BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER 4x22 REACTION l Restless
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- Опубликовано: 7 окт 2024
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i would like it to be known that even though i’m in the middle of s5 right now i still very much do NOT understand most of this episode
You won’t understand this episode fully until the very last episode of season seven. And even then it takes study…
There's a lot of open interpretation but after you finish the series, Passion of The Nerd's episode breakdown is a great starting point!
Yup as pointed out already, you won’t fully comprehend this episode till the end of the series.
@@emanymton713 And it needs to be said that the key to understanding is the Cheese Man.
Well it's half a psychological study of how each character sees themselves in each other, and of course because it's a Slayer dream it's half prophecy. I'll skim through the comments, see if there's anything missed
Willow: The play represents her life, and life in general (Giles: Everyone who Willow's ever met is out in that audience, including all of us....) Willow is afraid that she is secretly a big nerd and that everyone will find out so she must hide her nerdy identity in order to avoid social punishment. She was the spirit in the previous episode's spell so she gets her spirit sucked out.
Xander: The ice cream truck represents his life (Anya: Do you know where you're going?). He feels as if he's going nowhere as the others have "gone on ahead" and he is always being left behind, because, deep down, he feels like a loser who is stuck in the basement of life. At the same time though, he can't leave through the only way out because that would require facing his abusive father and the prospect of becoming like him if he ever tries to make something of himself, so he stays in the basement because "that's not the way out." He was the heart in the previous episode's spell, so he gets his heart ripped out.
Giles: The singing career that he wanted to have was interrupted by a watch. This means that his calling as a watcher stopped him from being a singer. He doesn't know what to do with his life now because he's no longer a watcher and asks Spike what he is supposed to do now (Spike: You need to make up your mind, Rupes. What are you wasting time for?). He is seen with his girlfriend pushing an empty baby carriage because his fatherly relationship with Buffy and guiding her as a slayer replaced true fatherhood. He was the mind in the previous episode's spell, so he gets his brain cut out.
Buffy: The desert represents her path as a slayer with no friends; just the lonely hunt. She is looking for her friends because she wants to find a balance between modernity and her ancient and primitive calling as a slayer. The first slayer insists that this is impossible and demands that Buffy sacrifice her humanity to become a full time agent of pure destruction, which is why she (the first slayer) was offended by Buffy joining with her friends in the last episode's spell. Buffy laughs at this, saying that her humanity doesn't have to be sacrificed just because she's the slayer (I walk, I talk, I shop, I sneeze. I'm going to be a fireman when the floods roll back. There's trees in the desert since you moved out, and I don't sleep on a bed of bones. Now give me back my friends). Also, she feels like there was a wall separating her from her mother this year due to being in college, which is why Joyce said that she can probably break through the wall.
The cheese man: In Willow's dream, he says, "I've made a little space for the cheese slices." Willow needs a little space to determine her true identity and come to terms with the fact that she's actually cool. In Xander's dream, he says the cheese will not protect him, which is to say, the mundane common things of life will not protect him from having to grow up, make something of himself, and face his father. In Giles' dream, he says he wears the cheese and it does not wear him, which means that Giles needs to take control of his life and not let his past as a watcher get in the way of what he wants to do now. In Buffy's dream, he waves two separate cheese slices at Buffy (one in each opposite hand). This symbolizes her two halves - the slayer and the human. They are opposites and they contradict, and yet they are both cheese. Buffy is both and must reconcile the two, thus refuting the philosophy of the first slayer.
Also, in the episode "This Year's Girl, Faith and Buffy made that bed and Faith said, "Little sis coming, so much to do before she gets here." In this episode, Tara asks who she made that bed for. Then when Buffy leaves to find her friends, Tara says, "Be back before Dawn."
This comment needs *sooo many more Likes!*
P.S. I would add that when Xander is"moving"with the ice truck there's a *painfully obvious* Green Screen outside. I think this also symbolize the fact that,even when he thinks he's moving,he's actually somehow stuck(even just in his own mind).
