Previously: The First hung out at Chez Summers for a while, and Buffy killed an uber-vamp. Also, she rescued Spike, but whatevs.
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Potential
Kirsti: After approximately a million years worth of previouslies, we’re in the cemetery at night. Rona and Vi wander around looking nervous, stakes in hand. They hear a rustling noise behind them and are jumped by Spike. He goes to bite Vi, then stops as the camera pulls back to reveal Buffy and the other Potentials conducting a training exercise. Rona complains that it’s never going to be a fair fight, because she doesn’t have Slayer strength, and Buffy informs them that while they may not have that, they’re still strong. It would be a nice “YAY GIRL POWER!” speech if it didn’t continue with her saying that they’re strong because they have abilities that other, non-potential-slayer girls don’t have. Sigh. On the plus side, she tells them that they have the potential, thereby earning herself a gold star. It’s been aaaaaaaaaaaaages since Buffy had one, so wheeeeee:
Anyway, Buffy tells the potentials to trust their instincts, even if their instincts say to run. She asks Spike what his instincts said, and he replies “Hunt. Kill.” She tells him to attack her, and fights him, demonstrating technique to the girls. Said technique ends in her straddling him, a stake at his chest. (L: Buffy’s instincts say, “straddle,” a lot.) (K: Now that you mention it, YES. It’s kind of creepy.) He groans a little, and she asks if he’s okay. He says that his ribs hurt after that whole being tortured thing, and she pulls his shirt up and touches his torso to check them. He holds her hand and pulls his shirt back down, saying that he’s fine. The potentials want to know if they’re going to make out. I vomit in my mouth. Buffy sends Kennedy and Molly in to face Spike. Wolf howl.
Lorraine: I have to admit that these two are waaaay less vomit inducing when they are being subtle. If they talk too much or stare at each other too much, definite bile rising. Right after Spike groans, Buffy draws her hand down his chest. It’s such a small, caring and affectionate movement. And then the show messes it up by having the girls be all, “HOT. KISS HIM. WOOO WEEEE.”
Yeah, yeah. We get it show.
K: After the credits, we’re in the basement at Chez Summers. The potentials gossip amongst themselves while Buffy waits for them to quiet down and Dawn sits on the stairs, watching. Eventually, Buffy gets sick of waiting and hurls an axe at a target on the wall.
They all turn to stare at her. She gives them a rousing speech about how Death Is Their Gift and that they have the advantage at the moment because the First is busy sulking over her killing the uber-vamp. She tells them that she knows they’re scared and miss home, but they’re special, chosen ones, there for a reason. She heads out, telling Dawn to have breakfast and get to school on her way past. Dawn looks wistful.
Lor: (1) – I know this is overkill on speeches (or it will be) but I can’t help but feel all proud momma seeing Buffy on this side of training. It’s brilliant, in theory, to have her teaching potential slayers. She’s definitely come a long way from “I don’t want to die.“
Sweeney: WOAH LOOK AT THAT BABY FACE GIF.
Lor: (2) – DAWN FEELS. There will be plenty of them this episode, but this was way harsh. She sits there hearing her sister give these girls a speech about being chosen and full of potential, and then she gets a, “eat breakfast and go to school.” I just want to hug her, especially when you consider that we started this season with Buffy training Dawn.
Sweeney: Buffy’s obliviousness to Dawn’s feelings has been well-established enough that it’s not surprising here, but frustrating. Aside from it being shitty from a human relationships perspective, it’s also just stupid. By this point in time, Buffy has to know that there’s no way to keep Dawnie out of the thick of whatever’s coming so it’s insane that she’s not putting more time/energy into making sure Dawn is well-trained too.
K: YUP. Cut to the bell ringing at Sunnydale High 2.0. Buffy’s at her desk, on the phone to Xander, who’s complaining that the potentials walked in on him having a shower. She advises him to lock the door and asks if Giles has checked in yet – apparently he was going to Shanghai to pick up another potential slayer. Amanda walks into Buffy’s cubicle and she hurriedly hangs up. Amanda asks if people ever think Buffy’s weird, and after some “sure, in a charming way” dithering, Buffy says that yes, people think she’s weird.
