4.18 Where the Wild Things Are

[Clare]

4.18 Where the Wild Things Are - Episode #074
Buffy and Riley's constant lovemaking unleashes a dangerous supernatural force at a frat party.

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

[cyclica]

I'm giving this one a high 6. I loved the concept of having buffy and riley in danger, and the rest of the scooby gang needs to rescue them (including spike, well until he changes his mind ). But I'm not really buying the concept of ghosts without dead people. You'd think if these 'forces' or whatever you call them have been in the building the whole time, they would have shown themselves before now. I'm sure buffy and riley wouldn't be the first people to have sex there.

I didn't much like giles's sudden singing hobby. It seems out of character and only set up for the joke of seeing the looks on everyone's faces. Pleh.

Tara (when posessed by a ghost for a moment) seemed disgusted to have willow touch her. I think by this point in s4 the audience had realised they were more than just friends, so they added this scene (and their love of jonathan in the previous ep) to throw us off before it will be officially revealed in the next episode that yes they are a couple.

[partcynic]

4x18 “Where The Wild Things Are”

Episode Rating = 5

One of the more filler-y eps of the season, “Where The Wild Things Are” is a decent third offering from Tracey Forbes, who would be jettisoned from the writing staff in time for S5. I can’t say I feel bad about her departure, but her episodes were at least entertaining; and much better than the output of the two individuals that replaced her (Rebecca Rand Kirshner and Steve DeKnight, who are responsible for some of the worst moments of S5-6). Like “Superstar”, “Where The Wild Things Are” seems to an ep that’s more about the writers taking a swing at something (in this case, the WB network and its hypocritical censorship) than coming up with a strong narrative, but it’s still written with wit, and it’s satisfying to have Xander and Anya play a major role after having been sidelined for most of the year.

What I Liked about “Where The Wild Things Are”:

- The theme of the episode (don’t suppress/be ashamed of sexuality, but don’t be a slave to it either) is fine, if a little basic for this series.

- The early vamp-demon tag-team was a subtle way of hinting at Adam’s ultimate scheme, and was a pleasantly novel Buffyverse occurrence.

- In general, this episode is light and funny. The dialogue is good throughout, and almost every character has something clever to say. As with “Pangs” and “Superstar”, this is a major bonus to what is otherwise an excuse plot.

- Spike attempting to frighten people into giving him money was humorous, and his Bronze chat with Anya excellent. Given the similarities in their histories and perspectives on life, I think it’s a shame that we didn’t get more Spike/Anya interaction (as far as I’m aware, the only other bit is in “Entropy”) – they can discuss things together that none of the other characters would be able to understand, and I think the potential jealousy from Xander that could have ensued might have been an interesting plot point.

- The ghostly stuff is generic, but it’s still fun to watch (the orgasm wall), and the bathtub baptisms/ hair-hacking had some creepiness to them. It was also good that the plot took a different approach to poltergeists – the idea of trauma that occurred within a building ‘imprinting’ on it is a believable one, and enabled the episode to avoid retreading the central concept of “I Only Have Eyes For You”.

- Xander and Anya were easily the strongest links here, and the ep was at its most enjoyable when it focused on them. Although Anya is once again in severe-head trauma mode, at least her misunderstandings had a legitimate connection to her personality and past, and there’s a cuteness to her genuine affection for Xander coupled with her insecurities about human relationships. Their first scene was very funny (the cut to the people standing outside the ice cream van) and introduced their issues in a believable way. The pseudo break-up at the party was responsible for one of Anya’s best lines (“We have nothing in common besides both liking your penis, and now I don’t even have that anymore!”), and I laughed at her attempts to feign happiness afterwards. It was also great to see Xander’s heroic side again, and working with Anya to save Buffy and Riley was a nicely symbolic way of showing the couple putting their spurious issues behind them.

- The Willow/Tara stuff is okay, though it continues to be frustrating that the writers are prevented from doing anything substantial with them. I’m still not fond of Tara’s sudden integration into the Scooby gang, but at least they’re not acting like best-friends-forever, and I liked the continuation of the ‘Tara is an educated witch’ idea, as evidenced by her sensing something was wrong at the frat party and then leading the group séance.

What I Disliked about “Where The Wild Things Are”:

- Maybe the show’s budget has taken a hit, but a lot of the incidental music was recycled from past episodes. This shouldn’t have been a problem, but I kept being pulled out of the story upon hearing music I recognised, and trying to remember where it was first used.

- More care needs to be taken with Riley’s fighting skills. If Buffy is capable of hurling him across a room with one kick, then vamps or demons (which are only a bit weaker than her) should be able to do the same thing.

- Why are the spirits of the sexually-repressed teens only being unleashed now? Yes, Buffy and Riley are spending a lot of intimate time together, but the former children’s home is now a frat house populated by single twenty-somethings. Chances are, there’ll have been a lot of sex happening long before Buffy and Riley got together.

- What were the vines supposed to represent? As a concept, they didn’t gel with the rest of the supernatural phenomena that were occurring, and felt like an arbitrary way of placing a physical barrier in front of the bedroom door.

- Forrest can’t be too bright if he thinks it’s a good idea to take the Initiative lift in the middle of an earthquake.

- I think the director should have ordered a few re-shoots, or pushed the actors to do better takes. The major players are fine, but many of the minor characters are wooden, the spirits aren’t intimidating (the screaming girl that runs through Anya randomly waves her arms, and it’s kind of funny to watch), and Amber Benson has a number of stilted lines.

- I don’t have a problem with critiquing religion, but the crazy fundamentalist Christian is an unimaginative stereotype, and doesn’t make for a compelling/interesting villain.

- Considering that Anya has a vine shoot through her hand, she doesn’t treat it very carefully afterwards, and the wound she has doesn’t match the actual injury she sustained.

- When the spirits returned to the house, why didn’t they just do their earthquake or fling-off-the-balcony tricks again? Why did they settle for attacking Xander and Anya with the vines as they headed towards the door?

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

I’ve always been ambivalent about this one – I have nothing against it (and enjoy seeing it when I do season/show marathons), but it’s an episode that’s just ‘there’, with obvious filler characteristics and little in the way of meaty development for the characters. That said, “Where The Wild Things Are” is fun if taken as the simplistic, one-dimensional romp it is, and its humour and screentime for Xander are enough for me to give it an average-but-fun score of five out of ten.