Am I Supposed to Hate Dawn?

Yeah, I didn't like Dawn. I finished the series yesterday, but I never latched onto her. She's beyond annoying, and I really didn't like how they just shoved her into the story.
 
i couldn't stand Dawn. The way she just appeared in the story without an explanation for a few eps. If she had been an alright character i wouldn't have minded that part but she was so annoying as well. She didn't bother me as much in the last season, but before that i was just hoping she'd die off, like glory would kill her or something.
 
So why did they ake her character sooooo annoying? I get the concept. Now Buffy has a little sister that annoys her...great. But why did they go to the extreme and drag it on for so long? Yes, she needed to be immature in the beginning so she could grow as a character but I seriously wanted to fast forward. It took me a long time to become fond of her but I have to say it did happen. Her journey is easy to identify with but seriously...GET OUT GET OUT GET OUT!!!!!!!!!!!LOL:fighting1
 
I don't hate Dawn, because I understand her. I'm the same age now as she was at the beginning of season five (I hope you all feel old. 😉 I joke...), and I too have an old sister. I feel like my sister is more important than me a lot of the time, and it is hard, teenage life is hard enough in general. I suppose I see a lot of myself in Dawn, except for the fact I'm obviously not a key (As far as I know) - She was annoying at times, yeah, but I think generally it was just hard for her being a teacher and trying to find her place in the world, especially when her sister was the slayer, and had all these friends surrounding her, when Dawn didn't really have anyone. I think she definitely matured over the course of seasons 5 through 7, and stopped being as whiny and annoying. I'm not going to say 'She wasn't whiny and annoying' because yeah, she was, but she has her reasons. When I first saw her in season five, I was confused. Then I was jealous, because I wanted to be Buffy's sister 😉 I suppose that's why I never really found her annoying, she was always the character I empathised most with in the 'verse when I was younger, because she was the youngest, the outsider, and that's generally how I've always been, around my family and my friends.
 
B
BillyidolwannaB
Nice post. I can relate to Dawn too. Its a bit unfair the criticism she gets.
I knew that Dawn was written to be the annoying wee sister, but sometimes it was just too much and I wanted to punch her face. Although I like Michelle, she's a great actress, and funny too.
 
Bluebird said:
I knew that Dawn was written to be the annoying wee sister, but sometimes it was just too much and I wanted to punch her face. Although I like Michelle, she's a great actress, and funny too.
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Yeah, that's my problem as well. Obviously she was meant to be annoying, but it felt completely retarded at times. It was really whenever she made things about her that I got annoyed.

It made sense that she was upset that she was a key and her memories technically weren't real, but at the same time, it didn't make sense for a 15 or 16 year old to turn Buffy's mental breakdown in that episode where she thought she was a mental patient living a fake life in her own head. It was stuff that like that drove me batty.
 
owa said:
it didn't make sense for a 15 or 16 year old to turn Buffy's mental breakdown in that episode where she thought she was a mental patient living a fake life in her own head. It was stuff that like that drove me batty.
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Same here! That episode really made me hate her worse than I did.
 
I like Dawn, because as my sister says, she's grown on me , but Season 7 of Buffy is what made me like her. Although, I do understand why people don't like her, because I remember not liking her at first either because there was that annoying part of her and she did sort of appear out of nowhere. But at the sametime, I can see what she's going through in Season 5, where she loses her family and finds out that Glory is after because she's the key. Also, like other people have said in this post, I can sort of relate to her because I'm the youngest one with an older sister. Also, I'm her age in Season 5, andI can sometimes be dramatic, but just not as much as her, that's all.
 
Ugh

Oh man, I don't know if I will ever be able to completely explain just how much I can't stand Dawn's character. The nasally thing when she gets upset...omg, it makes me want to smack someone. Mainly Dawn. Not to mention in season five she's just annoying. She purposely does stuff to piss off Buffy and I found myself wanting to skip over her scenes. Once More, With Feeling is my favorite episode, and I was honestly really happy that she didn't get her own song, mostly because I didn't want it focused on her for that long XD

Yeah, you are not the only one.
 
Biter said:
Oh man, I don't know if I will ever be able to completely explain just how much I can't stand Dawn's character. The nasally thing when she gets upset...omg, it makes me want to smack someone. Mainly Dawn. Not to mention in season five she's just annoying. She purposely does stuff to piss off Buffy and I found myself wanting to skip over her scenes. Once More, With Feeling is my favorite episode, and I was honestly really happy that she didn't get her own song, mostly because I didn't want it focused on her for that long XD

Yeah, you are not the only one.
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hahahah well put. Couldn't have said it better.
 
Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy.

As one of the few who like Connor in Angel, i guess it's natural I also like Dawn. However I can at least understand some of the legitimate complaints against Connor even if I don't agree with them. With Dawn though, especailly in Season 5, I don't grt it at all.

To start with the basics, her showing up was my absolute biggest WTF moment in the series. I remember watching re-runs of Buffy (as I hadn't watched Season 5 when it first aired) and when Buffy came home and there was Dawn.... I swear I went "huh?!" i couldn't stop wondering if I had just missed an episode somewhere. (I lacked the internets at the time)

So when it was all finally explained, I was more relieved than anything. Having the story answer your nagging questions is always satisfying.