Amanda says that she feels that people think she’s weird, and then it segues into a “I like a guy who treats me like crap” talk. Buffy tries to say that sometimes it’s normal to be mean to the people you like, and that magically turns into her trying to convince herself that her relationship with Spike is over. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA, I HATE EVERYTHING. Buffy looks sketchy and Amanda gives epic “WTF??” face, for completely understandable reasons.
Lor: ARE YOU KIDDING ME RIGHT NOW? CAN WE PLEASE, AS A SOCIETY, STOP TELLING GIRLS THAT BOYS WHO LIKE THEM WILL TREAT THEM MEANLY? DEAR GOD.
This. This is why I hate pretty much everything about what happened in season 6 between Spike and Buffy. It isn’t as simple as dismissing character’s actions because it’s a fictional universe with vampires and demons. It’s still projecting a message and it’s a damn shame that Buffy, a show often touted for its feminist qualities, would project this message.
Sweeney: Cher gets it.
K: A+, Lor. One of these days, I really need to make a vlog about all my problems with Whedon… Chez Summers. Buffy walks in the front door to find the living room trashed and the potentials bickering loudly. She’s pissed because she’s only been gone a few hours. Just then, Willow enter-nounces that she has news. Apparently she doesn’t deliver that news for several hours, because the next shot is of Buffy, Willow, Xander and Anya sitting at the dining room table, with Dawn and Andrew behind them. Willow tells the Scoobies that the seers have located another potential, and she already lives in Sunnydale.
Buffy says that she was going to take the potentials out for training, but maybe now she won’t because they should focus on finding the new potential. Willow disagrees, saying that she can do a spell to locate the potential, and that the training is too important to miss. “Yeah, you guys have more important things to do,” Dawn says quietly from the doorway. Buffy doesn’t even look at her.
Sweeney: Ow – you’re hurting my heart, B.
K: SO MUCH. Also not helping with that “Buffy won’t choose you” prediction from Joyce. In the kitchen later, the potentials are picking out the weapons they want to take out with them. Dawn suggests that maybe they don’t point weapons at her.
Lor: I totally get where she is coming from. She’s being pushed aside for people who just got there, for this has always been her reality, and she feels like she knows much more than everyone present. She’s killed things.
Sweeney: AND SHOULD BE INCLUDED IN THE “TRAINING PEOPLE TO DEFEND THEMSELVES / KILL THINGS” PARTY BECAUSE SHE’S ALSO GOING TO HAVE TO DEFEND HERSELF / KILL THINGS IN THE FINAL SHOWDOWN.
K: YUP. Dining room. Willow’s getting ready to do her locator spell, with Dawn and Andrew handing her ingredients. Dawn wonders out loud if the potential goes to Sunnydale High, and if it’s person X, Y or Z. She hopes it’s not her weird lab partner, Margot, because Margot fainted in the middle of their foetal pig dissection and is therefore clearly not cut out for the slayer life which I mention mostly so we can use our Mar-GO CRAZY tag again. “Somebody’s life is about to change,” Willow says, and then tells us how the spell works – it makes a light which gives the potential a glowing aura. Plus, there’s an enchanted map to track the girl.
She casts the spell in the fireplace as Dawn, Anya and Xander watch. The last ingredient is an egg. She throws it into the fire, and a cloud of yellow stinkiness appears. They all cough and cover their noses, as the cloud gathers in the centre of the room and starts to shimmer. The gang decide that Willow’s messed up. She seems to agree, and says that they should try the computer instead. Dawn announces that she’ll open the door to air the house out a bit. As Dawn heads towards the door, the cloud forms into a solid beam of light and heads straight for her. It smacks into her and pins her to the door, a glowing light in the centre of her chest. She stares at the Scoobies in shock. “I think it worked,” Willow says in surprise as we fade to black.
