Potential

Writer: Rebecca Rand Kirshner Director : James A. Contner Cast : Sarah Michelle Gellar as Buffy Summers, Nicholas Brendon as Xander Harris, Emma Caulfield as Anya, Michelle Trachtenberg as Dawn Summers, James Marsters as Spike, Alyson Hannigan as Willow Rosenberg. Main guest stars : Tom Lenk as Andrew, Iyari Limon as Kennedy, Clara Bryant as Molly, Indigo as Rona, Felicia Day as Vi, James C. Leary as Clem

Original broadcast date : January 21, 2003

My one-line description:

In a cemetery, Rona and Vi are being attacked by a vampire. It grabs Vi by the neck and leans in as if to bite her… then stops. It’s Spike, who’s helping Buffy train the SITs. Buffy appears and criticizes their actions; she asks the girls what they were thinking about when Spike attacked, and after lying a bit they finally confess they were thinking about running away. Buffy replies that running away to regroup is a good idea – it allows them to face the battle on their own terms. She then asks Spike what he was thinking about, and he replies that he was thinking about the hunt. Buffy decides to show the SITs how it’s done, and Spike and her simulate a fight… but they almost end up touching each other in the wrong places, and embarrassedly break apart, while the SITs smirk.

The next morning, Buffy is lecturing the SITs on the First’s withdrawal – it had a lot vested in Ubie, so now it has to regroup. It gives them time, but it’ll be dangerous when the First returns. The girls still aren’t too sure of themselves and their power, and questions fuse. Buffy tells them that she knows they’re tired and far from home, but even though being a Slayer means “breathing death”, it’s cool since they have a purpose in life. As she leaves them to their thoughts, Buffy passes Dawn in the doorway and tells her to prepare for school. Dawn doesn’t look too happy about it.

At work, Buffy is on the phone telling Xander to lock the bathroom door if he’s taking a shower (har har). We also learn that Giles is in China fetching another SIT. While she talks, Amanda (the girl from “Help”) appears, and Buffy motions for her to come in. She hangs up, and Amanda tells her about her latest problem – some boy is being mean to her, and she wonders if that means he likes her (poor Amanda, she looks like Season 1 Willow without the good looks). Buffy confusedly rambles about boys and girls being mean to one another as a way to show interest, which leaves Amanda confused and a bit lost.

Late that afternoon, the Slayer comes home to the now-usual teenage mayhem. She attempts to break it up, but Willow attracts her attention to the fact that the Coven has located another SIT right here in Sunnydale. They’re all worried that the First is once more among them in disguise, but Willow promises to do a locator spell while Buffy is out training with the young’uns.

In the kitchen, Molly and another SIT are playing with some weapons, and when Dawn walks in, Molly jokingly points her crossbow at her. Dawn isn’t impressed. In fact, she looks depressed that the SITs are going out while she’s getting ready for bed. Buffy comes in, followed by Andrew, who is begging her to let him come along. Buffy, of course, won’t have any of it.

Sometime later, Willow is assembling the ingredients for her locator spell. She throws them in the fireplace, explaining to Anya, Xander and Dawn what each ingredient stands for, and finishes off by throwing in a hardboiled egg. Immediately, a noxious smell invades the room, along with a lot of smoke. A big ball of orange energy arises, but just hovers there in the middle of the room. The Scoobies are all disgusted by the smell, so Dawn moves to open the front door – and the energy ball rams right into her. As Dawn stands, startled and unmoving, Willow looks at her with stupefied realization – Dawn is a potential Slayer.

The Scoobies are very happy, but Dawn is having a lot of trouble taking all of this in. She begs them not to tell Buffy right now, especially since ghost-Joyce told her things about the Slayer. Willow notes that Buffy will have to die for Dawn to become the Slayer, and the teen suddenly panics – this is too much for her head. She flies upstairs into her room, while the others discuss what they should do. Upstairs, Dawn hears them talking, and suddenly makes a decision. Opening the window, she slips outside (in a scene reminiscent of Buffy in “Welcome to the Hellmouth”.

Buffy and Spike, meanwhile, have taken the SITs to a run-down demon bar. They sure wonder why they’re here, but Buffy explains that sometimes the Slayer has to go to unsavoury places like this to get information from the demons. She seems pretty adamant that it’s the only reason the Slayer would come to a place like this – except suddenly, somebody joyfully calls her name. She turns around – it’s Clem! She happily greets him and asks him how he’s been, then introduces the SITs to him. Getting an idea, Buffy takes Clem aside… When they come back, Clem gets close to the girls… and in a shocking second, shows them his “true face” (boo!). The SITs are, of course, scared out of their wits…

Walking around town, looking quite confused, Dawn runs into Amanda, who is just coming back from school. She has a cut on her forehead, and Dawn asks about it. Amanda thinks Dawn won’t believe her, but she tells her she ran into a man… who changed into something – there was something wrong with his face and his teeth. She managed to lock him in a classroom before getting away. Dawn realizes what this is about, and says she’ll take care of it – she knows about these things. Amanda replies that she was looking for Buffy, because she’d heard she may be able to help with this kind of thing. Dawn uncomfortably says that she also can help.

