Buffy the Vampire Slayer: 6x10 Full Reaction
Added 2025-02-17 15:00:13 +0000 UTC"Wrecked"
Comments
The garlic thing doesn't come up often, but it's been used at least once before. Back in season 2 after Angel loses his soul, Buffy hangs garlic in her house in one episode to ward off Angelus.
Steve Quast
2025-02-25 18:42:45 +0000 UTCI don't think Spike hates himself. There is information in a later episode that leads me to that conclusion.
Aaron Price
2025-02-24 23:32:04 +0000 UTCA correction : seasons 6 and 7 of Buffy were transmited on the United Paramount Network (UPN). It was open tv, not cable. It was showed on Tuesdays at 8 pm.
JOSE HOSANA CARVALHO DA FONSECA
2025-02-19 12:47:07 +0000 UTCI think as long as Willow wears the right shirt everything will work out just right 👚
Sam Alexander
2025-02-18 19:15:32 +0000 UTCI don't think you remember Amy handing in invisible homework. It's like they say the signs are always there no matter how small they may be.
Morgan Williams
2025-02-18 07:13:05 +0000 UTCTara has sort of taken over as a matriarchal figure for the group and especially Dawn after Joyces death.
Bud Haven
2025-02-18 05:11:36 +0000 UTCWillow's magical addiction being analogous to drug addiction works for me HOWEVER I wish they hadn't made it so explicit. We didn't need the crack den and the physical withdrawals; these things make the story feel a little hamfisted. It was enough for Willow to struggle with magic because of its become the pillar of her self-esteem. As her conversation with Buffy makes clear, magic makes Willow feel powerful and interesting. She has never gotten over being the unpopular 'loser' girl in high school. Buffy's moral code makes it impossible for her to sleep with a soulless being like Spike, hence her self-loathing. The fact that she is the one who started their physical relationship and has so far continued to pursue it does make the insults and bitterness she continually throws at Spike uncomfortable, though. She wants to have her cake and eat it too which is to say that Buffy is not innocent in the toxic dynamic between them. Spike is of course also responsible and behaving badly. They are both bringing their worst to this relationship.
Mornir
2025-02-18 04:49:01 +0000 UTCSpeaking of this being a bit much for broadcast TV. This season was Buffy's first on a brand-new channel - UPN. Paramount produced Buffy for the WB, its original home. But when Paramount started their own channel they stole Buffy from the WB for themselves. The channel was so new they didn't yet have an office of Broadcast Standards and Practices, something the writers and directors took full advantage of. lol
Bud Haven
2025-02-18 03:57:11 +0000 UTCI have very little to add, especially with the whole "druggie" problems that were made from rumor and subtext in the season to loud announcement via bullhorn from rooftop figuratively speaking. I for the first time during this viewing made a connection to the sense that Willow had experienced a "metaphysical/spiritual" violation while watching the shower breakdown scene. I recognized the minor trope and believe it to be a coping mechanism sometimes portrayed for... well, I don't have the heart to spell that issue out today. It will be interesting to see the next developments. Best wishes to all.
Michael Labs
2025-02-18 02:51:32 +0000 UTCIt's good to see there are others in the comments who have a problem with how the addiction metaphor turns so literal here. Until this point the idea of how Willow's dependence on magic was a response to her deeply rooted insecurities was handled more subtly. As Cass points out in her introduction, Season 1 Willow was bullied and awkward. As her dream in Restless shows, she's still afraid she is still that girl (remember the moment when Buffy pulls off her "disguise" in front of the class). Until now, that skillfully showed the cause of the addiction. But this episode suddenly makes it all literal, as if "magic" was a physical substance you can get high on just for the sake of getting high. That not only calls into question the actions of the other responsible magic-makers we've seen (Tara and Giles), but it's not why Willow was using magic in the first place. It's a clumsy way of driving home the point.
DanielOrme
2025-02-18 02:36:55 +0000 UTCI saw what you did there... :D
Michael Labs
2025-02-18 02:33:22 +0000 UTCAbout Willow: You might want to rewatch season's 4 season finale, specifically Willow's dream. It shows that Willow has been insecure and suffering from imposter syndrome for a long time.
slypeartree
2025-02-18 01:13:45 +0000 UTCThis episode is such an important stage in representing the downward spiral of Buffy as well as Willow. From the start, the show used monsters as a metaphor for the issues young people have as they grow up. So its not out of place to use magic addiction as a metaphor for drug addiction. I have always been a little disappointed that there was no subtlety about the metaphor. It's in your face and blatant.
