Restless (Buffy episode)
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"Restless" is the 22nd and last episode of season 4 of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, characterized by bizarre dream settings which illustrate the four main characters' overall themes as well as providing extensive hints about future developments.
Plot synopsis
Summary
"Restless", follows the Scooby Gang's victory over the villain Adam by magically joining in "Primeval". Like many other episodes in the series, its starting point is the unintended side effects of magic: The joining has summoned the essence of the first Slayer, and she is not happy about how Buffy is handling the job.
Buffy, Xander, Willow, and Giles meet at Buffy's to relax with videos, one of them Apocalypse Now. They fall asleep before they even get through the FBI warning and are confronted by the first Slayer in their dreams. Each of the four Scoobies experience vivid dreams.
Willow's dream
The episode begins with Willow painting a Sapphic love poem in Greek on Tara's back; she is then faced with the opening performance of Death of a Salesman, with a cowboy in it for some reason, as part of a drama class she signed up for. Willow realizes with increasing uneasiness that she neither knows her lines nor her role. Buffy then takes Willow to stand in front of her old school class in her nerd clothes from the first season with Xander putting her down for her book review. She is killed by The First Slayer in front of the class.
Xander's dream
In the longest dream, Xander wakes on Buffy's couch to find a bizarrely altered version of Apocalypse Now playing on the television. After excusing himself to use the restroom, he finds himself the object of Joyce's attraction. He then meets Buffy, Giles, and Spike in a playground where Giles tells him that Spike is being trained as a Watcher, switches to an ice-cream truck with Anya where Willow and Tara make a pass at him in the back. Xander comes across Giles, who starts revealing the reason for the dream, but then starts speaking French. A reenactment of the Apocalypse Now scene with Walter Kurtz turned into a discussion between Xander and Principal Snyder follows. Finally, Xander is killed by the first Slayer who takes the guise of his father.Giles' dream
Giles starts out in a family scene with Buffy and his girlfriend Olivia at a fairground. Quicker than the others to understand that something is wrong, he confronts Spike, who is posing for a photo-shoot in his crypt, as to the matter. In The Bronze, he meets Anya failing as a stand-up comedian and Xander and Willow, who warn him of their attacker. He breaks out into song, giving suggestions on how to deal with what hunts them, but when the sound system breaks down, he crawls backstage. He begins to realise his pursuer is the First Slayer, only for her to scalp him.An interesting speculation regards his hypnotizing Buffy. She asks if this is old-fashioned. He replies, "This is how men and woman have behaved since the dawn of time," and she bursts out laughing. This may imply that Giles's feelings for Buffy is more than paternal, fearing rejection due to his age and ways, the scene immediately changes to one where he represses his earlier feelings by playing her father figure. Olivia, his ex, helps him but she is soon crying in the background as Giles wanders off.
Buffy's dream
In the final dream sequence, Buffy is woken by Anya in Buffy & Willow's dorm room, only to switch to her own room at home where she talks to Tara. At the old school, Buffy talks to her mother who lives in the walls, then meets Riley at the Initiative. He has been promoted to Surgeon General and is drawing up plans with the human Adam for world domination through intelligent coffee makers. The three of them are interrupted by a demon attack, and Riley and Adam leave to create a pillow fort for protection. When Buffy finds her weapons bag, the only thing in it is mud, which she smears on her face. Transported to the desert, she finally confronts The First Slayer, who uses Tara's voice. The First Slayer tells Buffy that she cannot have friends and must work alone, which Buffy rejects. The Slayers fight in the desert and then in Buffy's living room next to her dying friends until Buffy realizes that she can stop the fight mentally. The First Slayer vanishes and everybody wakes up when Buffy starts talking about hair care.Special characters and interactions
During the dream phases, the characters are able to communicate with each other to some extent and warn each other. Tara, usually in the background of the group's activities, here acts as sort of a guide in each dream. "I was borrowed," she tells Buffy. However, the most distinctive and probably nonsensical character of "Restless" is the Cheese Man, appearing in all the dreams and offering slices of cheese to the dreamers and then disappearing.Writing and acting
"Restless" is one of the most layered episodes of the whole series, with a wealth of self-references, quotes of things past and hints of future occurrences, as well as literary allusions. While this amount of self-referential content is exactly what has lead to it becoming a favourite among Buffy fans, it also makes "Restless" hard to understand or appreciate for viewers who are not familiar with the characters' themes and the show's nature.Compared with the other two dreams, Xander's seems somewhat long and Giles's somewhat short. Giles, however, is quick to understand what the group is facing and has to be dispatched quickly: We cannot be sure that his claim "I can defeat you with my intellect" is not in fact true. In comparison, Xander's has more hang-ups to deal with and also has no direct confrontation with the First Slayer.
Cast
- Amber Benson as Tara Maclay
- Marc Blucas as Riley Finn
- Nicholas Brendon as Xander Harris
- Emma Caulfield as Anya Jenkins
- Sarah Michelle Gellar as Buffy Summers
- Alyson Hannigan as Willow Rosenberg
- Anthony Stewart Head as Rupert Giles
- James Marsters as Spike
- Seth Green as Daniel 'Oz' Osbourne
- Armin Shimerman as Principal Snyder
- Kristine Sutherland as Joyce Summers
Production details
Music
- Anthony Stewart Head and Four Star Mary - "Giles' Epiphany"
- Christophe Beck - "Restless Suite". - The suite from "Restless" is included on the soundtrack from "Once More, with Feeling".
Quotes and trivia
- Xander: Sometimes I think about two women doing a spell… [beat] …and then I do a spell by myself.
- The Cheese Man re-appears in a dream sequence in season 7, episode 16 "Storyteller".
- The war film the Scooby Gang is watching at the beginning of Xander's dream is not actually Apocalypse Now.
