If you hate Dawn then Why?

[NeonSlayer]

A lot think Dawn got so much better in s7 but there were many times she was still being ridiculous.

In Potential when she thinks she's one of the Potentials she takes off alone in the middle of the night without anyone knowing where she's going. How is that different from Annabelle? She's lucky a Turok-han didn't kill her too. And she knows her death would hurt Buffy more than anyone else's which would make it harder for Buffy to train & lead the girls. And they'd think "Buffy couldn't even keep her sister alive".

We're supposed to feel sorry for Dawn that she's not a Potential. She is living with girls her age who are all orphaned or separated from families they can't ever return to and aren't allowed to go to school or leave the house because they are being hunted throughout the planet, their entire race being exterminated. It's like being jealous of Anne Frank or Katniss Everdeen. Wiping out the Slayer line was a genocide and being a Slayer is trying to survive as tribute in a Rated R for Violence hunger games.

Xander shouldn't of had her thinking of it as the Potentials getting to win a beauty pageant. He should've reminded her that in s5 she was in a similar situation, an army of men (Byzantium knights v Bringers) wanting to murder her just because she exists (The Key v Potentials), constant worry that she might be kidnapped or killed by a powerful entity (Glory v First Evil).

In Beneath You everyone praises Dawn for threatening to set Spike on fire but what about seconds before that? She made Buffy feel bad about herself. Buffy was not being secretive and it wasn't like s3 when she was slipping away every day to spend hours with Angel behind everyone's back (not that I blame her for that). She ran into Spike one time for a couple of minutes. Dawn's snide comment that Buffy only lets them in when it's convenient was out of line and ignored how much Buffy had been trying since late s6 to open up more. And when Buffy does keep things to herself it's out of trauma (unable to talk because it affects her so deeply) and not devaluing those around her. In Lessons Buffy thought Spike was one of the semi-corporeal vengeful spirits and she had good reason to think that. Then in Sleeper Dawn proved to be a hypocrite since she didn't tell Buffy or anyone else what FEJoyce told her.

 

[DeadlyDuo]

I find Dawn's inclusion is Season 5 quite irritating. I think it did cause Spuffy and Joyce's brain tumour which was never acknowledged (it's two coincidental that it all kicks off in the season that Dawn arrives). Also, Dawn eats ice cream like a complete moron. I know the character was originally envisioned to be younger before MT was cast, but either they should've cast a younger actress or they should've rewritten Dawn's early scenes so the character matches up with MT's age, the ice cream scene just makes her look like she has additional needs. Also Dawn's attitude sucks, particularly in Season 6, but it's the ice cream scene that really annoys me in Season 5.

I also think Dawn should've been either been Buffy's daughter (a result of sex with Parker, which would also explain Buffy's save Dawn above all else attitude) or if they really wanted MT, have Dawn be a foster child that Joyce fosters. You would still get Dawn's feelings of alienation and Buffy's jealousy without the whole "here's a new family that has neither been seen or mentioned before but they're soooooo important to all the characters". It would also mean social services would be keeping an eye, particularly after Joyce's death hence why it was so important to keep up the illusion that Buffy was alive with the Buffybot. Dawn then playing up would also give a reason for social services to start taking an interest in the Summers home. Not only that, but I think it would also be a positive message if, over the course of Season 5, Buffy did start to view Dawn as a sister rather than just an interloper (kind of like, just because you're in the care system doesn't mean you can't be part of a family) and you had the whole "we're family" with the Tara situation so it would be nice to carry on that view of the scoobies as an untraditional family that Dawn becomes a part of.

 

[ChaseRules]

I think myself that Dawn was important myself . At least at first . You had Buffy having to take care of Dawn which gave her something beside being the Slayer since that was all she was beside Dawn . What I didn't like was them not having Dawn having any special powers since being a mystic key you think she would have something from that .

 

[Btvs fan]

I don't hate Dawn but she should've been killed off in the Gift as she had no relevance to the plot after that and was just hanging around for contractual obligations.
This way you could've still got Buffy's depression storyline at her death rather than the resurrection guff instead.

As for MT a decent actress but really to old for the part as Dawn was clearly written as much younger than she was.

 

[AshSlays]

I think the main reasons why I disliked Dawn could be seen as really biased, but I'll still share them here.

1. She didn't really contribute much to the show. Apart from being the key, which only lasted in season 5, what did she contribute? Not much.
2. She felt like they were just trying to add a relatable character for the new generation of teenage Buffy fans. Buffy was no longer the age of the teens, she was at that point the same age as the college-age viewers. Dawn felt like Joss threw her in to hold the relatable status for teens.
3. Dawn reminds me of people I go to school with. Tagging along, whining when they don't get their way, yelling at people, highly ungrateful, disrespecting people older than them, jumping into relationships the day of meeting the person, the lists go on and on.