Buffy 5.2: "The Real Me"

Written by David Fury
Directed by David Grossman

In which Dawn, Buffy’s younger sister, bemoans the unfair nature of her universe as one of Buffy’s old enemies crawls out of the woodwork and Giles finds a new lease on life…


Status Report

With the season premiere skipping over most of the introductory elements of the season in preference of a relatively stand-alone scenario, this episode serves that purpose. Much of the episode is told through the filter of Dawn’s perception, which is actually quite clever. It quickly establishes Dawn’s personality and relationship to the existing characters without resorting to annoying exposition on the part of everyone else. The regular characters get to act as though everything is completely normal. It’s important that this new reality feel “lived in”.

The format also highlights another important aspect of the season theme. If the idea is to delineate the differences between the Slayer and the woman, then Dawn’s perspective is paramount. Dawn is Buffy without the burden of the Chosen. As Buffy said, she wasn’t much older than Dawn when she encountered her first vampire. That much was probably intentional on every possible level; Buffy would instinctively want to protect someone who was as she was before things went wrong.

Of course, it’s not a perfect comparison. Just as previous seasons made it clear that Buffy can never be a pure Slayer, given the nurturing environment of her world, Dawn could never be a pure version of an un-Chosen Buffy. The most obvious issue is that Dawn is the younger sister of a Slayer, which is not the situation Buffy was in prior to being called. And Dawn is more protected that Buffy ever would have been, simply by virtue of the dangerous world Buffy lives in.

Buffy was an only child; Dawn is a younger sibling. But in a very subtle way, Dawn is what Buffy might have been like under exactly the same conditions. And that is a very odd paradox. Dawn is the way she is because Buffy exists as the older sister and as the Slayer, yet Dawn is what Buffy would have been like had she never been called.

The result is something wonderfully complex. The episode is seen through Dawn’s eyes and words, yet it all inevitably speaks to Buffy and the person she is becoming. Through Dawn, Buffy’s core personality is easier to distinguish, making it easier for the Chosen aspect of her personality to reveal itself. At least, it seems rather clear from the first few episodes that this was the intended direction for the season to take.

Regardless, if the fourth season was about self-discovery, then Dawn’s observations reflect the results of that process. Buffy has come a long way, but she still hasn’t found her place in the world. Discovering the Chosen legacy within is a step in the right direction, but as Dawn notes, the world doesn’t care about those particular skill sets. The world has very little reason to be impressed with Buffy. This is also reflected in her decision to choose training over a college course; focusing on the Slayage is to reinforce the idea of a short lifespan.

This is all communicated while another key aspect emerges. Buffy now has someone other than herself to protect and nurture. That situation is introduced almost immediately, and then escalated over the course of the season until its metaphorical conclusion. As the final season would demonstrate, the source of the Slayer power is essentially that of the Mother Goddess. As such, Buffy is set to discover the ultimate role of any mother: sacrifice for those in her care. All Slayers serve this purpose: to save the world, they give their life, and the cycle continues.

Though it’s not directly from Dawn’s perspective, the first signs of trouble between Buffy and Riley emerge. Riley is quickly finding himself on the sidelines, now that Buffy has dedicated herself to exploring the boundaries of the Chosen legacy. Unfortunately for Riley, the rest of his world has been ripped away. He has nothing else but Buffy, and it’s not the same for her. He tries to put a happy face on it, but the signs of discontent are there.

Dawn’s initial scenes with Giles are particularly insightful. Dawn doesn’t think that Giles likes her very much, but that’s perfectly in character. Giles didn’t really like Buffy’s more mundane personality quirks in the first season, either, and Dawn is nothing but that with sibling rivalry tossed in the mix. More to the point, Giles continues to find himself in an odd place. He wants to be there for Buffy, but he’s still not sure how his pseudo-Watcher role will work out. Indeed, like the sports car, it feels like grasping at the past rather than reaching for the future. (Ironically, Giles’ future is finding a new way to be a Watcher, which effectively begins here.)

Through Dawn, the growing acceptance of Willow and Tara’s relationship is communicated. It would have been fun to see Joyce’s reaction to this little revelation, but it takes those characters into a new direction. Willow and Tara need to get closer over the course of the season so that the stakes are plain through the finale. (If Joss had stuck with his original plan for the fifth season, with Tara dying and sending Willow into the darkness in her struggle with Glory, it might have been a tighter story structure.)

