A werewolf starts attacking people in town and the next morning, Oz finds himself outside, naked. He realises he’s the wolf, but tries to hide it from Willow. Meanwhile, the Scoobies launch a full-scale investigation into finding out who the werewolf is. When Willow realises it’s her boyfriend who’s the wolf, she bravely decides to continue dating him, and they even share their first kiss.
| Airdate: | 27 January 1998 |
| Writer: | Rob Des Hotel + Dean Batali |
| Director: | Bruce Seth Green |
| Cast: |
Giles: "It's one of the classics. I'm sure my books and I are in for a fascinating afternoon."
Behind the Scenes Trivia
Choosing Oz
Seth Green was given a copy of the script for Phases by Joss Whedon, to persuade him to take the role of the character of Oz. He had already played Oz a couple of times in the show, but this was for the role of recurring character. Seth said, “It had all this metaphorical stuff and gave strong shades to the character. I said, “Yeah, I wanna be a part of this!”"
Girl next door
The following line was cut for length from the episodes Phases:
Xander (to Cordelia): Be gentle with me.
Cordelia (to Willow): You first. I wouldn’t want to be accused of taking your place in line.
Willow: Oh, I think you pushed your way to the front long before this.
Cordelia: Hey, I can’t help it if I get the spotlight just because some people blend into the background.
Willow: Well, maybe some people could see better if you weren’t standing on the auction block, shaking your wares.
Cordelia: Sorry, we haven’t all perfected that phony ‘girl next door’ bit.
Willow: You could be the girl next door, too. If Xander lived next to a brothel!
Nod to the fans
In the episode Phases, when Buffy is talking to Willow and Xander she stops and stands in front of a noticeboard. If you look to the right of her shoulder, you can see a little notice thanking all of the Buffy fans at the official website.
Rob Des Hotel’s favorite episode
Buffy writer Rob Des Hotel stated in The Monster Book, page 217:
Cast and Crew Trivia
Jack Conley
Jack Conley, who played Caine the werewolf hunter in Phases, also played the time-shifting demon Sahjhan in seasons three and five of Angel. Jack has also been in Payback, L.A. Confidential, Mercury and Get Shorty.
Keith Campbell
Keith Campbell played the werewolf in Phases. He is a stunt man who has appeared in Mission: Impossible, Face/Off, Blade, Batman Forever, Vanilla Sky, Stargate, The Last Action Hero, Forrest Gump, The Ring and Patriot Games. He did stunts in Inspector Gadget which starred Michelle Trachtenberg (Dawn) and for Dead Man on Campus, which starred Alyson Hannigan (Willow). Keith played the club manager in the Angel episode ‘Judgement’.
Character Trivia
Aunt Maureen
Maureen was Oz’s aunt and the mother of Oz’s cousin Jordy, who bit Oz and turned him into a werewolf. Oz called Maureen in Phases to confirm that Jordy was indeed a werewolf. Maureen was married to Oz’s Uncle Ken.
Caine
Caine was a werewolf hunter who argued with Buffy about the ethical treatment of werewolves in the episode Phases. Caine believed they should be killed but Buffy realised that a werewolf is also human. Caine kills werewolves and sells their pelts in Sri Lanka.
Cousin Jordy
Jordy was Oz’s young cousin who was also a werewolf. He bit Oz on the finger, turning him into a werewolf in Phases. Jordy’s mother was Oz’s Aunt Maureen (whom Oz spoke to on the phone) and his father was Uncle Ken.
Oz
Oz was a cool and thoughtful guitar-player in band Dingoes Ate My Baby. Oz’s full name was Daniel Osbourne. He fell in love with Willow, who decided to stay with him when Oz discovered he was a werewolf (Phases). The two went to UC Sunnydale together where Oz met Veruca, a fellow werewolf. One full moon, he escaped from his cage and when he woke up - human - in the morning he was disgusted to find himself naked with her. Veruca tried to convince him that they belonged together, and that he shouldn’t ignore the wolf inside him. He tried to resist yet locked himself in a cage with Veruca so she wouldn’t be free to kill anyone as a wolf. Willow discovered the two naked together in the morning and Oz decided to leave Sunnydale to try and find a cure for his condition (Wild at Heart). He still loved Willow very much and didn’t want to hurt her. Oz successfully cured himself of his wolfishness, only to return to find that Willow had a new girlfriend. He left Sunnydale again, this time for good (New Moon Rising).
