Restless, Episode 22

[Megalita]

I was re-watching Restless today at the request of my boyfriend, who told me that now since we've watched the entire series, I would be able to point out of some foreshadowing and hidden meanings. But I think some of it is a bit too cryptic for me.

So, in Restless, what did you all notice? References to past and previous episodes? In-jokes? Symbolism?

The only blatant thing I saw was that Spike was wearing his suit from Tabula Rosa and Giles said, "Spike's like a son to me," which is also a reference to Tabula Rosa. Oh, and the obvious: the appearance of the First Slayer and the mention of Dawn coming.

 

[TheCheese]

It deals with the issue of a Slayer being always alone, that since there is only one it is inherently lonely, and noone understands. This is dealt with in more depth in season 7. Also, we find out once again that you can never have power without sacrifice. The first slayer, of course, shows up later, and fulfills an important role.

The bed Buffy and Faith made in her dream in Graduation Day Part II features again, a veiled reference to Dawn, as she is mentioned in the first dream, but the bed (circumstances surrounding her arrival such as the destruction of the priesthood which created her?) is all wrong. Another thing, which, according to Tara, is all wrong, is the clock, which says 7:30.

Faith mentions this in the dreams sequence from graduation day pt 2. "Oh yeah. Miles to go. Little Miss Muffet counting down from seven three oh."

Counting down to what? Dawn's arrival, possibly, but I think more likely the following. Buffy dies exactly one year later to the day, (to the minute? At 7:30?) sacrificing herself to save Dawn.

 

[SeeingBlue]

730 was a reference to the number of days Buffy had til she died, exactly 2 years later. In Restless, Tara says the clock's all wrong because she only has 1 year to go by season 4.

 

[Joan the Vampire Slayer]

In Buffy's dream when staring at the bed, she mentions how she and Faith had just made the bed, a reference to "This Year's Girl"

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 - hand).

 

[thevikingsgirl]

Do you think they knew at this point how it would end? I noticed one of the poses Spike strikes during his photo shoot is like he's being crucified, arms out, legs straight, head kind of sideways. And of course, how the series ends, could have been foreshadowing for that.

 

[saturn5]

RESTLESS

The Good;
All of it, pretty damn wonderful. I especially like ASH's impersonation of a panicking theatre director, based on personal experience?

The Bad;
?

Best line;
Cheeseman; "I wear the cheese, it does not wear me"

Women good/men bad;
Dark haired Buffy's rant against Cowboy guy Riley

Jeez!;
The First Slayer scalping Giles

Kinky dinky;
Willow and Tara hooker up! How gorgeous is Joyce in her nightie? What a MILF! I never appreciated it until just this moment. About the weirdest fanfic I ever read concerned Willow having S&M sex with the cheese guy, him melting cheese over her nude body. Joss says that when Buffy rubs the mud over her face the idea was that she was being overwhelmed by her primal Slayer instincts but actually looks like she was having a facial. I'd say it looks more like she's a stripper/porn star (which she plays in Southland Tales) doing her 'tigress in heat' leer? Harmony in her milkmaid outfit is also very cute. The sign at the funfair vamp actually says 'I crack for a buck' but that's not what I thought it said first time I saw it.

