Buffy - S4E22

Restless
First Aired: Tuesday May 23, 2000

In this strange season finale, the Scoobies fall into a deep sleep and are stalked by an unknown assailant.

Picking up briefly after the previous episode, Buffy is saying bye to Riley who is going in for a debriefing from the government. As he leaves, Xander, Willow, and Giles all sit down with Buffy to watch some video because they claim that they aren't tired from the spell used to destroy Adam. However, moments after Joyce leaves the room and Xander puts in the first video, they are all asleep. This is where the episode gets weird, as we are transported into the jumbled dreams/nightmares of each of the characters, starting with Willow, going to Xander, then Giles, and finally Buffy. Willow is afraid that she may be acting the part of cool wicca person/lesbian and that people will see right through to what she used to be. Xander is running from his basement where he is currently stuck and hiding from his parents. Giles is worried about how is training or not training Buffy and begins to realize something is terrible wrong. Finally, Buffy is faced with her fears about Riley joining right back up with the government. At the end of each of their dreams, they are accosted by a strange faced-painted warrior who takes Willow's breath, Xander's heart, and Giles' brain. Buffy finally confronts the creature in the desert and it speaks through Tara. The thing tells her that she is the first slayer, her gift is death, and that there should be no friends. Buffy then proceeds to fight her to get control of her body again. She is successful and the others are safe as well. They discuss the dreams as the episode ends.

I can't stress how much I love this episode, especially since I have seen it last because I have gotten into more experimental things, such as David Lynch's movies and Chuck Palahniuk's books. It seems this is either a love it or hate it episode that is a little difficult to "get", but once I did, it was great. The cameos were very good, such as Snyder, Harmony, Oz, and non-killer Adam. The filming and the dialog is spot on for this type of dream sequence episode. This was an odd choice, perhaps, for a final episode of the season, since Buffy had already killed the Big Bad the episode before, but I found it revealing and a great vehicle for the next season.

Score: 5 / 5