As of last night, we're through Tabula Rasa in the great BtVS Re-Watch of '05. We started watching Once More, With Feeling, on Friday night, and fell asleep (this is a recurring theme in our Re-Watch Project), so last night, we began with that, then watched Fury's Making of... documentary DVD special feature, then watched Tabula Rasa.
I overdosed on Once More, With Feeling when it first aired. I was so darned impressed with j weewee, so pleased by the ways the actors acquitted themselves of their roles, and songs, and so excited that Actual Advancement to the Plot was made during the musical, that I couldn't get enough of it. I also played the CD a lot, because...well, because I could.
Anyhow, I think I've only rewatched it all of once since we bought the S6 DVDs (which was whenever they were first released, here). I was a little afraid going into it last night--afraid that it was going to bore me. It did not. My enjoyment is as if it were new. Only better--because I know the songs.
I doubt I have anything to say about the musical that hasn't been said before, so I'll close this rehash by saying it is still, in my opinion (dh's, too), one of the best episodes of the series, and I still feel a little put out that it didn't get an Emmy. I can't remember, but it seems to me it wasn't even nominated.
Tabula Rasa is one of those episodes I expected not to like. Well, I didn't expect to hate it, but I was still on a high from Once More, With Feeling, when TR was first broadcast, so I went into it, expecting to feel disappointed. I wasn't. It's another week where there is Actual Plot Advancement. The only element of this episode that disappointed me (and the season's progress through Tabula Rasa) was Giles' departure. I know there were meta reasons for having Giles leave when he did. I can even buy he would leave. Buffy was certainly all too comfortable letting him take on her responsibilities. I just took issue with him leaving quite that soon after finding out she'd been heaven. Apparently, I'm over that.
Oh, I was also a little disappointed that we went to a montage for the last few minutes of the episode. I like this version of Branch's Goodbye to You. And it even fits, with what is happening at the end of the episode. But I felt a bit ripped off at the time, and that still lingers. I'm a dialog junkie (be glad you don't have to read the swill I think of as "My writing").
I like what we see of Spike's character as Randy, even as the writers use it to take a poke at the Angel storyline. I like that Joan and Umad related to one another as sisters. I find it telling that Xander and Anya take little notice of one another. It is so nice to see Buffy enjoying life, and being happy to be a superhero, as Joan. I feel for her when her memory is restored, and she is paralyzed by it.
The kiss at the end? Reminds me why I was all for B/S while this was going on. I was a bit afraid that knowing what happens in Seeing Red would neutralize the heat. It didn't, and I'm glad of that, too.