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rewatching "restless" to try and gain any understanding of it (buffy 4x22) (Patreon)

Published:
2022-01-17 18:01:01
Edited:
2024-07-12 14:04:19
Imported:
2026-06
Tags:

Content

Hiya friends!! Since Season 5 is slightly delayed and I felt bad, I thought this could be an interesting way to make up for it. I was already planning on rewatching Restless because I knew I missed a lot, and I thought... Why not bring y'all along with me in my thought process? So welcome to Domi's brain... It's a nightmare.

In this episode I'm trying to work on amazing and definetly correct predictions about Season 5 and trying to interpret what these metaphors could mean, so have fun laughing! It is A LOT so please be warned I don't mean most of the things I'm saying, I'm really just spitballing predictions and (OVER)overanalyzing everything to try and get at least 1 thing right... We'll see! 

Files

Buffy The Vampire Slayer 4x22 - The Confusion's Reprise (Restless Rewatch) .mp4

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Comments

Steve Quast

I think it's safe to say, without having watched your video yet, that you're not going to predict season 5. You're just going to have to wait and see lol

Ron Fehr

Hi Domi. I understand your reasoning for waiting to watch the beginning of season 5. It's definitely the right choice. Since I've already watched it before, I assure you that you would not want to wait a whole month for episode two.

Loves Bitca

Always a good rewatch. You can always find new things that were missed even after multiple viewings. Probably be able to figure out the metaphors that define the characters and their dreams. While there is a lot of foreshadowing, you're not going to be able to figure out what is actually foreshadowed until after it happens. And that's not a Domi thing. I haven't seen anyone that was able to predict what would later happen, from this episode, though on rewatches they probably caught the sneaky foreshadowings

ADDButterfly

YAY! This is one of my favorite episodes from the whole series, so a rewatch is great!

Ron Fehr

I enjoyed your little dance during the opening credits, and I'm here to inform you that I've seen other reactors do the same thing. It's impossible not to do it.

Ron Fehr

By the way, I like how you sometimes pause to give comments. I suppose I don't mind because I've already seen all the episodes. On the other hand, it probably would annoy those who are watching Buffy for the first time. This episode not included, since it is a rewatch.

Dave Ford

This is great - have good travels. The only thing I'm going to add is that one thing you didn't mention is the observation that the two women Xander isn't thinking about sexually is Anya and Buffy.

Richard Ashton

As far as the symbolism and themes go in this episode, I just had the DVD commentary on when I watched it for a second time.

Dave Ford

And the bit about Xander not wanting to go to where his friends are - I think you're misreading that. Xander didn't hear that - he just heard incomprehensible gibberish (i.e. French) and, I imagine, is upset because he doesn't understand what is happening.

Nicologik Reacts

I think one of your biggest "problems" with understanding most scenes, is that they are not all forshadowing, like you think. Many of them are also about topics which accured in the past season. Like for example Xander beeing stuck in his cellar, because wherever he goes, it always ends with him in the cellar. It´s something he had to deal with, very much in the past season. Or feeling left behind in terms of the squad. Like Joyce said: "The others have left a while ago". This stands for the big space between him and the squad. They go to college and he doesn´t move forward like them. He feels he is stuck. Also a problem he delt with almost over the whole season.

zerofk

Oooh interesting. Depending on how you go into this you could get a lot more out of it than last time. Let's see how this goes...

Loves Bitca

I have never seen a more perfect need for use of the Charlie Kelly Conspiracy Board meme.

Loves Bitca

I do have to say that I have never looked into the meaning of the play or Movie. I didn't think they represented anything other than just being what they are. A play that Willow knew of, but likely didn't know much about hence the actual play not matching up to her dream, and a Movie that Xander liked, but remembered being better. Now hearing the meaning of them, it does seem they were purposely chosen. Which knowing this show, I should have realized. Though I don't think they are so much foreshadowing, but just representing what is going on here. The Death of a Salesman being about not accepting change in oneself. That goes along with my previous evaluation of Willow's dreams representing her imposter syndrome. Her still seeing herself as the nerdy high school girl, and not believing that she's actually changed (that it's just a costume). And the Apocalypse Now, being about an exploration of self, is I think just pointing out that that is what a lot of the episode is about. Exploring the self of each character. Apocalypse Now doesn't represent part of Xander's Self, but it's just hanging a lamp on the fact that the episode is exploring the character's selves.

