"There's 'whoo!' and 'hoo!' ... but there's 'uh-oh' and 'why now?' And it's complicated."
-- Willow, New Moon Rising
Quick Synopsis
Oz returns to Sunnydale in control of his wolf and looking to pick up where he left off with Willow. There's "whoo" and "hoo", but with Tara now in the picture, things are a tad more complicated for Willow than they would've been a couple of months ago. As she tries to figure out what to do, Oz finds out about her and Tara and loses control. Tara is saved by the Initiative, who capture Oz and take him back to the lab to study him. Unable to stomach the experiments, Riley tries to sneak Oz out, but is himself captured and jailed. Buffy, Xander and Willow break into the Initiative and manage to free both Oz and Riley. When Willow choses Tara, Oz leaves town again, and Willow promises to make everything up to Tara, starting right now.
Full Synopsis
Willow and Tara are heading to the Scooby meeting, this being Tara's first time attending. Tara asks Willow if she likes cats; she's thinking of getting one as a pet. She suggests naming her Trixie or Miss Kitty Fantastico and they can drive her bonkers with string and catnip. Will's more of a dog person, but she likes the idea and declares enthusiastically that she's in.
 The gang have gathered at Giles'. Buffy says that she's not getting any monster-type action, which is odd because Riley reports the Initiative is busier than ever. Willow helpfully translates every other sentence for Tara, then realizes she's over-helping. The meeting is breaking up when they notice a figure standing at the front door. It's Oz.
Oz asks a shocked Willow if they can get together tonight to talk, and she agrees. He leaves to see if Devon has a place he can stay, but the tension in the room remains pretty high. Tara quickly leaves as well, saying that she has a study group she forgot about.
That night, Buffy and Riley are patrolling and he asks her what exactly was up with Willow and Oz's breakup. A demon briefly (very briefly) interrupts the conversation, but it quickly gets back on track. When Buffy mentions that Oz is a werewolf, Riley trips out about Willow dating a monster, and Buffy doesn't take his judgemental nature very well.
 Oz arrives at Willow and Buffy's room and asks Willow to come outside with him. Once there, he points out the moon -- it's full. And he's not a wolf. Willow is ecstatic for him, but quickly sombers when Oz confirms that there's no new guy in her life and tells her that he can be what she needs now.
A group of Initiative commandos, led by Graham, are attacked by a trio of demons in the woods and pretty seriously hurt.
Willow and Oz are sitting in her room talking. He's been telling her about his travels around the world on his quest to control the wolf. They've been talking so long that it's now morning, and they decide to go to breakfast. When Willow goes to freshen up, Tara arrives and sees Oz in the room. He invites her in to wait for Willow, but Tara is clearly upset and rushes off, leaving Oz more than a little confused. When Willow comes back he tells her about Tara's visit. Willow looks pained.
The alarm goes off in Riley's room, waking him and Buffy up. He's cuddly, but she pulls back and is quite snippy. They talk some more about Riley's blanket belief that demon = bad and he asks Buffy to name one vampire that isn't evil. She never gets the chance to respond, however, as Forrest enters with the news about Graham's team getting hit last night.
 Buffy goes home to find Willow curled up on her bed. She asks how it went with Oz last night and is thrilled to find out that Oz has control of the wolf. She notices Willow's lack of enthusiasm and asks about it. Willow explains that the situation is now complicated because of Tara. It takes a minute, but Buffy finally figures it out. She's a little freaked at first, but calms down and says she's glad Willow told her. Will says that she doesn't want to hurt anyone, but Buffy strikes to the heart of the situation and says that no matter what, someone is going to be hurt; the only thing Willow can do is be honest.
Spike is asleep in his crypt when he realizes he has an intruder. It's Adam, which surprises him. The fact that Adam wants to make a deal is equally surprising.
Willow goes to Tara's room to tell her that she and Oz were just talking, which is obviously something of a relief. Tara says that whatever Willow decides, she'll still be there for her. Willow starts to get really upset, saying she doesn't know what she wants or what to do. Tara tells her to do what makes her happy, and Willow cries harder as she hugs Tara.
 In one of the UC Sunndale buildings, Oz sniffs the air. He calls out Willow's name in greeting, but it's Tara that walks by, which confuses him. She notices that Oz is holding an enrollment packet and tries to put on a brave front about his return. Oz for his part seems fixated on what he smelled and asks if Tara is wearing Willow's sweater (which she is). When Tara doesn't answer he becomes increasingly agitated. She tries to leave but he grabs her and asks point blank if they're involved and if Willow's in love with her. Tara notices that his hand is morphing into the wolf, and when she looks at Oz, his face has changed too. "Run," he growls.
