Buffy the Vampire Slayer

The Good;
A great tribute to writers and cast that Dawn really does seem to fit right in, as though she's always been there. Harmony also gets a chance to shine and I do love the silent ballet of breakfast in the Summer's house.

The Bad;
Nothing bad, just not as good as some other eps.

Best line;
Dawn; "I could totally save the world if someone handed me superpowers" (one day Dawnie, one day)
also like;
Xander; "Is that Brad Konig? Not so tough now as when you were beating up kids in gym class?"
Brad (giving him the finger) "Screw you Harris!"-High school's over, Brad's a vampire but some things never change.

Women good/men bad; Harmony accuses Xander of being a hair puller and 'a big girl'. On the plus side she tells Spike to drop dead.

Jeez!;
The murder of another magic shop owner, not a sight Dawn should see. Also the sight of poor Dawn terrified by the insane guy is upsetting.

Kinky dinky;
Dawn has a crush on Xander and wears a dress very reminiscent of the one Kate wore in 'Sense and Sensitivity'. Buffy's backless top is also worthy of note. One of Harmony's gang asks her when they're going to 'do it'? Harmony is appalled, odd she wasn't that bashful with Spike. Another of her gang is considered 'sire-whipped' but one presumes not literally so? Dawn thinks that the Slayer should wear a cool costume Wonder Woman style, if only! (I think my favourite Calvin and Hobbes joke is where Calvin writes in his school report that his mother puts on a patriotic leotard, cape and thigh boots and fights crime in her spare time. "Wow, show me that outfit some time!" remarks his dad). Riley claims that saying to parents "I'm here to violate your first born" never goes down well (unless your parents are Satanists or something?). Buffy likes George Clooney who was 40 at this stage, once again showing her penchant for older men.

Captain Subtext;
Dawn resents Anya because she has Xander. She once confessed to Joyce that she'd like Tara and Willow to teach her the things they do together whereupon Joyce got 'very quiet' and made her go upstairs (Dawillta?). Now in last weeks ep Joyce didn't seem to know about them so has Dawn actually changed the past rather than just everyone's memories? Tara's little guilty look when Willow tells her she's one of the good guys is priceless. Xander refers to his 'master' Dracula and Riley is still a little jealous of Buffy's lingering attraction to him. Spike refers to Buffy as a dish. Buffy also expresses her wish to still curl up in Joyce's lap (as she did in Innocence), still revelling in maternal love and jealous of little sis Dawn getting all the attention from Joyce.

Guantanamo Bay;
Spike gets another Buffybeating

Scoobies to the ER;
Poor Anya get's bashed up.

Apocalypses; 5,

Scoobies in bondage: Dawn is in the show 5 minutes and is already chained to the wall. Although she won't officially join for at least another season she has all the makings of a Scooby right there.
Buffy: 8
Giles: 4
Cordy: 5
Will: 3
Jenny: 1
Angel: 4
Oz: 1
Faith: 3
Joyce: 1
Wes: 1
Xander; 1
Dawn; 1

Scoobies knocked out: Anya
Buffy: 15
Giles: 10
Cordy: 6
Xander: 8
Will: 5
Jenny: 2
Angel: 6
Oz: 3
Faith: 1
Joyce: 2
Wes: 1
Anya;1

Kills:
Buffy: 4 more vamps for Buffy so 85 vamps, 28 demons, 6 monsters, 3 humans, 1 werewolf, 1 spirit warrior & a robot
Giles: 5 vamps, 1 demon
Cordy: 3 vamps, a demon
Will: 4 vamps
Angel: 3 vamps, 1 demon, 1 human
Oz: 3 vamps, 1 zombie
Faith: 16 vamps, 5 demons, 3 humans
Xander: 5 vamps, 2 zombies, a demon, a demon
Anya: a demon
Riley; 12 vamps + 7 demons

Scoobies go evil:
Giles: 1
Cordy: 1
Will: 2
Jenny: 1
Angel: 1
Oz: 1
Joyce: 1
Xander: 3

Alternate scoobies:
Buffy: 6
Giles: 3
Cordy: 1
Will: 2
Jenny: 2
Angel: 3
Oz: 2
Joyce: 2
Xander: 3

Recurring characters killed: 9
Jesse, Flutie, Jenny, Kendra, Larry, Snyder, Professor Walsh, Forrest, McNamara

Sunnydale deaths; the Magic Shop owner. The vamps also have a census taker hostage (Silence of the Lambs?) but maybe Buffy rescued him?
83;

Total number of scoobies: 7
Giles, Xander, Willow, Buffy, Anya, Tara, Riley

Xander demon magnet: 5(6?)
Preying Mantis Lady, Inca Mummy Girl, Drusilla, VampWillow, Anya (arguably Buffy & Faith with their demon essences?), Dracula?