Nicologik Reacts

And something else that maybe is interesting, and lies in the past. The ways they get killed has to do with the spell that they did in the finale. Remember the parts they played? The cards that they were given by Willow? Willow- spirit (gets sucked out of her by first slayer), Xander- Heart (heart gets ripped out), Giles-Brain (Head gets cut), Buffy- Hands (Fights with the slayer) Also another fun fact. Their cards also represent their general roles in the squad. :)

Loves Bitca

Me: "You can't OVER-Analyze Restless" Domi: "Hold my White Claw".

Loves Bitca

Given how many predictions Domi makes, she'll have no idea which ones I am referring to, but there were a couple of times that I was listening to her predictions, and was like "Oh my gawd, she's actually onto it" and then she went in a completely different direction. Almost had it.

Dave Ford

Just one more comment on your thoughts: "I hate Riley just called Buffy 'killer'". He did no such thing - remember, this is Buffy's dream. She's literally putting those words into his mouth.

Loves Bitca

And just to be clear, I loved every minute of it. Don't want to appear as though I'm dumping on this.

Loves Bitca

I think you were almost spot on with the Olivia thing. That was an overturn baby pram next to her. I see it as not just romance vs. duty, but a normal life vs. duty. Giles giving up any chance of a life with a wife and kids for duty as a watcher.

Nica Marie

Of all the aspects of Xander's dream you analyzed, the one you skipped was what Snyder said to Xander: "You're a whipping boy, raised by mongrels and set on a sacrificial stone." Pretty much encompasses how Xander feels about himself and his blood family. I'd get deeper into it, but that would take way too long.

Loves Bitca

"She called them THE BOYS" Actually, she said "the guys". Which is usually non gender specific group. The guys would be Willow, Xander and possibly Giles. Who she's trying to find in her dream.

John

IMO "Restless" is the best episode of the series, so I'm happy to watch you watch it again. I always discover something new each time I watch it; this time, your googling summaries of the literary works/movies that were referenced sparked some interesting connections in my mind. Your predictions are always interesting. You aren't right about most of them -- but you aren't totally wrong either, if that makes any sense. Fans often make a big deal about how "Restless" foreshadows storylines and character arcs that will appear in the final three seasons -- and yes, there's a lot of that, for sure -- but "Restless" is also very much a retrospective episode: allowing us a chance to reflect on how much the four main characters have evolved over the course of the first four seasons. I know "Restless," technically, is not the true halfway point of the series, but in terms of themes and character arcs, in my mind it is the spiritual halfway point.

FandomReferenceHere

TPN's theory on that moment is (and I'm heavily paraphrasing) "Xander has just learned about Willow's sexuality, and he's processing New Lesbian Information (TM) through the way he's most familiar engaging with WLW relationships, which is porn." Which is... maybe the nicest possible interpretation of what's going on here with the queerness and the male gaze? XD

FandomReferenceHere

I'm so glad you had fun watching this again! Your face when you realized that Giles is singing All The Exposition was priceless. I also laughed a lot when you were apologizing in your second (?) language for not FULLY understanding a third language!

FandomReferenceHere

Not that we're big on authorial intent around here, but I think you should know that there is a brief mention of The Cheese Man in Joss's DVD commentary for this ep -- if you ever wanted to check that out after you're done with the whole Buffyverse!

loopkill

Haha good attempts, but I don't think it's really possible to really predict anything. Restless is an episode that will make more sense AFTER watching at least season 5, if not the entire series. Here are some non-spoilery things that will hopefully help: - Willow, Xander and Giles all got attacked with what they represented in the conjoining spell in Primeval. Willow got her spirit removed, Xander got his heart removed, and Giles got his mind removed - The dreams focus on both character growth, as well as their fears and insecurities. As Willow matures, she fears the insecure, shy person she used to be (represented by the outfit). Xander fears his that his life is going nowhere while everyone else is moving forward (Anya asking if he knows where he's going/him not being able to understand Giles/Anya). Giles fears that Buffy doesn't need him and that he lacks purpose. Buffy fears that she's isolated from her friends. There's more, but just as some examples - The Cheese Man has no deeper significance--Joss Whedon has said that he represents the random, nonsensical parts of people's dreams - In a similar vein, Buffy wakes up from the dream in mid-sentence because that's how dreams go sometimes. They can end randomly and in anticlimactic ways. So while there's a TON of foreshadowing in this episode, not EVERYTHING is foreshadowing - Also, just a fun detail. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is just referring to the cat, Tara, and her outfit change

