Buffy Logo 'Where the Wild Things Are'
Story Code '4ABB18'

by Tracey Forbes
Buffy

On patrol, Riley and Buffy slay a vampire and a demon; the fight turns them on, and so they return to Riley’s room to make love. Later, Riley wakes up and wanders through the house, turning off the dripping tap in the shower so that he can sleep. The next day, Xander is on his first day as an ice cream truck man, accompanied by Anya; as they pull up to the kerb they have a loud discussion about their sex life, only to find they have an audience of children and parents. Meanwhile, Giles, Willow, Tara, Buffy and Riley meet in a study room to discuss the unusual alliance of the vampire and demon, but Riley and Buffy’s raging hormones take them away for a ‘quickie’ before class. That evening, they make love in Riley’s room; meanwhile Forrest and a few other soldiers are stoking a fire in the living room downstairs. As Riley and Buffy’s passion reaches a climax, a fireball erupts from the fireplace, engulfing one of the soldiers; Forrest is able to use a banner on the wall to smother the flames. The following evening, Spike tries to mug Anya as she walks through the town, but he is unsuccessful because she is not frightened of him. Spike figures out that Anya and Xander have had an argument. A party has been thrown at the Initiative house, and Buffy and her friends are there; Xander is there alone, while Anya shares a drink with Spike at ‘The Bronze’; they reminisce about their old days, when they were both evil. At the party, one of the soldiers is coming onto a girl when he puts his hand on the wall and an orgasmic sensation ripples through his body; very soon there is a line of people waiting to touch the wall. Willow and Tara are having a conversation when Willow puts her hand on Tara’s knee; Tara reacts in disgust, telling Willow to go away, before running to the bathroom. When Anya and Spike show up at the party Xander is angry with Anya for trying to make him jealous; she breaks up with Xander, and the two of them go to enjoy their newfound single life. Xander plays ‘Spin the Bottle’ with Julia, an attractive girl that he saw earlier; when it is Xander’s turn the bottle points to Julia, and he gives her a gentlemanly peck on the cheek - but she grabs him and kisses him passionately. She snaps out of it, and runs embarrassed to the bathroom. Willow enters the bathroom that Tara went into but finds the room empty, apart from a young boy drowning in the bath. She grabs him but he disappears, reappearing behind her. Downstairs, the bottle is whirling around madly on its own, until it explodes. Meanwhile, Riley and Buffy are unaware of these bizarre events, as their love-making has consumed them both. Xander, Willow and Tara meet up and decide they need Buffy’s help, but Riley’s door is covered with a mass of plant roots. When a sudden earthquake causes the partygoers to leave, one girl runs at Anya, passing right through her. Forrest and another soldier head to the Initiative to try and find out what’s going on, while Willow, Tara, Xander and Anya regroup outside the front of the house. The house is now deserted, but when Xander tries to rush in to get Buffy, he is hurled back by an invisible force. They decide they need Giles, but after arriving at the coffee house where he told them he would be spending some ‘adult time’ they are gobsmacked to find him in the centre of the room, entertaining people with a melancholy song on the guitar. After going to Giles’ house to research, Willow discovers that the house was once an orphanage in the 1950’s, and the mistress of the house is still alive and in Sunnydale. They decide to pay her a visit, but when Giles starts questioning the old lady about any odd activities in the house, it soon becomes apparent that she is psychotic, telling them that she would punish the children for impure hormonal thoughts by holding them underwater, and cutting off their hair if they were vain. Giles berates her for emotionally damaging the children, and they storm out. Giles explains to the gang that whatever is occurring is due to the energy released from the emotional trauma from the children; the people they saw were poltergeists, rather than ghosts, released by the damage done to the children’s souls so many years ago. The events have been caused by Buffy and Riley’s sexual energy, and, as they are the catalyst, they will die if the poltergeist leaves before their sexual vigour runs out. Tara, Giles and Willow go to Tara’s room to conjure a spell to distract the poltergeist long enough for Xander and Anya to rescue Buffy and Riley; as they concentrate, Willow, Tara and Giles find themselves surrounded by the poltergeists of the children. Xander and Anya gain access to the house, but the stairs are covered in the living roots and vines, and they have to hack their way through. The children vanish, and Xander and Anya are thrown to the living room; Xander is then dragged to a bathroom, where he is thrust into a bath and held underwater while the children appear and look down at him. Anya tries to charge through the vines, but she is skewered through the hand by one of the; she makes her way to the bathroom and rescues Xander, and together they are able to fight their way through to Riley’s room, smashing the door open. Buffy and Riley’s love-making is interrupted, causing the poltergeists to be instantly evicted, and everything to revert to normal. The next day, as they discuss what happened, Buffy and Riley explain that a supernatural force was driving their love-making, and that they had no idea what was going on in the house. Willow tells them it must have been awful, but Buffy and Riley share a smile…

Sarah Michelle Gellar (Buffy Summers), Nicholas Brendon (Xander Harris), Alyson Hannigan (Willow Rosenberg), Marc Blucas (Riley Finn), James Marsters (Spike), Anthony Stewart Head (Rupert Giles), Emma Caulfield (Anya), Amber Benson (Tara), Bailey Chase (Graham Miller), Leonard Roberts (Forrest Gates), Bailey Chase (Graham Miller), Kathryn Joosten (Mrs. Holt), Casey McCarthy (Julie), Neil Daly (Mason), Jeff Wilson (Evan), Bryan Cuprill (Roy), Jeffrey Sharmay (Drowning Boy), Jeri Austin (Running Girl), Danielle Pessis (Christie), David Engler (Initiative Guy), James Michael Conner (Scientist)
Directed by David Solomon

TX (US): 28th April 2000
TX (UK - Sky One): 5th May 2000
TX (UK - BBC): 1st March 2001

Notes:
*Featuring Buffy, Xander, Willow, Giles, Riley, Anya and Tara