Was Dawn a good decision ?

[Taake]

Dawn to me was an awful idea. Truly awful character, brought about by thoroughly illogical means. I could have lived with it if she had only been in season 5 but to keep her around... gees, it just seems as if even the writers weren't prepared for that and most of the time she just ended up as a useless background character with a couple of enforced (and often whiny) lines.

I think the storyline could have been filled with pathos etc if Dawn had died at the end of season 5, but what we got ... big meh.

And the fact that they never even solved the question of was she still a key? A real girl? Did the monks create her to last forever or does she had an 'expiration date'? To me was just lazy writing. Dawn was a tool to bring about the season 5 plotline and she never really got to grow to be anything but that, even when the plotline was over and forgotten


To me they wasted the "everybody forgets the kid through a spell" on Angel. They should have used it for Dawn if anything.

 

[Hale Caesar]

To me they wasted the "everybody forgets the kid through a spell" on Angel. They should have used it for Dawn if anything.

100% Agreed.

And I think this deals with a bigger issue Joss Whedon has. He gets too attached to his characters. Perfect examples are Dawn, Xander and Giles, he doesn't know when to let them go, it was clear that in the last 2 seasons they didn't do much, but Joss has such a passion for these characters he keeps them around and it hurts his show.

And then there are examples of characters he doesn't have such a passion for like Angel and Cordelia...and they get treated like crap. Joss said Cordelia's story was done after season 4, but that's garbage, she was possessed for a whole season and it would have been very easy to write an arc for her. Angel was dragged through the mud in season 8. And even worse, Joss has not acknowledged Gunn in season 9...

 

[Joshua]

Do you think adding Dawn so late into the series was smart?

Do you think Joss & Co. adding Dawn so late into the series was smart? Or do you think they jumped the shark doing that?

 

[orpheusxi]

I personally don't. It definitely was a risky move banking the main plot of that season on it, but it was handled very well.

 

[Living Dead Boy]

IMHO, I have absolutely NEVER gotten the Dawn hate. Never. What Joss did with Dawn and the season 5's storyline was frickin brilliant. Dawn might not be my favorite character, but I certainly wasn't turned off by her in any way. If she was in MY LIFE, then I probably wouldn't even be bothered with her, but she's a character, so my life goes on.

 

[Dagenspear]

IMHO, I have absolutely NEVER gotten the Dawn hate. Never. What Joss did with Dawn and the season 5's storyline was frickin brilliant. Dawn might not be my favorite character, but I certainly wasn't turned off by her in any way. If she was in MY LIFE, then I probably wouldn't even be bothered with her, but she's a character, so my life goes on.

I hate Dawn in s6. I actually loved her in s5, despite her sometimes grating voice. As a matter of fact, Dawn is what got me back to being excited about BUFFY. Which I really needed after s4. Then came Glory, and I was back to being in love with BUFFY again. I was very sympathetic to Dawn's plight, and even defended her to my Mom, who said she was annoying.

 

[nightshade]

I feel that had UPN not picked Buffy up and it had ended at The Gift, then Dawn was a great idea for the last season of the show, but as it got picked up, Dawn became something that they had to keep and didn't really know what to do with.

 

[SlayerFest]

I've noticed that a lot of guys seem to hate Dawn. Interesting. I personally just don't care anymore. At first I was somewhat annoyed by her presence. I roll my eyes whenever she makes those damn crystals fall in Real Me. However, she grew on me. I was too young to give a crap about lazy writing, plot development, and whatever the hell else. I love Buffy more than any television show, ever. I will never love any show more than I love Buffy. Ever. If I'd just started watching the show now, oh god...I'd have so many complaints about...everything. I doubt I'd be able to get past season 1.

I'm not saying that Buffy doesn't have any faults. Of course there are episodes that I don't like, and sometimes I find myself hating...everyone, and I cannot stand that Willow killed a man (yes he was a misogynistic asshole, but still) and everyone just joked about it, but that's another story.

