Wrecked

Wrecked
Written by Marti Noxon
Directed by David Solomon

Original Airdate: November 27, 2001

Plot: Buffy and Spike must come to terms with their night together. Meanwhile, Amy takes Willow to a demon who feeds her need for magic, leading Willow to go back and put Dawn in harm's way.

Review

Warning: I'm going to use a bit of tough love here--if you have a problem when it comes to SPOILERS, you'd better turn back now. There are major SPOILERS just ahead for the latest episode of Buffy, "Wrecked." You have been warned....

In short: Nicely done.

As most of you probably already know, I like Marti Noxon. I think that outside of Joss himself, Marti has turned into the most consistent writer on the show. After a few initial scripts that just weren't much to write home about ("Bad Eggs" anyone?), Marti has found a consistent tone and been able to consistently deliver the goods when called upon. She really hit a stride in season four, delivering some fine installments that revolved around Willow and her various relationships.

So, I find it interesting that here in season six we get another Willow-centered episode from Marti. Indeed, it was Marti who gave us the script where the Willow and Tara relationship came out into the light of day and so I find it interesting that Marti would deliver the script that continues to deal with the fall-out of the Willow and Tara relationship's disintegration.

Certainly one of the themes we've seen developed this year is that Willow's continued use of magic is becoming like a drug to her. And we've seen how she's gone from casually using certain types of spells to needing a hard core fix. And we saw that with stark and brutal honesty here this week. A lot of the credit for these scenes goes to Marti Noxon for writing such an intriguing and interesting scenario. But a lot of the credit also needs to go to Allyson Hannigan for delivering a great performance. Hannigan took Willow from initial reluctance to the complete buzz and high to being strung out all in one storyline. Hannigan has been one of the absolute best things about Buffy in the recent years and it seems as though every time the writing staff gives her a new challenge, she steps up to the plate and bats one out of the park. Again, this performance alone shows why it's a crime that Hannigan hasn't received an Emmy nod for at least the past two seasons.

I also have to admit I like the way the Willow storyline is developing this year. Last week, we saw the Scooby gang waking up and figuring maybe that Willow is using magic a bit too much. This week, we see just how far Willow is willing to go in order to get her magic fix. Indeed, the idea that magic is like a drug is an interesting one--especially seeing how far Willow is willing to go to get it. I was reminded in some ways of watching this story of a long-term story arc on one of my favorite shows, Party of Five a few years ago. In the plotline there, we saw Bailey slowly descend into alcoholism one small step at a time, until there was an episode where we realized just how bad things had become. That's very similar to what happened here. All year we've seen Willow use magic with good intentions but she has slowly become more and more dependent on it. We saw that with startling clarity in the scene after Willow has been out all night with Amy as she tries to command the curtains to close and fails. The look of disgust on her face at this not working is a bit of foreshadowing as to how dependent Willow has become on magic--even for the little things of everyday life. It's sort of like when you spend 20 minutes looking for the remote to change the channel instead of just changing the channel in five seconds. You want the convince and you don't think about how long it's taking you to find the "easy" way to do something.

Hannigan managed to convey Willow's growing desperation and horror at her new lifestyle. Seeing Willow come home with Amy on a sort of a buzz was nicely done--as was the look of horror when Amy bragged about her magic use to Tara. I think seeing Tara in the kitchen led to Willow's trying to pull back a bit from her new found addiction. We saw that in the kitchen with Dawn as Willow tried to return some sense of normalcy to her life, but failed when her craving got the best of her. Seeing Willow descend from a self-assured person who wants to spend the evening with Dawn (though I am questioning her motive there also. It seems to be that for Dawn the entire Willow/Tara break-up has been like a divorce of sorts--with both sides feeling the need to compete for Dawn's attention, approval and love. I think we saw Tara motivated out of a sense of helping Dawn maintain a normal life while Willow was motivated out of jealousy and a need to keep up with Tara more than a sense of concern about Dawn.) Seeing Willow go from one extreme to the next was nicely done. And it was interesting to see the recurring demon from her hallucinations actually turn out to be something Willow had called in the process of using her dark arts (which only reinforces my belief that the real big bad of season six is something Willow has created as a side-effect of her spell to bring Buffy back). Seeing the actual demon chase she and Dawn was interestingly done, as was Willow's reaction to the demon--(paraphrasing here) "You mean it's real?!?"

