Where the Wild Things Are (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

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"Where the Wild Things Are" is the 18th episode of season 4 of the television show Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

At a fraternity party, Buffy and Riley are compelled to have sex by a mystical influence. The party is held in a house which was formerly a home for wayward children, that is haunted by the angry ghosts of children who were physically and emotionally abused by the Christian fundamentalist who managed the home.

Plot[]

Buffy and Riley fight a vampire and a demon in the cemetery, finally disposing of both of them. On their way to tell Giles about the odd pairing of demon and vampire, they end up having sex at Riley's dorm at Lowell House. Xander is driving an ice cream truck for his new job, and Anya rides along with him to complain about their diminishing relationship. Trying to convince her that there is nothing wrong with him or their relationship, Xander suggests they have sex right there in the truck, little realizing that there is a group of kids waiting outside for their ice cream.

The gang talks about patrol the night before, and they realize that Adam is bringing the races of demons together. Buffy and Riley escape for some alone time, which is no secret to the rest of the gang. The two continue their sex romp through the night. While the rest of the house is freezing cold, Buffy and Riley continue to keep occupied, and warm. An initiative agent is badly burned when a fire in a fireplace bursts forth into the room.

At a frat party, Buffy and Riley are making eyes at each other from across the room while their friends attempt to talk to them. A guy is talking to a girl, when he places his hand on a wall and suddenly gets very excited. Xander flirts with a girl named Julie. Willow and Tara talk about horses, but Willow had a bad experience with them and she is very afraid of them. Willow touches Tara's knee, but Tara backs away, inexplicably disgusted with the gesture. Spike and Anya bond over a couple beers at the Bronze, complaining about what it is like to be without their harmful demon powers. The two then arrive at the party and verbally gang up on Xander.

A group is playing spin the bottle and Xander joins in. On Xander's turn, the bottle lands on Julie, and he kisses her on the cheek. She suddenly jumps him and starts kissing him aggressively. After she runs away, Xander follows and finds her in the closet cutting off her hair. Willow goes to the restroom looking for Tara and instead finds a ghost of a young boy drowning in the bathtub. When she reaches for him, he disappears and reappears behind her, scaring her. All this time, Buffy and Riley have barely come up for air, not even stopping when they hear Willow scream or the gang calling for them outside the door.

After being spun once more, the beer bottle used in the game spins around violently and spontaneously breaks. Vines begin to cover the internal walls, the house shakes violently, and leather straps seem to come out of nowhere, binding Spike to the chair he is sitting in. Forrest tries to warn Graham, but he responds by speaking in a strange yet religious manner. They run downstairs for instructions from their commanding officers. A ghost of a young girl runs straight through Anya and disappears. Spike breaks free of his bonds and everyone escapes outside. The gang goes to Giles for help and find him singing and playing the guitar at the Espresso Bar.

Research leads them to information about the Lowell building, which used to be the old Lowell Home for Children. They find the woman, Genevieve Holt, who ran the children's home and she confesses that she rewarded the children when they were good and punished them when they were dirty. She would cut off the hair of the girls who would preen their hair in the mirror in order to "remove the temptation" of vanity and "baptize" them by holding their bodies underwater in a bathtub. After leaving Holt's place, they conclude that a group of poltergeists is now releasing their pent up sexual energy thanks to the repetitive acts of sex by Buffy and Riley. When Buffy and Riley are drained of all their strength, they will die.

Willow, Tara, and Giles perform a spell to stop the ghosts, but when they perform a seance, ghostly children appear, a strong wind blows through the air and a table is thrown across the room. Xander and Anya hack their way through the vines and try to reach Buffy and Riley. Anya is knocked across the house while Xander is dragged into the bathroom and held underwater, only to be watched by the ghost children. Anya makes her way upstairs to save Xander and they fight against the vines and finally open Riley's dorm. The next day, the gang talks about the consequences of Buffy and Riley's endless sex. Unconvincingly, Buffy and Riley say how horrible the experience was.

References[]

External links[]

Wikiquote has quotations related to: Where the Wild Things Are

• "Where the Wild Things Are" at IMDb
• "Where the Wild Things Are" at BuffyGuide.com