Calling Captain Subtext;
ALL OF IT! Especially Willow and Tara in the sexiest scene you never saw but fervently imagined. What's the poem in Greek letters Willow is writing on Tara's back? By Sappho perhaps? (very Xena). And how lovely is Amber, such an unothordox beauty. Xander refers to Willow and Tara 'doing spells'. Hmmmm? Tara also tells Willow she doesn't know everything about her, her supposed demon side.
Check out dark-haired Buffy berating gun toting Riley over the death of Xander and the evil of men. Substitute Warren for Riley, DarkWillow for Buffy and Tara for Xander and you have the end of season 6. Riley has often been compared to Gary Cooper and here he's a cowboy. Of course the irony is that Gary Cooper despite his wholesome image was a notorious womaniser and Riley will go to his vampwhores in season 5. The scene with Adam and Riley and the gun between them also refers to Warren and Tara. Adam challenges Buffy that she has demon essence in her which we'll find in out in 'Get it done'. Riley leaves, Joss already thinking about him going.
Spike's sideshow freak appearance is indicative of his role in later seasons, vampire in love with the Slayer and then vamp with soul, sacrificial lamb in the end. The scenes with Spike and Giles on the swings seem to suggest that Spike will fufill the role of Giles to Buffy once Giles leaves again for the UK, her 'daddy' figure. You wonder what might have happened if Giles had hung around in season 6? Guffy? Their conversation also portends to the Loan Shark from Tabula Rusa (and Angel Season 6) The clock reads 730 which is the same as in Graduation Day pt2, counting down to Dawn and Dawn is the kitten (as she was the cat in Faith and Buffy's dream in GDpt2).
Buffy refers to Xander as big brother, wonderful and loving but not sexual. In fact Buffy is the one girl Xander never thinks about sexually in his dream. He says 'it get's better' and indeed it does for him, he's not left behind by his friends as he fears. Although Xuffers still hold out for something to happen in season 8 (and given Buffy's fantasy in issue 2 maybe they still have a point?). Anya talks about getting back into vengence which she will in seasons 6/7. Xander's dad is not the same actor we meet in season 6, he rather reminds me of an angry version of Willy the snitch.
Buffy refers to being a fireman which portends to 'Once more with feeling'. We see Willow having a fit on a sofa and Buffy saying 'I can fight this thing' portending to Joyce dying on the couch and Buffy's inability to fight a disease despite all her Slayer powers. We later see Joyce entombed in the wall with Buffy leaving her behind to go on with her friends. And her little sis.
Giles tells Buffy 'it's been like this between men and women since the beginning' but she rejects that, she won't play the Shadowmen's/Councils game as we see from her rejection of the First Slayer's values, that the First Slayer is not 'the source of me'. Note the vamp at the funfair is 'Drac'. In Spike's tomb Buffy is gone with Olivia weeping over an empty pram, portending Giles' leaving a Buffy who no longer needs his guidance.

Guantanamo Bay;
Riley and Adam plotting world domination because "We're the goverment baby, it's what we do".

Scoobies to the ER;

Where's Dawn?

Missing scenes;

Apocalypses; 5,
Wheldon Cliches (with kind permission from Boo)

Scoobies in bondage: Xander tied in his confrontation with Snyder (amazingly unless someone can correct me his first time?).
Buffy: 8
Giles: 4
Cordy: 5
Will: 3
Jenny: 1
Angel: 4
Oz: 1
Faith: 3
Joyce: 1
Wes: 1
Xander; 1

Scoobies knocked out:
Buffy: 15
Giles: 10
Cordy: 6
Xander: 8
Will: 5
Jenny: 2
Angel: 6
Oz: 3
Faith: 1
Joyce: 2
Wes: 1
Kills:
Buffy: 79 vamps, 28 demons, 6 monsters, 3 humans, 1 werewolf, 1 spirit warrior & a robot
Giles: 5 vamps, 1 demon
Cordy: 3 vamps, ½ a demon
Will: 4 vamps
Angel: 3 vamps, 1 demon, 1 human
Oz: 3 vamps, 1 zombie
Faith: 16 vamps, 5 demons, 3 humans
Xander: 5 vamps, 2 zombies, ½ a demon, ½ a demon
Anya: ½ a demon
Riley; 12 vamps + 7 demons

Scoobies go evil:
Giles: 1
Cordy: 1
Will: 2
Jenny: 1
Angel: 1
Oz: 1
Joyce: 1
Xander: 2

Alternate scoobies:
Buffy: 6
Giles: 3
Cordy: 1
Will: 2
Jenny: 2
Angel: 3
Oz: 2
Joyce: 2
Xander: 3

Recurring characters killed: 10, no but wonderful to see Snyder back again, Armin Shimmerman giving a terrific performance as a much thinner Colonel Kurtz in Apocalypse Now
Jesse, Flutie, Jenny, Kendra, Larry, Snyder, Professor Walsh, Forrest, McNamara

Total number of scoobies: 7
Giles, Xander, Willow, Buffy, Anya, Tara, Riley

Xander demon magnet: 5
Preying Mantis Lady, Inca Mummy Girl, Drusilla, VampWillow, Anya (arguably Buffy & Faith with their demon essences?)

