"A Watcher Scoffs at Gravity!" Restless

[NxD_Slayerette]

who else LOVES this episode! i just watched it, and i just loves Xanders and Giles dreams!

i really thought the episode was really well done, and i thought all the little riddles were really interesting and i liked how tara was in all of them
and seeing Adam as a human was cool, i didn't know what the actor looked like!

i forget how good season 4 is!

[KingofCretins]

You know, what I really like about "Restless" is that, even though it's only (at the time) hinting at Season 5 events, Joss and the other writers intentionally included "Restless" call backs in later seasons just to give it more weight as a predictive type of thing. Like the Randy Giles suit being exactly the suit Spike wore in "Tabula Rasa".

[Weredog]

My favourite dream sequence is Willow's. I thought it encompassed Willow's character in a beautiful, poetic nutshell. We got geeky Willow, witchy Willow, Tara, Oz, high school, college, and Miss Kitty Fantastico. The "Death of a Salesman" production was a highlight of itself. Possibly the only moment I liked Marc Blucas' acting... because it required him to act bad.

[KingofCretins]

I think Xander's dream was the best... it was also the longest, curiously enough. You really get a lot of insight into him in that dreams. I'd actually rank them 1. Xander, 2. Buffy, 3. Giles, 4. Willow.

[NxD_Slayerette]

i LOVE miss kitty fantastico!! and yh willows dream had everything about her in it! and the refrence to nightmares "this isnt madam butterfly is it?"

and giles song!!! LOVE it!

[Matt]

I think that all four of the dreams represented traits of the characters that were all different.
Xander's explained how confused he had been as a teenager with Anya and his relationship with her, feeling attracted to other people and knowing that sooner or later he'd have to grow up and make a choice in the world in regards to what he would do in the long run. His dream also explained how he felt that he always ended up back in the basement no matter how hard he tried to leave it and the throes of his parent's home.

Willow's showed how much she'd grown, informing how she was going to do a drama course for her next semester, considering how she suffered from stage fright in season 1 and in retrospect it took us along a timeline, but backwards, it showed Willow progressing in her relationship with Tara and how her confidence had grown, then it start to recoil when she walked past Oz and got to the production and eventually resulted with her donning the same clothes she had worn when we had first seen her. So it was like you were seeing flashbacks of her life and it was as though Willow was telling a personal story through her dream.

Giles informed us how he felt that Buffy was a daughter to him and how, weirdly, Spike was a son, it took us through how he was feeling about his past relationships, especially with Olivia and ended up with him figuring out what was happening as he had done all his life.

Buffy's was the most interesting of all, I know that all the previous dreams had an extent of precognition in regards to the next few seasons, but it was Buffy's that allowed us to have a real insight with lines like "Be back before Dawn." Beginning with us being allowed to see how Buffy was scared, but ultimately got up to fight the next day, going through her concern for her mother and friends and also Riley, to her questioning her abilities and then realising that actually, although she had used the First Slayer to kill Adam, she was still incredibly powerful and in retrospect different to the First Slayer because she had a choice as to how to deal with things and she had friends to support her.

So I'd be unable to rank them as they are all great in different ways.

[Nostalgia]

Restless will always be my favorite episode of Buffy.

It's such an important episode for many different reasons..

It's basically Joss sitting and down writing an episode that delves into the characters' personalities, hinting important traits and qualities that are significant to our character. There's such a beautiful atmosphere to it, that it's almost like a beautiful poem written out in a television script. There's so much stuff to analyze, and this is another reason why I love the episode so much.. because 4 seasons after.. we can still sit down and debate the meanings of things.. which I absolutely love.

My personal favorite dream was Xander's.. because it captured him perfectly. I think there's so much importance to his character that isn't brought up, and in this one significant episode they raise so many important factors.

The ability to include future references is great about the episode too.. now looking back there's hints to Buffy's death, Dawn's birth, Willow's evil conversion, Tara's death, and many others. There's actually one scene in the episode that personally hints to Spike's death (I'll get back to that.)

I also love Giles' dream, and it enlightens his worries about Buffy and his feeling of insignificance perfectly in the episode.

I've always been fascinated with dreams, this may be the one reason I love the episode so much.

Joss may say the cheese man was just for fun.. but I read a GREAT meta on the cheese man, and how it ties in the characters.. I'll try to find it again( I recall someone linking in BW).

In terms of writing, the episode far beyond achieves.. I can't think of a more well-thought-out and interesting episode than Restless.

The score is unbelievable, and still to this day my favorite theme for a Buffy episode (they used it wonderfully in "After Life" too.)

I am still wondering if Joss has something that is hinted in this episode that hasn't even happened yet.. How amazing would that be?

[kana]

Great insights, I tended just to look at things in Restless at face value.

