. Xander points out that this is his first real valentines date and he just wants it to go well. Their heartfelt moment is ruined when Buffy is forced to go to work and take out a newly awaken vampire. The next day at school, Cordy learns that her standing has dropped thanks to her relationship with Xander. Harmony, her number one lackey, now talks down on her. Something that crushes her. Meanwhile in class, while Willow is bragging about Oz being her boyfriend and being in the band to a heartbroken Buffy, who is still dealing with losing Angel, Xander catches Amy using witchcraft on the teacher to get out of turning in homework. He tries to tell the girls, but they are interrupted by Giles who wishes to speak to Buffy alone. Blowing off Jenny in the process. It's clear that neither he, nor Buffy, have forgiven her. On the other side of town, Angelus shows off by getting Dru a gift and making Spike feel like a loser. Being in a wheelchair isn't helping him much. He tries to get under Angelus skin, but that's not an easy thing to manage. Buffy is at home with her mom when a gift is left for her. Her mom is the one who finds the roses with a card. Back at the bronze Xander makes his move to give Cordy her gift, not long after Harmony and the other girls once again hurt her feelings. He gives her the gift, she loves it, even loves how he is dressed up. Alas, that's not even for a girl who is just starting to come out from her shallow world. She breaks up with him. Crushing his heart. You can tell that she doesn't want to do it, but she feels trapped. Like she has no other choice. Xander is pissed, but it comes more from hurt than real anger. He really cared about Cordy and she just tossed him aside. He tried to talk to Buffy but she blew him off and Harmony made him feel even worse about himself. So Xander does the only thing he can do. He hunts down Amy, confronts her and blackmails her into helping him. He wants a love spell, Amy tells him that it's the hardest spell. He tells her that he doesn't want Cordy forever. He just wants her under a love spell so that he can break up with her and hurt her. Amy agrees, but she needs a personal object. Buffy gives the message to Giles. All it says is soon. She demands Giles tells her everything he knows. Elsewhere in school, Xander confronts Cordelia and demands the locket back. She lies and says it is in her locker, but it's not. She is wearing it. He clearly meant a lot to her as well. This part is so heartbreaking. I really like them together! That night Amy does the spell, using the locket. No part of this is moral or even acceptable, but heartbreak and fear of being exposed makes you do crazy things. The next morning Xander walks up to Cordelia, who is back with her group of friends. She wastes no time in insulting Xander. She clearly is not over the moon in love with him. She cuts him down and he leaves heartbroken. In the library Giles is reading Buffy all of Angelus greatest hits on valentines day. He nailed a puppy to a wall. Great great. Giles leaves to get more books while Buffy asks Xander out on a date, even offering to give him a lap dance if he plays his cards right. She's really happy that he broke up with Cordy. After all, she is really seeing him for the first time right now. Just as they are about to kiss, Amy comes in and interrupts them. She tells Xander the spell doesn't work and that they could try it again. He says no, so she asks him out. He starts to notice that something is wrong. Made all the more clear by more women coming and asking him out. He takes off, leaving them alone and heads home. Where he hopes to be safe. Doesn't really work out. Seeing as Willow is in his bed, wearing nothing but his shirt. He tries to tell her what is happening, but she isn't listening to him. She is throwing herself at him. She even starts to kiss on him, he rejects her and flees from the room in fear for his life. Harmony and the other girls are once again pissed at Cordelia, this time for breaking up with Xander. It seems that every girl in school is in love with him. Every girl that is, but for Cordelia. The one girl he intended to make fall in love with him. He makes it to the library and tells Giles everything. As he tries to explain it, Jenny shows up to make amends with Giles. The whole time she starts to hit on Xander. Giles pulls her away and tells him off. Giles orders him to stay in the library and he pulls Jenny out of the room. Leaving Xander alone. He attempts to block the door, only he doesn't do it right and in enters. . . Buffy in a rain coat. Looking all kinds of sexy. She says all the right things. She is all but impossible to resist. But Xander does. Which only leads to her getting pissed off. A pissed off slayer is not a good thing. It never ends well. Before she can hurt him, Amy shows up and turns her into a rat. Giles and