New Moon Rising (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)
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| "New Moon Rising" | |
|---|---|
| Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode | |
| Episode no. | Season 4 Episode 19 |
| Directed by | James A. Contner |
| Written by | Marti Noxon |
| Original air date | May 2, 1999 |
| Guest appearance(s) | |
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New Moon Rising is the 19th episode of the fourth season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It was written by Marti Noxon and directed by James A. Contner.[1] It is notable for being the episode where Willow Rosenberg and Tara Maclay's relationship is presented as clearly romantic, and Willow comes out to Buffy Summers. Additionally, Riley Finn cuts ties with military organization The Initiative as he learns not all monsters are inherently bad.
Plot[edit]
At Giles' apartment Buffy, Willow, Xander, Tara, Anya, and Riley meet. Willow explains the goings-on of the meeting to Tara, who has never been to a meeting of theirs previously. Oz arrives, having left town for an extended period of time. The group, particularly Willow, is surprised to see him. Oz makes plans to see Willow later, and Tara makes up an excuse to leave.
Riley kills a demon, and Buffy mentions that Oz is a werewolf. Riley is surprised Willow would date someone like that, who Riley sees as dangerous. Buffy takes personal offense. Later, she criticizes him for black and white thinking; thinking that all demons are the same level of evil.
Oz reveals to Willow that he has learned to control his werewolf transformations, as they are outside on the full moon and he is human. She is happy for him. He expresses he'd like to be with her again.
The next morning, Oz and Willow are in Willow's dorm, having talked all night. He suggestively offers that they could stay in, but she says they should get breakfast, and steps out for a minute. Tara knocks at the door and Oz answers. He invites her to stay but she leaves, flustered. Oz tells Willow that Tara had stopped by.
Buffy visits Willow and asks about her night with Oz, wondering why Willow isn't happier. Willow says she is happy, but conflicted, because of Tara Buffy realizes Willow is saying she has feelings for Tara, and reacts awkwardly, then affirms that she's glad Willow told her.
Creation of the Initiative Adam makes a deal with Spike with the implied terms that if Spike helps him kill Buffy, then Adam will remove the electrical brain implant that prevents Spike from harming people.
Willow tells Tara she and Oz had only spent the night talking. Willow expresses that she's confused; she was happy with Oz in the past and she had really wanted him to come back, but more recently she's been very happy with Tara. The two hug.
On the UC Sunnydale campus, Oz mistakes Tara for Willow after smelling her wearing Willow's sweater. He asks if she and Tara are "involved," and as Tara tries to leave he becomes agitated and starts to transform into a werewolf, telling Tara to run. As a werewolf, he pursues her. She throws a chair at him, knocking him out. Forrest and Riley enter and put him in a body bag to transport him, saying if he has been violent they will put him down. Tara tries to tell them Oz is a student but can't due to her stutter.
Tara finds Willow and tells her Oz changed and the Initiative took him. In response, Buffy and her friends meet at Giles' apartment, but they are unable to contact Riley.
Oz is in a cage in werewolf form in the Initiative's laboratories, being observed by Forrest, Riley, their superior officer Colonel McNamara, and medical personnel. Riley says hostile demons should be killed and as he moves to shoot Oz, Oz turns human. McNamara continues violent testing on Oz, saying his orders stand.
After protesting, Buffy agrees Willow can come to the Initiative with her. Spike shows up, offering to help them get in, claiming inside knowledge from previously having been held captive there himself, in exchange for money. With Spike's help, Buffy, Xander, and Willow are able to get into the Initiative.
Riley frees Oz, but is apprehended and jailed by Colonel McNamara. McNamara says that Riley's performance with the Initiative has been suffering since he met Buffy, and derogatorially calls Buffy and her friends anarchists.
Buffy encounters Colonel McNamara and threatens him with a crossbow to release his prisoner, at which McNamara accidentally reveals he has jailed Riley as well as Oz. Continuing to threaten McNamara, Buffy breaks Riley out of his cell. Riley acknowledges that what he's doing means he won't be able to return to the Initiative. By using McNamara as leverage, Buffy is able to secure Oz' release. When Oz sees Willow, he begins to transform into a werewolf again, but is able to control it. As the group leaves, McNamara tells Riley he's a dead man, to which Riley responds that he is an anarchist, punches Macnamara, and follows the rest of the group.
