Phases
Willow meets up with Oz in front of one of the school's trophy cases. He has
been checking out the moving eyes in one of the cheerleading statues, the
same one in which Amy's mother, the witch, is trapped. They discuss their
date the previous night, before Willow spots Buffy and walks outside with
her. Willow is worried because Oz hasn't tried to kiss her yet, although she
is happy that he is being so nice and respectful. Later that night, Xander
and Cordelia make out in her car, which is parked in the woods. Without
warning, the hairy arm of a werewolf breaks through the roof of the car.
Cordy throws the car in reverse then brakes, sending the werewolf tumbling
off of the car. They then drive out as fast as they can. The next morning,
Xander tells Giles that they encountered a werewolf. Giles is quite excited,
for he has never personally dealt with a werewolf case before. In gym, the
class is studying self-defense. Xander's latent jealousy of Oz's
relationship with Willow is becoming more and more obvious. Buffy tries to
pretend she's a normal girl, but when Larry grabs her behind during a throw
session, Buffy flips him over her shoulder and onto the mat. Back at the
library, Giles has learned that a werewolf goes on the prowl on the night of
the full moon and the two nights surrounding it, making that a total of
three nights in every month.
Later that night, one of Buffy's classmates, Theresa, is walking home alone
when she bumps in Angel, who offers to walk her home. Meanwhile, Buffy and
Giles investigate Lover's Lane in the woods, hoping to find the werewolf and
bring it back alive, for it is still a human twenty-eight days out of the
month. Buffy gets trapped in a net that lifts her to the top of the trees.
As she calls for help from Giles, a poacher named Cain appears with a
shotgun. After realizing that his catch is not a werewolf, he cuts the net
down, and Giles helps Buffy out. Cain explains that he hunts werewolves to
make money. He then asks them if they know where else the teenagers might
hang out, since werewolves are attracted to sexual heat. Buffy feigns
ignorance, so Cain leaves and goes off on his own. Buffy and Giles then
drive towards the Bronze, which fits Cain's description perfectly. As they
arrive there, dozens of frightened teens evacuate the Bronze, for the
werewolf has already arrived. Buffy runs inside by herself and pulls a chain
out of her backpack. She tries to tie up the werewolf, but it breaks free of
the chain and escapes. While Buffy and Giles deal with Cain, who is upset
that she tried to capture it instead of kill it, the werewolf wanders down
the alleys when it discovers Theresa's body. There are two bite marks on its
neck, and all the blood has been drained from its body. The werewolf looks
up and sees Angel. The two growl at each other, but do not attack. Angel
eventually backs off and disappears.
Early next morning before sunrise, Buffy and Giles hear on the radio that
Theresa was found dead, and her murder may be linked to the werewolf. They
now have only night left before the werewolf goes into remission for the
remainder of the month. As the sun rises, the werewolf slowly transforms
back to human form while it is sleeping. Once all the hair fades away to
reveal flesh, we see that the werewolf is Oz. After waking up and realizing
that he is naked in the woods, Oz suspects that he may be the werewolf. He
goes home and calls his aunt. Oz asks her about his cousin Jordy, who bit
him recently. Apparently, his aunt knows that Jordy is a werewolf, and since
he bit Oz, the curse has been passed along. Oz goes to school that day in a
daze, and he is horrified to learn that he may have killed Theresa the
previous night. Xander suspects that Larry may be the werewolf, so he leaves
to question him in the locker room. Willow invites Oz to help her do some
research later that night, but Oz refuses and runs off, leaving Willow upset
over his apparent change of heart. In the locker room, Xander confronts
Larry in the locker room. Xander tells him that he knows the secret that
Larry has been hiding, only to find out that Larry's secret is his
homosexuality. Misunderstanding Xander's words, Larry now believes that
Xander is also gay, but assures him that their secret is safe between them.
Feeling relieved and better about himself, Larry thanks Xander and walks
off.
Realizing that the police reports never mentioned anything about Theresa
being mauled, Buffy and Xander visit the funeral home and inspect Theresa's
body. Sure enough, they find two bite marks on her neck, signifying death by
vampire. While Buffy signs the guestbook, Theresa suddenly gets up behind
her, only now her face is that of a vampire. In the middle of their fight,
Theresa throws Buffy off guard by saying that Angel sent her. Luckily,
Xander is able to stake her through the back before she can take advantage
of Buffy's disoriented state. After being helped up, Buffy embraces Xander
for a short while, expressing her fear of Angel's relentlessness. She then
realizes her position, gathers herself together, and leaves, with Xander
following behind. Elsewhere, Oz knows that he must not be able to leave the
house that night, so brings out a box of chains and shackles. Before he can
lock himself up, Willow knocks on the door. She is obviously upset by his
decision to stay home and do nothing by himself instead of spending the time
with her. Oz tries to warn her of the danger, but it is too late, for his
transformation has already begun. Willow screams and runs out of the house,
while the werewolf chases her down the block and into the woods. Before he
can attack Willow, a different scent catches the werewolf's nose, so he
leaves Willow alone. She runs off to the library, where Giles is loading up
a tranquilizer gun. Willow tells Giles and Buffy that Oz is the werewolf, so
they rush out to the woods. Buffy kicks the shotgun out of Cain's hand just
before he pulls the trigger. After knocking Cain down, Buffy fights the
werewolf, which prevents Giles from getting a clean shot. Buffy is then
knocked into Giles and Willow. As the werewolf charges them, Willow grabs
the tranquilizer gun and shoots him, causing him to stumble back and
collapse. As Cain gets up, Buffy bends his gun with her bare hands, then
orders him to leave.
The next day, Oz tells Willow that he'll be fine, as long as he locks
himself up around the full moon every month. To his surprise, Willow is
still interested in continuing their relationship. As she leaves, Willow
kisses Oz for the first time.