Post-commercial, Tara's doing just that, but wolf-Oz is quickly closing in. She throws a chair at him just as Riley, Forrest and some other Initiative guys show up with a tranq gun. Oz is out for the count and they bag him, saying that he might be one of the demons that took out Graham's group. "If it is, we'll put it down," Riley says. Tara tries to tell them that it's a person, but they cut her off and leave with Oz.
 Back at Spike's, he and Adam are discussing Adam's plans. Adam says that he needs heavy casualties on both sides, not just humans. To ensure that happens, Adam wants to make sure Buffy leads the humans. As for Spike, if he makes it so Buffy is in the right place at the right time, Adam will remove the chip.
Tara runs to the library to find Willow. She says that Oz changed, despite the fact that it's daytime, and that the Initiative captured him. Willow runs out to find Buffy. The Scoobies assemble at Giles', but Riley isn't answering his pages. Realizing they don't have time to wait, they decide to make a plan without inside help.
Riley isn't answering because he's busy with the Initiative's new subject. The scientists can't confirm that Oz is the demon that attacked Graham's group without more testing. Riley doesn't plan to wait and prepares to shoot the wolf when Oz changes back. The scientists are fascinated, having a werewolf subject that isn't bound by the lunar cycle. Now that Riley knows who it is he tries to stop the testing, but succeeds only in getting himself forcibly removed from the area. The experiements proceed, moving to electroshock torture to make the wolf appear.
Buffy's worried that Riley isn't answering her calls, so they decide to move now. Buffy and Xander will be going in, and Willow insists that she come too; she'll leave detailed instructions for Giles and Anya on how to hack into the electrical grid to shut down the Initiative. Buffy agrees and they discuss how to get in since Buffy's direct clearance would have been turned off ages ago now. Spike choses to enter at that point and suggests that they go in the back way that he'll show them. For a price. And a laugh.
 Oz huddles in a corner of his cell in obvious pain when Riley shows up. He unlocks the cell and gives Oz some clothes. Together, they make their way to the exit but stumble into a group of Initiative soldiers ready for them.
Riley is held in a cell of his own (much more traditional and obviously in a different area from the monsters) when he is visited by Colonel McNamera. The Colonel is pissed. He tells Riley that he's planning a court martial, but if Riley helps them take out the anarchist Slayer and her people, he might save his military career instead of dying a traitor.
Despite the steady stream of threats from Buffy, Spike leads the group to the back entrance. Adam is monitoring it, and uses the computer system to unlock it for them. Also in the system are Anya and Giles, who manage to take out the power for the entire campus and surrounding areas. Buffy and the gang burst into McNamera's room and learn that Riley's being held as well. Xander declares it a two-for-one special.
Using McNamera as a guide and insurance, they find and release Riley and Oz. Willow goes to Oz, but seeing her almost makes him wolf out again and he tells her to get back. They make their way out and Riley leaves McNamera with a parting gift of a fist in the face.
The group split up to make themselves a bit harder to find; Buffy and Riley are hiding out in the ruins of Sunnydale High and talk about the day's events. Riley admits that he was wrong about Oz, that things aren't perhaps as black and white as he once thought. Hearing him say that convines Buffy to tell him about Angel.
 Willow and Oz sit in his van, talking. He asks if she's happy now, and Willow says that she is, but that some part of him will always be with her. Oz says he's going to leave now, and the two of them hug.
The power outage is still going on, and Tara sits alone in her dark room. There's a knock at the door and she answers to reveal Willow, standing there with a candle. She comes in and gives the candle to Tara and starts to explain but Tara cuts her off. She says that she understands that Willow has to be with the person she loves. Willow says that she is and plans to make it all up to Tara starting right now. Tara blows out the candle.
- Oz Returns. Oz left to find a way to control his wolfy side in Wild at Heart.
- Place to Crash. Oz mentions that he's going to see if Devon has a place he can stay. Devon is the lead singer for Oz's old band, "Dingoes Ate My Baby". He was last seen in The Harsh Light of Day.
- Infiltration. Buffy says that she and Xander have infiltrated the Initiative before, which they did in Goodbye Iowa.
- Stuck in the Hole. Spike offers up his intimate knowledge of the Initiative complex for fun and money. He was captured by the commandos in Wild at Heart and escaped in The Initiative.
 Being the huge Willow/Tara softie that I am, this episode obviously holds a special place in my gushy little heart. But that's the amusing thing about hindsight; when I sit down to review this episode, I'm looking at it from the perspective of three years and 69 more episodes down the line. At the time I first watched it, however, it was an entirely different story, and that's one of the episode's strengths on first viewing.
Because I like Oz. I admit, with assurances that I'll deny it if confronted, that when he drove away in Wild at Heart, I was crying right along with Willow. At the time, you feel like she does, and had Oz come back pretty soon after leaving, there would've been no question that we'd want Willow to take him back. But then somewhere along the way, something happened. As Willow herself says to Buffy, "it wasn't something I was looking for." Which is one of the beautiful things about the Willow and Tara relationship, that it was given the time and space to simply grow into being. So we, like Willow, weren't looking for it to happen ... but then it did. And just when we're getting used to it, here comes Oz and we're torn. He's Oz, you know?
