Episode Trivia
Animal instincts
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Xander discovered he had a better sense of smell after being a hyena in 1.06 The Pack, when he tried to sniff out a werewolf in 2.15 Phases.
Aunt Maureen
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Maureen was Oz’s aunt and the mother of Oz’s cousin Jordy, who bit Oz and turned him into a werewolf. Oz called Maureen in 2.15 Phases to confirm that Jordy was indeed a werewolf. Maureen was married to Oz’s Uncle Ken.
Bell around the neck
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In 6.06 All The Way, Buffy is startled when she runs into Spike in the Magic Shop basement. She says:
“Bell. Neck. Look into it.”
In 2.03 School Hard, Xander says the same thing about Angel:
“Okay, that’s it. I’m puttin’ a collar with a little bell on that guy.”
In 2.15 Phases, Larry says to Xander:
“Harris. Sheesh. Next time wear a bell.”
Caine
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Caine was a werewolf hunter who argued with Buffy about the ethical treatment of werewolves in the episode 2.15 Phases. Caine believed they should be killed but Buffy realised that a werewolf is also human. Caine kills werewolves and sells their pelts in Sri Lanka.
Choosing Oz
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Seth Green was given a copy of the script for 2.15 Phases by Joss Whedon, to persuade him to take the role of the character of Oz. He had already played Oz a couple of times in the show, but this was for the role of recurring character. Seth said:
“It had all this metaphorical stuff and gave strong shades to the character. I said, “Yeah, I wanna be a part of this!”"
Cousin Jordy
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Jordy was Oz’s young cousin who was also a werewolf. He bit Oz on the finger, turning him into a werewolf in 2.15 Phases. Jordy’s mother was Oz’s Aunt Maureen (whom Oz spoke to on the phone) and his father was Uncle Ken.
Dean Batali
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Dean was a Buffy writer who wrote five episodes with Rob Des Hotel: 1.05 Never Kill A Boy On The First Date, 1.09 The Puppet Show, 2.08 The Dark Age, 2.15 Phases and 2.18 Killed By Death. The two have also both written for Fantasy Island, Hope & Gloria, Duckman and The Adventures of Pete & Pete (which starred Michelle Trachtenberg as Nona). Rob and Dean are both co-executive producers on That ’70s Show.
Forbidden Planet
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In 2.15 Phases, Xander mentions “Robby the Robot”, who was a character in the 1956 movie Forbidden Planet.
Giles’s first car
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Giles’s first car seen on the show was an ancient silver Citroen, first seen in 1.03 The Witch. The licence plate was 2GPU947. During the filming of 2.15 Phases, the car refused to start so some members of the Buffy crew had to push the car from behind. They can be seen through the rear window in one scene. It finally died a nasty death when Spike crashed it in 4.12 A New Man.
Girl next door
details | 3 comments | suggested by Jess
The following line was cut for length from the episodes 2.15 Phases:
Xander (to Cordelia): “Be gentle with me.”
Cordelia (to Willow): “You first. I wouldn’t want to be accused of taking your place in line.”
Willow: “Oh, I think you pushed your way to the front long before this.”
Cordelia: “Hey, I can’t help it if I get the spotlight just because some people blend into the background.”
Willow: “Well, maybe some people could see better if you weren�t standing on the auction block, shaking your wares.”
Cordelia: “Sorry, we haven’t all perfected that phony ‘girl next door’ bit.”
Willow: “You could be the girl next door, too. If Xander lived next to a brothel!”
Jack Conley
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Jack Conley, who played Caine the werewolf hunter in 2.15 Phases, also played the time-shifting demon Sahjhan in seasons three and five of Angel. Jack has also been in Payback, L.A. Confidential, Mercury and Get Shorty.
Keith Campbell
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Keith Campbell played the werewolf in 2.15 Phases and the club manager in the Angel episode 2.01 Judgement. He is a stunt man who has appeared in Mission: Impossible, Face/Off, Blade, Vanilla Sky, Stargate, The Last Action Hero, Forrest Gump, and Patriot Games. He did stunts in Inspector Gadget which starred Michelle Trachtenberg (Dawn) and for Dead Man on Campus, which starred Alyson Hannigan (Willow).
Larry Bagby III
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Larry played Sunnydale High bully turned gay activist Larry Blaisdale. Larry is a Mormon, but this didn’t stand in his way of playing a gay character (Mormons do not condone homosexuality). Larry was in an episode of Mr. Belvedere with Seth Green when the two were about 12 years old. The two also worked together on Airborne. Larry played another bully in Hocus Pocus, starring Sarah Jessica Parker and Bette Midler.