Jenny show up seconds later, only to find that Buffy is now a rat. Xander demands that she turns her back while Giles looks for Buffy and Jenny and Amy fight over him. Harmony and the other girls show up to beat the shit out of Cordy. They have to defend Xander's honor after all. In the library, Giles takes charge. Putting the girls in their place. Just as Xander is about to catch Buffy, Oz shows up and hits him. Knocking him down hard. Buffy escapes. It seems Willow was upset all night. Oz helps Xander up, who explains that Buffy is now a rat. He sends Xander away, while he tries to undo the spell with the girls and has Oz try to find Buffy. Giles is not at all happy with Xander. Can't help but feel bad for him. Or at least I do. As Xander leaves school he find Cordy being attacked. He jumps in and saves her. Or at least tries to. No sooner is Cordy out of the room than Joyce starts rubbing on him and kissing on him. She is stopped by Cordy who forces her out of the house. Cordy demands to know what is going on when Joyce breaks into the window. The two of them run up to Buffy's room when Angelus shows up out of nowhere and throws him outside. Things don't look good for the Zman, when Dru shows up and fights Angelus off. She's in love with him as well. She's going to turn him, but Willow and the other crazy women show up. Attacking him and almost killing him. Cordy saves him.
They lock themselves in the basement. Dru tries to go too, but she can't go in the house. Oz tracks Buffy into the basement of the school, while Giles and Amy start to undo the spell. Cordy is pissed at Xander for putting a love spell on everyone else. When she finds out that the spell was for her she finds it sweet. A moment that is ruined by the crazy women breaking into the room. Amy undoes the spell on Buffy, turning her human and naked in the basement. Oz goes to find her clothes. Giles undoes the love spell just as all the women try to tear Xander apart. They undid it just in the nick of time. They all seem kind of confused. The next day Buffy and Xander talk everything over. Willow is still pissed at him. Buffy tries to cheer him and thanks him for not taking advantage of her. Harmony insults Xander, only to be told off by Cordelia who says she'll date Xander if she wants to. They are so cute together!
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![]() What's up ladies and Gentlemen, todays episode is a game changer, not in the heart wrenching way that the last two were, after all, we need a bit of a breather after that gut punch, but in a more fun way that alters the dynamics of the Scoobies moving forward. This episode was written by Rob Des Hotel and Dean Batali and directed by Bruce Seth Green. Ironically enough, it's a very Seth Green heavy episode.
The episode starts off with Oz (Seth Green) weirding out looking at a cheerleading trophy, he believes that it's eyes are watching him. That's a callback to the season one episode the witch. He tells Willow about it and she thinks nothing of it. Which is fair because no one knows what happened to Amy's mother after her spell backfired. Willow and Oz have their awkward flirting which is fun to watch. They are so cute together, what it is less cute is brutish Larry and his over sexualization of women. Oz blows him off while Willow complains to Buffy that Oz isn't making any moves. We also learn that Willow is still bitter about Xander dating Cordelia. Instead of making out with Cordelia, he is complaining about Willow dating Oz. Cordy is not happy about it, she just wants to make out, in her father's car under the full moon. Which is perfect for when we get our first view of a werewolf in the Buffyverse. Xander and Cody don't notice it. They are too busy doing what teenagers do when they are along in the middle of nowhere. Xander stops kissing to ask Cordy if she heard anything, she gets annoyed telling him that his mind just isn't into it, that is until the wolf breaks through the roof. Giles tells the gang that there has been reports of a number of animals have been attacked all over town. We also learn that the Buffyverse mythos for Werewolves is that they turn on the night before the full moon, the night of and the night after. Xander has this whole weird jealousy thing going on, it's a bit weird. He has no interest in Willow and has his own girlfriend, but teenagers are weird. We learn that Larry, the womanizer had been bit by a dog last month. We also learn that Oz was bit by his little cousin. The class is having a self defense class and Larry is paired up with Buffy, she is pretending to be weak, so as to not give away her secret, but when he grabs her ass, she lets loose and flips him over. Buffy's bitterness towards men starts to come out. It doesn't last long, but can you blame her? The whole ordeal with Angel must have been so painful for her. Xander