"Wrecked" is the tenth episode of the sixth season of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer television show and the 110th episode in the series. Written by Marti Noxon and directed by David Solomon, it was originally broadcast on November 27, 2001, on the UPN network.
Synopsis[]
- Buffy's tryst with Spike leaves the Slayer shaken to the core; Willow falls victim to a warlock who stimulates her craving for magic.[1]
Summary[]
Tara and Dawn wake on the couch and find that neither Buffy nor Willow returned home the night before. Somewhere else, Buffy wakes up naked with Spike, noticing the building around them fell down. Spike tempts Buffy to stay until he's able to leave without the daylight. It works until he tells her that he knew the only thing better than killing a Slayer was having sex with one, which angers her. Buffy argues that this will never happen again, while Spike tells her she won't get over him. She threatens him to not tell anyone about it and he agrees, but shows Buffy her stolen panties. She punches him and leaves.
Willow returns home with Amy, who rambles about Willow's magical use in front of Tara and Dawn. Upset, Tara leaves just as Buffy returns. Amy leaves as well after a chat, so Buffy and Willow go to bed after their long nights. In her room, Willow tries to shut the drapes with magic, but finds that she can't.
At the Magic Box, Xander searches fruitlessly for information on what could have frozen the security guard and stole the diamond from the museum, while Anya looks at bridal magazines. Buffy arrives, and the discussion turns to Willow. Xander is concerned that Willow has found herself someone new to hang around with who won't monitor her use of magic. Buffy defends her stating that everyone makes mistakes.
Amy meets Willow again and suggests they visit Rack, a warlock who can give them great spells that last without any recovery time. They enter his cloaked house and find it filled with the magically addicted waiting for their turn, but the two are attended immediately. Rack gives them what they came for, so Amy spins about the room as Willow hangs out on the ceiling, seeing spots and weird images. The next morning, Willow wakes in her own room and cries in the shower. She manipulates some of Tara's clothes to form an invisible body and curls up against it.
Dawn makes some interesting food and makes plans to see a movie with Willow. Buffy returns home to find Amy stealing some of Willow's magical supplies. Buffy scolds her and Amy mentions Willow's whereabouts. Meanwhile, Willow and Dawn talk about food and Tara, then take a detour to Rack's place so Willow can get a fix. Dawn waits impatiently in the waiting room with a strange man. Inside Rack's room, Willow floats and sees a demon holding a limp body, which makes her scream.
Buffy wakes a very naked Spike in his crypt and asks if he knows where Willow and Dawn are. When she mentions Rack, Spike grows concerned, having heard of him. He explains that the warlock deals in dark and dangerous magic, and only witches and vampires can find his cloaked place. Buffy decides to take him along in her search.
Willow finally emerges from Rack's room, hours after she entered. Dawn is mad Willow left her so long, but Willow doesn't care. Dawn realizes that something is wrong with Willow and becomes eager to return home, but Willow refuses and promises her fun to make up for the missing movie. Nearby, while they walk in search of the cloaked house, Spike tells Buffy again how much she really wants and needs him after they spent the night together.
A demon confronts Willow, claiming that she summoned him with her use of magic. Willow expects him to not be real, until the demon cuts Dawn, so the girls run. Willow uses magic to take over and drive a car, but it crashes and both are wounded. Dawn finds that she has a broken arm as Willow is knocked out against the steering wheel. The demon catches up with their wrecked car and Dawn tries to fight it off. Spike and Buffy, who heard Dawn scream, come to the rescue. Buffy fights the demon while Spike takes care of Dawn. The demon suddenly explodes into flames as a result of Willow's magic. While Willow apologizes in tears, Buffy tells her to stay back and Dawn slaps her away. Spike leaves with Dawn and Buffy stays with Willow, who continues to cry and begs for help.
At the Summers house, Buffy talks with Willow about her abuse of magic and the consequences. Buffy thinks that Willow became addicted to magic due to her break up with Tara, but Willow admits that the addiction was why Tara left. Buffy tells Willow that she doesn't need magic to be special, and Willow says that before the magic she was "some girl," who never knew. Buffy states that she was far more than this, and reminds her that Tara wants her to stop. Willow knows that, someone will get hurt if she continues the way she is, and declares that she's giving up magic for good. Buffy agrees with that and tells Willow that it's time for them to think about what they're doing before doing it.
