4.06 Wild at Heart

[Clare]

4.06 Wild at Heart - Episode #062
Willow is devastated when Oz becomes involved with another woman - who also happens to be a werewolf.

Review (also post a score out of 10) and discuss this episode.

[cyclica]

I give this one a 6. I'm not a big fan of emotional eps, especially ones that involve a character I like leaving at the end, but bearing that in mind I think this ep was well done. I'm glad veruca featured in a few cameos in episodes prior to this one, I would have hated this episode if she was suddenly introduced here.

I can't help but feel for oz, he was totally screwed. He couldn't help having a wolf side who was attracted to another wolf, and he had no choice but to lock himself up with her to prevent her from killing anyone. He loved willow, but his feelings and his actions hurt her, and there was nothing he could do about it except leave.

In one scene willow was about to use magic to keep oz and veruca apart. Like veruca I thought willow was going to take that spell all the way, it goes to show you what a good person she is that she couldn't go through with it, even though she was in pain. Its a big contrast to the things she does in season 6, like putting a spell on tara just to make her forget a fight they had.

There was another scene I loved, though it had nothing to do with the plot. "The big bad is back, and this time..." Fzzzt!

[partcynic]

4x06 “Wild At Heart”

Episode Rating = 6

Prior to doing this particular rewatch, I hadn’t seen S4 for a good two or three years (the odd solitary play of “Hush” and “Restless” notwithstanding), and going back over it with fresh eyes has reminded me of how underrated the season is, yet simultaneously emphasised the quasi-schizophrenia that makes it so hard to connect with. It’s very telling that I’ve now gone through six episodes without giving the same score twice, and it’s interesting how the writers have oscillated between spot-on “Buffy” storytelling and wildly incongruent experiments in their attempts to give the show a new, post-high school identity. Fortunately, “Wild At Heart” sits in the former camp, with Marti Noxon regaining her equilibrium and handling the type of relationship drama she does so well. All things considered, the script does a remarkable job of believably writing Oz out (given the suddenness with which Seth Green decided to leave), and manages to truncate what was intended to be a year-long arc without compromising its theme or characterisation. For that, it deserves a lot of credit, and its solid performances and emotional impact are enough to make it a minor highlight of the first half of the season.

What I Liked about “Wild At Heart”:

- Considering that she also wrote the trite, stereotyped “Beauty and the Beasts” (and would imminently pen the incredibly lame “She” for “Angel”), Marti did one of her best explorations of gender and relationships here. It was very refreshing to see a story about infidelity that avoided the making one character wholly ‘bad’, and while Oz did act poorly, I understood where he was coming from. The metaphor of the werewolf as primal human urges is an ancient one, but it was still executed well in pointing out that even if you love someone, temptations are still going to come along, and while you can’t control who you’re attracted to, the decision about how to deal with it is wholly in your own hands.

- For a dramatic episode, there are quite a few funny parts, like Willow being jealous of Buffy’s academic success; the ‘crazy birthday cake’ shirt; having ‘the sex’; Xander’s statements about “seven annual minutes” and “wild monkey love”, and his instant discernment that the ‘girl’ and ‘guy’ Willow mentioned were blatant avatars of she and Oz.

- I liked Veruca as a counterpoint to Willow, and it was neat to see a different perspective on what being a werewolf might mean, as well as its implications for how individuals should act. Her dialogue was mostly good (especially her sneering at Oz’s ‘habitrail’ and supposed domestication), and some of her lines and moments had a perfectly nasty bite (like that smug look she gives Willow when she finds she and Oz naked together).

- I enjoyed the continued snippets of the Initiative’s members, who work better in brief scenes than as the centre of attention. Walsh comes across as someone who’s cold but willing to warm up when she respects someone (her commending Buffy on her paper and later, discussion with her about the ‘wild dogs’, which was actually friendly by her standards), and there’s humour to seeing her be so freaked out by the werewolves. In addition, Riley remains a dependable, likeable guy, and I enjoyed seeing his concern for Willow (and Buffy’s appreciating his help).

- Giles and Xander are coming dangerously close to ‘spare part’ status, but their roles worked in this episode. Giles’ appearance at the Bronze was an obvious attempt at slotting him in somewhere, but it was humorous, and his later scenes (stooping to watching game shows and being so bored that the prospect of people dying was a huge thrill) also worked. I also enjoyed Willow’s chat with Xander – it had enough content from him to let us know where his character is right now, and was a welcome demonstration of their 15+ year friendship (which is too often sidelined in favour of their romantic relationships).

