Buffy the Vampire Slayer # 7: Restless

Season 4, Episode 22
First Aired May 23, 2000

Season 4 was an interesting year; some fans think it was amazing, others classify it as the worst of the series. The Big Bad was criticized for being uninteresting (I think that's unfair; he was supposed to represent the faceless military/technology, and succeeded) and showing up too late in the season, and it had some of the worst episodes of the series ("Beer Bad" being the prime example). However, it does have some incredible episodes, and it served as a transition of sorts; the three previous years were about high school, the three subsequent seasons would be about life after school, but this year was about college. The core four (Buffy, Xander, Willow, and Giles) suffered from what many high friends go through when they all go to different colleges; they all began leading different lives (Buffy joined the Initiative, Xander entered the job market, Willow started exploring her sexuality, and Giles struggled being unemployed). So it's fitting that the season finale was different than all other season finales, in that, instead of resolving the Big Bad storyline, it was an epilogue to the season that both served as a coda to the season and foreshadowed much of what was to come in Season 5.

Each act of the episode is a different character's dream, exploring his or her fears and feelings about life and their place in the group. In college, Willow flourished, but she still had insecurities about being "outed" as the nerd she was in high school. She also feared being outed as a lesbian to her friends, who she feared wouldn't accept her anymore. Xander fears that his friends are passing him by because of his lowly dead-end jobs. When he meets Giles in his dream, he desperately asks for an explanation, only for Giles to begin speaking French. And worst of all, no matter what he does, or where he goes, he always ends up back in his parents' basement, where he had been living all season. Giles struggles with his fatherly feelings for Buffy and his unemployment. And Buffy tries to figure out what's next and what it means to be the Slayer. Tara acts as a kind of spirit guide, and gives vague hints about what is to come for her ("Be back before Dawn" was one of her lines, and the 730 riddle, which foreshadowed her death, from "Graduation Day" was brought back). Buffy's confrontation with the First Slayer, who said that the Slayer must always be alone, set up the Slayer Lore that would come back in Seasons 5 and 7.

Joss Whedon describes the episode as poetry, and that is certainly the best description. There is little narrative structure, and the bulk of the episode never actually "happens" to the characters. However, that doesn't mean the dreams are insignificant; the viewers are given an insight into the characters' feelings, and the dreams help the characters overcome these fears in the coming years.

Up next: Buffy # 6...