Scoobies shot:
Giles: 2
Angel: 3
Oz: 4

Notches on Scooby bedpost:
Giles: 2; Joyce & Olivia, possibly Jenny and 3xDraccy babes?
Cordy: 1?
Buffy: 3 confirmed; Angel, Parker,Riley, 1 possible, Dracula(?)
Angel: 1;Buffy
Joyce: 1;Giles, 2 possible, Ted and Dracula(?)
Oz: 3; Groupie, Willow & Verucca
Faith:2 ;Xander, Riley
Xander: 2; Faith, Anya
Willow: 2;Oz and Tara

Questions and observations;
The great introduction for Dawn, at this stage we have no idea what she is and we don't know if she has any idea either. MT is so cute, she's just adorable, no wonder she made so much money from advertisements. Her top makes her look like one of the science officers from Star Trek. And the love between Joyce, Buffy and Dawn is terrific, so palpable yet not too twee, comes across as realistic rather than OTT Hollywood ideal family. We also here have a radical shift in how Willow and Tara dress, they look like they're going to some sort of folk festival or something. And Harmony once again proves her comedy value. Tom Lenk who'll eventually play Andrew appears here as an unnamed vamp. Again, would the Scoobies know what Spinal Tap was? (I had to look it up). Once again Will finds the dead body. Why don't the vamps just set fire to Buffy's house? Although it makes sense for the vamps to keep Dawn alive so that they have a hostage if things go wrong. Dawn portends that Buffy doesn't know who she is, we don't know at this stage if Dawn is aware of what she is? Surely unicorns are a symbol of good? Interesting commentary that SMG finds it hard to laugh on cue?
Marks out of 10; 7/10

Real Me was a perfectly classic episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I really enjoyed watching this episode. It was full of action, intrigue, and drama. This episode gives more insight into Dawn, Buffy's younger sister. It was very interesting to watch as this story unfolded a little. There was just enough to make it all seem like there was nothing new or different, however there is more to Dawn than meets the eyes. There were subtle or blatent signs that pointed to Dawn, and this is a great mystery that I can not wait to unravel. This is one of my favorite episodes. Giles takes over the magic shop which seems only natural, and we are introduced to Buffy's sister Dawn, who has seemingly been here all along.

Strong performances from Michelle Trachtenberg (Dawn) and Mercedes McNab (Harmony) make this episode a lot better than it could have been given the fairly thin plot,however,there are some good action scenes & some laugh out loud comedy sequences that ultimately save this episode from mediocrity.



Dawn's diary entries are surprisingly perceptive & also very funny,especially her reflections on Xander (on whom she appears to have a major crush) and the burgeoning relationship between Willow & Tara.



McNab's portrayal of the hapless Harmony is wonderful as the blond bombshell attempts to establish some street-cred by putting a gang together.Problem is,her band of minions are even more useless than their leader.The gang's encounter with Xander is hysterical,until Dawn invites them into the family home!



It's still a tough ask warming to Riley,but Dawn's diary entry on him & Buffy is terrific ('I bet they have sex').And it's always good to see Joyce in an episode.Spike's good value as always,in fact everyone works well with an average script making this one of the better episodes in what will be a tumultuous season.

Dawn, through diary entries, shares her emotions and opinions about her sister, her sister's friends, and life with her sister being the Slayer. Harmony devises a plan to get her minions to kill the Slayer, but after an encounter with Spike, she chooses another way to lure the Slayer: to kidnap Dawn.