Theresa Klusmeyer
Theresa Klusmeyer was a student at Sunnydale High who was killed and sired by Angelus in the episdoe Phases simply because she knew Buffy. When she rose as a vampire, Theresa gave Buffy the message, “Angel sends his love”.
Continuity
Animal instincts
Xander discovered he had a better sense of smell after being a hyena in The Pack, when he tried to sniff out a werewolf in Phases.
Bell around the neck
In All the Way, Buffy is startled when she runs into Spike in the Magic Shop basement. She says, “Bell. Neck. Look into it.” In School Hard, Xander says the same thing about Angel, “Okay, that’s it. I’m puttin’ a collar with a little bell on that guy.” In Phases, Larry says to Xander, “Harris. Sheesh. Next time wear a bell.”
Giles’s first car
Giles’s first car seen on the show was an ancient silver Citroen, first seen in The Witch. The licence plate was 2GPU947. During the filming of Phases, the car refused to start so some members of the Buffy crew had to push the car from behind. They can be seen through the rear window in one scene. It finally died a nasty death when Spike crashed it in A New Man.
Moving eyes
Catherine Madison was trapped inside a cheerleading statue at Sunnydale High at the end of The Witch. In Phases, Oz noticed the cheerleading statue’s moving eyes and thought it was cool. This was an in-joke to fans, as well as to prepare us for the return of Amy Madison in the next episode, Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered.
Remember when…
In Phases, Xander brings up the time he spent possessed by a hyena in The Pack, but when the girls remind him that he said he didn’t remember anything about his possession, he shuts up pretty quickly.
Unappreciative Xander
In Some Assembly Required, Xander states, “People don’t fall in love with what’s right in front on them. They want the dream. The more unattainable, the more attractive.” In Phases, Willow says a similar thing, ironically about Xander: “He’s so busy looking around at everything he doesn’t have, he doesn’t even realize what he does have.”
Who’s gay?
It is rumoured that Joss Whedon originally hadn’t decided whether it would be Willow or Xander who turned out to be gay. Xander’s conversation with Larry in Phases could have been a foreshadowing for his future had Xander been homosexual and not Willow.
Without Buffy
In Phases, Buffy blames herself for Theresa’s death (Angel killed her), but Xander refers to two other episodes where Buffy has saved people: I Robot, You Jane (”Willow would be Robby the Robot’s love-slave”) and Teacher’s Pet (”I wouldn’t even have a head”).
Music Trivia
Lotion
The band Lotion play their track “Blind For Now” from their album Nobody’s Cool when Willow and Cordelia are talking in The Bronze in Phases. In Revelations, we hear Lotion’s song “West of Here” (from The Telephone Album) as the Dingoes leave the stage.
There are two stickers for the band seen in Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered. One is on the locker behind Giles at the beginning of the episode, and the other is on the locker next to Cordelia’s.
Mythology Trivia
Werewolves
Werewolves on the show were first examined in the episode Phases, in which Oz discovered he was a wolf. Buffy werewolves are fairly traditional in that the creature is a human for most of the time, but turns into a wolf for three nights a month at the time of a full moon. The human part of the creature is unaware of what happens when it is a wolf. A person becomes a werewolf after being bitten by one. Oz was bitten by his Cousin Geordie and takes the news in his usual calm manner. He locks himself in a cage during the three nights in which he ‘wolfs-out’. Oz met Veruca, a fellow student who was also a werewolf, though she embraced it. When the wolf-side of Oz threatened his girlfriend Willow, Oz left Sunnydale to look for a cure. After a great deal of searching, Oz met some Tibetan monks who taught him to control his werewolf side with some herbs, chanting, a couple of talismans, and “keeping his cool”. Werewolf hunters kill wolves for their fur, a commodity that can apparently be sold for a hefty price. The hunter shoots the wolf using silver bullets. Buffy met a hunter named Caine in Phases and tried to convince him that the wolf was really a human, to no avail.
References
Forbidden Planet
In Phases, Xander mentions “Robby the Robot”, who was a character in the 1956 movie Forbidden Planet.
Moon pie
In the second season episode Phases, Xander refers to Moon Pie, made in Chattanooga, Tennessee. From MoonPie.com:
“Early in the 1900s, while servicing his territory of Kentucky, Tennessee and West Virginia, Mr. Mitchell was visiting a company store that catered to the coal miners. He asked them what they might enjoy as a snack. The miners said they wanted something for their lunch pails. It had to be solid and filling. “About how big?,!” Mr. Mitchell asked. Well about that time the moon was rising, so a miner held out his big hands, framing the moon and said, “About that big!” So, with that in mind, Mr. Mitchell headed back to the bakery with an idea. Upon his return he noticed some of the workers dipping graham cookies into marshmallow and laying them on the window sill to harden. So they added another cookie and a generous coating of chocolate and sent them back for the workers to try.”
