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Bro I spat all over my screen when Suraj was like "That looks like Michelle Branch" XD

"Time, Time, Time is what turns kittens, into cats..." has lived in my head for years and years.

I thoroughly enjoyed the slow creep towards the Michelle branch realization

The lingering shot of Buffy as she regains her memory is great acting from Sarah. Buffy suddenly remembers all her trauma: losing her mom, killing her boyfriend, sacrificing herself, being dragged out of Heaven and waking up buried alive only to have the Weight of the World dumped on her shoulders.. again! No wonder her expression changes..

My high school bestie and I were obsessed with this episode. We made shirts that said “Nancy Tribe” on the front. Mine said “Ready, Randy?” And hers said “Ready Joan!” on the back. We were clearly very cool and popular 😂

A loan "shark" that Spike owes kittens to. This is why we watch Buffy

" and I think i'm kinda gay " is a callback to 3x16 " deppelgandland "

From Restless: Spike: Giles here is gonna teach me to be a Watcher. Says I got the stuff. Giles: Spike's like a son to me. Xander: That's good. I was into that for a while, but... I got other stuff goin' on... You gotta have something. Gotta be with movin' forward. Buffy: Like a shark. Xander: Like a shark with feet and... much less fins. Spike: And on land. Giles: Very good.

Rana was dead on with her thoughts about Buffy’s depression and why she’s drawn to Spike. Completely agree.

Probably my favourite episode. I think one little sadness that gets overlooked through the larger ones in this episode is that it's the first time in a long time Buffy and Dawn have been happy to be sisters and interacted with each other with tenderness. Soon as everyone gets their memories back it's like Dawn has turned into wallpaper again, or just a thing to be protected rather than a person and actual member of the group. Amber's acting as Tara throughout this episode (and the last) is so good. You can feel her reluctance but her determination too.

Such a quotable episode! "Ready Randy? Ready Joan!"🤣I love the Buffy version of Goodbye To You.

The ending is still heartbreaking to this very day. Also, yay, Michelle Branch!

Not me screaming “that IS Michelle Branch” at my phone😂😂

Giles and Spike have such a fun Frenemies dynamic on the show

The moment I realized that the shark demon was a 'loan shark', I just could not stop laughing.

The fact that Surj said Michelle Branch kind of looked like Michelle Branch

Chris and Pat need to put some respect on Michelle Branch's name!

A couple years ago Michelle Branch did a video interview for MTV (I think) on youtube, and she mentioned that this version of “goodbye to you” was recorded just for this episode, and she would like to release the full version of it commercially, but she doesn’t have it. Maybe Fox/Disney has it now.

Look, it's perfectly normal for two straight men to meet secretly in a gymnasium to listen to Michelle Branch. Stop making it weird.

You can tell the cast was having a blast with this one. But damn, I forgot how Buffy getting her memories back actually plays out - her laying on the ground like that, not getting up, after having just been in full "I'm a superhero, this is awesome!" mode a second earlier is such solid 'show, don't tell' work. That whole sequence really capitalizes on having spent years developing these characters. Not one of them says a word about what they are going through after the spell breaks, and the cause of some of the reactions (like Dawn feeling abandoned by Tara) aren't even really touched in this episode itself at all, but because we know the characters so well, we know exactly where each of their heads is at throughout it. At this point in the season, I'm okay with how they're handling the magic stuff. Yeah, the show as a whole isn't always consistent (or even that smooth) when it pulls a "today magic [x] is an analogy for sexuality, tomorrow magic [x] will be an analogy for substance abuse" switch, but I think it's handling the story with Willow alright, thus far. A beloved, goodhearted overachiever who tries too hard to control everything and gets destructive with her use of something that lets her avoid her problems and feel in control, without really considering its impact on her loved ones? I've definitely seen this subject matter handled way worse on-screen (and this wasn't that far removed from Saved by the Bell's infamous crack at it, in terms of where the bar was at). As for in-universe consistency with magic, or really with any supernatural element they use for more than one 'growing up' analogy ... yeah, that's something I just made my peace with and accepted will never happen. This show pretty unapologetically prioritizes the metaphor of the moment, over the 'rules' of the universe. The couch's drawn out Michelle Branch realization at the end had me laughing harder than anything.