@@Nicamon I'm sure your comment will help most people don't like liking long comments cuz you never know what's in them unless you take the time to read it. But praise helps. And it is a good comment.
perfect understanding of the episode, took me a while to get it but even now I'm finding meaning in things I didn't think about... good job!
Nice. I hadn't heard that interpretation of the cheese guy before. I just thought it was dream nonsense, and maybe a reference to when Buffy was turned into a rat.
@@rfresa Joss said the Cheese Man means nothing and only represents the random element you find in dreams,but the explanations for each character make so much sense that I decided to adopt them as canon!^W^
RILEY: We'd better make a fort.
ADAM: I'll get the pillows.
Always makes me lol
"The demons are escaping. Please run for your lives."
Domi: "Let's hopefully get rid of some of this confusion..."
Joss Whedon: Hold my cheese slices.
HAHA
This is in my top 5 episodes of the series. Not only is it a character study for our main 4 characters, but total understanding of it can't come until you complete the full series. It is both a character examination and a premonition of what is to come. It was masterfully crafted throughout, and elevated even higher by it's amazing soundtrack, which is the best music work in the series, imo (which is saying a lot). Christophe Beck knocked it out of the park with the Restless suite.
agreed it is an amazing wonderfully crafted piece of TV, almost like a mini movie. My only criticism was that there were too many subgenres of film presented all at once, which kind of makes is feel like joss was using all the color palettes at once, which makes it feel like an explosion, but maybe that is what he was going for. Black and white for noir and the dream like qualities of many existential films, just to name a few.
I listen to the Restless Suite all the time. Plus, it's cool that we get a Christophe Beck cameo as the piano player in Giles' dream.
Agreed. One of my favorite episodes ❤️
This is probably one of the most complex tv episodes ever, I think it is one that has to be rewatched many times in order to fully grasp what they were trying to achieve over the years it has worked its way up as one of my favourite Buffy episodes
Be back before Dawn...there were lots of easter eggs in Buffy's room about season 5.
I think Tarah takes the place of guide for them all because she's a neutral party for all of them, and she's always presented as an insightful person.
And a spiritually aware person, even more than Willow who is about the raw power.
She's also not one of the Dreamers.
And it gives Amber something to do for more than 5 Minutes😊.
Love the desert total scene with Tara on the one side and Buffy on the other, would be a great Wallpaper.
And the whole episode is a masterpiece of truthfully meaningful art.
SPOILERY NONSENSE
Tara mcclay feels alot like a golem to me. Made of clay to fullfill somebody elses wiches, and primarly help and protect the jewish people. She is impressivly rarley her own person.
I will never forget binging this season after seeing the whole show and losing it when I heard that line about Dawn.
What Giles said to Xander in French: “…the house where we’re all sleeping. All your friends are there having a wonderful time and getting on with their lives. The creature can’t hurt you there.”
The cheese man literally means nothing. Joss added him as a joke! He's just suppose to represent the part of your dreams that don't mean anything.
In my mind he's the connection they share from the spell
I think the things he says do potentially have meanings though.
@@rfresa ohh PLEASE explain...I love to add buffy head cannon to my own
"Buffy she like cheese, I am not saying it's the key to her heart or anything, but Buffy she likes cheese" Willow said this to Riley earlier in the season and I think if Buffy was dreaming about the first slayer and it slipped into the others' minds and subconscious, then her affinity for cheese may represent part of her id. That's one theory I have had since I first watched this over 20 years ago anyway
@@Nexusofgeek yes that's my thoughts....are we crazy or did we make a place for the cheese!!!!!!!
One important aspect of this episode is to explain why they don't use the superbuffy spell again when things get tough.
This episode may have broke Domi’s brain. “Maybe next season everyone is lactose intolerant…” 😂
Paraphrasing
haha it really did!!
In case you didn't get the reference, the segment with Snyder in Xander's dream is from the Vietnam War movie "Apocalypse Now" with Armin Shimerman playing the Marlon Brando role.
I love Shimerman's performance here. Not really a Brando imitation, but a masterful evocation/mockery of his "Apocalypse Now" persona.
We find out that Xander;
1- fears to always be back in mom's basement
2- sexualizes everyone except his actual girlfriend
3- he now knows that Buffy sees him as a big brother.