Continuing with the reinforcement of the main theme, when they find the previous owner of the Magic Box, Buffy does her best to protect Dawn from that side of reality. Sure enough, it only leaves her exposed to something equally disturbing. This is the first hint of the season plot arc, and as many have noted, it ties neatly into the Buffy/Faith dream sequences stretching back as far as the third season. (More proof that the concept of Dawn was not mandated by the network but a deliberate extension of Buffy’s search for self-awareness.)

Afterward, there’s a chance for Tara and Dawn to commiserate over the fact that they are essentially outsiders. This is a good example of how the writers sell the idea that these relationships were “always there”. Tara (who looks like she’s glammed up a lot since the end of the fourth season) is very comfortable around Dawn.

Before the episode can get too serious, the killer’s identity is revealed: Harmony. Harmony has pulled together her own merry band of misfits in an attempt to take down Buffy. Since this is completely ridiculous, the eventual direction taken by the episode is a bit obvious (and foreshadowed by the accosting of Dawn at the end of the first act). In fact, once Harmony’s plot unfolds, the episode becomes a bit pedestrian.

Considering the fact that there was a certain chemistry between Buffy and Xander earlier in the series, it’s not surprising that Dawn finds him so dreamy. More to the point, where the rest of the gang sees Xander as a bit of a dork, Dawn recognizes that he’s probably the most insightful of the bunch. For all that Xander’s character hasn’t evolved much over the years, one thing has remained fairly valid: Xander sees the truth of things before nearly everyone else. Dawn also has a fairly honest (if non-objective) assessment of Anya.

Tying into “Restless”, there’s the moment where Dawn notes that Xander often looks at her like a little sister. In Xander’s dream during “Restless”, Buffy looked up at Xander and called him “big brother”. While it worked on a certain level for Buffy and Xander, given their relationship, it also speaks to the fact that Dawn is a reflection of who Buffy might have been.

The episode also provides an opportunity to remind the audience that Tara has a secret, something that is possibly demonic in nature. The implication is that it’s a very bad thing. Of course, as revealed later, this is not the case. Joss might have been better served by dropping that entire character aspect and pretending it never happened. The eventual resolution of Tara’s secret takes away one of the more interesting sides of her character.

Since the season arcs usually don’t start in earnest until the third episode or so, this is the perfect time to establish the rules of the universe now that Dawn is a part of it. Exploring her relationship to the various characters is an important part of the process. The writers had a pretty good idea where they wanted to go with Dawn, conceptually, and that shows in this episode.


Memorable Quotes

RILEY: “What? It’s a nice outfit.”
BUFFY: “Mmm-hmm.”
RILEY: “Besides, ‘I’m here to violate your firstborn’ never goes over with parents. Not sure why…”

BUFFY: “Are you mad at me?”
RILEY: “Oh, no, not at all. I’m plotting your death, but in a happy way…”

GILES: “I’m serious, Buffy, there’s going to be far less time for the sort of flighty, frivolous-”
DAWN: “Hey, there’s Willow and Tara.”
GILES: “Oooh, they haven’t seen my new car!”

WILLOW: “Buffy, you’re developing a work ethic.”
BUFFY: “Oh, no…do they make an ointment for that?”

RILEY: “Back to what I was saying before we were rudely attacked by nothing…”

ANYA: “Can I trade in this children for the cash?”

BUFFY: “Giles, are you sure about this?”
GILES: “Why wouldn’t I be?”
BUFFY: “Well, aside from the fact that most magic shop owners in Sunnydale have the life expectancy of a Spinal Tap drummer…”

BUFFY: “How bored were you last year?”
GILES: “I watched ‘Passions’ with Spike. Let us never speak of it.”


Final Analysis

Overall, this episode is a nice introduction to Dawn as a character. By setting the episode from her point of view, it legitimizes the sudden relationships that emerge and also reveal her specific insight. Once the metaphorical concepts are covered and the plot focuses on Harmony, it’s not as strong, but this is still a good beginning for the season’s theme.

Writing: 1/2
Acting: 2/2
Direction: 2/2
Style: 2/4

Final Rating: 7/10