Discussion of 6.08 "Tabula Rasa" - Aired 11/13/01 (UPN-US)

First of all let me say....Shark head demon ????? I swear they stole that from the Power Rangers!! 🙄 It looked totally lame 🙄
I thought it was pretty funny though, how they all were, just assuming things, like Giles and Anya being together lol and of course Spike is just brilliant lol 😀
But the end is just heart breaking!! :cry: I'm all for Tillow! 🙂
 
Wesley Pryce
Wesley Pryce
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I really do enjoy this episode. It starts off as a very serious episode, dealing with the breakdown of Willow and Tara's relationship, the aftermath of the Scoobies finding out that they'd pulled Buffy out of Heaven and then Giles informing Buffy he was leaving.

Then when everyone looses their memory it takes on a very humorous tone. The fact that Giles and Spike think their related is hillarious! And Giles' ''Welome to the nancy tribe'' comment is too funny. It seems that in everyones subconscious there was a little bit of themselves that emerges. You can totally see the connection between Willow and Tara and when Anya finds out Giles is leaving for England and she thinks he's leaving her, she hits him over the head and says she feels like doing vengence on him. I think its quite telling that Anya and Xander have no connection what so ever once they loose their memory, there seems to be no attraction at all.

Its a really great episode in my opinion.
 
I really enjoyed this ! A typical Btvs episode that mixes serious issues and fun.
As Jules said, everyone's personality emerges: Willow and Tara are attracted to each other, Anya loves money (^^) , and interesting thing, Spike doesn't realize he's a soulless vammpire. It was also great to see Buffy be all peppy, although it makes it worse when she got her memory back. As usual, the Spike/Buffy scenes were great , with a wonderful kiss in the end. Also loved all the Restless references with Shark, the suit, Spike/Giles...
 
AnthonyCordova
AnthonyCordova
I didn't notice the Restless references until I read your post. Interesting!
This is probably my favorite Buffy episode ever! I'ts hilarious - so well written - gives every character a chance to justify themselves and their purpose on the show. But its also very serious - like a sock to the gut at the end. So many important things happen in this episode without being preachy or sappy.
 
I haven't rewatched this yet, still rewatching season 4, but this one of my favourites.

I love how even though Anya has forgotten who she is, she hasn't forgotten she's afraid of bunnies.
 
AnthonyCordova
AnthonyCordova
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PassionBecoming said:
This episode is brilliant, as it is both one of the funniest and most depressing ones of the series for me.

-I love the loan shark demon. Taking a human parallel and making it literal worked pretty well in this instance.
-Giles telling Buffy he is leaving was awful to watch. I see his point, but ugh.
-I feel like a broken record, but frickin' Willow and her spells!! I don't know why she thinks she doesn't have to go through life dealing with situations and feelings like everyone else. Once again, she put her friends in danger by acting incredibly selfish.
-Anya and Giles being engaged is my favorite!! Anya making bunnies and mocking Giles for his British-isms, Giles telling her he's leaving, and I LOVE Giles sword fighting with the skeleton! And afterwards them both frantically cleaning. HILARIOUS!
"I'm on a mission of redemption. I help the helpless...." "A vampire with a soul? How lame is that?!" OH, the irony of it all. And yet, it works and is funny.
-When Buffy and Spike are fighting the vamps and the spell is broken, this speaks volumes to what Buffy is going through IMO: Buffy gets reoriented, then gets punched in the face.
-The scene of Tara packing up her things, looking around, and Dawn pulling away from her makes me so sad. Breaking up is so hard, then on top of it, Tara has to leave the only people she can consider family in the world.
-Willow crying didn't even make me feel bad.
-Giles' face on the airplane....great acting, ASH. 🙁
-Another great scene with no words: Buffy sitting alone at the bar at the Bronze, Spike walking in to check on her, and Buffy quickly looking away, trying not to cry. Obviously, she's overwhelmed in general about being living again, then Giles leaves, and the only person she can relate to or feel anything with is Spike, who she has always disliked/hated/been disgusted with. The saying "not what I wanted, but what I needed" comes to mind for me with these two. Buffy needed an outlet, and she turned to Spike to use him because she knew he was a safe bet and was the only one around her not causing hurt at the moment.
-The Michelle Branch song always kills me; this end scene sticks with me always because of it. I have always related to the song in regards to the ending of a relationship of mine, so whenever I hear it, I feel those feelings again - and then think of this episode.

---------- Post added at 02:53 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:41 PM ----------

I had a wardrobe thought for this ep, too:

In the beginning patrol scene, Buffy is wearing yet another pair of leather pants. Not a bad thing, but she must have a membership to Dead Cows R' Us. 🙂

Ok, the thing that bothered me was: What Slayer where's a knee-length WHITE jacket to go patrol? Really. Impractical much?
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You summed up what I love about this episode so much better than I did/could
Interesting thought: Buffy getting reoriented then getting punched in the face - never thought of that! It makes so much sense.
And B wearing white - lmao!
That Michelle Branch song at the end is just devastating! Every time I hear it I think of a passed relationship AND this scene - The tragedy of it is so poetic.
I have to say it again- LOVE this episode!
 
This episode was really good, but sad. Seeing Tara and Giles leave was just painful. Maybe it's just me, but in the close up of Willow crying at the end when Tara is packing, am I the only one who thought she suddenly looked way older?
 
