Tabula Rasa: Things you wanted to see

To be honest, I want to see Faith in this episode, leading the crew in the sewer while Buffy and Spike went to fight outside. Maybe she'd think she's Dawn big sis(Because they're so alike in S8). 😀 But well, it's already great as it is.
 
Wishing Oceans said:
I think that it would have been fun if Tabula Rasa was based off their secret desires/ fears/ thoughts. 😀
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I think it does it some extent, wishingoceans. Upon waking, Xander is immediately attracted to Willow.

Buffy naming herself 'Joan' is a ironic comparison to Joan of Arc of course (another young girl who was "chosen" to fight) but it's also a hint at the desire Buffy has to be a more "normal" girl. As Dawn points out in regard to her name choice, "I mean it's so 'blah.' Joan?"
I once read this great article on Slayage that talks about the importance and symbolism behind names in Buffy...I'll see if I can find it. The author makes some great points about Buffy choosing to name herself Joan.

And of course, upon realizing Spike was a vampire ("Check the lumpies") he assumes, since he has no desire to bite anyone there, that he must be a "vampire with soul" - which is just classic funny. (an ironic spin on his eventual destiny, but also a funny joke regarding Angel's mission of course).

The episode explores the character's not as they are, but as they could be. What's so great about it is that even though they don't have memories, they still retain certain elements of their personalities. For instance, Anya still loves money and fears bunnies.

Tabula Rasa is Latin for 'blank slate.'

Fun trivia fact: The brown tweed suit that Spike wears in this episode is the same one used in "Restless" for Xander's dream. Giles and Spike assuming they are father and son also echoes Giles's remark that "Spike is like a son to [him]" in the same episode. (Gile's worst nightmare!)

Normally, I wouldn't say this, but check out the Wiki page for this episode. It's filled with interesting tidbits.

And of course, I don't think this episode is overrated. It is my number-one favorite episode, ever of the series. I think its genius.
 
Vigeous
Vigeous
Awesome post on Tabula Rasa :D
I think it would have been funny to see Xander and Tara acting like a couple. If they were about to kiss, and the spell was broken, they woulda been extremely awkward for the rest of the season. It's funny when I think about it.
Also, if Faith was in it, I think it would be funny for her and Buffy to think she and Buffy were sisters, explaining why they're both so strong. And maybe Faith chooses a name for herself, and she sees Buffy's name on a piece of paper, and calls herself that. I like Buffy being Joan, though.
 
Joan the Vampire Slayer said:
I think it does it some extent, wishingoceans. Upon waking, Xander is immediately attracted to Willow.

Buffy naming herself 'Joan' is a ironic comparison to Joan of Arc of course (another young girl who was "chosen" to fight) but it's also a hint at the desire Buffy has to be a more "normal" girl. As Dawn points out in regard to her name choice, "I mean it's so 'blah.' Joan?"
I once read this great article on Slayage that talks about the importance and symbolism behind names in Buffy...I'll see if I can find it. The author makes some great points about Buffy choosing to name herself Joan.

And of course, upon realizing Spike was a vampire ("Check the lumpies") he assumes, since he has no desire to bite anyone there, that he must be a "vampire with soul" - which is just classic funny. (an ironic spin on his eventual destiny, but also a funny joke regarding Angel's mission of course).

The episode explores the character's not as they are, but as they could be. What's so great about it is that even though they don't have memories, they still retain certain elements of their personalities. For instance, Anya still loves money and fears bunnies.

Tabula Rasa is Latin for 'blank slate.'

Fun trivia fact: The brown tweed suit that Spike wears in this episode is the same one used in "Restless" for Xander's dream. Giles and Spike assuming they are father and son also echoes Giles's remark that "Spike is like a son to [him]" in the same episode. (Gile's worst nightmare!)

Normally, I wouldn't say this, but check out the Wiki page for this episode. It's filled with interesting tidbits.

