WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE (4x18)

A review by Mikelangelo "MikeJer" Marinaro

Writer(s):	Tracey Forbes
Director:	David Solomon

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Minor Pros/Cons
Foreshadowing
Quotes

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Awards
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-	*Review*

Wow this is a bad episode -- the worst since I Robot, You Jane (1x08)! I'm looking at my notes...and there's almost nothing there. This is going to be a very short review. The savior of this episode from getting no points at all is Spike, Anya, and Giles. Anya is having unfounded relationship issues with Xander, Spike is simply bored, and Giles turns out to have a singing hobby. The failure of this episode is, well, the fact that the entire plot involves Buffy and Riley having lots and lots of steamy sex. If you love seeing Buffy and Riley having nonstop sex then you may want to look away from this review!

Early on there's a scene between Xander and Anya that is very entertaining. Anya thinks that because her and Xander didn't have sex the previous evening their relationship is ending. After Xander starts defending himself, Anya asks him if there's something wrong with his body. Then Xander, wanting to prove his functionality, says "You want sex? Let's have sex. Right here. Hot, sweaty, big sex." It turns out that as he was saying this a bunch of customers were amusingly standing right outside his ice cream truck.

The highlight of the episode is definately the resulting interaction between Anya and Spike. These two definately have a lot in common and enjoy sharing time together. They chat up how much they miss their carnage. Anya says, "Seen a thousand relationships. First there's the love, and sex, and then there's nothing left but the vengeance. That's how it works." When Xander sees Anya with Spike, he begins to get a bit worried. This is just an amusing little conflict between them that doesn't last through the episode.

I need to point out how much I love how abused fraternity parties get in BtVS. Xander even points out, "A ghost? What's the deal? Is every frat on this campus haunted? And if so, why do people keep coming to these parties, cause it's not the snacks." My question is, why do the Scoobies keep going to these parties? They all look horrendously bored every time (as I would be) and nothing good ever comes from going. Anyway, the plot is just overall extremely boring. There's some repressed ghosts of some sorts being fueled by Buffy and Riley's sexual energy. But haven't Buffy and Riley had sex in Riley's room before, more than once in fact? Why are these ghosts manifesting now? Am I missing something? Even if the plot made sense it's still a terrible idea. And that's about it. Sorry this ends so abruptly, but I really don't have anything else to talk about. Terrible episode. :(

-	*Minor Pros/Cons (+/-)*

+	Buffy getting all sexually excited after tag team fighting with Riley again.
+	The extended scene where all Riley finds is a dripping bathtub.
+	Spike trying to scare people into giving him money.
+	An orgasm spot on the wall. Ridiculous, but kind of funny.
+	Willow and Tara's talk about horses, which is very suggestive of something else...
+	Spike getting excited when the party gets ruined.
+	Giles singing and playing the guitar and the Scoobies' stunned reaction. Also, I love how all the girls admire how sexy his voice is.
+	Buffy and Riley completely satisfied they got forced into having nonstop sex.
-	Plant vines and tentacles? Ugh...
-	The old lady is somehow insane, boring, hokey, and creepy all at the same time.

-	*Quotes*

ANYA:	Spike! What are you doing!? You made me yell really high.
SPIKE:	Hey! Yeah, I did. I scared you. Gimme money.
ANYA:	I'm not paying you for scaring me.
SPIKE:	You're not paying me. I'm robbing you.
ANYA:	Oh, well now that's just ludicrous. You can't hurt me because you've got that chip in your brain. Also, I like my money the way it is...when it's mine. Oh, now come on. You're not even bumpy any more.
SPIKE:	Oh. I was just a minute ago. Hang on. Get me mad again.
ANYA:	(sighs) Does this really work? Scaring people into giving you their money?
SPIKE:	Yeah, it works. Keeps me in blood and beers. (Grins) Plus, you know, funny. Watching those little humans quail.
ANYA:	I'm beginning to understand why you're so friendless.

XANDER:	You're overreacting. We had a fight. But see, it's okay. It's normal.
ANYA:	Yes. The normal part of the ending a relationship right before the vengeance begins.
XANDER:	Right. No! Vengeance?
ANYA:	Relax, I'm not gonna do it. I'm just trying to tell you that we have nothing in common besides both of us liking your penis.

XANDER:	Now who's with me?
SPIKE:	I am.
:	(Everyone looks at Spike in surprise)
SPIKE:	I know I'm not the first choice for heroics...and Buffy's tried to kill me more than once. And, I don't fancy a single one of you at all. But...Actually, all that sounds pretty convincing. I wonder if Danger Mouse is on.

