The joke of the shark creature is that he's a Loan Shark. Buffy said it clear in the song she sang with Spike at the end of last episode. "This isn't real, but I just want to feel." Spike was professing his love at the same time, so it's like neither one was listening to what the other wanted, because they were too focused on what they wanted for themselves.
I've always been on Tara's side with the break up, ever since the original airing. And while I think Giles could have left town if Buffy didn't have depression and Willow wasn't addicted to magic, I think the fact that they were invalidated his excuses (of no one needing him) for leaving. I like the fact that Willow and Tara didn't have a talk and get back together, because Willow's problem is huge. She has been addicted to magic since restoring Angel's soul and resurrecting Buffy was a tipping point. Their relationship became toxic and Tara staying would represent people who make excuses for being abused. Considering how Tara's dad, brother, and cousin treated her, it would be a step backwards for Tara to just move on with Willow and forgive immediately. Tara needs to leave Willow.
One of my all-time favorite episodes!! It reminds me a lot of season 2's Halloween episode. Also, at least two things from Restless show up here (maybe more): Xander's quote of "Like a shark with feet and... much less fins." and Giles's "Spike's like a son to me." complete with the suit. ❤
09:31 "I like how these two are instantly like drawn to each other" Yeah and Buffy and Dawn also instantly connected. But did you notice how Xander and Anya didn't even have a single conversation together...?
Willow tried to fix: - Cheating on Oz with Xander - Getting over Oz's decision to leave town - Joyce's death (giving Dawn the magic book) - Buffy's death - Arguments with Tara - Ripping Buffy out of heaven This is a long standing pattern with Willow over the course of several seasons
The suit just said "Made with care for Randy." Spike added the "Giles" to the end to make the joke. He just stole the suit from somewhere, not from Giles or a relative.
One of my top five eps. It's a great one/two punch,this and Once More with Feeling. As good as Something in Blue and Hush. I particularly love Tara's smackdown of Willow.. She has come a long way from that shy girl from season 4. Did you see that big bag of the forget flowers that Willow had? Makes you wonder how many times Willow actually did this to Tara. Willow brought this on herself.
Tabula Rasa was a great innovative episode with comedy overload. There was foreshadowing here from S4 finale Restless with Giles and Spike saying he was his son etc. We see Willow again going to the dark side with addiction to magic for her own selfish purposes, mirroring serious drug addiction. As they all have no memories this lends itself to great comedy. A brilliant use of Michelle Branch's gorgeous ballad Goodbye To You that was specially recorded for this episode. Willow is her own worst enemy devoured by her love and lust for Tara who feels total betrayal after what Glory did to her mind in S5, it's almost a metaphor for coercive control, and of course we see 'Spuffy' is now very real. One very funny bit is where Buffy and Spike are in the graveyard, and Spike says' maybe I'm a vampire with a soul', and he 'helps the helpless' the tagline of course from the show Angel. Just a brilliant innovative episode, great perceptive reaction as always.
There's a lot to unpack. That Giles is *disappointed* in Spike, that Anya + Xander have no chemistry. That Buffy + Dawn instantly connect, but that Buffy + Spike also connect. That Spike starts out uninvolved and standoffish, but quickly stands beside Buffy to fight. That Spike believes he is a hero - and acts as a hero. So much there.
What makes this episode so mucy more tragic is when their memories come back. Buffy is so happy as Joan, she's care-free because she no longer has the memories of all the stuff that broke her down. And then, it all just comes back to het in that split second before she's punched. Her death at The Master's hands, her dad being a dead beat, killing Angel, probably Kendra and Faith, losing Riley, Joyce dying, everything that happened with Glory, Heaven, it all comes back to her in that split second. And part of me wished she never had to experience all of that again because look for freakin' happy she was. In addition to violating Tara's mind again Willow legit made Buffy experience every single bad thing that ever happened to her all over again and that is just cruel. I love Willow but the more you rewatch this Season and the more you think about the in-universe effects of what she does, the more upsetting it is.
In the discussion/argument that Tara and Willow were having, I found myself siding with Tara. I suspect most people were. What was amusing though, was that every response that I had to what Willow said was precisely how Tara responded too.