- Speaking of friendship, the Buffy/Willow dynamic is at its best here, and is probably the second most important to the show (after Buffy/Giles). It’s very rare to see three-dimensional female characters who have non-shallow relationships with each other, and B/W is one of the best examples out there. I loved Buffy’s steadfast support of her friend throughout the episode, and her attempts at consoling her when the Oz/Veruca news broke were sweet (especially the heartfelt “I love you”). However, the best moment for me was at the end of the big confrontation, when Willow broke down in tears and Buffy wordlessly cradled her – now that’s true friendship.

- This is one of the more important Willow episodes of the season, and everything fit in terms of her character. I felt her discomfort/jealousy at observing Oz’s obvious attraction to someone else, as well as the awkwardness as she embarrassed herself during the cafe chat and then clumsily attempted to seduce him. As the most childlike of the Scoobs, it was especially saddening to see her walk in on Oz and Veruca together, and her pain was very real (I did, however, really appreciate the mention of Willow/Xander, reminding the audience that she isn’t without sin either). Her reactionary attempt at cursing Oz was important in being the first time we were shown her turning to magic as a quick fix, and I understood both her anger and reticence. Then there was the finale, which had lovely acting from both Alyson and Seth, beautiful dialogue, and genuine impact as Willow was left heartbroken and even Oz came close to breaking down (the first and only time we’ve ever seen him in tears).

What I Disliked about “Wild At Heart”:

- As always, the werewolf costuming is lame. I’m sympathetic to the fact that you really can’t make realistic quadruped monsters on “Buffy”’s budget, but their goofy appearances still pull me out of an otherwise engrossing story.

- The episode’s director should have caught and corrected some of Paige Moss’ acting. For the most part, she’s fine, but there are a number of instances where she tilts her head back and rolls her eyes up in an effort to seem sexy/dangerous, and ends up appearing anything but.

- The conversation when Buffy and Oz find Veruca’s clothes in the woodland is awkward. Oz states that “she’s a werewolf” as though it’s some great revelation, when I think he could safely assume that Buffy’s newfound terseness with him was the result of Willow telling her everything.

- Personally, I felt that the contrast between Willow (the loyal, chaste, ‘sex means commitment’ girlfriend) and Veruca (the aggressive, passionate seductress) was too much. As with the Faith/Buffy parallels in S3, in would be nice if the show could feature a sexually forward woman who isn’t evil, amoral, or destined to be monster food.

- When the action moves to the science lab, the string of well-timed appearances gets silly. I’ll assume that Veruca (and then Oz) were able to find Willow by scent-tracking, but Buffy arriving just as the Oz-wolf was about to attack was too much. While it’s true that she could have followed Oz there, her encounter with the commando would have given him too much of a lead to make that a possibility.

- The ‘tear stick’ seems like it got abused during the final scene. It’s bizarre to see Willow’s eyes unrealistically flooding during her goodbye to Oz, and spoils what is otherwise an emotionally powerful moment.

Do I like this episode more or less than the last time I watched it?

I feel identically. It’s a well-written episode with a respectable theme, emotional power and a surprising amount of wit, and deserves kudos for taking a tricky casting situation and dealing with it in a manner that avoided childishly demonising the Oz character or Seth Green. Amusingly, it’s likely a good thing that he decided to leave, as I don’t think the Oz/Veruca plot would have gained anything by being its original length (in fact, it would probably have ended up a dragged-out, S6-style bore), and this single edition was able to communicate everything contained therein without any loss of impact. In acknowledgement of these qualities, I’m going to award “Wild At Heart” an above-average score of six out of ten.

[cyclica]

I've decided to start watching and reviewing s4 again. I've had enough of a break from the show, and after reading a few of partcynic's reviews it's got me back into the mood to do my own.

After reading my own old review, I've realised I've already made all the big points I wanted to make, and so I'm left with mostly minor details to comment on. Oh well.

The ep starts with buffy getting a vamp to chase her so she can dust it in privicy. I love how many variations on a simple vamp attack this show can do, though it is a little odd how buffy continues to talk to herself after the vamp is dusted. Enter spike, and we're tricked into thinking it will be a spike episode. But no, Zap! Awesome. ...Though I am wondering why he was there at all. Was he just bored?

Cut to the gang in the bronze, talking about how great it is that everything says the same, then giles shows up. It's kinda funny how the gang make fun of him. ...Though I am wondering why he was there at all. Was he just bored? It's a pretty lame running joke in s4 how the male characters are always bored and have nothing to do.

