Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Wild at Heart

Wild at Heart
Season 4, Episode 6
Airdate	November 9, 1999
Production Number	4ABB06
Written by	Marti Noxon
Directed by	David Grossman
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Buffy the Vampire Slayer — Season Four

Wild at Heart is the sixth episode of the fourth season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and the sixty-second episode overall.

Sarah Michelle Gellar (Buffy Summers), Nicholas Brendon (Xander Harris), Alyson Hannigan (Willow Rosenberg), Seth Green (Oz)

and Anthony Stewart Head (Giles)

Guest Starring: Marc Blucas (Riley Finn), Paige Moss (Veruca), James Marsters (Spike)

and Lindsay Crouse (Maggie Walsh)

Plot Overview

Oz's attraction to Veruca grows and he soon discovers why when he finds out that she is also a werewolf. Having embraced her animal side as well as her attraction to him, Oz must battle with his own animalistic nature and the human part of himself that is grounded in his love for Willow.

Notes

Monster of the Week

Werewolves take the center stage in this episode, specifically focusing on Oz and Veruca. One added piece to the werewolf archetype in the series is that Veruca retains memories from her nights as the wolf and she claims that the same will happen to Oz little by little as he gets on in years. The two share a similar dynamic to Faith and Buffy in the previous season, specifically the fact that power can be used in a destructive way if it is wielded by someone with little self control.

Body Count

#	Whom	By Whom	How	Where
1	Vampire	Buffy	Staked	UC Sunnydale
2	Veruca	Werewolf Oz	Throat Torn Out	Chemistry Lab

Music

• "Dip" by T.H.C.: The song that Shy, fronted by Veruca, plays on stage at The Bronze is "Dip", a song that's actually performed by Los Angeles trip-hop duo T.H.C.. The band plays all three of the songs performed by Shy, split between this episode and the last.

• "Need to Destroy" by T.H.C.: Later on, during Shy's rehearsal, the band lipsyncs to "Need to Destroy" by T.H.C. Although the band is largely made up of actors, the role of Shy's keyboard player is actually filled by the real band's keyboardist—George Sarah.

• 8Stops7 - "Good Enough"

Arc Advancement

Happenings

• The Initiative: Buffy becomes aware of the Initiative when she literally runs into one of the soldiers in the woods.

• UC Sunnydale: Willow mentions that there's a wicca group on campus, although they're not followed up on for several more episodes.

Characters

• Spike: After a menacing monologue at the end of the teaser, Spike is zapped with a taser and drug off to an unknown location by a cadre of military types. Though they have yet to be named, the people who took him away are part of The Initiative, who are properly introduced in the next episode.

• Oz and Willow: Oz and Willow's relationship tearfully ends after Oz decides to leave town and try to find out what exactly it means to be burdened with the traits of a werewolf. Willow also reacts harshly to her discovery of Veruca and Oz together, once again turning immediately to magic to solve her problems.

Referbacks

• 4x04 - Fear, Itself: Buffy references the time when she ran into the two soldiers emerging from the woods when telling Giles about the soldier she most recently ran into. At the time, she just assumed that they were wearing Halloween costumes.

• 3x01 - Anne: Giles reminds Buffy that she went through something similar to what happened to Willow, but Buffy reminds him that she didn't handle it well. She ran away from home, got a low-paying job at a diner and eventually wound up in a demon dimension that doubled as a sweatshop.

Buffy: Yeah, I ran away and went to hell and then I got through it.

Trivia

The Show

• Departure: Seth Green makes his final billed appearance in this episode. He will go on to appear twice more as a guest star.

• Trilogy: Writer Marti Noxon considers this episode to be the second part of an Oz trilogy, beginning with "Phases" and ending with "New Moon Rising".

Behind the Scenes

• International: Buffy the Vampire Slayer has been dubbed into many different languages and the title translated for each different international version. Some international translations of this episode's title are:
  • Finnish: "Peto sisälläni" ("Beast Inside")
  • French: "Cœur de loup-garou" ("Werewolf's Heart")
  • Italian: "Lupi mannari" ("Werewolves")
  • German: "Wilde Herzen" ("Wild Hearts")
  • Spanish: "Salvaje de corazón" ("Wild at Heart")

Quotes

• Willow: I have wrong feelings about other guys sometimes, but I feel guilty and I flog and punish.

Buffy: Exactly. I'm sure Oz is flogging and punishing himself... this is sounding wrong before I even finish.

• Buffy: Giles, I've never seen her like this. It's like it hurts too much to form words.

Giles: You've felt that way yourself and you got through it.

Buffy: Yeah. I ran away and went to Hell and then got through it. I'm kind of hoping she doesn't use me as a model.

Giles: Fair enough.

• Willow: Oz, don't you love me?

Oz: My whole life I've never loved anything else.