Episode 15: Phases

Happy 30th Birthday Buffy! From: The Two Wits

Hello lovely readers; it's been a while! I had some sudden family irritations to deal with which stopped my Buffy watching (at the best part of the season!) but I am now back so the world may rejoice. I shall be writing today's episode and will catch up with my notes for Bad Eggs, Surprise, and Innocence within the next few days. Now that we have that all cleared up, let's get on to today's episode...



Season Two, Episode Fifteen

"Phases"

We first start this episode with a little reference back to "Witch" with Oz saying how it looks as if the eyes on the cheerleading trophy follow you. You gotta love Joss for bringing back random stuff. I wonder how amazing it would be to have something written by both Joss and J.K. Rowling because they both pay such close attention to detail and Jo thinks so highly of love while Joss wants to destroy all forms of it. I'd pay a lot of money to get something written by them, but I digress...

This episode has pretty amazing themes running through it so I'm going to jump around to discuss them instead of doing a straight overview so try and keep up.

Obviously sexuality, especially male sexuality, runs through the whole episode, starting with Larry. At first glance, he seems to be just your typical high school jackass with pestering Oz constantly about how far he's gone with Willow and expressing how he feels like dating a junior who isn't putting out is a waste.

"What are you going to do, talk?"

Oz keeps calm (what else is new) during his lecture from Larry and doesn't divulge anything about his relationship with Willow. Within the very next scene, we cut to Willow talking with Buffy and saying how she wants "smoochies" and that she wants Oz to get an A in Willow. Basically, her and Buffy have the most adorable conversation about high school relationships ever. Stephanie Meyer, take note. The best part of this conversation, however, is when Willow gets caught up and says how she doesn't want to be the only girl girl in school without a real boyfriend, to which Buffy becomes sadface. Willow notices the error in her ways and, being Willow, says to Buffy “do you want me to go away?” Have I mentioned yet how much I adore her? I have? Okay, good, let's move on then.

Back to male sexuality, we get our views from Oz, Xander, and Larry within this episode. Stereotypically, we assume males have less strict rules regarding their sexuality and therefore we sort of expect them to act like pigs. Through Xander's discussions with Cordelia, who he now has, we see the issue of boys never being satisfied. He lusted after Buffy, who is unattainable and never was interested in Willow, until Willow was no longer there as an option. The message: most adolescent males will take whatever they can get.

Let's move now to Larry who is doing everything possible to piss the audience off. He's objectifying every women he comes into contact with, he states loudly how women are basically only good is they put out, and he takes the opportunity during a class lesson to feel up Buffy's ass to which Buffy becomes a BAMF by ignoring Willow's warning of needing to appear as a "meek little girly-girl" and instead sets free her Slayer strength to throw him over her shoulder.

"Beware of my mad skillz"

However, we later learn that Larry's tough guy image is all a guise in order to cover up his homosexuality which is actually a pretty common thing. Within Psychology there are different defense mechanisms that people use in order to cope with difficulties; one of these is known as reaction formation. Started plainly, this mechanism is when one takes on the actions that are opposite to their true desires because their real wants cause them so much anxiety (i.e. a person with a desire to have sex with children running an organization to hinder pedophiles ability to harm children.) Larry does this well by acting like a totally tool and objectifying women when he really has no desire to have sex with them. This type of defense, however, eventually breaks down which we see when Larry comes out to Xander because Xander tells Larry how he's "been there" and "understands what he's going through." After his confusion, Larry acts much better and even helps a girl who drops her books in the hallway while Xander acts oddly as if he's afraid of catching homosexuality.

Lastly, we move to the always adorable Oz who shows what a true gentlemen some guys can be by not objectifying Willow to guys, tucking her tag back into her jacket, and basically just spewing adorable every moment he's on screen. However, this is counteracted by his werewolfness which Joss points out within the commentary of "Wild at Heart" in season 4 that he used to represent the male id. Basically what this tells us is that no matter how kind the guy is, they are still guys and their sexuality is inherently different than most females and, in most cases, lead to higher sex drives. Oz being a werewolf was something he couldn't control teaching us that, despite his love for Willow and her love for him, he had to restrain himself because of their differences in sex drives and attitudes toward intimacy which was ultimately something out of his control. This just makes me find him more adorable though because we're able to see how well he restrains himself in order to do what he knows Willow needs.

I'd go straight for you, Oz <3 

I like Buffy's lines toward the end of the episode. First, when trying to understand everyone she says “maybe it’s the moon, it does stuff to people.” This is amazingly complex and I believe that the moon symbolizes sexual desire as a whole. You can't control your sexual desires. You can repress them, like Oz; reject them and do the opposite of what you feel, like Larry; or be confused and not fully understand what you're desiring, like Xander. However, no matter how you deal with these desires, they do things to you and cause you to behave in sometimes very stupid ways.

Buffy really out does herself and says one other very insightful comment to Xander by telling him "it’s not up to [him]” who Willow's with. Despite Xander's confusion and desire to be intimate with any female near him, he can't keep Willow there as a fall back option. Willow chose Oz (who wouldn't?!) and Xander just has to live with his decision to never choose her.

Favorite Lines: “You’ve really mastered the single entandra” - Oz & “I didn’t jump. I took a tiny step and there conclusions were” – Buffy

-Sarah =)

Kali’s Notes:

I would try to summarize this, but I found a paragraph on Wikipedia that says it way better than I ever could, so I’m just going to copy that here first.

Shannon Craigo-Snell uses this episode as an example of how the series examines the threat of sexual violence facing women and girls as a "problematic background against which women attempt to have satisfying relationships with men."[1] Craigo-Snell points out that this threat is embodied by the character of Larry, who sexually harasses Buffy (and other girls) during a gym class focused on self-defense, and the werewolf-hunter Cain, who says Buffy's failure to capture the werewolf is "what happens when a woman tries to do a man’s job." This theme is made explicit when Giles describes werewolves as "potent, extreme representation of our inborn, animalistic traits", predatory and aggressive with no conscience, and Buffy responds, "In other words, your typical male."

- Awesome Oz quotes of Awesomeness:

           - "My time was also of the good."

- "Yeah she's actually an evil mastermind. It's fun."

- “They might not look it, but bunnies can really take care of themselves."

- “Is Jordie a werewolf?” – Another reason I love Oz, he doesn’t beat around the bush, he just asks the questions that need asking.

- Now that both Xander and Willow are in relationships with other people, they both seem even more obsessed with what the other is doing. I’ll hold off on my rant about these two until Season 3. I do enjoy the dialogue between Cordelia and Willow. I never thought I would see those two talk about boys together. "Guys!" "Who do they think they are?" "Couple of guys!"

- Even though Larry has a misconception about Xander, he still speaks the truth about why a lot of repressed homosexual men act extra “manly” and beat up effeminate men. "I recognized something in you I didn't want to believe about myself.”

- Lastly, favorite quote. Buffy: I didn't jump. I took a tiny step and there conclusions were.