I loved this episode, but where the hell has Dawn been for the past four seasons?! I hate that. She just appeared out of nowhere, but they talked about it for over a year. I liked when Harmony kidnapped Dawn though, but Harmony ALWAYS escapes! I want her to die already. Anyway, good episode. :)

"Buffy! If you're going out why don't you takr your sister?" Dawn Summers has just made her appearance, she has never been in any other episode up until now. Questions start to pop into everyone's mind 'Where's she been this whole time?' and 'How did she get in here?' The reason for Dawn suddenly appearing is revealed in the next few episodes.



In this episode Buffy's high school bully comes back, this time as a vampire with minions. Everyone seems to find this hilarious but soon everyone stops laughing when Harmony captures Dawn. I quite enjoyed this episode, it was different to all the others, not just because of Dawn but because Harmony, someone you thought was weak, comes back as a vampire, ready to kill!

Real Me is a great episode; it tells us about Dawn, her life, her opinions and her thoughts. It has great character interaction and of course the return of the hilarious Harmony is always welcome.



I like the way they presented Dawn in this episode; we need to know how she fits into Buffy's life and what role she is before we can fully accept her. I really loved the whole diary idea they used with Dawn's voiceover- they give us great insight into her character and she fits into the gang perfectly.



Michelle Trachtenberg was brilliant here- she plays Dawn perfectly and her appearance really feels natural. It feels like she's always been there and she has fantastic chemistry with all the actors. She has great delivery and really shines here. An excellent addition to the cast.



The scene outside the magic box was very important- the writers couldn't just force us to accept Buffy has a sister and they couldn't just tell us right away why she does either. This scene keeps those who doubt the storyline happy and the references to "Curds and whey" is a nice touch, bringing back memories of Faith and Buffy's dream sequence in "Graduation Day".



The Harmony storyline was fantastic also- Harmony as a character doesn't have the greatest personality or the most layers but in short bursts, she's great. Her lines are hilarious, as was her interaction with Spike and Xander. The whole minion thing was done well and Mercedes McNab was as great as always. The tone of the show really felt different as well- there is a big family dynamic going on and it feels like a completely different show at times. Buffy's character is much more mature and responsible and it is very interesting to see what the presence of Dawn adds to the show. Some may dislike Dawn but I believe her addition was absolutely necessary- Season 4 struggled with trying to intergrate adult storylines more but the characters simply weren't mature enough to deal with them then but this is all changed from this episode on.



Anya was so hilarious here- this is the Anya we've been waiting for all this time! Emma Caulfield was perfect here and it is sometimes purely her line delivery that makes the line funny. She's an outstanding actress in all respects and especially in comedy.



Real Me is an insightful, fun episode that sets up this season's fantastic arc well and is interesting all the way throughout.

Real Me-Through her diary entries, Buffy's little sister Dawn gives her views on Buffy, Slaying, and the rest of the Scooby Gang. Though she only appeared at the end of the last episode, it now seems that she has been around since before the series started. Well, after 2 seasons of vague dreams and cryptic forshadowing, the writers finally introduce Dawn, Buffy's little sister. Now, Dawn is infamous in Buffy fandom for being the worst character the series ever created, which I never understood why as I could think of worst characters (The potentials, Riley etc.) Dawn actually served a purpose to mature Buffy and give her more responsibilities. Yes, she's annoying, but she's 14 year old little sister, what sane person wouldn't be? I myself have been annoyed by Dawn, mostly in the 6th season, but here, Dawn makes a good first impression. Michelle Trachtenberg is both convincing and believeable as Buffy's younger sister, not to mention the writers do a fine job of making her seem like a real teenager. Also, her interaction with the cast was wonderful and it really does seem that Dawn has been there forever. It's also a great way to get to know Dawn as the episode is done from her perspective and she has some great lines like:



Dawn: "Oooo scary vampires...they die from a splinter."



Also, I loved Harmony and her vampire gang, as they were so priceless throught. She is by far the funniest villain the show ever had and Mercedes McNab is comedy gold. There is also the usual hilarious dialogue to be found like:



Harmony: "I've been doing my homework, reading books and stuff."

Spike: What, "Evil For Dummies"?



and



Harmony: What's your question?

Cyrus: When are we gonna do it?

Harmony: Eww! That's rude. I barely know you. And you're a minion.

