LAUGHING and CRYING - Buffy the Vampire Slayer Reaction - 6x08 - Tabula Rasa
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- Опубликовано: 4 окт 2024
- Full and early reactions on patreon: / thelexicrowd
The newest video in my editor reacts to series. This week I'm watching and reacting to Buffy the Vampire Slayer for the first time.
While trying to find a way to make Buffy forget about her afterlife experience, Willow inadvertently casts a spell that erases everyone's memories.
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A young woman, destined to slay vampires, demons and other infernal creatures, deals with her life fighting evil, with the help of her friends.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer is an American supernatural drama television series based on the 1992 film of the same name. It was created by Joss Whedon under his production tag, Mutant Enemy Productions, with later co-executive producers being Jane Espenson, David Fury, David Greenwalt, Doug Petrie, Marti Noxon, and David Solomon.
The series narrative follows Buffy Summers (played by Sarah Michelle Gellar), the latest in a line of young women known as "Vampire Slayers", or simply "Slayers". In the story, Slayers, or the "Chosen Ones", are chosen by fate to battle against vampires, demons and other forces of darkness. Buffy wants to live a normal life, but as the series progresses, she learns to embrace her destiny. Like previous Slayers, Buffy is aided by a Watcher, who guides, teaches and trains her. Unlike her predecessors, Buffy surrounds herself with a circle of loyal friends who become known as the "Scooby Gang" - a reference to the animated franchise Scooby-Doo that features a group of friends solving mysteries together.
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#buffy #reaction
I’m forever in awe of this episode like the way they were able to follow up OMWF with another amazing episode… this show is unmatched
"And I think I'm kind of gay"
I love that callback to Doppelganger.
Dopplegangland, but yes.
it makes me wonder if they had in mind to make her gay that early in her character arc (like xander was originally meant to be gay before nicholas brendon was cast) because going from obsessing over xander to dating oz to cheating on oz with xander to make amends with oz to finally end up dating tara out of the blue and being 100% gay and not even questionning the pssibility of being bi or any of her past interests in men (oh i forgot her crush of giles that happened too) i'm not against a character (or a real person for that matter) to only finding out she's lesbian wen entering college (and they address the "it's a college experiment" stereotype really well) but i didn't get the surprise on her part of the whole "i thought i was attracted to men all of my life but here's tara, what does it mean for me " situation.
@@TheGabygael Joss had planned for one of the two to be gay, but he hadn't yet fully decided on which one, hence the confrontation of Larry, and subsequent coming out of Larry to Xander, in Phases, and what we all know happened in Dopplegangland. Headcanon for a lot of fans is that Willow is, in fact, bi, or perhaps pan, but the networks were already throwing a fit about her being gay, and when the show was made, what little thinking there was about bisexuality was essentially "pick one, damnit!". Plus, Willow is know to throw herself fully into things.
"She has zero faith in her."
It might also be that she wants it to work, so she's nudging Willow into a more attainable goal. Or a mix of both.
Personally I’d be the former only. But I’m not Tara.
I feel worst for Dawn. The only person who ever seems to put her first at all is leaving.
seriously. its like her parents are divorcing all over again. Willow and Tara became her adoptive parents pretty much and she is closest to Tara, who- while she felt outcasted from the scoobies- spent a lot of time with Dawn on the side while the scoobies did their thing. plus who knows how much closer they got as family while Buffy was gone.
I get that. On the other hand, she's a teenager, she should have her own life now, and Buffy puts her first too.
Buffy does put her first and was trying her hardest but unfortunately she was caught up in her own depression. It’s a horrible thing to go through
Also Tera had her family gas lighting her for her whole life telling her she was part demon and she was disgusting and they were the only ones who would accept her. So Willow messing with her memories must hit extra hard.
Hit hard like a damn freight train at full speed.
She gave her a chance and she blew it!!! 😤😤
Especially after Glory... as she did say.
@@afry6400 yep. That’s what hits hard. Then again, Glory didn’t physically rape her.
Witchcraft invites demons… for real. I used to do it myself, and the Lord lifted me out of it. Where do you think they get the storylines.
Agree to disagree about this episode being badly placed. A lot of this season is about the "real world" being difficult to deal with at times. But even in really sad times in real life, we find moments to laugh. I know it was a little bit of emotional whiplash, but it wasn't unrealistic.
I feel like this episode really caps off the fallout of the last episode. Willow and Tara, the Giles thing, Buffy's confession, it's all brought up and dealt with in this episode to some extent.
I love that those two episodes are following each other but they always came off as a surreal trip in the middle of the season
This episode perfectly blends the comedy with the more depressing tone of Season 6 overall. And considering what OMWF did, it was much needed even with it ending quite depressing
I always loved that the suit that spike wears here is the same one that he wore in Restless during Xanders dream where giles said "Spike is like a son to me".
1. I will always love the sheer cheek of the "Loan Shark" visual gag. So deliciously cheesy.
2. In terms of the Giles/Spike dynamic here, it's worth going back and rewatching the "Giles and Spike on the swings" scene from Restless.
3. I'm so fucking proud of Tara. You touched on a lot of it, but also, she's potentially losing her whole Found Family, here. I mean, yes, she's no longer just Willow's girlfriend, but everyone she's close to was Willow's friend first, and she has no way of knowing if she'll be able to maintain those relationships. The amount her self-confidence and self-respect has grown, to be able to give up her whole world to protect herself from what Willow is doing, is mind-blowing. Crushing for the audience, but the correct (and incredibly courageous) move for her. I just love her so much, and she must be protected.
Agreed. Especially on point 3.
If the scoobies were neutral maybe Willow should have moved out. She is "in the wrong" and she has family in town while Tara has no one and no where to go.
Good points. For 2. also remember Something Blue with Spike at once willing to help his father figure in law.
@@naraiceylob Yes, although deciding to move out is less dramatic and confrontational than trying to get the other person kicked out. Maybe Tara should have said something like, "I can't live with you anymore, are you going to move out or do I need to?" and then then hoped Willow would do the right thing. Hard to say, given that Willow still doesn't quite understand how wrong she is, as Lexi mentioned.
On the other hand, unless the Scoobies more or less drop Willow as a friend, she'd still be at the house a lot. If Tara is trying to more or less remove Willow from her life, she can't live in the home base of Willow's friend group, regardless of where Willow is living.
(Or, more practically, she's not in the main cast, so...)
I still can’t get “land shark” out of my mind. That was probably an early 80’s SNL character.
I guess a lot of demons were metaphorical. This one is a straight up simile!
I’m always amazed at how many people don’t realize/understand the Loan Shark. It’s literally a character that is a legit pun! And I’ve loved it since the episode airs……
In case you care, "Tabula Rasa" roughly translates to "Clean Slate". :)
3 of us translated at the same time. 🤣
Think of it as "erase everything (on the table)" It means "clearing everything (to start anew)."
Literally it means 'scraped tablet', think of wax tablets, which are reused after writing something on them. (Table is mensa in Latin.)
@@sebastianwittmeier1274 Yeah, the "table" connection here would be more "table of numbers" and less "dinner table".
Also an ep of Dollhouse
‘Something Blue’ is like ‘Tabula Rasa’ on a leash. In both cases Willow never intended to cause harm to her friends but in ‘Something Blue’ the spell was meant to be for herself. In ‘Tabula Rasa’ it’s meant for Buffy and Tara. Both are destructive spells that have dire consequences but one of them genuinely is a mistake in effort to quickly heal her heart, the other is a purposeful attempt to sweep issues under the rug.