4- he feels that Anya will go back to being a vengeance demon.
A quote from Joss Whedon's director's commentary regarding Willow's dream:
"But the whole point being of course that Willow is feeling like she's wearing a disguise. Like, she isn't telling people her true name; that people will find out about her. And the mislead is that what she's talking about is her sexuality - but in fact what she's talking about is the fact that she still considers herself to be, well, a big nerd. Which we'll see later on."
This could have easily been explained simply as Willow is insecure about her identity, not her sexuality. Simple explanation is always preferred.
I hate that its never asked why being a big nerd is a bad thing.
@@ronaldfasshauer4390 it’s not but to her it is because she was picked on because of it for years and her mom is an academic.
@@Girl4Music Thats my point, the things that make you "uncool" as a kid/teenager are the things that make you a success as an adult.
@@ronaldfasshauer4390 yes, well she clearly never got that memo.
And Willow doesn’t want to be successful. She wants to be powerful. A big difference.
It was a bold move in this episode to introduce “Cheese” as the Big Bad of season 5 😁
😂😂😂 best comment I’ve read in a while
right? hahah
Who would have thought that Principle Flutie’s line about requiring “powerful Laxatives” in Episode 1x04 would foreshadow what’s to come
@@TerryNutkins3 You guys are cracking me up with the Cheese puns - I'll take the cheese to spread on the crackers to go thanks.
Most people are confused, or irritated by the cheese man. I love that he freaks Domi out as much as any monster.
Traditionally, cheese just before bedtime is supposed to induce nightmares.
@@blacktronlego Wow, I’ve never heard that before. And I adore cheese!🤣
The cheese man is an appalling visual pun regarding what they did in the previous episode. CLUE: Chinese mythos.
hahaha OF COURSE HE DOES
@@domie He does, there's a reason the shares aren't equal.
It's great seeing people's first reactions to this episode.
It's also very interesting to read up on the episode and watch analysis videos, examining the themes of each of the four's dreams.
Such analyses may contain spoilers though.
oh for sure! i can’t wait to go into the analysis of this ep when it’s safe to do so :)
"No friends...only kill..."
All slayers before Buffy kept themselves free of entanglements.
I mean, that's not quite true.
@@tehcoolemu as far as we know so far...and it is certainly the general rule.
@@ernesthakey3396 We don't really know much of anything about previous slayers so far, other than Spike's brief comment to Adam about Buffy having backup. I guess Kendra is some evidence for how things "normally" go (even though she's not "previous"), but still.
"And where are they now? Hello."
@@tehcoolemu but Kendra goes by the handbook, which has been around a while, and Giles agrees that the normal rules don't seem to work with Buffy. From the hints and clues so far, we know that generally the Slayer fights alone, in secret. Of course we don't "know" that no slayers have ever strayed from the rules, but it is what the show wants us to believe.
I've watched the whole series multiple times, and I still don't have a complete breakdown of all the meanings in this episode. However, without posting spoilers, the best way to interpret it is that Buffy is in the middle of a prophetic dream as Slayers often have them. Because the essence of the First Slayer is attacking all of them in their dreams due to their involvement in the climax of the previous episode, everyone is brought into Buffy's dreamspace. The cheese man just represents the randomness that occurs in dreams, and he appears in everyone's dream because they are in the same dreamspace. Tara represents Buffy's guide in the dream because she was a neutral party as she did not participate in the spell in the previous episode. Buffy's dream is best understood after finishing the series because it is a prophetic dream. Everyone else's dreams are just clues into their psyches and what their motivations may be in episodes moving forward.
I think the original plot for season 4 was meant to be a bit heavier on the slayer stuff too.
Confusion at first then pure joy and delight in years to come
I always found Buffy asking the guy that would be known as the monster "Adam" quite curious and sad at the same time because it's pretty obvious she wants to know if he was truly a victim of what happened to him🤔
This episode and This Year's Girl really makes me wonder how long Joss had these ideas.
Also 🧀
There is also foreshadowing for season 5 in this years girl in a dream sequence with faith making the bed.
This episode forshadows events from the rest of the series.