This Michelle Branch slander will not go unavenged I challenge the Normies to a duel

I really thought Suraj was joking when he said"that looks like Michelle Branch" And my disappointment when he wasn't joking 🤦🏾‍♂️

Suraj hit my #1 mind quaking peeve about this whole storyline of "Buffy needs to grow up" They resurrected her fully aware she'd have to struggle financially because they used up all her money and weren't contributing financially, while living in her house. Also, I understood why the actor wanted to go home to England but it was a disservice to the character of Giles because he comes off like an uncaring monster. Buffy got him paid as a Watcher retroactively from when he was fired in S3 but Buffy got no living wage from the Council. He should have been giving her half his wage from the council. He always had another job or business so he was never hurting for money.

1. Restless 2. Once More With Feeling 3. The Body 4. Hush 5. The Gift 6. Tabula Rasa Are universally recognized as the best Buffy episodes but this is my order.

Magic is like a metaphor for addiction in Buffy. Like, you can drink now and then, have a little weed sometimes and it's fine, but Willow is at the point where she's starting to chug the whole bottle and take a hit off a crack pipe, where she just can't seem to stop herself. And like all addicts, she claims she can stop whenever she wants, but as we see here, all she does is start hiding it.

Vanessa Carlton was the other artist you are thinking of. The one who is similar to Michelle Branch.

The bunny summoning spell could be useful foodwise XD

Spike was about to leave for good I think as per what he said last episode. Buffy couldn't have him leave too.

I love when the sci-fi / fantasy shows plays the character switch trope. The Halloween costume episode. The Faith / Buffy switch. The Cordy wish. Star Trek did this often too. Love seeing the actors doing something different.

Charmed magic rules (although the application of this wasn't strict) was that they couldn't use magic for personal gain and if they did there would be negative consequences. The general wiccan rule, as I understand it, is that whatever you put out in the world you get back 3 fold. So 3x positive things or 3x negative. Basically like karma

I liked what Rana and Marketa said about Buffy depression. Very spot on.

I can't believe Suraj didn't make a LOST reference when speaking of the name of the episode. Tabula Rasa is one of the best episodes of the series.

There are many references to the episode "Restless" (season 4, episode 22) which foreshadowed a lot of things happening in later seasons...

The next episode is about to be crazy! Curious how they will all react. Can't wait!

"I Miss Veruca" SIR!

Tabula Rasa was a great innovative episode with comedy overload. There was foreshadowing here from S4 finale Restless with Giles and Spike saying he was his son etc. We see Willow again going to the dark side with addiction to magic for her own selfish purposes, mirroring serious drug addiction. As they all have no memories this lends itself to great comedy. A brilliant use of Michelle Branch's gorgeous ballad Goodbye To You that was specially recorded version for this episode. Willow is her own worst enemy devoured by her love and lust for Tara who feels total betrayal after what Glory did to her mind in S5, it's almost a metaphor for coercive control, and of course we see 'Spuffy' is now very real. One very funny bit is where Buffy and Spike are in the graveyard, and Spike says' maybe I'm a vampire with a soul', and he 'helps the helpless' the tagline of course from the show Angel. Just a brilliant innovative episode.

Ever notice that's the same suit spike was wearing in the dream episode

According to Charmed, magic cannot be used for personal gain

I alwys find pretty amazing how they managed to follow the amazing One More With Feeling with another amazing episode

I'm glad Marketa touched on how fucked up it was of Willow to basically retraumatize Buffy of all her prior experiences like that. It doesn't matter if it was unintentional if you're taking unnecessary risks that hurt people that badly.

Maybe using the phrase "you can't use magic to help yourself" is confusing Chris. You *can* use it, but there's always a price, and a balance to maintain. If you only use magic for selfish reasons, that power you use ends up corrupting you, and in Willow's case, who was someone always struggled with self-control, she becomes an addict.

I adore this episode. I remember every beat and almost every line of dialogue because it was constructed so perfectly. It also perfectly follows the musical episode by working hard to maintain a balance of comedy with intensity and darkness.

I was around 12 when The Body aired and it was probably my most rewatched episode out of all of them. I guess even back then I was a melancholic freak that just wanted to *feel* lol

Giles leaving to help Buffy grow would make a lot more sense if his only role was a sort of coach/teacher. The fact that he is also a scholar and the source if a lot of history takes away from that trope a little bit and makes it confusing.