Mort: He means the plan! When are we gonna do the plan?



and



Buffy: Giles, are you breaking up with your car? Giles: Well, it did seduce me, all red and sporty! Buffy: Little two-door tramp.



and



Buffy: Harmony, when you tried to be head cheerleader you were bad, when you tried to chair the homecoming committee you were really bad, but when you try to be bad, you suck!



Now while Dawn still remains a mystery, she does make for good new character, especially the sister dynamic between Sarah and Michelle. "Real Me" is a nice intro for Dawn and gives use some great insight on the character.

Ah, how I loathe the day Michelle Trachtenberg stepped foot into the Buffy Universe. Yes, she officially made her first appearance in the very last shot of the previous episode, but this is Dawn's flagship entry in the series.



Though I'm very torn on the character of Dawn, I will say that the idea is great. I love that Joss and company dump this new character (Buffy's little sister no less) in the mix with ZERO explanation of HOW she got there. Sometimes, you find yourself going: "wait, did I miss something?". 'Real Me' is told solely through Dawn's tweeny journal entry about her involvement with the Scooby gang. It's kind of cool to see an outside (or seemingly outside) character draw up her thoughts on all of the characters we're so used to seeing on a regular basis. It's an engaging way to tell this story. The other saving grace is mercedes McNab's always entertaining return as 'Harmony'.



So, as Dawn complains (get used to it, folks) about her station in life and how she's treated by everyone around her, Harmony and a her new gang of bumbling vampires are hatching a plot to kill Buffy. One thing leads to another, and Dawn ends up falling into the vamp gang's clutches-- thus making Buffy have to save the day and reprimand Dawn for being irresponsible. The problem here is I feel no sympathy for Dawn. She earns most of the crap she gets from surrounding characters. Dawn embodies "annoying". She makes foolish decisions, and lets her bratiness get other people hurt. Yes, that's what little sisters/brothers are supposed to be like, but to make us suffer through it is borderline unbearable. I love Season 5 of Buffy even though Dawn inhabits it. This is a fine little entry in the arc and creates a mystery as to who Dawn really is and where she comes from.

This is the first Dawn-centric episode of the series and what is particularly unique about it is that we are thrown right into the character of Dawn, without any explination of her existence or where she came from. Most Buffy fans new that Buffy never had a sister, if they watched the first four seasons anyway. They take this episode to really introduce us to Dawn, show us what it's like for her to be the kid sister of the slayer but still offer us no explinations about her. Though it is made clear through Dawn's own statement "that she is defenitely something more.



This episode is very quirky and actually was good way to introduce Dawn without actually giving anything away.

Buffy's brand new sister is revealed, and is not explained to the fans. Apperently Buffy has had this sister for all of her life regardless of what four years of TV evidence say to us. I really do like dawn, despite her nasal voice in this and many episodes. I also think her character compliments Tara's character well. We see Tara as the essence of kindness and we see that Dawn looks up to her. SHe really does love Willow and Tara. Also, a sisterly relationship for Buffy developed her character. Had Dawn been a boy, the series would have plummeted.

Now this is much better. Maybe this should have been the first episode of the season, but then we wouldn’t have had the reveal at the end of Episode 1. Buffy’s confused expression as she found a girl in her room was at exactly the same moment that the monks put the memories into her brain, so instead of wondering what a stranger was doing in the house, her: “What are you doing here?” was an irritated snap at her sister being in her room.



The episode sets the fake scene: Dawn is in the credits, everyone knows her, she has always been in the family, she’s grown up in the house, she knows Buffy’s the Slayer and even the rules of vampire lore are followed as only Dawn can invite Harmony into the house. She remembers what happened last week with Dracula, despite the fact she wasn’t there and Joyce making it very clear that she would be alone when Buffy went back to college. It’s a brilliant ploy to shoehorn a new character into the story in a very soapy way and then to reveal the reason later on. The false memories created by the writers actually are false memories. Instead of demons and magic being a metaphor for life, the soapy world is a metaphor for monk-magic. But at this point, we don’t know about the Key and it seems as if Dawn could be the new big bad: “Nobody knows the real me,” she pouts into her diary, which is true, but not in the way she means it or the viewer might read it. So, a blusher-clad Buffy is meditating whilst doing acrobatics, which is as an embarrassing scene as when we last saw her and Angel practising Tai-Chi. This and going shopping seems to be the key to Buffy getting in touch with her inner primal slayer. Giles has a new menopause-mobile and a new project as yet another magic shop owner has been murdered and Giles finds out the profit margin on eyes of newt and Urns of Osiris. “I bet the death rate keeps the rent down,” he muses. Even better, you can sell plastic unicorns to vampires, but “what kind of unholy creature fancies cheap tasteless statuary?”.