Rod B
2025-02-17 23:44:50 +0000 UTCThis was probably my fave post episode discussion of yours, it's definitely an interesting season and delves into psychology which is quite hard to watch because of how real and relatable it can be at times, especially for a fantasy series.
Ahmad
2025-02-17 23:40:30 +0000 UTCBuffy and Spike are really bringing out the worst in each other at the moment. Spike is trying to maintain Buffy's attachment to him by isolating her from her friends, and Buffy is demeaning and belittling Spike as an outlet for her own self-hatred. Another classic example of this series giving (some of) us what we want, but not in the way we want it.
Maia Brodsky
2025-02-17 23:36:16 +0000 UTC"Is it dangerous?" <- subtle call-back to Dopplegangland, that was Willow's response to Anya suggesting they go do a spell, hoping it would be dangerous and exciting. Now when it really is, Willow's response is pretty different.
Jeremy J Nickurak
2025-02-17 22:03:18 +0000 UTCAmy being irresponsible with magic is pretty consistent, I'd say.
Maia Brodsky
2025-02-17 21:23:14 +0000 UTCThis is why I have a love/hate relationship with Marti Noxon as a writer; on one hand, you get great moments like Willow using magic to do the thing with Tara's clothes. On the other hand, you get the Hallmark movie stuff which as a writer she never really rises above. I know Buffy isn't subtle with its metaphors, but there's no effort put into the magic = drugs thing. It just... IS a drug den, down to every cliched detail, like she had a cookie-cutter afterschool drugs = bad special and layered the magic thing on it. There's also such a huge difference between Amy as she was and Amy as she is now; she's functionally a different character. She was essentially brought back on as much of a whim as Willow de-ratted her, without much concern given to her as a character.
Jorgalorg
2025-02-17 20:05:44 +0000 UTCSince you asked, this season aired on UPN (the previous 5 aired on the WB) and because the network was so new, it essentially didn’t have a standards and practices department, so the show could get away with doing almost anything it wanted.
Lime Pie
2025-02-17 18:35:28 +0000 UTCI agree with most of what you said, but the characterization of Amy makes sense imo. She had all the access to dark magic that her mom did, which probably led her to meet Rack, and she did cast a spell that took Willow at least 2 years to figure out how to reverse (we know she was still trying in the episode “Triangle”) the last time we saw her in season 3. Also, you're probably right with your assumption about the effect of garlic on vampires given that it was mentioned in concert with crosses and a stake in "The Harvest" as a way to deal with vampires, but I also like to think that garlic messes with a vampire's smell and Buffy hanging it up is her way of preventing Spike from tracking her to her house.
Lime Pie
2025-02-17 18:06:56 +0000 UTCI don't know that I have much to add in terms of the psychology of it all, you seem to have nailed it pretty well. The sentence by sentence breakdown of the dialogue is up there with the best I've seen. Not that other reactors get anything wrong but it's more of 30,000 ft overview style. I appreciate you investigating the actual phraseology.
Preaching to the Horse's Mouth
2025-02-17 18:03:54 +0000 UTCGiles admitted to getting high on magic and unleashing a demon when he was in his teens in 2x08 The Dark Age.
Bud Haven
2025-02-17 17:43:49 +0000 UTCCass, If you think this has a happy ending, you haven't been paying attention. Oh sorry, wrong show 😅
Minister Kosh
2025-02-17 17:25:10 +0000 UTCWhy yes, yes we did just see Willow prostitute herself for a magic fix. Besides that little sexual energy thing they were doing as payment for Rack's magic, and Willow crying under the shower, Rack also refers to Willow as 'Strawberry', the term 'Strawberry' is old LA street slang for prostitute. It was a relief, albeit a tragic one with everything that happened prior, to finally see that last quarter part of Willow's addict personality (the one that wants help) make a genuine appearance. Now she's just got to get through the withdrawals, then the hard part begins.