However, what both episodes have in common is that both are a way of Willow avoiding addressing and dealing with her emotions. Both are using magic as a means to escape feeling her emotions. Both are a crutch to make up for what she feels she lacks in herself. And in that way - they are directly connected and show that Willow’s arc was always in character despite it not being made clear it’s true foundation. Where the addiction actually stems from and what kind of addiction it actually is. It’s an emotional one.
Every time someone says that Willow’s magic addiction just came out of nowhere and was just a way to create drama between Willow and Tara and the Scoobies, I mention ‘Something Blue’. Because in both cases magic is used as drug to self-medicate and that self-medicating had second-hand smoke effects on everyone else. It was harmful for everyone. Whether it was intended to be or not doesn’t matter. The fact is that Willow’s use of magic leaned more towards destructiveness than beneficialness and she excused it as “helping” or “healing” when it was actually harming and hurting both herself and others.
Quick fixes and bandaids never help or heal anything. What they do is they make problems more difficult to solve or take longer to find solution. Willow needed to be told that her abuse of magic was dangerous for everyone involved - whether purposeful or accidental. And she is all throughout the show but the conversation always avoids the main point. Which is that using it to offset something internal - emotions/insecurities/anxieties - will only lead to both internal and external destruction because it is not addressing and dealing with them honestly, intimately and head on. It is avoiding and escaping them instead - thus making things much worse “inside” and “outside”.
So if ‘Something Blue’ is the start of Willow’s spiral into emotional addiction, then ‘Tabula Rasa’ is the inevitable conclusion of it. Ignore the “magic” part. That’s not as relevant as the necessity to use it’s power to counteract Willow’s insecurities of being powerless or useless or valueless or worthless. She knew it was her best chance because it’s what she’s best at. They could have done the same with her preference for hacking and technology engineering but they never do - instead they give Warren that arc. And it’s not lost on me the similarities between them as far as the need for accumulation of power goes. All they do is make it clear Warren’s intentions are evil - he intends to control, he intends dominate, he intends to rape, he intends to murder. Willow never intends any of this - but it is exactly what she does anyway.
“They’re the bad guys - I’m not the bad guy.”
Translation: “It is justified for me to do it because I do not intend to do evil with it. They do.”
But Willow - you become like them anyway because you avoid the truth behind the actions. And the truth is that you’re the one in pain. You’re the one that’s sad. You’re the one that’s confused. You’re the one that HAS THE PROBLEM. Not Buffy and Tara. And you know this is the truth, you just refuse to face it.
I will keep saying it: the only thing that’s wrong with this character is that this character thinks and believes that there’s something wrong with them. It’s entirely an insecurity issue right from the beginning. And they mislead you into thinking that that is improved or fixed - when it’s only just covered up. This is the meaning of Willow’s nightmare in ‘Restless’. The hiding and disguising. The “costume” she wears. The “character” she plays. The “part” she performs. It’s all Willow. There’s no doubt about that. But at the same time - it’s a perception severely filtered by lies and an identity veiled in ego. It’s not so much that she’s pretending to be someone she’s not because you can’t pretend to be something you’re not aware of being. But it is an act. A performance. An obliviously and obsessively chronic and compulsive behaviour.
That is why Willow is such a profound character.
It's amazing that two seasons later, it shows that Willow hasn't learned that lesson from using magic. In Something Blue, the problem is not just that she put her friends in a lot of danger (same scenario here) but also, her behavior didn't make her think it was THAT big a deal because of how they responded and it's like they really went easy on her afterwards. The baked cookies made up for it. 😑Here, she kept using magic even after Tara went against her just two episodes before. It goes that Willow believes she's doing more good and doesn't think she's done any wrong and acts as if the repercussions are not very big "her friends will still forgive her" which they did but Tara was the grown up and didn't allow herself to take the ABUSE. Yes, abuse. Willow did that, not just with their relationship but also with magic. Buffy and Xander stood by her as they also didn't learn how to set clear boundaries and Tara figured, as hard as it is, that was better for her and Willow.
@@RitsychServare I don't see Willow as a horrible person. I see her more as a person of convenience and anxiety, someone who wants to sidestep problems and ignore them, make them go away as quickly as possible. She did the same thing when she was attracted to Xander in season three and wanted to cast a spell to not be attracted to him and she also wanted to cast a spell on Oz and Veruca in season four. If there is something that she feels like she can't handle or if there is something that could lead her to lose something she cares about, she tries to make the problem go away, she tries to do anything not to confront the problem. In that way, I think she's very human. Is it the right choice? Obviously, it isn't. But it makes her a more interesting and flawed character than just being the sweet and nerdy girl.
Willow’s whole thing is that she doesn’t want to deal with reality. Does not want to address her emotions honestly, intimately and head on. Just wants to make them all go “poof” along with the situation that’s causing her to feel that way. She’s a “sweep-it-under-the-rug” type of person. Not in a “deal with it later” procrastination way like Xander. But in a “don’t ever want to deal with it at all” ignorance way like Buffy in Season 6. But unlike Buffy, she doesn’t want to just push it off to someone else to deal with. She still wants to be in control of the situation, but she doesn’t want to do the hard work. She wants the quick fix which puts bandaids on it but never ever resolves it.
She’s not a horrible person. Of course she’s not. She’s just severely lacking in self-awareness. And it makes her do really stupid, questionable things because she doesn’t want to deal with anything of an emotional nature properly - the way it’s actually required to be dealt with. To sit with it and feel it and process it. She never wants to do that not just because it’s time-consuming but it’s energy-consuming too. And she doesn’t want the hard work. Doesn’t want to make an effort. Just wants to make it go away quickly. And it is very much an anxiety thing for her to behave like that because if she were to actually deal with whatever is happening properly - she may indeed lose someone. But the thing is, if that happened, it wouldn’t be on her. She would have done all she could to prevent it, to solve it or to fix it…. And if it still happened, it wouldn’t be her fault whatsoever. It just happened. But Willow is a compulsive overthinker with an addictive personality. She’d always make it her fault.
What they do with Buffy and Willow in Season 6 is quite clever when you think of it more as a juxtaposition rather than a comparison. A striking difference rather than curious similarity.
Buffy does destructive things to feel.
Willow does destructive things not to feel.
Buffy is numb. Willow is overwhelmed.
Buffy is used to having the world on her shoulders. Used to taking on everything all at once. Willow is not. She can’t hack it so she brings Buffy back to life. But when realizing that Buffy doesn’t want to take charge, that she still has to be the leader… it’s too much for her and all she wants is to heal her so she can be relieved of responsibility that just isn’t meant for her. She can be the “BIG GUN” - the secret weapon. She can be the sergeant - the second in command. But she can’t be Buffy. The admiral/general. And at that point even Buffy doesn’t want to be Buffy.
So what can she do about it? Magic is the only option. Can you imagine how Willow would have got through the “leader” phase without Tara there? How she would have coped? Woman would just have gone insane.
SPOILERS:
And personally, I wish they kind of did that with her arc instead of what they do do. Like have her go insane from the immense pressure because Tara isn’t around. Perhaps she died earlier or even in this episode. And Willow has to deal with being the leader and the grief of losing Tara all at once - which makes Dark Willow still emerge but this time it’s due to going insane rather than seeking vengeance and it’s not after she’s recovered from her addiction and just getting back together with Tara. I think that would have been a better way to do her Big Bad arc because the message behind it is directed at abusers rather than gay people. The ultimate consequence for abusing magic was losing the one person she loved in all the world.
