synopsis: "One night, after summer, the lead dog turned up a snowshoe
rabbit. The dog laid sown low to the race, his body flashing forward
leap by leap, He was sounding the deeps of his nature, and the parts of
his nature that were deeper than he. Going back into the wombs of
time..."
Buffy's voice over, quoting The Call of the Wild as the camera pans from a huge full moon thru a wooded path fades into Willow reading from the book as she wolf-sits for Oz. Xander shows up to relieve her. She tells him the book seems to sooth him, except the parts about rabbits. ("they make him a little over excited.") She explains that the towels are for privacy, and Xander comments that he can handle the Oz full monte. Willow tells him they're for her, since she just getting used to the Oz half monte, "half? You and Oz? Which half?" "Wouldn't you like to know?" she responds coyly. She gives him the gun in case there's any trouble, and he tells her no problem. When she leaves, he promptly goes to sleep.
Buffy and Faith are patrolling, and Faith asks if Buffy's ever caught anyone doing it in the graveyard. Buffy tells her that there's another spot by the woods people go to make out. Faith asks if she's been out there with Scott, and Buffy says they're aren't at that point yet. Faith says "but you like him, and when you think about him you get that good down low tickle, right?" Buffy responds "yeah, I guess, but...how low?" "You tell me?" Buffy does admit that he's kind of cute, but her favorite part is that "he doesn't seem to be any kind of hell beast." Faith tells her that all men are beasts. "Okay, I was hoping to not get that cynical till I was 40." Faith tells her that all men, "from manamal to Mr. ‘I loved The English Patient has beast in him. I don't care how sensitive they act, they're all still just in it for the chase."
As the speak, a boy runs for his life, but is caught by something and dragged away screaming. Credits roll.
Buffy, Willow, and Oz, discuss Faith's assessment. Scott stops her to say hey, and two of his friends come up to them. The girl, Debbie, knows Oz from band, which he isn't taking this year. Pete, the guy, had given her flowers. Scott and Buffy agree that they're still in the "pre-posy" state, and Buffy tells him she has to see Mr. Platt, the school counselor and convince him that she's "little miss stable" so she won't get kicked out. Debbie tells her that she doesn't like him, but is seeing him because she's flunking senior bio. Oz tells her he aced that final and she can have his notes.
Xander and Giles are frantically searching the library, and Xander insists that it's a waste of time because he was there all night. Oz and Willow come into the library, where Giles quite worriedly tell them there's no reason to panic. "Just a thought: poker, not you're game," Oz tells him. Giles, stuttering quite a bit, informs them that a student was murdered, and it looks like it could have been... "me," Oz fills in. "Wolf you, not you you," Willow tells him. Xander insists that it wasn't Oz because the "the room was secure, the gate was locked, and the window unbreakable and...open." But he still insists that, even though he may have "rested his eyes now and then," it wasn't Oz. The rest aren't so sure, as he did fall asleep.
Buffy comes into see the counselor, and tells him she'll cooperate but doesn't want to tell him about..."anything, for that matter, actually." She tells him that she doesn't want to be friends, and he tells her he's not going to be her friend, he's going to give her an honest opinion. He tells her that "any person–grown up, shrink, pope, an person who claims to be totally sane is either lying or not very bright. Everyone has problems. Everyone has demons, right." "Gotta say I'm with you on that." "Excellent. Now the hope I bring you is that demons can be fought. People can change. You can change." He asks about her running away, and she gives him a very condensed version of what happened, and tells him about her and Angel. (Leaving out the whole became-a-demon-and-started-killing-my-friends part.) He tells her that people love, get hurt, and get lost. But sooner or later, you have to get back to yourself, or else "love becomes your master and you're just...it's dog."
Buffy comes into the library and encounters a very grim gang. Cordelia informs her that Oz ate someone, and Xander jumps to his defense, saying "Oz does not eat people. It's more werewolf play. You know, I bat you around a little bit, you know, like a cat toy." Oz suggests anther werewolf, and Giles says it could be something else entirely. He tells Buffy to patrol the woods, while Xander, Willow and Cordelia go to the morgue. Willow asks about Oz, and Giles says they'll get Faith to watch him. "What, you're having a slayer watch me? Good we're not over reacting." Oz leaves, and Willow goes after him. He tells her that he needs to bail, and then notices the time and locks himself in his cage. He tells Willow to get away from him, and turns away. Willow looks at him, hurt.
