7.12 Potential

[Clare]

7.12 Potential - Episode #134
A spell performed by Willow indicates that Dawn is a potential Slayer, but is she the real target of the incantation?

Review (also post a score out of 10) and discuss this episode.

[partcynic]

7x12 “Potential”

Episode Rating = 3

Coming after the First-oriented gruesome twosome of “Bring On The Night” and “Showtime”, it’s hard not to feel some involuntary sympathy towards this episode, if only for providing respite from tedious scenes of angsting and the silly Turok-han. Stepping a little beyond the season’s usual arena, “Potential” tries to present a classic-era style character development piece, and I give it some credit for recognising the merits of that approach. Amusingly, this standalone (of sorts) has more real plot than the last three or four big arc stories, and the lightness provided by Amanda is a little ray of sunshine breaking through the year’s omnipresent gloom. With reasonable pacing and fewer outwardly bad moments than S7’s gotten us used to, “Potential” is pretty enjoyable, though it still has a number of pressing issues preventing it from being of similar quality to eps from the classic era.

What I Liked about "Potential":

- A big thumbs up to raising the idea of Dawn as a Slayer, and then promptly squashing it. The impact of the reveal is nowhere near as strong as it was upon first viewing, but I’m still grateful that the writers weren’t deluded enough to think that “Dawn the Vampire Slayer” would be a viable spin-off (meaning that the franchise may not be entirely doomed).

- The pacing was significantly better than in the last two episodes. Even though there was a blatant ‘A-plot’ and ‘filler B-plot’ vibe to the structuring, most of the individual moments were watchable, and there were no long, dragging sections (a la the Spike torture scenes in “BOTN”).

- The Buffy parts have some funny lines. I liked Molly asking if they were supposed to make out with vampires when she saw Buffy and Spike’s ‘moment’, as well as Kennedy’s joking comment about Clem being one of Buffy’s exes.

- Anya’s contribution to the Dawn/potential conversation was great. She was the only person who said anything insightful about being a Slayer, and I loved how she was used to acknowledge the silliness of the improbable Buffy/Dawn blood bond from "The Gift". With comments like this (and similar ones made in “Normal Again” and “Storyteller”), it’s pleasing to see that the writers realised they had made a number of errors, and were willing to make fun of them.

- The Dawn/Amanda interaction worked well – Dawn was genuinely likeable as she both 1) tried to comfort and take care of her and 2) realised Amanda was the potential, and gave her the support she needed to win. Come to think of it, I’m surprised that the show didn’t have Dawn befriend Amanda in “Lessons” instead of Kit – it would have enabled further character development for her, and worked better continuity-wise than having the audience see Kit once, only for her to vanish forever (besides the phone call in “CWDP”).

- Amanda herself was the episode’s highlight; being likable, sympathetic, and intriguingly ‘odd’ (I was very fond of her wanting to use the vampire against people she didn’t like). Of all of the potentials, she’s second only to Kennedy in terms of having an established personality, and won me over more in one episode than Dawn did in all of seasons five and six. In fact, it’s hard not to wonder how much better the final three years of the show would have been if the writers had had Amanda be Buffy’s sister instead of Dawn.

- Xander’s speech at the end worked. While I will say this with the caveat that it was very young (the whole ‘everyone is special in their own special way’ thing is more “Barney” than “Buffy”), it was nicely written and acted, and possessed genuine emotion. It was the first time we’d seen the grown-up Xander of S5 since “The Gift”, and drew out the best in both he and Dawn.

What I found to be a mixed bag about “Potential”:

- The episode’s attempt at a theme and character development failed, despite its good intentions. There was no reason for Dawn to feel concerned about being left out of the potential/’special powers’ club, when she’s already been there, done that, and almost died in the process. I know that the show completely forgot about her original purpose once S6 started, but that doesn’t mean the audience has, and you’d think that the trauma being the Key caused would make her more than happy to be a regular person. Regardless of the outcome, it was very weird how every character acted as though S5 hadn’t happened.

- The Buffy speeches were better than the ones in the last two episodes, because they were at least rooted in reality. However, that doesn’t mean that they were good, and listening to her go on and on about things that weren’t particularly interesting, insightful or clever got boring quickly.

