Buffy ep by ep; REAL ME-heerrreeeesss Dawnie!

[saturn5]

THE REAL ME

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.

Missing scenes;

Apocalypses; 5,

Wheldon Cliches (with kind permission from Boo)

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, ½ 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, ½ a demon, ½ a demon
Anya: ½ 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 Buffy probably 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

 

[BillyidolwannaB]

I liked real me, 8/10. Harmony stole the show and was hilarious, love when she calls Xander a hair puller and big girl lol. Also gotta love vamp Andrew.
Best line(and theres loads of best lines) Anya: ''hello there little girl'' 🙂

 

[Anya2012]

A good episode even though I'm not too fond of Dawn.

7/10 because of the confusion I felt.

 

[Bloodix]

One of my favorite lines of all time is from the scene where Xander and Anya are babysitting Dawn.

Anya: "Can I trade in these little people for more money?"

hahaha

 

[slayergrl90]

I enjoyed "The Real Me". I give it a 8/10
I think they did wounderful fitting Dawnie into there. It realy felt like she has always just been there. In this episode I didn't realy like the whole Harmony thing, I don't know maybe it's cause I don't like her. Her character always got on my nerves. I did get a laugh out of her whole minion thing like Buffy, lmao. Out of all I realy did enjoy this episode.

 

[faeriegrrl27]

I enjoyed this ep, but I think it should have been a couple weeks after Dawn was introduced. It acknowledges to the viewers that something is going on, whereas if Dawn just popped into an episode, it would be even more WTF????

 

[saturn5]

I think the idea here is that when we first see Buffy, Dawn and Joyce together it's very obvious that Dawn has always been there. It don't think it really works and I'm not sure how you'd ever get it to work. You don't know if Buffy is yelling "Mom!' as in 'What the hell are you talking about I don't have a sister?" or "But I was going to go to the mall with Riley!"
The Real Me is much better, we see each Scooby meet her in turn and their relationship with her is automatically established, all very skilful. The clever thing is that then for the next few eps she is simply Buffy's little sister, if you were new to the series you'd not know that she was anything else until No Place Like Home.

 

[BuffyElevated]

I love this episode. I love how Dawn narrates the episode from her POV, by writing in her journals. 🙂 I have always liked Michelle Trachtenberg, and when she became a Buffy cast member I liked her even more. I remember watching this ep first-run and being REALLY confused and wondering how she had just come to be, but when it was explained a few eps later I said "Ohhhhhhh, ok! 🙂"
Buffy laughing over Harmony having minions is the funniest part for me. For some reason, I can never help myself from laughing with her. 😀 I don't see anything wrong with SMG's laughing on camera! 😉

 

[Wishing Oceans]

It was OK. 🙂 Dawn was kinda annoying, except with her awesome "Geez, crack a book once in a while.", which is so true. 😀 I thought Buffy was pretty annoying too, with her constant complaining about her sister. You'd think if she had a sister for 13 years she'd be used to it, but nooo. 🙂

Harmony was hilarious, and I loved her "I met the real, and I like her." 😀 I use that one all the time. 😉

Andrew was oddly hot as an evil vamp, he should try that more often.

Xander was pretty cool in the ep, especially since we were seeing him through Dawn's rose colored glasses.

Hm, I'll give it an 8 outta 10. 😀

 

[Spiciu]

I thought Buffy was pretty annoying too, with her constant complaining about her sister. You'd think if she had a sister for 13 years she'd be used to it, but nooo. 🙂

I think that's the point, like she said: 'Dawn's always the baby but lately it's really gettin to me' - because it actually is the very first time she has to share her Mom, her time and friends with a sister.

The Journal writing of Dawn is nice, to see the other characters from her naive point of view. The writers should kept it on.

 

[Taake]

Buffy laughing over Harmony having minions is the funniest part for me. For some reason, I can never help myself from laughing with her. 😀 I don't see anything wrong with SMG's laughing on camera! 😉

I'm not a big fan of the episode but that is really great. I laugh with her there too.