The two girls drop into the school building from an open window, and proceed to the classroom where the vampire is locked up. When they get there, however, Dawn discovers the door is unlocked… Dawn pushes it open, and they slowly enter – no vampire. They think he’s gotten away, but the camera tilts upwards to show him hanging from the ceiling over the door… He drops onto them, and the girls, startled, run off further into the classroom. As Dawn tries to do battle with the bloodsucker, the scene shifts to…

…crypt, where Buffy and Spike are teaching the girls about how a vampire lives. One SIT suddenly asks Spike how he used to live when he had no soul, and he tries to describe it in endearing terms, using the word “posh” (much to Molly’s pleasure). “Comfy”, adds Buffy. The girls, not dumb at all, ask when she had the chance to discover it was comfy. Spike and Buffy embarrassedly try to explain, while the girls laugh. However, the laughter dies down when they find a dead body… “Leftovers”, Buffy says, before realizing that it’s a newborn vampire…

At the school, Dawn picks up a flagstaff, breaks it in half and whacks the vampire with it. She merely succeeds in slowing it down, and the girls decide that the better part of valor is to run away.

As the newborn vampire gets up, growling, one of the SITs comments that she thought that this was a dead body. That was a minute ago, Buffy replies; now, it’s the enemy. She engages the fiend, while lecturing the SITs about how important it is not to make any mistake. After all, it only takes one vampire to kill them.

Dawn and Amanda barricade themselves in a room using heavy office furniture, but it’s obvious the vampire is going to break the door down… Which he finally manages, of course. But by then, they have bigger problems, as four or five Bringers have shown up. And they’re not looking for Dawn…

At the crypt, Buffy finishes giving her lecture to the SITs, while still battling the vampire. Being done, she and Spike step outside and close the doors to the crypt, locking the terrified girls in with the vampire…

At the house, Willow is knocking on Dawn’s bedroom door, and getting no answer. Anya suggests breaking the door down, but Willow just opens it – no lock. Inside, no Dawn, but they look at the open window and realize what’s going on. And they know the Bringers will be on the lookout for her…

Amanda, meanwhile, is petrified with fear as the Bringers chase the girls down a staircase. Realizing this isn’t her fight, Dawn hands the broken flagstaff over to her, and encourages the reluctant SIT to use it – she has to do this. Impressively, Amanda overcomes her fears and launches herself at the vampire, while Buffy, Spike and the gang, having just arrived, take care of the Bringers. Amanda easily dusts the vampire; after all is done, Dawn explains to her sister that Amanda is the new SIT they were looking for.

The next morning, the SITs – Amanda among them – are in the living room sharing the stories of their recent exploits, as Dawn watches from the doorway. Buffy comes by, and Dawn informs her that she’s going to hit the research. Buffy nods and goes into the living room, calling the SITs to more training in the basement. They all file out, walking past Dawn. Only Amanda glances at her and smiles briefly as she walks by her. She’s not part of their world.

Clearly sad, Dawn goes to the dining room and sits down in front of a book – but her mind is elsewhere. After a moment, she notices Xander standing in the doorway behind her. He tells her that he knows what it feels like – to be the one not chosen, to not be special. He says that for seven years, he watched his friends grow more and more powerful – Buffy, Willow, Oz… And he’s the one who fixes the broken windows. He adds that Buffy and the others probably don’t know what she went through and what she’s feeling, but he does – he saw her at the school, how one second she had the power, and the next she handed the crown over to Amanda without a hesitation. “You’re not special”, he says. “You’re extraordinary”. Dawn now has tears in her eyes, and Xander gently kisses her on the forehead. As he turns to go, she muses that maybe that’s his power – seeing in other people. He smiles and comments that maybe he should get a cape. Dawn laughs through her tears as he leaves the room. Left alone, she gets down to the research. Summary by OttsFiveByFive

Special thanks to Loey.

Ratings

Episode Ratings

OttsFivebyFive -

“I never tire of seeing Dawn come into her own. And this episode did a marvellous job of showing the noblest part of her, and as a bonus, the noblest part of Xander as well. The character development in itself is worth four stakes. Sure, there’s that confusion about a new Slayer getting called the next time Buffy dies, but as I’m sure it’ll all be explained, I still give it a four.”

Mac - 1/2 “I’m still iffy on the SITs, and Buffy is starting to get repititive with the speeches; but this episode was a nice break away from the long story arc. It wasn’t great, but the last scene made it worthy of a great rating. We needed to see a healthy Spike, we needed to see some friendship and less inappropriate sex from B/S, and we needed to see Xander being the friggin’ hero he is. Yay for “Potential”.”

Quotes

(B=Buffy, X-Xander, W=Willow, S=Spike, D=Dawn, A=Anya, Aw=Andrew, R=Rona, M=Molly, V=Vi, Key: Am=Amanda, K=Kennedy, C=Clem

S: OK, these two are dead. Why? R: ’Cause the black chick always gets it first?

B: Rona, what did your instincts tell you to do just then? R: Block his attack, keep him off balance, gain the advantage…? B: No, they didn’t. R: They told me to run.