Which is Harmony’s cue. Like Dawn, she is in search of “the real me” and after reading some self-help books (including “Evil for Dummies”), she’s assembled a gang of minions (including one Andrew Wells) to kill Buffy. In full Anita Ekberg get-up, she and the lackeys attack the Summers residence; perhaps the first time Buffy hasn’t been in when a vamp comes to call. Still at least Harmony and Xander’s second fight has a bit more oomph, even if Dawn is the only person in the world who thinks that Xander is cool. Spike seems to like the new Harm as well: “Look at you - all puffed up and mighty, thinking you’re the big bad. It’s adorable,” even if Buffy does tell her that she is as bad at being bad as she was at trying to be head cheerleader. Her attempts at being an uber-villain fall short as even her clichés fail her: “At last we meet,” she says to Buffy, ignoring the hundred other occasions at which they encountered each other. “I hope you’ve made our guest comfortable,” she says to Mort, who doesn’t understand irony. As her underlings mutiny (except Brad), Harmony whines to, and as much as, Dawn, whom she has kidnapped in the traditional set-a-trap-for-the-Slayer fashion: “They treat me like I don’t really matter,” to which Dawn can only agree.



Another person relating to Dawn is Tara who passively-aggressively tells Willow that she doesn’t fit into the Scoobies. “It’s tough, not being allowed to help….it’s hard, the outsider feeling,” she bleats. This might be a little message to the fans who didn’t want her to get together with Willow. “It’s a tight bond and hard to break into,” Tara tells her girlfriend, despite the fact that even Joyce now accepts their relationship. The scene is also to further hint at Tara’s possible evil nature, as she looks uncomfortable when Willow says; “You’re one of the good guys”. So Drac’s not gonna be the big bad: will it be Dawn, or Harmony or Tara or another lady entirely?



Interestingly, the customary put a character in danger and they’ll make up with Buffy plot doesn’t happen as standard. We see Dawn’s pride at her sister being able to kick ass, and she does manage to warn Buffy as Mort is about to attack so that the Slayer can kill him (live by the unicorn, die by the unicorn). But they are still arguing with each other as they get home just before Joyce (as if it’s Season 2 all over again). “I’ll tell mom you slayed in front of me” Dawn gripes. Buffy thinks everyone over-protects and coddles Dawn and Dawn hates the way everybody defers to Buffy just because she’s the chosen one (ad infinitum to Season 7).



Buffy hits the nail on the head when she says: “I know it’s always been this way – she’s the baby. But for some reason lately it’s been getting to me.” Just as in Superstar, Buffy found the Jonathan-verse a little odd, and here too, Buffy’s ego makes her feel that something isn’t quite right, although she won’t investigate it for another couple of episodes. She has been an only child all her life; the monks can put in false memories but they can’t change Buffy’s feeling that she’s the centre of her, and Joyce’s, universe.



“I’m not a kid,” sulks Dawn, and the only person who agrees with this is a man with mental illness: “You don’t belong here” he tells her – perhaps another ticking off of the fans who complained about Dawn’s appearance? But we know her arrival has been forecast. “Little Miss Muffet counting down to 730,” said Dream-Faith. “I know you, curds and whey,” says the mentally ill man. It is foretold. There’s nothing Buffy, or the fans, can do about it.

this was a funny episode but once again it did not serve much purpose except for introducing buffys little sister dawn. who knew she had a sister? nobody!



what makes this episode a little annoying was harmony as she is the worst character of the show and so stupid. that witch cant even kidnap a little girl. to bad harmony did not die but the episode was funny and interesting.