WP (Widespread Panic)
A black and white oval sticker with the letters “WP” can often be seen in Sunnydale. The sticker is for a band called Widespread Panic. Examples of episodes in which this is seen include:
Inca Mummy Girl: behind Xander when he says to Ampata, “Why’d you run away?”.
Halloween: next to Cordelia when she’s dressed as a cat and talking to Oz (on Oz’s locker door), and when Willow walks into the library when she’s a ghost, there is one on the bulletin board to her right. There is also a sticker on the bathroom wall, seen behind Buffy’s right shoulder when she an Willow look through the book.
Reptile Boy: at the beginning of the episode, behind Xander’s left shoulder in Buffy’s room.
Bad Eggs: behind Jonathon’s right shoulder on the locker when he is being attacked.
Surprise: on the locker behind Cordelia when she is talking to Xander and behind Xander when he calls Giles a party weasel. A colourful Widespread Panic poster can also be seen behind Joyce in Buffy’s dream.
Phases: when Buffy is in the Bronze looking for the werewolf, a WP sticker can be seen on a pillar behind her right shoulder.
Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered: poster in Xander’s room and behind Xander when Harmony tells him he should learn a second language so more girls can reject him. A sticker can also be seen on the locker behind Cordelia when Harmony is telling her off for breaking up with Xander.
Becoming (Part 2): at the beginning of the episode, when the cop is arresting Buffy in the hall, you can see a WP sticker on the lockers behind her.
Dead Man’s Party: on a guitar case behind the drums during the party.
A New Man: behind Giles when he’s at Buffy’s party.
Wild at Heart: a colourful WP poster (not the sticker) can be seen to the right of Oz’s bedroom door.
The Yoko Factor: in Buffy and Willow’s dorm room.
The Replacement: on the payphone that Xander uses to call Buffy.
Goofs
Seen at 13.12 minutes:
The Buffyverse contradicts itself in the Buffy episode Phases and the Angel episode ‘Unleashed‘. In Phases, the werewolf hunter Caine talks about skinning werewolves for their pelts, ripping out teeth once he’s killed them and it being “harder to skin them if they’re still alive.” Yet in Unleashed, it is specifically mentioned that werewolves revert to human state when dead and the wolf that Angel kills immediately reverts back to a human.
Seen at 16.26 minutes:
Giles’ car gave the crew trouble in this episode so they got some extras to push the car as if it was actually working. You can see the extras through the car’s rear window when it pulls up in front of the Bronze.
Seen at 16.45 minutes:
When Buffy walks into The Bronze the left strap of her backpack is hanging down. When the scene cuts to her back, the strap has returned to her shoulder.
Seen at 35.30 minutes:
When Willow is running away from Oz-wolf, she trips in the woods, muddying her overalls. Yet when she enters the library her overalls are clean.
Seen at 35.42 minutes:
In the scene in which Willow tells Giles and Buffy that Oz is the werewolf, watch Giles. When he is standing facing the right, he is wearing no glasses, but when he turns around and faces the left, he has his glasses on.
Quotes
Willow: "Well, I like you. You're nice, and you're funny, and you don't smoke. Yeah, okay, werewolf, but that's not all the time. I mean, three days out of the month I'm not much fun to be around either."
Oz: "That's great, Larry. You've really mastered the single entendre."
Giles: "You hunt werewolves for sport?"
Cain: "No, I'm in it purely for the money."
Buffy: "Have you dropped any hints?"
Willow: "I've dropped anvils."
Willow: "Great. I'll give Xander a call. What's his number? Oh, yeah, 1-800-I'm-Dating-A-Skanky-Ho."
Xander: "On behalf of my gender, hey!"
Giles: "Yes, let's not jump to any conclusions."
Buffy: "I didn't jump. I took a tiny step, and there conclusions were."
Oz: "Is Jordy a werewolf? ... Uh-huh. And how long has that been going on?"
Buffy: "Welcome to the mystery that is men. I think it goes something like, they grow body hair, they lose all ability to tell you what they really want."
Oz: "A werewolf in love."
Giles: "It's one of the classics. I'm sure my books and I are in for a fascinating afternoon."