The soundtrack for this episode is exquisite. Especially on a TV budget.
Good lord the amount of times I've listened to "Willow's Nightmare" is unholy. Christophe Beck really is one of the best composers out there.
The episode seeks to replicate dream logic, and WOW does it succeed. But this does mean that if you don't remember your dreams and/or spend a lot of time thinking about them it can be very hard to follow. I've done a bit of lucid dreaming, so it felt really familiar.
There's a lot going on. But the big thing for Xander and Willow is that their nightmares reflect their insecurities, and that when they're at their weakest and most vulnerable the First Slayer attacks. For Willow it's that, as you said, she's still the same nerd she was in high school covering it up with magic and being gay and all that. For Xander it's that he's trapped and going nowhere despite his efforts - that he's a dead end loser. The thing with Watcher Spike in particular is that Xander hoped to be trained as a Watcher like Giles... and in his nightmare Giles would even pick Spike before him.
For the stuff about Buffy, there's REALLY a lot going on. But the key idea is that being the Slayer is so much more than we've seen. She's just been playing in the sandbox, when there's a whole desert out there. And it's not safe, it's primal - hence the mud which is war paint. And the First Slayer thinks that Buffy should be alone - so touching that power, in the dream, is isolating.
For Giles there's two big things. He thinks of himself as Buffy's father, he's sacrificed his personal life for it, and there's a big theme where as a Watcher part of his job is to keep the Slayer under control. Hence the disapproval - when Buffy gets the warpaint all over her face, but that's her truest strength.
Someone might have beaten me to this already, but here's the obligatory "the Snyder scene was from Apocalypse Now" explanation.
I think this episode is a bit more straightforward than people give it credit for. Yes, there's random dream elements and foreshadowing you won't fully understand the implications of, but the actual dreams each character has are character studies about their individual anxieties, fears and feelings about their lives.
About "The Cheese Man, Joss Whedon described: "…the Cheese Man - meaningless. Why? Because I needed something in the show that was meaningless, because there is always something in the dream that doesn't make any sense at all. In this case it was the Cheese Man. He confounds everybody because of that, and people ascribe him meaning."
Joss lies. The Cheese Man is clearly the most significant element in this episode.
I'm pretty sure he had cheese on the brain though when it came to Buffy, I blame the rat episode.
Domi, rewatch this episode after you finish buffy and prepare for your mind to be blown
Been looking forward to this.
Re-watching when the series is over is something I hope you'll do as some moments make better sense. But the whole episode is exactly like dream dissecting in psychology class.
I love watching the confused looks on reaction viewers faces. I remember feeling that way myself.
I love this episode. It's a pure masterpiece. If not for a certain episode in season 6 (you all know which one) this would be the best episode of Buffy.
I still think it's the best episode of Buffy even with THAT episode. In fact THAT episode is quite far down in my TOP 10. It's actually last. And believe me, there are reasons for it being last despite how much I love it - reasons I cannot say here because those are MAJOR spoilers for Season 6 and a very controversial point of view that would upset a lot of people but has to be talked about at some point for the benefit of raising awareness of it.
@@Girl4Music I don't know I think that episode is really good because it managed to get across the emotions of season 6 in a way none of the other ones did.
@@DaDunge Oh it is, no doubt about it. It’s great for that. I’m just saying there’s also stuff about it that makes it difficult to watch.
ye confusion queen. Season 4 is my favorite. I think the general consensus is that season 4 has the worst big bad, but really season 4 has the highest concentration of really memorable episodes, with season 3 & 6 being contested.
I agree, a lot of people prefer season 5 but seasons 3 and 6 are so great too. I enjoyed season 4 too it could be the best with a better villain
26:00 You really don't get it? Willow's secret is that she still think of herself as the loser she was in high school. We've seen her grow up and be cool but she's got aserious case of impostor syndrome.
The giles speaking french thing was about how Xander feels he never understands Giles explanations.
One thing a lot of people don't get is Buffy's mud mask. Notice that the First Slayer has face paint, masking her human features. Buffy's covering her face in a mud mask represents her human nature being masked by her role as the Slayer.
