Season 4

Episode 19

NEW MOON RISING: Connections and directions

By Spring Summers 15-SEP-03

- What’s real - Fusing – Making choices – Gaining knowledge – Powerful and painful connections – Trade-offs – Change – Spike and Oz – Spike and Riley – Conclusion – Spicy extras for James Marsters fans -

It’s September 15, 2003, so it was only four days ago – on the second anniversary of the September 11^th attack on The United States – that I was reminded, by all the flags I saw at half mast, and by all the fiery images that reached me through my TV, of how harsh reality can be. Sometimes, our reality is too harsh, so raw and so painful that we try to will it away. We believe, like children, that if we close our eyes, if we don’t let ourselves believe, if we ignore it, if we don’t let it in, then the devastating heartache before us can be kept at bay.

It’s the first thing we do isn’t it, when faced with the shocking news? We make that last desperate lunge at a simpler past. But it is already gone, always. So we turn around, and we face the latest, freshest horror. We take a deep breath and we speak its name: “My beloved is dead,” we whisper, or “I have cancer,” or, “My city is in ruins.” And as our words hang in the air, as they ring in our ears, we accept our future and our fate. We live another day.

In New Moon Rising, we watch and listen to our characters as they face the surprises that await them this day, and as they struggle with the process of accepting an ever-changing reality:

· Willow can’t believe that Oz has returned. She has to say his name aloud: “Oz!”

· Buffy must accept the fact that Willow is gay. She keeps saying Willow’s name over and over, as she persuades herself that yes, this is still Willow, yes, the young woman before her continues to be her old friend, “Will.”

· At the end of the episode, Riley must accept his new status as a fugitive from The Initiative. “Buffy,” he says, “if I leave now, I can’t ever come back.” He pauses. “I just wanted to hear that out loud.”

When you say it aloud, when you name it, you finish the process of realization: You absorb the external event through your senses, then by describing it out loud, you offer it back up – to both external reality and to your own ears. It spills back into the world, it is shared with others, and you can allow yourself to reabsorb it, for good measure. Now, you’ve said it. Now, you’ve heard yourself say it. Now, you know it:

· BUFFY: “There are creatures – vampires for example – that aren’t evil at all.” RILEY: “Name one.” Make it real, Buffy.

· TARA: “I can’t talk about this.” OZ: “But there’s something to talk about? ‘Cause she never said anything to me like that. We talked all night and she never – is she in love with you? Tell me, is she?” If Willow didn’t say it, how can it be true? It ruins everything. I won’t believe it until I hear someone say it out loud.

It all sounds like a one-way street, doesn’t it? We are acted upon, and we must continuously screw up our courage and accept the whims of Fate. But that isn’t the message in this episode, which features not only people coming to grips with reality, but also people impacting reality. As Willow says about Oz’s newfound ability to prevent his monthly wolfy transformation: “He said he was gonna find a cure, and he did. In Tibet.”

In a flip-flop of the other images, we see that Oz has made his words come true. The words came first. It is hard for me to describe, to find the words to convey to you, what I see in this episode. It is all about connections. I hear people sharing their visions with others, impacting and shaping them, and being impacted and molded in return. I see people interacting with external reality, and impacting and shaping it. And I see people allowing external reality into themselves, allowing it to shape and impact them as well.

Inside out. Outside in. The characters are fusing with each other and their environment, as if each individual’s final goal was not to reach a perfect independence, but to become indiscernible from the others, and from the whole of their surroundings.

Consider the image of Sunnydale’s electrical power grid in the background, while I try to explain what I mean, what I see, and why I see it:

THE EXCHANGE BETWEEN THE INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL:

· As previously mentioned, Oz makes his words come true, while in other instances, the truth gives birth to words (ANYA, about Oz’s sudden appearance: “Everyone’s uncomfortable now”).