Later, Willow fights the symptoms of withdrawal in her bed. Buffy, in her own bed, hugs a cross with garlic surrounding her bedroom.
Continuity[]
- Buffy's first words upon waking next to Spike are "Oh. Oh, God, no"; similarly, Spike said "Oh, God, no. Please, no." when he woke up and first noticed he loved her, in "Out of My Mind."
- Buffy wakes up after her first night with Spike and sees him by her side; she woke up alone after her night with Angel ("Innocence") and Parker ("The Harsh Light of Day"), while Riley was the first to still be with her in the morning ("The I in Team"). This time, though, she's the one who leaves her partner.
- Spike describes having sex with a Slayer as better than killing one, in reference to him killing two ("Fool for Love").
- Buffy calls what she did with Spike last night a "freakshow," echoing what Angel had called his and Buffy's relationship when he broke up with her in "The Prom."
- Buffy also calls Spike "convenient," this time echoing her break up with Riley, when Xander argued with Buffy that she took Riley for granted and saw him as "convenient" ("Into the Woods").
- Buffy threatens Spike if he tells anyone about them having sex; he'll keep this a secret until she breaks up with him, revealing it to Xander in "Entropy."
- Dawn makes peanut-butter-and-banana quesadillas; she'll claim to be allergic to peanuts in Welcome to the Team, Part One.
- Anya has a new lighter blonde hair color. She will point this out to Giles when he returns to Sunnydale in "Grave."
- Xander uses Tobin's Spirit Guide to research demons, a book in which Giles found an illustration of the Glove of Myhnegon in "Revelations."
- Xander is researching on the robbery of the Illuminata diamond from the Sunnydale Natural History Museum and the freezing of its guard Rusty, from the previous episode "Smashed." The Scoobies will only identify the Trio in the next episode, "Gone."
- Xander and Anya discuss their wedding planning, the ceremony to take place in "Hell's Bells."
- Willow's chest of magical items includes the Gentlemen's box, from "Hush."
- While the Scoobies become aware of the seriousness of Willow's addiction, Willow reveals to Buffy that Tara has left her for this same reason, in "Tabula Rasa."
- Willow tells Buffy about her feelings of needing magic to be more than "just some girl," as she displayed in "Restless" and will mention again in "Two to Go."
- Willow gives up on magic, but will resume her abuse in "Seeing Red" until she's properly rehabilitated ("Lessons"). She'll deal with abstaining from magic again to conceal herself (Retreat, Part Three), during the end of magic (Last Gleaming, Part Five), then in exchange for her freedom (Disempowered).
- Dawn comments that her sister always goes straight to the refrigerator after Slayer patrol. This bears out Faith's assertion in "Faith, Hope & Trick" that slaying "makes you hungry and horny."
- Rack tells Willow that she "tastes like strawberries," which he will once again tell her in "Two to Go" after she turns dark. He also tells Willow that he's "just gonna take a little tour," which she will repeat just before killing him.
Appearances[]
Individuals[]
- Angel (Only mentioned)
- Alexander Harris
- Anya Jenkins
- Tara Maclay
- Amy Madison
- Mandraz
- Rack
- Willow Rosenberg
- Rusty (Only mentioned)
- Spike
- Buffy Summers
- Dawn Summers
- Joyce Summers (Only mentioned)
- Amy Madison's father (Only mentioned)
Organizations and titles[]
Species[]
Locations[]
Objects[]
- 2ASM564
- Blood
- Bride & Joy
- Bynum's History of Witchcraft
- Cross
- Gentlemen's box
- Illuminata (Only mentioned)
- Spike's duster
- Sunnydale Press
- Tobin's Spirit Guide
- Witchcraft
Rituals and spells[]
- "Claudete"
Death count[]
- Mandraz, burned by Willow.
Behind the scenes[]
Production[]
- Jeff Kober, who plays Rack, previously appeared as the serial killer turned vampire Zachary Kralik in "Helpless."
- Xander researches demons in Tobin's Spirit Guide, a fictional book originally from the film Ghostbusters (1984).