Veruca is playing on stage, and all the guys are instantly mesmerised. I can understand their individual reasons, oz has a werewolf connection, xander is always horny, and giles I suppose isn't used to young women acting seductively. But the fact that they're all aroused at once comes across a bit silly. It's not like veruca is doing anything especially sexy. Anyway, willow is upset about oz's interest in veruca, the first of many many scenes like this in the episode.

In a nice, cute little scene, we see willow talk in her sleep, then pretend to. She also mentions the wicca group in this scene, which is a nice setup for later on.

Later, willow walks in on oz and veruca having lunch and is totally lost when they talk about amps. It's easy to feel for willow here, though by now I think they've already got the point across that willow is concerned about oz and veruca, they didn't need to keep having scenes like this. Having said that though, this scene does lead to my favourite line of the episode. Buffy tries to comfort willow after veruca and oz leave, and says "I'm sure Oz is flogging and punishing himself... this is sounding wrong before I even finish". ;D

Also notice that willow is upset that her clothes make her look like a 'crazy birthday cake'. I didn't notice until rewatching recently, but the next time we see willow she's dressed a lot like veruca. I love subtle little things like that.

Oz goes into his rusty old cage in an abandoned crypt, which for some reason has an electronic lock with a numberpad on it. Wolf oz breaks out, and he chases walsh who was passing by, as does wolf veruca. Looking back it's somewhat satisfying to see a villain like walsh being chased, though you'd think she'd be able to defend herself. I know she's not a soldier, but still I'm surprised she doesn't carry a weapon, or even just a stungun, given that she knows there are demons everywhere.

Oz and veruca wake up together naked, and decide to go steal some clothes. If veruca doesn't have a cage and always wakes up outside, I wonder if she's stealing clothes all the time, or does she just walk home naked? Anyway, she makes the interesting comment that oz is a wolf all the time, not just when he 'wolfs out'. I appreciate any insights into how werewolves work on the show, though I wish it had come much earlier and we'd had more time to explore it. I'm still waiting to know whether oz is dead or undead, whether werewolves can have kids and so on. It's a shame that vampires were given so much focus, and other traditional supernatural beings like werewolves were given so little. I wonder, if seth green had stuck around, we would have had more time to explore these things. Though discovering there's a wolf part of him 'active' all the time is enough I guess.

Oz looks really cut up, yet at no point does he go to a doctor or put on bandages or anything. Do werewolves not feel pain?

Walsh and riles discuss the werewolves she saw, though they both refer to them as wild dogs. I guess they don't want to seem crazy if anyone overhears them talking about werewolves, but then again why talk about it in public at all?

Giles gets a pointless cameo, as buffy shows up and tells him she'll be keeping him informed of what happens. Couldn't she have said that over the phone? Giles is also way too eager to help, which was a funny scene, the first time we saw it with xander in living conditions. Here it just points out that giles is adding nothing to the show right now.

Xander gets his second of two appearances this ep when giving advice to willow. It's a little odd to see him as the wise figure someone else would go to for advice, though he does have a great line when willow starts talking about sex without using the word sex- "If you're doin' it, I think you should be able to say it". That's my second favourite line.

One of the things I like about this episode is that it's shown from both willow and oz's point of view, they're both sympathetic, and trying to do what they think is right when placed in bad situations. Here, oz has to share a cage with veruca, knowing he'd be risking his relationship with willow, but he has to do it to prevent any werewolf killings. It's easy to feel bad for him, especially as he wakes up to find willow standing over him and veruca, naked. I feel bad for willow too, though my sympathys are slightly more with oz at this point, because willow never seems to come to the realisation that he caged himself with veruca to save lives. She just thinks he cheated on her simply because his wolf side is drawn to veruca.

They also bring up the fact that willow has cheated on oz in the past, nice continuity there, though as willow said, it didn't compare with what's going on with oz and veruca.

Willow almost walks into traffic and riley saves her. It's kind of a pointless scene to give riley something to do, but it's not a big deal.

Willow decides to make a spell to break oz and veruca up, but then drops oz's picture, which I guess is all it takes to end the spell. I'm surprised she didn't go all the way through with it, I mean the spell itself didn't sound all that 'evil' anyway, it was just to keep oz and veruca apart which is what oz wanted anyway. In s6 willow has done crueller things to people in the bronze just for a laugh.

