S04.E22: Restless

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[lembergwatcher]

I still have mixed feelings about this episode. Let's start with the good. Kudos to Joss for not making your typical season's finale. OTOH, I was slightly disappointed that the whole thing was just a dream. Then the deliberate mixture of cryptic messages with senseless stuff (like Cheese Man) left me rather confused back then. The fact that said episode was some kinda premonition

Spoiler

for further plot developments that turned out to be not so inspiring IMO (factual un-writing of four seasons in favor of slayer's mystical sister out of the blue),

didn't give the season 4's finale a lot of points from me as well.
 

I liked Giles' exposition song and still consider it one of the episode's best moments. The bedroom scene between Willow and Tara worked for me either. Also Buffy meeting the First Slayer in the desert scene was fairly stunning. Giles and Anya speaking French and Spike's wacky performance were among the moments I remembered the most. It was also a good thing to know Xander dreamed about threesome with Willow and Tara (good boy, Xander).

6 hours ago, nosleepforme said:

Her dream is about her growth as a person and how her fear is that her becoming a powerful witch and Lesbian is merely a costume and that she's still the same insecure, powerless, vulnerable girl that she was the beginning of the series and that people will only ever see that in her.

I do not find becoming a powerful witch to be a sign of an actual character growth in Willow's case.

Spoiler

The subsequent seasons proved the whole point of witchcraft as the sign of growth to be debatable. Power wasn't always a good thing - for Willow especially.

Willow was a terrific person, because she was, well... Willow, and not because of her gift of witchcraft. And yeah, I like shy high school Willow, and I never viewed the pre-college version of her as somehow inferior to the one we saw in season 4 and beyond. Yes, she was less confident and more vulnerable at school, yet I refuse to accept the notion of Willow becoming complete and finding her true self only at college and only since meeting Tara. She showed a remarkable character growth through seasons 1-3 IMO (long before Tara appeared on the scene). The whole Tara storyline was just a relationship, it didn't add or take away from Willow's personality too much.

 

7 hours ago, nosleepforme said:

Xander's dream is pretty much about being left behind and not being able to keep up with his friends, which is a fear that a lot of us go through in life.

It was somehow absurd that after almost four years of fighting, helping the Slayer and taking direct part in saving the world on many occassions, Xander still had a problem regarding "keeping up with his friends". What exactly he had to keep up with when it came to Buffy or Willow? True, he didn't go to college like the rest of 'em, but he worked for a living and didn't have to rely on parents that much (which made him more adult than his girl-friends). And, you know, I don't believe that college life itself was such a huge thing in need of catching up (it's a Hellmouth after all and they don't teach demon hunting at colleges). Someone probably found Xander-the-Permanent-Loser to be a "funny thing", but enough is enough. Just wonder: what did Xander have to do in particular to be considered equal to Wicca and the Slayer or worthy of their friendship? Overall a terrible-terrible mishandling of a character on Whedon's behalf...

And finally... one of the weirdest moments of the whole episode. What a wonderful couple those two could be... Was it a hint or something?

[CletusMusashi]

At the time I found it to be strange but enjoyable. I watched it many times, not actually realizing that it was the first complete episode to occur post-shark. The ending of "Premeval," where if a Slayer combines powers with a mediocre-powered witch she can suddenly turn machine gun bullets into living doves, was the first time I completely just called bullshit on a serious plot climax. But, after that, "Restless" seemed harmless enough, and I was able to enjoy it under the asumption that the show would soon be back on track. Today, however, I recognize it for what it was: a space filler that was written by Joss Whedon while still under the influence of the huge amounts of anasthetic that the hospital must have had to give him while

Spoiler

pulling Buffy's new 14 year old sister out of his ass.

Edited September 5, 2018 by CletusMusashi

[Halting Hex]

13 hours ago, lembergwatcher said:

The fact that said episode was some kinda premonition

  Reveal hidden contents

for further plot developments that turned out to be not so inspiring IMO (factual un-writing of four seasons in favor of slayer's mystical sister out of the blue),

didn't give the season 4's finale a lot of points from me as well.