As Riley and Buffy hide away from the Initiative, he tells Buffy that he was wrong about his black-and-white viewpoint regarding monsters. Buffy empathizes, saying that it's understandable to be taken aback upon finding out Willow was in an unusual relationship. Then she says she is going to tell him about her own past, implying that she is going to tell him she dated the vampire Angel
Oz and Willow talk in his van. Oz says that because he will always have the potential to turn into a werewolf if she upsets him, they can never be safe together, but she is happy now and that's what matters. She says that she missed him, and that he will always be a part of her. He tells her he is leaving and they hug.
Willow meets Tara in her dorm room, handing Tara a candle. Tara assumes Willow is going to leave her to be with Oz, but Willow tells her that she wants to be with Tara. They move towards each other and Tara blows out the candle, ending the episode.
Reception[edit]
This episode was received positively. Comic Book Report describes the episode as delivering "fans closure that was respectful to Oz while still being a powerful new chapter for Willow and Tara."[3] Rolling Stone ranks the episode as the 78th best Buffy episode, declaring, "“New Moon Rising” should be remembered for nothing more than being an essential chapter in LGBT representation on television."[4]
This episode is an early example of sapphic women on teen popular television. One 2003 essay states that "“New Moon Rising” offers us perhaps the first tearjerkery, “extra-flamey,” lesbian moment in television history," referring to the ending of the episode.[5] the content of this episode around Willow and Tara and around Willow's sexuality has been remarked on in Buffy studies and Queer studies.
One author praised that Willow's "[c]oming out is not dramatized as a sudden awakening or climactic social drama but is interwoven into the script as an unfolding intimate experience that eventually becomes common knowledge among her group of friends."[6]
Another author argues that Tara's role in her relationship with Willow, who was previously assumed to be straight, is a welcome contrast to harmful tropes about lesbians in fiction. Often, a woman might seduce another in a way shown as coersive, overpowering, or controlling, however Tara is sweet and accepting even as her relationship with Willow is challenged by Oz' return in this episode.[7]
In Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Philosiphy, Carolyn Korsmeyer argues that Oz turning into a werewolf in this episode upon realising that Willow is seeing someone new is a continuation of a theme in the Buffyverse of anger leaving to violence and monstrocity.[8]
Doryjane Birrer notes this episode as notable also for how it is a turning point for Riley. She says that, in this episode, "Riley [...] explicitly voices his acceptance of the challenges to his us/them thinking posed throughout his romantic relationship with Buffy."[9]
References[edit]
- ↑ "New Moon Rising". Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Season 4. Episode 19. May 2, 2000.
- ↑ "New Moon Rising". Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Season 4. Episode 19. May 2, 2000.
- ↑ Laurene, Via (13 December 2023). "10 Best Willow and Tara Episodes in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Ranked". CBR.com. Comic Book Report. Retrieved 6 July 2024.
- ↑ Francis, Jack (20 May 2023). "'Buffy the Vampire Slayer': Every Episode Ranked From Worst to Best". Rolling Stone. Rolling Stone. Retrieved 8 July 2024.
- ↑ Lavery, David. "Apocalyptic Apocalypses: The Narrative Eschatology of Buffy the Vampire Slayer" (PDF). Slayage. Retrieved 6 July 2024.
- ↑ Driver, Susan (2007). Queer Girls and Popular Culture. New York: Peter Lang Publishing. p. 75. ISBN 9780820479361. Retrieved 6 July 2024. Search this book on
- ↑ Wilts, Alissa (2009). "Evil, Skanky, and Kinda Gay: Lesbian Issues". In Edwards, Lynne. Buffy goes Dark: Essays on the final two seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer on television. McFarland & Company, Inc. pp. 41–57. ISBN 9780786436767. Search this book on
- ↑ South, James B. (2003). Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Philosiphy: Fear and Trembling in Sunnydale (First Edition, First Printing ed.). Open Court. ISBN 978-0812695311. Search this book on
- ↑ Birrer, Doryjane (Summer 2007). "A New Species of Humanities: The Marvelous Progeny of Humanism and Postmodern Theory". Journal of Narrative Theory. 37 (2): 217–245. doi:10.1353/jnt.2008.0005. JSTOR 41304859. Retrieved 10 July 2024.
External links[edit]
- "New Moon Rising" at IMDb
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