As Buffy patrols the woods, she notices something. She chases it down, and it attacks her. She is shocked to find...Angel. Commercial.
Angel growls and attacks her, and after a brief fight she knocks him out.
Willow breaks into the morgue and finds the body. As she investigates, Xander startles her from behind, and is promptly sickened at the sight of the body. Cordelia startles Xander, and then freaks out at the sight of the body. Willow finishes her investigation, and promptly faints, leading Xander and Cordy to believe that it was Oz. "this guy was ripped apart by a big wild animal."
Buffy returns to the mansion and starts to throw aside Drusilla's dolls and dig thru her trunk until she finds some manacles, which she uses to chain Angel. Angel lashes out, growling, but remains restrained. Buffy discovers the markings on the floor of where he landed while Angel thrashes about.
Faith is listening to some music, dancing around a little (in a really sexy mini-skirt) when Buffy taps her on the shoulder. Faith swings around and hits her, but immediately is shocked and sorry, and asks what she's doing there. "Bleeding internally," Buffy tells her that she actually came to give Faith the rest of the night off, since she couldn't sleep anyway. Faith says cool, she'll go hunting some vampires, and Buffy tells her to "knock yourself out. Not literally, though." Faith leaves, and Buffy searches thru the card catalog.
In the morning, Giles comes in and unlocks the cage, and discovers Buffy asleep on a chair, reading up on Acathla. She tries to pass it off as Faiths, but then tells him she had a dream about Angel, that he came back. He tells her that it was expected, that he had dreams that he had saved Jenny after she was killed. Buffy tells him that it was a really vivid dream, but not a prophesy. Giles tells her that he's never heard of anyone returning from the demon dimension, and he didn't know why. She asks him what Angel would be like if he did get back. Giles tells him that he'd have been brutally tormented there for hundreds of years. He says that only "someone of extraordinary will and character to survive that andretain any semblance of self. Most likely he'd be a monster." "A lost cause," Buffy says, but Giles tells that there are two types of monsters. "The first can be redeemed, or more importantly, wants to be redeemed." "And the second type?" "The second is devoid of humanity. Cannot respond to reason...or love." Willow comes in bearing donuts and a forced perky attitude, and admits she couldn't sleep. She asks about the body, and Willow tries to avoid the question, but Buffy presses on. She wants to know if it was a werewolf, or a vampire, and Willow isn't sure. Buffy is wigged, and Giles gets a suspicious look on his face.
Buffy finds Scott in the cafeteria with Pete and Debbie, and tells him she didn't sleep. Debbie warns her not to tell Mr. Platt that, since he'll make her start a dream journal. "What's that, like a Barbi thing? Dear dream journal...How come Ken hasn't come around since he got that earring?" Debbie tells her that she doesn't like Mr. Platt, but Buffy says she does, even if he does do his own thing. Scott says that his mom thinks therapy can be helpful, and Pete retorts with "your mom has the wattage of a zippo lighter." Scott assures Buffy that he "doesn't actually know these people, I just thought you'd like me more if I had friends so I hired them." He tells her that she looks amazing, but she's still wigging, and bails.
Buffy goes to see Angel. He's cowering on the ground, and when she goes to touch him he snarls at her. She makes a hasty exit, and we see that chains are weakening.
Pete convinces Debbie to hide away in a closet to make out, and then he discovers a empty vile with a trace of glowing liquid. He gets wigged, and asks if she drank it. She says not, but he presses for an explanation.
Buffy goes to see Mr. Platt, and starts to tell him about Angel being back, and she needs to talk to someone who's not Willow and Giles. she then notices his cigarette is burned all the way down, and then we see Mr. Platt–slashed up, with one eye gouged out and the other staring vacantly. Commercial.
Debbie confesses to Pete that she was trying to get rid of the stuff to help him, because of how he gets when he drinks it. He tells her that he's way past that, and starts to go psycho on her, telling her that it's all her fault what happens to him. He goes way freaky then, and turns into Mr. Hyde, and starts to accuse her of whoring around, and starts to beat her up. Suddenly, he reverts back to Dr. Jeckle, and tries to comforts her, and she cradles him in her arms like a baby.