After the Not Commercial Break, Dawn slumps to the floor. The Scoobies fangirl with excitement, telling her how huge this is, and how she’s now a hero with an abbreviated lifespan (that part was Anya, obviously), and that it makes sense on account of that monks-created-her-from-Buffy thing. Dawn, on the other hand, is less than enthused because it means that if she ever achieves her purpose in life, it’s because her sister is dead. She paces back and forth as Willow gushes that they should call Buffy, who’ll be all excited. Xander says that Buffy didn’t take her cell phone, so they can’t.
Sweeney: Dawn adds that it’s because all of the important people are with her and Xander rises to his “heart” role by assuring her that she is important, making him the only person to acknowledge her ignored feelings.
K: Season 7 Xander is my favourite Xander. Dawn asks what happens with her life now, and the gang say that she’ll train with the other potentials, and that they’ll protect her from the Bringers. Dawn asks if they can hold off on telling Buffy, on account of maybe-ghost-maybe-First!Joyce said Buffy won’t choose her. Also, she’s not sure she’s happy about being a potential because everything’s different. Anya offers an unhelpful analogy about how it’s like being swallowed. Dawn says that she needs space to think and rushes upstairs. Willow and Xander berate Anya, but she says “Well, it is a mixed bag, you know. If she gets to be the slayer, then her life is short and brutal. And if she doesn’t, then it smells of unfulfilled potential.” Willow eyerolls and says that Dawn’s part of something powerful now and it’s exciting, but Anya’s not convinced. I’m with Anya, personally.
Lor: I also kind of like how Dawn has been pouting about not being a Potential up to this point, and now that she is she’s all, “WELL, SHIT.”
Sweeney: +1. It’s kind of perfect.
K: Upstairs, Dawn listens to them bicker. Xander’s now come around to Anya’s point of view, and suggests that Buffy probably won’t be thrilled by this news. Dawn stares at herself in the mirror as Willow and Anya argue that she’s a child and her opinion doesn’t matter. Xander tells them to give her some time to adjust to the idea of being special. Dawn opens her bedroom window and climbs out onto the roof.
Lor: Welcome back old friends, Talking Loudly in the Summers Home Where Others May Hear You and Dawn Leaving the House at Questionable Times.
Sweeney: You have not been missed; please don’t stay long.
Snaps again, for Xander, being the one to note that Dawn is special and chosen and has an opinion worth considering.
K: Meanwhile, I want to punch Anya and Willow. Cut to a demon bar downtown. Buffy and Spike walk in, the potentials trailing after them. The girls gawk, and Spike berates them for not blending in. “We’re a bunch of 15 year olds in a demon bar. How much blending did you think we were gonna do?” Rona asks. Bless her for having common sense. Buffy informs them that usually when the Slayer comes to a demon bar, she wants to stand out because she’s there to wring information from someone or something. She informs them that everything in there wants to rip out their throats. Of course, that’s Clem’s cue to turn up. YAY CLEM. WELCOME BACK, FRIEND. He’s adorable for a minute as they catch up, then Buffy pulls him to one side as the girls giggle about how totally not scary Clem is. Clem and Buffy rejoin the group, and he gets all buddy buddy with the girls, drawing them in close before he does something with his face that seems to involve snakes that makes them scream and leap back in fright.
On a dark street somewhere, Dawn wanders on her own. She runs into Amanda, who’s also walking alone and looking confused. There’s some small talk, and Dawn goes to keep walking when Amanda asks if she’s okay. She replies that she is, then notices that Amanda has a cut on her forehead, and asks the same question. Amanda touches the cut, then sucks the blood off her fingers as she says that she’s had a weird night and that Dawn wouldn’t believe her. “Try me,” Dawn says. So Amanda does – she tore her swing choir sweater, so stayed late to sew it up. And by the time she finished, the school was all dark and spooky, and then some dude with a bumpy forehead and pointy teeth attacked her, and she thinks it might have been a vampire.
Dawn says that she believes her, and Amanda says that she managed to trap the vampire in a room and had been on her way to get Buffy. Dawn’s all “Buffy? Why?” and Amanda says that she’s heard Buffy can help with weird stuff. She asks if they should go and find her, and Dawn raises her chin a little as she replies “She’s out. I’ll take this one.” Cut to them climbing into the school through the window of Principal Wood’s office. Dawn tries to psych herself up, saying that it’s mostly instinct and she can do this. The window falls shut behind them and she screams a little. Amanda asks if she’s going to become a vampire, on account of the head scratch, and Dawn reassures her that she won’t.