Scoobies shot:
Giles: 2
Angel: 3
Oz: 4

Notches on Scooby bedpost:
Giles: 2; Joyce & Olivia, possibly Jenny
Cordy: 1?
Buffy: 3; Angel, Parker, Riley
Angel: 1;Buffy
Joyce: 1;Giles, possibly Ted
Oz: 3; Groupie, Willow & Verucca
Faith:2 ;Xander, Riley
Xander: 2; Faith, Anya
Willow: 2;Oz and Tara

Questions and observations;
How lovely to see season 1 Willow again, she's just so cute. In case you didn't know the Bay of Pigs was the ill-fated CIA backed invasion of Castro's Cuba by anti-communist exiles. Will also refers to her experience of stagefright in 'Nightmares'. Once again great to see Oz back, the last appearance of him in the show and for Olivia too. Once again Buffy triumphs because she is the unconventional Slayer, she's more than just the Slayer, she lives in the world too. No matter how many times I watch this I can never tell, is it Tara or Anya in bed telling Buffy she has to wake up?
Asian Joe sitting behind Oz in class, great to see him again. The clip they watch of Apocalypse Now isn't much like the film, sounds more like Hamburger Hill. After hearing Joss commentary I duly looked up Twin Peaks on IMDB and Wiki and it was a supernatural detective show Kyle Machaclan made before Desperate Housewives but I'm still none the wiser as to what the significance of the red curtains is?
Marks out of 10; 10/10, no trouble.

Rumours about season 5;

I heard a load of rumours about plotlines in season 5, more than any other year of the show. In no particular order;
1) Xander would turn out to be Glory or one of the other Hellgods from her dimension, Willow would turn evil and be the one to bleed Dawn
2) Dawn would touch Joyce's corpse at the end of The Body and bring her back to life with her Key powers
3) Faith would be released from jail and end up sacrificing herself to save Buffy in the final battle with Glory
4) Drusilla/Dracula would seduce Buffy who'd then allow herself to be sired. VampBuffy would then be the big bad for the season with Faith leading the Scoobies against her and her undead anti-Scoobies. In the season finale VampBuffy would taste Dawn's blood and be restored to normal by The Key's power.
5) Spike falling in love with Buffy and then siring her because he thinks that's the only way to make her love him. In the end he realises he doesn't love unsouled Buffy so uses magic to turn her back to normal.
6) Buffy and Xander get zapped by some demon and he gets her powers. She has to adapt to being ordinary whilst he revels in being a superhero but starts to lose control which is why the Slayer is always a girl.
7) Xander and Buffy would end up in Caritas singing karoke to get some guidance ('Wind beneath my wings'?)
8) Angel Investigations would show up for the final battle with Glory in Sunnydale along with Riley and Oz.

Now you can see how some of these ideas worked out. Ben rather than Xander is Glory whilst Willow will go evil and threaten Dawn in season 6. Rather than bring Joyce back to life Dawn gives Buffy the will to live in season 6. Faith will be released from jail to hunt Angelus on Angel season 4, Buffy will be the one who sacrifices herself. The Dru-sires-Buffy scenario sounds like a dark- slasher's fantasy but has elements of Buffy-vs-Dracula and Riley and his vampwhores. Dru actually sires Darla instead, Dawn's blood will play a major role in the season 5 finale and Buffy will turn temporarily against her friends in Normal Again. Faith will defeat Angelus by getting him to taste her blood in season 4 of Angel. Spike will fall in love with Buffy but get's his own soul back rather than take her's away. The Xander gets Buffy's powers idea becomes The Replacement, we find out in season 7 why the Slayer is female whilst Riley will return in season 6.

 

[Anya2012]

Dawn would touch Joyce's corpse at the end of The Body and bring her back to life with her Key powers

I wish this had happened!!

They are actually great fic ideas!

Love this episode, especially when Giles sings:

" Xander, don't bleed on my couch I just had it steam cleaned."

 

[MinwaraYana]

Yep, Giles singing is the best part of the episode. 😛 His dream is my favorite, then Buffy's, then Willow's, then Xander's. 🙂

 

[saturn5]

I wish this had happened!!

They are actually great fic ideas!

Love this episode, especially when Giles sings:

" Xander, don't bleed on my couch I just had it steam cleaned."

I don't know, to bring Joyce back so cheaply might have cheapened the power of The Body?

 

[crazysoulless]

Anyone seen laying on a bed or that is about to lay on a bed will die. Tara. Joyce. Anya. Buffy. The Cheese Man is in all four dreams and the “cheese” is “Buffy” and how she relates to each character.

Willow’s dream:

Tara laying down on a bed. Her death in Seeing Red.

“You don’t know everything about me”. Family. The Maclay men forced the women from leaving them by saying they would become demons on their twentieth birthday. It is why Tara sabotaged that spell and then does another spell to try to make the group unaware of the “demon” in her.