Obviously, there is something more going on with the warlock than we initially realized. He stated he was taking something from Willow--though we never really find out what it is. Also, the fact that Willow tasted like strawberries was interesting and something that I hope we'll see come up again later. It also made me wonder just what exactly it was that Amy tasted like at first. Also, I've got to wonder just what exactly the price is--obviously Amy can no longer give the warlock what he wants through just her and has to resort to stealing magic instruments in order to pay for her next fix. (It's interesting to wonder if Amy didn't go through some kind of cold sweats as rat.) Amy's addiction is interesting and we can see where she is farther along the path to destruction than Willow is. But, it does make me wonder something. If she was a rat and went cold turkey, would she so quickly return to the addiction or might she have been able to kick it.

If I have one complaint about the script it's that one--that while we need Amy to lead Willow to the warlock, the fact that she goes down the path to full-blown junkie again seems a bit too quick and too much. It's almost as if the script required that we get Buffy from the house to finding the clinic and the only way to get there was Amy. There might have been better ways to get there--such as having Amy use the knowledge as some type of power over Buffy (though it'd be misadvised since we've seen just how protective Buffy gets whenever Dawn is in danger). I think that Amy was put in there to show how bad Willow could become...but I honestly don't think Willow's hit rock bottom yet. It's going to get worse and it's going to go downhill quickly. Honestly, I can see an intervention coming to try and save Willow--and that might be an opening to bring Giles back for an episode or two in February.

Certainly, we've seen that Dawn is horrified by what Willow is becoming. Seeing her reaction to Willow's being high and then her look of hatred when Willow broke-down at the end was superb. The look on Dawn's face as Willow tried to apologize was stunning and horrifying. Even more so than the ugly demon (was anyone reminded of Oz in his wolf-suit?). The horror that Dawn saw in Willow's being out of control was superbly done. As was Dawn's reaction to the dark eyes that Willow showed.

It may be interesting to see if Buffy remembers that dark eyes later. And I also found it extremely interesting that Willow's hands crackled with the same mystical energy the warlock's did when she saved Dawn.

I am hoping all of this comes back later. It's the little details that can make or break a great season.

As for the fall-out from the Spike and Buffy one-night stand, I liked most of it. Certainly we saw a LOT of James Marsters--and I'm not just talking screen time here people. Wow, Buffy is really pushing the envelope there. Certainly it's probably nothing more than you'd seen on NYPD Blue or ER. But on Buffy it's a bit shocking.

I don't really mind...but how about some equal time here? Maybe some more of Sarah Michelle Gellar? ;-)

Seriously though, I liked the way the plotline of Buffy and Spike paralled the Willow storyline. Indeed, Spike's comment that Buffy has Spike in her blood and she'll come crawling to him for her next fix paralled a lot of what was going on with Willow. And we also saw how both characters tried to deny to their friends what was going on. Seeing Buffy try to justify to herself that what happened with Spike was just a one-time thing and a horrible mistake was nice. And it gave the final scene between Buffy and Willow a whole lot of resonance. Neither realizes that they are referring to different issues--Buffy with Spike and Willow with magic. Honestly, I expect to see both of them backslide quickly on the promises they have made to themselves.

And I think anytime you give Sarah Michelle Gellar and James Marters time to trade barbs and share screen time, you're really playing to one of Buffy's basic strengths. Those two really know how to deliver knock-out performances.

And while I loved the story, I'm a bit disappointed in some ways.

For one, there was very little Xander and Anya.

Another is that the Legion of Doom is referred to in the previously on Buffy segment but yet has no impact on the storyline. Whatever phase two of their plan is, I guess it will have to wait. (And who knows...maybe they will conjure up the big bad of season six. I keep wondering if and when it'll show up...but then again I remind myself that in season two, Angel didn't fall until episode 13 or 14. So we'll see how all of this develops.)

Finally, I'm disappointed that while UPN appears to be not showing any new Buffy until January. And they've left so many interesting plot threads just other, waiting to be developed. To quote the guy at the end of Buffy, "Grrrr! Argh!"

But the good news is that UPN appears to be showing the episodes FX doesn't have--namely Hush and the Body. So, if you haven't seen them yet, set your VCRs now!

OK, so that's about it for now. Overall, I think this was a good way to end the run of new episodes and I'm intrigued that I'll be curious to see where things go when we come back in January (and dang nabbit...no new Farscape in there to break up the long wait!)

My rating: 8.0 (out of 10.0)

Next up: Well, repeats for a while. Again, if you haven't seen or taped or archived The Body and Hush, they appear to be airing in the next few weeks. Absolutely MUST SEE episodes. I will see all you Buffy fans in January! (Angel fans need only wait about two weeks for a new Angel episode and review).

Well, since I won't do a Buffy review again until 2002, I'd like to take this opportunity to wish everyone out there a blessed, merry and peaceful holiday season. I'd also ask you to take a few minutes during this busy time of the year to remember it's meaning and to appreciate the real joys of the seasons such as family, friends, loved ones--and most of all, Christmas cookies. See y'all around the Net!