They head upstairs to the room where Amanda trapped the vampire. Dawn fills Amanda in on some vampire basics, and Amanda asks if she’s a monster expert too. With a little smile, Dawn replies “Let’s just say it runs in the family.” She turns to the classroom door, and slowly pushes it open. Then panics a little, because Amanda said the door was locked. She looks around the room and finds it empty. “Amanda? It got out…” she says slowly as the camera pans up to show a vampire doing a River Tam impersonation on the ceiling. (L: SPOILERS.) Fade to black.
After the Not Commercial Break, Dawn says that they need to get out of there. She goes to pull the door shut, and the vampire drops down from the ceiling and attacks. There’s a fight over the door, which gets pulled off its hinges, and the girls flee, screaming. They run downstairs and to the exit, only to find the door locked. The vampire follows them, growling. Dawn smashes the glass over the fire extinguisher and grabs it, panicking that she can’t remember which way up it needs to be to work. The vamp approaches, and she just smashes the fire extinguisher into his face instead. He gets up and she hits him again, and throws the extinguisher at him as she and Amanda run back upstairs.
Sweeney: Because in spite of my rage at her non-inclusion in the training, homegirl’s been around long enough to be resourceful.
K: She fought those tree demons that Evil!Willow conjured up at the end of season 6 with no training, so YEP. Segue Magic to a Buffy voiceover about how sometimes vampires run in packs and other times they’re alone. She’s leading the potentials into a crypt, and asks who knows where they are. “It’s a nest,” Rona replies. That leads into some “Ew, this is gross” from the girls, and some awkward reminiscences about the TARDIS crypt from Spike and Buffy. The girls exchange knowing looks. Buffy changes the subject, telling the girls to look around so they can identify a nest in the future. They discover a body, which Buffy refers to as “leftovers” just as he wakes as a vampire.
Sunnydale High 2.0. Dawn and Amanda run down a dark hallway, and hide in a science lab. Dawn orders Amanda to help her barricade the door. Together, they wheel a big metal storage locker/filing cabinet/thing over to the door and lean against it, sinking to the floor. Amanda asks if they’re safe, just as the vampire starts to hammer on the door.
Crypt. Buffy faces off with the new vampire, saying that no one’s ever safe, that a minute ago, the guy was dead and now he’s the enemy. He Mario Jumps at her. Sunnydale High. Dawn assures Amanda that they’re both going to get out alive, because she has a plan. Crypt. Buffy throws the new vampire across the room and tells the potentials not to think too much, because reacting is better. She and the vamp face off, and Kennedy tries to intervene when Buffy drops her stake. Spike holds her back. Sunnydale High. Dawn tells Amanda that she’s not sure her plan will work, but Amanda says it will and she’s doing great. The vampire breaks the glass in the door, and the girls squeal. They get up and back away from the door, and the vampire manages to shove the cabinet away and get into the room.
Crypt. “It’s never ‘what do you think?’, it’s always ‘what do you know?’,” Buffy says as she flips the vampire off a sarcophagus. She continues in a voiceover as we cut back to Sunnydale High:
“It takes just one vampire to kill you. So you’ve got to know you can take him. Know your environment. Know what’s around you, and know how to use it. In the hands of a slayer, everything is a potential weapon. If you know how to see it. When you’re fighting, you have to know yourself, your brain, your body. Know how to stay calm, centered. Every move is important, every blow’s got to be part of your plan ’cause you make that one mistake, and it’s over. You’re not the slayer.”
As Buffy voiceovers, Dawn backs away from the vamp. Amanda cowers in the corner as Dawn throws test tubes and beakers and flasks at the vamp, flicking the gas taps on as she does. One flask is half full, and causes his chest to start smoking when it hits him. Dawn takes advantage of his momentary attention shift, and runs to the front of the room, grabbing the Californian flag. She tries and fails to break it across her leg, so smashes it against a desk instead. (S: A Dawnie Break, if you will! We’ve been short on fun Buffy Breaks lately.) She swings the jagged edge at the vampire several times before slipping on the broken glass and falling to the floor. The vamp leaps at her as Amanda continues to cower in the corner.