madfem

this was super fun!! we love an invested reactor 🥰🥰

FernWithy

I always try to look at something new in "Restless." This time, I'm looking at the various "fake" scenes. The play Willow in is supposed to be "Death of a Salesman" but is actually badly written gibberish about nothing. Xander is supposed to be watching "Apocalypse Now," but again, it's a poorly constructed production with bad acting that isn't related to the actual movie (though some of the shots where Xander is in his dream are direct copies from it). Giles is at the carnival where the hucksters are playing absurd games, and he watches Spike chewing scenery as an attraction and Anya bombing in her comedy act (before he goes on and sings a song that's fairly ridiculous but performed on his part like he's a serious musician). And when Buffy goes to the initiative, she sees Riley and Adam essentially doing a performative take on the role of government as play ("Let's build a fort!"/"I'll get the pillows!"). While all of the supporting characters of each person's dream seem to know what they're doing there, each main person is baffled about his or her role, often asking what they're meant to be doing or realizing that they're doing something they shouldn't be. For Willow, the idea of everyone watching her is consistent with her insecurity--they all watch her (a kind of egotism on her part) but they all disapprove of her (lack of self-esteem). She believes that the cool persona she's picked up in college is a sham, a costume she's wearing and soon everyone she values will see that she's just that same timid nerd she was in episode one, who assumes that, when Buffy comes over, she's going to be told to leave, and she's prepared to do so. Xander is terrified of turning into his family. Giles seems to be looking at his life and seeing everything he's given up for his role as watcher. And Buffy is "too late" for everyone, and sees herself trying to escape her ties, right up until the end. (Though in her case, this is probably a thought planted by the First Slayer, who disapproves of her connections.)

FernWithy

Eep. When you said "He is the cheese," my mind went to a YA novel that was popular when I was a kid called "I Am the Cheese." The novel itself doesn't matter much in context, but the reason it was called that was that there is a song, "The Farmer in the Dell," and it's sort of a chain song, where each person or animal mentioned takes another one--the farmer takes a wife, the wife takes the child, the child takes the dog, the dog takes the cat, the cat takes the mouse, and the mouse takes the cheese. But the point of the title for the book was that "The cheese stands alone"... and the character in the book, after seeking connections throughout, turned out to be utterly alone. Don't know if that has intended meaning with "Restless," but it's an interesting parallel to what the First Slayer says.

Ron Fehr

I hope that when you went to sleep after the rewatch, you didn't dream about the cheese guy. Lol

Mattias Swing

Non-spoliery about not showing the kiss in the back of the ice cream truck... Remember that this first aired back when there had barely been a lesbian kiss on TV before at all - and certainly not in a show for young people! The network certainly had their opinions about showing a lesbian kiss on a SHOW FOR KIDS GOSHDARNIT, but that is not the whole story. In the very few instances where a lesbian kiss had been seen on TV at all, it had always been portrayed like a joke or somesuch - and that episode usually became known as "the lesbian kiss episode". The Buffy writers specifically wanted to portray the Willow/Tara relationship as just that - an actual relationship. Not as a joke, and not as a straight guy's fantasy thing. BtVS was, if I recall correctly, the very first american show to actually portray a lesbian relationship at all. So, since Xander is portrayed as a quite typical teenage boy of the time, it makes sense to have him dream about this - and to have Willow dream about him making jokes about "doing a spell of his own". But that is not the same thing as letting the audience indulge in the same stereotypical fantasy as Xander. Also... Yeah, the network. And also-also - I think it's just much funnier to see Xander's face while he reacts! ;) Sidenote: The above is also somewhat relevant for an earlier episode, the one where Tara says "I am you know. Yours." I've been meaning to say something about that but haven't found the time until now. See, I don't think you youngsters can even begin to understand how big that line was at the time! Take my experience of seeing that for the first time, as an example. I considered myself to be very pro-HBT* - and even I just couldn't BELIEVE they would make a character actually bi/gay. Not until that line. Sure I had seen all the obvious signs. It's not super-subtle in hindsight, right? It's just that it was completely unthinkable at the time. Not even on the map. It was like "yeah, I see the signals and I wish they would, but I wonder where they are REALLY going with this?" Until that line. That was the very first time you could feel reasonably sure that "oh my god, they are really doing this". It was quite literally groundbreaking. I get a little emotional just writing about it... Anyway, keep up the good work! :) * The Q and the I and the A and the + just wasn't a thing back then... We had JUST gotten the T added...)