A much better way of doing it. Keep the emotional addiction through the use and abuse of magic - but lose the “magic is a literal drug” metaphor. You don’t need it to be so on the nose and heavy-handed. You can tell the woman is addicted to magic as it is. But there’s a genuine reason for it. It’s not about the magic - it’s the emotional attachment she has to it because it imbues her with power that allows her to be more than what she thinks she is. Useless and valueless. Magic is an emotional crutch for her condition. It’s not her actual condition. Her actual condition is OCD.
Ho-lee-smokes. The comparison you made between Willow and Warren (geez even their names are paralled!!) is so freaking spot on! I'd never thought of it that way!!! 😮😮😮
@@JhadeSagrav thank you. Yeah, I think the comparisons are really quite striking.
27:40 / 30:05 It’s likely that Giles and Tara did have additional breakup talks after their memories returned, but it would just be repeating what they said at the beginning of the episode, so there’s no reason for us to hear that again. Showing them leaving over music worked really well imo.
The actor that played Giles asked for some time away from the show. He missed his home and family in England. I mean being on set for 6 years and being older can be tough...
I think the writing is her issue. They could've come up w/ other ways to keep him out of Sunnydale.
@@jp3813 I get it but I was explaining why the writing was choppy they were trying to find a storyline exuce for the character that explained the wishes of the actor
@@gloriebluestein9721 I get that, but the writing didn't have to be choppy. Especially in a show where magic happens.
The first time I saw this show at the original airing, I got through nearly through the whole episode before it clicked. “Loan shark”
What Willow "learned" from the confrontation with Tara wasn't "don't mess with other people using magic" - it was "don't get caught messing with other people using magic." Magic is Willow's crutch, her drug, her addiction. She's always basically looked at things based on "how does this affect me" and "how can I fix things to be the way I want them." She's essentially good-intentioned, but self-centered. Magic is the second thing she found that she can do easily - the first being academics/computer stuff - and she has consistently ignored Giles' cautions about magic, because she thinks "I can do this." She can do it - she just doesn't believe the dangers apply to her.
Classic addiction sign: "I can quit any time I want" but no, not really; promise not to do the thing, then immediately go back and do the thing.
Giles doesn't believe Buffy doesn't need help, he simply believes he will be of no real use to her, which could lead to her making mistakes by still relying on him.
"Let Me Rest In Peace" is the most like an 80's-90's style Music Video
It’s way more 90’s grunge than 80’s metal. The three defining characteristics of grunge: loud-quiet, heavy distortion (both vocal distortion and instrumental distortion), and intentional imperfection. If you were to include a fourth element, it would be emotion.
*
Outside of power ballads, 80’s metal didn’t really address internal struggles.
38:12 I think Dawn didn't know exactly what happened, Far as she knew they had one fight ever and Tara left. I think if Dawn knew the full story she'd be more okay with Tara leaving.
That’s a good way of thinking about it too. What happens between Willow and Tara is so private that even Anya and Xander were put off by Tara’s outburst of anger at Willow and had to disappear because it was uncomfortable. Up to now, they’ve only ever seen Tara as Willow’s girlfriend and not necessarily her own person. And it’s the same for the audience. To see Tara straight up blast Willow is uncharacteristic and it either puts us out or excites us or both. It’s like “Wait, Tara has her own thoughts and opinions that contradict Willow’s?” But Willow is encountering it all the time and instead of actually take in what her girlfriend is saying, she’s avoiding the confrontation by erasing Tara’s memories of their fights so she can have a compliant girlfriend to make love with instead of an equal partner. Willow wants a subservient lover. Someone she can control.
Fun Story: I was in Barnes & Noble once and started feeling overwhelmingly sad, like almost crying in public sad, and didn't know why. I finally figured out that it was the song that the store was playing in the background. This damn song from this damn episode, but I didn't know it or why at the time. I had somehow forgotten the song, but the feelings from the episode still lingered. I had to look up the song when I got home (didn't have smartphone at the time) and saw it was the one playing at the end of Tabula Rasa. Oh ... yeah ... that makes sense. *sigh*
Just like the episode, the feelings were familiar but you couldn’t remember what it actually was. You couldn’t recall what you had forgotten that was still so familiar to you. Thus, didn’t understand why you felt sad in that moment. It’s because your soul remembered but your mind didn’t. Which is the only way our amnesiac characters could work out what had gone wrong. Why they couldn’t remember who they actually were.
Every time I hear the song in a store, I cry out “Aaaagh, the sad lesbian song!!! 😩” I am certain it is very confusing for people who never watched Buffy.
I was at a Home Depot when this came on the radio and the musical vicarious depression hit. 😅 I had to explain to my mom why I was suddenly feeling extremely emotional.
"Laughing and crying" is the best description of this episode, the funniest sad episode or the saddest funny episode!
Willow's solution for the problems with Tara and Buffy was in character for her. She just was a quick fix, much as she did in Something Blue, when she just wanted her pain (from breaking up with Oz) to be over. She wasn't willing to allow time to help her cope.
“Quick fix” Just like an emotional addict.
And she has done this before, like in season 3 with her attraction to Xander
@@moramorandobianchi7093 Oh yeah, that's right. I assume you're talking about the delusting spell.
Giles was right, Buffy was delegating her responsibilities to him (except slaying), so in order to make her grow up is better for him to leave. Unfortunately it wasn't the right moment.
Yes, it is important to know the difference between asking for help when you need it, and just leaving things to others because you don't want to face them yourself. These were symptoms of Buffy being uninterested in living and Giles felt he was enabling her.
I do wish we had spent more time inside of Giles head because even tho we can try to rationalize his choice, it stills comes off as too sudden after learning Buffy was in heaven, and maybe the show knew that so they kinda rushed it. The thing with him leaving is that is such a pivotal moment because it removes the safety net from Buffy, which totally shapes her character for the rest of the season, and beyond.
@@alonsogonzalez7539 We don't need to rationalise his choice. He made it pretty clear in this and the last episode, and even his reactions in earlier episodes foreshadowed it.
Not liking his choice doesn't invalidate it.
Leaving wasn’t the right choice at all, its essentially her dad leaving her and as we know, parents leaving their kid to “make them grow up” is just wrong, he could have just taken a step back and stopped helping Buffy as much but still been around if Buffy was genuinely struggle
We all need help sometimes and can’t be expected to deal with every single thing on our own
Sure she does eventually deal with everything she went through and is able to caught but I doubt things would have been as dire if Giles was there to help when she really struggled
@@dylanburton4955 You r not considering the problem of giles, he cant stop helping her, if she asked or need help he will do it, and that habit badly accustomed Buffy. So in order to stop himself and force buffy to grow up, he had to leave.
It's funny, because in the TV series "Warehouse 13" the actors of Giles and Spike are brothers...And there is a Buffy reference as well hihi
They’re actually much too close in age to be father and son (8 years). I always found the relationship between Spike and Harmony a bit icky, because Mercedes McNab was only nineteen in season 4, while James Marsters was 37 (same age I am, we’re both sixty now;-))
So Spike’s comment about the supposed Giles-Anya relationship was also very much applicable to his own situation.
