I live in the action of death.
Now that I got to rewatch it, here's some things I love about Restless:
- Putting aside the symbolism and foreshadowyness, I love how it feels like a dream. I've always had intense, vivid dreams that I usually remember for days with no problem. And, inevitably, fictional depictions of dreams never quite seem dreamlike. They're missing something. Restless has it, though. The strange, disconnectedness that somehow makes sense when you're in the midst of it.
Buffy telling Xander that the popcorn flavor is "new car smell". This is not weird to him. Giles' couch being in the middle of the Bronze. The crazy colored lighting when Giles and Anya start speaking in French to Xander.
Then you get the typical dream situations, like the strange scene-to-scene wandering. Buffy not being able to shout (though usually in my dreams my legs don't work). Or even when Xander's driving the ice cream truck, it feels much like driving does in dreams. Hell, I'm sure I've steered by gesturing emphatically in my dreams, too.
A lot of this is the direction. The strange camera angles, the unusual framing and odd cuts. It's meant to disorient. Some of it is just the writing, which is spot on for dreams. And, then, obviously a lot is the acting. Because Buffy actors rock.
Everything's so off and unsettling. It just feels right for a dream.
- Now bringing back in the symbolism and such, I love that every, every shot of every scene is just laden with meaningful imagery and dialogue. It's so dense and so multi-faceted.
- Miss Kitty Fantastico and the Slow Walk of DOOM!!!
- I adore the bits of the play in Willow's dream. So surreal with the audience coughing and such in the background.
- And the best use of the Initiative ever in Xander's bathroom mishap.
- One of my favorite scenes is actually the swing set scene in Xander's dream. Buffy in the sandbox, and the long, long hold on the two of them with the gorgeous music in the background. That, and this part:
Xander: Buffy, are you sure you want to play there? Pretty big sandbox.
Buffy: I'm okay. It's not coming for me yet.
Xander: I just mean...you can't protect yourself from some stuff.
Buffy: I'm way ahead of you, big brother.
Xander: Brother?
What better demonstration for my Just a Girl post? Xander dreaming of Buffy in a toddler-like state, playing in a sandbox that is too big for her and worried that she can't handle herself. And Buffy, wonderful Buffy, reminding him that she's ahead of him. That, yeah, it's a big-ass sandbox, but she can protect herself.
Hint: The sandbox is the world.
Oh, obviously, it also cements their relationship now as a sibling dynamic rather than the previous hopeful romantic one they had in the early seasons.
Love it!
- Snyder! Okay, I've never seen Apocalypse Now (I typically don't watch war movies), so the homage goes right past me. But I do know he's awesome in that scene.
- Giles' dream...I just adore everything. Everything! The beginning with the watch. Giles trying to indoctrinate Buffy with old-fashioned Council ideals, not just about demons but about men and women. And Buffy laughing at it. Then her shifting in role to his daughter, out at the fair, wanting treats for Slaying. Until Giles sees her in the primal make-up and remembers who (or what) she really is. The Slayer.
And, of course, Spike posing. That thrills me to no end.
And Giles singing! Singing exposition! So absolutely perfect.
- Buffy's dream, though, I still think is my favorite. With the false awakenings (which can be the most frightening thing in the world) and the uber-foreshadowyness.
I also love that Buffy's dream shows her as not quite right about things. About how she keeps ignoring her duty (getting her beauty sleep instead of helping Anya, looking for her friends instead of helping her mother), and how she's unwilling to face the source of her powers. How she outright rejects the First Slayer at the end...and that's not really the best thing for her to do.
Oh, and I love the scene with Riley and Human Adam. I think I like Human Adam more than Demon Adam. Especially this exchange:
Riley: Buffy, we've got important work here. A lot of filing and giving things names.
Buffy: What was yours?
Adam: Before Adam? Not a man among us can remember.
It's what Buffy's frightened of. Take away the demon, then what exists? If the source of her power is something demonic, then how could anyone care about Buffy, the person?
Adam's deliberate use of gendered language is also fascinating for many different reasons: Possibly because it reveals his own bias. And, more interestingly, because it implies that women can remember. It's drawing a gendered parallel between Adam as a demon and the Slayers as demons.
Oh, and the desert scene. One of my favorite scenes. The entire thing. The music is just absolutely gorgeous. The imagery. The direction. The fight scene. Buffy's speech that I know gets quoted a lot, but it should because it's just that awesome.
Buffy: I walk. I talk. I shop. I sneeze. I'm gonna be a fireman when the floods roll back. There's trees in the desert since you moved out, and I don't sleep on a bed of bones.
That's my girl.
- I'd be remiss if I didn't point out the one thing I don't like about the episode, and that's the POC as the snarling, menacing savage figure. It's very icky, especially considering the overwhelming whiteness of the rest of the show.