PassionBecoming
PassionBecoming
I can totally see that, too! Her face seems aged or something. Must be the lighting! :P Aly's crying scenes are always killer.
Spikefan31 said:
I'm sorry, but I think this episode is a little overrated. To be honest, I prefer the Angel amnesia episode, Spin the Bottle or whatever it's called. Although, it's been a while since I watched Tabula Rasa, so maybe I should re-watch it.
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"Spin The Bottle" was supposed to be the counterpart to "Something Blue," with each story involving a spell gone wrong with relatively harmless consequences, mostly played for its comedic elements. "Tabula Rasa," though it did also a spell gone wrong and also contained some funny scenes, was darker, more serious, depicting the intentional attempt to manipulate another person's memories, more like what Angel did to basically everyone to all of his friends in the Season 4 finale episode, "Home." While both "Something Blue" and "Spin The Bottle" were relatively light hearted, stories about spells going wrong, "Tabula Rasa" and "Home" were about the consequences (never ever good) of trying to manipulate others' memories with the excuse that "It's all for the greater good," when in reality, it's simple mind rape, nothing less.
 
There aren´t many episodes I like in Season 6, but this one is definitely on my like list. Loved all the Spike -Giles interactions in this episode, and Spike´s yell when he fell of the counter 😀 Anya and Giles I loved. I always wished they would have explored them more.
Didn´t feel too sorry for Willow though (too annoyed by her arrogance in season 6 I guess).

But the end of the episode was sad 🙁
 
So it is very clear that nothing is going right for anyone on the show at this point. It all came out in OMWF, and now it's escalated in this episode. This is by far, one of the saddest episodes. Buffy is now totally lost and can no longer even pretend that she isn't. Willow has messed up big time and probably doesn't even realise how much she's hurt Tara. Giles has had to, once again, leave everything behind, including not only Buffy but Dawn as well. Xander and Anya, much as they try and hide them, do have their own problems. That just leaves Spike, who I'm sure is more than happy to be taking advantage of Buffy.
 
AnthonyCordova
AnthonyCordova
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Oh no, I'm turning into a Spuffy shipper! S**t. I've become a believer (and I was skeptical at first). I'm liking the love/hate thing Buffy has for Spike. I wonder what that's all about. It probably has to do with the fact that he's the only solid rock in her life right now. Like PassionBecoming said, "not what I wanted, but what I needed" seems to really apply to Buffy's feelings about Spike. Still, I wonder if there is something more to it...

This episode was amazing. Season 6 is really looking up. I like the relationship drama of this season a lot, and it was intensified this episode.

There were so many funny moments, it would be futile to list all of them. But I really liked shark guy, and how he wanted to collect his payment...of kittens. Lol, what's with it with kittens?

And I have to say Dawn is no worse so far this season than in season 5. (I like Dawn a lot btw.) People say that the scoobie characters don't get developed or get lost or something, but I just don't agree. I see a lot of development of these characters. Maybe not in a way that is to everyone's liking, but I for one like seeing characters go through hard times and periods of crisis and soul-searching. Dawn doesn't have a purpose? Maybe not like season 5, but she's found a comfortable place for herself among everyone else. She's not the focus anymore, but that's fine. She's not detracting from anything. And she's a nice counterbalance to everyone else who is going through rough relationship times. It's nice to have someone who isn't, just to balance things out.
 
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Blaze
Blaze
Yes!! Agree x100, there's a reason s6 is my favourite
Charmander
Charmander
I love Dawn too, I think she's great in both S5 and 6.
Shark demon goes straight on to the goofy list. I like the idea of a mobster demon though, but the design could have been better.

Someone brought up an interesting point that Xander and Anya had virtually no interaction, let alone attraction. On the other hand it's funny how Giles and Anya did, and I love his smile when she calls him ruggedly handsome. Anya and Giles really make this episode humour-wise.

It has a very powerful ending with the unspoken words as Tara leaves the house, and how even Willow can't defend her actions any more.

And though I'm glad none of the vampires were pretty boys, I've always hated Spike's vamp face. 🙁
 
Just rewatched and still cringe so hard at the song at the end and all of the end scenes.
 
Spikefan31 said:
I'm sorry, but I think this episode is a little overrated. To be honest, I prefer the Angel amnesia episode, Spin the Bottle or whatever it's called. Although, it's been a while since I watched Tabula Rasa, so maybe I should re-watch it.
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Seconded. The best part about this episode was Rupert/Enya/Randy. That's it. Everything else was a disappointment. I actually prefer Angel struggling with his desire to bite necks over Spike's "noble" vampire stuff. Spin the Bottle dealt with a vampire in amnesia far more realistically.
 
Horny Giles, just for the lulz:
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I'm surprised Buffy didn't take shark demon up on his offer for freelance work especially when money became tight. She would've gotten paid and earned money for basically going out and doing what she was doing each night.
 
I loved this episode. Definitely in my top 5. The Joan/Rany dynamic was great as was how subconsciously they were who they were with a memory and the foreshadowing was there the whole time. So much about this I liked. Giles is great as usual and all those bunnies 🙂. The Spuffy kiss is one of their best and perfect song choice for all the heartache and goodbyes. But come on Randy Giles that's classic.
 
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