Religion, particularly Christianity has always present, though not central, concept in the Buffyverse. The whole concept of fighting vampires over a Hellmouth is steeped in Christian mythology (not to call Christianity a myth, but the concept of vampires within Christianity). Most of the time any Christian subtext doesn’t go beyone basic character names, or the use of a crucifix as a weapon against the vamps. That is, until the episode Who Are You.

The episode features the return of Faith, who quickly switches bodies with Buffy. The two meet up at the end of the episode after a trio of vampires take over a church, holding the parishoners hostage. The vampires were sent forth by Adam, a new kind of hybrid demon, and one is even referred to as Adam’s number one. The vampire thus becomes Cain, the originator of murder for killing Abel.

Cain is mocking the hostages, asking them where their God is to save them, while talking about how he had always feared churches due to the implied presence of God. Apparently God has no place in the churches of Sunnydale since the vamp group have no fear of being in the church and there’s no burning upon entering. That is, God doesn’t exist in the church until Buffy, Faith, and (to a lesser extant) Giles show up.

The trio represent the holy trinity. Buffy, who automatically gets lumped together with Jesus due to her death and subsequent resurrection (in order to save the world, no less) in the first season, is the representative of The Son. Because of her name, Faith, who also had a bit of a death and resurrection in the form of a nearly year long coma, represents the Holy Spirit. While Giles, who is an all-knowing figure that doesn’t do much but sends others out to do his bidding, represents God.

The most puzzling thing about the episode is what causes Faith to show up at the church. She’s well on her way to leaving Sunnydale forever when she sees the news about the situation. Given Faith’s past, it would seem as if she would have no qualms about leaving the parishoners to die, but she ends up coming back to help. Either she’s not as evil as she would let on in the last season (specifically Bad Girls) which is a divergent story path I was always expecting, or the overall goodness of Buffy’s body (in essence, her faith) caused Faith to come back and do the right thing.

Who Are You just hits home the fact that Faith is one of the more interesting characters on the show. It’s a damn shame she ends up leaving at the end of the episode.

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.