Lotion
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The band Lotion play their track “Blind For Now” from their album Nobody’s Cool when Willow and Cordelia are talking in The Bronze in 2.15 Phases. In 3.07 Revelations, we hear Lotion’s song “West of Here” (from The Telephone Album) as the Dingoes leave the stage.
There are two stickers for the band seen in 2.16 Bewitched, Bothered And Bewildered. One is on the locker behind Giles at the beginning of the episode, and the other is on the locker next to Cordelia’s.
Moon pie
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In the second season episode 2.15 Phases, Xander refers to Moon Pie, made in Chattanooga, Tennessee. From MoonPie.com:
“Early in the 1900s, while servicing his territory of Kentucky, Tennessee and West Virginia, Mr. Mitchell was visiting a company store that catered to the coal miners. He asked them what they might enjoy as a snack. The miners said they wanted something for their lunch pails. It had to be solid and filling. “About how big?,!” Mr. Mitchell asked. Well about that time the moon was rising, so a miner held out his big hands, framing the moon and said, “About that big!” So, with that in mind, Mr. Mitchell headed back to the bakery with an idea. Upon his return he noticed some of the workers dipping graham cookies into marshmallow and laying them on the window sill to harden. So they added another cookie and a generous coating of chocolate and sent them back for the workers to try.”
Moving eyes
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Catherine Madison was trapped inside a cheerleading statue at Sunnydale High at the end of 1.03 The Witch. In 2.15 Phases, Oz noticed the cheerleading statue’s moving eyes and thought it was cool. This was an in-joke to fans, as well as to prepare us for the return of Amy Madison in the next episode, 2.16 Bewitched, Bothered And Bewildered.
Nod to the fans
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In the episode 2.15 Phases, when Buffy is talking to Willow and Xander she stops and stands in front of a noticeboard. If you look to the right of her shoulder, you can see a little notice thanking all of the Buffy fans at the official website.
Remember when…
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In 2.15 Phases, Xander brings up the time he spent possessed by a hyena in 1.06 The Pack, but when the girls remind him that he said he didn’t remember anything about his possession, he shuts up pretty quickly.
Rob des Hotel
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Rob was a Buffy writer who wrote five episodes with Dean Batali: 1.05 Never Kill A Boy On The First Date, 1.09 The Puppet Show, 2.08 The Dark Age, 2.15 Phases and 2.18 Killed By Death. The two have also both written for Fantasy Island, Hope & Gloria, Duckman and The Adventures of Pete & Pete (which starred Michelle Trachtenberg as Nona). Rob and Dean are both co-executive producers on That ’70s Show.
Rob Des Hotel’s favourite episode
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Buffy writer Rob des Hotel stated in The Monster Book:
“2.15 Phases is probably my favorite episode of the five we wrote. Oz just has an ability to pinpoint what’s going on and make it sound absurd. I think there’s a sweetness to him. In 2.15 Phases, Willow comes up to him and says ‘Hi,’ and Oz says, “That’s what I was gonna say.’”
Theresa Klusmeyer
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Theresa Klusmeyer was a student at Sunnydale High who was killed and sired by Angelus in the episdoe 2.15 Phases simply because she knew Buffy. When she rose as a vampire, Theresa gave Buffy the message:
“Angel sends his love”.
Unappreciative Xander
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In 2.02 Some Assembly Required, Xander states, “People don’t fall in love with what’s right in front on them. They want the dream. The more unattainable, the more attractive.” In 2.15 Phases, Willow says a similar thing, ironically about Xander: “He’s so busy looking around at everything he doesn’t have, he doesn’t even realize what he does have.”
Werewolves
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Werewolves on the show were first examined in the episode 2.15 Phases, in which Oz discovered he was a wolf. Buffy werewolves are fairly traditional in that the creature is a human for most of the time, but turns into a wolf for three nights a month at the time of a full moon. The human part of the creature is unaware of what happens when it is a wolf. A person becomes a werewolf after being bitten by one. Oz was bitten by his Cousin Geordie and takes the news in his usual calm manner. He locks himself in a cage during the three nights in which he ‘wolfs-out’. Oz met Veruca, a fellow student who was also a werewolf, though she embraced it. When the wolf-side of Oz threatened his girlfriend Willow, Oz left Sunnydale to look for a cure. After a great deal of searching, Oz met some Tibetan monks who taught him to control his werewolf side with some herbs, chanting, a couple of talismans, and “keeping his cool”. Werewolf hunters kill wolves for their fur, a commodity that can apparently be sold for a hefty price. The hunter shoots the wolf using silver bullets. Buffy met a hunter named Caine in 2.15 Phases and tried to convince him that the wolf was really a human, to no avail.
