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Restless (Buffy episode)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| “Restless” | |
|---|---|
| Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode | |
 |
|
| Episode no. | Season 4 Episode 22 |
| Guest stars | Kristine Sutherland (Joyce) Amber Benson (Tara) Mercedes McNab (Harmony) David Wells (Cheese Man) Michael Harney (Xander's Father) George Hertzberg (Adam) Emma Caulfield (Anya) Seth Green (Oz) Armin Shimerman (Principal Snyder) |
| Written by | Joss Whedon |
| Directed by | Joss Whedon |
| Production no. | 4ABB22 |
| Original airdate | 23 May 2000 |
| Episode chronology | |
| ← Previous | Next → |
| "Primeval" | "Buffy vs. Dracula" |
"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.
Contents |
"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.
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, played by Riley, for some reason, as part of a drama class she signed up for. Willow realizes with increasing uneasiness that she knows neither 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 has the life sucked out of her by The First Slayer in front of the class.
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 (wearing cheesy make-up suitable to porn-film "lesbians") 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 has his heart torn out by the first Slayer who takes the guise of his father.
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, just in time for her to scalp him.
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 coffee makers that think. 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.
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. When Xander's dream includes potentially-erotic action (dream-Joyce, then dream-Willow & Tara, making passes at him), the characters' mouths don't move to match the dialogue.
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. Whedon states in the episode commentary that since almost everything else in the episode has some sort of symbolic significance, he wanted to add an element that was completely meaningless and nonsensical. The Cheese Man appears again briefly in the season seven episode Storyteller.
"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.
- 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
- Seth Green as Daniel 'Oz' Osbourne
- Alyson Hannigan as Willow Rosenberg
- Anthony Stewart Head as Rupert Giles
- James Marsters as Spike
- Mercedes McNab as Harmony Kendall
- Armin Shimerman as Principal Snyder
- Kristine Sutherland as Joyce Summers
- Miss Kitty Fantastico
- 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".
- 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.
- This episode breaks with the pattern of previous seasons by forming a coda rather than a conventional climax of the season's plot. Previous seasons have finished on big explosive two-parters.
- 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, Tara and Oz do not appear in any of the scenes set outside the dreams.
- When Tara speaks to Buffy in her bedroom during her dream, she says "be back before Dawn", a reference to Buffy's sister who is due to arrive at the start of season 5.
- When Buffy cuts Willow into her "normal" clothes in the classroom, they are the same clothes Willow wears in "Welcome to the Hellmouth" and "The Harvest"
- Some of the bizarre transitions in location, where characters suddenly step from one familiar setting to another, reflect the actual layout of the Buffy studio lot, where the Magic Box, The Bronze, UC Sunnydale lecture hall, Sunnydale High School hallways and other locations are all housed in a large converted warehouse.
- Unlike most episodes, "Restless" has no teaser.
- The Scooby Gang's dreams are shown in the same order that they took part in the spell in "Primeval". Each is killed by the First Slayer in a manner reflecting their contribution to the spell (Willow - spirit, Xander - heart, Giles - mind, Buffy - strength).
- Italian title: "Sonni agitati" ("Unquiet slumbers")
- German title: "Jedem sein Albtraum" ("Everyone his (own) nightmare")
- French title: "Cauchemar" ("Nightmare")
"Restless" continues the main themes each characters face during the whole series: Willow's deep-seated social anxiety and her growing relationship with Tara, and her struggle to leave her nerd mindset behind as well as its effect on her relationship(s); 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" (Spike also wears the same suit as in "Tabula Rasa") and Anya's later desire to return to wreaking vengeance.
Through these hints and the exploration of the gang's themes, the episode actually works more as an introduction to the forthcoming season than an actual fallout from what has developed throughout season 4 (that is, not taking in account the characters' evolutions) - the last words of the episode, a voice over from Tara, start Buffy on the next season's quest for her own identity, the quest that in the end will lead her to her (second) death. As such, the episode is a somewhat unusual choice for a season finale.
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".
- 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 |
| L.A., 2000 | A1.12 Expecting |
| L.A., 2000 | Angel graphic novel: Hunting Ground |
| L.A., 2000 | Angel comic: Strange Bedfellows/Love for sale |
| Sunnydale, 2000 | B4.13 The I in Team |
| L.A., 2000 | A1.13 She |
| Sunnydale, 2000 | B4.14 Goodbye Iowa |
| Sunnydale, 2000 | Buffy video game: Wrath of the Darkhul King |
| L.A., 2000 | A1.14 I've Got You Under My Skin |
| Sunnydale, 2000 | B4.15 This Year's Girl |
| L.A., 2000 | A1.15 The Prodigal |
| Sunnydale, 2000 | B4.16 Who Are You |
| L.A., 2000 | A1.16 The Ring |
| Sunnydale, 2000 | Buffy comic: Giles |
| Sunnydale, 2000 | Buffy comic: Jonathan (by Jane Espenson) |
| Sunnydale, 2000 | B4.17 Superstar |
| Sunnydale, L.A., 2000 | Buffy/Angel graphic novel: Past Lives |
| Sunnydale, 2000 | Buffy graphic novel: Out of the Woodwork |
| Sunnydale, 2000 | Buffy book: These Our Actors |
| L.A., 2000 | A1.17 Eternity |
| Sunnydale, 2000 | B4.18 Where the Wild Things Are |
| L.A., 2000 | A1.18 Five By Five |
| Sunnydale, 2000 | B4.19 New Moon Rising |
| L.A., 2000 | A1.19 Sanctuary |
| Sunnydale, 2000 | B4.20 The Yoko Factor |
| L.A., 2000 | A1.20 War Zone |
| Sunnydale, 2000 | B4.21 Primeval |
| L.A., 2000 | A1.21 Blind Date |
| Sunnydale, L.A., 2000 | B4.22 Restless |
| L.A., 2000 | A1.22 To Shanshu in L.A. |
| L.A., 2000 | Angel comic: Cordelia special |
| Sunnydale, L.A., 2000 | Buffy/Angel books: Unseen [Trilogy] |
- Restless at the Internet Movie Database
- BBC episode guide to "Restless"
- BuffyGuide.com episode guide to "Restless"
- T. S. Eliot Comes to Television: Buffy's "Restless" article from Slayage