Possibly more than any other episode, we really need this spoiler board for "Restless"! In particular, watch the scene with the swing set and the sandbox. Spike is dressed like "Randy Giles" from Tabula Rasa, with his father Giles beside him. Buffy plays in the sandbox and talks about sharks with legs moving on land, foreshadowing the loan shark that Spike meets up with. But the biggest event that's prophesied in this episode is the coming of Dawn. I'm looking forward to the WTF posts that happen to the new readers when THAT happens. ;)
10 comments:
I thought there would be more spoiler posts by now, since there's so much foreshadowing in this episode.
Giles doesn't listen to Harmony. On the commentary Joss says this is about gender issues, but I think Giles also dismisses demons (Anya, Spike etc) when they're right.
Verification word 'unsee' - what I'd like to do every time Buffy kisses Riley. ;)
Xander has always been attracted to Buffy, but in his dream she calls him 'brother'. I've always seen Dawn as his potential (when she grows up) mate, and if you've read the comics...
It doesn't bother me that the father in the dream is not the father from Hell's Bells - in dreams people are not always played by the actual person.
Giles mentions "The blood of the lamb", a biblical reference to communion/mass. Buffy will sacrifice herself for humanity.
Spike is also often seen in a Christ pose in the series (in his modelling session here, on the torture wheel, in his song in OMWF, and particularly in Beneath You) and he will also sacrifice himself to save the world.
There's a nice tie in to the beginning of the season - Buffy and Faith making the bed - and the beginning of the next (be back before Dawn.)
When 'Tara' says that Buffy doesn't know what she is, is she referring to the source of her power? Her sisterhood? Her sacrifice?
Not looking forward to Buffy Vs Dracula - maybe I'll like it more than I have before, but it's my least favourite episode - but very much looking forward to the rest of season five.
One thing that I picked up during this rewatch is the way that Riley couldn't handle the primitive Buffy with the mud on her face and that there is line to that effect as he as he and the Adam character walk past her. It immediately made me think about the way that Spike seems to be the only character, especially in later seasons that can handle the darkness within Buffy. I wonder if Angel could handle it -- something makes me think the answer would be "no."
The first time I watched "Restless", I thought maybe I was the one dreaming. A post-series rewatch is essential to appreciating this episode.
My favourite line courtesy of Xander: "Sometimes I think about 2 women doing a spell, and then I do a spell by myself." Whoa, Xand, too much information!
Season 5 is my personal fave for many reasons (including, but not limited to, the appearances of "Alias" dudes Marshall Flinkman, Sloane Clone and The Rose, and of course, the "birth" of The Niblet, etc....), so I'm really looking forward to a 2nd go round.
Just watched BtVS alum, Michelle Branch, sing "God Bless America" at the MLB All-Star game, nearly a full 10 years after "Tabula Rasa". Fitting that it happened on a Tuesday night.
Page48: Get OUT! I just watched exactly the same thing... and said exactly the same thing! We were getting caught up on True Blood, stopped it, and she was singing. We were trying to figure out who it was and then they said Michelle Branch and I said, "Whoa, she looks younger than she did 10 years ago when she was on Buffy!" ;)
@Nikki, Michelle was so much older then, she's younger than that now.
Oh the joy I'll be bathing in when the newbies meet Little Miss Muffet.Lol
Is it weird I'll be taking delight in their confusion?
because most spoilers have been brought up I'll just reveal my 1st thoughts regarding Dawn,I fell for it I seriously thought Buffy had a sister...you might be wondering why I thought that so let me explain.
I thought Dawn had been with Hank(or at the very least thats how I rationalized her sudden appearence)the whole time...In my defence I was 11 when s5 started and with the haituses I'd usually forget detials from the previous seasons.
Now when I think back I laugh because it's just ludicrous to miss something as big a a little sister.
And so we leave a season in which I liked Riley and enter a season where I hated Dawn during the original run...I find it funny now that I really enjoy Dawn and hate Riley.
(Rewatches are Great Lol)
"Restless" has to be one of my favourite episodes of "Buffy" ever, and it is one which I can't watch without analysing every second. I was not patient enough to watch "Buffy" for the first time in time with the rewatch, so I just finished watching the series over the weekend. Rewatching "Restless" now, lots of aspects seem to take on a whole different meaning. This episode has to be one of the richest of any TV show ever, in terms of the insight we get into the characters' psyches, hints for the future etc.