How easily one forgets one's childhood, and thinking that Ray Harryhausen had such an impact on it. The skeleton fighting in this episode was almost certainly an homage to that movie giant from years ago. The song was by Michelle Branch. Joss often featured up and coming musicians in this series. Except for Dingoes Ate My Baby. That was totally made up.
I don't think Willow was slow getting ready, I think she deliberately wasn't ready, so that she'd have time to cast the spell without anyone around. It's part of her pattern of manipulative behaviour. I don't think the problem was Buffy "relying" on Giles, it was that she was avoiding her responsibilities and leaving it to Giles to pick up the slack. It's one thing to be there for someone, and another thing to be enabling them. That said Giles' response was a massive overreaction... but people make mistakes with this kind of thing, so it's very believable.
Love your reactions so much. Just realized that you are in sync with another of my favorite RUclips Buffy reactors. Alley Box. You two should do a collaboration sometime.
I'm going to have to disagree with you about Giles. You used the "crutch" metaphor but using a crutch isn't a bad thing when you have a leg injury. Metaphorically speaking, Buffy has more than a leg injury. She has multiple compound fractures of both legs. She doesn't need a crutch, she needs a wheelchair. Consider Buffy's situation. She's suffered trauma after trauma since her mid teens. (16 at the start of the series and even then she'd felt like she'd had enough.) She had the love of her life replaced my a murderous monster. Then, right when she got him back it was in circumstances that required her to send him literally to Hell with her own hands and the look of betrayal on his face was her last sight of him. And after taking some time to at least let the wounds scab over, her "friends" (mostly Xander, but the others were not guiltless) tore them wide open dismissing her feelings as "boy troubles". Then, when she got the love of her life back from hell she knew she could never consummate the relationship and he ended up leaving her. But before _that_, her replacement father figure betrayed her, poisoned her using drugs to take away her strength, so she could be locked in a house with a vampire to see whether powerless Buffy could manage to survive. Things didn't go as planned and, frankly, it was only Quentin's firing Giles for having "a father's love for the girl" that saved that relationship. Then, she gets into a new "comfort" relationship with someone who didn't really understand her (I knew the relationship was doomed when Riley told her "If you weren't so self-absorbed, you'd see that". Way to get things exactly opposite to reality). Buffy is already showing signs of depression and trauma by this point. Then we get the following in fairly close order: - Her current love decides she doesn't love him because she doesn't show it the way he things she should. (No, she's awkward with saying the words--after what happened with the last guy she said "I love you" to, I can understand her being a bit gun shy.) - Said love, instead of having a frank talk with her, goes all passive aggressive. ("When you decide to let me in..." - Said love decides to start visiting a vampire brothel. - Said love gives her an ultimatum. - Her "friend", having no clue what's really going on, talks her into accepting all the blame herself, and sends her on a doomed chase to keep the "love". (Why, no, I'm not a big fan of Riley.) - Her mother dies. - Before she really has time to mourn and move on _she_ dies. (at least she goes to heaven). - She gets ripped out of heaven to face the Hellscape that Sunnydale was, thanks to the demon bikers. - She's having to pretend that everything is fine. She's putting her own feelings aside to protect her friends, somethings she's always done. At this point, at the least, she's suffering from major depressive disorder, post (really ongoing) stress disorder, passive suicidal ideation ("to save the day, or maybe melt away {i, e, die}, I guess it's all the same") and there's nobody she can take that to. There's no mental health professional she can talk to. Would antidepressant and anti-anxiety meds help? Possibly. But who's going to prescribe them for her? As an aside, this actually underscores how little the Watcher's Council cares about the slayers. They _should_ have a set of therapists available to help their slayers deal with the traumas they experience regularly as a part of their job. That might help avoid the "death wish" issue that Spike called out in "Fool for Love." But, to the Watchers (Giles, to this point, being a notable exception--to the point of being fired because of it) slayers are replaceable objects. "One slayer dies, another is called." And her friends don't exactly have the best track record when it comes to supporting Buffy's psychological issues. "Dead Man's Party" is an extreme example but in general, that's pretty much how the interactions go. The only one who's been there, the one she can lean on when _she_ needs support, is Giles. Has she been using him as a crutch? Of course she has. She _needs_ a crutch given everything that's been, and continues to be, laid on her. And Giles, who supposedly has "a father's love for the girl," abandons her. Did her mother teach her to be an adult? Probably. Did Giles teach her how to fight monsters? Certainly. I'm not seeing where either of them taught her to deal with the severe mental health issues that are, to this point at least, the major issue of the season. Should Giles have encouraged her to work through her issues and build up her own strength. Of course. But the way to do that is to build healthy boundaries. Not to throw her in the deep end and hope she swims. Like what Giles told Willow "I wouldn't congratulate you if you jumped off a cliff and managed to survive." If Buffy manages, it's _despite_ Giles leaving, not because of it. Yes, I know that Anthony Stewart Head wanted to spend more time with his family after five years of a weekly TV show. I get it. However, the writers really did the character dirty by having him leave this way.
