Wild at Heart (Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode)

Infobox Television episode
Title=Wild at Heart


Series=Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Season=4
Episode=6
Airdate=November 9, 1999
Production=4ABB06
Writer=Marti Noxon
Director=David Grossman
Episode list=List of Buffy the Vampire Slayer episodes
Prev=Beer Bad
Next=The Initiative

"Wild at Heart" is the sixth episode of season 4 of the television show "Buffy the Vampire Slayer". In a BBC interview, writer Marti Noxon says she would have liked to direct this episode, as it was "close to [her] heart" - particularly the metaphor that "most of us have a creature inside of us that makes us do things that we wish we didn’t do." She adds, "The whole issue of sexuality between men and women is kind of fraught because of the beast." [Citation
title =Marti Noxon Online Chat
url =http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/buffy/interviews/noxonchat/page5.shtml
accessdate = 2007-07-18 ]

Plot synopsis

Summary

Oz and Willow's relationship is tested when Oz is powerfully drawn to a mysterious female.

Expanded overview

Buffy is chased by a vampire, which she fights and then stakes. Her well-thought puns are not appreciated. Spike watches from a distance and promises trouble, but he is struck by tazers and carried off by the masked and heavily armed people lurking in the Sunnydale shadows. At the Bronze, the gang talks about college and why they're still hanging at the Bronze, and then to their surprise Giles joins them. Veruca's band, "Shy" starts to play and all the guys are mesmerized by her singing.

The next morning, Willow wakes up in Oz's bed and they talk about how they'll be apart for three nights while there's a full moon keeping Oz locked up, and a Wicca group is meeting on those three nights. At school, Buffy gets a great grade on a Psychology paper and Professor Walsh asks her to lead a discussion group on the topic. Willow is actually academically envious of Buffy. Veruca invites Oz to sit with her at lunch, which he accepts since there is room for Willow and they start talking amps. Willow arrives, and is lost by their terminology, leading everyone to flee the incredibly awkward situation. Buffy tells Willow not to worry about Oz.

That night, Oz locks himself into a cage in a crypt but he breaks free. As Professor Walsh is leaving the school that night, Oz jumps out at her. Another werewolf appears and while Professor Walsh runs and hides in the bushes, the two werewolves jump out and fight with each other. Oz wakes up the next morning to see that the other werewolf is Veruca. They sneak into the campus laundry room for clothes and Veruca appeals to the animal within him. Willow shows up at Oz's and instead of being welcomed with opened arms, Oz is closed off and so she leaves. Buffy informs Giles of the two werewolves being spotted on campus and later goes to Oz, but he says he doesn't remember anything about what happened when he got out. Desperate for a male perspective, Willow asks Xander about Oz and he suggests they talk and work it out.

Oz arranges for Veruca to meet him in the crypt that night. He wants her to lock herself in the cage with him so no one gets hurt, and finally gets her into the cage. The next morning, breakfast foods in hand, Willow arrives and is shocked to see Oz and Veruca curled up naked together. After Oz gets dressed and in an uncharacteristic burst of anger orders Veruca out, he tries to explain things to Willow, but she doesn't want to hear it. She asks him if he had feelings for Veruca, which he denies, only that he could sense something, to which she asks if he wanted her 'in an animal way', more than he wanted her, and runs off crying.

Walking home in a dazed state, Willow walks in front of an oncoming car, which Buffy can't save her from, but Riley happens to be there and does. Buffy takes Willow back to their dorm and then goes to take care of Veruca. Using Oz's heightened senses to lead the way, Buffy and Oz go looking for Veruca. They find her clothes and then come to the conclusion that she's gone after Willow. Willow is in one of the campus labs, conjuring a spell that will prove to be devastating revenge against Oz and Veruca. She can't complete the spell however, and Veruca then enters, locking the door with intent to kill Willow when the sun goes down and get her out of the way. Just in time, Oz breaks in and the two werewolves fight until Oz rips Veruca's throat out. Before he can attack Willow, Buffy arrives and tranquilizes him.

The next day, Buffy talks to Giles about a heavily armed guy she ran into while searching for Veruca who was dressed the same way as the guys they ran into on Halloween. Willow finds Oz in his room, packing. Unsure of what separates him from the wolf, he is leaving until he can figure it out. Oz tells Willow he only ever loved her and then walks out. After a brief hesitation, he drives off in his van.