asks how they kill it, but Giles orders that they don't kill it, they capture it. Most of the month they are a human just like everyone else. That night Buffy and Giles go out looking for the werewolf when Buffy gets caught in a net by a werewolf hunter. He doesn't care that they are human most of the month. He makes money off of their deaths and that is what is important to him. Elsewhere in town, one of Buffy's classmates is walking alone when we she her being stalked, we think it's the werewolf, but instead it's Angelus. At the same time, Cordelia and Willow are bonding over being annoyed at Xander and Oz. Boys, just can't do anything with them. Seems to be the main point of this episode. Their conversation at the Bronze is interrupted by the attack of the werewolf, luckily Buffy shows up in time to stop it. It manages to escape. The hunter talks shit to Buffy, telling her that since she is a woman, she can't do this. He tells her that if it hurts anyone it's her fault. The wolf stumbles across Angelus, who had just murdered the classmate. Buffy and Giles hear on the radio that the girl is dead and Buffy blames herself. She let the werewolf get away, she could have saved this poor girl. If only she knew the truth. This is about the time we learn the truth as the sun comes up and we see the werewolf turn back into . . . Oz. Turns out his cousin is a werewolf. He just calls up his aunt and asks her, she tells him. It's all played as if it's no big deal. He goes to the library to tell the gang what he found out, only to hear that Buffy says she should have killed it. He also learns that he might have killed someone the night before. Oz is scared. Xander wants to hunt down the werewolf, he points out he has experience in what it's like. Until Buffy points out he said that he told her he couldn't remember. He then changes his tactics and says he knows who it is. Oz gets worried, until Xander says it's Larry. Willow invites Oz to help her, stay up all night researching stuff, but he blows her off and runs off. Hurting poor Willow. Little does she know his real reasons. Xander confronts Larry, who gets pissed. He offers to pay Xander off. Xander tells him that he has been through what he is going through. Larry doesn't want to own up to, but Xander keeps pushing, only to learn that Larry isn't the werewolf, he's gay. Xander starts backtracking, pointing out he isn't gay, but Larry tells Xander he just brings it out in him. Larry promises not to tell anyone Xander's secret. While this is happening, Willow looks up who else could be the werewolf, the only other one who fits the profile is Buffy. Buffy talks Willow into going to speak to Oz. Xander reports back that Larry is not their guy and also worries a bit about how close Cordelia and Willow are getting. While Xander and Buffy are talking, she starts thinking about the girl who was killed. They go and check out her body, learning she wasn't killed by a werewolf, but instead killed by Angelus. The girl comes back as a vampire and attacks them. She tells Buffy that Angelus gives her love and it distracts Buffy, giving the vampire the advantage. Xander saves the day and points out that Angelus is not Angel. That's not her fault. They almost kiss, but Buffy pulls away. Oz is getting ready chains, which he plans to tie himself up. Makes me wonder where his parents are at that they wouldn't notice all night. Willow bangs on his door, he tries to get her to leave, but she doesn't want to listen. Just as she starts to notice something is wrong he starts to go through the change. He chases Willow though the house and out the back door. The hunter spots Oz. Giles and Buffy get the dart gun ready. They still want to take the werewolf alive. The werewolf who corners Willow. Just as it's about to go in for the kill it smells something and turns and leaves. Willow makes it to the library and tells Giles and Buffy. It's now a race against time. They have to get to Oz before the hunter, who has already tracked him down. Buffy stops the hunter just in time, fighting him off. Oz joins into the fight and Buffy has to battle him as well. Giles knocks the werewolf out and Buffy sends the hunter on his way. The next day as Buffy and Xander talk about Oz, we see that Larry is acting like a human being for once. He thanks Xander for everything, but Xander won't tell Buffy. Xander worries about Willow being safe with Oz, but Buffy puts him in his place. Willow and Oz have a heart to heart. He offers to leave her alone, but Willow tells him that she doesn't want him too. This is the start of a beautiful relationship that involves no biting, as per the rules they set out. I love this episode, Willow and Oz are one of my favorite couples on this show. They are just so cute together. I hope you guys enjoyed it as well! |
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