Errr… is this some Zen thing?
I’m confused.
I suppose the interpretation is that the hamsters who write the scripts for Buffy are as tired as the ones who run the SDMB.
Can you re-post whatever was eaten, Scorpio?
Yes, it’s a famous koan: “What is the answer to an unasked question?”
I’ll take a stab at what I assume the question to be, namely what people think of the dreams the gang have under the influence of the first Slayer. Hopefully that is what Scorpio intended. I’ve only seent this episode once and I know I missed a lot, so these will be pretty slim and obvious interpretations.
The force making them dream is hostile, so it isn’t surprising that the dreams they have are tinged with fears and regrets.
Willow. Still sees herself as the uberdork she was in the first few seasons. Her new powers and appearance are a fraud, one that will be exposed for everyone to see. Her new life is just a play she is putting on, her new self just a disguise that isn’t fooling anyone.
Xander. Similar to Willow. Sees himself as a loser. In his dream he keeps winding up back in his basement, symbolic of how nothing in his life is progressing. No matter what adventures he has in his life, he’ll always be stuck where he is. I’d assume the sexual fantasies with Joyce, Tara, and Willow are his real dreams coming through. Or maybe since nothing ever comes of them, his fears that nothing ever will.
Giles. His dream starts out with a very domestic scene, he is at the carnival with a pregnant Olivia, with Buffy acting like a daughter. Maybe regrets that he chose the life of a Watcher instead of having a normal family life? Buffy starts out with a childish innocence, and winds up with the warpaint of the First Slayer. Could be a fear of Giles’ that he is taking this woman who is so full of life and turning her into a killing machine.
Buffy. Fears that she is not human. Adam represents what she might become. He is seen as he once was, a normal human, not the monster that he turns into. Riley talks about how Buffy is alone without her friends, makes a couple of comments about her aggressiveness, and keeps calling her “killer”. The battle with the First Slayer and the fact that the FS is powerless to hurt her is Buffy’s rejection of the first part of the dream. But after she wakes up we see that at least some of the First Slayer’s warnings have taken hold.
The guy with the cheese slices? No clue. Maybe sometimes a guy with cheese is just a guy with cheese.
It has been a while since I saw this episode, but I vaguely remember one scene that seems (looking back) to be a clear example of foreshadowing:
First the camera shows a clock that reads 7:30 (a reference to Graduation Day perhaps?) Then Tara says something to the effect of “You better hurry, dawn is about to come”
Sorry! Yes, cmburns, you guessed my question right. (I named my dog Monty Burns because he’s such a bastard).
It’s just that I remember hearing a quote Joss Whedon where he said the finale would be explained by the events in Season 5. So I’ve re-watched the finale and I kept expecting to go ‘oh, I get it now’ but no.
I should add, I’m in Australia, we’re only halfway through Season 6, please don’t spoil anything for me.
Just things like Tara and Willow discussing her real name, or the whole thing with Spike on the swing. That seems more explained by the current season where Giles has gone and Spike is Watching over her in a sick kind of way. And Willow having to give up her witchiness, reverting back to ‘geeky’ (in her view) Will, like in the dream. (PLEASE - I’ve only seen up to the one where Warren tries to blame a murder on Buffy, don’t spoil anything for me!)
Hmm, perhaps I should not have posted this til Aus gets the rest of Season 6.
Tara says, in Buffy’s dream “Be back before Dawn” aluding to the character Dawn showing up two episodes later.
This comes from the same dream sequence when Faith had shown up earlier in the season. Buffy and Faith make the same bed and Faith says something to the effect of “Little sister’ll be here soon.”
In Gile’s dream, Spike is wearing the exact same outfit he wore in Tabula Rasa.
The cheese guy…I don’t know, maybe the Season Seven Big Bad?
I read somewhere that Joss said that the cheese guy was pointless - just like how some aspects of dreams are meaningless. I can’t find the site where I read it from, but I know it was there!
“I wear the cheese. It does not wear me.”
My interpretation of that brief bit of Xander’s dream, when he is driving the ice cream van, and looks in the back and sees…something very interesting happening, is that he and I think alike :D.
“Sometimes I think about two witches doing a spell together, and then I do a little spell by myself.”
7:30, or seven-three-oh
This is first mentioned at the end of season three, when Buffy is having that dream with Faith. Faith tells her:
Faith: “Oh yeah. - Miles to go - Little Ms. Muffet counting down from 7-3-0.”
Buffy grimaces: “Great. - Riddles.”
Then in Restless:
(Shot of the digital alarm clock next to the bed, showing 7:30 AM.)
BUFFY: (upset) It’s so late.
TARA: Oh … that clock’s completely wrong.
Seven hundred and thirty is the approximate number of days from the first mention of the number to the day that Buffy died (season three finale to season five finale - 365 + 365). It was counting down to her death, which is why the time was wrong in Restless.
It makes sense, because Joss came up with the idea of Buffy’s death in the middle of season three, and had ample time to do some mild foreshadowing.
Discuss.
Um, as far as Xander’s dream, with Spike (out in the day time, no less), says that Giles is training him to be a Watcher…
Well, he spends a good chunk of time in both seasons Five and Six watching over Dawn. I still hold with the theory that maybe in a spin-off show, he’ll end up as Dawn’s Watcher.
What I don’t get is Anya’s statement that “I think I’ve figured out how to steer by gesturing emphatically.”
That’s gotta mean something,, man!!!