-	*Score*

30 /100

Just plain awful. Completely failed at what it was trying to do. Might be painful to watch. The only points awarded are for tiny bits of humor and/or a character moment or two.

-	*Awards*

Worst in S4
Least Important in S4
Most Boring in S4

-	*Screencaps*

<< Superstar

New Moon Rising >>

-	*Comments (21)*

1.	Grounded Mar 22 2006
	Tracey Forbes's Buffy carrer = Beer Bad, Something Blue, WTWTA. Sorry, but 33% is a failing grade. ;)

2.	mikejer Mar 22 2006
	Agreed! :)

3.	20questionsgenius Mar 22 2006
	Yikes! I hadnt realized that Tracey Forbes wrote "Beer Bad" and "Where The Wild Things Are". I knew she wrote "Something Blue" which is my very favorite episode of all, but damn, those other two are pretty much universally disliked. Maybe she had help on "Something Blue" from some of the other writers, cuz "Beer Bad" and "WTWTA" are shining examples of what not to show someone when trying to get them interested in Buffy (although, the argument that bad episodes of Buffy are better than a lot of other stuff out there is true cuz "Beer Bad" was like the second or third episode i ever saw and i still wanted to watch more), but "Something Blue" is fantastic. Anyway i also wanted to say that the rate at which youre putting these reviews out is great MikeJer! I love checking the site and seeing new reviews. You do a really good job talking about the important stuff in each episode and explaining what it all means in your opinion, but most important of all, its apparent in each review that you love the series a lot and that makes it all the more fun to read these, so keep up the good work!

4.	mikejer Mar 22 2006
	Thanks 20! One thing to note is that I, unfortunately, wont be able to keep up this pace for too much longer. Not because I don't want to, but because my final quarter of university begins next Wednesday and it's going to be really busy. So I'm trying to finish S4 before I go back, hence the mania of reviews. I'll try to keep up a good pace after next quarter begins, but it wont be as fast as it currently is. I'm actually watching "New Moon Rising" right now for review. :)

5.	Grounded Mar 23 2006
	Incidentally, have any of you seen Danger Mouse?

6.	fryrish May 22 2006
	Watched this the other day. I don't think it's quite as bad as your rating suggests. While the main plot isn't very interesting there's enough in it to keep it from scraping the bottom of the barrell completely. However, my main order of business is this. In the quotes you have Spike saying the Danger Mouse bit. I wasn't sure I heard it right so I put the subtitles on and he actually says "I wonder if Asian House is open."

7.	mikejer May 22 2006
	I get all my quotes from the Buffyverse Dialogue Database website in my links section. But that's interesting for you sure. I've heard that sometimes the subtitles say stuff that's not in the script anymore, because of a last minute change. That's likely what happened in this case, although I'll be sure to check the transcript to be sure. And for the record: I genuinely believe the ep is as bad as I rated it. My notepad was nearly empty after watching it, and that hadn't happened since S1. When BtVS fails to entertain me much and fails to make me think about anything, it fails as an episode.

8.	Fallen May 23 2006
	WTWTA really is a bad episode. I think it has a bit of snappy dialogue but it just fails at the plot level and adds nothing to the arc and your review pretty much says it all.

9.	Grounded May 23 2006
	Pretty much every ep has at least some snappy dialogue. ;)

10.	bookworm May 24 2006
	but not every ep has giles singing. imo the only good thing.Latoya

11.	Latoya May 1 2007
	Buffy and Riley's sexual history before this ep. The I in Team: Their first time together. At his dorm while being watched on the monitor by Proffesor Walsh. They aren't together for awhile due to more pressing matters going on. This Year's Girl: At his dorm? While you are not positive they did it, it is pretty likely. She waits a while before she sleeps with him again because of the whole Riley-having-sex-with-Faith-in-Buffy's-body thingy. She felt hurt that he didn't know it wasn't her and insecure that he wouldn't be satisfied by her now that he had been with the much more sexually experience Faith. Superstar: Again, at his dorm? She moans Jonathon's name, I guess that spell wasn't completely worn off yet. :) That makes only three times by the time Where the Wild Ones Are. So by that episode, Buffy is having her first thoughts of I Can Have Sex Anytime I Want And Nothing Bad Will Happen. And of course, she over does it. But look at her track record. She slept with Angel in Surprise and then never gets to be with him again due to him turning into Angelus, torturing her, and trying to destroy the world. She sleeps with Parker in Harsh Light of Day and then never sleeps with him again due to finding out he was a womanizing Poophead that was lying to her to get in her pants. She sleeps with Riley and his boss/mentor tries to kill her. Now this happens. Is it no wonder that in Triangle she tried on the nun's wimple (sorry, don't know how to spell it)?