“I’ve been here forever.” Retreat. Oz has learned how to hide the darkness inside of him, the werewolf, for a long time. When humanity learns of the paranormal and reviles vampire slayers and Twilight makes an attack on the entire Slayer army Buffy decides to follow Oz’s route of suppression and has everyone flee to Tibet and learn how to be normal girls again and channel the demon spirit back into the Earth.

Buffy with short black hair and a black dress. Very Roxie from Chicago who went to prison for killing her husband and twin sister after catching them having sex. A reference to either Riley having sex with her Slayer Sister Faith (Who Are You) who looked identical to her because of the body swap or Angel disregarding Buffy’s hurt by helping Faith afterwards (Sanctuary), which lead to Faith being in prison for three years. It could also be referencing Buffy’s bitterness over Dawn getting to be with Xander (Retreat). Willow sees Buffy as sexually confident, dominant, and bitter towards romance because she got emotionally burned.

“You're already in character! Oh, I should’ve done that!” Afterlife. Willow is already trying to hide the darkness that is growing in her from her friends and herself . Buffy doesn’t actively try to hide her darkness (depression) until she is ripped out of Heaven.

“Throw them into the sea for all I care”. Tomorrow. Connor locks Angel in a wooden box and traps him in the ocean for months. I liked that happening A LOT more than the idea of Cangel.

“I’m rarely seldom naughty.” Anywhere but Here. Buffy and Faith are shown moments in each other’s life that paint them in a negative light and then they are shown something that hasn’t happened yet and Willow says “I’ve never been naughty here”.

“They want to find you, strip you naked, and eat you alive.” Same time same place. Willow gets paralyzed and has several pieces of her skin stripped and eaten by Gnarl.

“I made a little space for the cheese slices.” Anywhere but Here. Since Buffy is “the cheese” this means that Willow is trying to limit how much Buffy is in her life. Willow has purposely kept her distance from Buffy.

Xander’s dream:

“You don’t need any help with that, right?” Xander had defined his life by his usefulness to Buffy and thinks that he is unable to rescue himself or be someone in his own right.

Joyce about to lay down on a bed. I was made to love you. Anyone that lies down on a bed will die and she ended up dying. It is also interesting that Xander left the group and went upstairs and then saw Joyce dressed all in red. That color can sometimes symbolize death. Buffy was wearing a long-sleeve red shirt in The Body.

Soldiers watching him in the bathroom. Storyteller. Xander calls Buffy at work to tell her that the Slayers in Training keep trying to sneak into the bathroom to watch him shower.

“Spike is like a son to me.” Tabula Rasa. When everyone gets amnesia from Willow’s “tabula rasa” spell Giles and Spike think they are father and son because they are dressed alike and have British accents.

“Like a shark with much less fins.” “And on land.” Tabula Rasa. Spike hides from a loan shark that looks like an actual walking shark on land.

Buffy calling Xander “brother”. It could be referencing Big Brother, as in people that watch your every move on video. Buffy references the government being Big Brother in OOMM. Buffy refers to Xander several times as a Watcher (“I still got my Watcher” “You’re a terrible Watcher” “Yes Sir! Mr. Watcher Sir!”) and would keep track of her on the computer monitors and mini-cams. Since Xander is now dating Dawn (Retreat), he may someday be Buffy’s brother-in-law.

“I’m thinking of getting back into vengeance.” Entropy. After Xander leaves Anya at the altar she decides to become a vengeance demon again.

“These…will not protect you.” Dirty Girls. Since Buffy is “the cheese” this means that Buffy will not be able to protect Xander. In DG Buffy was not able to stop Caleb from gouging out one of Xander’s eyes. In Hells Bells Xander’s nightmare version of his future showed him having ruined his back trying to save Buffy.

Giles’ dream:

Giles tries to hypnotize Buffy with a watch. Buffy says it is old fashioned and Giles says that it is the way that civilization has always been. The Shadow Men and their Watcher descendants always tried to exude power and mental control over women, over Slayers. This ends when they are destroyed (Never Leave Me) and Buffy creates an army of Slayers in charge of their own destiny (Post-Chosen).

“Now look into the light”. Intervention. The Gift. Chosen. The Long Way Home. Buffy’s Spirit Guide told her that she loves with all her heart and that it is blinding and that is why she turns away from it. Buffy’s death could be seen as “looking into the light”. When the amulet started working on Spike he started to brightly glow and Buffy stood next to him, took his hand, and embraced the light with him. Buffy’s dreamspace had black close curtains everywhere and Ethan pulled back one of them to show her one of her dreams and the first thing she saw was a blinding white light. I love that when she concentrates on the watch she laughs. She was happy to die in The Gift, happy to finally open her heart to romantic love in Chosen, happy in her threesome fantasy.

