Buffy - Restless 4x22 - Full Reaction
Added 2024-02-16 21:00:06 +0000 UTCI adored this episode! It wasn't what I expected, but also I didn't know what to expect after the previous episode. We'd all wrapped up the season, in a nice neat package! So this one definitely feels like a bonus episode, or epilogue.
It was done so well. Lots of wonderful elements that went back to a previous episode (the one with Lucky 13). Very funny at times, and a little confusing, but very well done.
I'm looking forward to seeing how all this ties in, if it even does at all!
I hope everyone has a lovely weekend! I am heading out to get some plants for my new garden bed (thinking lavender for the bees and some hardy plants as I do NOT have a green thumb) and it's take away pizza for Saturday night which I'm already excited about!
Have a great weekend π½
Youtube Edit: https://youtu.be/b40IeJDhIi4
Comments
Part of the enjoining spell was (watch what happens when they flip over the tarot cards): "Make us Mind and Heart and Spirit enjoined. Let the Hand encompass us. " The First Slayer went after Willow's spirit, Xander's heart, Giles' mind and then fought hand-to-hand with Buffy.
Ross43
2024-03-03 03:48:21 +0000 UTCThis is a paragraph from Joss's commentary to Restless and explains it much better than I could! "Now we get into the place where practicality and dreams come together. Because knowing I had all these different sets stacked up against one another, so crowded, because we shoot on this little warehouse that you'd basically walk from one and you'd be in another. And that is such a dream experience, that I said "Let's use it to our advantage." And I went onto Stage Three, where this is, figured out which things lead to where, and gave us the sequence where Xander goes through all these different sets. And ends up right back in the bedroom."
Dyrla
2024-02-17 21:49:18 +0000 UTCSpike on a swing was the best π€£ And lovely Giles with his Buffy-child π A great episode filled with so many different meanings and interpretations!
Juliette Gaming
2024-02-17 20:53:42 +0000 UTCThe desert area was BEAUTIFUL! It's so nice to see them outdoors and using lovely landscapes!
Juliette Gaming
2024-02-17 20:52:50 +0000 UTCOh wow.... yeah, I bet he was!
Juliette Gaming
2024-02-17 20:52:24 +0000 UTCI used to actually have a few dream books and I'd read up on my dreams every morning! Back when I could remember them! I really did like this episode π₯°
Juliette Gaming
2024-02-17 20:52:13 +0000 UTCYES!! The transitions were AMAZING. I'm still blown away by that!
Juliette Gaming
2024-02-17 20:51:10 +0000 UTCThe scene with Xander was AMAZING. Seamless! It was one of my favourite moments. I don't know how making a show works, so I assume the rooms are all in one place in a set, like Giles' home is just a little square somewhere. Did they then move all the rooms to be next to each other? It is fascinating to me!!
Juliette Gaming
2024-02-17 20:50:47 +0000 UTCYeah, I really think that you could be right! Most dreams ARE bizarre and can make no sense. The only think that COULD be significant in this one might be the first slayer, but of course I've not seen the rest of the show so I wouldn't be sure to say!
Juliette Gaming
2024-02-17 20:49:20 +0000 UTCIs that Spike? On a swing? :-D I love this episode. Nearly all of it has some meaning: most of it is about the psyche or past of our characters, some is about the plot of the first slayer trying to kill them, and a little bit is foreshadowing about what's to come. All of it is great. And I'm impressed at how effortlessly you understood much of it. Willow's dream is filled with imagery about how men and women relate to each other. She sees Riley as silly, Giles as derisive of women (how he ignores Harmony saying "props" but accepts it from Riley), and Tara as very sensual. Xander's dream is about moving on, being left behind, and a fear of becoming like his parents. Every time he's in the basement he's afraid of what's up the stairs, and he refuses to go that way. That - his parents' life - is not the way out. Giles dreams about what could have been: a family. Buffy is his surrogate daughter, as his duties got in the way of having a family of his own. But he also sees Buffy with the mud on her face and realises what's happening - just a tad too late. Buffy's dream is the most interwoven with slayer lore. It's about the slayer being alone, and as such the reason why the first slayer is after them. It's also about the events of the past season: how Riley as a stand-in for the Initiative, wants to dominate the world. Yet when things start to happen, he goes to build a pillow fort. Buffy sees the Initiative - and by extension the patriarchy - as dangerous yet ultimately powerless and silly.
zerofk
2024-02-17 08:45:46 +0000 UTCThe desert scenes were filmed in Vasquez Rocks Natural Park not too far from L.A. A lot of movies and TV shows have filmed there particularly westerns in the 50's and 60's. One other consequence of the spirit of the First Slayer taking offence at the invocation of her power by the Enjoining Spell is that the group will think twice before invoking it again. At least that is what I tell myself each time in the future when it would be useful and they don't use it.