In Willow's dream, we see how she is constantly feeling that she is just wearing a costume in front of everybody she knows. This can be taken as both her feeling that deep down she is still the same geek she was in high school, with everybody picking on her, and also that she is hiding a lot of her use of, and need for, magic from her friends, which will of course come to a head in Season 6.
Xander's dream, as well as having sexual fantasies about people he really shouldn't be, largely focuses on him not having any direction in life. Wherever he goes, he ends up back in his basement, without any purpose in his life. He doesn't have a real job, and he doesn't really understand what Giles and the others are going on about half the time. We get more hints that Xander's home life is abusive, and that in many ways the Scoobies are his real family now. There is also a strange lack on Anya in his dream, perhaps because still scared of growing too attached to her in case they end up like his parents, which is of course why they break up in "Hell's Bells". Anya also mentions getting back into vengeance, which is another foreshadowing of where their relationship will go.
Giles' dream has slightly less character insight than the others, and is more developing the plot. But we do see that he really sees Buffy as a daughter to him, and feels that he is a bit too harsh on her much of the time. We also have that fantastic scene of him with Willow and Xander, and the song he sings.
Buffy's dream is really focusing on resolving the plot, and explaining what has happened. We get hints about Dawn's appearance next season, and Buffy's death, and we also meet the First Slayer. We also see Buffy being all alone, and the fact that what makes her special as a slayer is that she has friends who help her. (This is one of the things that bugged me in Season 7: Buffy was acting like she was on her own, better than the others, and that she'd saved the world single-handedly, but in this episode we see that what really makes her spacial is the fact that she isn't alone, she has friends who support her and help her anyway they can.) We also see her worries (sort of) that Riley will turn evil (planning to take over the world), and also how he will leave her, which he does next season.
Overall, this is one of my favourite episodes of "Buffy", if only for the wealth of character development and hints we get. I also like it that how each of the characters dies is linked with the spell they performed last episode: Willow had her soul sucked out, Xander had his heart ripped out, and Giles has his brain removed. Next, we move on to Season 5, which is one of my favourite seasons (largely because of the characters and relationships in it).
I'm back, my Internet was down for 10 days, and I have 4 posts to work through.
So much foreshadowing, did anyone else see a slight connection between this and the Boone/Locke thing in Further Instructions.
And I know next wek the other post will have tons of What Is Dawn? posts. The answer comes pretty quick after you've been trained by Lost, but at the time, I see how it was a huge risk.
I wonder what the opnions on Dawn will be? I don't hate her as much as some of the boards of seen (IMDB is really active still) and I am youngest in my family by a large gap as wel so I can sometimes sympathize. And I also feel they didn't change the writing enough when they cast Michelle instead of someone younger.
"There's something out there" at the time you think it's Willow still not completly settled with Tara, or her Wallflower personality still under the surface, who could have guessed what was really in Willow?
I wonder exactly how abusive Xander's parents were? I know they were loud and used abusive words and often drank, but did his father ever cross the line in to physical attacks. Xander seemed most disturbed by that last fake vision where he went at Anya with a pan in Hells Bells.
I agree with you, Quarks, that it bothers me in Season 7, too, when Buffy seems so isolated from the group, and they all seem to forget how powerful of a force the four of them can be while joined.
However, so many factors come into play during Seasons 5 and 6 that change the dynamic of the foursome. Spike, Tara, Anya, and Dawn become integral parts of the group, causing the close ties of the original four to loosen a bit. Willow focues more on Tara; Xander focuses more on Anya, and Buffy focuses on Dawn and Spike. It is something that causes me to be nostaligic about the close ties of the four from earlier seasons when I watch the later seasons, but I also think it is very real. Lastly, I think Buffy is really changed in drastic ways after she is pulled back from death by her friends and the impact of this on their relationships is huge.
Colleen/redeem147:
Verification word 'unsee' -
When I read this I automatically looked over and checked the current VW: cupper. So when I read, what I'd like to do every time Buffy kisses Riley., my brain was thinking the word was cupper.
Cue several seconds of staring openmouthed and saying "WTF?" silently.
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