Otherwise I'm mostly annoyed with the episode (obviously since I don't like Dawn) and the whining coming from both sides.

 

[Marisa]

The first time I watched this I thought okay what the heck I seriously was like who is this Dawn later on I found out. Overall this episode was good I thought it introduced her well especially after multiple viewings.
I actually am a really huge fan of Michelle ever since Harriet the spy so I am glad she was on the show, I know Dawn whines but overall I liked her character. I think her writing in her journal was nice but that may be because I like that type of thing since watching Roswell. I will say Sarah and Michelle are very well together and that is always a good thing.
Plus it is always good to see Harmony I have always liked her 🙂

 

[sylvanscribe]

I despise Dawn, so I am afraid I can't objectively view this episode. I don't see why the introduction of a new character, especially one so annoying, was necessary to the series, and therefore I feel this episode was pointless.

In fact, while I thought Season 4 was a little off but still entertaining, this episode is where I start to see BtVS slide slowly into an abyss that it never completely escaped. The introduction of Dawn heralds the end of the golden era of Buffy.

 

[Taake]

I despise Dawn, so I am afraid I can't objectively view this episode. I don't see why the introduction of a new character, especially one so annoying, was necessary to the series, and therefore I feel this episode was pointless.

Completely agreed.
(messagetoshort)

 

[Username]

One of my favorite season 5 episodes, I don't get why people think Dawn is so annoying, I don't mind her at all. She's the way a little sister is supposed to be..
I was much worse than her..

I love Harmony's gang of losers, but what the hell kind of a name is Mort?! is that short for Mortimer or something.. ew

Also I really like the super sweet scene with Willow and Tara

Best part
Anya: Crap! Look at this. Now I'm burdened with a husband, and several tiny pink children, more cash than I can reasonably manage...
Xander: That means you're winning.
Anya: Really?
Xander: Yes, cash equals good.
Anya: Ooh, I'm so pleased! Can I trade in the children for more cash?

 

[Willow My Love]

I didn't really care for Dawn in this episode. But I don't really like her in the series at all. It really confused me when she came into the series and nobody be explained it for a couple of episodes. I didn't like that. I've always thought she was really annoying. I never liked her character. She was way more annoying than my sister ever was! And what was with her stealing later in the series? Trying to give her depth just made her look like an attention whore...

 

[PassionBecoming]

I just finished watching this ep and the commentary, and I could barely watch it. I just CANNOT STAND Dawn. Never could, and I'm thinking it's just because she is written too young for her. They talked a little about it in the commentary. Way too much whining going on all over. I think Buffy was so whiney because, even though she wasn't aware of it, this is the first time she's dealt with a sibling and it all came on her all at once.

Harmony and the minions cracked me up, too! Love Buffy laughing at her!

Xander, Dawn, and Anya playing Life was one of the funniest moments of the season!

Anywho, I don't think the ep was bad in itself, I just dislike it because it brought Dawn into the series. Meh.

 

[Hale Caesar]

Dawn's first episode is the saddest moment for me. It's when the Scoobies lost their chemistry, when the next two seasons would be filled with whining and the next three seasons would be plagued with the awful acting of Michelle Trachtenberg

Yea, Dawn is my least favorite character in the Buffyverse lol

 

[TeamSunnydale]

I really like this episode. Harmony was great, so was Anya. It was funny 🙂 And I don't hate Dawn, I kinda like her, and I liked how we were hearing her diary in this episode, it was an insight into her. 🙂

 

[ticonderouga]

Dawn was important to the story

While Dawn was never my favorite character on the show, she was absolutely necessary to the way the story progressed. Without Dawn, the death of Buffy's mom basically would have made Buffy a more traditional Slayer. By introducing Dawn and then killing Joyce, Joss Whedon gave Buffy a role that surpassed and transcended that of being the slayer. Suddenly she becomes a surrogate parent and has to think beyond simply fighting Demons. This is why I like this particular episode, I think its the best Dawn centered episode until Potential in season 7.

Also Harmony as the big bad is just funny.