Also:

Spoiler

Willow gets the spirit sucked out of her and ends up a limp rag.

Xander has his heart ripped out (romantically) and is no longer the "heart" of the group.

Giles is reduced to a "brainless" idiot who makes clever decisions such as sending Buffy alone to face Sweet, running 6000 miles away when Willow's about to crack (despite getting a magical second chance that tells him that running away doesn't solve problems!) and endorsing Buffy's "bloody barmy" battle plan in the finale that only worked because both the First and Wolfram & Hart literally handed deus ex machina weapons to Buffy.

Buffy ends up essentially alone and friendless, her life a barren wasteland of nothing but fighting.

Yay?

Edited September 1, 2018 by Halting Hex

[lembergwatcher]

Spoiler

Quote

Willow gets the spirit sucked out of her and ends up a limp rag.

Xander has his heart ripped out (romantically) and is no longer the "heart" of the group.

Giles is reduced to a "brainless" idiot who makes clever decisions such as sending Buffy alone to face Sweet, running 6000 miles away when Willow's about to crack (despite getting a magical second chance that tells him that running away doesn't solve problems!) and endorsing Buffy's "bloody barmy" battle plan in the finale that only worked because both the First and Wolfram & Hart literally handed deus ex machina weapons to Buffy.

Buffy ends up essentially alone and friendless, her life a barren wasteland of nothing but fighting.

 

Also Spikey slowly stealing the spotlight in the following seasons...

[lembergwatcher]

Ironically, apart from Oz, Spike and Angel, Tara was probably the only Buffy character to exhibit some amount of nudity.
 

[Joe Hellandback]

On 8/31/2018 at 5:20 AM, nosleepforme said:

This is one of my favorite episodes of the series that I rewatch quite a lot, so I thought I'd open up a thread for it before Joe even gets to it.

 

When this episode aired, I wasn't really connected to the internet, so it would have been interesting to me what the initial reaction to the episode was. Were people bored that it wasn't a grand finale and disappointed that it was only a dream episode? Were they intrigued?

 

I loved the episode from the get-go, I am generally drawn to the way Joss writes dream sequences, he does it so well, writing the surreal and infusing every line with meaning even when they're non-sensical. The surreal quality in his dream writing was also something that I really liked about his writing for Dollhouse, only that it wasn't dream-sequences there.

 

One of the main reasons why this episode is so successful is also the wonderful music by Christophe Beck, who did just such a great job at creating the right atmosphere for it.

 

So, to go dream by dream.

 

Willow. Her dream is about her growth as a person and how her fear is that her becoming a powerful witch and Lesbian is merely a costume and that she's still the same insecure, powerless, vulnerable girl that she was the beginning of the series and that people will only ever see that in her. My favorite scene here is probably the bedroom scene with Tara and Willow and the slow-motion shot of the cat, but I do also like the performance of "Death of a Salesman" later, which is hilarious, both on stage and behind the curtain. Interesting that they so prominently highlight misogyny too when Giles only validates Riley and not Harmony, when they they tell him of of the word that he has been looking for, "props". 

 

Xander. Xander's dream is pretty much about being left behind and not being able to keep up with his friends, which is a fear that a lot of us go through in life. When I watched the episode for the first time, I didn't even notice how much of the dialogue in his dream is about how the others are ahead of him and how he needs to catch up. My favorite scene is the scene between Xander and Joyce, where she tries to seduce him. Because 1.) it's nice to see Joy in a different light than just caring mom for once, 2.) see her being sexual, 3.) I love how it is performed, with Joyce's mouth not moving when she invites Xander to bed and the camera moving into her bedroom. However, generally I find Xander's dream a bit long. I kind of lose interest in it shortly before the Apocalypse Now rip off, even though it's still a fairly entertaining dream.