Xander's explained how confused he had been as a teenager with Anya and his relationship with her, feeling attracted to other people and knowing that sooner or later he'd have to grow up and make a choice in the world in regards to what he would do in the long run. His dream also explained how he felt that he always ended up back in the basement no matter how hard he tried to leave it and the throes of his parent's home.

I got that too. I felt Xander was definitely Zeppo Xander in this. His father standing in his way is his self imposed limitation, something he doesn't really get out of, not even in Season 6. He can't find a way out. He wants to be at the level his friends are at but he can't get there.

Willow's showed how much she'd grown, informing how she was going to do a drama course for her next semester, considering how she suffered from stage fright in season 1 and in retrospect it took us along a timeline, but backwards, it showed Willow progressing in her relationship with Tara and how her confidence had grown, then it start to recoil when she walked past Oz and got to the production and eventually resulted with her donning the same clothes she had worn when we had first seen her. So it was like you were seeing flashbacks of her life and it was as though Willow was telling a personal story through her dream.

It's about confidence and identity definitely. I think part of her problem was that she was afraid about which was the real her. It kind of ties in with what Spike said to them before: about them being the same losers they were in high school. Percy also brought out her insecurities. I guess she's investing a little in the adage, "you are how people perceive you". Willow also continued this into season 6. Part of her growing witch-hood was about esteem. Without it, she felt like a loser. It's interesting that at first Willow was the one who most identified with Warren. Both were losers in Highschool and used their intellect and witchcraft respectively to control events around them to compensate for that feeling of powerlessness one might feel when bullied.

Giles informed us how he felt that Buffy was a daughter to him and how, weirdly, Spike was a son, it took us through how he was feeling about his past relationships, especially with Olivia and ended up with him figuring out what was happening as he had done all his life.

I always felt that 'gig-Giles' was a tribute to old-school Giles, before he became a watcher. He's trying to define himself through roles, as a watcher, parent, the two of which became almost one and the same thing to Giles. But what of Giles outside this role? What is his own gig? His personal life? Even outside the prescriptive roles, he cannot help but help, because it's part of who he is, but can he help, will he always be able to do so?

Buffy's was the most interesting of all, I know that all the previous dreams had an extent of precognition in regards to the next few seasons, but it was Buffy's that allowed us to have a real insight with lines like "Be back before Dawn." Beginning with us being allowed to see how Buffy was scared, but ultimately got up to fight the next day, going through her concern for her mother and friends and also Riley, to her questioning her abilities and then realising that actually, although she had used the First Slayer to kill Adam, she was still incredibly powerful and in retrospect different to the First Slayer because she had a choice as to how to deal with things and she had friends to support her.

This is exactly what I liked. Buffy kind of gets the closest due to her Slayer precog abilities. It also goes into the concept of Slayerhood and what it means without any true answers. She defeats the Slayer but seen as the dream is about things to come, Buffy hasn't won in a way, because part of what has been holding her back is seperating herself from the Slayer part of her. I think Riley called her a killer and I think Dracula did the same. Her power is dark demonic and predetory. If she hopes to hone it, she needs to understand that.

So I'd be unable to rank them as they are all great in different ways.

Absolutely. All of the dreams were insightful but also a tip of the iceberg into myriad of complexities that plague our heroes. Their virtues, apparently marred by their weaknesses but somehow infused together. The dreams end but the issues do not.

[Nostalgia]

Very good cheese man meta.. not sure if it's the same one:

http://www.smgboard.com/forums/lofiversion/index.php/t15670.html

[KingofCretins]

There are a few key mistakes people make a lot when discussing "Restless", and the most important one is a POV mistake. Each dream tells us the thoughts of only the character having the dream. So, Giles doesn't reveal a paternal feeling toward Spike, because that's not Giles' dream. It's Xander's dream.

What I take from that moment in Xander's dream is that Xander, probably as a way to deal with his own insecurity, has taken the whole idea of Slayers and Watchers and vampires and infantilized them -- they are people playing games, while he, the one whose only real option is to live a "real" life and just moonlight as a hero, is the grown-up, reminding Buffy to be careful and talking about responsibility.

For his Giles to call Spike like a son also possibly reveals a sense of rejection by Giles as a source of paternal attention and authority that Xander has so desperately needed.

[Nostalgia]

For his Giles to call Spike like a son also possibly reveals a sense of rejection by Giles as a source of paternal attention and authority that Xander has so desperately needed.

Good point.. Spike was always hated by everyone at that point (Well not hated.. but looked down upon to say the most). Xander was the only one who truly saw him for what he was.. Giles had always treated Xander like he was a little boy, he even says that in "Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered."

I think Xander's worst dream is that Giles would pick him over Xander.. a soulless vampire could become more successful and helpful than him. It all pertains to the "useless" factor.

What I've always been mesmerized by was the beginning of Giles' dream.. where he is waving the watch to Buffy. I've always thought there was something I wasn't understanding.