I do not know how much you can say, that Spike loves Buffy. After all, he is a vampire and has no soul, so by definition of the lore of the show, his "love" has to be a twisted one of sorts. The lore dictates that. And FYI: it was a "loan shark"! ;)
spike could've been one of the best tv vilians but they opted to turn him into a bumbling love sick puppy clown carachter the single worst decision they made after axeing oz
TV shows and even movie series really suck about this sometimes. They need to learn to let characters go, or have them just be villains. Not every villain needs a redemption arc.
I think it was a better idea to not make him a villain with the ship and his redemption to fight with the gang. He was more interesting to be funny and the writting is really great. I just find he has too much time unlike other characters at some moments but i prefer him not as a villain. Angelus is not here, we had a lot of villain vampires, and no need to be the villain with Drusilla like season 2
I like this episode, but it highlights IMO one of the flaws of seasons 6 and 7: The cast is too bloated. Even if you took out Giles and Tara they really struggle during these last two seasons to find meaningful things for Spike, Anya and Dawn to do during most of the episodes. Spoilers ... And TBH Season 7 is so bloated that anyone not named Buffy or Willow feels like a side character.
I don't agree at all. Spoilers The climax for characters is in this season, this is the season all the characters are well developped and had a deep an important storyline. In season 7 Spike has a really developped storyline, Dawn had it in season 5 more but her character has a great and a consistent development. The characters have their redemption and good writting like Xander too. Anya has finally her moments in season 6, maybe less then but she has her episode. I wanted just more Giles in season 7 but this season his writting is perfect. This show managed to do good work with characters development and writting, there is things i like less in season 7 but it is the characters we like they grew uo through hard things and then they were in highlights this season, the conclusion is more adult, soft and well done to end the show, and it works.
Agree about Season 7. Season 7 is one of those Seasons where they clearly knew how they wanted it to end, but had no idea how to get there. Which isn't helped by them wasting a good 7/8 episoded of the first half of the Season on Monster of the Week episodes that had no real bearing in the plot and by the time the Potentials show up half the Season is passed and there's no time to get to know them. My biggest peeve with Season 7 was constantly introducing plot points that seemed like a huge deal only to never be mentioned again. E.g. the Baljoxas Eye literally tells Anya and Giles its because Buffy was resurrected that The First can do what it's doing but this is never brought up again which makes everyone turning on Buffy later on even more annoying because they put her in that position. The constant back-stabbing and undermining her authority saying she has to make tough decisions and then stabbing her in the back if they don't like what she does, the Guardians were a fantastic concept that were killed in the same episode they were introduced, like imagine that had been built up through the Season, how cool would that have been. Don't get me wrong, i like Season 7 but it's one of those stories that felt like it needed another Season to really flesh it out.
The joke of the shark creature is that he's a Loan Shark.
Buffy said it clear in the song she sang with Spike at the end of last episode.
"This isn't real, but I just want to feel."
Spike was professing his love at the same time, so it's like neither one was listening to what the other wanted, because they were too focused on what they wanted for themselves.
This episode showcases what Buffy does best, all the emotions you can imagine crammed into a 40 minute show.
I've always been on Tara's side with the break up, ever since the original airing. And while I think Giles could have left town if Buffy didn't have depression and Willow wasn't addicted to magic, I think the fact that they were invalidated his excuses (of no one needing him) for leaving.
I like the fact that Willow and Tara didn't have a talk and get back together, because Willow's problem is huge. She has been addicted to magic since restoring Angel's soul and resurrecting Buffy was a tipping point. Their relationship became toxic and Tara staying would represent people who make excuses for being abused. Considering how Tara's dad, brother, and cousin treated her, it would be a step backwards for Tara to just move on with Willow and forgive immediately. Tara needs to leave Willow.