 

Giles. His dream is a little bit more difficult to pin down, also because it moves the plot along more than the other dreams, since Giles does actually try to figure out what is going on, even having the whole exposition song. But I think his dream is generally about his role as a father and mentor to Buffy, how he feels that she still has a lot of growing up to do and also what he sacrificed by being a watcher (a possible family of his own, as indicated by crying Olivia and her baby stroller?). Favorite part of the dream is definitely the exposition song, because it's hilarious and catchy and I will never not laugh about "Xander and Willow, please don't bleed on my couch, I just had it steam cleaned."

 

Buffy. Her dream  is obviously about her isolation as a slayer and the question of where the source of her power lies.

Spoiler

I find particularly clever how there are already hints to Dawn's arrival and Joyce's death.

I personally do really like the scene in the initiative with Riley as a macho-government-asshole and Adam sans monster-make-up, discussing masculinity and aggression. Her confrontation with the first slayer is also a fascinating watch.

 

What do we make of the first slayer though and how she is portrayed? There is some serious primitivism going on (she's even called the primitive). Especially from today's point of view this portrayal of the first slayer is not exactly unproblematic, but I do find that portrayal an  effective trope in this episode, independent of the racial concerns it raises.

Favorite Dream: Probably Buffy's.

Favorite Piece of Music: Chain of Ancients.

Favorite Joke: Not the cheeseman, but definitely the exposition song or the cowboy in death of a salesman.

Best performance: SMG's monologue in the fake Death of a Salesman play.

Best shot: The cat.

Yes, Echo in The Attic was one of my favourites. I don't get anything racist in the portrayal of the First Slayer, mankind began in Africa so it makes sense.  

On 8/31/2018 at 1:06 PM, lembergwatcher said:

I still have mixed feelings about this episode. Let's start with the good. Kudos to Joss for not making your typical season's finale. OTOH, I was slightly disappointed that the whole thing was just a dream. Then the deliberate mixture of cryptic messages with senseless stuff (like Cheese Man) left me rather confused back then. The fact that said episode was some kinda premonition

  Hide contents

for further plot developments that turned out to be not so inspiring IMO (factual un-writing of four seasons in favor of slayer's mystical sister out of the blue),

didn't give the season 4's finale a lot of points from me as well.
 

I liked Giles' exposition song and still consider it one of the episode's best moments. The bedroom scene between Willow and Tara worked for me either. Also Buffy meeting the First Slayer in the desert scene was fairly stunning. Giles and Anya speaking French and Spike's wacky performance were among the moments I remembered the most. It was also a good thing to know Xander dreamed about threesome with Willow and Tara (good boy, Xander).

I do not find becoming a powerful witch to be a sign of an actual character growth in Willow's case.

  Hide contents

The subsequent seasons proved the whole point of witchcraft as the sign of growth to be debatable. Power wasn't always a good thing - for Willow especially.

Willow was a terrific person, because she was, well... Willow, and not because of her gift of witchcraft. And yeah, I like shy high school Willow, and I never viewed the pre-college version of her as somehow inferior to the one we saw in season 4 and beyond. Yes, she was less confident and more vulnerable at school, yet I refuse to accept the notion of Willow becoming complete and finding her true self only at college and only since meeting Tara. She showed a remarkable character growth through seasons 1-3 IMO (long before Tara appeared on the scene). The whole Tara storyline was just a relationship, it didn't add or take away from Willow's personality too much.

 

It was somehow absurd that after almost four years of fighting, helping the Slayer and taking direct part in saving the world on many occassions, Xander still had a problem regarding "keeping up with his friends". What exactly he had to keep up with when it came to Buffy or Willow? True, he didn't go to college like the rest of 'em, but he worked for a living and didn't have to rely on parents that much (which made him more adult than his girl-friends). And, you know, I don't believe that college life itself was such a huge thing in need of catching up (it's a Hellmouth after all and they don't teach demon hunting at colleges). Someone probably found Xander-the-Permanent-Loser to be a "funny thing", but enough is enough. Just wonder: what did Xander have to do in particular to be considered equal to Wicca and the Slayer or worthy of their friendship? Overall a terrible-terrible mishandling of a character on Whedon's behalf...

And finally... one of the weirdest moments of the whole episode. What a wonderful couple those two could be... Was it a hint or something?