There's a lot to unpack with this one and like others have said plenty of foreshadowing for what's to come. Something, non spoilery, that is worth noting that you may have missed is the way each person was "attacked" by the spirit of the first slayer in their dreams. Per the spell they cast to merge with Buffy in the last episode, Willow was the spirit and she got his life drained out of her, Xander was the heart and his heart was ripped out, and Giles was the mind and he had his head cut into. Looking forward to seeing your reactions to season 5!
i am literally a film studies major and have seen the series all the way 3 times and i feel like i still don't 100% understand this episode
definitely come back and watch this one again after you finish the series though, there's some pretty good payoffs you might notice.
that’s reassuring thank you haha
Drams never make 100% sense. Not everything has a meaning.
Willow's secret and acting and stuff - is about her insecurities. Throughout the entire season, her arc is about going through all these changes and growing and not being sure of where she's going. The secret is that despite all her changes she's still the same nerd she was in high school. She's insecure that this new her is an act, that she's a fraud, that she's just waiting for everyone to figure that out.
All the dreams were about insecurities. For example Xander's was all about feeling left behind. All his friends are leaving and have something to do and he's just there stuck in the basement with no direction.
This was the easy and obvious part. She really struggles with understanding and remembering things.
One key to the episode is the Tarot(ish) cards from the previous episode that represents each character. After that, yes, it represents the next season.
Seasons.
I'm just here for the cheese slices.
Revisit this episode after the the whole series finished, you'll see it with different eyes ....
This is a very important episode for EVERYTHING going forward in the whole series. Season 5 is indeed the greatest of all.
Seriously? Season 5?! Surely you're joking.
Domi: ???
Us: We wear Restless, it does not wear us.
An episode that never gets old no matter how many times it's rewatched.
No spoilers, but this episode's meaning will ultimately become perhaps a bit clearer. It always amazed me how much Joss had a vision of how things would tie together.
Short term, though, you sort of already touched on it (perhaps without realizing it) that the underlying theme in Giles' song lyrics summarized that there were dangers in uniting their powers. It would have become a pretty boring series had they always simply called on their united powers to overcome all big-bads, so this episode is at its most basic level (but wait for the future layers) a cautionary tale about NOT using this crutch as the "deus ex-scoobie gang" to defeat the future bad guys.
Thanks as always for the reaction!
A master piece. Not a season ending episode nor a opening season episode. It's both.
At some point, you might want to watch "Primeval" and this together, because the impetus for the dreams is the spell that was cast. Each one is attacked here in the role they assigned themselves during the spell in "Primeval" - and of course it's called "Primeval" for a reason. This episode is not as much as an afterthought to the finale as you might think.
Without getting into all the symbolism and foreshadowing, this episode was necessary because of how overpowered the joining spell made Buffy in the previous one. The show had to make it very clear that they couldn't just do that again to defeat their next big opponent.
If you watch it with the Joss commentary it makes it a little less confusing. (but only a little)
I didn't understand this episode until I started wearing the cheese.
Love to watch reactors get to this ep and going nuts! Domi: "does the squad become lactose intolerant and so the big bad plan is to feed them all cheese?" Lol
Easily the most rewarding-after-the-fact episode of any show Ive watched, and also brilliantly filmed. I did get some stuff at the time as being commentary on various insecurities of characters, but yes much of it is for later.
Honestly the only shows that even come close for me in this area were Clannad, Babylon 5 and Madoka. OG Roswell, Syfy Channel's Eureka, Psycho Pass and FMAB are certainly worthy runner ups though.
I love how you start this episode out saying, the last episode really threw you off your game.
little did i know!! haha
one of the best episodes of the series, IMO.
It is obvious :)
Heh, yep, been there :). Now imagine how it was back in the day where unless you happened to have videotaped the episode it was _way_ harder to watch again (at least until the season DVDs came out).
Don't worry about being confused, we all were. Part of the genius of 'Restless' though is that it _does_ (mostly) make sense - some of it if you really think about it and some after later episodes. Needless to say, _many_ essays etc. have been written about it, there's a lot of meat on those weird, surrealist bones.
