Wrecked (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

"Wrecked" is the 10th episode of season 6 of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Plot synopsis

Tara and Dawn wake on the couch and find that neither Buffy nor Willow returned home the night before. Buffy wakes up naked with Spike to find that the building around them fell down as she remembers what they did. Spike tempts Buffy as she tries to leave and reminds her of everything they did the night before. He angers and disgusts her, but while she searches for her clothes Spike asks her to stay. Buffy appears on the verge of agreeing before Spike makes a comment about their night together, and she leaves, threatening to kill him if he tells anyone about what happened between them.

Amy returns home with Willow and rambles about Willow's amazing magic – in front of Tara and Dawn. Tara leaves as Buffy returns, and after a chat, Amy leaves and Buffy and Willow go to bed after their long nights. Willow tries to shut the drapes of her room with magic, but she is too exhausted to manage it. Anya reads bridal magazines instead of researching the freezing demon. Xander gets frustrated, finding bridal magazines in every research book he checks. At the magic shop, Xander, Anya and Buffy discuss Willow's behavior and Buffy comes to Willow's defense.

Amy suggests that she and Willow visit a warlock, Rack, who can give them great spells that last without any recovery time. The house is cloaked and filled with the magically addicted, seeking a fix. Rack takes a "tour" of Willow's body before giving her what she came for. Amy spins about the room wildly 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 plans to see a movie with Willow. Buffy returns home to find Amy stealing some of Willow's magical supplies. Buffy scolds her as Amy behaves obsessively about the supplies and tells Buffy about Willow's whereabouts. 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 freaky man. Meanwhile, Willow floats in Rack's room and sees herself flying in space before a demon holding a limp body makes her scream.

Buffy wakes Spike and demands his help in finding Willow and Dawn. Dawn is mad that Willow left her for so long, and Willow's carefree attitude makes Dawn nervous and eager to return home. Buffy refuses to admit she likes Spike and he again reminds her how much she really wants and needs him. A demon confronts Willow, claiming that she summoned him with her magic. The demon cuts Dawn and the girls run. Willow uses magic to take over and drive a car, but it crashes and both are wounded.

Dawn has a broken arm. Willow is knocked out against the steering wheel. The demon catches up with their wrecked car and Dawn tries desperately to fight it off. Spike and Buffy, who heard Dawn scream, come to the rescue. Buffy fights the demon while Spike takes care of Buffy's wounded younger sister. Suddenly the demon explodes into flames as a result of a killing spell cast by Willow.

Despite Willow's sincere apology and tearful regret, Buffy tells her to stay back and Dawn slaps her away in anger. Spike takes Dawn to the hospital and Buffy screams at a sobbing Willow who's frightened and begging for help. At the house, Buffy talks with Willow about her abuse of magic and the consequences. Willow says she's giving up magic for good and Buffy agrees with that. She also senses the connection between Willow's magic use and her own situation with Spike. Later, Willow fights the symptoms of withdrawal in her bed while Buffy hugs a cross and surrounds her bedroom with garlic.

Episode titles

Three consecutive episode titles in the sixth season are slang for drunkenness or being under the influence of narcotics in American English: "Smashed", "Wrecked", and "Gone." Willow's descent into her addiction to magic becomes dizzying and frightening.

Dedication

As noted in the credits, this episode was dedicated to the memory of J.D. Peralta (assistant to executive producer and showrunner Marti Noxon) who died of cancer in November 2001, the month in which this episode aired. .

Continuity

• Dawn references a previous episode in which Faith and Buffy comment about being hungry after slaying.
• When Dawn and Willow first meet the demon Willow summoned in the alley, Dawn kicks him to the ground and they run away. In the following shot he is standing up to the left of frame, then in the next shot he is still on the ground, scrambling back up.
• When Buffy mentions Rack to Spike, Spike immediately recognizes the name and is visibly alarmed by the knowledge that Willow and Dawn are in his company, demonstrating that, as part of his interaction with Sunnydale's supernatural "underworld," he has heard of and perhaps even encountered Rack before. Spike demonstrated similar familiarity with the demon Doc in "The Weight of the World."
• Although this is Rack's first appearance, Amy's acquaintance with him indicates that he has resided in Sunnydale since at least mid-Season Three, before Amy became trapped in rat form in "Gingerbread."
• James Marsters' nude underpants, worn to protect his modesty while making him appear completely naked, are visible in several shots in the scene where he and Buffy wake in the demolished house.

Arc significance

• The rest of the Scoobies become aware of the seriousness of Willow's addiction and begin to take steps to combat it.
• In this episode, the cracks in the friendship between Buffy and Willow begin to show, causing Buffy to turn even more to Spike for comfort.

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to: Wrecked

• "Wrecked" at the Internet Movie Database
• "Wrecked" at TV.com