· We have many, many images of people going in, and through, and out of something, or leaking something out, or taking something in. Here are a few examples among many:

o RILEY: “We’ve got demons coming out our ears.”

o BUFFY (to Oz): “Are you just passing through?”

o WILLOW: “So you wanna come inside?” OZ: “Actually, I want you to come outside.”

o OZ (to Willow): “I know what I put you through.”

o OZ (to Tara): “Are you sure you don’t wanna come in?”

o WILLOW (to Tara): “I feel kinda like my head’s gonna explode.”

o GILES: “How did you get in?” SPIKE: “Door was unlocked. You might wanna watch that, Rupert. Someone dangerous could get in.”

o SPIKE: “I’ve heard things, from guys who’ve gotten out. I can get you in.”

o SPIKE: “For a nasty town like Sunnydale, nobody seems to mind their locks.”

o WILLOW (to Tara): “I feel horrible about everything I put you through.”

PEOPLE IMPACTING EACH OTHER’S INTERNAL REALITIES:

· There are many scenes of, and references to, people hooking up, plugging into the grid – connecting with one another or trying to do so:

o TARA wants her room to be Willow-friendly, and Willow takes Tara with her to a Scooby meeting.

o Using a radio, RILEY calls his fellow soldiers for help.

o BUFFY (to Riley): “Great, then you can have your perfectly balanced breakfast, and then you can call your mother.”

o ADAM: “Spike, I want you to come with me.”

o BUFFY (after making repeated attempts to reach Riley): “He’s still not answering his pages. I left him another message.”

o SPIKE (about hearing of Oz’s capture): “Bad news travels fast with us demons. We all like a good laugh.”

· We have many images of people sharing with each other and imparting their experiences to others, with varying degrees of success. The Voice of Experience speaks often in this episode, emphasizing the way knowledge and its accompanying power can be transferred between people:

o WILLOW explains Scooby-speak to Tara.

o GILES tells Anya that she should pay attention to him in regard to the dangers they face because he has “a great deal of experience in these matters . . .”

o BUFFY, speaking from experience, tries to tell Riley that when it comes to love, the “demon bad/people good” theory is too simplistic.

o SPIKE, speaking from painful experience, warns Adam that The Slayer is a “whiny little thing, but when it comes to the fighting, she does have a slight tendency to win.”

o OZ warns Tara to “Run.”

o PROFESSOR WALSH left notes about Riley, and his Colonel has read them in order to learn all he needs to know about Riley and his connection to The Slayer.

Notice that Anya and Adam are minding their locks – i.e., they aren’t listening. And later, we hear Willow tell Oz that she wrote him letters, but she “didn’t have any place to send them.” Words have no impact, and lessons are not learned, if the recipient isn’t receiving.

But it is very important to listen and learn, because without sufficient knowledge, we can make disastrous choices. This Season’s early episodes clearly reference the value of the freedom of choice, and its role in the journey toward adulthood. In this late season offering, we have returned – a bit deviously, a bit brilliantly – back to that premise: Adults aren’t simply acted upon, they act. They take responsibility and they make choices that set the course of their lives.

In this particular episode, the choices are all about whether to wait or move forward, and whether to stay or to go. There are many scenes of people waiting or staying or going, and we hear the repeated use of the word “wait”:

· TARA (to Willow, upon Oz’s surprise appearance): “I just, I realized I’m late for study group. WILLOW: “Tara, wait.”

· BUFFY: “I mean, she was totally dealing with Oz being a werewolf, it wasn’t even –“ RILEY: “Whoa. Wait.”

· WILLOW (about Oz): “I was with him all night.” BUFFY: “All night? Wait. Last night was a wolf moon, right?”

· XANDER (about breaking in to The Initiative): “It’d be great if we knew someone dating a man on the inside. Someone with connections . . . oh, wait!”

· BUFFY: “Something’s wrong. Riley usually returns my phone calls by now.” XANDER: “We can’t wait much longer.”

· SPIKE: “I can get you in. No alarms. No cameras. No waiting.”

· OZ: “It was stupid to think that you’d just be waiting.” WILLOW: “I was waiting. I feel like a part of me will always be waiting for you.”