I love this episode so much. They managed to follow up on Once More with Feeling with one of my favorite episodes. It's definitely a roller coaster. It's so funny, but it also forwards the plot and deals with the betrayal of Willow's choices with the memory wipe.

It's wild there's a fictional universe where there's kitten debt.

Marketa was right on the pronunciation, Alyson Hannigan didn’t say it quite right, either 😊. One of the episodes I remembered the most after having first watched it years ago. Do get annoyed by the realisation that they’re British/ English thing, though, such an American thing to think about. They should be surprised that the rest are American…. Props to specifically saying English though.

My head canon is that magic isnt really appropriate except for countering supernatural threats. It shouldnt be used to upset the natural order, which not only includes natural death but also there was something about it not being used to cure Joyce's illness. Also, rather than being limited by physical constraints like energy and mass, It has to thread itself through all sorts of rules of fate and prophesy, and various higher beings all with their own plans. For example it could make Dawn, but it could not as easily make her a major player like Angel or Buffy. In "The Wish" it totally changes the world but the prophesy that Buffy is killed by the master still holds. I also imagine the world is sort of fragile, naturally tumbling into chaos except for the long term plans of the "good" higher beings. So pretty much every use of magic that is not countering the efforts of supernatual evil is changing the world's narrow "good" fate for something likely worse. On the other hand if you didnt even practice magic you couldnt use it to fight evil.

"Spike's dressed like Orville Redenbauker" 😂😂😂😂

What it's like to be in a relationship with an addict. Season 6 transitions from "Magic is a metaphor for being gay." into "Magic is a metaphor for drug addiction."

If you look at magic as the Force, there is light magic, and dark magic but also neutral magic (neutral magic can have good and bad leanings). There is protection magic, empathic magic and healing magic that is light side. Giles uses protection magics, like magic barriers. Tara uses a empathic magics like finding spells. There are dark magics like resurrection and memory spells. Neutral spells are like levitating, conjuring, teleporting, and transfiguration. You can use transfiguration as a neutral like changing clothes, there is nothing inherently wrong with that, especially if you just switch things you already have like switching your towel and and your clothes. Transfiguration can be light side like changing Amy back into a human from a rat or giving a vampire a soul (It's not quite transfiguration, but it is in the realm of light as it only really hurts the evil demon in the vampire). Transfiguration can be dark in transfiguring people against their will or transfiguring leaves into money. Using magic takes someone who has grown in maturity to respect it like Giles or someone who is has a pure heart like Tara. Willow is using it to selfishly make her life easier. In the beginning she did it to help Buffy and battle evil. But now she's tempted by the dark side and going down the path of ease and comfort, so much so that even the neutral spells lean to dark magic. Willow is following the path of Anakin.

There's a je ne sais quoi about how the people who were so against Angel as a romantic prospect "because he's dead" cheer on Buffy's self-harming behaviour(see, "I just wanna feel" and finding him after being shocked back into reality) in hooking up with the evil dead guy. 🙄🙄🙄

And I think I’m kinda gay!

This season is just *rough*

Suraj's " *TABYOOLA REYSAH* " made me puke a little in my mouth, ngl...

22:10 Marketa still has hope. It's also telling that it's the ladies on the couch who really pick up on how crushing the snap back to reality was for Buffy. Lastly, the show glosses over this, but Willow and Tara were intimate after Willow roofied just Tara before OMWF. That means Willow raped Tara, because Tara could no longer give informed consent.

The hate for the Troika and talk about Willow is just SOOOOOOOOOOO amusing knowing what's coming.

OMG, I've been waiting forever for you to watch this one! One of my favorite Buffy episodes! And Chris! That musical Marketta Substitute solo was EXCELLENT!!!

Tabula Rasa translates to Blank Slate, starting over practically.

this show was known for using, what at the time was, 'up and coming' artists for the musical scenes. it was weldon's attempt to help these new artists get their sounds out there to the public when they were still new and had a small fan base. he really helped a lot of people this way and no one really thinks about it.

"It sounds cute, if anything." 😂

Such youngins not knowing what michelle Branch looks like!

goodbyyyyyyye to youuuuuuuuUUuuuuuu!!

Magic in buffy has no established rules, but there are a few things that are simple and common. The act and response of magic depends on the plot of the episode. The consequences of magic are simple and consistent, magic is addictive and it corrupts. And I'm pretty sure Wheadon purposely made it seem like representation of drug or alcohol addiction/abuse.

