Wild at Heart; The Buffy episode, not the Lynch Movie
Posted by Tycho on March 21, 2009
I watched Wild at Heart, the season 4 episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer last night. I doubt there’s anyone reading that hasn’t already seen it, but I’m pretty much going to spoil a story arc of the show by talking about it, so you’re warned.
The story concern’s Oz (played by Seth Green) and Willow (played by Alyson Hannigan). Oz, who is a werewolf and Willow, who is a witch, have been dating for a while, but lately Oz has found himself transfixed by a local singer, Veruca. For the last couple episodes it appeared that Oz was developing a crush on Veruca, much to Willow’s chagrin.
We discover that Veruca is also a werewolf and she and Oz are drawn together by their mutual lycan instincts. After meeting up in their transmogrified forms, the two spend a night (we can only assume) doing it wolfy style. When Oz wakes up naked, next to an equally naked Veruca, he is understandably bewildered (he doesn’t remember anything he does in wolf-state) and ashamed.
By the end of the episode, Willow finds out about their relationship and Oz’s betrayal, while Oz tries to get Veruca to become more domesticated, both for her safety and for the safety of others. Willow, the jilted lover, uses her wiccan training to put a hex on both Oz and Veruca, but is stopped at the last minute because, despite herself, she still loves Oz and can’t bear to cause him pain.
At that same moment, Veruca corners Willow. Veruca wants Willow out of the picture so that she can have Oz all to herself. Oz manages to save Wilow at the last instant and ends up killing Veruca. Unable to live with himself for what he did, Oz leaves Willow and Sunnydale behind.
It’s a damn shame that Green had to leave the show. According to popular rumor, , the Veruca/Oz storyline would’ve evolved over the rest of the season, which would’ve made for some damn intersting television.
We could’ve had Willow following through with her hex, marking the first turn down a potentially darker path. This could’ve turned Oz into a potential enemy, or if not an enemy, at least a constant source of tension for the group.
Even if Willow didn’t go through with her hex, Oz could’ve discovered that he could be happier on a primal level with Veruca. He could’ve tried to domesticate her, while she tried to de-domesticate him.
Better yet, and while still adhereing to Whedon’s ‘nobody can ever be truly happy’ theme, Willow could’ve gone through with her hex, still had Oz kill Veruca. This would’ve been my favorite option since it’s sooo dark. Oz would want to get back with Willow, because he still loves her, but she placed the hex on him making it impossible. Then he has to deal with the additional stress of having flat out killed someone, even if he did do it as a werewolf and not truly in his right mind. Then, on top of that, you’d have Willow wrestling with her own demons because she was the one who ruined any chance of them reconciling their relationship.
This would be on par with Buffy slaying Angel at the end of season 2 the moment that he turns back to good. As it stands, Wild at Heart is a great episode, but it’s a shame once you start thinking about what could have been.
