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Buffy 6x08 (Extended) - Tabula Rasa (Patreon)

Published:
2023-03-19 19:00:04
Edited:
2024-07-16 23:01:57
Imported:
2026-06
Tags:

Content

reaction link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/wqo0xuj9p5zwa0w/Buffy%206x08%20-%20The%20Heartbreaking%20Betrayals%20%28AKA%20Tabula%20Rasa%29%20.mp4?dl=0 

i think i definitely delt with this episode VERY WELL!!!!! i mean this is a very chill episode!!! not much happening to make us freak out.......... right? oh my heart hurts with this one ☹️ 

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Comments

Ron Fehr

In regards to your comments early in the video, I'm a little confused about why people may think Dawn is stealing these trinkets. My main thought is that if she's doing this for attention, as I've heard some people say, why is she snatchint the objects secretly? To get attention, I would think people would do things out in the open.

Claire Eyles

I love Tara in this episode, and she absolutely did the right thing by giving Willow an ultimatum and then being prepared to follow through on the consequences when Willow disregarded it. Bear in mind as well that judging by what Tara sung last episode, "I wish I could trust that it was just this once, but I must do what I must; I can't adjust to this disgust, we're done..." the fact that she even gave Willow an ultimatum and a chance to prove herself was a pretty big deal on Tara's part.

Keenan White

GOODBYE TO YOOOOU, GOODBYE TO EVERYTHING THAT I KNEEEW!!!! And with that, I officially welcome you to season six….the season of….PAIN!!!!

Jordan Haddow

I would think shame. They don't do it intentionally to get caught, but they're feeling lost and invisible tends to make people act in self destructive ways. I think it's hidden and subtle as they hope those around them who are supposed to love them will being paying enough attention to notice anyways. They hope they will be noticed and the longer they go unnoticed the more it reinforces their feeling of abandonment. At least that's my opinion. I've known many people that acted out in ways like this and it usually stems from, in my view, something along those lines. It's very similar to cutting, which is unfortunately way too common amongst teen girls. Other similar problems can be pathological lying, bullying, etc. It won't be the only cause, but I think something along those lines are implied as the reason for why Dawn does it. One of the things in this show is how people can become so focused on their own problems they lose touch with those around them. Season 4 had that as a major driving element of the friend dynamic and Buffy certainly can be said to have been distracted this season as well. On a side note, a personal opinion of mine is I overall didn't care for how the writers handled Dawn. This aspect seems legit to me, but in many other aspects I think they kind of dropped the ball with her kind of like they have the whole show with Xander. They never put enough emphasis on how terrible his homelife was to give the fans enough sympathy for him to cover the way he is and has been.

Claire Eyles

Behind the scenes trivia: the cast knew early on that ASH was returning to England to spend time with his family, so that first goodbye scene in Episode 1 took ages to film, because the cast was sad knowing ASH was leaving and kept breaking character & being too genuinely upset.

Girl4Music

Actually I do want to say this…. There’s lots of people that feel it went too far with the addiction storyline and feel that Willow is OOC for it but for me it made perfect sense and I’m glad they went there because internal problems can and do manifest externally when they’re that that concealed. Emotional addiction can turn into physical addiction. The metaphor can become literal. For me it was a very brave choice to go there. And you really gotta love the way Willow’s magic-addicted mind works. Her way of “fixing” the destructive and violating shit she does is to do something even more destructive and violating. I mean observe the last three episodes: ‘All The Way’, ‘Once More, With Feeling’ and ‘Tabula Rasa’ for example: Willow has constant fights with her girlfriend about her abuse of magic. Her way of “fixing” their relationship breaking down because of their constant fighting is to erase her girlfriend’s memories of their fighting about her abuse of magic with magic and then have sex with her while she can’t remember the memories about the recent fight they had that would immediately negate her consent to have sex or any physical intimacy with her at all. Then when that whole incident gets involuntarily exposed, Willow then decides it’s a good idea to erase Tara’s memories about that whole incident and now Tara can’t even remember who the fuck she even is at all. I don’t know about you guys but I would say that’s grounds for a restraining order, never mind just a break up. I mean fuck me, if she carried on any further with that mindset of “magic will fix everything” she’ll probably end up killing the woman out of just being incredibly reckless and careless with her. Oh, Willow… Like sweetie, this method to sweep your addiction under the rug never worked the first time. What makes you think it’ll work this time? Keep crossing this never-ending dangerous road and you’ll get either yourself or someone else seriously fucking hurt. Honestly, every time something difficult or traumatic happens to you or even just something you don’t like, you pull out those magic books. Magic is not gonna fix yours or anyone else’s overwhelmingly hard life darling. It’s gonna be the reason why somebody you love and that loves you loses theirs! Likely your girlfriend. You know the woman you claim to love and care for but can’t seem to stop abusing. She’s literally begging you to sort your extremely toxic shit out or she’ll leave you! I mean she really kinda has to considering you doing the insane immoral shit you’re doing with your beloved magic puts her life in danger! And yours! And everyone’s else’s! Girl, stop or you’re gonna end up the thing you desperately do not want to be. Alone and uncared about! You’re gonna end up wrecking your love life, your friendships and your mental health in one fell swoop m’dear. You really need to quit now ‘cause this addiction is going to ruin your life. But also please don’t because this is juicy 😈