The same age difference between James Marsters and Mercedes McNab also applies to Anthony Head and Robia LaMorte (17-18 years). But character-wise, Spike was much younger than James and Jenny was older than Robia. However, it helped that both actors looked relatively their characters’ ages.
No so much for Charisma Carpenter in season 4 of Angel where her character was 20-21 but she looked above 30, which was her age (mostly due to her pregnancy and awful haircut). So it was really jarring seeing her and Vincent (who was early 20s but looked younger) having sex.
@@colettepot7350 holy smokes, 19?!
As heartbreaking as the ending was, it was nice to see you also get to do some laughing.
And I loved Michelle Branch's song, sad as the circumstances were.
That album the song is from is fantastic if you’ve ever heard it. It’s called The Spirit Room. One of my favourite pop/rock albums of all time. I definitely recommend giving it a listen.
Tabula Rasa is a Latin expression. It referes to a wood tablet (Tabula) covered in wax (used for taking notes in ancient Roman times) in a state of complete blankness (Rasa). The expression "fare tabula rasa" ("fare" = to do) is still used in Italy, meaning "to totally wipe out, clean, reset something". Memory in this episode case.
Ps: I love your reactions
In French there's the expression "faire table rase" too.
@@qrsx66 Yes, French likes to frencise things. Italian just leave it be.
Hahaha Giles plane hasn't even landed and Buffy is already making self destructive choices.
Xander didn't lie. He summoned it. He didn't put it together until he saw the talisman and heard Sweet say it was his, and that she summoned him.
Here's what happened, he saw the talisman in the magic shop and the deceiving text that went along with it was something like, "Say these words, and you shall have music and dance in your heart." So he did, because he wanted the wedding to go well. It didn't say anything about summoning a demon. He didn't realize it was him until Sweet said the talisman was his and Xander knew then the text was deceptive....because it's demonic.
Because Xander is really that naive 😒
"I love it when everything is depressing", well you're going to love this season then!
I'm sure every time Giles "leaves" it's Tony head scheduling, but as bad as Giles leaving here was (very bad timing), they tried to foreshadow it in S4 opener/ pangs and S5 where the wild things are with constant reliance on him
It would have been better if he left in S5, returned with the Watchers for the Interview/last few episodes of the season and went back to England after Buffy's funeral. After 4-6 months, Giles would have a life established and he'd be telling Buffy he has his own responsibilities to go back to. Could even have him working at training the new watchers, since he already trained the most effective Slayer ever.
@@kyleellis1825 nah the council spat on him yet still offered Wes a second chance for turning in faith. The watchers are as efficient as a store that sells stuff for free
Love this ep. In my top 10. Willow's abuse of magik was foreshadowed back in the last season in the episode where Tara got brainsucked by Glory. It's pretty good symmetry from the writers that willow then abuses magik on Tara with a similar mind altering spell
I’d say it was foreshadowed when Giles cautioned her about restoring Angel’s soul. Followed be each time she thought of using magic under questionable circumstances. De-lusting Xander without even telling him? Attempting to destroy Oz’s ability to love? Looks like a trend going someplace bad. And here we are.
@@zemoxian yep. Magic is an emotional crutch for her. Always has been.
The real reason Giles left is because Anthony Stewart Head was missing his wife and kids, who lived in England. He flew back as often as he could while he was doing the show, but it wasn't enough. I agree that Giles' decision to leave was not beneficial to Buffy, who needed his continued support and presence more than ever, but I can understand the actor's reasons.
Edit: I just noticed that somebody already mentioned this--my bad. I'll leave the comment up anyway for the algorithm. 🙂
Giles in Restless: Spike's like a son to me. ❤️
Why are we mad at Giles for finally putting himself first? As we seen in Restless, he gave up a life with Olivia, having children of his own (and the job he loved and wanted since he was a small child), all for Buffy. I don't think it was the best time to leave her, but I think he needed it.
Yeah, I agree with his sentiment that for Buffy to be what she needs to be, she can't rely on him to catch her oversights all the time. Even from Once More With Feeling, when she couldn't even act the older sibling and dress Dawn down for her cleptomania or whatever she was meant to talk to her about.
I think most people with parents who live close to home in their adult age agree that having them nearby is always an emotional safety net, and you can't properly flourish until you stop depending on them.
@@jarlhenrik
you're both saying different things. what you're saying is simply wrong. that's not where buffy is in her life. she genuinely needs support right now.
@cruzinbosco
if it's about giles putting himself first, then he should be honest about that, instead of claiming that this is for buffy's good when it clearly will not be to buffy's good.
@@sirmoonslosthismind The only support she *needs* from him at this point in her life is the practical ones. Everything concerning the Slayer he's already taught her, the rest is for her to figure out. How he is towards her later is much more how he needs to be. Present, but not the first face she turns to when things are rough.
What, you've never seen a loan shark before? :)
Seriously though, about Giles: Buffy started shirking off all of her responsibilities to Giles. After all the trauma, she withdrew into being a teenager again, or at least tried to, when Giles intention was just to be there so she could find the strength to stand on her own two legs. But seeing that she was doing the exact opposite, he felt he had to leave, giving her no other choice but to sink or swim. Obviously, knowing her and believing in her he knew that she was going to find her own strength and manage, but with him there she wouldn't have. That was the whole point.
My favourite bit is when Buffy and Dawn figure out they are sisters, despite neither having their memories, and then hug 😊❤ And how even before then, Buffy's first instinct is to protect Dawn as the youngest person there. When you think how their relationship was in early season 5, it's so sweet to watch.
Seeing you gush about Once More With Feeling makes me so happy! I appreciate your blunt and honest reviews about how you haven’t been a fan of some of the more depressing story lines (which I disagree with taste wise but still totally respect your opinion) but I love seeing the light back in your eyes when talking about an episode
Even if those eyes are filled with tears.
I just rewatched your Once More With Feeling reaction. Such wonderful timing!
The line that Spike doesn't want to bite her, to me at least, is proof that he really did become a good person. With nothing else but their gut instincts, he never felt the urge to be one of the bad guys.
Having watched the entirety of every Buffy series many times over the years, I can honestly say, you are in for one hell of a ride. Subscribed to join you on the journey.
Had the spell worked properly, but Buffy forgot that she was in Heaven, Willow would have had to do the same to everyone else. Everyone now knew where Buffy was, and that's not something to forget.
Also, with Spike being a vampire, who knows if it would have worked on him?
See I think that’s why the spell happened the way it did. She just says the spell is for Buffy and Tara. That’s who it’s directed at. However, in order for that to work, she’d have to erase everyone else’s memories too. And I guess she never counted on it also doing that to herself. She completely “forgot” about her own memories in her haste to erase everybody else’s memories. So I don’t think the backfire was that everyone lost their memories. I think the backfire was that she lost her own as well.
This is why you don’t mess with magic you don’t truly understand or know all of the consequences and risks of. The mistake was that she erased her own memories not that everybody in the room with her lost them.
And this is the only way I can give her a pass for nearly almost kissing Tara and being physically intimate with her yet again. Because she couldn’t remember who she was either. But that wasn’t the case last episode when she performed cunnilingus on Tara while Tara’s memory was erased about the very thing that immediately negates her consent to have sex or be physically intimate with her girlfriend. If that was the case - then that would have been fine but she knew all about it. She knew the whole situation and still chose to respond to Tara’s unintentional advances. No pass there.