Crypt. Buffy finishes her speech with “You’re not a potential. You’re dead. What do you know? Right now, the only thing you know for sure is you got me” as she pushes the new vampire back. With the last word, she mic drops her stake and walks out. She and Spike shut the horrified potentials in as the vampire closes in on them.
Chez Summers. Willow knocks on Dawn’s door, asking her to come out. Anya wants to kick the door down because she’s sick of Dawn sulking. Xander, ever the “I’m sick of repairing this house” handyman, checks the handle and finds the door unlocked. They see the open window and swing into action. Willow says she can do a locator spell, but they need to hurry and also find Buffy.
Sunnydale High. Dawn struggles to hold the vamp away from her neck, and screams for Amanda to help. Amanda’s frozen in place and yells that she can’t. Just then, Bringers burst through the classroom windows. The vamp turns towards the noise, and Dawn shoves him away. The Bringers head straight for Amanda, and Dawn screams that they don’t want Amanda, they want her. But her expression changes as she watches the Bringers grab Amanda’s arms. Fade to black.
After the Not Commercial Break, two Bringers hold Amanda as a third draws a knife. Dawn leaps up and lights the gas, causing a small explosion. She grabs her flagpole and Amanda and they run out into the hall. At the top of the stairs, they stop running, and Dawn tells Amanda that she was wrong. It’s Amanda who’s special, not her. It’s Amanda’s fight, something she was born to do. Xander appears on the stairs in time to hear this. As the Bringers approach, Dawn hands Amanda the flagpole just as Xander calls out to Buffy.
Lor: I was highly amused by the, “this is something you have to do for yourself,” as we just saw Whedon flip that trope on it’s head in the most recent episode of Firefly we covered.
K: Excellent timing, us! Also, I’m still not sure why they BOTH couldn’t have fought. Buffy and Spike rush up the stairs as the Bringers attack. Amanda swings into action, knocking the Bringers down. Spike and Buffy take them out as Amanda deals with the vampire, which is also attacking. She manages to pin him against the wall and stake him with the flagpole. Behind her, Buffy breaks the neck of the final Bringer. Amanda demands to know what’s going on, as she went to Buffy for help with a vampire and got hit with a stinky orange glowcloud thing. Xander turns to stare at Dawn, who says quietly “She was in the doorway,” before informing Buffy that Amanda’s the potential.
Cut to Chez Summers, where the potentials are trading vampire staking stories. Amanda’s in the centre of them, and they ask her what it was like to take on a vampire on her own. On the other side of the room, Dawn watches them silently. She listens to them talk about how your whole life changes in an instant when you’re fighting, and looks at the ground sadly. Buffy appears from the kitchen, and asks if Dawn’s okay. She says that she’s fine and she’s going to start researching the First so that Buffy knows how to fight it when the time comes. Buffy calls out to the potentials, and heads down to the basement with them to brief Amanda, who smiles at Dawn as she passes.
Dawn heads over to the desk and starts to read. She realises Xander – who came in with Buffy – is still behind her. She asks what’s up, and he tells her that he’s been thinking about how the potentials get a rough deal, what with the danger and the destiny and the possible death. Dawn says that they can handle it. He sits down in front of her and tells her that they may be able to handle it, but none of them will ever know how hard it is for the rest of us. She starts to argue, and he interrupts her: “Seven years, Dawn. Working with the slayer. Seeing my friends get more and more powerful. A witch. A demon. Hell, I could fit Oz in my shaving kit, but come a full moon, he had a wolfy mojo not to be messed with. Powerful. All of them. And I’m the guy who fixes the windows.”
