Post by stargazer1682 on Apr 27, 2020 17:29:10 GMT
Just re-watch season 6's Tabula Rasa; and it still remains as one of the rare delightful episodes of season 6, along with Once More with Feeling. I also always associate this as the last good episode of the season until pretty much the last episode or two. Essentially Giles' departure marks the point where the show takes a dive and his returns ushers in a resurgence of quality.
To begin with, this episode really highlights the real issue with Willow and her abuse of magic; which is the fact that she doesn't some type of physical dependency on it - or at least, that's not what they'd setup.
I began to expound more on this and eventually realized that it became a tangent from the episode and more of an exploration of Willow's arc in season 6; so I've moved that to it's own thread.
While the whole idea of the underworld using kittens as some form of currency was pretty lame, you have to give them props for the writers for making a loan shark and actual shark.
The whole thing with Spike thinking he's Giles' son was brilliant. I've had this wild story idea, that's completely unnecessary, but amuses me to no end, that some point before he was sire, William had a dalliance with a woman, who got pregnant, and that child grew up and go married, had kids, etc and so on; until eventually we have Rupert Giles and that unbeknownst to either Spike or Giles, William Pratt (aka Spike) is like, Giles Great-Great-Grandfather. It's completely stupid, but I want it to be canon for some reason.
There are so many different directions they could have taken the story; which is no doubt why they rehashed it a year later on Angel. Overall I can't gripe too much about what they went with for this episode. Giles and Anya thinking they're engaged was also great; and not going to lie, you can't help but wonder what that relationship might have been like in contrast to Xander and Anya.
I'm kind of ambivalent about Willow thinking she and Xander were together; it's a nice little nod to their history, especially her past crush on him, but it really goes nowhere.
I've also thought Buffy and Dawn figuring out they were sisters just based on how they bickered was kind of weak, but mostly a minor criticism. I kind of wish they could have played with the concept a little longer; they don't really get to do much with their lack of knowledge, which I think is unfortunate, because I think there's a lot more fun they could have had with it. Spike realizing he's a vampire was fun, and I can appreciate the joke about him thinking he's a noble vampire with a soul and Buffy/Joan thinking that's lame, even if it was a little cheesy.
I love sans-memory Buffy in this episode though. It really goes to show how far she's come in the previous five years and how much shit has been piled onto her and how that's changed her; she's so much more like she was in the earliest seasons and SMG does an incredible job playing such a contrasting turn. Every time I watch this I can't help but think about how differently she acts without her memory, just the brightness in her voice, her reaction to instinctively slaying a vampire; and I swear, somehow she even looks younger during those scenes, which makes very little sense.
Oddly enough, while I like Tara and Willow (though I'm on the fence whether or not I liked Willow and Oz more); I wasn't really feeling it during their "moment" towards the end of the episode, when Willow is on the ground and Tara trips and falls on top of her. There's supposed to be this spark, and this time around at least I was just like, 'eh...'
I also, for the first time, thought about Tara's role in this episode; and felt bad for her, because she's pushed back into this background position among the rest of the group. She contributed, but while everyone else was immediately assuming some type of connection between one another, she's by herself and the best she gets is Willow's assumed study buddy, but that's it. And come to think of it, it's pretty lousy considering Tara was one of the primary focuses of the spell, even though it ended up blowing up and affecting all of them, it's a shame she didn't have more to do.
I also thought this time around how it seemed like a little bit of a missed opportunity to have some fun with the Spike/Xander dynamic; like if they became buddies in lieu of any memories why they hated each other.
To begin with, this episode really highlights the real issue with Willow and her abuse of magic; which is the fact that she doesn't some type of physical dependency on it - or at least, that's not what they'd setup.
I began to expound more on this and eventually realized that it became a tangent from the episode and more of an exploration of Willow's arc in season 6; so I've moved that to it's own thread.
While the whole idea of the underworld using kittens as some form of currency was pretty lame, you have to give them props for the writers for making a loan shark and actual shark.
The whole thing with Spike thinking he's Giles' son was brilliant. I've had this wild story idea, that's completely unnecessary, but amuses me to no end, that some point before he was sire, William had a dalliance with a woman, who got pregnant, and that child grew up and go married, had kids, etc and so on; until eventually we have Rupert Giles and that unbeknownst to either Spike or Giles, William Pratt (aka Spike) is like, Giles Great-Great-Grandfather. It's completely stupid, but I want it to be canon for some reason.
There are so many different directions they could have taken the story; which is no doubt why they rehashed it a year later on Angel. Overall I can't gripe too much about what they went with for this episode. Giles and Anya thinking they're engaged was also great; and not going to lie, you can't help but wonder what that relationship might have been like in contrast to Xander and Anya.
I'm kind of ambivalent about Willow thinking she and Xander were together; it's a nice little nod to their history, especially her past crush on him, but it really goes nowhere.
I've also thought Buffy and Dawn figuring out they were sisters just based on how they bickered was kind of weak, but mostly a minor criticism. I kind of wish they could have played with the concept a little longer; they don't really get to do much with their lack of knowledge, which I think is unfortunate, because I think there's a lot more fun they could have had with it. Spike realizing he's a vampire was fun, and I can appreciate the joke about him thinking he's a noble vampire with a soul and Buffy/Joan thinking that's lame, even if it was a little cheesy.
I love sans-memory Buffy in this episode though. It really goes to show how far she's come in the previous five years and how much shit has been piled onto her and how that's changed her; she's so much more like she was in the earliest seasons and SMG does an incredible job playing such a contrasting turn. Every time I watch this I can't help but think about how differently she acts without her memory, just the brightness in her voice, her reaction to instinctively slaying a vampire; and I swear, somehow she even looks younger during those scenes, which makes very little sense.
Oddly enough, while I like Tara and Willow (though I'm on the fence whether or not I liked Willow and Oz more); I wasn't really feeling it during their "moment" towards the end of the episode, when Willow is on the ground and Tara trips and falls on top of her. There's supposed to be this spark, and this time around at least I was just like, 'eh...'
I also, for the first time, thought about Tara's role in this episode; and felt bad for her, because she's pushed back into this background position among the rest of the group. She contributed, but while everyone else was immediately assuming some type of connection between one another, she's by herself and the best she gets is Willow's assumed study buddy, but that's it. And come to think of it, it's pretty lousy considering Tara was one of the primary focuses of the spell, even though it ended up blowing up and affecting all of them, it's a shame she didn't have more to do.
I also thought this time around how it seemed like a little bit of a missed opportunity to have some fun with the Spike/Xander dynamic; like if they became buddies in lieu of any memories why they hated each other.