Girl4Music

What takes me out is how Willow and Xander think they’re girlfriend and boyfriend because they have the same last names instead of brother and sister. Like Willow honey… if you had the same last names and it was in the romantic sense, you’d actually be his husband and wife or at least fiancée’s. If you have the same last name you wouldn’t just be simply dating,… would be god damn married/engaged. Weird writing there.

Girl4Music

It just makes more sense to assume they’re actually brother and sister because technically that’s the relationship they have now that the awkward and gross romantic/sexual thing between them is over. 🤢🤮

Claire Eyles

Totally agreed. I've always loved the addiction storyline for Willow, because to me it seemed like such a natural progression of her character arc. Like the signs were there early on, and her becoming addicted to magic wasn't like it was something that just came out of the blue for no apparent reason.

Shaun Houghton

Willow never thinks she has the same surname as Xander. Willow sees the name Harris on the jacket she is wearing, so is able to deduce she is wearing Xander's jacket. The reason she is wearing his jacket is thought to be that they are girlfriend/ boyfriend. Not a bad guess, but still wrong.

Bri

I noticed watching today that the very last thing Buffy as Buffy says before she kisses Spike is her speech in the Magic Box: "Sorry. Everybody's sorry. I know that you guys are just trying to help ... but it's just, it's too much. And, and I, I can't take it any more. (tearful) If you guys ... if you guys understood how it felt ... how it feels. It's like I'm dying, it-" All words in between are Joan's. I think it tells us everything we need to know about why Buffy is doing this with Spike....

Girl4Music

Plus the whole cutting scene with Dawn and the way she reacts in ‘The Body’ to the rumours about her being a cutter and then how her crush says that he understands her. I think you’re on the money here.

Hosman

The woman singing at the Bronze is the legendary Michelle Branch, an amazing singer. I love the part where Giles is sword fighting with the skeleton. The skeleton even does a spin, hilarious.

Khanach

I don't know what all the fuss is about, it's a really funny episode! I don't remember what happens in the last 5 minutes, but I think there's a song, so it must be a happy ending, and lalalalalalal I'm not listening

FLcoasterlover

Always thought it was funny that the shark demon is a loan shark.

Kelly Walker

It’s such a powerful follow-up to OMWF. I can’t think of an episode that so carefully blends the extremely funny with the painfully sad and meaningful. Leading up to the musical, which people knew was coming, so many people preemptively said that obviously the show “jumped the shark” because what a stupid idea that was… how wrong they were as it turned out to be one of the best episodes of the series. But following it up with another one of the strongest episodes of the series was impressive. I’m forever disappointed that they didn’t manufacture a way for Buffy to jump over the loan shark for the irony.

Girl4Music

Oh I’m a right wally. I never even caught on to this at all. Thanks for the explanation 😂

Girl4Music

Elaborate on this a little bit because I’m not quite sure what you mean but I’m very interested to know what you mean. Are you saying the speech is some sort of foreshadowing to her persona as “Joan”?

Girl4Music

Listening to the album version of ‘Goodbye To You’ hits differently now I’ve heard the live recorded version for Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 6. 🎶 And it hurts to want everything and nothing at the same time. I want what’s yours and I want what’s mine. I want you but I’m not giving in this time 🎶 This entire album is a Pop/Rock masterpiece though

Claire Eyles

I really want to reply to your comment, but I have a feeling you might be asked to remove it even with the spoiler warning and scroll down for rest of the text. Next couple of episodes though I'll probably go through my entire history of drug issues and why I think Willow's story arc makes perfect sense and in no way just comes out of nowhere.

Girl4Music

You genuinely don’t need commentary when you have direct quotes. ‘Something Blue’ - WILLOW: “I mean, I'm going through something. I just don't see why he was getting down on me.” BUFFY: “Giles just worries. Spells can be dangerous. It doesn't mean he thinks you're a bad witch. WILLOW: “I am a bad witch.” BUFFY: “No, you're a good witch.” WILLOW: “I'm not kidding anyone. If I had any real power, I could have made Oz stay with me.” BUFFY: “Will, you wouldn't have wanted him to have stayed— WILLOW: “And I didn't have the guts to do the spell on Veruca, and my "I Will It So" spell went nowhere. The only real witch here is fuzzy little Amy. BUFFY: “I think you're being a too hard on yourself.” WILLOW: “She's got access to powers I can't even invoke. I mean, first — she's a perfectly normal girl… *Rat morphs to naked Amy on Willow's bed. Amy smiles excitedly* Then poof — she's a rat. *Amy morphs back into a rat* “I could never do something like that.”