Acting

tarring

*Sarah Michelle Gellar as Buffy Summers
*Nicholas Brendon as Xander Harris
*Alyson Hannigan as Willow Rosenberg
*Seth Green as Oz
*Anthony Stewart Head as Rupert Giles

Guest starring

*Marc Blucas as Riley Finn
*Paige Moss as Veruca
*James Marsters as Spike
*Lindsay Crouse as Maggie Walsh

Writing

Joss Whedon had originally envisioned the love triangle between Oz, Veruca, and Willow to continue for most of season four. However, Seth Green abruptly left the show to pursue a movie career, explaining that "the character was always better served in a recurring capacity and Joss and I both felt it was better to revert to that status." [Citation
title =Official Seth Green Bio
url =http://www.sethgreenonline.com/bio.html
accessdate = 07//18/2007 ] Despite that statement, Green would only return in two more episodes, both in the fourth season. Whedon says losing Green so suddenly was a "heartbreaker...and so Willow got her heart broken. I took what we were feeling and put it on-screen, so everybody would be on the same page." [Citation
last = Miller
first =Laura
title =The man behind the Slayer
date =May 20, 2003
url =http://dir.salon.com/story/ent/tv/int/2003/05/20/whedon/index.html
accessdate = 07//17/2007 ]

* The existence of the primal, savage wolf in Oz and Veruca is a metaphor the fundamental, primal urges felt by all of us. These can be natural urges taken to a destructive, gluttonous level; the desire to accumulate wealth for one's comfort at the expense of others, sexual desires, perhaps substance abuse/addiction.

* Veruca embraces the raw nature, the do-anything feeling the wolf gives her and doesn't understand why Oz would try to suppress it. The suppression of the wolf nature by Oz is symbolic of the struggle people have to contain their fundamental urges in check.

Production

While filming a scene where Oz and Veruca have supposedly just woken up from mating as werewolves, Seth Green talked about being naked except for a "man-thong". He stated that this was incredibly uncomfortable since Paige Moss, the actress playing "Veruca", had her boyfriend visiting the set.

During the portion of the episode where Oz is supposed to be turning into a werewolf, Joss Whedon wrote a special direction to Seth Green in the script. He told him to imagine he was "about to come onto acid"Fact|date=November 2007.

Music

* Eight Stops Seven - "Good Enough"
* T.H.C. - "Dip"
* T.H.C. - "Need To Destroy" - Played by "Shy" during a training session

Translations

* Italian title: "Lupi mannari" ("Werewolves")
* German title: "Wilde Herzen" ("Wild hearts")
* Spanish title: "Salvaje de corazón" ("Wild at heart")
* French title: "Cœur de loup-garou" ("Werewolf's heart")
* Finnish title: "Peto sisälläni" ("Beast inside")

Quotes and trivia

* Lindsay Crouse, the actress playing Professor Maggie Walsh, once played Seth Green's mother in an after school special. In this episode Oz (as a werewolf) attacks and tries to kill Maggie. Seth Green laughingly called it "the circle of life".

* Unlike the werewolf in the "Angel" season 5 episode "Unleashed", Veruca remains in her wolf state after Oz kills her.

* Giles lives at number 4616.

Continuity

Arc significance

* This episode is the last to feature Oz as a main character (and is the final time Seth Green's name appears in the opening credits); he would return for one final episode ("New Moon Rising") before leaving Sunnydale for good. He is replaced in the next episode as a main character by Spike (James Marsters).

* Buffy is now interested in the commandos she keeps seeing. This is building the plotline of the Initiative. The audience has not heard of this group yet but soon will.

* Giles' showing up in the Bronze, watching TV, and being happy to see Buffy talking about supernatural happenings in town are important factors in Giles' story arc this season. Since he's no longer officially Buffy's watcher, we see him struggle with his new life, as well as our college-bound freshmen. He too has to find his place in this new world and is stumbling a bit as he does so.

Timing

* Stories that take place around the same time in the Buffyverse:

References

External links

*
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Reviews

* [http://www3.sympatico.ca/jenoff/btvs406.htm Peripheral Visions Review]
* [http://tv.swingthesickle.com/ststv/Buffy_the_Vampire_Slayer/Season_4/06.review Swing the Sickle Review]