Buffy, Giles, Willow, and Faith discuss Platt's murder, and confirm that it was during the day, which gets Oz off the hook. Debbie goes to see Oz outside, and he notices her forced chipper attitude and black eye, and tells her if she ever needs to talk. Pete watches from the shadows.
Giles tells the rest that they're looking for a depraved sadistic animal. "Present," Oz says, but Willow tells him that he's off the hook, the creature struck during the day. Giles wonders what they had in common. "Missing internal organs?" Faith offers, but Giles says beyond that. Oz tells them that both were involved with Debbie. The first victim used to horse around with her in Jazz band, ("they were screwing?" Faith asks. "I don't think so, but he hid her music comp book once.") Oz also tells them that Debbie had a black eye. Willow suggests that Debbie got it killing Platt, but Buffy says Platt was dead in an instant, he didn't even drop his cigarette. Suspicion falls on Pete, and they decide to find them both and split up. Giles and Faith go one way, while Willow and Buffy go another. Oz locks himself in the cage.
Buffy and Willow find Debbie putting on makeup. Buffy tells her that the best way to cover a black eye is to not get hit. Buffy tries to get the truth out, and Debbie tells her that it's her fault. They tell her that they can't help her until she talks to them. "Maybe I didn't ask for your help." "Well when are you going to? I mean if Pete kills you, it'll pretty much be too late."
Angel struggles in his bonds, and breaks free.
Buffy continues to try to get something out of Debbie, but she just breaks down. "Whose going to be next?"
Pete confronts Oz in his cage. Oz warns him that this is a bad time, but Pete threatens him. "I'm serious, something's going to happen that you probably won't believe." But Pete goes freaky again, and turns in Mr. Hyde. "Or you might." Commercial.
Hyde-Pete breaks down the cage and attacks Oz, throwing him around.
Buffy and Willow can't get anything more out of Debbie, who just rocks back and forth saying "he does love me...he does love me." Buffy leaves to find Pete, and Willow tells her that they broke her. "I think she was broken before this."
Hyde-Pete continues to wail on Oz, accusing him of cheating with Debbie. But Oz looks out and sees that the sun is down. "Time's up. Rules changed." His eyes change, and the camera pans back to reveal Oz is a wolf. He attacks Hyde-Pete, who is no match for the werewolf. They fight majorly, and the rest of the gang rush in. Buffy grabs the dart gun, and aims at the two, but Debbie shoves her and she hits Giles. "Oh! Sorry!" "Right...bloody priceless," he says as he passes out. The Oz-wolf runs out before she can get another shot, and she passes the gun to Faith and tells her to go after the Oz-wolf. Willow follows Faith as Buffy fights Mr. Hyde. Hyde runs away and is pursued by Buffy, but he escapes thru a window.
Faith and Willow pursue the Oz-wolf.
Debbie finds Pete, and tells her he needs to leave because Buffy's after him. He accuses her of telling her and starts to attack her.
Buffy discovers the window, and climbs thru it.
Faith and Willow catch up to the Oz-wolf, and it attacks Faith.
Buffy lands on the ground below the window, and sees where Hyde went. She goes in and sees Debbie on the floor. Hyde attacks Buffy.
As the Oz-wolf attacks Faith, Willow pulls it's tale and it leaves Faith to chase Willow. Faith picks up the gun and shoots the Oz-wolf.
Hyde is getting the upper hand on Buffy, but someone throws him off–It's Angel. Hyde and Angel fight, and Angel snaps his neck with the chains still around his wrist. Angel, in his game face, looks at Buffy for a few minutes, and then shifts to human form. "Buffy..." he says, and collapses to his knees, buries her face into her chest and cries." Buffy is confused and torn. Debbie continues to lie on the ground, clearly dead.
The next day, they discuss what happened, and fill Cordelia in on what she missed. Willow tells them that he made up a Jeckle/Hyde potion, and Cordelia is shocked that this was actually a real killing. Buffy goes over to Scott, who tells her that he'd known Pete and Debbie forever, and that he'd thought he'd known them, you never really know anyone, even if you care about them.
The camera pans thru the same wooded path as at the beginning, and then Buffy sits, watching Angel suffer nightmares...
"Night came on and a full moon rose high above the trees. Lighting the land until it lay bathed in ghostly day, and the strain of the primitive remained alive and active. Faithfulness, devotion, things born of fire and roof were his, yet he retained his wildness and wiliness. And from the depths of the forest, the call still sounded."