Claire Eyles
2025-02-17 17:13:48 +0000 UTCI agree that there's a big gap in Amy's characterization between pre- and post-rat. When last we saw her in high school, she and Willow and another student were trying to make a protection amulet for Buffy. They were researching it for days and it took all three of them working together to cast the spell. Now she is casting spells willy-nilly with just a gesture or a single word, and unlike Willow she hasn't had three years of study and experience to explain her newfound skills. Adding in that she was apparently ALREADY seeing Rack back then...it's odd. Other than that odd bit of story, I like the way this episode went. They were very in-your-face with the "magic as drugs" metaphor, but after they've spent most of this season being subtle with it I get that that it was time to really throw it out. I think it was a brilliant idea to have Dawn's injury come from the car crash instead of the demon, because that was "real". How and why they got in the car is magical, but the accident itself was because Willow was Driving Under the Influence. And that is exactly what causes injury and death and heartbreak in real life. None of us are ever going to be attacked by an actual demon, but any one of us could find themselves the victim of a drunk driver. Tara would be the best person for Buffy to talk to, because Tara is the best person for EVERYONE to talk to. She has the empathy and wisdom that everybody else needs. In fact, if Willow HAD talked to Tara a few episodes ago instead of dodging their argument, these problems might have been avoided. Buffy & Tara did have one really good heart-to-heart in season five after Joyce died, where Tara explained that her mother also died young. It was a hightlight in an episode that was already almost all highlight. With regards to garlic, in the Buffyverse it has some sort of effect on vampires and has been mentioned before as a weapon against them, but we're never told what it actually DOES. We only ever see it like this, hung up as a ward, and we never see vampires try to get through it so we don't know what effect it has. My assumption -- just an assumption -- is that it functions like holy water and crosses: It causes a physical burn if it comes into contact with their body, but they can endure that and push through it if they are willing to accept the pain.
JBK405
2025-02-17 16:55:24 +0000 UTCTrivia notes: (1) The title is a pun based on American slang. Willow wrecked the car, which is a metaphor for the fact that she and Buffy are also in the process of wrecking their lives. “Wrecked” is also a slang term for “drunk” or “drugged”. (2) Amy said she could do “transmography”, meaning she could transform people into different creatures (or vice versa). (3) Anya apparently thinks highly of Martha Stewart’s skill at decoupage. (4) Anya said Xander didn’t have to perform the rite of “self-flagellation” which means literally to whip oneself, but is probably a double entendre for masturbation. (5) Rack called Willow “strawberry”, which is (or was at the time) street slang for a new prostitute. Willow’s red hair makes the allusion especially apt. (6) Dawn said Buffy was “feeling all Joan Crawford”, which is a reference to Mommie Dearest. (7) Dawn’s description of Buffy as “such a pig after she kills things” refers back to Faith’s comment in Faith, Hope & Trick that slaying made her “hungry and horny”. We’re supposed to make the other half of the connection to Buffy’s sex with Spike. (8) Amy said she was about to “boot”, a slang term for “vomit”. (9) Spike suggested a Lojack for Dawn, referring to a product which allows you to track the location of a car. And Jeff Kober (Rack) is really good at playing creepy characters (he was the crazed vampire Kralik in Helpless). Oh, and the scene where Willow fills up Tara’s dress recalls what Tara sang in OMWF: “Willow don’t you see, there’ll be nothing left of me.”
ThePowerDrome
2025-02-17 16:45:12 +0000 UTCI don't like this episode. There are some good moments, like the scene where Buffy and Spike wake up at the beginning, and you can clearly see how he's affecting her. She says a lot, but when it comes down to it, she can't stop kissing him, can't stop being tempted by him, which is understandable. The magic-as-drug metaphor just doesn't work well within the scope of the show. It doesn't mesh with how it works in other episodes. As for Spike -- he never tried to be Scooby. He's never going to be in the gang. He's like a hired ally, a mercenary -- he's used, but no one except Buffy sees him as a friend or even an ally. He's been distrusted since the Yoko Factor, and that's no surprise -- he used their trust in him against themselves. It's never going to happen again. And so are Tara, Anya, etc. -- they weren't there when they cast the spell in Primeval to defeat Adam. Xander represents Buffy's heart, Willow her spirit, and Giles her brain. As you can see, there's no place for Tara, Anya, Spike here. They're allies involved, love interests. But they're not Scooby.
ThePowerDrome
2025-02-17 16:39:54 +0000 UTCYES
Melissa Reynolds
2025-02-17 16:04:57 +0000 UTCJ.D. Peralta was Marti Noxon's assistant. Peralta worked on Buffy episodes during the second half of S4, during S5, and early episodes of S6 before she died of cancer.
James Smith
2025-02-17 16:02:58 +0000 UTCI believe the subtext is rapidly becoming uh,...text
madfem
2025-02-17 15:14:46 +0000 UTC
