The Buffy rewatch between the girlfriend and I continues. Im struggling with how Oz was written out. On the surface it should be a great storyline, as Seth Greens Oz, perhaps the most laconic and stoic character in the entire Whedon canon, has to confront with his werewolf side and realize its a part of who he is. While there were glimpses of this before, it becomes pronounced at the start of Season 4 as they introduce a rival love interest to play off against Willow. Shes provocative and bad in ways that Willow isnt at this point. She turns out to also be a werewolf, and the two of them are connected on a primal level that he just isnt with Willow. This should be a great dynamic BUT, Seth Greens departure was moved up a few weeks so what should have been a long-brewing thing pretty much all happened in one episode to go from devoted boyfriend to conflicted to allowing his animal side to take over leading to a (an absolutely awful and ridiculous) scene where the other woman tries to kill Willow and Oz basically lets wolf him take over to kill her. It might be Greens best acting in the show to that point but... It feels icky, an ending more suiting for the cheap, exploitative stuff like Ultimatum and Identity Crisis that were starting up in the comic world at the time.
Posted on: Fri, 28 Mar 2014 19:25:25 +0000