Ron Fehr

I think I sometimes like rewatches as much as first-time ones. There are interesting comments in both.

The Value of Life

LOLOLOLOL, this was so much fun! I don't think I've ever seen a show over-analyzed to this degree. Don't get me wrong, it was very entertaining, which is why we're all here. Your predictions were great, and occasionally they were even somewhere in the vicinity, but mostly... Domi: I feel like now I have a better idea of season five though. I feel a little bit more convinced that I know what's happening. Dream Tara: You think you know what's to come... You haven't even begun.

Henrik Holst

"and a Movie that Xander liked, but remembered being better" - Also the scene that they are watching that Giles comments on is not at all from Apocalypse Now, its not even a remake of an actual scene. So Xanders remembrance of the actual film comes even more into questioning.

Henrik Holst

Most likely yes, the only image Xander have of a Lesbian most likely comes from porn, which also explains why they as lesbians would ask Xander to join them since that is also a common trope in porn in that they are not true lesbians. A scene like that would not have worked as well today when people are more aware of actual Lesbians, but back in the 90:ies this is spot on.

Henrik Holst

Mile to go little miss Muffet counting down from 730

Dipper

Highly encourage you to rewatch it again after the end of Season 5, and then again after the end of Season 6, and then one last time after the show ends. ;)

Leijette Riopel

Interesting takes on second watching. Agree that this episode is one you really can’t understand much about until later on in the series. Also, I have found I get the most out of it when I remember to focus on each dream or vignette being entirely from that particular character’s perspective, and while there is a lot of foreshadowing, I actually do think this episode is best understood as a reflection of where each of these four main characters finds themselves in their lives at the time they have the dream. It’s actually a very thorough summary of where they have landed at the end of their season 4 arc, and in each dream, the peripheral characters are actually giving voice to the featured character’s thoughts and fears, not their own. Particularly interesting to consider the scene with Riley and Adam in Buffy’s dream when you remember that the way Riley is being portrayed is coming from inside Buffy’s head.

SK Elkins

Yeah, I'm a little confused by the attempt to link this episode to season 5. It's the coda of Season 4, and mainly deals with S4's themes and motifs. So why... Clearly, I'm just not getting something here. I'm guessing that Domi picked up some weird faux-spoiler that led her to believe that this episode was all about foreshadowing. Which is...unfortunate, to be sure, since it seems to be leading her badly astray.

SK Elkins

Watching this is making me wonder if maybe Domi missed that scene somehow? She doesn't seem even to recognize the manus card at all, and seemed a bit confused by Giles referencing the spell. Maybe she didn't even see that scene. I've had that happen on occasion, where somehow I miss an entire scene of something I watch. ETA: Nope, just went to check. The scene was there. Domi didn't comment on it, though, so maybe she just wasn't as caught up in that part of the story - it does happen in between two action scenes both of which she seemed *really* into.

SK Elkins

The first time I watched this episode, fact that the Cheese Man says nothing to Buffy, but waggles his cheese at her on the line 'alone' also reminded me of that line from The Farmer in the Dell, and then "the cheese stands alone" led me to try on re-watch to read all of the Cheese Man's appearances as referring to Buffy. It...sort of works? Willow's been lamenting the loss of easy intimacy and constant companionship between her and Buffy, so in her dream a special place has been set aside for the cheese. Xander often views Buffy as a protector, and in his dream, he is warned that the cheese can no longer protect him. Giles's dream touches on the 'proper' traditional relationships between man/Watcher and woman/Slayer, which in his lived experience with Buffy has become all topsy-turvy, so he gets the question of whether Cheese Man wears the cheese or the cheese wears him... Eh. Like I said, it *does* sort of work. But as much fun as I can have drawing those connections, and as caught up as I can get in that sort of thing, I was ultimately left not feeling fully convinced by it. (Nice to see you around again, btw, Fern - assuming you're the FernWithy I knew on LJ way back when!)