“The Real Me” written from a perspective not like any other, a young girl, the sister of the slayer writing in her journal about her daily life, her normal life... except normal for her is completely extraordinary for the rest of the world, unimaginable to the rest of the universe. She complains and she rants about her sister, the sister she wants to be. The first time she is really introduced to us, she seems like a normal little girl, trying to pretend she doesn't want to be her sister, all the while, trying to be part of her sisters group of friends. We see her perspective of her sister and her friends, and what could happen. Buffy having to take care of Dawn, then Willow and Tara, and Dawns doting over them, “magic is so much cooler than slaying”. You see her sad realization that she will never be with hunky Xander, “He says I'm like a kid sister...”

But not only does this episode focus on Dawn, but also on the interest that is Harmony, this title is not only for Dawn, but also Harmony, “I've found the real me, and I like her.” Buffy and Harmony's quarrels are priceless, who could forget when Buffy said, “Harmony, when you tried to be head cheerleader you were bad, when you tried to chair the homecoming committee you were really bad, but when you try to be bad, you suck!” When watching this episode, you must be ready to laugh, but also be ready to be stunned at how this character could think such a thing, or do such a thing (invite a vamp in when big slayer sis isn't home). Get ready for a ride.

Here it is: Last episode in the closing scene there was suddenly Buffy's younger sister thrust on the audience. This episode gives us an introduction to who she is and how she sees the gang. Adding to the mystery: Everyone acts like she's been around the whole time.



This was a brilliant way to retcon the series to include another Summers sister. Not only does Buffy (and the audience) find out she has a sister, but in order to throw the viewer's into confusion, everyone acts like she was always there. Of course, we the audience know that isn't true because we've been watching the show. Boy were some fans screaming on the net about how Joss was ruining the show-- trying to make us buy that there was a sister when we've never seen her before. So like stupid fanboys to get in an uproar BEFORE listening to see what's going on.



Joss already hints that Dawn's sudden appearance isn't just a 'long lost sister shows up to cause trouble' stunt. We've already had multiple hints that Dawn was on her way. Here in this very episode we have a crazy person also telling her that she 'doesn't belong here'. Very clever writing.



The episode itself is amusing in seeing the gang through a set of fresh eyes. Especially Dawn's obvious crush on Xander, her irritation with Anya, her sister rivalry with Buffy and how she thinks Willow is the coolest. Her small scene of thumb wrestling with Tara was neat, too.



And our episode, up til now comedy mostly, ends on an ominous note when Dawn informs the audience that Buffy thinks she's just her little sister... "is she in for a shock".

After the amazing season opener, the show continues with the excellent writing. At the end of ‘Buffy Vs Dracula’ we met Buffy’s little sister who nobody had ever seen before and we all asked ourselves ‘who the hell is that’? and in this episode we meet most her.



The episode begins with Buffy training with Giles, he tells her to concentrate but then Dawn disrupts it and makes Buffy fall. Apparently she was bored. Cause that’s what kid sisters are.



What thought was very original was Dawn writing in jer journal the whole time. She writes about everyone and shows how innocent and naïve kids really are. she writes in her journal about Riley’s relationship with Buffy. He keeps calling her a kid and she doesn’t like that, but she does think that he has had sex with Buffy.



Dawn also writes about Giles being extremely old, she thinks he’s pretty far gone. And Willow and Tara,. she doesn’t know what they do together except that they are witches and she wants to learn what they do to each other.

When they arrive to the magic store they find the chop keeper dead, Dawn has to wait outside alone and meets some insane old guy who tells her that she does not belong there.



In the store it seems like some books about the slayer were stolen and a unicorn. Harmony loves those and she was behind it all, she now has minions and has a plan of killing Buffy.



Dawn is left alone in her house with her baby sitter Xander who she has a crush on and believes that he helped to beat Dracula. Anya also comes with and she treats Dawn like a 2 year old. It was hilarious to see those together, Anya playing monopoly and Dawn eating icecream. But then Harmony and her minions come to kill the slayer but they can’t come into the house. After Harmony calling Xander names which upsets Dawn and tells Harmony to come in. She almost kills Xander but he pushes out of the house with his legs. When Buffy comes home they tell her that Harmony has minions which makes her laugh until they tell her that harmony can come into the house anytime she wants because of Dawn. Buffy is upset with Dawn and thinks she’s an irresponsible idiot.