 

[Xin Rong]

She was a good idea as a story telling device, although as a character she was an abomination!

 

[Robb Stark]

I'll start this off by saying that by S7 I loved Dawn. I fully thought of her as part of the cast and I wanted her there.

However, when she was first introduced I was a little unsure of her. Not just because I'd grown accustomed to the Scooby gang the way it was either. I had something similar when Connor was introduced into Angel as well (although I like Dawn infinitely more than Connor). Clearly they both had massive arcs and were the centerpieces of the show when they were first introduced, which makes sense, but after a while it just felt like they were pushing them both way too hard.

I get that in S5 Dawn is supposed to be whiny little sister, and I really liked her that season. Sure, the monks logic was more than a little off, but I thought she added a really interesting element to the show. It was S6 where I ran into problems with her. She got really whiny. It got better as the season progressed and by the end she was pretty awesome but at the beginning she just drove me nuts (although, that can be said of most of the cast and the way they treated Buffy).

But in the seventh season, when they stopped pushing her as the focus of the show, I thought Dawn really found her niche and settled in nicely. She turned out to be a really great character. So in that sense I thought she was a great idea. There were so many minor characters in S7 that characters we already knew like Dawn were great to get behind. I thought she came into her own brilliantly.

 

[funsmiley]

It always bugs me when i think of when dawn arrived, because we have to watch it knowing that dawn wasn't always there,i mean the characters remember her being there, when she really wasn't, it just really annoys me that she just popped up out of nowhere.

I know that was part of the storyline at the time but i have to admit it took me a while to accept that dawn was now a character. I mean buffy was always an ONLY child (it should have stayed that way!!!) and i feel that played a big part in the seasons 1 and 2 when buffy was going through her parents divorce was my fault issues.

One of the reasons i feel dawn was a bit of a bad idea is because quite frankly she didn't exist through most of the show and we fans had to kind of just accept this, and she just popped out of nowhere. But i do feel that later she did became part of the show.......sort of.

 

[VaderSpike24]

I agree that she had no purpose after Season 5. Of course, the reason Season 5 ended the way it did was because Joss didn't know whether he would get another season. If he'd ended it where Dawn died instead and it turned out to be the last season, it might not have worked as well.
But I heard that he had always planned to kill Buffy and leave Dawn in the show. Something to do with contracts, I guess. But wouldn't it have been a better scenario if Buffy had tried to close the portal, but Dawn gets there first after thanking Buffy for protecting her and loving her, and saying that giving up her life to close the portal would make her a hero, and maybe less dispised? It would have given a great message plus given Dawn a good sendoff and not overextend her time on the show. In this scenario, Seaspn 6 would have been about Buffy being depressed about her sister dying and being alone instead of herself. Therefore the running to Spike, etc. would still have happened and made sense.
However, what sucks is that even if we all agree that Dawn shouldn't have been on the show that long or at all, it's already done. We can't change it. That sucks.

 

[bottark]

I really like Dawn. I don't understand why people have such strong hatred for her existence. I understand disliking her character, but I find it difficult to dismiss her simply as useless and unwarranted. Sure, she's annoying and childish and a total klepto. And I fully sympathize with the confusion and disillusionment due to her late introduction. I have an extremely frustrating little sister. Maybe that has something to do with my empathy for Dawn.

Although, maybe I'm a hypocrite here, because I think Connor is an extremely hate-able character. I never felt any attachment to him or even to his relationship with Angel. Whereas even though Dawn is peevish and awkward, I was able to accept and appreciate her place in the show. She had a good effect on Buffy, which was to teach her that she actually had to grow up sometimes. Dawn goes through some really difficult parenting (Joyce sheltering her, and later with Buffy ignoring her) so it's no wonder she's so messed up.