- Dawn makes peanut butter pancakes but then decides she doesn't like them. According to the audio commentaries, Michelle Trachtenberg's character on the film Ice Princess hates peanut butter.
- This episode and the comic issue Thicker than Water are dedicated to the memory of J.D. Peralta, Marti Noxon's assistant.
Broadcast[]
- "Wrecked" had an audience of 3.7 million households upon its original airing.[2]
Deleted scenes[]
- Amy and Willow's dialog would have more lines at the beginning:[3]
- Amy: "God, I'm so glad you called. I had to get out of the house."
- Willow: "Already? So, things with your dad..."
- Amy: "Bizarre. I guess after I disappeared he just decided to start over. He's, like, this new guy with a new wife and a new baby. And I'm this reminder of all his old stuff."
- Willow: "What did you tell him? I mean, about where you were?"
- Amy: "I didn't think he'd buy the rat thing, so I told him I got abducted by aliens." (off Willow's stare) "Kidding! God, what's up? Did sarcasm die while I was a rodent?"
- Willow: "Sorry. It's just, I guess I didn't expect you to be in a jokey mood."
- Amy's eyes flash angrily. We see a hint of the anarchy that's boiling under her skin.
- Amy: "I want to have fun, Willow. I've been in a cage."
- Willow: (guiltily) "There was a little ball. And you seemed to enjoy playing with those cardboard toilet paper rolls—"
- Amy: "As cages go, it was fine. But I was still confined. I've got lost time to make up — and if people don't like it, screw them."
- Willow takes this in, relating.
- Willow: "Well, I do. Get it. Totally."
- (Amy: "So what do you want to do? Gonna be hard to top last night.")
Goofs[]
- After Spike and Buffy wake up, at moments it can be clearly seem that James Marsters is wearing flesh-colored underwear.
- When Willow and Dawn are getting into the car, the shadows of the crew are visible on the ground on the right hand side of the screen. As they turn the corner, the filming equipment/screens are visible off to the left side of the screen.
Pop culture references[]
- Xander and Anya discuss Martha Stewart's nature as supposedly a demon or a witch.
- Dawn says Buffy is "feeling all Joan Crawford," in reference to the actress being exposed as an abusive mother in her daughter's memoir Mommie Dearest (1978).
- Spike suggests Buffy to get a LoJack tracking system for Dawn.
Music[]
- Laika — "Black Cat Bone"
- Thomas Wanker — original score
International titles[]
- Armenian: "Ձախողում" (Failure)
- Czech: "Na dně" (At the Bottom)
- Finnish: "Kaikki romuna" (All Scrap)
- French: "Dépendance" (Addiction)
- German: "Der Fluch der Zauberei" (The Curse of Sorcery)
- Hungarian: "Töredék" (Fragment)
- Italian: "Fuori controllo" (Out of Control)
- Japanese: "難破船" (Shipwreck)
- Polish: "Wycieńczenie" (Grogginess)
- Portuguese (Brazil): "O Fundo do Poço" (Rock Bottom)
- Romanian: "Distrus" (Destroyed)
- Russian: "Провал" (Failure)
- Spanish (Latin America): "Arruinada" (Ruined)
- Spanish (Spain): "Náufraga" (Castaway)
Adaptations[]
- A Buffy the Vampire Slayer action figure was based on Willow's appearance in this episode.
Gallery[]
Promotional stills[]
Behind the scenes[]
Advertisement[]
Quotes[]
Dawn: "Are you kidding? It was like a meat party in my mouth... Okay, now I'm just a kid and even I know that came out wrong." |
Buffy: "Last night was the most perverse, degrading experience of my life." |
Spike: "Yeah. Me too." |
Willow: "Magic wasn't all great. I won't miss the nosebleeds and the headaches and stuff." |
Buffy: "There you go." |
Willow: "Or keeping stinky yak cheese in my bra. Don't ask." |
References[]
- ↑ "Buffy Season 6." Craig's BuffyVERSE 4ever. Retrieved on April 10, 2020.
- ↑ "Nielsen Ratings for Buffy's Sixth Season." Nielsen Ratings for Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, & Firefly. Archived from the original on July 6, 2008.
- ↑ "Buffy - Wrecked." BuffyWorld. Archived from the original on October 31, 2017.