One of my all-time favorite episodes!! It reminds me a lot of season 2's Halloween episode.
Also, at least two things from Restless show up here (maybe more): Xander's quote of "Like a shark with feet and... much less fins." and Giles's "Spike's like a son to me." complete with the suit. ❤
09:31 "I like how these two are instantly like drawn to each other"
Yeah and Buffy and Dawn also instantly connected. But did you notice how Xander and Anya didn't even have a single conversation together...?
Willow tried to fix:
- Cheating on Oz with Xander
- Getting over Oz's decision to leave town
- Joyce's death (giving Dawn the magic book)
- Buffy's death
- Arguments with Tara
- Ripping Buffy out of heaven
This is a long standing pattern with Willow over the course of several seasons
Hell there's some argument to be made over reensouling angel instead of just killing him
The suit just said "Made with care for Randy." Spike added the "Giles" to the end to make the joke. He just stole the suit from somewhere, not from Giles or a relative.
I can’t think of this episode without thinking about Michelle Branch. Goodbye to You is the perfect song for that ending montage.
Agreed! Great song choice!
One of my top five eps. It's a great one/two punch,this and Once More with Feeling. As good as Something in Blue and Hush. I particularly love Tara's smackdown of Willow.. She has come a long way from that shy girl from season 4. Did you see that big bag of the forget flowers that Willow had? Makes you wonder how many times Willow actually did this to Tara. Willow brought this on herself.
Just remember Willow had sex with Tara when she was being under the influence of a Spell... let that sink in...
Yeah, that's just ...
@@zenithquasar9623 also Faith used Buffy's body and se*ually assaulted both Riley and Buffy while doing so....
Tabula Rasa was a great innovative episode with comedy overload. There was foreshadowing here from S4 finale Restless with Giles and Spike saying he was his son etc. We see Willow again going to the dark side with addiction to magic for her own selfish purposes, mirroring serious drug addiction. As they all have no memories this lends itself to great comedy. A brilliant use of Michelle Branch's gorgeous ballad Goodbye To You that was specially recorded for this episode. Willow is her own worst enemy devoured by her love and lust for Tara who feels total betrayal after what Glory did to her mind in S5, it's almost a metaphor for coercive control, and of course we see 'Spuffy' is now very real. One very funny bit is where Buffy and Spike are in the graveyard, and Spike says' maybe I'm a vampire with a soul', and he 'helps the helpless' the tagline of course from the show Angel. Just a brilliant innovative episode, great perceptive reaction as always.
shark collecting on spikes debts, guess you could call him a loan shark...
"Like a shark with feet and... much less fins" - Xander in Restless
There's a lot to unpack. That Giles is *disappointed* in Spike, that Anya + Xander have no chemistry. That Buffy + Dawn instantly connect, but that Buffy + Spike also connect. That Spike starts out uninvolved and standoffish, but quickly stands beside Buffy to fight. That Spike believes he is a hero - and acts as a hero. So much there.
Never noticed til you showed that clip of Xander going through the religious mantras but that has to be an ode to The Mummy.
What makes this episode so mucy more tragic is when their memories come back.
Buffy is so happy as Joan, she's care-free because she no longer has the memories of all the stuff that broke her down. And then, it all just comes back to het in that split second before she's punched. Her death at The Master's hands, her dad being a dead beat, killing Angel, probably Kendra and Faith, losing Riley, Joyce dying, everything that happened with Glory, Heaven, it all comes back to her in that split second. And part of me wished she never had to experience all of that again because look for freakin' happy she was. In addition to violating Tara's mind again Willow legit made Buffy experience every single bad thing that ever happened to her all over again and that is just cruel.
I love Willow but the more you rewatch this Season and the more you think about the in-universe effects of what she does, the more upsetting it is.
In the discussion/argument that Tara and Willow were having, I found myself siding with Tara. I suspect most people were.
What was amusing though, was that every response that I had to what Willow said was precisely how Tara responded too.
"She means it, and you're playing with fire"
This has been a favorite episode since it first aired.
I think Buffy named herself Joan, because she felt like Joan of Arc.