Ariel17

I know you hate to think about Restless, Domi, but just wanted to point out that some details of this episode are callbacks to Restless, specifically Xander’s dream. In his dream he goes to a park and sees Giles and Spike swinging, and Buffy playing in sandbox. In that scene Giles says Spike is like a son to him, and the suit that Spike is wearing is almost identical to the one he wears in this ep. Also, in that dream scene Xander says something like: “always gotta be with moving forward” and Buffy interjects with: “like a shark”. Xander: “like a shark with feet and much less fins” Spike: “and on land!”

Girl4Music

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.

Bri

No, more that Joan is more of a time jump for Buffy. Buffy passed out in the middle of this sentence. Then we get the Joan interlude/jump. When real Buffy returns she doesn't say anything, just runs off. The kiss with Spike is like the end of this sentence. It flows directly from that moment. Her despair.

Ron Fehr

Willow performing the spell brings to mind Something Blue from season four. In both cases, she uses magic in hopes of fixing her emotional problems. And in both cases, the spells backfire.

Ron Fehr

The swordfight scene was used to pay homage to Ray Harryhousen, creator of stop-motion in filmmaking. The scene was a play on a similar swordfight in the classic Jason and the Argonauts, in which one of the swordsmen was a skeleton.

Girl4Music

I said the exact same thing in some previous commentary. Just a lot longer. 👍👌

Ron Fehr

Girl4Music I realize that now. After reading this comment, I scrolled up and saw your earlier comment.

Ray D

I can’t hear this episode title without thinking of Michelle Branch. I wasn’t watching Buffy as it aired but Michelle Branch was huge at this time and this song, Goodbye to You was a pretty big hit on pop radio. I was shocked when I watched the series years later that the show was able to get her. She’s by far the biggest musical act they got for the show. As for the episode, the middle part is one of the funniest episode wrapped in between devastatingly sad beginning and endings. I’m not sure I agree with your assessment that the Buffy/spike kiss at the end is a positive or a good thing. Buffy is severely depressed and seems like she’s giving in to spike because she’s using him to feel something besides the depression. I didn’t think that now is a great time for buffy to be starting anything.

Ron Fehr

I admit that I didn't know about her until this episode (then again, I grew up with 1980s music). But I love this song, and I could tell that this was a major coup for Buffy.

Ron Fehr

With the sad beginning and ending to this episode, it sure needed that humor in the middle. Plus, I loved your surprised response at another Buffy/Spike kiss.

Ron Fehr

Also, by then she already knew that her last name was Rosenberg, as she had already looked at her ID card from UC Sunnydale.

Bud Haven

Yes, I'm asking you to remove it. But if you don't it isn't that big a deal because I will let Domi know not to read your post. I don't know if Domi read any of your posts from last episode as they were waved off. (Not by me.) So please don't do spoilers.

Bud Haven

A second post with spoilers.

Girl4Music

So then you know it’s not a good thing that they’re getting together. I see.

Girl4Music

Totally missed that out too. 🤦‍♀️

Girl4Music

I will remove it. Sorry.

Girl4Music

@claire eyles I’m probably better off posting my commentary to YouTube rather than here since I know Domi will be far enough ahead for the spoilers for this season not to matter. Thing is is I don’t know what’s a spoiler and what isn’t. Not sure how the rules work on that one so I’m going to refrain from posting here from now on just to be safe.

rattusprat

It's a Loan Shark!! Do you get it? Like, a literal Loan Shark!!! What a fun and campy villain. So fitting for such a fun good time happy episode.

Ron Fehr

Amber Benson not being a series regular was her decision I think. She wanted to keep other options open instead of being tied down to one show. Also, she was more than just an actress, interested in other aspects of filmmaking, and so she wanted to be available should an opportunity arise.

madfem

I think you should really rewatch the scenes and try to suss out how Buffy feels just before she kisses Spike in these last two eps... 😬

Ron Fehr

I don't feel like Giles was totally abandoning Buffy. When he left earlier in the season, it was mentioned that he was still available via phone calls. As I see it, that has not changed. He can still help the group, but just not directly.

Marty Beck

I think all the things you say about Giles in this episode are valid and fair. I also think the handling of Giles's approach to Buffy's depression has not aged well. A lot of much-needed attention has been put towards mental health in the past 15-20 years. It is not that the writers were unaware of Buffy's mental health (clearly they were). Rather, they wrote Giles's exit with a Boomer-generation's lack of awareness to it. (Note - this is a new thought that has only just come to me with this rewatch, so I'd gladly take criticism or comments to help flesh it out.)