Let that be a lesson to you: Buffy can always surprise you.
noted!! haha
I can’t believe you predicted the whole lactose intolerance storyline that dominates Season 5!
But seriously folks, someone in another reaction comment thread had what I think is a great idea: as a sort of break between seasons 5 & 6, re-reacting to this ep having finished Season 5 would be very cool.
I think you got most of the important stuff - these dreams are really about where each character is: Willow worries that the cool queer witch in the funky clothes is really just a costume and the real her is still the mousy high school social doormat. Xander still sexualizes everything, but he really fears he’s being left behind in life; also his family life has always been horrible. Giles has been adrift, and is unsure where he fits with Buffy all growed up; and Buffy, well, lots of stuff with Buffy. The invasion by the First Slayer is setting up future exploration of Slayer lore, and also eliminates the cheat code of the Super Combo Buffy spell for future use. And the Cheese Man is just the Cheese Man.
Oh, and it’s good to remember that everyone in your dreams is pretty much you. So the cameos, like Snyder and Oz, are in the dreams just because they’re in the dreamers’ heads. And Tara’s appearances in Buffy and Willow’s dreams don’t necessarily say anything about Tara herself or where she’s going. Tho it’s interesting that Buffy, sort of like Willow, sees Tara as something of a Spirit Guide, or at least in touch with the spiritual world.
Sorry one other thing - I know you're looking to get into Film/TV, so I'd suggest that Death of a Salesman, Apocalypse Now, and the original Heart of Darkness are all pieces of art you'll want to get to know. May I suggest the Dustin Hoffman tv-movie version of Death of a Salesman (featuring a very young John Malkovich) to start with.
Also FWIW: the original Restless - i.e. the movie with Jean Seberg, is fanfreakintastic.
One of the best episodes ever, and the most important for previous ans next seasons. Rich and well written and edited, this is a masterpiece you can understand then the 7 seasons. My personal favorite with two others next
Interesting to watch reactors become the most literal version of themselves when watching this ep.
So much of this will be much clearer after you finish the series and even then some things will probably remain open to interpretation, which you can choose to see as frustrating or fascinating. But I think this is the second-boldest artist choice of the series.
A series of character-driven dreamscapes as the finale of a particularly character-driven season is mind blowing in itself. It’s a great way to show each character looking within - at least subconsciously - and to see how they view one another.
Interesting to note that while Buffy says she’s looking for her friends, except for one glimpse of Xander looking back as he heads upstairs the Scoobs are mostly missing from her dream. They appear in a tarot card but only appear in person at the end in the dream version of her living room, after she’s had to fight to get to them. It feels partly indicative of her both wanting her friends to be in her life and having a tendency to keep them at a distance. On that topic, note that when she sees her mom living in the wall at SU it mirrors the shot of her talking to her mom through a whole in a door in “School Hard” as her worlds - mom, school/friends, and slaying - are threatening to completely merge.
I also love that the writing frequently was more poetry than prose, especially when Buffy becomes defiant about having friends and family and a life that doesn’t revolve around slaying (“I’m gonna be a fireman when the floods roll back…”).
The mud or clay mask business is Buffy putting on her war paint or soldiers camo mask, which she dons after the convo with Adam (or the human parts of him) when she takes offense at being compared to demons, which all goes back to the “slayer vs killer” question and Buffy’s discomfort at the questions about the supernatural nature of slayers.
Would love a reactor to do a rewatch reaction vid after finishing the series, if only so everyone could comment without worrying about spoilers.😅
I have learned what this episode I about from others' comments. Don't worry about not understanding it. Not everyone can analyse cinematography.
I love that the first thing you thought had meaning after the episode was the one thing without any meaning.....the cheese man!!
Great reaction, you were utterly confused. You'll appreciate this episode so much more in the future ❤
"Be back before Dawn.." might be my favorite line from this one 😁
Not sure if this has been mentioned but the guide in Buffy’s dream played by Tara was meant to be Angel but they could not get David as he was filming Angel season final. As others have said watch The Passionate Nerds NON SPOILER video on the episode and then watch his spoiler video after finishing the series!