David Schmidt
2024-02-17 05:24:53 +0000 UTCIβve always thought that scene where the man who would become Adam to be kind of sad , he was probably just a soldier who died and was just used in professor Walshβs experiment
Michael Matthews
2024-02-17 04:22:31 +0000 UTCYippee! My favorite episode. Season 4 was all about exploring the ramifications of alienating the core four from each other. So having the finale explore their subconscious thoughts by looking at their dreams fits perfectly imo. What makes this episode my favorite though is the blending of comedy, drama, horror, action, etc. into a single episode. Don't feel bad if you were confused or felt that you missed a lot of what the episode was trying to convey on your first watch. I know for a fact that I have rewatched this episode more than any other and I always find something new to ponder. Also, as with most dream sequences in the Buffyverse, there is a lot of foreshadowing that you can't possibly be expected to pick up on immediately. I could babble about this episode for paragraphs, but half the fun of this episode is discovering the meaning of each dream on your own.
Lime Pie
2024-02-17 02:18:13 +0000 UTCI forgot to mention in my initial comment that I also really like the transitions in this episode. That was incredibly well done. Also, Giles' song is amazing. That's probably my favorite part of the episode. I also love the part where Riley says they should make a fort and Adam says, "I'll get some pillows". LOL Absolutely hilarious. My favorite quote of the whole episode is when Tara says, "You think you know... what you are, what's to come. You haven't even begun. Be back before Dawn." Next up, season 5. Let's go! I'm pumped. :)
Britney
2024-02-16 23:30:15 +0000 UTCRestless is one of my favourite episodes, basically a character study in four parts of our core Scoobies. So many cool moments in this episode that many an essay have been writen about it. Some of my favourites are... The opening scene was expressly writen to get rid of the credits before they get into Willow's dream. The poem Willow is writing on Tara's back is Ode to Aphrodite, a poem about women's love for women, which was writen by Sappho who was born on the island of Lesbos. The characters in each dream are dressed as the dreamer imagines them...Cowboy Riley, Willow dressed like Jenny in Giles's dream. The scene where Xanders runs from room to room was done without cuts as the sets were built back to back allowing him to do so. The band playing behind Giles are Four Star Mary, the real Dingoes Ate my Babies, with show composer Christophe Beck on piano. Incidentally the music for this episode is superb!! And the Cheese Man, well Joss has said in interview that he is meaningless as most things in dreams are! The only thing I can think of is that Willow mentions in The Initiative that Buffy likes cheese. Fantastic episode that only get better every time I watch it. Apologies for the length of this post...it kinda got away from me!
Dyrla
2024-02-16 21:59:04 +0000 UTCI didn't like this episode for the longest time. It took a while to grow on me, but now I do enjoy it and appreciate it for what it is. I think this episode hit the nail on the head with its interpretation of dreams. Dreams really are just like this. They often have a deeper underlying meaning from the subconscious, while also being truly bizarre and not making much sense at the same time. I will say that I think some fans give this episode a little too much credit at times. They often tell reactors "Don't worry, this episode will make much more sense once you've seen the entire show." I disagree. While there are some things in this episode that you will understand more after seeing the show in its entirety, there are also things that are just seemingly random. I mean I have rewatched the show hundreds of times now, and there's still a lot to this episode that just doesn't make sense to me. But again, that goes back to what I mentioned above about dreams and how bizarre they can be. Some reactors have really focused too much on this episode, and as they get through each episode after this one, they're always questioning when this episode is going to tie into the rest of the series and trying to make sense of it. My recommendation is always just to enjoy this episode for what it is for the time being, and then maybe come back to this one after you've finished the show and see if you have any new insights on it.
Britney
2024-02-16 21:51:05 +0000 UTC