Girl4Music

I think the same can be said for the attention to rape/sexual assault too. Nowadays we understand it differently to how people likely did when this show’s season was airing. There’s more information about the subject than there ever was back then. So that hasn’t aged well either. You have to watch Buffy understanding that it’s a product of its time to be able to enjoy it thoroughly I’d say because there are a lot of issues that stand out about it when viewing it in today’s social paradigm. As you said - depression, addiction and sexual assault.

Girl4Music

If I can remember correctly, she was also an accomplished singer. Am I right?

Ron Fehr

Yep, judging from her singing in the previous episode.

Raven Dark

LOL Yeah, I feel like with this season, the writers went on some kind of vengeance streak. "We owe you...PAIN!

Girl4Music

Clearly classically trained but not so sure if she was a professional singer or not.

Ron Fehr

During their dispute prior Willow casting the spell, I found myself thinking exactly what Tara said openly. Her comments were just what I would have said to Willow. Also, regarding the last episode, even if Tara had not found out about their previous disagreement, there was still the possibility that it could happen again. While Tara had forgotten about it at the time, her feelings on the matter were still the same. Willow was starting to misuse magic.

Ron Fehr

Who are Buffy and Dawn? Oh, you mean Joan and Umad.

Ron Fehr

One thing that crossed my mind was how Spike, in his amnesiac state, would have reacted had his foes just been human. Would the chip have activated upon hitting them, and if so, how would Spike have reacted to the headache he suddenly got?

ghostofdurruti

Definitely agree re: the way the handling of all of these issue has aged *but* one thing I will say is that I'm not completely convinced that Giles' exit is out-of-character for him. I mean... he *is* a Boomer, after all. He's a smart guy, but that doesn't mean he's perfect; it makes a certain degree of sense that he might have some old-fashioned, incorrect views about how best to deal with someone with depression. It's not that huge a leap to this from his refusal to help Buffy discipline Dawn last season. (In fact, I'd go so far as to say that the time in 3x03 when he low-key manipulated Buffy into admitting that Angel had his soul when she killed him was also kind of in the same vein; he seemed clearly correct in that instance since it actually *did* help her, but it had the same sort of "force her to deal with her problems" reasoning behind it.) For me, the issue isn't so much that it's out-of-character as it feels as though the writers kind of agree with him (or at least regard his perspective as one of several valid ones), whereas a modern audience is more likely to view him as being quite simply in the wrong.

Girl4Music

Ooo that’s a good thought. Considering I interpret the chip as an intention alarm, I doubt it would go off at all because Spike’s intention won’t be to harm anyone. Unless of course he would have to defend himself.

Girl4Music

Then Willow would likely just wipe the slate clean again. She’s, arguably, been doing that to Tara since the beginning of the season since it showed that they seemed to be fighting very frequently about it.

Ron Fehr

I can understand that. Considering what he told Buffy in Fool For Love.

Girl4Music

As I said. Same for the rape/sexual assault incident and the substance abuse/addiction. In this day and age, there’s a lot more people who would watch this show that would absolutely view what Willow did to Tara as rape/sexual assault due to the whole situation with date-rape and roofying and what not.

George Baxter

I agree that Giles has valid reasons for leaving (other than the actor wanting time away). Boomer generation mental health awareness aside, Giles is also BRITISH aka repressed and hard-edged. He's being tough on Buffy but Demi should probably recognise; Giles isnt an actual parent. There's a reason Giles is a single man in his 50's. Remember Ripper?? Beyond that Buffy is wallowing and has been for a while. He sees her potential strength but she's not fighting a lot of her own battles or really growing. It might be the wrong decision but as a human Giles presumably isnt completely defined by his relationship to this group of kids right? Its actually weird that we know nothing about his life back home...

George Baxter

Giles has valid reasons for leaving (other than the actor wanting time away). Boomer generation mental health awareness aside, Giles is also BRITISH aka repressed and hard-edged. He's being tough on Buffy but Demi should probably recognise; Giles isnt an actual parent. There's a reason Giles is a single man in his 50's. Remember Ripper?? Beyond that Buffy is wallowing and has been for a while. He sees her potential strength but she's not fighting a lot of her own battles or really growing. It might be the wrong decision but as a human Giles presumably isnt completely defined by his relationship to this group of kids right? Its actually weird that we know nothing about his life back home... Between Willow's magic and their highly developed research skills he has very little role in Buffy's life aside from bailing her out. Which cant be longterm healthy right?

Loves Bitca

The chip would act the same way. If he hit a human foe, the intent would be to harm them. If the difference were self defense, then it would allow Spike (even knowing he was a vampire) to be able to harm humans in self defense also. If he had absolutely no intent to harm as in by complete accident they got in the way, then if that wouldn't set off the chip, it wouldn't if he knew he was a vampire or not.