The cheese is a metaphor for The Slayer. It's a reference to the nursery rhyme "The Farmer In The Dell".
"The cheese stands alone, the cheese stands alone. Hi ho the dairy-o, the cheese stands alone!"
Think about everything the cheese man said.
Slayer dreams are prophetic - everyone who participated in doing the spell to defeat Adam was contacted. I'm glad that you rewatched this. It's beneficial to rewatch this episode after each subsequent season, so understand more of what they're trying to show you. Lots of things going on here, and it's confusing on first watch for everyone
This is my fave episode of TV, ever!
This is the best episode to watch reactions to, just to see the confusion in every single reactor!
I love this episode, it legit changes people's lives.
This was one of the more entertaining reactions to this episode to watch for sure
thank you so much!!
I love the Cheese Man because it's just so bizarre!
To understand Buffy, you must understand the cheese.
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
Don't worry, everyone was confused by this episode. You kinda knew that there are clues in there, but you don't have the key to unlock them. There has been hints also in episodes from Graduation Day up to now on what's to come...
I see what you did there. 👌
Okay read through everything here's my theories on everything non-spoilery, that hasn't been said already:
Willow, it was established early on Willow has a fear of performing and being seen. If you look over the last four seasons there are a lot of clues that Willow felt essentially worthless it was one of the reasons her and Xander bonded though obviously for different reasons. My theory is her mother was neglectful and her father was overly strict, and what they left her with on a social scale were a lot of other problems hence the nerd fear. Willow clearly see Xander is a purely sexually motivated and simplistic being, she also seems to be threatened by Buffy and sees her as overly simplistic. She also seems to have some deep-seated fears about her loves, like she's just waiting for them to move on.
On Xander abuse was explained and it's interesting that his father's hand reaches to strike before slayer. You could argue Xander has been looking for a role model in a man his whole life. So he looks for tropes, he tried Giles but you can tell that's obviously not where Giles focus is, it's on Buffy and vampires, hilariously represented by Spike. Sand box brought him to terms with his relationship with Buffy and how she sees him, it also shows how he sees her as a slayer, a wild nature. And clearly he's had a crush on Joyce for a while.
Giles brutal honesty with how he sees the others makes me giggle, but you can tell from his reaction to Buffy when she wanted his approval for getting a vampire at the carnival that he also sees himself as overly stern.
Buffy's was the most interesting because you could tell, like in nightmares, that she knew something was off. It was interesting watching her start with someone begging her to get up, as she's constantly saving her friends. The coldness and reaction is interesting it could be random it could be her exhaustion from being in this role or it could be her old self, which was a little Cordelia-esk, as she once said. Her view of Riley was interesting. Like some part of her season as an enemy, just waiting for him to see her darkness and run, which is what the mud makes me think of. I think she believes that's what happened with her father. And I think Angel, Ford, Scott and Parker only exasperated her concerns. I also think it's interesting that that Tara is the guide, because it also suggests Buffy chose her and can sense things about her.
The confusion is delightful to watch.
I'd say come back after you finish the series and you'll probably spot a few things that were foreshadowing and hints, but there's also quite a bit that's just a look into the psyche of each character as well as the way they see each other, the things they think about, and the things they try not to think about which their brains then try to process in dreams. There are a lot of angles from which you could look at it, but the short answer is: It's about dreams. It's about the psychological landscape of them and also in the way that dreams are a little bit mystical and sometimes prophetic in the Buffyverse.
I've been watching the show for about 15 years and I still find new meanings and ways to look at things in this episode every time.
I think "what does it mean?" is kind of what the episode wants from the audience. It's an episode that invites the audience to think about what things might mean, and in some ways assign their own meanings to some aspects.
I will forever love the absolute confusion this episode causes on first (or even second) viewing.
4:21, Primeval: A world of Shamans, spirit powers, multiple Gods. To defeat Adam, Buffy (and crew) had to touch upon something Deeper, More Powerful.
4:22, Restless: The Powerful Entity they accessed, restless, Reacts.
Going forward, the consequences, like ripples spreading out from a stone tossed into a subterranean lake. Or, from a loud ringing of a bell, that not only can be heard far and wide, but also in those remote places where Powerful Beings dwell.
