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Episode 4.18: Where the Wild Things Are | Episode 4.20: The Yoko Factor
Characters:
| Buffy | Xander | Willow |
| Giles | Spike | Riley |
| Oz | Anya | Tara |
Overall (8/10)
Buffy:
Well, there's a lot going on in this episode, as well as a lot of parallels being drawn between various characters.
Buffy and Riley hit a bit of a bump in their relationship when Buffy runs across Riley's anti-demon bigotry. This is the conflict between the ideologies of the Scoobies and the Initiative that has been brought up before. The initiative sees things in black and white. Demons are bad and must be killed. Humans are good. For Riley, the idea of dating a demon is unthinkable.
But as Buffy tries to explain, there are exceptions. There are gray areas. While Riley thinks they are only talking about Oz, Buffy is thinking about her past relationship with Angel. Riley mentions how he didn't think Willow was "that kind of girl" who would be into "dangerous guys". Buffy doesn't think of Willow or herself in that way.
However, she gets a bit of a wake-up call when Willow comes out to her. Buffy's immediate reaction to the confession is one of awkward discomfort. This reaction allows her to see how difficult it can be for Riley to look at things outside of his own point of view. Of course, this doesn't negate the importance and necessity of doing so. Just as Buffy came around by the end of that scene with Willow, Riley comes around at the end of the episode.
Also, the general concept of the ex-boyfriend coming back into the girl's life and getting into conflict with the current love interest will be replayed in the next episode, The Yoko Factor, when Angel comes back (Though, obviously, Angel won't be looking to restart the relationship). This draws another parallel between Buffy and Willow.
Xander:
Xander, after getting quite a bit of screentime in the last episode, is given little to do in this one. Shame, that.
Willow:
Willow is one of the central players in this episode. First and foremost because Oz has returned.
Both she and Oz have gone through a transformation during his absence. For Willow's part, she has fallen in love with a woman. The arrival of her old boyfriend brings a difficult complication for Willow. Willow is a character who desires harmony among the people she loves. She doesn't want to hurt her friends. But, as Buffy tells her, somebody's going to get hurt no matter what she does.
That in mind, she's faced with the choice between staying with Tara or going back to Oz. Going back to Oz would mean turning her back on that transformation she had gone through. Leaving out the "is she a lesbian or bisexual?" questions, I'm just going on the assumption of a fluid sexuality. Regardless, Willow is with Tara, and can't be expected to drop everything to go back to Oz, who had left her months ago.
It's telling, though. In the past, a stressful social situation such as this might drive Willow to try a spell to fix things. In this episode, she turns to Tara when she's at her wit's end. Tara is definitely a calming force for Willow and helps serve to anchor her down when she's in trouble. This adds to the significance of Tara's death in Willow's fall from grace at the end of S6.
Giles, like Xander, doesn't have much to do. Poor, poor, neglected librarian - er- former librarian.
It's in this episode that Spike's opportunistic streak kicks in.
All season we've seen him ostracized from various social groups. Adam takes advantage of that by offering Spike a place with him. Spike, naturally, is all too eager to join in. Adam is looking for chaos, which Spike thinks is good fun. Most importantly, though, Spike is looking for a group he can be a part of. That's the primary reason for his going along with Adam.
As such, he's now working for Adam and infiltrating the Scoobies. He can use the fact that he has some access to them to carry out Adam's plans. This will be done to an even greater extent in the next episode.
Riley is confronted face-on with his black and white view of the demon world in this episode. It's something that had been touched on before in Goodbye Iowa, but this takes a more personal look at it.
Previously, demons to Riley had been impersonal and unattached to himself. He could shrug them off as animals and kill them without a second thought. However, he knows Oz. Learning that Oz is a werewolf is enough of a shock. Seeing Oz in the Initiative base is enough to make him rethink his philosophy.
It's interesting how quickly Riley changes his argument in the Initiative. One minute, he's about to kill Oz while in werewolf form (This is when he's unaware that it is Oz). As soon as he sees who it is, he's practically begging the scientists to release him.
Riley says, "I know him." This is a phrase that was used earlier in the season by Willow as a justification for not staking Spike. I think this is the reason why there's a lot of moral gray area in the show. It's easy to kill demons you don't know. It's easy to slay vampires you don't know. But when you can put a name and a personality to that individual, it feels too close to murder for comfort.
This is the episode where Riley takes a stand and actually leaves the Initiative. Unfortunately, we'll see in the next episode that he still has some prejudices to overcome.
Oz is back! After having spent a lot of time traveling and learning, he's figured out a way to not become a werewolf at the full moon.
As brilliant as that is, he made the tragic mistake of not ever writing to Willow or any of the Scoobies. He was expecting her to be waiting for him, which, as he notes at the end of the episode, is unreasonable. By the time he returns, she's with someone else.
As always, there is the "man as beast" metaphor at play here. Oz has learned to suppress those masculine urges. However, they still emerge when provoked, such as upon finding out that Willow is involved with Tara. Whether he's upset that she's involved with another woman or just that she's involved with someone else and didn't tell him...hard to say. Regardless, it's enough to bring the beast out.
It's likely that, while away, Oz got swept up in the romance of atoning for what he had done in Wild at Heart. He probably pictured going back to Sunnydale and having Willow eagerly waiting for him. Unfortunately, the reality was not what he was expecting. He does the decent thing, though, and backs off at the end.
We'll miss Oz.
Anya doesn't have much to do. Well, she has a cute scene with Giles when they high-five. That's about it.
Tara proved her insecurity and her kindness in this episode. As soon as Oz returns, she's reluctant to pressure Willow into a decision. In fact, she expects Willow to go back to Oz. Obviously, Tara's been rejected a good deal in the past. Even when Willow goes to her for comfort, Tara just tells her that she wants Willow to be happy. It's obvious that Willow's distress pains her as much as it does Willow.
And yet, Tara's best act of the episode is when she immediately tells Willow about the Initiative taking Oz. She could have not told anyone. Oz would have been out of the way. Willow would never know. But Tara's too damn nice and goes to find Willow to help Oz.
At the end, Willow chooses Tara, and lesbian sex ensues after the fade to black. Really.
Oz comes back. Riley leaves the Initiative. Spike pals up with Adam. Oh, boy, is this a busy episode.
The Initiative
This is an important turning point in the arc in that Riley finally leaves the Initiative. Additionally, Adam is moving forward with his plans.
There is a lot going on in this episode. Fortunately, it's executed very well, and all the different plot threads manage to come together. It works as a good final send-off for Oz, while at the same time overtly introducing the Willow/Tara relationship. It also sets up the conflict between Buffy and Riley's views of demons that will be played with for a while.
Special performance award goes to Seth Green. One last time. He came back for this episode, and he was naked in it. Go Seth!
8 out of 10.
Willow going to visit Tara in the middle of the episode. It helps establish the emotional conflict, and is an interesting move for Willow's character to turn to Tara rather than magic at that point.
Episode 4.18: Where the Wild Things Are | Episode 4.20: The Yoko Factor
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