And of course, I don't think this episode is overrated. It is my number-one favorite episode, ever of the series. I think its genius.
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Interesting stuff there. I really like that Joan and Joan of Arc comparison, I had never thought about that!

Excellent post 🙂
 
I think Dawn and Tara should've thought of themselves as sisters. Tara was much more of a big sister to Dawn than Buffy was at this point.

I also would have liked to see Xander/Willow act more couply, hated how it shifted to Willow/Tara.
 
sosa lola said:
I'm not talking about who's better, I'm talking about instinct. As a vampire, Spike would surely have weird urges, be drawn to necks, smell others' blood, hear their heartbeats -what ever is that distinguishes a vampire from a mere human. Angel did have weird thoughts and feelings in Spin the Bottle, sitting next to Cordelia, he had an urge to bite her. Surely, Spike will feel the same sitting next to all these pumbing pulses.
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I didn't say anything about better. I think that having a bigger connection to humanity would make instincts be different. And despite the whole "blank slate" thing, they didn't seem to be totally blank-like the attraction between Willow & Tara, Buffy and Dawn figuring out they were sisters. It seemed to me like they weren't totally disconnected from who they were. Or maybe it had to do with the chip in Spike's head. Or maybe it was just a screw-up, who knows. I liked how they did it though.
 
thevikingsgirl said:
And despite the whole "blank slate" thing, they didn't seem to be totally blank-like the attraction between Willow & Tara, Buffy and Dawn figuring out they were sisters. It seemed to me like they weren't totally disconnected from who they were. Or maybe it had to do with the chip in Spike's head. Or maybe it was just a screw-up, who knows.
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It was played for comedy, but also sent some mixed signals:
- Willow & Tara: born to be gay;
- Buffy & Dawn: blood ties;
- Soulless Spike: tendency to good, this is in total contradiction with the buffyverse because we saw
a) fresh-from the graves vampires with blood lust (ok, maybe Spike had a full pig meal before, but no, I don't think so 'cause he was chased by the shark demon)
b) vampire!Holden said that his natural call was to do evil things
c) the chip prevented Spike to harm humans, that's a tricky one.
If Spike tries to harm somebody and he doesn't know his victim is human he gets a headache. He also willingly accepts the pain that comes with intentional hitting a human (Buffy, Tara, Xander) and he can endure a great deal of torture. So for Spike pain comes from the chip not from harming people. Not harming humans was the natural state of Randy.

For me all these only shows that soulless Spike was on a road of changes and I strongly belief that even without the destructive sex relationship with Buffy, he would go and get a soul just to have a chance to be loved/accepted by her.
 
I would have loved to see Angel pop by for one of his unannounced visits just when Joan was saying, "A vampire with a soul? How lame is THAT?" or, even better, when Spike and Buffy were locked together at the lips at the Bronze, when they couldn't have used the spell as any sort of excuse.
 
Joan the Vampire Slayer said:
How did you know? TB happens to be my all-time favorite Buffy episode, ever. 😉 You can probobly assume that by my name...

Buffy and Spike DID kiss for the first time in this episode - in the end, in The Bronze. 🙂

While they weren't initially attracted to each other in this episode, they did have a connection and a trust that neither could explain. Spike, after he vamps out knows he's a vampire and yet comments on how he doesn't want to bite Buffy. She comments on how she doesn't want to stake him. It's also worth noting that "Randy" is the first person she chooses to have her back and go outside with her to see what's up ("Ready Randy?").

What would I have liked to have seen? Honestly, I think the episode is just perfect as it is.
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Buffy and Spike's first kiss was in "Once More With Feeling" but other than that I agree with you.
 
I would have preferred not to have that song at the end, because the singer's pronounciation (sp?) annoys me, but other than that I love this episode - so much so that I've come out of lurkage to post :whistle:
 
You know in that scene where Giles was sword fighting with the skeleton? I've ALWAYS wished that the skeleton was holding the book, basically saying that Anya had turned herself into a skeleton and was now protecting the book as she said spells and fended off Giles. 😀
 
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