Summary
In this episode, Cory and Laine get into the surprisingly complex gender dynamics presented in this episode, call backs to The Pack, and how cute Oz and Willow are!
Thanks for listening to our discussion of Season 2, Episode 15: Phases.
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Music
Music for this episode is “Digging a Grave,” by Shadows from the Underground, and is used under license from Audiosocket.
Myth Taken: A Buffy the Vampire Slayer Podcast 
Your discussion about the ways in which this episode plays with gender, masculinity/femininity, sexual orientation, and stereotypes and assumptions was really enlightening. It helps me see some of the more broad sexist elements–Cain, Larry in the early parts, Willow’s line about Buffy pretending to be “a meek little girly girl like the rest of us!”–in a different, more intentional context. I could see them being broad and over the top to make it clear that stereotypes, even if there is sometimes a grain of truth in them, are reductive and don’t represent reality. Reality is more complex and often flies in the face of our assumptions.
I also hadn’t realized the multiple meanings of ‘Phases’ as the episode title. As someone who’s ace–an orientation that presents you with not only the question: How long do I have to feel a certain way before I can say ‘this is who I am’ but also: how do I prove a lack of something?–I definitely relate. It also brings to mind discussions I’ve seen about phases in general. People tend to label anything that deviates from the norm as a phase, but really, in general our lives are not as static as we like to think they are. More things are ‘phases’ than we want to admit, but something isn’t going to be less of a ‘phase’ just because it adheres to social norms (or if it is, that’s likely more because it has more social support). Anyway, the whole discussion brought to mind the horror movie ‘Carnival of Souls’ which really captures the isolation one can feel when living outside the norm, and which has been analyzed through a queer lens.
Thank you for calling out Jordy’s parents for their negligence. 🙂 They are apparently super casual about their son being a werewolf. Also, I very much agree that Giles’ line reading of ‘You’d be wise to take that back’ is wonderfully chilling.
Re: Spotify – I actually had an issue with Stitcher playing ‘Surprise’ twice. I didn’t check Spotify, but just planned to listen on the website. I can certainly contact Stitcher customer support, though.
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