TABULA RUSA; amnesia and angst

[Saturn 5]

TABULA RASA
The Good;
All great, emotional turmoil mixed with side-splitting humour at every turn. Especially love Anya and the bunnies and the beautiful ending song
The Bad;
The Loanshark is a funny idea poorly realised (foreshadowed in Restless as is Giles thinking Spike's his son). Works better in the comics although he comes to a sticky end.
Best line;
Giles "Welcome to the nancy tribe"
Women good/men bad;
Spike refers to Anya as tarty and a trollope. Anya's woman's intuition needs work.
Jeez!;
Once again the creature we don't see behind the counter is the scariest of all, just like in Forever. Seeing Buffy get kicked on the ground also isn't nice.
Kinky dinky;
Spike and Buffy kiss again. And the Spuffers did rejoice! Spike is 'Randy Giles' and dresses just as he did in Restless. Anya describes Spike and Giles as 'ruggedly handsome'. Willow in her towel. Dawn seems to like Xander helping her down the ladder.
Captain Subtext;
Even when amnesiac Willow and Tara sense they're lovers and Buffy and Dawn sense they're sisters (amnesiac Buffy knows amnesiac Dawn for all of one minute and they're already both enjoying Buffy stroking Dawn's hair in the traditional Summers' way) . How funny would it have been if it was the other way around and both pairs came to each other's conclusion? Check out Dawn's expression when Willow tells her she's 'Kinda gay' (as she remarked of VampWillow). Interesting it's 'kinda' giving another hint of bi-Willow. Willow and Xander also sense their affection for one another. BUT Anya and Xander don't, she's actually attracted to Giles (and still hugely capitalist). Maybe Anya is actually in love with the idea of Xander rather than the guy himself? Even more interesting is Giles' affection for her.
Willow and Tara break up just as another relationship blossoms. Giles threatens to put Spike across his knee (well Buffy already has him discplining Dawn). Spike refers to Giles as 'nancy' and Giles welcomes him to 'the nancy tribe'. Note Spike seems to desperately want to be like Angel (because Buffy loves Angel or does he wants Buffy only because Angel loves her?) Spike refer to Gile's car as 'penis shaped' but then they hug.
Guantanamo Bay;
Scoobies to the ER;
Missing scenes;
Apocalypses; 6
Wheldon Cliches (with kind permission from Boo)

Scoobies in bondage:
Buffy: 8
Giles: 4
Cordy: 5
Will: 3
Jenny: 1
Angel: 4
Oz: 1
Faith: 3
Joyce: 1
Wes: 1
Xander; 1
Dawn; 3

Scoobies knocked out: everyone but Xander also faints
Buffy: 17
Giles: 12
Cordy: 6
Xander: 11
Will: 6
Jenny: 2
Angel: 6
Oz: 3
Faith: 1
Joyce: 3
Wes: 1
Anya;3
Dawn; 2
Kills: 2 vamps for Buffy, 3 for Spike and 1 for Xander
Buffy: 103 vamps, 41 demons, 6 monsters, 3 humans, 1 werewolf, 1 spirit warrior & a robot
Giles: 8 vamps, 2 demon, 1 human, 1 god.
Cordy: 3 vamps, ½ a demon
Will: 6 vamps + 1 demon +1 fawn.
Angel: 3 vamps, 1 demon, 1 human
Oz: 3 vamps, 1 zombie
Faith: 16 vamps, 5 demons, 3 humans
Xander: 6 vamps, 2 zombies, 1½ a demon,
Anya: 1 vamp and 1½ a demon
Riley; 18 vamps + 7 demons
Spike; 8 vamps and 2 demon
Buffybot; 2 vamps
Tara; 1 demon
Dawn; 1 vamp

Scoobies go evil:
Giles: 1
Cordy: 1
Will: 2
Jenny: 1
Angel: 1
Oz: 1
Joyce: 1
Xander: 4
Anya; 1
Dawn; 1

Alternate scoobies: the whole gang go amnesiac
Buffy: 7
Giles: 4
Cordy: 1
Will: 3
Jenny: 2
Angel: 3
Oz: 2
Joyce: 2
Xander: 4
Tara; 1
Dawn;1
Spike; 1

Recurring characters killed: 10
Jesse, Flutie, Jenny, Kendra, Larry, Snyder, Professor Walsh, Forrest, McNamara, Joyce

Sunnydale deaths;
93

Total number of scoobies: 7 (but not for long!). Note how keen Dawn is to participate in the Scooby meeting, slowly becoming a full member of the gang.
Xander, Willow, Buffy, Anya, Tara, Spike, Giles

Xander demon magnet: 5(6?)
Preying Mantis Lady, Inca Mummy Girl, Drusilla, VampWillow, Anya (arguably Buffy & Faith with their demon essences?), Dracula?