I think if Xander had been the leader player in saving the world he wouldn't have had a problem but he was always the sidekick, it's all relative. Nice to see Willow and Tara slutting it up as indeed it is Joyce. Lovely pic of Tara and Oz, they would have been an interesting couple (and check out Asian Joe sitting behind them). 

[Joe Hellandback]

On ‎31‎/‎08‎/‎2018 at 6:21 PM, CletusMusashi said:

At the time I found it to be strange but enjoyable. I watched it many times, not actually realizing that it was the first complete episode to occur post-shark. The ending of "Premeval," where if a Slayer combines powers with a mediocre-powered witch she can suddenly turn machine gun bullets into living doves, was the first time I completely just called bullshit on a serious plot climax. But, after that, "Restless" seemed harmless enough, and I was able to enjoy it under the asumption that the show would soon be back on track. Today, however, I recognize it for what it was: a space filler that was written by Joss Whedon while still under the influence of the huge amounts of anasthetic that the hospital must have had to give him while

  Hide contents

pulling Buffy's new 14 year old sister out of his ass.

 

It wasn't Willow's magic but the primal Slayer power they had harnessed. And Buffy never jumped any marine wildlife as the site itself proved, it was never as good after s3 but it was still great. 

On ‎04‎/‎09‎/‎2018 at 7:24 PM, lembergwatcher said:

Ironically, apart from Oz, Spike and Angel, Tara was probably the only Buffy character to exhibit some amount of nudity.
 

Well, Buffy did get naked in BBB? And Anya in The Harsh Light of Day?

The Good; Pretty damn wonderful, especially ASH's panicking theatre director, based on personal experience?

The Bad; ?

Best line; Cheeseman; "I wear the cheese, it does not wear me"

Women good/men bad; Dark haired Buffy's rant against Cowboy guy Riley

Jeez!; The First Slayer scalping Giles

Kinky dinky; Willow and Tara hooker up! How gorgeous is MILFY Joyce in her nightie? Weirdest fanfic I ever read concerned Willow having S&M sex with the cheese guy who melts cheese over her nude body. Joss says that when Buffy rubs the mud over her face the idea was that she was being overwhelmed by her primal Slayer instincts but actually looks like she was having a facial. I'd say it looks more like she's a stripper/porn star doing her 'tigress in heat' leer? Milkmaid Harmony also very cute. The sign at the funfair vamp actually says 'I crack for a buck' but that's not what I thought it said.

Calling Captain Subtext; ALL OF IT! Especially Willow and Tara in the sexiest scene you never saw but fervently imagined. Is the poem Willow is writing on Tara's back by Sappho perhaps? (very Xena). And how lovely is Amber, such an unorthodox beauty. Xander refers to Willow and Tara 'doing spells'. Hmmmm? Tara hints Willow doesn't know everything about her,

Spoiler

her demon side? Dark-haired Buffy berating gun toting Riley over the death of Xander and the evil of men. Substitute Warren for Riley, DarkWillow for Buffy and Tara for Xander and you have the end of season 6 (plus Adam and Riley and the gun between them?)Riley often compared to Gary Cooper and here he's a cowboy. Irony is that Gary Cooper despite his wholesome image was a notorious womaniser and Riley will go to his vampwhores in season 5. Adam challenges Buffy that she has demon essence in her which we'll find in out in 'Get it done'. Riley leaves, Joss already thinking about him going. Spike's sideshow freak appearance is indicative of his role in later seasons, vampire in love with the Slayer and then vamp with soul, sacrificial lamb in the end. The scenes with Spike and Giles on the swings seem to suggest that Spike will fulfil the role of Giles to Buffy once Giles leaves again for the UK, her 'daddy' figure. What might have happened if Giles had hung around in season 6? Guffy? Their conversation also portends to the Loan Shark from Tabula Rusu. The clock reads 730, same as in Graduation Day pt2, counting down to Dawn who is the kitten (as she was the cat in GDpt2). Buffy refers to Xander as big brother, wonderful and loving but not sexual. In fact Buffy is the one girl Xander never thinks about sexually in his dream. He says 'it get's better' and indeed it does, he's not left behind by his friends as he fears. Although Xuffers still hold out for something to happen in season 8 (and given Buffy's fantasy in issue 2 maybe they still have a point?). Anya talks about getting back into vengeance which she will in seasons 6/7. Xander's dad is not the same actor we meet in season 6, he rather reminds me of an angry version of Willy the snitch. Buffy refers to being a fireman which portends to 'Once more with feeling'. We see Willow having a fit on a sofa and Buffy saying 'I can fight this thing' portending to Joyce dying on the couch and Buffy's inability to fight a disease despite all her Slayer powers. We later see Joyce entombed in the wall with Buffy leaving her behind to go on with her friends. And her little sis. Giles tells Buffy 'it's been like this between men and women since the beginning' but she rejects that, she won't play the Shadowmen's/Councils game as we see from her rejection of the First Slayer's values, that the First Slayer is not 'the source of me'. Note the vamp at the funfair is 'Drac'. In Spike's tomb Buffy is gone with Olivia weeping over an empty pram, portending Giles' leaving a Buffy who no longer needs his guidance.