In my humble opinion, Dawn finally becomes a truly respectable character in season 7, abandoning a lot of her "little sister antics" that were rampant in season 5 and even worse in season 6.

 

[Jodast]

I think Dawn was a great idea. The way she was introduced was a stroke of genius. As a viewer I wondered what the hell was going on and it made me want to watch the next week. Not that I wouldn't have watched anyway but it upped the anticipation a notch.

The group dynamic had changed enough during season 4 that although still close , the Scoobies were not so tight that putting Dawn in felt like shoe-horning her into an impossible spot.

Buffy was changed forever as a character by having the responsibility of a little sister to watch over. In another thread someone, and I apologise whole-heartedly for forgetting who and which thread, said that they didn't like Buffy as much once she had family responsibilities. I understand that and agree with it to a large extent, but BtVS being a metaphor for growing up as a young person in America, it forced her into an unexpected situation, which forces the personality to change. I liked the idea but wish that carefree Buffy had been around longer and the tone had remained lighter. But character development is a good thing.

It switched around the emphasis of the show. In previous seasons the world at large was being protected from something beyond its imagination, in season 5 something beyond imagination was being protected from the world at large. A subtle but clever spin on the formula which I enjoyed a great deal.

Let's not forget also, that at the time The Gift was written, it was thought that it would be the series finale, so they were going out with a bang having Buffy sacrifice herself, in place of her sister, to save the world one absolutely final time. Creating something or someone that Buffy and the Scoobies cared, or believed they cared, enough about to sacrifice themselves for was the correct decision, I feel.

Season 5 is my favourite season so I appreciate my bias here, but yay Dawny! 😀

 

[Miss Kitty]

Dawn is one of my favorites characters, so I can't say that it was a wrong decision to bring her on the show.

I think she added an interesting dynamic to the Scooby, she was touching, and I love how they developped her character during those three last seasons. She really was at her best in season 7, she grew up a lot.

And I love the impact her presence had on Buffy. It allowed us to see her on a different light, which was really good.

 

[Robb Stark]

I really like Dawn. I don't understand why people have such strong hatred for her existence. I understand disliking her character, but I find it difficult to dismiss her simply as useless and unwarranted. Sure, she's annoying and childish and a total klepto. And I fully sympathize with the confusion and disillusionment due to her late introduction. I have an extremely frustrating little sister. Maybe that has something to do with my empathy for Dawn.

Although, maybe I'm a hypocrite here, because I think Connor is an extremely hate-able character. I never felt any attachment to him or even to his relationship with Angel. Whereas even though Dawn is peevish and awkward, I was able to accept and appreciate her place in the show. She had a good effect on Buffy, which was to teach her that she actually had to grow up sometimes. Dawn goes through some really difficult parenting (Joyce sheltering her, and later with Buffy ignoring her) so it's no wonder she's so messed up.

In my humble opinion, Dawn finally becomes a truly respectable character in season 7, abandoning a lot of her "little sister antics" that were rampant in season 5 and even worse in season 6.

You're not a hypocrite at all. Connor is, by far, the single most hateable character in either series. People may not like Dawn as a character, but I don't think many people, thinking about it objectively, would say that her arc (especially in S5) and place in the show didn't click. For a new actress to just be thrust into such an established show with such a deep and tight-knit cast and do so seamlessly is might impressive in my books (and a great testament to Michelle Trachtenberg, who's an awesome actress).

For all the things that worked with Dawn, they failed with Connor. The whining never stopped, there was very little character development (as opposed to Dawn, who by S7 was one of the best parts of the Scoobies) and, sorry to say, Vincent Kartheiser just isn't a great actor. He had one scene over this entire arc. I thought Michelle had the acting chops to make it work brilliantly, Connor didn't (although to be fair, I really did enjoy Connor in "Not Fade Away". Have to give the guy props for that).

I think the big difference is that beyond the original introduction arc, Dawn carved out a great place for her on Buffy. Connor never found that on Angel.