I've never seen anything that either confirms or refutes this so I've always chosen to belief Buffy was feeling like Joan of Arc so she picked the name Joan.
I think Buffy wanted to feel "normal" so she chose the most common and ordinary name. Joan is the feminine form of the name John, one of the most common names. There's nothing special in it.
Honestly, Giles was right about everything but the timing. He is a smart man, he should know that to leave Buffy in that moment was bad. She was coming back from underground, torn from Heaven, with PTSD, after a sacrifice-suicide and without a real job to maintain herself and her sister. Way too soon and way too rushed. He should start from now to give her tools and advices to stand by herself. The truth is the he wouldn't be able to do it, because he couldn't say no to Buffy. He is like an overprotective father.
Exactly why I think his Tarot card would be the representation of guardianship VS overbeariness.
Likely, The Hierophant.
Stop shitting on Giles, he's right, she needs to engage with life, and she wont do that whilst he's there to do stuff for her. He will always support her, but sometimes you have to step back so people can find themselves. At some point, as a parental figure, you have to let go, let them make their own mistakes and trust that you've given them the tools they need to deal with it, but that does not mean you dont stills support them. Its called growing up, we all have to do it eventually.
What Tara isn't saying is that any sex she and Willow had (after the _Under Your Spell_ song & potentially just after the spell was performed at the end of the _All the Way_ episode [which I do think happened, but it is questionable on whether it did]) was blatant rape. It wasn't just violating Tara's mind, but her body. Just before the spell, Tara was in no mood for romance and sex. And as long as she doesn't know about the spell, Willow is acting horrible on that level, as well as "what Glory did to her."
Once Willow ignores her own "go a month without magic" [and Tara reconfiguring it to "a week," it only makes things worse that she doesn't. Like the episode _Something Blue,_ characters are meant to forget and/or feel bad for Willow. Except in _Something Blue,_ the audience and characters could forgive Willow easier, despite the fact that she was addicted to magic at that point, as well. Now, Tara cannot forgive and the rest of the group might not even know what is going on other than Tara was upset enough to break up with Willow.
Tara, at this point Is in a bad relationship and needed to get out. Giving Willow a chance was being kind, but not a necessity. She could have just left and the same point would have been proven. Tara knew Willow couldn't not do "bad" magic or no magic at all, but she was hoping. After Willow was caught, Tara had to leave Willow's toxicity. Even if Willow could go the month or week, things would still be far from OK in the relationship.
Giles is another story. I don't think Giles only option was to leave town again, although, unlike what I thought about Willow's actions, I do understand why he thought he had to. But, with a daughter-figure as depressed as Buffy, leaving isn't going to help the problems he thinks he's leaving to help solve, either.
Based on what Giles says: "as long as I stay, you'll always turn to me if there's something that comes up that you feel you can't handle..." he isn't taking Buffy being depression into account, or isn't aware she is depressed. Both are just as wrong, if not more wrong, than leaving. Especially when you consider that Giles knew Buffy had slight depression (called "issues") after her first resurrection. If Giles wanted to leave for the reasons he's giving, almost anytime in S4 through early S5 were the better options. Not when someone is textbook definition depressed.
The writers did very well with the characters losing Episodic (any experience a person has) and Semantic Memory (which is general knowledge and facts), while allowing for Procedural Memory (actions done so often they are not required to even think about) and instincts guide them into right or wrong conclusions. Examples: Buffy and Dawn realizing they're sisters. Giles and Spike assuming they're father and son. Buffy knowing she can handle herself in a fight. Anya assuming she and Giles are engaged. There are seemingly endless examples throughout the episode.
Feelings don't dictate memory. They just help guide them. Example: Buffy always argues Angel has a soul when defending him, but without her memories of him she thinks a vampire with a soul sounds lame. Buffy's feelings about Angel guided her to an entirely different conclusion because she loved him, but without memories of Angel, and having loved him, instincts and procedural memory are guiding her.
Alexander Lavell Harris is Xander's full first name, as stated in the fourth episode of the series.
Thank you for acknowledging that the Willow/Tara situation was rape/sexual assault. I’ve written at length all about that on Lexi’s reaction to ‘OMWF’. It gets glossed over far too much but it is indeed a significant part of why Tara leaves despite her never mentioning it.
I would have liked maybe an extension of the line “To what? Violate my mind AND BODY like that?” to make it more clear why what Willow does to Tara is much more egregious than it seems. You have to acknowledge the non-consensual aspect to the whole situation in a physical way too despite it not being called out. What she did was date-rape Tara. Maybe more than once. But we can’t be sure of that.
@@Girl4Music 👍
You’re overreaching.
Tabula Rasa is Latin & it literally means, “Blank Slate.” In other words, the Scooby Gang’s memories become “Blank Slates” in the episode. Such a great follow up to OMWF!
Everybody screaming in the door is so cute 😂
Yay! It's a Happy New Year's now with a Lexi reaction! :D
As a lovely BTS thread to the "Spike and Giles are related" idea, James Marsters modelled Spike vocally on Tony Head's "non-acting" delivery, i.e. his relaxed with friends speech rather than Giles' RP.
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.
Buffy has to learn to stand on her own. She's an adult now and adults don't always get to have their parents bail them out of stuff. Is it I'll time maybe a little but the entire point is that, THAT'S LIFE.
But Giles' job (that he chose) is to guide and protect Buffy. He only got this job back (with several years of back pay) because of Buffy.
@@kyleellis1825 Yes, and sometimes the best thing you can do for a person is let them succeed or fail on their own. Your parents can't always be there to catch you when you fall. Buffy is going through a hard time and has a lot on her plate but that's a lot of people in fact that's most people.
@@MrSupertallblackman But Giles isn't her parent. He's paid to guide and protect the slayer. Except when Buffy lives longer than a slayer was suppsoed to, he vanishes.
Sink or swim is a terrible parenting method and has been proven as such many times. Giles leaves because he's sad, not because of any of the reasons he gave Buffy. Giles is a PoS for continuing to accept a paycheck when he's leaving town.
But Giles has had 6 years now to make any friends outside of the Scoobies. Has he made any effort to make his own life? No, Giles is mad because his (using your analogy) kid's friends don't want to hang with him.
@@MrSupertallblackman Buffy should have therapy at this point. I think and hope we can all agree on that. If she's not getting it,the LEAST you can do as both a friend or a father figure is to stay on her side. If she was in a"normal"state I could see your point,but in her _current_ psychological state?No way in Hell is leaving her the best choice for her!X-[
@@kyleellis1825 Yes GUIDE her not discipline he Kid sister when she get out of line. I don't think the council is paying him for that not that that's even the point.
Sink or swim is not a terrible parenting method if used correctly. Eventually she has to be able to take care of herself. You can't just keep your kids from making mistakes or having a bad time ever.
Also neither of us know that he is still being paid by the council since Buffy was dead.
Definitely a top 25 episode for me. The two funniest episodes are this and Something Blue.
It's so well done, how their nature comes trough and is still there when their memories are gone. Pretty heartwarming - at least until the crystal breaks.
“mr summers part 2” 🤭 giles villain arc sixjdjdj
Everyone listens to those songs on repeat especially just after watching it. It's just such a perfectly well done and timed episode in each of their stories... They all just have such emotional things to sing about. Knowing the context for the songs makes them even better.