Guantanamo Bay; Riley and Adam plotting world domination because "We're the government baby, it's what we do".

Scoobies in bondage: Xander tied in his confrontation with Snyder (amazingly unless someone can correct me his first time?).

Recurring characters killed: 10, no but wonderful to see Snyder back again, Armin Shimmerman giving a terrific performance as a much thinner Colonel Kurtz in Apocalypse Now

Questions and observations; How lovely to see season 1 Willow again, she's just so cute. In case you didn't know the Bay of Pigs was the ill-fated CIA backed invasion of Castro's Cuba by anti-communist exiles. Will also refers to her experience of stage-fright in 'Nightmares'. Once again great to see Oz back, the last appearance of him in the show and for Olivia too. Once again Buffy triumphs because she is the unconventional Slayer, she's more than just the Slayer, she lives in the world too. No matter how many times I watch this I can never tell, is it Tara or Anya in bed telling Buffy she has to wake up? Asian Joe sitting behind Oz in class, great to see him again. The clip they watch of Apocalypse Now sounds more like Hamburger Hill.

Marks out of 10; 10/10

Edited September 10, 2018 by Joe Hellandback

[Joe Hellandback]

47 minutes ago, nosleepforme said:

To this day, I will always stand up for Buffy and say that even a bad Buffy episode was still good television and while the show never really reached those heights of the third season outside of special episodes such as "Hush" or "Once more with Feeling", I do think the show got actually richer after the third season, because it tackled more complex issues and got more complicated as a result. 

 

That being said, Primeval's resolution to the Adam arc with Matrix-Buffy was kind of dumb, though my teenage self at the time thought it was super-cool.

 

I'm gay so I have nothing to gain from sexy Willow/Tara/Joyce-scenes, but I do love these scenes in Restless so much, especially how their mouths do not actually move when they suggest having sex with Xander, I just love how that is representative of how it is really just Xander's fantasy and not anchored in reality. And DreamJoyce talking about how she knows men and that she knows the difference between Conquest and Comfort - just such a greeeeeat scene.

 

 

Interesting trivia for Restless:

 

Angel was initially supposed to be Buffy's dream guide, but David Boreanaz was not available, so they chose Amber/Tara for it. It would have made sense for Angel, since he was already an ambiguous figure in Buffy's dreams before, but I kind of like Tara in that position. Though, as a result of her appearance in Restless and manipulating that one spell in that other S4 episode, I always expected her to have some mysterious backstory 

  Hide contents

that they then failed to deliver on in season five.

 

Similarly, Cordelia was also supposed to make an appearance. Wonder why that fell through. She is not in too many scenes in the final two Angel episodes.

Oh and I should add, Willow and Tara talk about naming 'her' then pull the curtains back to reveal the sunrise or 'dawn'?

[Loandbehold]

6 hours ago, Joe Hellandback said:

I can never tell, is it Tara or Anya in bed telling Buffy she has to wake up?

Anya.