B: Vi? V: They told me to run. They’re still sort of telling me to run.

R: That’s hot. M: So, we’re supposed to, like, make out with them or something?

B: As best we can tell, he�or precisely “it”�was putting a lot of stock in that UberVamp thing, the Chaka Khan. D: Turok-Han?

B: (on the phone) Xander, I know. I’m sorry�If you’re gonna take a shower at my house, lock the door. Of course they’re curious.

Am: Do people ever think you’re weird? B: Um, I guess. Sure, in a charming, endearing, loveable… Yeah.

B: Sometimes that’s how people relate. Being mean to each other. Even mortal enemies. Then with the…And that leads to no good, absolutely no good. And much confusion. And then it’s over. Absolutely, seriously, definitely over. And that’s confusing too. The over part. Which it is. Over! So, maybe.

B: Oh, look everybody. It’s Willow. Perhaps with a blunt weapon of some sort.

X: Wait, the seers couldn’t find out her name or, like, her address or anything? Am I getting the definition of “seer” wrong?

M: Halt! D: OK, see, that’s why we don’t point the weapons in the kitchen. V: It’s not loaded. D: That’s always the lead quote under the headline “Household Crossbow Accident Claims Teen”.

R: Gotta go with the stake. It’s classic. I like the feel of wood in my hand. K: Lost me there.

Aw: But I’m reformed. I’m like Vegeta on Dragonball Z. I used to be a pure Sayan, and now I fight for the side of Goku. B: Still not coming.

D: Could be anybody. Could be that glamazon in gym class, what’s her name? Oh, my lab partner, Margot, the freak. Boy, I hope not, because she totally fainted right in the middle of our fetal pig dissection. Somehow I just don’t think she’s cut out for the slayage biz. Aw: Killing pigs is just so wrong. And also hard.

W: The smell will lead us to the potential. X: Or some poor soul who ate too many chimichangas.

A: Wow, it’s like one second you were this klutzy teenager with fake memories and a history of kleptomania, and then�then suddenly you’re a hero, a hero with a much abbreviated lifespan.

A: Well, it’s a lot like being the Pope in that way, except you don’t have to be some old Catholic.

D: What if they saw the spell? X: Saw the spell? Dawn, they can’t see flashcards. Big ones.

Aw: Are we gonna replace the microwave? ’Cause I was thinking some Orville Redenbacher with fresh butter flavor….What’s going on? A: Dawn’s gonna be a slayer. Aw: Holy crap! Excuse me. Plucked from an ordinary life, handed a destiny… X: Say Skywalker, and I smack ya.

W: It’s not like that. It’s like, she’s part of this huge power. I know what that feels like. It feels wonderful. Aw: Yes, Willow so captured it. It’s like�well, it’s almost like this metaphor for womanhood, isn’t it? The sort of flowering that happens when a girl realizes that she’s part of a fertile heritage stretching back to Eve, and… X: I’ll pay you to talk about Star Wars again.

V: It’s a demon bar. It’s like a gay bar, only with demons.

K: You don’t drink? B: Sure I do. I mean, no. That would be wrong. V: Do they card? B: Nope, go ahead. Down all the yak urine shots or pigs blood spritzers you like.

C: Oh, my God! It is so good to see you! I saw this great show on the History Channel the other night that I knew you would love, and then something went all flooey with my TiVo.

K: You think she dated him too?

V: I could use a shot of that yak urine right about now.

Am: So, I was thinking… we don’t have to kill the vampire, do we? D: What? Am: Just suppose he got out and was maybe like encouraged toward the gym while the marching band was playing because the way they look down on the Swing Choir. It might be, you know, funny. I’m just saying.

M: Where’d you live? S: What, you mean before? A crypt actually, but nicer. A bit more…I don’t know if posh is the right word, but it was more like… B: Comfy. K: Excuse me? When did you find it comfy? B: Moving on.

R: I’m sure the vampire thought we were like, what, four helpless girls. And then Vi…Vi actually yells, “We’re just four helpless girls.” V: That was part of my plan.

D: What’s up? X: Aw, I’m just thinking about the girls. It’s a harsh gig, being a potential. Just being picked out of a crowd, danger, destiny, plus if you act now, death. D: They can handle it. X: Yeah. They’re special, no doubt. The amazing thing is, not one of them will ever know, not even Buffy. D: Know what? X: How much harder it is for the rest of us. D: No way. They’ve got… X: 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. D: Well, you had that sexy army training for a while, and�and the windows really did need fixing. X: I saw what you did last night. D: Yeah, I…I guess I kinda lost my head when I thought I was the slayer. X: You thought you were all special. Miss Sunnydale 2003. And the minute you found out you weren’t, you handed the crown to Amanda without a moment’s pause. You gave her your power. D: The power wasn’t mine. X: 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 realizes because nobody’s watching me. I saw you last night. I see you working here today. You’re not special. You’re extraordinary. *kisses her on the forehead* D: Maybe that’s your power. X: What? D: Seeing. Knowing. X: Maybe it is. Maybe I should get a cape. D: Cape is good. X: Yeah.

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