Oz or Tara.

[DeadlyDuo]

Oz doesn't add anything to the scoobies, especially during wolf-time when he's a liability. Tara adds another magic user to the group.

It's interesting though that vampires will back down when confronted with a werewolf.

 

[burrunjor]

Tara without a doubt. I liked Oz, but he did kind of blend a bit into the background. Even Seth Green felt so. Tara had more presence in the show and better chemistry.

One thing though I was annoyed at we didn't get to see Oz's reaction to Spike being on the team. He last met Spike in probably his most villainous appearance. He saw Spike torturing Angel, and working with a child molesting Vampire to do it!

Yet in Oz's last one Spike is there trying to rescue him and they even stand together in the lift, and Oz doesn't seem to question why this guy is there LOL. I get that in the middle of that tense scene it might have been a bit off kilter to have him go on about Spike, but still it does seem odd the way Oz doesn't seem puzzled why Spike is with the gang.

 

[ChaseRules]

Oz was a bit underused but then there seemed not to much you could do with him. His character seemed too quite & not much to work with .
The write off was pretty good of his character . Also I glad they didn't get back tighter since that would have really sent a wrong message to
people after what he did to Willow .

 

[AlphaFoxtrot]

I think the Producer's preferred option would be for Seth Green to fulfill the terms of his agreed upon contract. Tara was always Plan B.

 

[ChaseRules]

I would have liked to see more of Veruca as well . Even if they didnt end up with each other i would have liked to see more of her & Oz.

 

[HowiMetdaSlayer]

I 💛 Veruca...Salt. As A Willow fan. Veruca, the slutty mcslutterson homicidal dog person, not so much.

 

[rogueangel]

Oz was a bit underused but then there seemed not to much you could do with him. His character seemed too quite & not much to work with .
The write off was pretty good of his character . Also I glad they didn't get back tighter since that would have really sent a wrong message to
people after what he did to Willow .

I mean, Willow and Xander cheated together and Oz and Willow reconciled.
The characters on BtVS are pretty complex, and there's a fair amount of moral ambiguity in the story. I don't see that Oz was damaged beyond all hope because he had a werewolf fling when his reasoning was compromised. Not when there was room on the team for mass murderer Spike.

 

[ChaseRules]

And lets not forgot Anya who was also a mass murder . Same that Seth Green left . Would havev loved to see the lovev triangle between Willow & Oz & Vercua .
That would have been something .

 

[Blaze]

Tara, for gay reasons.

 

[DeadlyDuo]

Buffy, Xander, Giles and Willow maybe the brain, strength heart and soul of the show but:

Oz is like the appendix , there for some reason but not essential if removed.

Spike is the funny bone, he's humerus.

Tara is xanax, she helps people calm down.

 

[ChaseRules]

Buffy, Xander, Giles and Willow maybe the brain, strength heart and soul of the show but:

Oz is like the appendix , there for some reason but not essential if removed.

Spike is the funny bone, he's humerus.

Tara is xanax, she helps people calm down.

I like the way you think . And you right Tara is like that . She helped a lot of people .
And Spike ? He the life of the Party .

 

[AnthonyCordova]

My own personal view is that Xander falls into the inessential category with Oz, despite all the protest that he represents "heart" and is therefore important. He gets in the way at least as often as he helps, but what can you say, he manages to be loveable despite all of his many flaws, so we forgive him and appreciate his presence. Oz doesn't contribute much himself but I feel that if we are willing to say Tara helps somehow to calm people down, I think it's fair to say that Oz serves to accomplish a similar effect. Oz's presence can definitely be calming and grounding, if also inessential. I don't give Tara any more credit though. Some would call her influence calming, and at times I would agree she can be, but she can also (often) be the source of awkward silence, and she's a bit of a wallflower too. There are many scenes (with her in them) where her presence completely vanishes, even after the episode "Family". Her presence isn't assertive enough to be felt in a large number of scenes. One sometimes forgets she's even there.

Of the two though, I would take Tara over Oz. Tara's relationship with Willow is where she really shines. Her introverted nature blossoms when she's alone with Willow, and she brings out features and aspects of Willow's character that otherwise go unstimulated in literally anyone else's company. That includes Oz. In the balance, I would say this is mostly for the better.

 

[ChaseRules]

I tend to agree with @AnthonyCordova in what Xander was . Sure he had some good moments but that was all . Basically he was comic relief. And also I liked how the relationship built between Willow & Tara . We saw nothing like that in Oz & Willow. Plus Tara was always nice to Dawn & that counts for something also .

 

[ccsvan27]

Tara, I appreciated the willow and oz relationship but Tara was clearly willows true love

 

[FaithLehane16]

Tara lacks substance, is very Mary Sueish, almost gets the Core Four plus Anya and Dawn killed, and looses her self respect by going back to abuser.

Oz has substance, is hot, has a personality, tries to not kill the Scoobies by trying to chain himself up and feels really bad by almost killing Willow, and while his&Willow's relationship isn't exactly perfect, it isn't abusive. Oz became a Scooby much faster than Tara.

 

[DeadlyDuo]

Oz has substance, has a personality,

Debatable.

 

[FaithLehane16]

https://datherinebangeldairmosbatsky16.tumblr.com%2Fpost%2F186044369105

 

[Puppet]

I love this idea that Willow's storyline would've been any different if she had still been with Oz in S6, instead of Tara. Joss has literally said, more than once, that it would've been Oz dead on that floor if she hadn't been made gay. It would've been the exact same storyline, complete with Oz breaking up with her for abusing her power and her going dark upon his death.

 

[HowiMetdaSlayer]

Poor hypothetical Oz

 

[DeadlyDuo]

I love this idea that Willow's storyline would've been any different if she had still been with Oz in S6, instead of Tara. Joss has literally said, more than once, that it would've been Oz dead on that floor if she hadn't been made gay. It would've been the exact same storyline, complete with Oz breaking up with her for abusing her power and her going dark upon his death.

Oz would've been killed off in Season 2 by Angelus but he hadn't been around long enough for the audience to really care about him yet hence why Jenny was the one that got killed.

Tara is a character that was never used to her full potential. Her teasing Spike about his "cramp" shows she has a sense of humour, yet we never really got to see that throughout the series. She escaped from her abusive family, why was that never explored properly? Tara seems to be used as part of the "too good for this sinful earth" trope.

I do wonder if the writers were starting to get fed up during Season 6 hence Tara's "getting back together would require this, this and this, but let's just skip it and get back together so that we're reunited and happy in time for me to be killed off by Warren and for you to go crazy with grief."