These are very important choices in life – whether to wait or not, whether to stay or go. And as many references to the passage of time remind us, time is short (ANYA: “That was a thrilling hour”). Note that Tara doesn’t stay at Giles’ apartment after Oz leaves; she says that she has to go to study group. And later, both Willow and Tara say they can’t talk long – they have to go to class. People can only afford to wait for so long. Then they choose a direction, and they continue their journeys (lots of references to “up” and “down” in this episode). People have lives to lead, and things to learn.

Learning – going to class – is essential. Willow can’t hang on to her childhood in the same way that she hangs on to the stuffed dog she hugs on her dorm room bed. She used to be a dog person, but now she’s going to share a . . . kitten with Tara. You don’t learn and grow by staying in one spot, sticking to one viewpoint, or refusing to listen to your own instincts or the lessons of others.

New Moon Rising is full of references to what people “wish” and “hope” and “want,” and what’s “better” and what’s “worse.” But as people weigh their options, they find they can’t make wise choices without knowledge. Because, as we learn most forcefully through the image of Riley nearly shooting Oz to death, appearances can be deceiving. So, like Spike as he lies on his stone slab, you should always be listening carefully for the sound of massive mud flaps. And look both ways before you cross the street. You never know what’s coming toward you.

Adam should have listened to Spike. There is folly in being too cocky, too sure of oneself, too self-motivated and too self-contained. We are again reminded, as we have been all Season, of the power inherent in sharing and being connected. People exchange knowledge, give each other strength and courage, and help each other reach their goals. Willow tells us that there is something powerful between her and Tara. We also watch the “Emergency Power Down in Progress” as the UC-Sunnydale campus and outlying areas loose power when their connection to the rest of the community is severed.

And the invocation of the name of William Burroughs also reminds us of the madness in a selfish and arrogant method. Burroughs was a writer of pulp fiction and autobiographical material that dealt with his homosexual urges and drug use. These images in themselves seem relevant to our story, but even more relevant is the central story of Burroughs’ life, which Buffy refers to as she points a crossbow at the colonel’s head and says: “Stay back – or I’ll pull a William Burroughs on your leader here.”

Here’s the story, according to: http://www.charm.net/~brooklyn/People/WilliamSBurroughs.html :

“Pursued by the law for his drug activities, Burroughs took [his wife] Joan and the children to Mexico, and it was there that he committed the thoughtless act that would change his life. Trying to show off his marksmanship to a couple of friends, he announced that he was going to do his William Tell act. Joan put a glass on her head, and he killed her with a single shot.”

We watch Spike inadvertently hurt himself as he punches Adam in the stomach (“Ow!”) and Giles accidentally hurt Anya when he “slaps her hand” in celebration (“Ow!”). Buffy tells Willow, as Willow struggles with deciding between Oz and Tara: “No matter what, somebody’s gonna get hurt.” Like change, pain is inevitable in life, and especially in love.

You always hurt the one you love. Notice that it is Willow who causes Oz the most pain: “It turns out the one thing that brings it out in me, is you.” It’s part of the deal – with the joy of establishing a strong connection comes the risk of eventually, devastatingly, finding out that the connection must be broken. Or as Spike tells Giles about the trust he exhibits in leaving his doors unlocked: “Something dangerous could get in.” That is the thing about your loved ones. They get in. Your love and your trust make you so very vulnerable to them. They are a part of you, just as parts of Adam are a Boy Scout. It hurts to leave parts of yourself behind, to let go, to choose one part over another, and to say goodbye.

In an episode full of images of exchange, we learn that in any deal, trade-offs are involved. The more valuable the item, the greater the cost (BUFFY: “What’s the going rate on a wild goose chase, Spike?”). Many references to trading underline the fact that there is a cost to any choice you make. If you take one road, you leave another behind. You must give in order to receive:

· OZ (to Willow, about a shawl): “A woman in Tibet traded it to me for a Radiohead record.”

· ADAM: “You’re going to help me with my problem.” SPIKE: “Why is that exactly?” ADAM: “I’m going to help you with yours.”

