4x22 “Restless”Episode Rating = 9
This is the second of Joss’ ‘Big Four’ episodes; all of which are double-headers when he significantly strays from the show’s template, experimenting with non-traditional narratives (the others being “Hush”; “The Body” and “OMWF”). Fortunately, in each case his gamble pays off, and “Restless”’ decision to tell its story via dreams produces one of the boldest (if not
the boldest) creative statements the show ever made. However, I can easily understand how what’s presented here could polarise reactions, and I can’t really imagine responses to it that aren’t either total raves or wholly negative. For me, the creativity and character insight “Restless” demonstrates guarantee fondness, and I give major kudos to the writers for choosing to finish S4 with what’s close to a post-script instead of going for a traditional, climactic showdown.
What I Liked about “Restless”:In homage of this episode’s structure, I’m going to break from my own formula a little, and discuss this ep dream by dream. However, I’ll make a couple of brief points that aren’t specific to any one Scoob.
- I don’t know why, but the Cheese Man really cracks me up. Maybe it’s just his complete randomness (interrupting the confrontation between Buffy and the First Slayer), but he’s very funny. I think I’ll choose to interpret him as a metaphor for “Buffy” itself – awesome, but made even better by its occasional fromage.
- The camera crew always does a stellar job, but they’re deserving of particular credit here. Many of the sequences are fast and complex, yet superbly filmed (like the amazing roll down the sand dune towards the end), and the editing team combines the disparate footage seamlessly. In an ep like this, keeping an otherworldly tone is crucial, and applause is deserved by all the behind-the-scenes peeps for achieving this.
Willow- As far as character insight goes, this is one of the most astute dreams, effectively conveying Willow’s insecurities about herself, and her resulting scepticism as to why others care for her (Tara and Oz gossiping and looking embarrassed of her, implying that she feels they’d be ashamed to know her ‘real’ self). I liked her first scene with Tara, which was nicely sensual and had the great shot of her opening the curtains to see the desert outside. I also loved the entire ‘drama class’ set-up and the notion that Willow’s college persona is a mask, and it paid excellent homage to both her fear in “Nightmares” and her initial appearance in “Welcome to the Hellmouth”. Of the four dreams, this is obviously the one that had the most in-series pay-off, and it was a fine introduction to the concepts it established.
- I like a lot of the stylistic choices here, such as the inserts (the slow-mo of Miss Kitty playing; and the inexplicably funny cutaways to the bizarre, supposed performance of ‘Death of a Salesman’). Amber Benson does a better job of playing the ominous, prophetic mystic than she does with Tara’s regular self, and the music is appropriately unsettling throughout.
- As a side note, I thought that Riley’s role as generic “cowboy guy” was an interesting commentary on how Willow might perceive him. I think that while she likes him, his behaviour in her dream was hinting that she thinks he got to be Buffy’s boyfriend because he was in the right place at the right time – which is probably close to the truth.
Xander- As the character who’s taken the biggest hit in terms of screen-time during the season, it was gratifying that Xander got the longest sequence here. I felt that his scenes did a brilliant job of representing the struggles he’s facing (commitment and stability with Anya vs playing the field with Joyce and Willow/Tara; his hatred of the basement coupled with a fear of what might happen if he climbs the stairs and abandons its security), and liked that the episode didn’t offer resolutions; instead making his uncertainty the focal point. This is the single best examination of his character we’ve ever had, and it was intelligently written and acted well.
- I love how many of the scenes are composed. Bits like the screen suddenly being saturated with green and Anya/Giles speaking in French were very effective (and a great metaphor as to Xander’s sense of alienation from the others/feeling like he’s not intelligent enough for them), and the rapid transition between sets during the ‘chase’ segment really heightened the sense of confusion and tenseness.
- As for other minor highlights, I liked the simple quirkiness of Joyce’s lines being delivered without her actually speaking, and the subsequent humour moment with Xander going to the bathroom and realising he’s being observed by the Initiative.