Veruca somehow tracks willow down and threatens her until oz shows up. They both wolf out (unfortunately in an obvious green screen shot), and fight, until oz kills veruca. Then buffy shows up and tranquilises oz. Later, oz decides he still needs to work things out with his werewolf side, and he doesn't want to put willow in danger any more, so he leaves. It's kinda sad, though honestly I'm more affected by the earlier scenes. I guess it's because I know willow will soon find happiness with tara, and I know oz will be back, so the fact that he's leaving isn't so much of a big deal.

We also get some advancement on the initiative subplot, as buffy bumps into one of the mysterious army guys. Should they be skulking around in daylight on campus?

Overall, I feel the same about this episode upon rewatching. It's a good way to have seth green leave the show, though I'm not a big fan of episodes that are emotional all the way through, and at this point willow and oz are the two least interesting main characters for me, so this ep is one I only watch during marathons. My rating- 6.

[cyclica]

Apr 24, 2010 17:06:32 GMT -5 partcynic said:

All things considered, the script does a remarkable job of believably writing Oz out (given the suddenness with which Seth Green decided to leave), and manages to truncate what was intended to be a year-long arc without compromising its theme or characterisation. For that, it deserves a lot of credit

Agreed.

It's hard to imagine how the story could have been padded out any longer than it was.

Although having a main character leave does seem like something that should be saved for an end-of-season episode. It was a bit odd for him to leave in only the sixth episode.

Apr 24, 2010 17:06:32 GMT -5 partcynic said:

- I liked Veruca as a counterpoint to Willow, and it was neat to see a different perspective on what being a werewolf might mean, as well as its implications for how individuals should act. Her dialogue was mostly good (especially her sneering at Oz’s ‘habitrail’ and supposed domestication), and some of her lines and moments had a perfectly nasty bite (like that smug look she gives Willow when she finds she and Oz naked together).

The first time I watched s4 I thought she was like a toned-down version of faith (with oz taking the role of buffy). I found it annoying how she was like a lame version of an existing character.

However, now that I've watched s7 and seen an actual toned-down faith, veruca doesn't annoy me anymore.

Apr 24, 2010 17:06:32 GMT -5 partcynic said:

- As always, the werewolf costuming is lame. I’m sympathetic to the fact that you really can’t make realistic quadruped monsters on “Buffy”’s budget, but their goofy appearances still pull me out of an otherwise engrossing story.

They're too fluffy to be scary.

Apr 24, 2010 17:06:32 GMT -5 partcynic said:

- The conversation when Buffy and Oz find Veruca’s clothes in the woodland is awkward. Oz states that “she’s a werewolf” as though it’s some great revelation, when I think he could safely assume that Buffy’s newfound terseness with him was the result of Willow telling her everything.

It almost sounds like buffy was about to say something else after that. Like, 'she's a werewolf... that's why her clothes are left behind, because she's wolfed out outside', but buffy cut herself off because she realised oz already knew all of this.

Apr 24, 2010 17:06:32 GMT -5 partcynic said:

- When the action moves to the science lab, the string of well-timed appearances gets silly. I’ll assume that Veruca (and then Oz) were able to find Willow by scent-tracking, but Buffy arriving just as the Oz-wolf was about to attack was too much. While it’s true that she could have followed Oz there, her encounter with the commando would have given him too much of a lead to make that a possibility.

I didn't think oz had too much of a lead. If anything, it seemed like buffy should have arrived earlier then she did.

[cyclica]

No comments? Okay.

[partcynic]

^ Better late than never!

I'm not a big fan of emotional eps, especially ones that involve a character I like leaving at the end, but bearing that in mind I think this ep was well done. I'm glad veruca featured in a few cameos in episodes prior to this one, I would have hated this episode if she was suddenly introduced here.

A good, fair assessment.

I can't help but feel for oz, he was totally screwed. He couldn't help having a wolf side who was attracted to another wolf, and he had no choice but to lock himself up with her to prevent her from killing anyone. He loved willow, but his feelings and his actions hurt her, and there was nothing he could do about it except leave.

I mostly agree. Of course, Oz could always have told the others about Veruca being a wolf, as opposed to locking her up with him, especially when he knew there was heavy sexual tension between them.

In one scene willow was about to use magic to keep oz and veruca apart. Like veruca I thought willow was going to take that spell all the way, it goes to show you what a good person she is that she couldn't go through with it, even though she was in pain. Its a big contrast to the things she does in season 6, like putting a spell on tara just to make her forget a fight they had.

Yep.

Enter spike, and we're tricked into thinking it will be a spike episode. But no, Zap! Awesome. ...Though I am wondering why he was there at all. Was he just bored?

It was probably just pointless grandstanding. Though I did wonder at one point if it was done as a kind of inversion of the similar scene in "In the Dark".