- The sexual tension between Buffy and Spike was okay, but tacked on and unnecessary. Spike also needs to receive some proper development – I’m happy he’s no longer sitting in the corner and moaning, but he’s randomly gone from an incoherent mess to a fully functional member of society, and it would have been good to see how this happened.

What I Disliked about "Potential":

- Why is Buffy acting as though her death will activate another Slayer? It’s fine if she doesn’t know that the line now runs through Faith, but by her logic, shouldn’t there now be a third Slayer (called after her sacrifice in “The Gift”), or even a fourth (if flatlining in “Villains” counted as dying)? If she believes these other girls might be out there, wouldn’t it behove her to ask Giles about them? If they exist, wouldn’t it be helpful to have them assisting in Sunnydale?

- What’s happened to Chloe (from “Showtime”)? Shouldn’t she have been training with the other potentials?

- As always, Andrew served as the unfunny comedy character. I don’t mind him being present when he contributes something relevant (“Never Leave Me”; “Storyteller”), but the writers insist on wasting time with him delivering the same old jokes. His statement that “killing pigs is wrong... and hard” was okay, but the Dragonball Z/Star Wars stuff needs to die already.

- With the exception of Anya, the characters who discussed Dawn's supposed potential-ness misfired. Listening to the big chat again, it struck me how clueless Willow sounded about the nature of slaying, and it was odd that even Xander was correcting her (when their basic intelligence/perceptiveness levels would suggest that things should be the other way around). Knowing all of the pain and suffering that Buffy’s endured as a Slayer, did Willow really think that Dawn being a potential would be a good thing for either of them, or that Buffy would be just fine with a person she’s tried to protect above all others now being in the First’s firing line?

- Dawn's reaction to being a potential suggested that this ep’s writer was unaware of what had happened in the last few shows. If Dawn needed to sit and think about her future, then she should have just sat and thought. What was escaping through the window supposed to accomplish – especially when she should know that another potential Slayer was killed after running away only two episodes ago?

- So, Dawn heads out on her own despite knowing another girl was killed by doing the same thing, coincidentally bumps into Amanda (how small is Sunnydale?) and learns about the vampire at the high school. Knowing that she has no supernatural powers or real fighting ability (and that Amanda doesn’t either), she then decides to take the vamp on and drag Amanda into it, instead of calling on her older and more experienced allies. On top of that, she also knows that there’s other bad stuff happening at the school, and that she’s a walking target for Bringers... but she goes anyway. Honestly, just how thoughtless is this character?

- Amanda’s sudden super-abilities when fighting the vampire didn’t ring true. If some Slayer skill is innate, I have to wonder why Buffy was a sloppy battler even after she’d been called. And shouldn’t the SITs who were hunted down in the first two episodes have been able to battle the Bringers a bit more effectively by calling on their own ‘potential’?

- The Buffy counsellor scene was embarrassing. Her joke about being weird in a “lovable, charming way” was good, but using Amanda’s problems as a springboard to talk about Spike was annoying, and the awkwardness of the sequence deprived it of its intended humour.

- Why was Buffy locking the potentials in with a vamp? In “Helpless” we were shown (very vividly) how this was a BAD thing, and Buffy had three and a half years of Slayer experience under her belt before being subjected to the test. None of the potentials have any Slayer power, and only Kennedy has any significant training. Buffy shouldn't have shut the door - the vamp could've killed them before she could even react.

- How did Buffy, Xander et al know where to find Dawn? Despite not knowing where she’s gone, they pop up just in time to help her and Amanda fend off the Bringers.

Do I like this episode more or less than the last time I watched it?

I like it more, though I still acknowledge its numerous problems. Like “Him”, this is an ep that could be fashioned into something really good if it was given some substantial rewriting, and had its character progression remoulded to make sense. Granted, that’s asking a lot, but it does mean something that this story might actually work, whereas the last two eps were so problematic that deletion was the only thing that could save them. In recognition of this, I’ve upped my score within its bracket, to a high ‘3’ (the poor development prevents it from climbing any higher). It’s probably my fourth or fifth favourite ep of the season so far, and it’s always nice to see this after making it through “BOTN” and “Showtime”.