Guest Starring: 
     
 Paige Moss: 
 (Veruca) 
   
 Lindsay Crouse: 
 (Maggie Walsh) 
   
 
 
  6. Wild at Heart.  
   
  Oz and Willow's relationship suffers a serious test as a girl werewolf tries to woo him away.  
   
  Great quotes:  
   
 
Veruca.
  • Veruca: "I hate chicks who are all like 'Does that have dressing on it?'."
  • Willow: "I look like a crazy birthday cake in this shirt!" Finally she realises that she looks silly in those pastel colours.
  • Willow: "I have guilty feelings about other guys sometimes; but I flog and punish!"
  • Willow: "What does it mean if the girl wants to make love but the guy doesn't?" Xander: "... could be the girl caught the guy in one of the seven annual minutes he's legitimately too pre-occupied to do it."
 
  Fantastic moments:  
   
 
The end of a beautiful relationship.
  • Alyson Hannigan's acting throughout the episode is a highlight. She does 'vulnerable' very well, not least when she finds Oz and Veruca together and also as Oz leaves her in the final scene. There should also be a special mention for Paige Moss, her performance as the sultry temptress Veruca is top quality.
  • Willow tries to use dark magic for her own benefit (for the first time in the series methinks) but can't do it. The fact is that she's not a bad person, and that she still loves Oz even though she feels so hurt by him.
  • There's a wicked bit of action when Buffy gets a rifle off her shoulder and ready to shoot all in one swift movement.
 
  Duff Bits:  
   
 
  • Will someone please get rid of them silly wolf costumes? Just do some SFX or something.
  • In the episode teaser Spike is captured by military guys; we never get to see what happens to him though.
 
  Dean's comments:  
   
 
Xander and Giles are entranced by Veruca's singing.
This episode is a beautiful emotional roller coaster ride that takes the characters and viewers to a dark emotional place. It gets really quite heavy in the final scenes, if you're not holding back the tears by the end then there might not be much hope for you. Oz and Willow's relationship has always been one of the strongest on the show, without the 'opposites attract' subtexts of Xander and Cordelia, or the violent overtones that Buffy and Angel's doomed love seemed to entail. Seeing this relationship torn asunder by the loose morals of a lusty college liaison is heart wrenching. If anyone was going to get under Oz's skin then, let's face it, it was going to be a sultry, husky, indie-band-singing were-girl. There's a nice opening scene in the Bronze in which Giles defends his 'cool', with a little help from Oz, and once again highlights the generation gap as the Scoobies scoff at Giles' use of the phrase "It's a long time since I've been to a gig." Everyone is utterly entranced by Veruca in that scene while Buffy tries desperately to turn Oz's attention away. Then there's the big finale, Oz feels he has no other option but to leave. A sad ending as well as a sad day for the show, Seth Green is a fine actor and Oz a fine character who the writers seemed to have great fun writing for.
 
   
 8/10 
 
Home, previous review, next review.