Season 2, Episode 15 | Aired: 27 January 1998 | Written by: Rob Des Hotel & Dean Batali | Directed by: Bruce Seth Green
The werewolf episode — which turns out to be the Oz episode, and that’s the more important thing. Phases confirms what Inca Mummy Girl suggested: Oz is a werewolf, has been for some time, and this changes his relationship with Willow in ways neither of them have a map for.
What Happens
A werewolf is active in Sunnydale during the three nights of the full moon. A hunter named Cain is tracking it for its pelt. Buffy is also tracking it. The werewolf is Oz — bitten by his young cousin, who is also a werewolf. He didn’t know it would take. He’s been locking himself away for the three nights without telling anyone. He tells Willow now. She stays anyway.
Theresa, a student, is killed during the episode — by Angelus, not the werewolf, though the show briefly allows the audience to think otherwise. Angelus is working in the background, causing damage. The hunter Cain is chased out of Sunnydale. Oz and Willow’s relationship becomes explicit.
Key Moments
Willow and Oz’s first kiss. After everything — the revelation, the danger, the chaos of the episode — she kisses him first. It’s exactly right for the character. Willow choosing, actively and without hesitation, is a kind of milestone in itself.
Theresa’s death — revealed as an Angelus kill when her re-animated body attacks Xander — is the season’s reminder that Angelus is still out there and still doing damage even in episodes that aren’t about him.
Monster / Villain
Oz (Seth Green) as werewolf — a threat and a victim simultaneously. Cain (Jack Conley), the hunter, as the episode’s human villain: profiting from supernatural suffering.
Notable Quote
“Actually, it explains a lot.” — Willow, on learning Oz is a werewolf. Not what most people would say. Exactly what Willow would say.
Where It Fits
Phases does significant relationship work while also advancing the season’s background threat. Oz becoming a permanent part of the cast — his werewolf nature folded into the group’s various complications — is handled with characteristic Buffy efficiency: big revelation, immediate acceptance, move on.