I’d honestly add Restless in the same category as OMWF, Hush and The Body. And Restless is number 1 for me 😅

I like they they made this episode a comedy knowing it would end this way.

I forget the metaphor that vampires are meant to represent in the show. Getting over teenage angst or something? But magic is definitely a metaphor for drug use. Willow essentially roofied Tara and the rest of her friends.

One of my favorites episodes with Joan and Randy

magic = drugs. Feels good if you can keep a handle on it. but if you chase the rush, if you get addicted, the good bits fade and it takes over and tears you down. Willow has an addictive personality and a somewhat questionable moral framework when it comes to power, as we've seen many times, certainly she has a total lack of respect for it, probably because it comes so easy for her, she's never had to really work at it to earn it so never developed a caution or respect towards it. I think we are far enough into the series to openly state what its about Buffy = depression, Willow = addiction, Xander = fear of becoming his parents so fear of commitment, Dawn = dealing with not being special and overshadowed, Giles = proxy for parental fear of having to let go or smother a child. Tara = dealing with an abusive relationship. The show is about life, this season it uses less supernatural proxies as metaphors and goes for the more direct approach. And a lot of the musical acts on this show are real bands and performers.

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And this is the episode where the best of all ships started. Ganya or death!

Pat, you never cease to make me laugh.

Re: magic use; in the first episode of season five, Willow uses magic to light a fire that Xander was struggling to start. She begins explaining that it's important to balance the elements so disrupting one doesn't throw the others out of whack (or something to that effect), when she is interrupted by a sudden intense rain shower that she claims isn't her fault, but it's heavily implied in the moment that it could have been, but it also could've been due to Dracula's arrival. So it's understood that magic has a cost, the universe will have to balance itself out somehow, which leads to the idea of when is it ok to use magic? When it's important enough that the consequence is worth it. If you use magic to start a fire and, in consequence, it starts to rain and ruins everyone's day at the beach, was it worth it? Probably not. If you teleport a god away from innocent people that they were going to murder horribly and you end up with a nosebleed and a week-long headache, is that worth it? Yeah, probably take that trade. If you use magic to benefit yourself at somebody else's expense and it hurts a bunch of people, you're the asshole.

Hey, I’m Micky’s defense, The Game of Love was my song back in the day

all timer buffy episode right here

It's pronounced "Tabula Rasa" c'mon

Effing loved the last video, one of my favorite buffy episodes.

This is considered the happiest sad episode and/or the saddest happy episode of the series. Suraj pronouncing the episode wrong, but getting the definition right had me in stitches. The demon has the head of a shark because the crew wanted the joke of it to be he was a loan shark. It wasn't just about violating Tara's mind. As long as Tara wasn't aware she was supposed to be angry at Willow, any hand holding, kisses, etc. is considered sexual assault while sex is rape. Willow did both. Tara leaving Willow at this point is good. Willow is an abusive girlfriend that Tara gave a chance to, and Willow squandered it. Pat not getting why Tara needs to break up with her made me think he was going to go off on a he doesn't understand moment. Then he said "OK" at The rest of The Normies explanation. I was shocked. Mickey hit the nail on the head with how long Tara should have given Willow (one day), especially as Willow couldn't do the twenty minutes he also stated. While I understand Giles reasoning, I think leaving while Buffy is depressed is a mistake. Season four and season five were both better times to leave and he didn't. Then he came back after another good time to leave and found a depressed Buffy. This isn't a good time to leave again. Willow didn't even give her fight with Tara thought and because she thinks Tara's wrong, she doesn't consider the consequences of what she did in this episode. That's the true sign of an addict this far gone. Willow's always been an addict, but resurrecting Buffy was her crossing point of smaller to hardcore addiction. Spike isn't entirely wrong about Giles' midlife crises car. We saw it in _Real Me._ The Normies reaction to Spike and Buffy's unintentional disses on Angel was great. The way Tara explained it is how it works. You can use magic for good. You can use it for bad. Willow started out with good intentions and used it for good, but even during that time she always ignored the consequences, good or bad. She just wanted to know more, no matter the consequences. I think Chris's problem in his confusion is that he's assuming magical addiction has to come from a place of evil. That's not how addiction works, even in the real world. Magic isn't good or bad. It's about the intent of use. And, as Tara stated, Willow's fixing things to her liking and justifying it in her own mind. Blank slate wipes memories, but doesn't mean you don't know how to walk or write, or that Willow still isn't attracted to girls, or that Buffy's instinct over protecting Dawn wasn't her first motivation, or that Anya isn't a capatalist, or she and Giles weren't attracted to one another subcounciously (and thus it plays out obver the misunderstanding as many other things did), or that Xander wouldn't notice Willow as a hot girl. The instincts are what people have. Memories just aren't there to back those instincts up. My favorite pairing is Spike/Buffy, but at this point, it's not great for them. Their relationship has been healthier. At this point Buffy doesn't like Spike and she's using him. A key moment to remember is the last lyric from the musical she sang: "This isn't real. But I just want to feel." Then she kisses Spike. She's using him to ignore the feelings of depression. Spidey, Chris, and Rana from 26:45-26:52 are 100% correct about Willow.