After Dawn hears Buffy calling her an idiot she goes outside crying but Anya sees her and tries to get her inside. But before she knows it Mort hits her on the head and kidnaps Dawn. Buffy and the rest find Anya injured and she tells them about Harmony.



Dawn is taken as hostage but the vampires want to kill her except for Harmony. Then Buffy comes to save them and kills all the vampires except Harmony who fleed away and she cuts Dawn loose. They are mad at each other and want to tell mom but then it’s time to they just leave it out.



The episode was a lot of fun, it gave us a chance to meet Dawn. The dialog was hilarious in overall and it showed how teenagers feel when it comes to adults and how much adults are annoyed by teenagers. This also gave the chance to develop Anya in the further episodes and ends with the line of Dawn ‘She still thinks I’m little miss nobody, just her dumb little sister. Boy, is she in for a surprise’ and that we are all.

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.

We see a brand new member, Michelle Tratchenberg added to the cast. Apparently she is Buffy's sister - yet we have never seen or heard from her before.



Season 5 of Buffy was originally going to be the final season, until later after its final episode it was picked up by UPN and revived.



They introduce Dawn to us as a character who apparently Buffy has spent most of her life with, she has been living with Buffy and Joyce since birth.



Viewers are now dieing to find out what's going on? Who is this girl? Is she an allusion? This is cleverly revealed over the clevery mapped season.



In this episode, we don't find out any information as to who or what Dawn is, but we begin to see what type of relationship she shares with Buffy - which seems to be very typical.



A few minutes of this episode is spent with Dawn and her diary (aka in future episodes as 'The Dawn Chronicles' to qoute Xander) in which she talks about her sister and her friends. We know from this episode that she particually likes Willow.



This is the first episode that we see Dawn and it is worthwhile to watch it as there are a few clues in the episode which were pivotal to the shows upcoming storylines.

Now this is more like it! After a weak season premiere, the David Fury-penned \"Real Me\" is funny and clever. The wisdom of introducing Dawn, a new character, as if she had been in the cast all along is shown as the episode works beautifully on two levels. Besides the basic plot of the episode, which involves vampirized former Cordette Harmony\'s pathetic attempts to set herself up as Buffy\'s archnemesis, there\'s the ongoing question of Dawn\'s origins. An early encounter with a crazy homeless man drops a few well-placed clues. Michelle Trachtenberg\'s dialogue is written with a certain delicate ambiguity, and the actress\'s performance really lets the imagination run wild about what Dawn might be while at the same time not contradicting what we later learn to be true about the younger Summers daughter.



Much as the arrival in town of an outsider (Dracula) in the premiere helped us see the established cast in a new light, here we get a Dawn\'s-eye view of the Scooby Gang. Willow and Tara are dotty aunts (magic is so much cooler than slaying). Xander is a hunk who\'s totally cool for skipping college. Giles is so old he uses the word \"newfangled.\" Dawn\'s behavior and speech does seem a little immature for her stated age here (14), but the character was originally conceived as somewhat younger until Trachtenberg was cast. Fury admits on the DVD commentary track that he had trouble initially adjusting to the more adolescent Dawn.



Whatever its imperfections, \"Real Me\" works because of Trachtenberg and Mercedes McNab, who plays Harmony. Harmony is a profoundly silly character, especially as a vampire, and the writers have a ton of fun assembling a gang of vamps lame enough to be her minions. (Tom Lenk, who plays Cyrus, would return to play Andrew in Seasons 6 and 7). Buffy can\'t keep a straight face when she finds out who\'s behind the latest rash of neck wounds in Sunnydale, and even Xander gets to feel like a tough guy when confronted by Harmony.



While the plot takes its time to get where it\'s going, a lot of groundwork for the season to come begins getting laid in place. Giles decides to buy the town magic shop and end his involuntary retired life. Anya wins big at the Game of Life and decides that the pursuit of money is a worthy central life goal. Buried in the middle is a beautiful little scene with the witches where Tara identifies with Dawn\'s feelings of isolation from the core Scooby Gang.



All in all, a much stronger episode than its predecessor, which gets the season on to a solid footing. \"So, Slayer, at last we meet.\" \"We\'ve met, Harmony, you half-wit.\"