Scoobies shot:
Giles: 2
Angel: 3
Oz: 4
Riley; 1

Notches on Scooby bedpost:
Giles: 2; Joyce & Olivia, possibly Jenny and 3xDraccy babes?
Cordy: 1?
Buffy: 3 confirmed; Angel, Parker,Riley, 1 possible, Dracula(?)
Angel: 1;Buffy
Joyce: 1;Giles, 2 possible, Ted and Dracula(?)
Oz: 3; Groupie, Willow & Verucca
Faith:2 ;Xander, Riley
Xander: 2; Faith, Anya
Willow: 2;Oz and Tara
Riley; 3; Buffy, Sandy and unnamed vampwhore
Spike; good or bad?
Amnesiac Spike doesn't seem to realise he's supposed to be evil and wants to be good. He saves Buffy again.
Dawn in peril; along with everyone else 7
Dawn the bashful virgin; 5
Questions and observations;
Teeth asks if Buffy has ever considered working as a debt collector. Well it would solve her financial problems. Tara's very right, Willow violating her mind is no joke especially after what Glory did to her. It also makes their sex whilst Tara is amnesiac virtual rape. Buffy wears her cream number she died in for the first time. Xander wears what looks like an army jacket, left over from his faux soldier days? Xander's latent insecurites are very apparent, wondering if Willow is dating his brother. But he still comes the hero in the end. Buffy's choice of 'Joan' suggests Joan of Arc. Note amnesiac Tara begins to stutter, just as she did before she befriended the Scoobs. Tabula Rusa is also referred to in Dollhouse
Marks out of 10; 9/10, suffers in comparison with OMWF but otherwise not perfect only because of the loanshark.

[gumgnome]

This episode is definitely growing on me, but suffers from the same pitfalls of lots of "amnesiac-cast" episodes in that their amnesia is poorly defined for my liking.

All of the Scoobies forget which country they come from, but they still remember what countries there are and the vocabulary in each place.

They forget their own names, but remember the existence of driving licenses and why you'd have one.

Most of all, even though they seem to remember generic things about their world, all of them forget about the existence of monsters and magic. When Giles says that magic is "all balderdash and chicanery", he's not speaking as an amnesiac - he's speaking as a typical inhabitant of a world without magic. The Scoobies don't inhabit a world without magic, so why would they revert to this mentality if they lost their memories? Surely they should either not know what magic is at all, or know that it exists, living fully aware as they do in a world of magic and monsters.

I know that thie may sound really anal, but it's always really bugged me about this episode and severely impaired my ability to enjoy it that much. Rather than being cleverly thought out, it strikes me as a free-for-all for the writers, where they can effectively re-write the rules, without recourse to logic. As a result, its a dissatisfying experience for me. Thankfully, Joss and co made some amends with "Spin the Bottle", where they do the amnesiac-cast routine again, but with decent logic underpinning what is remembered i.e. they are teenagers again. This forces the writers to work within well-defined boundaries and makes for a much better episode as a result.

"Tabula Rasa" has it's funny moments, but they all come across as fairly cheap to me.

[Saturn 5]

Well they do say that's the nature of amnesia, you forget who you are but you still remember how to talk, ride a bike etc

[gumgnome]

That would explain the first two things I mentioned, but not why they would reverse their extensive knowledge of magic and monsters and believe, as a regular joe would, that those things don't exist.

[Randi Giles]

My favorite line BUFFY: A vampire with a soul? Oh my god, how lame is that?
9/10 I almost forgot this was kind of a funny episode until the end again. Alot sad times this season.

[Saturn 5]

Yeah an interesting comment on Buffy's part. I think this ep greatly helps the Buffy/Spike relationship, it gives Buffy an idea of Spike's real motivations