You know I really love the frequent writing and directive styling technique used on Buffy where they make the dialogue for one main character’s interactions with other characters in one scene of an episode relate to another main character’s interactions with other characters in another scene of it even though both scenes are in different times and places. It’s almost as if they’re subconsciously aware of the situation happening for each other and therefore building on the theme. Not sure I explained it well but take the individual scenes between Willow/Tara and Buffy/Giles in ‘Tabula Rasa’ for example:
TARA: “I don't know, I just... think we both need some... I don't know, space.
*Willow looks upset*
Oh, I can’t believe I’m saying this.”
WILLOW: “Are you saying you're gonna leave me?”
*Cut to Giles sitting on the sofa in the workout room*
GILES: “I have to.”
*Reveal Buffy standing beside him. She looks shocked*
BUFFY: “Uh-huh.”
*She sits on a pile of exercise mats, frowning*
GILES: “You have to be strong. I'm, I'm trying to-“
BUFFY:
*Jumps up*
“Trying to, to what?
*Angrily*
Desert me? Abandon me? Leave me all alone when I really need somebody?”
GILES:
*Quietly*
“I don’t want to leave.”
BUFFY: “So don't. Please don't.
*She goes to sit beside him*
I can't do this without you.”
So because the creators have decided to parallel both Buffy and Willow’s individual arcs with depression/addiction together, they do this really clever thing in the episode ‘Once More, With Feeling’ where they give us a reprise of both Tara’s song ‘Under Your Spell’ and Giles’ song ‘Standing’ in which both characters express their choice to leave their respective loves (Willow/Buffy) behind, confessing that they wish they could stay but believe it’s for the best that they leave. So in the following episode ‘Tabula Rasa’ both Tara and Giles confront Willow and Buffy about their choices. And the scenes between the characters are distanced between time and place but are connected by a common thematic narrative: separation. Tara will separate herself from her romantic relationship with Willow and Giles will separate himself from his father figure relationship with Buffy. And the writers and directors of the episode choose to deliver both individual scenes to the audience through using this writing and directive styling choice of connecting the interactions between them through the dialogue.
I haven’t seen that been done before in anything else thus far. Certainly nothing recent. It could be a 90’s/early 2000’s technique or it could just be unique to the Buffyverse. I’m not sure. But the creators of Buffy use it frequently and I love it. I know exactly what they’re going for each time they do use it. What effect they’re intending to have on the viewer. I think it really elevates the storytelling and makes it very engaging for me to watch the show. It’s extremely clever. I believe this is one of the things that make it timeless.
@@terrystickland219 I know he does. I’ve already seen it and love it.
@@Girl4Music Yeah, I'll admit my comment wasn't exactly for your benefit, in that I know how well read you are on this topic and that it is inconceiveable that you would not be aware of those videos, but no opportunity should ever be missed to direct folk to the PotN episode reviews.
@@Girl4Music awesome, I look forward to that.
lol "lets jump straight into it"
at almost the 9 minute mark
It’s her tag-line. Shush. 😠
Two great back to back episodes!
you being angry at giles for leaving is so fucking funny.
The writting this season is at it peak for characters
The episode is such a rollercoaster and I'm here for it.
I would've liked to have seen Spike play more of a father figure role to Dawn. Seeing as their both mystical beings trying to live as normal people and their relationship really worked well, I felt like in the beginning premiere episodes. Gaining more of Buffy's trust and building a caring nature towards Dawn, leading him to slowly seek his own soul by the end.
I like your theory about Zander. I always thought it was just bad writing and a way to get out of the marriage situation, but what you came up with makes a lot of sense.
Giles had to leave for reasons unrelated to the show--Anthony Stewart Head wanted to spend more time with his family in England. The writers decided to do it in a way that would hurt Buffy most (because of course they did) while still leaving it open for him to return later.
1. Tabular rasa is Latin for blank slate (seriously watch the series dollhouse if you have not already.
2. The "villain" is a play off a loan shark
Since nobody was getting hurt when things began Xander probably thought the spell would simply run it's course and everything would be okay. By the time he realized what was really going on the solution was obvious and admitting his insecurities about his relationship with Anya to everyone didn't seem necessary. Perhaps he also wasn't keen on exposing the fact that he hadn't really learned his lesson from "Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered". It wasn't until the queen issue came up that revealing the truth made a difference in the outcome. Xander tends to be quite calm when he's covering for someone. He seems to be feeling quite guilty throughout the episode (particularly on rewatch). Dawn was lying about why she had the necklace, not what she did with it.
Asking for help when you need it is good. Pawning responsibilities onto someone else because you're avoiding them isn't healthy. I think there's definitely some culture shock going on here. For example, Xander paying rent to his parents when he was living in their basement. A lot of parents in the U.S. did this because their 20 or even over 30 year old offspring were living at home and not making any effort to get a job or help out around the house (the basement living was usually their child's idea though, many have finished basements with an outside door allowing them to come and go at late hours without waking their parents). This started in the mid to late 90s and, sadly, is still a thing.
While Buffy is a far cry from this she's still avoiding the very things she needs in order to feel like part of the world. She needs emotional support and in theory Giles could give that to her without 'stepping in', but habits are hard to break and his inability not to give in when she asks is his own weakness. I'm of two minds about Giles leaving. Part of me understands his perspective and the other part of me is like: the two of you just need to sit down, work out a plan, and stick to it!
Or maybe Buffy just needs Lorne. He would've been a great addition to "Once More, With Feeling". Oh well, all those vibes probably would've been too overwhelming for him anyhow. I'll just blame Angel for not inviting him along when he and Buffy met up.
this is my favorite episode aside from the big 3 (Hush, The Body, Once More With Feeling)... I think it's perfect that we got a comedy break in the middle of the worst, yet with all the feels at the end ^^
this is my favourite buffy episode!
Ancient Roman pupils had a board with a wax surface on one side in which they learned to carve letters. These boards could be easily erased with a little spatula. The board was called a tabula and rasa means erased, IIRC. I haven't thought about Latin for forty years.
One of my favorite parts of that last episode too is at the end when she's wearing that dark leather coat and takes it off showing her dark red sweater. The dark coat signifying her depression and that underneath it is still a deeply passionate person. The Walk through Fire song is awesome too for a lot of reasons. You actually made a comparison of her standing in front of the ocean and Giles pushing her in. Change that to fire and you've got that song except instead of pushing her, she was always turning to him instead of walking through it. He left and she has no choice but to walk through it as the song says. So she does b/c she's Buffy.
Tablua Rasa: an absence of preconceived ideas or predetermined goals; a clean slate, or tablet erased.
I'm following because you are watching Buffy
It's not Gile's job to do everything in life Buffy considers insignificant. She needs to grow up and this is his way of forcing her to do so.
Exactly Buffy is an adult now and she needs to start acting like it.
It's a bit harsh though, considering she just came back from heaven... and he's her Watcher!
Maybe a lesson better taught she started college two seasons ago not at the crappiest point in her life. I lost my job for medical reasons if my dad just said fuck it and disappeared you need to grow up I'd be dead or homeless in a month- and don't even have close friends like the scoobys
I was always quite surpised how extremely mad a lot of the reactors are about Giles' decision to leave. ... And Lexi mentioned that she thinks Giles lives with Buffy, But wasn't he staying at a hotel or was I making that up?