When was she sired?
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In 2.15 Phases we see that Theresa was turned into a vampire by Angelus, but when did he sire her? When Oz in werewolf form approaches the body in the alley, Angelus is seen backing away from the body. Even if the werewolf didn’t touch Theresa’s body, we can clearly see that she is lying unconscious and, according to previous episodes with siring, the victim has to be just close to death to be turned, so how did Theresa drink Angelus’s blood, and did Angelus come back to sire her?
Who’s gay?
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It is rumoured that Joss Whedon originally hadn’t decided whether it would be Willow or Xander who turned out to be gay. Xander’s conversation with Larry in 2.15 Phases could have been a foreshadowing for his future had Xander been homosexual and not Willow.
Without Buffy
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In 2.15 Phases, Buffy blames herself for Theresa’s death (Angel killed her), but Xander refers to two other episodes where Buffy has saved people: 1.08 I Robot, You Jane (”Willow would be Robby the Robot’s love-slave”) and 1.04 Teacher’s Pet (”I wouldn’t even have a head”).
WP (Widespread Panic)
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A black and white oval sticker with the letters “WP” can often be seen in Sunnydale. The sticker is for a band called Widespread Panic. Examples of episodes in which this is seen include:
- 2.04 Inca Mummy Girl: behind Xander when he says to Ampata, “Why’d you run away?”.
- 2.06 Halloween: next to Cordelia when she’s dressed as a cat and talking to Oz (on Oz’s locker door), and when Willow walks into the library when she’s a ghost, there is one on the bulletin board to her right. There is also a sticker on the bathroom wall, seen behind Buffy’s right shoulder when she an Willow look through the book.
- 2.05 Reptile Boy: at the beginning of the episode, behind Xander’s left shoulder in Buffy’s room.
- 2.12 Bad Eggs: behind Jonathan’s right shoulder on the locker when he is being attacked.
- 2.13 Surprise: on the locker behind Cordelia when she is talking to Xander and behind Xander when he calls Giles a party weasel. A colourful Widespread Panic poster can also be seen behind Joyce in Buffy’s dream.
- 2.15 Phases: when Buffy is in the Bronze looking for the werewolf, a WP sticker can be seen on a pillar behind her right shoulder.
- 2.16 Bewitched, Bothered And Bewildered: poster in Xander’s room and behind Xander when Harmony tells him he should learn a second language so more girls can reject him. A sticker can also be seen on the locker behind Cordelia when Harmony is telling her off for breaking up with Xander.
- 2.22 Becoming (Part Two): at the beginning of the episode, when the cop is arresting Buffy in the hall, you can see a WP sticker on the lockers behind her.
- 3.02 Dead Man’s Party: on a guitar case behind the drums during the party.
- 4.12 A New Man: behind Giles when he’s at Buffy’s party.
- 4.06 Wild At Heart: a colourful WP poster (not the sticker) can be seen to the right of Oz’s bedroom door.
- 4.20 The Yoko Factor: in Buffy and Willow’s dorm room.
- 5.03 The Replacement: on the payphone that Xander uses to call Buffy.
[Goof] Buffy’s bag
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When Buffy walks into The Bronze in Phaswes, the left strap of her backpack is hanging down. When the scene cuts to her back, the strap has returned to her shoulder.
[Goof] Crew pushing car
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Giles’ car gave the crew trouble in 2.15 Phases so they got some extras to push the car as if it was actually working. You can see the extras through the car’s rear window when it pulls up in front of the Bronze.
[Goof] Giles’s magic glasses
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In 2.15 Phases, during the scene in which Willow tells Giles and Buffy that Oz is the werewolf, watch Giles. When he is standing facing the right, he is wearing no glasses, but when he turns around and faces the left, he has his glasses on.
[Goof] Willow’s muddy clothes
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When Willow is running away from Oz-wolf in 2.15 Phases, she trips in the woods, muddying her overalls. Yet when she enters the library her overalls are clean.