 It's the fact that I was as torn as Willow really sold me on this episode. I really didn't know who I wanted Willow to choose. Cool, calm and collected Oz, or sweet, shy and slighly quirky Tara? The scenes where Willow is so obviously, miserably unsure are touching, and completely sell you on the charged emotions running in this episode. Even looking back on it now, the feelings are every bit as strong.
This episode is pivotal to the three major characters involved. For Oz, it pretty much wraps up his storyline in the Buffyverse. There's obviously the question of "What now?" for him, but there was never a sense of closure for Oz. His return in "New Moon Rising" gave it to him. Everything he's done since he left has been for Willow; everything he does from this point forward will be for himself.
For Willow, too, there is the closure. While Oz was obviously no longer preying on her every waking throught, his abrupt departure never allowed her to come to terms with what he did and why he did it. In particular, I would imagine that the very nature of her relationship with Tara could be suspect in her mind (and Tara's as well). Did she "go gay" just because of her boyfriend's betrayal? Is it just a phase? Willow's final decision to be with Tara isn't about the wolf, isn't about bitterness, and it isn't even about Oz. It's all about Willow and it's all about Tara. Seeing him and being faced with the decision simply made her realize that she now loved someone else, and that was okay.
 In Tara's case, there's the obvious: she now has Willow. As she herself starts to say, she always knew that if Oz came back, Willow would return to him. But beyond that, there's a heck of a lot of extremely subtle characterization for Tara going on here, and this is the episode that cemented for me that I really did like her. Up until this episode, our glimpses of Tara had been tantalizing, but not quite fully formed. She was a shy witch with a stutter who obviously liked Willow from Moment One. It's in this episode, however, that we get to see just how much she loves Willow. To the absolute exclusion of her own happiness. Saying it kills her, but she really does want Willow to do whatever will make her happy. That's an unbelievably unselfish act that might come across forced from most people, but from Tara it's undeniable truth. Even beyond that, Tara actually "gives" Willow to Oz when the first thing she does after being attacked and nearly killed by the werewolf is to track down Willow and tell her that he's been captured by the Initiative. When Willow says she has to go, Tara's only reply is, "I know." It's not readily apparent, but there's a steel rod of strength in Tara that allows her to make the hard choices that others might not be able to make. Yet it's all about compassion, and I find that mix of character traits to be fascinating. When I realized that in this episode, I knew what I wanted Willow's choice to be.
 But, amazingly, this episode actually wasn't all about Willow, Tara and Oz, though I pretty much forget that every time I think about it. Some other stuff happened here as well, including a pretty big move forward for the Buffy/Riley relationship. Throughout the course of this season, Buffy has been functioning with the shadow of Angel hovering over her. She's with Riley because he's a nice guy, but there's always been that spectre hanging around. Her reasoning for it is understandable -- much like Oz is for Willow, Angel is her first love, and its inherent tragedy only makes the pairing all the more appealing. But also like Willow, Buffy comes to the realization (helped along by Riley's own ability to admit that he's wrong) that her past relationship is just that: in the past. It's time now to move on. Exactly how well her history with Angel will be taken remains to be seen until the next episode, however this is an important first step and one that Buffy must inevitably take.
Ah, but wait, it's not just about the relationships, believe it or not. The main Initiative storyline is also moved along here, first with getting Riley out from under their influence and secondly for reinforcing that hey, these guys really are kinda scary. It's one thing to put chips in vampires and cut up nasty muderous demons, but it's another thing entirely to watch them torturing a beloved character just to see what will happen. Put simply, that ain't cool, and seeing it helped to hammer home for me the fact that I really, really want Buffy to kick their collective ass. An ass which is, of course, personified in Adam. A little frankenstein-like creation with a plan. What is that plan? Who the hell knows, but now he's got Spike on board to help him out, odds are that it won't be good for the Scoobs.
All told, New Moon Rising is an excellent Buffy episode. High on the drama, as one can expect from Marti Noxon (when you see her name in the credits, you know there'll be great heaping buckets of angst and misery coming your way ... luckily I love angst and misery), but also serving to drive the primary plot along as we steadily approach the end of this season.
I wish that Seth and Amber could have had more scenes together. A near impossibility, true, but I loved seeing the two of them together, even briefly. And how about that wolf-out? I never really bought too much into the scary werewolf Oz, I admit, but the look on his face coupled with the simple "Run." was fantastic. There was such a note of finality about it. "It's coming and there ain't no amount of Tibetan monk meditation that's gonna stop me from ripping your throat out." I love how in the characters of Oz and Tara we have two distinctly different takes on love. Tara, as discussed above, represents the aspect of love that is giving and self-sacrificing. In Oz, there's the side of love that is selfish and violently possessive. Tara loves enough to give and Oz (at least wolf-Oz) loves enough to take. Does it mean anything that the selfish side is male and the giving side is female? C'mon, this is Buffy -- of course it does.