How easily one forgets one's childhood, and thinking that Ray Harryhausen had such an impact on it. The skeleton fighting in this episode was almost certainly an homage to that movie giant from years ago. The song was by Michelle Branch. Joss often featured up and coming musicians in this series. Except for Dingoes Ate My Baby. That was totally made up.
I don't think Willow was slow getting ready, I think she deliberately wasn't ready, so that she'd have time to cast the spell without anyone around. It's part of her pattern of manipulative behaviour.
I don't think the problem was Buffy "relying" on Giles, it was that she was avoiding her responsibilities and leaving it to Giles to pick up the slack. It's one thing to be there for someone, and another thing to be enabling them. That said Giles' response was a massive overreaction... but people make mistakes with this kind of thing, so it's very believable.
16:20 Is that a vampire walking by in an outdated shirt?!
Because of this episode I ❤ Michelle branch 🎉🎉
What a way to deal with addictions ... 👍👍
Love your reactions so much. Just realized that you are in sync with another of my favorite RUclips Buffy reactors. Alley Box. You two should do a collaboration sometime.
Thank you so much! So kind! That would be awesome!
shark mobster, or a literal Loan Shark
Buffy season 6 is hard but almost every episode is a good episode .
I love this ep. I also credit it for introducing me to King Ralph
I'm going to have to disagree with you about Giles. You used the "crutch" metaphor but using a crutch isn't a bad thing when you have a leg injury. Metaphorically speaking, Buffy has more than a leg injury. She has multiple compound fractures of both legs. She doesn't need a crutch, she needs a wheelchair.
Consider Buffy's situation. She's suffered trauma after trauma since her mid teens. (16 at the start of the series and even then she'd felt like she'd had enough.) She had the love of her life replaced my a murderous monster. Then, right when she got him back it was in circumstances that required her to send him literally to Hell with her own hands and the look of betrayal on his face was her last sight of him. And after taking some time to at least let the wounds scab over, her "friends" (mostly Xander, but the others were not guiltless) tore them wide open dismissing her feelings as "boy troubles". Then, when she got the love of her life back from hell she knew she could never consummate the relationship and he ended up leaving her. But before _that_, her replacement father figure betrayed her, poisoned her using drugs to take away her strength, so she could be locked in a house with a vampire to see whether powerless Buffy could manage to survive. Things didn't go as planned and, frankly, it was only Quentin's firing Giles for having "a father's love for the girl" that saved that relationship.
Then, she gets into a new "comfort" relationship with someone who didn't really understand her (I knew the relationship was doomed when Riley told her "If you weren't so self-absorbed, you'd see that". Way to get things exactly opposite to reality). Buffy is already showing signs of depression and trauma by this point. Then we get the following in fairly close order:
- Her current love decides she doesn't love him because she doesn't show it the way he things she should. (No, she's awkward with saying the words--after what happened with the last guy she said "I love you" to, I can understand her being a bit gun shy.)
- Said love, instead of having a frank talk with her, goes all passive aggressive. ("When you decide to let me in..."
- Said love decides to start visiting a vampire brothel.
- Said love gives her an ultimatum.
- Her "friend", having no clue what's really going on, talks her into accepting all the blame herself, and sends her on a doomed chase to keep the "love".
(Why, no, I'm not a big fan of Riley.)
- Her mother dies.
- Before she really has time to mourn and move on _she_ dies. (at least she goes to heaven).
- She gets ripped out of heaven to face the Hellscape that Sunnydale was, thanks to the demon bikers.
- She's having to pretend that everything is fine. She's putting her own feelings aside to protect her friends, somethings she's always done.
At this point, at the least, she's suffering from major depressive disorder, post (really ongoing) stress disorder, passive suicidal ideation ("to save the day, or maybe melt away {i, e, die}, I guess it's all the same") and there's nobody she can take that to. There's no mental health professional she can talk to. Would antidepressant and anti-anxiety meds help? Possibly. But who's going to prescribe them for her?
As an aside, this actually underscores how little the Watcher's Council cares about the slayers. They _should_ have a set of therapists available to help their slayers deal with the traumas they experience regularly as a part of their job. That might help avoid the "death wish" issue that Spike called out in "Fool for Love." But, to the Watchers (Giles, to this point, being a notable exception--to the point of being fired because of it) slayers are replaceable objects. "One slayer dies, another is called."