I think Joss was trying for something along these lines, as the Vampire Slayer is a Mythic figure herself, in a modern setting.
And this represents a kind of character development. (Or Leveling Up, in Gaming terms.)
I love this episode, one of the best ever made!
This is a setup for Season 5 Cheeseman is the big bad😂😂😂😂
Everything has consequences in Buffy. Characters are allowed to evolve and devolve; they are treated as real people. Along with Babylon 5 and Deep Space 9, Whedon's Buffy invented the story arc in place of the simple episodic season structure which had held sway previously.
Your face this entire episode was all of us.🤣🤣🤣
haha im so glad!!
One of my favorite episodes but then again my dreamscapes often look like this, minus the first slayer (thankfully). I also love how they shot this episode as well taking advantage of how the stages are set-up. It's a great deep-dive into character mindsets/psyche plus some great foreshadowing.
That “what does it mean?!” cuts made me chuckle!
i’m so glad! :)
AH restless the fever dream episode of Buffy.
Passion of the Nerd made a marvellous guide to this episode with ruclips.net/video/7Pvu4ZIokVk/видео.html (this is the version without spoilers).
I love season 2, 4, 5 and parts of 6 the most. Season 4 has a lot of plot issues but it is a lot of fun! The reason the transitions in Xander's dream were so cool was because they literally lined up the different sets. No worries about still being confused about most of it halfway through Season 5. You really have to get through the whole show. ^_^ It's a fun one to come back to.
I've hear that "WHAT DOES IT MEAN?" thing on tiktok so much and I never knew where it came from until now, so thanks for that 🤣🤣🤣
I like trying to pick out what is foreshadowing and what is just weird dream stuff that all of us have.
I love rewatching Buffy with you and I recall the beginning of season 5 being very confusing as well! Can't wait to continue the journey :)
Joss Whedon described: "…the Cheese Man - meaningless. Why? Because I needed something in the show that was meaningless, because there is always something in the dream that doesn't make any sense at all. In this case it was the Cheese Man. He confounds everybody because of that, and people ascribe him meaning. This to me means that we're being successful, because this means they're not worried about everything else, which means they sort of did understand most other things.
"Be back before Dawn." ♥
This was a fun reaction - of course - to one of my favorite episodes. Just to throw in a couple of points that I can't believe I don't see mentioned in the 300(!) comments:
Prior to this, Joss Whedon wrote every season finale so that it could double as a series finale if necessary, in case the show wasn't picked up for another season. He's said that this season was the first time that he was absolutely certain ahead of time that they were being picked up for another year, so he took the opportunity to do something different with the 22nd episode.
And, beyond any question of deep meanings or foreshadowing - Restless does an _absolutely brilliant_ job of capturing the nature of dreams on film. The best of any work I've ever seen.
[edit for typo & spacing error]
Reactions to this ep are always so great. And they all seem to share the same anger toward the Cheeseman! 🤣 He's basically there to represent the absurdity of dreams, but also to confirm that the dreamers were all connected during the dream. This ep can really only truly be appreciated after a full series watch. It's mostly foreshadowing.
Much confusion was had by all! :)
Good idea to rewatch it right away...
ironically a french ad just popped up, right after you said `he spoke in french`.
and the award for the best freakouts goes to.......
This is my favorite reaction to anything ever
aw thank you so much hahah
This episode is a masterpiece!
Let me talk to you about Cheeses.
:) Really enjoying your confusion. Buffy is undoubtedly the most WTF show for reacters. Enjoy Season 5! I'll be here for it....
I always liked this episode.
It's so crazy and in the long run has so much foreshadowing... but it's also just so fun and a great exploration of where the scoobies are at this point.
Domie; "I think I'm going insane!"
Me; "Yeah, wait until the beginning of season 5!"
no shes saying darkness cuz shes representing the first slayer in this scenario
Season 4 is a mix bag. The main plot is pretty weak. But there are a lot of amazing episodes ans storylines. Season 5 is just amazing. And restless is an episode that you only get after finishing the show lol