He was staying at a hotel. He's English, and would never dare to intrude upon another's place, especially his charge- Buffy. The reactors still see Buffy as the 16 year old and not the 23 year old she is and have a motherly instinct to shelter their surrogate "daughter". Ironically it is the same feelings that Giles is scare he has. and he knows that Buffy needs to learn to fly even in a hurricane or she will die (again) but this time under the weight of the human world. This season deals with the weight of real world problems. Buffy has mastered the Demon realm, now she needs to master the human world. And in the human world you can't just stake your problems.
@@spaceshiplewis you must not be using a big enough stake.
Giles job is literally to guide and protect Buffy. She just comes back to life and is clearly struggling with the basic day to day. Giles needs to at least pay for her therapy before he leaves. Giles put no support system in place and yet continues to get paid as a Watcher? Giles' entire salary should have gone into Buff'ys bank account.
Giles has been Buffy's father in all but name since mid season 2, but he literally abandons her NOW? It's a stupid reason for him to avoid helping her through an emotional time that makes him uncomfortable because he doesn't have an answer for her - maybe for the first time. So he's using the excuse that she needs to take responsibility for her own life by herself so he can run away from the fact that his slayer, his daughter, is drowning in depression and he has no clue what to do about it.
As a Buffy original, in a sense in which I watch the episode when they first, it gives me so much joy to see people watching these episodes for the first time twenty years later and analysing them like you. Hopefully Buffy lives forever.
This might be a good stage to revisit whether or not we've seen the Big Bad of the season.
Honestly I get why Giles left. Sometimes you need to be able to stand on your own and be able to learn to survive on your own in the real world. Giles was doing it so Buffy could learn to be independent and learn to stand on her two feet. He felt he was holding her back in that regard. It sucks that he left, but I also understand why he did it.
Yes but also Giles hasn’t had his own life this entire time. He wants to go back to England to hang out with His old friends, his new friend and his girlfriend. Everyone saying he’s obliged to stay is also basically telling him he doesn’t deserve his own life. Buffy is an adult and his “rearing” is over.
The roller coaster ride is only winding up. No spoilers.
I think the point of Xander being the one who summoned Sweet in the previous episode is that it wasn't important. It wasn't about responsibility or who to blame, who actualy did it was the least vital aspect of the story. It was the most wonderful way to do exposition I've yet encountered and pinning it on the least dramatic character in that moment just turned it into a joke.
Yeah, they do it for the sake of the story, but it does impact the character. Or rather the perception of the character.
I really feel that Giles leaving is more the show runners wanting Buffy to become an adult that can stand on her own. Superheroes don’t have father figures that they run to for help… or is Alfred that to Batman? Who knows? It sucks though.
"Tabula Rasa" is Latin for "Blank Slate", which is why they all have amnesia.
Joan - as in Joan of Arc, another teenage girl supposedly imbued with mystical power & sent to lead a great fight - is such a meaningful pick for her name
Do you remember that scene with Giles and Spike in S4E22 "Restless" ? They're both on a swing and a Spike in costume says he will be taught how to be a watcher by Giles.
This episode reminds me of this scene.
I'm quite surprised that most people I've seen reacting to this episode don't know the phrase "tabula rasa". I wonder if this some sort of cultural thing because in Germany (where I live) it's quite well known, I think.
However, "tabula rasa" means as much as "as blank as a new slade" or resetting things.
It comes from the little wooden, wax filled slates Romans used to note/write things down. They scratched the words into the wax using a wooden pencil and when they needed a new slate, they just erased the previously written words by smoothing out the wax again. These slates were called tabula (= slate) rasa (= being scratched).
Since it was so easy to just "factory reset" these slates, their name eventually became synonymous with starting over again/resetting.
After all the truths that came out last episode (possibly the greatest hour of TV ever), the relationships were all shaken. There was nothing to do but have a very sad episode. In typical Buffy fashion, they managed to write up the perfect mix of humor and heartbreak. It is a shame they had to send Giles off like that, but ASH had to return to his family, and be written out of the show. This episode certainly did not need a long sad goodbye for him. Loved the analysis you did on this, and you have a wonderful laugh.
Giles has been thinking about leaving for quite some time, but for him to leave right at the moment when everything and everyone is falling apart makes no sense to me whatsoever.
you're not the first one to cry "that's so homophobic!" but hopefully you understand that part of normalizing it is not treating their relationship differently than the others. people in same gender relationships royally fuck up just as people in opposite gender relationships do.
Yeah, when Willow cheated on Oz and they broke up nobody was saying it was 'heterophobic'. I agree that queer relationship should be treated the same as hetero ones.
Back in the day, teens and young people were still casually throwing around the slur, "your gay" as an insult. 90's People didn't really get that Tara and Willow were a proud couple and here to stay. One thing I respect from this show is that they treat Tara and Willow just like any other human sitcom couple. They deal with unique problems but it isn't with some sort of gloved hands or as a throwaway jokes. Theirs is a real relationship, neither on a perfect pedestal nor as a gay trope.
I have to say that’s what I really love about them too. That they’re not without their own relationship conflicts and flaws just because they’re the gay couple. It’s more realistic that way. They feel real because of all the shit that goes down between them. I know most Buffy fans wanted the writers to avoid all the toxicity because of them being one of the first LGBTQ representations on mainstream TV. But I think it honestly just does them a disservice if they’re not willing to take the bad with the good. I saw this one article talking about how despite Willow and Tara being a beautiful legacy that they were still a toxic couple and that that wasn’t fair given they were one of the first depictions of lesbianism on mainstream TV. And while I completely understand that… I disagree. I think it’s better representation that they showed their relationship to be toxic sometimes too. That they showed times when they were healthy and unhealthy. Because like I said - that’s realistic. That’s a real romantic/sexual relationship whether same-sex or not. And that shouldn’t be avoided or changed just because they were one of the first representations of a same-sex relationship on mainstream TV. People needed to know that same-sex couplings were just like opposite-sex couplings. That they would have problems, conflicts and toxicity in them sometimes too. It was better that Willow and Tara weren’t without that because that would have been fake and insulting.
To me this episode is in perfect place, and it's perfect continuation after Once More with Feeling, because we needed that comedy to give us break from the heartache. But it also continued and in many ways resolved many of the questions that OMWF left open. The only issue I have with this episode is that the locations feel a little truncated after the last episode. Partly because so much of it happens in the dark. Still I think this episode was perfect palette cleanser after OMWF.
Giles logic is absolutely reasonable. He wants Buffy to actually care about things and face her issues and he wants to actually have his own life because as Restless has shown he feels like he has none. We have seen this be built up all the way from Season 4 when Giles found out he kind of has absolutely nothing going for him beyond his now over job at School Library and him teaching Buffy. He even lived through his worst nightmare since the start of the show by having to Burry her. Its only normal he questions what comes after that and wants to actually have a life worth living. Maybe moving to another country might be bit too extreme, but he HAS to step away from her for her to come into her own, because in a way Buffy is not even ASKING for help - she' outright just using him to ignore her own issues. She turns to him when something is wrong, but the moment she gets help, she shuts him off COMPLETELY. He feels like the bond that was there is simply not really there right now as Buffy does not really care about anyone at best and outright can't stand everyone. Alas he's extremely oblivious of just how much the death and heaven stuff has hurt Buffy psychologically, but Buffy not taking the step of actually asking for the actual help she needs IS making it worse.
Its kind of telling that the ONLY moments of empathy Buffy and Dawn have shared so far this season is when all of Buffy's memories and trauma were stripped away. Even going back to like Season One worldview where Buffy genuinely thought she's a superhero and did not view her destiny as a curse. You can literally pinpoint the exact second when the memories returning make all of that crash and fall apart.