- A translation of the dubbed French heard in Xander's dream can be found [here].
- This episode was chosen to end season four of Buffy because Joss knew his audience expected his season finales to be a big fight between good and evil. He finished up super-nemesis Adam's storyline an episode early and then wrote and directed this episode to shake things up.
- Joss Whedon has stated in interviews that the Cheese Man symbolises nothing, and was simply inserted as an element of the dream that was completely unexplainable
- The episode marks the final appearances of Seth Green and Armin Shimerman on the series
- Spike, Anya and Tara do not appear in any of the scenes set outside the dreams
Continuity
Arc significance
"Restless" continues the main themes each characters face during the whole series: Willow's fear of failure and of coming out about her relationship with Tara, and her struggle to leave her nerd mindset behind; Xander's conflict with his immaturity, dysfunctional family and fear of being left behind in life by his friends; Giles's fatherly relationship with Buffy and current lack of direction in life; and Buffy's continued struggle with the loneliness of the Slayer.Hints are given about each character's future, though in some cases they are not put into context until well into the next season. Tara takes the role of an oracle here, and through her words and other occasions make references to the future, namely:
- Tara telling Buffy to "Be back before dawn" (foreshadowing the appearance of Dawn).
- On the clock in this episode the time is 7:30, where Faith in the last episode of season Three said "Little Ms. Muffet counting down from 7-3-0." and in "Real Me" (Season 5) a crazy man comes up to Dawn and says, "I know you. Curds and whey." The number 7-3-0 is significant as it foreshadows Buffy's death at the end of season 5. When first stated by Faith in the last episode of season 3, it refers to 730 days or 2 years, indicating that something significant will happen in the last episode of season 5.
- Minor references include, in Xander's dream, Giles taking a fatherly relationship with Spike as he would again when they both lost their memories in "Tabula Rasa" and Anya's later desire to return to wreaking vengeance.
The bag from which Buffy removes the mud which she uses on her face is quite similar to the Emergency Kit Buffy receives from Robin Wood in "Get It Done".
Timing
- Stories that take place around the same time in the Buffyverse:
| Location, time (if known) | Buffyverse chronology: January 2000 - Spring 2000 (non-canon = italic) |
|---|---|
| Sunnydale, 2000 | B4.12 A New Man (Buffy episode)>A New Man |
| L.A., 2000 | A1.12 Expecting (Angel episode)>Expecting |
| L.A., 2000 | Angel graphic novel: Hunting Ground (Angel comic)>Hunting Ground |
| L.A., 2000 | Angel comic: Strange Bedfellows (Angel comic)#Angel #10>Strange Bedfellows/Love for sale |
| Sunnydale, 2000 | B4.13 The I in Team (Buffy episode)>The I in Team |
| L.A., 2000 | A1.13 She (Angel episode)>She |
| Sunnydale, 2000 | B4.14 Goodbye Iowa (Buffy episode)>Goodbye Iowa |
| Sunnydale, 2000 | Buffy video game: |
| L.A., 2000 | A1.14 I've Got You Under My Skin (Angel episode)>I've Got You Under My Skin |
| Sunnydale, 2000 | B4.15 This Year's Girl (Buffy episode)>This Year's Girl |
| L.A., 2000 | A1.15 The Prodigal (Angel episode)>The Prodigal |
| Sunnydale, 2000 | B4.16 Who Are You? (Buffy episode)>Who Are You? |
| L.A., 2000 | A1.16 The Ring (Angel episode)>The Ring |
| Sunnydale, 2000 | Buffy comic: Giles (Buffy comic)>Giles |
| Sunnydale, 2000 | Buffy comic: Jonathan (Buffy comic)>Jonathan (by Jane Espenson) |
| Sunnydale, 2000 | B4.17 Superstar (Buffy episode)>Superstar |
| Sunnydale, L.A., 2000 | Buffy/Angel graphic novel: Past Lives (Buffy/Angel comic)>Past Lives |
| Sunnydale, 2000 | Buffy graphic novel: Out of the Woodwork (Buffy comic)>Out of the Woodwork |
| Sunnydale, 2000 | Buffy book: These Our Actors (Buffy novel)>These Our Actors |
| L.A., 2000 | A1.17 Eternity (Angel episode)>Eternity |
| Sunnydale, 2000 | B4.18 Where the Wild Things Are (Buffy episode)>Where the Wild Things Are |
| L.A., 2000 | A1.18 Five By Five (Angel episode)>Five By Five |
| Sunnydale, 2000 | B4.19 New Moon Rising (Buffy episode)>New Moon Rising |
| L.A., 2000 | A1.19 Sanctuary (Angel episode)>Sanctuary |
| Sunnydale, 2000 | B4.20 The Yoko Factor (Buffy episode)>The Yoko Factor |
| L.A., 2000 | A1.20 War Zone (Angel episode)>War Zone |
| Sunnydale, 2000 | B4.21 Primeval (Buffy episode)>Primeval |
| L.A., 2000 | A1.21 Blind Date (Angel episode)>Blind Date |
| Sunnydale, L.A., 2000 | B4.22 Restless (Buffy episode)>Restless |
| L.A., 2000 | A1.22 To Shanshu in L.A. (Angel episode)>To Shanshu in L.A. |
| L.A., 2000 | Angel comic: Strange Bedfellows (Angel comic)#Angel #17>Cordelia special |
| Sunnydale, L.A., 2000 | Buffy/Angel books: Unseen (Buffy/Angel novel)>Unseen [Trilogy] |
External links
- [BBC episode guide to "Restless"]
- [BuffyGuide.com episode guide to "Restless"]
- [T. S. Eliot Comes to Television: Buffy's "Restless"] article from Slayage
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