Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Slayer Collection (Willow) [DVD]

undefined

Product Description ------------------- Episodes: "Phases" -- The gang tires to save a werewolf from a poacher; Oz makes the startling discovery that he is the werewolf in question. "Doppelgangland" -- Anya wreaks havoc again when a spell goes awry, bringing Willow's vampire doppelganger into the Buffy-verse. "Wild at Heart" -- Oz and Willow's relationship is up in arms when Oz is powerfully drawn to a female werewolf. "New Moon Rising" -- Oz returns to Sunnydale and is captured by the Initiative during a full moon; a conflicted Willow tells Buffy about her relationship with Tara. .co.uk Review ------------- Buffy was always an ensemble show. The Slayer Collection: Willow showcases the work of one of the central members of the excellent cast. Alison Hannigan's portrayal of the shy, intelligent computer hacker-turned-witch was always one of the show's strongest points--it validated our perception of the heroic Buffy, that she could be so good a friend to someone so unlike her. The four episodes here showcase Willow's emotional life, first with the laconic werewolf Oz, and then with the stammering Tara. Joss Whedon has praised Hannigan as "the Queen of Pain" and these episodes are full of it. From the show's second season, we get "Phases" the episode in which she first gets seriously involved with Oz, and he discovers his own lycanthropic nature. From its fourth year there is "Wild at Heart", in which Oz is tempted by a girl werewolf, and "New Moon Rising", in which his return, partly cured of the transformations, is complicated by Willow's new feelings for Tara. This last episode includes perhaps television's funniest coming-out scene ever, as Willow has to acknowledge her lesbianism to Buffy. The exception, and perhaps the finest of Hannigan's many fine performance, is "Doppelgangland" in which Willow's resentments and self-doubt are concretised as an alternate-world vampire alter ego; Hannigan not only plays both Willows, but plays them impersonating each other, deliciously. On the DVD: The Slayer Collection: Willow also includes a discussion of Willow's evolution as a character by Joss Whedon and others of the show's writers, as well as by Alison Hannigan herself. --Roz Kaveney