· SPIKE (to Buffy about her smart-aleck comments): “Now, now, none of that. Or I won’t help you get Red’s mongrel back . . .” GILES: “Short of cash, Spike?” SPIKE: “I happen to be seeking monetary gratification, yeah. But I also get a kick out of jackin’ up those army ginks myself.”

· COLONEL (to Riley): “You help us take them down, and you just might save your military career.”

· XANDER (to the Colonel, about rescuing Riley & Oz): “I guess we’re two for one.”

· OZ (about his van): “Well, it broke down outside of Mexico, and I traded my bass to have it fixed and garaged.”

Life is a series of choices. The moon and the tides and the actions of others and your own internal urges drive you forward and cause you and your loved ones and your surroundings to change. You seek out answers (there are several references to hunting and finding in this episode), you gather knowledge, and you make your selections – and you make your painful mistakes.

The inevitably not just of pain, but of change, is clearly underscored by the images of Oz’s transformation, and Riley’s much altered circumstances by he end of the episode (BUFFY: “You woke up to a bowl of Wheaties. Now you’re a fugitive”). We also see Spike change into military garb, going from his vampire black, to looking like “an evil olive.”

But that’s not the only parallel drawn between Spike and Oz, or Spike and Riley. New Moon Rising is all about Spike. No, it’s not just about Spike, or primarily about Spike, far from it. But nevertheless, it is about him. He’s all over it. We are very deliberately led into comparing Spike and Oz:

· Oz stands in the doorway of Giles’ apartment, while the whole gang stares at him in surprise. Later, Spike will be in this exact same position.

· Buffy tells Riley that Oz is “not dangerous.” Later, she says the same thing about Spike: SPIKE (referring to himself): “Someone dangerous could get in.” BUFFY (sarcastically): “Or someone formerly dangerous and currently annoying.”

· In New Moon Rising Oz goes from being invited into Willow’s room and sitting on the end of Willow’s bed, to being trapped in a white-walled cell in The Initiative’s complex. In The Initiative, we saw Spike in an identical cell, before he escaped and ended up invited into Willow’s dorm room - where he sat on the end of her bed, and where they also had a memorable discussion about Spike’s newfound inability to transform into his demon self (or his inability to “play with the other puppies” to use the dog image from Pangs – which reminds me, we have wolf-images for Spike in Pangs also, as both Spike and a wolf are seen peering into windows).

· And listen to The Initiative doctor after he prods Oz into transforming into The Wolf by zapping him with a stun gun: “See that? Transformation related to negative stimulation.” You don’t say! Is that possible? Zap somebody enough times, they might change? Huh. Interesting.

· Riley gives Oz new clothes to help him sneak out of The Initiative. Spike gets new clothes to help him sneak into The Initiative.

So – what’s the meaning of this? How is the still very evil and always evil Spike anything like our sweet little Oz? We compare them and we come up empty - unless we’ve already seen the following seasons.

But guess what? I have seen the following Seasons. And I notice that this episode also sets up an obvious parallel between Willow and Buffy – they both are struggling with how to reveal “kinky” love interests. Willow must tell Oz about Tara, and Buffy must tell Riley about Angel. So Willow and Oz are being individually compared to Buffy and Spike, respectively. But it’s more than that – they are also being compared as couples. Look at the foreshadowing for Buffy & Spike that is present in what happens between Willow & Oz: Oz hurts Willow horribly. He runs off to find a “cure” so he can: “be a different person than when I left. And I can be what you need now. That’s what I want. That’s why I’m here.” But upon his return, Oz finds that Willow – like Buffy and her series finale choice to “finish baking” and to live above ground in the sunlight - has chosen a different path, a path that excludes him. And Oz – despite the love they have for one another - lets her go.

There is some very direct foreshadowing and connections being made between the two couples in the language used:

In this episode: WILLOW: You wanna come in?” OZ: “Actually, I want you to come outside.”

In Season 6: BUFFY (telling Spike he can’t come in to her house): “Spike, I mean it. Come on.” SPIKE: “I hear you're serious. So am I. I want you ... you want me... ...I can't go inside, so ... maybe the time is right ... for you to come outside.”