12.	Nix Jul 9 2007
	What I find interesting is that every one of Tracy Forbes's three episodes involves Buffy being influenced by something that causes her to act completely out of character for a large portion of the ep. This is otherwise fairly rare: _When She Was Bad_ possibly, _Halloween_, in a sense _The Wish_, in a sense _Who Are You_, _Normal Again_, and that's it. And most of the non-Forbes episodes actually require more writing effort, _Who Are You_ in particular. (I'm ignoring _Bewitched, Bothered & Bewildered_'s enratting here because that was a hack to avoid SMG scheduling conflicts and thus essentially forced on the writers.) It's only Forbes's attempts that, to be blunt, feel like a writer trying to avoid writing a character that she's having trouble with: and that's a bit of a problem when the character is as central as Buffy. And it's notable that she does it every time.

13.	buffyholic Nov 7 2007
	Ok, this plot is awful. Really bad but I like watching it. For me, Anya and Spike are a delight to watch.

14.	Plain Simple Feb 14 2008
	I also can't believe this is the first time in decades someone has sex in this frat house. Or is it Buffy's super powers that steams up the ghosts. Ah well, let's not over analyse and just enjoy the good bits (mainly Anya-Spike and Giles singing, like you point out).

15.	wilpy1 Mar 8 2008
	HATE this episode. Tracy Forbes was like a bad fan-fiction writer. 'Something Blue' was neat, but even that plot was like a fan-fiction come to life. WTWTA is just an awful, awful episode. I vow never to watch it again. Cringe!

16.	Paula Jun 18 2008
	I've really got to disagree with you on this episode's scoring, MikeJer. The main plot is pretty silly, but not exceptionally so (IMO, the Buffy "monster-fighting" plots are rarely anything too special; it's the character-driven stuff that shines). And all the rest about this episode was quite entertaining, so I'd have given at least a C. But I guess there's no arguing about matters of taste. :-)

17.	Tonyy Jul 25 2008
	Yeah I watched this yesterday again and it really wasn't that bad. A 33 is a bit low I think. Way to low actually. The plot, yes really stupid. But there were many times I laughed out loud with my friend while watching this. Anya is just hilarious.

18.	jillyenator Aug 5 2008
	Just watched this again and if I ignore the plot, the interactions with the Scoobies and foreshadowing with Anya/Spike turning to each other for comfort makes it almost worthwhile. I'd give it a D, myself. The plot is as bad as the season 1 eps, but I have gotten REALLY good at ignoring plot in Buffy eps by now. :) I can now look past cavemen, preying mantis sex, penis-head wig ladies, hokey Chumash Indians and all manner of sorry plotlines at this point...and just watch for the sparkling moments of continuity, foreshadowing, humor, character-driven dialogue and brilliant facial acting by much of the cast (esp Spike). It's amazing how much better the series is on the second viewing in this way.

19.	HarFang Sep 6 2008
	LOL jillyenator! I think you're right! I'll try to develop the same knack for looking elsewhere at the right moment! Anyway, another good thing that this stupid plot allows is to see the Scoobies fend for themselves and actually manage to get the job done. The last time they had to do without Buffy was in Anne / Dead Man's Party, and they're definitely getting better -although not as good yet as they'll be in Bargaining.

20.	Lacie Sep 21 2008
	Yikes! I hadnt realized that Tracey Forbes wrote "Beer Bad" and "Where The Wild Things Are". I knew she wrote "Something Blue" which is my very favorite episode of all, but damn, those other two are pretty much universally disliked. Maybe she had help on "Something Blue" from some of the other writers, cuz "Beer Bad" and "WTWTA" are shining examples of what not to show someone when trying to get them interested in Buffy (although, the argument that bad episodes of Buffy are better than a lot of other stuff out there is true cuz "Beer Bad" was like the second or third episode i ever saw and i still wanted to watch more), but "Something Blue" is fantastic. Anyway i also wanted to say that the rate at which youre putting these reviews out is great MikeJer! I love checking the site and seeing new reviews. You do a really good job talking about the important stuff in each episode and explaining what it all means in your opinion, but most important of all, its apparent in each review that you love the series a lot and that makes it all the more fun to read these, so keep up the good work! Hehe I just thought I'd mention Tracey is actually a man =) Anyway I actually thought the last episode (superstar) was the most boring. Sure, this is terrible, but I just HATE Jonathan. And it's just not interesting.

21.	bigmoneygrip Nov 4 2008
	For me, the only parts I liked were Spike and Anya, and Xander outing Spike a.k.a. Hostile17 at the party.

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