Buffy playing the Dracula game at the fair. Buffy v Dracula. Wolves at the Gate. Buffy meets the real Dracula and stakes him several times and he doesn’t die. Buffy again sees Dracula when he loses his gypsy powers to a Japanese vampire gang and she needs to get them back because they stole her scythe and want to undo the Chosen spell.

“Rupert, go easy on the girl” “It’s my duty. Blood of the lamb and all that.” Giles was very hard on Buffy in S7.

“I’ve hired myself out as an attraction”. Smashed. Storyteller. Beneath You. Spike allows himself to become Buffy’s “sodden sex slave” because he would be happy to take any form of affection and closeness from her. Andrew videotapes everyone for his Buffy Slayer of the Vampire documentary and Spike shows off for the camera. Spike says to Buffy “Bring the wife and kiddies. Come see the show. It’s going to be a circus.”

“I still think Buffy should have killed you”. Lies my parents told me. Giles went behind Buffy’s back to try to have Spike killed and never regretted his actions.

The garden Nome. The trio planted a Nome in Buffy’s front yard and other hidden cameras all around town in order to spy on her every move. “What is that creepy looking thing doing in my yard?”

“Do you know this is your fault?” Spiral. This could be referring to Giles coming up with the Joining spell. Or it could be the fact that Buffy brought Ben (Glory) right to their location because Giles needed medical attention.

“I promised Anya I’d be there for her big day”. Hells Bells. A wedding is often referred to as a bride’s “big day”. Xander left her at the altar.

“I wear the cheese it does not wear me.” No Future for You. Giles did not want to accept that Buffy had outgrown him as her Watcher and that she was his leader. He would keep her in the dark about things that she should be informed about.

Buffy’s dream:

Anya and Buffy both laying down on beds. The Gift. Chosen. They both die but the fact that Buffy gets off of the bed shows that she will be brought back from the dead.

“You have to wake up”. Two to Go. The Long Way Home. Bring On the Night. Willow knocked out Buffy and Anya begged her to wake up. While Buffy was under the sleeping spell the castle was being attacked by zombies. Buffy’s mother tells her in later prophetic dreams that she needs to sleep and then that she has to wake up.

“I’m really not in charge of these things”. Bargaining #2. Buffy had no say in her friends ripping her out of Heaven.

“I need my beauty sleep”. Bring on the night. The long way home. Everyone tells Buffy that she needs to get some sleep but she keeps putting it off because of her responsibilities and then gets nearly beaten to death by the Turak-Han because she was too tired and stressed to be at her best. Amy put Buffy under a “true love Sleeping Beauty” spell.

Clock on nightstand. The Gift. 7:30. Seven hundred and thirty days. Since it was a year after GD#2 she only had half of that left. That is why Tara said the clock was wrong.

“Be back before Dawn.” Buffy V Dracula. Dawn arrived three months after Restless.

The gun on the table. Seeing Red. Warren opens fire on Buffy, wounding her and killing Tara.

“We’re not demons”. Get it Done. The fact that Senya was standing behind her in the same frame implies that it is the Slayer line she is talking about. She finds out in GID that Slayers do have demonic origins.

“Wait! I have weapons.” When Buffy opens the bag it is filled with mud. Her weapons are not swords and axes and stakes and crossbows. It is that primal energy inside of her that she is at this point still afraid to completely tap into. Get It Done. Inside both bags was a way to gain more Slayer power.

The paint on the face. A beautiful Sunset. When Buffy looks at Satsu’s face covered in mud it is reminiscent of her dream. This scene takes place right after Buffy’s first one on one fight with Twilight.

“If that’s the way you want it, Killer. I guess you’re on your own.” Into the Woods. They break up because he felt she acted too much like the Slayer (handling everything herself) around him instead of equal parts Buffy (vulnerable, emotionally available) and Slayer.

Buffy walking through the desert. Intervention. After Buffy’s mother dies she has a Vision Quest in the desert and learns that “death” is her gift and that she needs to learn how to embrace the pain and open her heart fully again.

 

[Jojo3000]

The commentary by Joss Whedon lays out a pretty clear understanding of all the elements that were used in the episode. Each dream represents how that specific character having the dream views his or her life, fears, desires and the people around him or her more than making callbacks or predictions to certain episodes. I think at this point they only knew that Dawn will be season 5.

It's a great episode - I'd say my favourite of the series - but I don't want to overcomplicate the meaning.