As for her character.... She seemed like a normal 14-year-old girl to me. And I must have been about that age myself when I first saw Season 5. A little immature but with a big sister who's into things like Mr. Gordo? Not all that unusual.

And after she finds out about who she is and breaks down...how can anyone hate her? The actress is so perfect in this scene it breaks your heart.

So with the realization everything she knows is a lie weighing on her mind, she also has her mother die on her. Now I'll tell you this; I refuse to watch the episode where Buffy finds Joyce dead or the one right after. I can't do it. So I can only imagine how Dawn, on top of everything else, feels.

Even less possibility of me disliking her.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. Dawn is one of the most tragic and sympathetic characters in Buffy. I could never hate her character.
 
I think Dawn doesn't really come into her own until Season 7. But in the previous seasons, she really didn't bug me all that much. And I thought SMG and MT worked pretty well together.
 
I loved Dawn during Sn 5, but afterwards...ugh...especially when the writers wasted the Halloween ep I'd been waiting for since Sn 4's Halloween ep on HER and her stupid teenage antics. I just couldn't understand why Dawn would be so stupid when she knew what was out there. They dropped the ball with Dawn because her journey to balancing life as a teenager and knowing about demons, vampires, et al could have been just as compelling as Buffy's.
 
Hello, this is my first post on this site, but I guess this is as good a topic as any.

My opinion on Dawn:

I actually really like her character. Is she annoying? Yes. Is she whiny? Definitely. Is she naive? Without a doubt. But that's what makes her character work. Very few teenage girls are any different from her. Actually, its not just girls, very few teenagers are any different from her. All good characters need to have flaws. Now, Dawn grows in the following seasons and by season 7 has become a character that, it would seem, most people have grown to like. I can definitely understand why people don't care for her in season 5 (and 6 to a lesser extent) but I think that was kind of the point. Now, not only is Buffy a girl who literally has the weight of the world on her shoulders, she also has to deal with an annoying little sister who keeps getting in the way of everything.

On the flip side, can you imagine if the key were something or somebody else? After Joyce's death, would Buffy have even cared if Glory was successful? I suppose her friends could have provided her something to focus on, but I suspect she would have done the same thing. She would have "wanted death" in the same manner all the other slayers wanted it.
 
owa said:
I also get that the circumstances surrounding the last couple of episodes (Body and Forever) are tough to deal with for a 14 year old, but it's the complete ignorance her character displays that annoys me so much.
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I think that for whatever reason, that actress (Michelle Trachtenberg) can easily fit that sort of role. The only other role I saw her in was in a cameo on one of those 'CSI' shows, and even my 15 year old sister (her age at the time) was ripping on her for being so unbelievably stupid and/or annoying. Dawn isn't dumb, simply immature and unreasonably annoying. Funnily enough I can only imagine Michelle being far smarter and less obnoxious and less insipid than that in real life.

Nikkolas said:
her showing up was my absolute biggest WTF moment in the series.
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Yes! I think that was the intended effect though...

I honestly resented the whole 'key' thing for a very long time, I was like:

"What?? These monks implanted all these artificial memories in all these people's heads and now its as though everything that happened in S1 - S4 is like, altered, null and void for the most part and an altogether different experience in these people's heads dude? Aww, no, boooo!"
That was my initial reaction. I hated it! I suppose I eventually got accustomed to it, and her character definitely matured. She was certainly not as relevant in later seasons (after S5 I mean).

One thing that tore all of that down in me though, was the scene in "Forever" when Buffy and Dawn cry together, but I mean before that. Something about Buffy opening the door to find an empty night, that mere moment was just so emotionally viscerally searing for me, and the fact that Dawn undid the spell by ripping the picture, I think, made me respect her character a hell of a lot more from that moment on. The scene just worked, and initially I saw Dawn's unwise decision to bring Joyce back as...that, an unsound and unwise decision, and even though I am glad it turned out the way it did on "Forever", even though, frankly, it was not an outcome I totally would have never anticipated (either the spell not working or one of them/something canceling the spell), I felt Buffy's desire to be re-united with her Zombie-mom.

🙁

It would take a lot (I would imagine), for a person willing to so desperately resort to magic or whatever (in a world where that was possible obviously) to act as Dawn did. Few 14 year old's in that state would do the right thing. And who wouldn't want to bring a lost loved one back? Not that it made me completely forget all the sulking and bratt-ness she was truly capable of, mind you..

Oh yeah:

Buffy Ann Summers on Season 5 said:
"We are doing nothing but turning her into a little idiot who is going to get us all killed."
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Lololololololololool!!
 
To me, even though they planned her entrance somewhat, she just seemed thrown in.

Also, she gets in the way. Seriously. It was a lot easier when it was just Buffy.

I've only seen Dawn for about 2 or three episodes and hate her. I hope I like her more, but eh. Not looking good for the home team.
 
Dawn, for me, is a character you learn to love. Yes I hated how she was just thrown in. It infuriated me. However, everytime I watch, I realize just how much she has grown.

Would the series be better without her in it. Definitely.

I am glad though that they added her. She ends up being quite the researcher, taking on after Tara, and if Dawn were never there, how would season 8 have gone? I also think she would be essential for season 9.

So after this being said, I am kind of glad she was added, but it still hurts to watch her little annoying ass
 
I don't have a problem with Dawn. In S5, I don't think she was that annoying. Buffy's S5 whining was 10x more annoying.
 
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