Omg guys, this is just the start.. You all need to be there from now on until the end of the season, many important things are going to happen.

Marketa has a clean read; Buffy is depressed and Willow is stupid.

because of willow's stupid spell, the same thing almost happened between Giles and Anya, as between him and Joyce! this time Xander would scream:- twice???

In Charmed and various other witch shows and movies I've seen, the rule of magic was that magic could not be used for personal gain. If you do, something bad will happen as a result. For those who practice witchcraft IRL, the only rule of the the Craft is: Do as you will but harm none because it will come back on you times 3. They are not great at giving details on this show... it keeps magic a mystery. But for Willow, magic is slowly becoming an addiction - made obvious here in this episode.

Stick em with the pointy end!

This is one really funny episode yet sad at the same time.

Honestly, they should have offered Buffy the option to voluntary forget about heaven. Doing it without her knowledge or permission would be obviously wrong, but would be OK if she chooses to do that for her mental health. Not a hundred percent sure if she would have taken that offer or not ...

Great episode!

Y'all...things are gonna get sad. Please make sure you have your tissues. Things are gonna REALLY start hurting.

Willow never got back into my good graces after this.

What often is missed is that Willow has always been taken for granted, neglected, rejected and abandoned. Also magic has always been a metaphor for drugs. Willow was experimenting with 'magic' in high school. Tara used 'magic' to draw Willow to her, they were doing 'magic' in small doses which lowered a vulnerable Willow's resistance. Was she really gay? Maybe. Is using 'magic' as a way to bond a good way to start a relationship a decent thing to do? No.

Honestly magic has not had particularly consistent rules or systems across the series. It's kind of been whatever's needed for the plot. Like in the Zeppo those guys had used magic to revive themselves as zombies, but they basically seemed to still have their personalities and it didn't seem to be too gigantic of a deal that they had done that, but when it came to reviving Joyce or Buffy it was clear that it's this hugely difficult and taboo thing. It's always been clear that magic is dangerous and that there could be consequences, and that it shouldn't be used carelessly, but there's not a clear magic system with rules that you can look up like in some other works of fiction. I think it's one of those things where you have to go with the flow of the plot when magic comes up.

All magic comes with a price dearie

Wonderful episode.

Tara's finest hour.

"The Gift", "The Body", "Hush", "Once More With Feeling".......

I'm not sure if you saw this, but when everyone's memory came back, and Buffy just sort of froze... That's because she went from being a normal S1 Buffy again for a while, and then had all the memories of dying and then being pulled back, so in a way she got pulled out of a better place twice now, by Willow, her best friend. Seriously such a good show. Joan&Randy 4 lyfe lol btw, that was 100% Michelle Branch lol. This was back when she was getting really popular.

This episode is kind of known for being one of the funniest and also one of the most heartwrenching of the series. Some of the best comedy bits and call backs to previous episodes in here but when Michelle Branch strumming that guitar comes in and they show Tara packing while Willow is crying on the bathroom floor, I always feel a little broken. Also this is where I kind of check out until 6x20 villains because this show is about to get heavy and complicated as hell. The discussions I see reactors have during this season are hard to watch and grapple with a lot and I'm kind of worried how The Normies will handle it. Season 6 definitely requires multiple viewings because there is so much nuance but it's such a difficult season to watch. Interested to see what the normies will think.

Omg yyou guys are finally all here

I liked Giles and Anya in that. One of my favorite episodes.

Would love to see you guys do a Frieren reaction