 

[crazysoulless]

They knew a lot of things years in advance. Joyce's death. Dawn's arrival. Buffy's death. That Willow would go evil. Tara's death.

It is true though that a lot of the things in Restless that proved to be foreshadowing of later events became that because the writers rewatched that episode and found ways to tie future events to it.

 

[DoughnutHole]

I love restless. Sometimes I credit it as being my favorite episode of the entire series. IMO, it's perfect. From the music to the imagery to the words spoken. It's clever, meaningful, and beautiful. I could watch it over and over again.

 

[ElmoHasAGun]

Something I found interesting about Restless. I found this quote on here:

Vice Magazine: What do you think makes an ideal villain?
Joss Whedon: Perspective. An ideal villain is partially right.

Giles can't remember what those thing you touch and use them in theatre are called. Harmony, the vampire answers with props, Giles says no, Riley, the vampire fighter, also answers with props and Giles says he is right. Why? Joss on the commentary says it's because of men and women, but it plays on a black and white world view that Riley has, that the demons are always wrong and humans and good guys are always right. This very much goes with the was Riley thinks anything that looks a little too funny (green, scaly, horns) is a bad guy and always wrong, but I don't think I've ever seen Giles think that way.

 

[Thursday]

Interesting Whedon quote. He's definitely right. My favorite villians are the ones that have more than one dimension. This quote also made me think of The Initiative, some of the most overlooked villians in the Buffyverse.

Begin ramble/

The whole shades of grey idea is one of the reasons I found the Initiative to be such a unique Big Bad in S4, and it's because they weren't that bad. The Initiative had good intentions and did do some good. Whereas the Scoobies killed evil vampires, The Initiative just defanged them. Maybe they saw it as more humane. Maybe it is more humane. The only reason The Initiative were "evil" is that they worked under a different philosophy than the Scoobies (all demons=bad), and that their philosophy could be used to do evil (Adam), kind of like religious dogma. The Intitiative's "religion" was different than the Scoobies, and although Buffy was interested at first, she realized it wasn't for her. S4 was all about the stereotypical college experience: the freedom, the journey for self-awareness, all of the situations and beliefs you will be challenged with. I think The Initiative did an interesting job of illustrating that.

/OK, end of Food for Thought. Just an idea I'm throwing out there. Back on topic...


Restless in one of my favorite episodes. One of the best aspects of Restless for me is not the foreshadowing of major events, like Joyce's death, but how it shows us where the characters were at the end of S4. In Restless, we get to see where each of the Core Four is at in their lives, what they want, what they fear, and also get a hint of the people they will eventually become.

 

[sylvanscribe]

This was a different episode, and kind of neat, but I am afraid it's not my favorite due to its sheer surreal quality. It did seem kind of anti-climatic as a season closer.

Best quote from Xander: " I think of two girls doing a spell together, and then I do a little spell myself."

 

[Taake]

I love this episode and it's strange dream sequences, my favorite part is the Cheese man though. Always cracks me up 🙂

 

[PrincessBuffy16]

I love this episode and it's strange dream sequences, my favorite part is the Cheese man though. Always cracks me up 🙂

Me too. He's the best 😀

 

[VisionGirl]

I agree with a lot of the foreshadowings, but I thought that it was clear from Joss that the Cheese Guy had no meaning:

"The cheese man means nothing. He is the only thing in the show that means nothing. I needed something like that, something that couldn't be explained, because dreams always have that one element that is just RIDICULOUS. Thus, man of cheese. Plus funny. (to me)"

http://www.buffyguide.com/episodes/restless.shtml#ixzz0zxQzPEXD

And I love Giles' line: "And Xander / help Willow / And try not to bleed on my couch / I've just had it steam-cleaned." And it pans to them, and they're holding up lighters while researching LOL.

 

[VisionGirl]

Another Joss quote:

"I wear the cheese. It does not wear me." Not many people figured out that that was me making fun of a line from 'The Man In The Iron Mask': "I wear the mask, it does not wear me" that Leonardo DiCaprio says.

Transcribed from the DVD audio commentary: http://stormwreath.livejournal.com/69633.html

And I love this:

["You think you know. What's to come, what you are. You haven't even begun."]

The thing that I love, knowing that half the people who saw this episode wouldn't respond to it, was that I was being true to the show. That whatever I wrote, whatever came out, whatever order it came out in, it was something that meant something to me. It was never a game. It was never just me having fun, although I almost never had more fun in my life.