Oz Biography

Oz should have died. Angelus' original victim before Joss changed his mind and had the leather-trousered one kill Jenny Calendar instead, Oz survived because it seemed his character was just too interesting to dispense with so easily.

Daniel Osbourne was always intended as a love interest for Willow it seems; his initial appearances on the show were simply to prove he liked her, consigning him to showing interest in Buffy's best mate (and acting as a go between with Cordelia and Devon) and little else. Nevertheless, his understated humour made the best of his screentime, and he looked nice (apart from the inadvised goatee) but, essentially, he was a background character, much like Harmony or, indeed, Devon. The turning point was What's My Line? when the brave Sir Oz took a bullet intended for Willow, and famously flirted with her over animal crackers. It was then that a proper character was born.

He was charming and attractive; cool enough that Cordelia could talk to him without fear of her reputation being ruined, but not so vacuous that he couldn't see Willow as attractive. With such a winning formula, it was no wonder he became Willow's love interest, and perhaps inevitably a part of the Scooby Gang soon (when Buffy was forced to dust a vampire in front of him).

By this time, both with the bullet and then the slaying, Oz's unflappable nature was firmly established, but at this point he was still broadly talkative. He was intelligent and observant, and in many ways scarily perfect. Willow was very taken with him.

Of course, this being the Jossverse, nothing is that simple. Colour no-one surprised then when Sunnydale's latest supernatural affliction was bestowed upon him, and a bite from cousin Jordy made him a scary, hairy werewolf three nights of the month. Which he still took in his stride, for the most part, especially when Willow decided it shouldn't pose a problem to their relationship.

Unfortunately for Oz the story stalled there for the most part. Despite being made a main character in season 3 his main role there was to be cute with Willow (sometimes too cute, as when he said to Will, "I think you'd sweat cute blood." ). Despite being supposedly hyper-intelligent, the fact that he failed his senior year was glossed over without adequate explanation. His angst at possibly hurting somebody whilst in wolf form was not given adequate expression, and even when Willow cheated on him with Xander, whilst Cordelia was given an entire episode to showcase her bitterness (The Wish) Oz had a few scant scenes and then took Willow back. All this is not to say that he didn't get a few good scenes, but all too often he was merely a Willow accessory and not really a character in his own right. In fact, he sometimes became a parody of himself with his earlier economy with words twisted into rock-like stoicism. Whilst season 3 was undoubtedly better for his presence, he was hardly critical to the storylines.

Season 4 did promise an Oz-centric storyline with his animal attraction to Veruca, and but for Seth Green's early departure, it would have extended over a longer period of time. However, what we did get provided some of Oz's most emotional moments, and did give him a chance to be seen again as his own person but it also gave us Oz's tearful exit. When he returned his place as Willow's other half was occupied by Tara, and off he went again, not before going through a harrowing experience with the Initiative. The simple fact was that the series was by now overloaded with characters, and at some point someone was going to have to leave.

Oz's guest appearance on Angel was, however, enough to confirm in many people's eyes that, like Cordelia, he could have fitted in much better as a member of Angel Investigations. Having said this, it didn't seem like his departure from Buffy was planned, so who knows what he could have accomplished.

Too much of Oz was left unexplored, and though we can hope for his reappearance, it doesn't seem likely at the moment. However, if we did get another Oz flavoured episode, we can at least assume it will provide more illumination of Oz as a person, and that's all good. We should be grateful though; at least he didn't die.

 

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