George Baxter

This is my favourite episode of Television period. The way Joss is able to explore all of the main character's subconscious' and the past of the show whilst somehow foreshadowing the biggest twists and themes of later seasons is exceptional. The transitions are so seamless and yet the dialogue is all meaningful non-sequiturs! Yes its exceptionally weird but that's dreaming! Nothing makes sense and yet it tells you so much about these people! For me its a far better depiction of dreams that Inception

George Baxter

BTW I know you've probably moved forward from the Cheese Guy... For me he does represent 'the cheesiness' of the last few seasons of the show. I think Whedon is saying that while the show will become adult, abstract and thematic there will still be room for the fun and cheese going forward. You can't overthink the Cheese Guy

George Baxter

Also, and I know this is insider knowledge rather than show lore, the meaning of Spike 'renting himself out as an attraction' relates more to the popularity of the character. Originally Spike was just another bad guy to be eliminated but the character was so popular Joss Whedon was forced to bring him back again and again. I think this is Whedon venting his frustration, Spike keeps taking the spotlight by being cool but he doesn't quite fit the metaphor of the show. Ultimately I think Spike makes Buffy more interesting but he comes close to derailing things a lot...

Girl4Music

People do the same thing with Xander’s comment about seeing Willow and Tara doing a “spell” makes him do a “spell” by himself in Willow’s dream but forget all about that it is WILLOW’S DREAM.

Girl4Music

“Your predictions are always interesting. You aren't right about most of them -- but you aren't totally wrong either, if that makes any sense.“ Right in the sense that that could have been the truth about the characters and the arcs and it just isn’t explored enough.

Girl4Music

I’m just gonna put this here because I know you’ve already seen and reacted to the episode that this piece of commentary could potentially spoil: I could talk about the episode ‘Restless’ forever really because that’s an episode that will never tire or get old for me. I’ll always find and pick up more from it each time I watch it. It’s absolutely my favourite episode. But I want to talk about something specific. That is Tara’s significance to Willow/Xander/Buffy and her use and representation in their individual dreams. For Willow: a guide for moving forward. For Xander: a sexual fantasy along with Willow. For Buffy: a means of identifying and communicating with the deepest parts of herself. Tara’s significance to Willow would obviously be the most overt as her girlfriend and her soulmate. For Willow, Tara represents a new way forward in life. There’s not really much to explain here as watching the show will reveal to you how significant she is. Tara’s significance to Xander is controversial and nauseating for the audience watching. He can only think of her in regards to her sexual relationship with Willow, making him address his own sexuality in how he perceives women loving women. There’s not much to think about. It doesn’t go any deeper than that. Tara’s significance to Buffy. Well, since ‘Restless’ is full of foreshadowing, it’s easy to see why she is represented as a communication conduit for Buffy in understanding the First Slayer. It parallels with ‘Who Are You’ where she was also the method of exposing the Buffy/Faith body swap. Effectively conveying Buffy’s subtextual relationship to the Dark Slayer too. But it’s more so than that. Tara becomes a confidant to Buffy when she has to address her emotions going through the most tumultuous, scariest and darkest times of her life. Tara’s significance to Buffy is by far the most interesting. And as such - so is her use in Buffy’s dream. It deserves endless discussions because it really isn’t spelled (ha) out for the audience like it is with her significance to Willow and Xander. But that’s another thing I love about the episode ‘Restless’. Tara’s use and representation in it. I have heard from some fans that the character really isn’t all that interesting away from her relationship with Willow. And as such gets neglected quite a lot. And while I do agree that she was abused and neglected... I don’t agree that she’s uninteresting as a stand-alone character. Tara has such a calming and comforting presence and that’s best depicted in the episode ‘The Body’ where she does act as a source of comfort to Willow, Buffy and Xander. This behaviour or quality about Tara is not uninteresting or boring… It’s underappreciated. What ‘Restless’ does is foreshadows the true nature of Tara Maclay. And all it really shows when people refer to her as boring or uninteresting is that they can’t appreciate her.

Idran

"BtVS was, if I recall correctly, the very first american show to actually portray a lesbian relationship at all." Nah, it goes back decades before BtVS. There were one-shot lesbian characters as far back as the early 60s, though they weren't really portrayed positively until the 70s. The first show with a regular character in a lesbian relationship was _HeartBeat_, which ran from March 1988 to March 1989 over 18 episodes. For more well-known characters, you had Carol and Susan on _Friends_ from the pilot in 1994 and getting married on-screen in 1996, and Ellen and Laurie throughout the last season of _Ellen_. Willow and Tara were definitely _big_ for representation, yeah, but they were far from the first. " I considered myself to be very pro-HBT..." ...I'm hoping you mean "pro-LGB" from the footnote, because "HBT" doesn't mean what you think it means. :P ("HBT" is "homophobia/biphobia/transphobia")