- The material in the playground was great – Giles and Spike were funny, and the brief emotional moment between Xander and Buffy (“big brother”) really worked. Their relationship has now progressed into its best stage, and Xander’s far more likeable as a trusted, loyal friend than as the jealous tool he was in high school.
- It was an amazing surprise to see Principal Snyder again, and his dialogue was brilliantly delivered by Armin Shimerman.
Giles- In comparison to the other characters, Giles got the least impressive dream, since most of it simply clarified what we already knew. That said, it was still an interesting exploration of his fatherly tie to Buffy, as well as the personal crossroads he appears to be at. Seemingly keeping with the ‘let’s have Tony Head sing’ theme that’s run through the second half of the season, the “Exposition Song” was fun, and had a great final line (“and try not to bleed on my couch – I just had it steam-cleaned”). It was fitting that Giles played the biggest part in deducing what was going on, and his prompt scalping at the hands of the First Slayer was nicely gory.
Buffy- My personal favourite of the four sections, Buffy’s was the one that posed the most questions and had the most potential for greatness. It was cool to pick up from Faith’s dream in “This Year’s Girl”, and the brief conversation with Tara was intriguing in bringing up both Dawn and ‘730’ – I’m guessing Tara’s statement that it ‘was all wrong’ refers to the fact that it should now be ‘365’?
- I really liked the Initiative scene. Riley is uncharacteristically funny, and it’s cool to finally see what George Hertzberg looks like. In a first for the arc, I thought the brief chat he had with Buffy (stating that he didn’t know what his original name was) was somewhat emotional – it’s easy to forget that Adam was once a person, and it’s sad to think that he could have been deliberately murdered by Walsh et al for use in the 314 project.
- The transition from the science lab to the desert is nicely filmed, and I enjoyed the atmosphere of the sequence. It was interesting to see Tara serve as worldly spirit guide yet again (I wish they’d persisted with this concept into S5 and beyond), and the whole confrontation with the First Slayer was brilliant. The show hasn’t really dealt with what it means to be a Slayer since “Prophecy Girl” and “What’s My Line”, and it was fantastic to see what a bit of ‘pure’ Slayer would look like, as well as witnessing Buffy’s calm repudiation of the ‘no friends!’ claims. It was a great way of showing how unique she is among Slayers, and has the potential to be so much more than an empty killing machine. This is huge, mythical stuff, and I’m glad we got a few more eps on it in S5.
- The ending is intriguing, and that’s not dampened by knowing how sucky Dawn is going to be.
What I Disliked about “Restless”:To be honest, there really wasn’t anything I disliked here. I wasn’t fond of a couple of minor pieces (like the shot of Xander marching, “Apocalypse Now” style), but they’re so trivial as to not matter.
Do I like this episode more or less than the last time I watched it?In my original list of ratings, I gave “Restless” an eight, but I’ve grown to love it even more, and have thus bumped my rating up a point. Stepping back from an emotionally-dominated perspective, I’ve realised the true guts it took to fly in the face of fan expectations and do something totally different for a season finale, and it’s very impressive that the episode managed to be both stylistically innovative and completely in tune with the characters and series mythology. As a whole, “Restless” is definitely one of “Buffy”’s crowning achievements, and in my book that makes it more than worthy of a score of nine out of ten.
Xander dreams about willow and tara, and even buffy's mother, but he also dreams buffy calling him a brother, showing he's given up on her ever seeing him in a romantic way. She's also playing in the sand like a child, but she rejects his offer to protect her, perhaps he considers himself unable to protect even a child? Giles ignores him and gives his attention to spike (talking of a shark on land, and weraing a costume seen in tabula rasa). Xander also has a double life with anya, who considers getting back into vengance (another forshadowing). Later on giles and anya speak french to him, because they know all about the mystical world and he feels like an outsider when they talk about demons. But all his dreams take him back to the basement, he's convinced he'll spend his life living in the basement, and that his father will never understand him.
