Real Me

Season Five begins with this entry. Giles has bought the Magic Box, despite misgivings from the Scoobies (who note that Magic Box owners have the lifespan of "Spinal Tap" drummers). Anya is Xander's expected tag-a-long, and he's working construction now.

Most importantly, the audience is meeting Dawn, and learning that in the Buffy-verse, Dawn is accepted as having been there all along. We've known her for 2 episodes (with an allusion--in retrospect--by Faith in a dream sequence), and we're still adjusting to the idea that all of them, Dawn included, accept that Dawn has been there since the beginning, no questions. Weird mojo, and I can't imagine how discombobulating that was for people who watched the series when it was coming out, week by week waiting for that to unfold. (Watching it all on dvd for the first time meant I could do a marathon session and get answers quickly!)

Pairing Dawn with Harmony was inspired. Dawn is established as young, whiney, not conscious of the ramifications of her actions. Her diary-writing tone makes me wonder if Joss (did he write this episode? I didn't check) was at some point a 14 yr old girl. The "I'm so much more than anyone knows and I deserve more" tone is great; it could be argued that it's overdone in places, but he is establishing character--and we're getting it from Dawn's POV, her internal dialogue. Making that more extreme than her public face is appropriate (I have read enough journals from 14 and 15 yr olds to know that!).

Harmony is worst-case of Dawn in a few years. Self-involved, superficial, whiney--still believing that she deserves more than she gets. The brief exchange between the two while Dawn is chained up, waiting for Buffy to rescue her highlights the commonalities between the characters. Using Harmony as the link between two goals of this episode--letting us see who Dawn is, and getting a sense that Dawn is the weakest link, the one who is in danger--works well.

And who wouldn't have a crush on Xander? They play Dawn's crush on him well, and her enthusiasm about Willow and Tara. For all Dawn's "poor me" talk, it's not that she dislikes Buffy or doesn't believe Buffy cares: it's that she would like to know she's accepted, that she is a part of the big kids' group. It's firmly established that she knows and likes Buffy's friends, and that they like her. Even Giles is comfortable yelling at her, implying a certain familiar frustration. Like Tara--who talks to Willow about feeling as if she's intruding on the Scoobies at times--Dawn wants included as a full member of the tribe. Tara, wiser and more mature, accepts that she is not an insider--yet. Dawn, who we assume has been on the outside for the past 4 years, feels her exclusion more intensely.

And Spike's back, still, not good, not bad. He laughed at Harmony but didn't help her; he gave Buffy info (after getting beat around a bit), but didn't help her, either. At this point, there's no sense that he's going to go White Hat, but he's not a bad boy, either....quite.