And her friends don't exactly have the best track record when it comes to supporting Buffy's psychological issues. "Dead Man's Party" is an extreme example but in general, that's pretty much how the interactions go.
The only one who's been there, the one she can lean on when _she_ needs support, is Giles.
Has she been using him as a crutch? Of course she has. She _needs_ a crutch given everything that's been, and continues to be, laid on her. And Giles, who supposedly has "a father's love for the girl," abandons her. Did her mother teach her to be an adult? Probably. Did Giles teach her how to fight monsters? Certainly. I'm not seeing where either of them taught her to deal with the severe mental health issues that are, to this point at least, the major issue of the season.
Should Giles have encouraged her to work through her issues and build up her own strength. Of course. But the way to do that is to build healthy boundaries. Not to throw her in the deep end and hope she swims. Like what Giles told Willow "I wouldn't congratulate you if you jumped off a cliff and managed to survive." If Buffy manages, it's _despite_ Giles leaving, not because of it.
Yes, I know that Anthony Stewart Head wanted to spend more time with his family after five years of a weekly TV show. I get it. However, the writers really did the character dirty by having him leave this way.
Michelle branch before she was signed to a record label.
Cool reaction as always Jen, you have a nice day sweetie and most of all, cheese and rice 🥰❤️
Fun episode
Joan of Arc, another chosen one.
Top of the class. 23:05 [Potential Spoiler]
I do not know how much you can say, that Spike loves Buffy. After all, he is a vampire and has no soul, so by definition of the lore of the show, his "love" has to be a twisted one of sorts. The lore dictates that.
And FYI: it was a "loan shark"! ;)
Great 😊
spike could've been one of the best tv vilians but they opted to turn him into a bumbling love sick puppy clown carachter the single worst decision they made after axeing oz
TV shows and even movie series really suck about this sometimes. They need to learn to let characters go, or have them just be villains. Not every villain needs a redemption arc.
lol, you really don't understand spike as a character at all
I think it was a better idea to not make him a villain with the ship and his redemption to fight with the gang. He was more interesting to be funny and the writting is really great. I just find he has too much time unlike other characters at some moments but i prefer him not as a villain. Angelus is not here, we had a lot of villain vampires, and no need to be the villain with Drusilla like season 2
And the show had a lot of great villains
@@noavm4090 neither do you
I like this episode, but it highlights IMO one of the flaws of seasons 6 and 7: The cast is too bloated. Even if you took out Giles and Tara they really struggle during these last two seasons to find meaningful things for Spike, Anya and Dawn to do during most of the episodes.
Spoilers
...
And TBH Season 7 is so bloated that anyone not named Buffy or Willow feels like a side character.
I don't agree at all. Spoilers The climax for characters is in this season, this is the season all the characters are well developped and had a deep an important storyline. In season 7 Spike has a really developped storyline, Dawn had it in season 5 more but her character has a great and a consistent development. The characters have their redemption and good writting like Xander too. Anya has finally her moments in season 6, maybe less then but she has her episode. I wanted just more Giles in season 7 but this season his writting is perfect. This show managed to do good work with characters development and writting, there is things i like less in season 7 but it is the characters we like they grew uo through hard things and then they were in highlights this season, the conclusion is more adult, soft and well done to end the show, and it works.
Agree about Season 7. Season 7 is one of those Seasons where they clearly knew how they wanted it to end, but had no idea how to get there. Which isn't helped by them wasting a good 7/8 episoded of the first half of the Season on Monster of the Week episodes that had no real bearing in the plot and by the time the Potentials show up half the Season is passed and there's no time to get to know them. My biggest peeve with Season 7 was constantly introducing plot points that seemed like a huge deal only to never be mentioned again. E.g. the Baljoxas Eye literally tells Anya and Giles its because Buffy was resurrected that The First can do what it's doing but this is never brought up again which makes everyone turning on Buffy later on even more annoying because they put her in that position. The constant back-stabbing and undermining her authority saying she has to make tough decisions and then stabbing her in the back if they don't like what she does, the Guardians were a fantastic concept that were killed in the same episode they were introduced, like imagine that had been built up through the Season, how cool would that have been.
Don't get me wrong, i like Season 7 but it's one of those stories that felt like it needed another Season to really flesh it out.