[KingofCretins]

Well, the watch surely represented not only time (and tradition) but Giles own role as Watcher. Since he's hypnotizing her, he may even still be thinking about guilt from her cruciamentum. But the watch is definitely significant in meaning to Watcher and Slayer, because it's finding that backstage in the Bronze that makes him realize what's hunting them.

Incidentally, right before they cut out of that shot, the take of Sarah laughing and smiling... she is just so achingly beautiful in that moment. Sigh.

I love how each character makes small steps toward "solving" the mystery during their dream. Xander very clearly has it almost figured out, but doesn't know what he knows... which is why when Giles and Anya are explaining it to him, they do it in badly dubbed french, because Xander knows that there's a thing going on, but can't tell himself an answer he doesn't have. And Giles, of course, figures it out during the Exposition Song

[Nostalgia]

Sigh.

Sigh? .. I think she looks beautiful most of the time.. In fact I think she's probably the most beautiful person still the Hollywood. She has the most charisma as an actress.

[KingofCretins]

That was the Longing Sigh of Pointless Celebrity Crushes, man I'm not kidding, that simple moment is the most gorgeous she ever looked on the show to me.

Of course, don't even get me started on Ice Cream Truck Willow and Tara

[Nostalgia]

That was the Longing Sigh of Pointless Celebrity Crushes, man I'm not kidding, that simple moment is the most gorgeous she ever looked on the show to me.

Of course, don't even get me started on Ice Cream Truck Willow and Tara

That brings another amazing scene.. even more credit towards Xander's dream.

It's funny that you bring that up.. because both Tara and Willow look very vampiric in that scene.. makes me wonder..

[KingofCretins]

Joss admits that they stayed on Xander for the Willow/Tara kiss because they weren't ready to go there yet, but I still think it's the best choice artistically, too. Nick plays that moment (a long moment) with this sort of... wonder. Likes its the coolest thing he's ever seen. Like he's seduced but not lecherous. I think he does some of his best acting in "Restless".

I think it's kind of interesting that Xander looks at *every* woman in his life sexually in that dream except Buffy. Even her mother, even his best friend. Makes you glad Dawn wasn't there yet

I agree, I think it will be awesome if Joss adds some callbacks to "Restless" in Season 8 -- because it's not like "Restless" predicted these things he hadn't thought of, but he could make it *look* like it. Nothing too serious, probably, but little things like Spike's Randy suit.

[Nostalgia]

I agree, I think it will be awesome if Joss adds some callbacks to "Restless" in Season 8 -- because it's not like "Restless" predicted these things he hadn't thought of, but he could make it *look* like it.

You never know.. we're talking about the guy who killed Tara, had Spike get his soul, etc.. Joss always has things up his sleeve, and he may he hiding secrets that he dismissed because he knew the show was ending.

[ThePoet's<3]

I like Giles's dream in Restless because it has all thoses wonderfull "film noir" shots of Spike! They are just wonderful! I wonder if James came up with the poses or if they were written into the script? I know only a couple of them are suggested in the transcripts.

I find the remark that Giles says to Spike as he walks away very interesting - "I still think Buffy should have killed you."

HHmmm.. You wouldn't be the first person to think it Rupe and it won't be the last time it crosses your mind...

[KingofCretins]

I went and looked at the shooting script, but it doesn't specify any of the actual poses. Joss must have thought them up during the shooting process. The fact that they put Spike in the pose of crucifixion, though, works well with the arc they'd send him on in Season 7. Well, sorta.

[Maggie]

I'd love to know how much of Restless was foreshadowing, and how much is just details that writers called back later. Dawn is definitely foreshadowing. Spike's suit has to be a call back. But what about Spike's martyr pose? I would love to know how far in advance Joss knew that Spike was going to die to save the world.

If I had to guess, he didn't know in season 4. But Harsh Light of Day, which introduces Spike as a regular has so many elements that get called back in The Chosen it really makes you wonder. (Spike causes parts of SD to collapse, he first puts on an amulet like thing before figuring out which gem is the one he's looking for, there's a reversal of pattern ==> Spike gets gem for evil purposes, Buffy takes it from him and gives it to Angel, who destroys it versus Angel gets gem in the context of dark choices, Buffy takes it from him and gives it to Spike, who uses it to save the world). Like I said, I don't think Joss had a big master plan. But it's cool how so much of the series can be read as if he did.

King, recalling the POV thing is important -- but there are a couple of exceptions. Joss himself says on the commentary that the bit with Xander and Oz and spells is not really Willow's subconscience. More importantly, Buffy's dream has slayer-prophetic elements in it, so that shakes up the mix a bit.

I like Buffy's dream the best. All the 'what does it mean to be a slayer' issues are clearly identified, and they set one of the major themes of the series for the next few years. But all the dreams are tremendous character studies. (Though did we really want to KNOW that Giles thinks of Buffy *that* way?)

Interesting that Riley shows up in the girls' dreams and Spike in the boys' dreams. I have no idea if that's even significant. Cheese, anybody?