Veruca is playing on stage, and all the guys are instantly mesmerised. I can understand their individual reasons, oz has a werewolf connection, xander is always horny, and giles I suppose isn't used to young women acting seductively. But the fact that they're all aroused at once comes across a bit silly. It's not like veruca is doing anything especially sexy.

I think that in all cases, it was supposed to be because of her wolf power. Kind of like the pheromone thing the She-Mantis had in "Teacher's Pet".

Also notice that willow is upset that her clothes make her look like a 'crazy birthday cake'. I didn't notice until rewatching recently, but the next time we see willow she's dressed a lot like veruca. I love subtle little things like that.

Yep - it was great attention to detail.

Oz goes into his rusty old cage in an abandoned crypt, which for some reason has an electronic lock with a numberpad on it.

Lol!

Xander gets his second of two appearances this ep when giving advice to willow. It's a little odd to see him as the wise figure someone else would go to for advice, though he does have a great line when willow starts talking about sex without using the word sex- "If you're doin' it, I think you should be able to say it". That's my second favourite line.

I liked that too.

One of the things I like about this episode is that it's shown from both willow and oz's point of view, they're both sympathetic, and trying to do what they think is right when placed in bad situations. Here, oz has to share a cage with veruca, knowing he'd be risking his relationship with willow, but he has to do it to prevent any werewolf killings. It's easy to feel bad for him, especially as he wakes up to find willow standing over him and veruca, naked. I feel bad for willow too, though my sympathys are slightly more with oz at this point, because willow never seems to come to the realisation that he caged himself with veruca to save lives. She just thinks he cheated on her simply because his wolf side is drawn to veruca.

In Willow's defense, he could have told someone else that day. He can't really escape the fact that his chosen method of dealing with the problem involved he and Veruca being locked up together with no-one else knowing. Of course, I'm willing cut both he and Willow some slack, as they were dealing with major confusion/heartbreak respectively, which undoubtedly stopped them from thinking things through.

Willow decides to make a spell to break oz and veruca up, but then drops oz's picture, which I guess is all it takes to end the spell. I'm surprised she didn't go all the way through with it, I mean the spell itself didn't sound all that 'evil' anyway, it was just to keep oz and veruca apart which is what oz wanted anyway. In s6 willow has done crueller things to people in the bronze just for a laugh.

Considering the spell had lines like 'let them know no love or solace; let them know no peace as well', it sounded like a major hex to me - and not just one aimed at breaking them up. She wanted to cause them both lasting, individual torment there, which is pretty evil in my book.

Veruca somehow tracks willow down and threatens her

I think we can hand-wave that with scent-tracking.

We also get some advancement on the initiative subplot, as buffy bumps into one of the mysterious army guys. Should they be skulking around in daylight on campus?

Weren't they some way out in the woods, as opposed to being toward the heart of campus?

The [wolves are] too fluffy to be scary.

Definitely! And they could do with looking wolf-like.

[cyclica]

May 27, 2011 14:19:56 GMT -5 partcynic said:

^ Better late than never!

May 27, 2011 14:19:56 GMT -5 partcynic said:

It was probably just pointless grandstanding. Though I did wonder at one point if it was done as a kind of inversion of the similar scene in "In the Dark".

You're right, it is similar to the opening to 'in the dark', with spike looking down on the hero, making comments. I can't believe I never noticed that before.

May 27, 2011 14:19:56 GMT -5 partcynic said:

I think that in all cases, it was supposed to be because of her wolf power. Kind of like the pheromone thing the She-Mantis had in "Teacher's Pet".

Hmm I wouldn't have thought supernatural seduction / lust pheromones would be a werewolf thing. For oz maybe, because the wolves are attracted to each other, but I don't see how, or why, being a wolf would make veruca more attractive to the other guys.

May 27, 2011 14:19:56 GMT -5 partcynic said:

Considering the spell had lines like 'let them know no love or solace; let them know no peace as well', it sounded like a major hex to me - and not just one aimed at breaking them up. She wanted to cause them both lasting, individual torment there, which is pretty evil in my book.

I interperated it as 'let them find no peace with each other', and didn't neccessarily mean they'd have no peace throughout the rest of their lives.

Though I can see how it can be interperated in different ways.

May 27, 2011 14:19:56 GMT -5 partcynic said:

Weren't they some way out in the woods, as opposed to being toward the heart of campus?

Well it could have been anywhere between the abandoned clothes and the campus. And it was during the day, so I still think it was a bit too risky if they were trying to be covert.