He tells her that he saw what she did, and she gets embarrassed, saying that the power went to her head. But he continues, saying that the minute she found out she wasn’t the chosen one, she handed the power to Amanda without a second thought. Dawn shrugs, but Xander won’t let her brush it off. “They’ll never know how tough it is, Dawnie, to be the one who isn’t chosen. To live so near to the spotlight and never step in it. But I know. I see more than anybody realises because nobody’s watching me. I saw you last night. I see you working here today. You’re not special. You’re extraordinary.” SHUT UP I’M NOT CRYING I HAVE HAYFEVER DAMMIT.
Lor: Absolutely lovely. Incredibly well played and acted from start to finish. Xander has had so many missteps, but he’s the Everyman through and through and to have him, the older generation, address the new and rising generation– not Slayer to Potential, but Slayer-adjacent to Potential-adjacent? I loved it.
Sweeney: IT’S PERFECT. This scene is easily his best moment in the entire series. It’s message of The Zeppo with four more seasons of wisdom and maturity to back it up. Perfection.
K: I LOVE THIS EPISODE. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I still hate the Buffy/Spike interactions, and the squabbling between Willow and Anya is still annoying. But the Dawn character development, and the return of Clem, and Xander making a speech that gives me all the feels (and the fact that I have all the feels anyway, because I was the kid who watched everyone else go off to events that I wasn’t invited to)? PERFECTION. It’s been a long and often bumpy road, Xander Harris, but you’ve finally grown up and become an amazing character. In short: season 7 Xander is my favourite Xander, and I have Dawn feels.
Lor: Definitely a highlight in this season so far. It had the so far characteristic sloppy bits (the First is in remission? why the hell would that vampire stay in that room locked up when he could bust out a window or tear the door off its hinges? Did that dead guy become a vampire outside of the earth? How did Amanda know how to fight so well when all the other Potentials show no any proclivity for fighting? EVERYONE: FAITH NEEDS TO DIE FOR THE NEXT SLAYER TO BE CALLED. Why was the locator spell hanging out in the Summers’ living room until the Potential came to it? Is Spike’s chip gone? He hits a Potential well enough…) but it was such a nice entry into Dawn and Xander’s storyline, I can’t hate it.
This episode kind of sends a mixed message about girl power, though, as Kirsti pointed out. Andrew (hilariously) tell us that a Potential is a metaphor for womanhood. Buffy is teaching the Potentials all about empowerment, about trusting your instincts and the power you have even when you are at a disadvantage. That’s a great message if it at once didn’t discredit Dawn and the non-potentials in the process. It’s a weird mix.
Overall, though, I enjoyed it.
Sweeney: I also can’t give this episode full-fledged LOVE because the sloppy bits weigh it down for me. The strength of the Potentials is all in the metaphor (what with their characterization being so paper thin) so when they take that metaphor in bad directions it’s a problem. That being said, I do love everything that happens with both Dawn and Xander in this episode. In that sense, I think doing weak things with the Potentials metaphor makes a fair bit of sense, because the A plot in this episode is really about how extraordinary one can be without supernatural skills. It’s got an S3 finale message to it that I appreciate.
So yes, I enjoyed it and my love of that final scene ultimately earns it a lot of bonus points.
Next time on Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The gang suspect that Giles may be The First, and also Willow gets an unexpected makeover. Find out more in S07 E13 – The Killer in Me.
I'm a 30-something librarian and I still live with my parents because I'm super broke. Leader of Team Heartless Cow. I have an inexplicable love for 90s television, eat too much chocolate, and read more than is good for me.
I'm a 30-something south Floridan who loves the beach but cannot swim. Such is my life, full of small contradictions and little trivialities. My main life goals are never to take life too seriously, but to do everything I attempt seriously well. After that, my life goals devolve into things like not wearing pants and eating all of the Zebra Cakes in the world. THE WORLD.
Nicole is the co-captain of Snark Squad and these days she spends most of her time editing podcasts. She spends too much time on Twitter and very occasionally vlogs and blogs. In her day job she's a producer, editor, director, and sometimes host of educational YouTube channels. She loves travel, maps, panda gifs, and semicolons. Writing biographies stresses her out; she crowd sourced this one years ago and has been using a version of it ever since. She would like to thank Twitter for their help.
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