 Alyson Hannigan is, as always, incredible in this episode, and I will say no more about it because I fear I wouldn't know when to shut up. Just watch any scene with her in it, and you'll see what I mean.
One surprising thing here was that, at least for a few second there, I liked Riley. Not that I ever actively dislike Riley, because I don't. Mostly, I just forget about him. But now and again in this season, I'm struck with moments where he's more than just there, and this episode contained one of them. Riley's a brave guy. Not only for trying to break Oz out, but by actually realizing and openly admitting that he was wrong. And it's not about anything small, this is a huge fundamental part of Riley's belief system, the same system that he's been operating under with undying loyalty for years now. That takes a heck of a lot of strength of character.
The final thing that stands out for me in this episode is the "coming out", where Buffy finally learns about Willow's relationship with Tara. Of course it speaks volumes about Buffy's "remarkable self-involvement" that she had to be clubbed over the head with what Faith picked up on in all of about seven seconds, but I don't really fault her for that too much; sometimes you're simply too close to something to see it for what it is. But when she did find out, I felt that Buffy's reaction worked for me. She was surprised and, yes, a little freaked, but quickly decided that Willow was Willow and nothing else mattered. And hey, she even did a bit of self-reflection later on when she paralleled Riley's reaction to Willow in an unconventional relationship. Even Buffy manages to be deep now and again.
But of course, the highlights of the episode are the Willow and Tara scenes, which are adorable and touching and favourites so there.
- Riley: We've got demons comin' out our ears.
Willow: That's a metaphor.
Tara: I got it, thanks.
Willow: I'm over-helping, aren't I?
- Willow: When did you get back?
Oz: Pretty much now.
- Oz: I talked to Xander, and he said you didn't have a new guy.
Willow: No. No new ... guy.
- Oz: This warlock in Romania sent me to the monks there to learn some meditation techniques. Very intense, all about keeping your inner cool.
Willow: Good, cuz you were such a spaz before.
- Willow: I believe a manly-sized breakfast is in order, don't you?
Oz: We could just ... sleep a little while. Whatever you want.
Willow: I'll have the less confusing waffles right now.
- Buffy: Great. Then you can have your perfectly balanced breakfast and then you can call your mother.
Riley: Okay. Been up less than a minute and somehow I've managed to piss you off.
- Buffy: Last night was a wolf moon, right?
Willow: Yup.
Buffy: Either you're about to tell me something incredibly kinky, or ...
- Willow: It's complicated ... because of Tara.
Buffy: You mean Tara has a crush on Oz? ...No. Oh! Oh.
- Willow: I was gonna tell him, but then we started hangin' out and ... I could just feel everything coming back. He's Oz, y'know?
- Willow: I don't know what to do. I- I wanna know ... but I don't.
Tara: Do what makes you ha-happy.
- Tara: You're, uhm ... You're coming back to school here, huh?
Oz: Pretty much feelin' ... oddly motivated.
- Oz: You smell like her. She's all over you, do you know that?
- Oz: Run.
- Adam: Scout's honor.
Spike: You were a boy scout?
Adam: Parts of me.
- Anya: So that's good, right? They probably haven't had time to eviscerate him yet.
Xander: Ahn, you can help by making this a quiet time.
- Giles: How did you get in?
Spike: The door was unlocked. You might wanna watch that, Rupert. Someone dangerous could get in.
Buffy: Or someone formally dangerous and currently annoying.
- Anya: Slap my hand now!
- Buffy: Talk later, stealthy escape now.
- Buffy: Stay back, or I'll pull a William Borroughs on your leader here.
Xander: You'll bore him to death with free prose?
Buffy: Was I the only one awake in English that day?
- Buffy: Quite a day, huh? Y'woke up to a big bowl of Wheaties and now you're a fugitive.
- Oz: I mean, it turns out ... the one thing that brings it out of me is you. Which falls under the heading of "ironic" in my book.
Willow: It was my fault. I upset you.
Oz: So we're safe then. Cuz you'll never do that again.
- Oz: It was stupid to think that you'd just be ... waiting.
Willow: I was waiting. I feel like some part of me will always be waiting for you. Like, if I'm old and blue-haired and I turn the corner in Istanbul and there you are, I won't be surprised. Cuz ... you're with me. You know?
- Oz: I think I better take off.
Willow: When?
Oz: Pretty much now.
- Willow: No candles? Well, I brought one. It's extra flamey.
- Willow: Tara, I have to tell you--
Tara: No, I-I understand. You have to be with the person you l-love.
Willow: I am.
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