- Putting aside the symbolism and foreshadowyness, I love how it feels like a dream. I've always had intense, vivid dreams that I usually remember for days with no problem. And, inevitably, fictional depictions of dreams never quite seem dreamlike. They're missing something. Restless has it, though. The strange, disconnectedness that somehow makes sense when you're in the midst of it.
Buffy telling Xander that the popcorn flavor is "new car smell". This is not weird to him. Giles' couch being in the middle of the Bronze. The crazy colored lighting when Giles and Anya start speaking in French to Xander.
Then you get the typical dream situations, like the strange scene-to-scene wandering. Buffy not being able to shout (though usually in my dreams my legs don't work). Or even when Xander's driving the ice cream truck, it feels much like driving does in dreams. Hell, I'm sure I've steered by gesturing emphatically in my dreams, too.
A lot of this is the direction. The strange camera angles, the unusual framing and odd cuts. It's meant to disorient. Some of it is just the writing, which is spot on for dreams. And, then, obviously a lot is the acting. Because Buffy actors rock.
Everything's so off and unsettling. It just feels right for a dream.
- Now bringing back in the symbolism and such, I love that every, every shot of every scene is just laden with meaningful imagery and dialogue. It's so dense and so multi-faceted.
- Miss Kitty Fantastico and the Slow Walk of DOOM!!!
- I adore the bits of the play in Willow's dream. So surreal with the audience coughing and such in the background.
- And the best use of the Initiative ever in Xander's bathroom mishap.
- One of my favorite scenes is actually the swing set scene in Xander's dream. Buffy in the sandbox, and the long, long hold on the two of them with the gorgeous music in the background. That, and this part:
Xander: Buffy, are you sure you want to play there? Pretty big sandbox.
Buffy: I'm okay. It's not coming for me yet.
Xander: I just mean...you can't protect yourself from some stuff.
Buffy: I'm way ahead of you, big brother.
Xander: Brother?
What better demonstration for my Just a Girl post? Xander dreaming of Buffy in a toddler-like state, playing in a sandbox that is too big for her and worried that she can't handle herself. And Buffy, wonderful Buffy, reminding him that she's ahead of him. That, yeah, it's a big-ass sandbox, but she can protect herself.
Hint: The sandbox is the world.
Oh, obviously, it also cements their relationship now as a sibling dynamic rather than the previous hopeful romantic one they had in the early seasons.
Love it!
- Snyder! Okay, I've never seen Apocalypse Now (I typically don't watch war movies), so the homage goes right past me. But I do know he's awesome in that scene.
- Giles' dream...I just adore everything. Everything! The beginning with the watch. Giles trying to indoctrinate Buffy with old-fashioned Council ideals, not just about demons but about men and women. And Buffy laughing at it. Then her shifting in role to his daughter, out at the fair, wanting treats for Slaying. Until Giles sees her in the primal make-up and remembers who (or what) she really is. The Slayer.
And, of course, Spike posing. That thrills me to no end.
And Giles singing! Singing exposition! So absolutely perfect.
- Buffy's dream, though, I still think is my favorite. With the false awakenings (which can be the most frightening thing in the world) and the uber-foreshadowyness.
I also love that Buffy's dream shows her as not quite right about things. About how she keeps ignoring her duty (getting her beauty sleep instead of helping Anya, looking for her friends instead of helping her mother), and how she's unwilling to face the source of her powers. How she outright rejects the First Slayer at the end...and that's not really the best thing for her to do.
Oh, and I love the scene with Riley and Human Adam. I think I like Human Adam more than Demon Adam. Especially this exchange:
Riley: Buffy, we've got important work here. A lot of filing and giving things names.
Buffy: What was yours?
Adam: Before Adam? Not a man among us can remember.
It's what Buffy's frightened of. Take away the demon, then what exists? If the source of her power is something demonic, then how could anyone care about Buffy, the person?
Adam's deliberate use of gendered language is also fascinating for many different reasons: Possibly because it reveals his own bias. And, more interestingly, because it implies that women can remember. It's drawing a gendered parallel between Adam as a demon and the Slayers as demons.
Oh, and the desert scene. One of my favorite scenes. The entire thing. The music is just absolutely gorgeous. The imagery. The direction. The fight scene. Buffy's speech that I know gets quoted a lot, but it should because it's just that awesome.
Buffy: I walk. I talk. I shop. I sneeze. I'm gonna be a fireman when the floods roll back. There's trees in the desert since you moved out, and I don't sleep on a bed of bones.
That's my girl.
- I'd be remiss if I didn't point out the one thing I don't like about the episode, and that's the POC as the snarling, menacing savage figure. It's very icky, especially considering the overwhelming whiteness of the rest of the show.