In this episode: OZ (to Willow, about the Wolf): “It turns out, the one thing that brings it out in me is you.”

In Season 7: BUFFY: “What I want is the Spike that's dangerous. The Spike that tried to kill me when we met.” SPIKE (angrily): “Oh, you don't know how close you are to bringing him out.”

Parallels are also drawn between Riley and Spike, most notably between Spike’s conversation with Adam, and Riley’s conversation with his colonel. Adam is offering Spike a chance to regain his dark warrior status by helping him defeat Buffy. But when Spike suggests it will be hard to win against Buffy, Adam responds: “Maybe you should be on her side” (of course, in an episode full of people saying the truth out loud, this is a particularly interesting comment).

And Riley’s commander also offers Riley a similar method for returning to his former glory (“you were headed straight for the top”):

COLONEL (about Buffy & The Scoobies): “You help us take them down, and you just might save your military career. Otherwise you’ll go to your grave labeled a traitor. No woman is worth that.”

Cut straight to a shot of Buffy & Spike! Spike is in military garb:

BUFFY: “I’ve mentioned how much I’m gonna kill you if this is a scam, right?

SPIKE: “Look, would I wear this if I wasn’t on the up-and-up?”

Good question, Spike. Of course, Spike is planning a scam, so he doesn’t know it, but he is on the way up-and-up-and-up-and-up (headed straight for the top, and going to his grave labeled a traitor).

Speaking of Spike, I couldn’t help but notice this phrasing of his, as he persuades Buffy to let him lead her to the underground labs: “I know how to find the big guy who can take you to Oz.” This is a very blatant reference to The Wizard of Oz, and I noticed another reference in last week’s Where the Wild Things Are episode (Xander calls the Lowell House children “munchkins”). But what could a story about Kansas farm-girl Dorothy Gayle, and her first adventure away from home - in the company of friends representing her heart, her intellect and her courage - have to do with Season 4? Hmmmm. We’d better keep watching.

Spicy extras for James Marsters fans

· Spike is looking adorable in this episode. His charisma even makes Adam’s stiff delivery sound interesting. Again, close-ups of Spike’s face are shot almost exclusively in the half-light – this time as he closes the deal with Adam. On the surface, this episode seems to be about Spike descending back to his evil ways. But like Oz in his wolf-skin, appearances can be deceiving. With Oz and his successful quest to conquer the wolf inside him leading the way, this episode actually heavily foreshadows Spike’s eventual ascent into the light.

· I love that little tolerant smile Spike gives Adam when Adam suggests that maybe he should be on The Slayer’s side. Kudos to James – as always, the scene is perfectly acted.

· Spike’s behavior toward Buffy has not been the same since Faith-in-Buffy came on to him at The Bronze. In Superstar, he made overt sexual moves toward Buffy for the first time. In Where the Wild Things Are, he was momentarily overcome by an urge to help save her. Now, in New Moon Rising, he talks to her in a sexy, slinky style we’ve never heard him use with Buffy before. Just listen to his voice, and look at the knowing smirk on his face, during this exchange:

BUFFY: “Or someone formerly dangerous and currently annoying.”

SPIKE (sinuously): “Now, now. None of that. Or I won’t help you get Red’s mongrel back.”

· James is wonderful as Spike when Spike is being extra nasty to Willow by saying that he “got a good laugh” when he heard of Oz’s capture. He chuckles so heartlessly, and he looks so smug and self-satisfied with the pain he causes. Oh what a nasty, nasty boy. This guy is gonna be redeemed? They’re already foreshadowing it, here in this episode? I know. I can hardly believe it myself. But the closer I watch the episodes of Season 4, the more I know it: Marc Blucas took a lot of flack for the lack of chemistry between Riley and Buffy, and for his somewhat bland portrayal of Riley. But there is a reason Marc B. was cast as Riley Finn – it’s because he plays Riley exactly the way Riley is meant to be played. It’s exceptionally well done. Riley was never meant to be Buffy’s “long haul guy.” Never. He was always meant to give way to Spike. Always.