If he would have paid for her therapy as he left I could understand. But his job is litterally to protect and guide Buffy. She even got him years of back pay (after Giles was the one to betray her and lose his job) that Giles culd have had transferred to her account now that he was no longer her Watcher.
@@kyleellis1825 The thing is - Buffy would most likely not even accept therapy. Even setting that up requires her to open up to a degree that she does not allow herself to.
@@MyFeuerFrey One more reason for not leaving her to deal with all this alone! If someone refuses therapy the *last* thing you should do is to abandon that person!!X-[
@@Nicamon Giles does not know that tho sadly. If he actually knew how exactly she's affected by all this he most likely would not have done what he did but he doesn't. With information he had it's a pretty reasonable choice even though it was absolutely the wrong one.
Buffy kind of creating a shell to hide her trauma from others has been an ongoing thing built up from the very start of the show.
@@MyFeuerFrey Buffy-literally tried-to suicide-the previous episode!What more proof does Giles need to know that *she's not ok?!?!*
Gotta love those S6 blues. A couple of decades after first watching it, it’s now one of my favourite seasons. But at the time it was a bit rough.
Sad that Dawn seems to blame Tara for leaving. But, as much as Willow is at fault, the look on her face in the final scene is quite crushing.
And every time B and S kiss it’s the most real relationship this show has had.
I don’t think Dawn blames Tara for leaving. I just don’t think she knows how to process her fluctuating emotions without getting angry at someone. It’s a very teenager thing.
I think tabula rasa means clean slate.
"Tabula rasa" is Latin for "Clean slate".
Ready, Randy? - Ready, Joan!
Tara's feeling of betrayal about the way Willow used her is not only because of her ordeal last season, but because she grew up in a family that manipulated her into believing she was a demon so she would be subservient to the men in the family. she's been manipulated and abused her whole life. Not only should Willow understand that as her partner, she should be fiercely devoted to making sure Tara is safe from anyone else doing that. they should be a core part of each others' safe space, but Willow just twists her mind casually for her own convenience - just like Tara's family, just like Glory. I think it's just how casually she does it that really hurts Tara. It's not even for some noble cause, it's just because Willow doesn't want to have a fight. It's awful
That’s right! You’re dead on about what makes this so horrific is because Tara has lived her whole life subservient to someone else - she’s basically depicted as Cinderella in ‘Family’ that’s found her “prince-ss charming” who took her away from it all. Gave her an opportunity to be her own person. … and then she ends up doing basically exactly the same thing as her romantic/sexual partner and either she doesn’t see it or she doesn’t care. The conversation they have at the start of this episode is Willow explaining to and pleading with Tara that it’s not something she intends.
… but given she just goes ahead and does it all again - can we really believe her? It’s sketchy.
I mean how many times do you need to be told “No, this isn’t right” before you take it in yourself? If she truly was oblivious about her abusing of Tara, then surely this would only happen once. She’d only erase her mind once.
Instead it happens twice - or maybe even more times: who even knows? 😔
And what makes it even worse,… likely the worst possible part about it all.
She’s physically intimate with her all the while she’s mind-controlling her. She’s raping her. Like she really doesn’t see that Tara can’t give true consent every time they have sex or are physically intimate while she’s under her spell. That spell is forcing Tara to be compliant to Willow because she can’t remember her own emotions towards Willow at the time. Emotions that would make her unwilling to be physical with Willow at all. I genuinely think that’s the worst part about this whole abusive situation.
@@Girl4Music right! Instead of being humbled and awed by Tara’s trust and cherishing it, Willows takes that trust for granted and abuses it. And doubles down when Tara rightly calls her on it. It’s heartbreaking and infuriating, because by trying to avoid conflict withe her girlfriend, she’s making things so much worse for both of them.
@@MrDWinter honestly, this is valid, but I’m still reeling from the rape/sexual assault aspect of this situation.
@@Girl4Music that is such a good point. Willow is using magic to make Tara be affectionate with her against Tara's will.
@@MrDWinter and I’ve explained exactly how in a lengthy post on Lexi’s reaction to ‘OMWF’
So...remember this little scene from "Restless"? ruclips.net/video/XTc0KNfrVR0/видео.html
Spike and Giles on a swing set.
SPIKE: Giles here is gonna teach me to be a Watcher. Says I got the stuff.
GILES: Spike's LIKE A SON TO ME.
(And Spike's suit!)
Damn, Giles doesn't deserve this much hate =( He is mostly right. It's not like Buffy just came back, it's been months at this point, and she hasn't really been interested on adjusting. And necessity is the best medicine in many situations. If this would have happened a little later, then I would agree with Giles. Now I think it's still too soon, but the logic behind his decision is still sound.
This Ep takes you from sad moments to funny ones , love it, i know its in general sad but one of my favorite, Good that you "loved it". About the songs from OMWF Walk through the fire its actually my favorite, all good ones but that one sticked in my mind from very first time, melodies , harmonies, and lyrics , great one!
Selfish and not communicating, almost everyone.
The whole season is based on the Scoobies selfishly bringing Buffy back from the dead. They "talked" themselves in to believing it was for Buffy's good, but it was for their own.
Buffy is totally inwardly drawn, wrapped in her own drama. She did not want to tell anyone (except Spike) about where she had been. It took magic to draw it out of her. She has been using Giles, dumping her responsibilities onto him without asking or even thinking. Now it seems she using Spike to take her mind off her misery.
Willow, of course, massive selfish behavior. Not being honest with anyone. Following her own path because she thinks she knows better.
Dawn, not talking to anyone about how miserable she is. She is being abandoned by Buffy and no one else seems to be aware that she is even there.
Xander and Anya are still wrapped in their "I'll never tell" space, dodging reality and not communicating. Selfishly hoping it will all work out without them having to do anything.
Giles does not want to raise Dawn and does not want to father Buffy. If he were an important part of the team he might stay, but he is basically a baby sitter. Willow is ignoring him and the rest treat him as it he will never leave nor stop taking care of them all. He's wrapped up in his own "who am I now" space.
Spike has feelings for Buffy, but he's doing what he's doing for his own reasons, because it pleases him not because it’s good for her.
Tara seems to be the only one with clear vision. At least where Willow is concerned. Still, she doesn't like that magic is becoming more important to Willow than she is. It’s a dilemma.
Everyone's vision is inward. Everyone is wrapped up in their own drama. No one is looking outward or forward.
(Love your reactions, but you know that!)
Buffy the same way is doing what she is doing exactly for her own reasons too. Because she feels that she needs it now, she uses him to feel life again, for emotions, he kind of brings her back to life, makes her switch from worries at least for some time. Not because she decided to have relationship with him. But she is kissing him, he is kissing her back. It works both ways. And she chose it to be so. At this point Spike is just glad that she does it. He's wanted that for a long time.
Ah the curse of season 6.
Selfishness and miscommunication.
I am really enjoying catching up on the older videos, halfway through season 2.
Lexi, Lexi…Lexi. How are you not doing toothpaste commercials? Your smile is world class and your reactions are as well. Thank you for sharing.
Rupert@'Randy' Giles was foreshadowed in Restless including Randy's clothes.
LOL And it's only episode 8... not even quite half way through this season yet.
Tabula Rasa: *exists*
Lexi: ^O^