Willow’s magic has drained after her night out with Amy. The two girls go to meet a warlock called Rack who Amy knows. He makes them high with magic. Later, while looking after Dawn, Willow decides to get another quick fix and leaves Rack’s place high and out of control. A demon chases Willow and Dawn, and the girls escape a demon by stealing a car, which Willow drives using magic. The car crashes and Dawn is injured, resulting in Willow breaking down and asking Buffy for help with her addiction. Meanwhile, Buffy and Spike argue after a night of sex and Tara is further isolated from Willow when she meets her and Amy coming home from their late night.
| Airdate: | 27 November 2001 |
| Writer: | Marti Noxon |
| Director: | David Soloman |
| Cast: |
Anya: "At least I'm not asking you to perform the groom's rite of self-flagellation."
Behind the Scenes Trivia
J.D.Peralta
The episode Wrecked was dedicated “In Loving Memory Of J.D. Peralta”. She was Marti Noxon’s assistant, who died of cancer in November 2001 (the month in which the episode aired). She was only 30. J.D. played ‘Woman in Bar’ in Amber Benson’s movie Chance. In an interview, Amber Benson revealed her feelings about shooting the scenes of Tara’s death at the end of season six:
“It was actually really tough, because a good friend of mine passed away from cancer at the end of last year - Marti Noxon’s assistant, J.D. Peralta, a wonderful, incredible human being. We were all really close to her at work and having to play dead in the same place where I spent a lot of time with this person was really unsettling. It just brought back a lot of memories.”
Marti on Willow’s addiction
In the SFX Year End Collector’s Edition, Marti Noxon said of the episode Wrecked:
“Some criticism kicked in here that we were being too literal about Willow’s addiction and comparing it to alcoholism. It is in fact sort of literal in the sense we’re trying to set up that she doesn’t have any control; she’s really fucked. We also knew that this wasn’t the end of the storyline. Even though people were, like, ‘This isn’t satisfying, it’s just so Touched by A Marti.’ It was frustration because people were reacting like that and we wanted to say, ‘You don’t understand, it hasn’t even begun.’”
Cast and Crew Trivia
Jeff Kober
Jeff played Zachary Kralik in Helpless and the warlock Rack in season six. Jeff appeared in a series of adverts for Bacardi, playing a much more laid back character. He also played Dadelus, head of the Nosferatu clan of vampires, in the 1996 TV series Kindred: The Embraced. Montana-born Jeff has also been in ER, Star Trek: Enterprise, NYPD Blue, Star Trek: Voyager, Charmed, The X-Files (he played Bear in the episode called ‘Ice’) and Falcon Crest. Jeff appeared as an FBI agent in Jennifer Lopez’s movie Enough.
Character Trivia
Rack
Rack was a warlock who dealed in highly addictive magic. Amy Madison introduced Willow to him and she quickly became an addict. He called her Strawberry. He warned Warren Meers about Willow’s power after Warren had killed Tara. Evil Willow killed Rack when she drained him to recharge her power.
Continuity
Ditch fear
In Dead Man’s Party, Joyce says to Buffy, “You can’t imagine months of not knowing. Not knowing whether you’re lying dead in a ditch somewhere or, I don’t know, living it up…” Later, in Wrecked, Dawn says, “What if they’re all in a ditch somewhere? Ditches are bad. Mom always used to talk about the ditches.” Apparently, Joyce instilled some ditch-fear into Dawn too.
Hungry and horny
Faith told the Scoobies in Faith, Hope and Trick that slaying vampires makes Slayers “hungry and horny”. Prudish old Buffy simply replies after Faith’s comment, “Well… sometimes I crave a non-fat yogurt afterwards” though the evidence points otherwise: In The Zeppo, Faith has sex with Xander after escaping a demon; in The I in Team, Buffy and Riley have sex after slaying some demons; in Wrecked, Dawn says, “I’ll leave a note for Buffy on the refrigerator. That’s the first place she goes after patrolling. She’s such a pig after she kills things.”
Tara’s pancakes
Tara offers to make Dawn some pancakes (”Funny shapes, or…”) in Wrecked. She made them for Dawn in Bargaining (Part 1), saying, “Funny shapes or rounds?”
Music Trivia
Laika
The music playing when Willow is floating in Wrecked is Laika’s ‘Black Cat Bone’. The lyrics are:
Must have been the devil that changed my mind
Must have been the wind blowing not me crying
Half the joy of leaving was the space I left behind
Now I’m back angel headed, hollow eyed
Placed myself at the eye of the storm
Just didn’t see the signpost to scorn
The blue sky wrinkled through my tears
Then the darkness grounded all my fears
I gave him my sugar, he switched it for salt
Didn’t see him coming that’s always my fault.
Mythology Trivia
Burlap
In Wrecked, Anya says the traditional dress for demon bridesmaids is “burlap with blood larva”. In Hell’s Bells, Willow wonders whether burlap and blood larva might be better than their actual green bridesmaid’s dresses.
Garlic
Traditionally, garlic is supposed to ward off vampires, though no explanation is properly given why. Buffy uses garlic, hoping to put off Spike if he tries to go to her house, in Wrecked. She also hung garlic in her room in Passion, when Angel was a threat.
Yak Cheese
In Wrecked, Willow told Buffy that she had to keep “stinky yak cheese” in her bra to perform some spells, though she didn’t specify why.
References
Ding Dog Daddy
The cartoon clip Tara and Dawn wake up to in Wrecked is a Warner Bros. animation called Ding Dog Daddy, made in 1942 and directed by Friz Freling.
Lojack
In Wrecked, Spike tells Buffy to get a Lojack for Dawn as she keeps going missing. Lojack is a kind of US car tracking device.
Martha Stewart
The Scoobies discuss American style queen Martha Stewart in Wrecked. Anya insists she “isn’t a demon. She’s a witch… Nobody could do that much decoupage without calling on the powers of darkness.”
The Scoobies had the following conversation about Martha Stewart in Faith, Hope and Trick:
Cordelia: “When did you become Martha Stewart?”
Buffy: “First of all, Martha Stewart knows jack about hand-cut prosciutto.”
Xander: “I don’t believe she slays, either.”
Oz: “Oh, I hear she can, but she doesn’t like to.”
Goofs
Seen at 04.49 minutes:
At the start of Wrecked, when Spike grabs Buffy and pulls her down onto him, you can clearly see the flesh-coloured pants he is wearing.
Seen at 07.45 minutes:
When she’s in the kitchen in the morning, Dawn’s hair moves from before to behind her shoulders in different shots without her touching it. This occurs again when she says, “So, what’s the big bad - should we be worried?”
Seen at 13.28 minutes:
When Amy became a rat in Gingerbread she had only really dabbled in magic previously. When she is de-ratted in this episode she is a complete addict and introduces Willow to Rack (who she must have met when she was still in school). This seems to be an unlikely shift in Amy’s personality.
Quotes
Willow: "If you could be... plain old Willow or super Willow, who would you be?"
Spike: "I may be dirt, but you're the one that likes to roll in it."
Anya: "At least I'm not asking you to perform the groom's rite of self-flagellation."
Buffy: "When did the building fall down?"