"Potential," written by Rebecca Rand Kirshner. Season seven, episode 134.
"Storyteller," written by Jane Espenson. Season seven, episode 138.
"I see more than anybody realizes, cos no one's watching me...You're not special. You're extraordinary."
Xander, "Potential."
"You've already met Buffy. She's beautiful with a lion's heart and the face of an angel. She's never afraid because she knows her side will always win."
"Honestly, gentle viewers, these motivating speeches of hers get a little long."
Andrew, "Storyteller."
"I knew we'd always do that again. One more time anyway."
"Is that what this was? One more time?"
"Do you think there should be more?"
"I don't know. It was nice. It felt like...like a 'one more time.'"
"I think we're really over. Which—it's good, right? Now we can move on?"
"Sure."
Xander and Anya, "Storyteller."
"Here's the thing. I killed my best friend. There's a big fight coming, and I don't...think I'm going to live through it. That's probably the way it should be."
Andrew, "Storyteller."
In the best of all worlds, this would be a year long course—or at least a semester. I know we skipped an entire season, watched one episode from the next, and now we're six episodes from the end of the series. A lot has happened that we've never even seen: Buffy's other boyfriend, Riley; the death of Tara; the descent into evil by Willow; Xander's becoming a responsible adult with a regular job; Spike and Buffy's tortured love affair; Spike's redemption; Giles' leaving; the reason the potentials have ended up in Sunnydale. Sorry guys. There's always Netflix and Wikipedia to fill in the blanks.
There are those who loved the series and thought it should have ended after the fourth season, where Buffy dies. The original intent of the show, a show about the hell of high school, had long been achieved; and the tone of the show got darker and more serious—no more hell hounds and Inca Mummy Girls and Willow and Cordelia running from some monster, screaming, nor Giles and/or Xandet getting knocked out in three seconds. This is, as we discussed with "The Body", a series about young adults in that netherworld between adolescence and adulthood. Now, seven series in, that's probably done as well. Buffy is the adult, the one making life and death decisions for these scared potential slayers, not to mention her best friends. Giles is gone, "no longer standing in the way" of Buffy's full growth as he sang in "Once More With Feeling." We're a long way from the Buffy who wrote "Buffy—heart—Angel" on her notebook. I don't know if this makes the show less interesting, less dramatic, but it certainly makes it different. Not coincidentally, Dawn is a sophomore in this last season—the age Buffy was when the series began.
"Potential" and "Storyteller" are two unusual episodes in our viewing, though they speak to the adventurousness and willingness to try something different that the later seasons engaged in more and more often. Buffy really is a secondary character in both episodes. And in "Storyteller," Andrew—a minor character elevated to someone major—acknowledges something that some viewers complained about at the time: Buffy, as an adult and leader, was a bit of a bore—her speeches did go on and on. Joss Whdeon clearly made this part of her character. Giles made being The Man seem so easy, and clearly it isn't, not even for Buffy. And Buffy's lessons to the potentials can be confusing: as Molly—or is it Vi (I can't keep track of the potentials)—asks Buffy, are they supposed to make out with a vampire before they kill it? Andrew's hilarious video narrative speaks of Buffy's lack of fear—which should be the heroic narrative, but as we know, isn't here.
Anyhow. All this is a lead up to the final three episodes we'll be watching. So:
1. Your reaction to the two episodes? What particularly struck you in each episode? In fact, since Buffy is, arguably, secondary in both, what is each episode really about?
2. How is Buffy as an adult in these two episodes? Give specific examples from each episode in answering this.
Tomorrow: ""Lies My Parents Told," a Spike centered episode, and "End of Days," the penultimate episode. Giles returns with other slayers and Faith, the bad slayer of season three; and we meet Caleb, the very bad preacher who is in cahoots with The First. See you then.
1) I really liked “Potential” because it really showed Dawn as a major character to me. I thought that “Storyteller” was both hilarious and revealing. In “Potential,” Dawn’s disappointment really stuck with me because it’s easy to feel like you’re not special, even though you always are. “Storyteller” was really good at telling some of Andrew’s back-story and that was very helpful. “Potential” is really about Dawn, in my opinion. We see her astonished by the fact that she might be a Potential, and then we see her fight a vamp and realize that Amanda is the Potential. We see her disappointment and be comforted by Xander. “Storyteller” is all about Andrew. Not just his back-story, but how he is the reason the Hellmouth seal opened, and how he can close it.
ReplyDelete2) Buffy trusts the girls’ instincts if put in actual danger. In the opening scene of “Potential” they aren’t as aggressive as they should when facing a vampire, and Buffy sees this. That’s why she is training them and why she and Spike leave them in the crypt with the vampire. Buffy and Spike are almost like parents to the Potentials. Buffy likes to give motivation speeches, we are told by Andrew, which can go on for ages. She is both being protective of the girls and telling them what to expect in the future. They are going to die, its inevitable. She also protects Robin, the principal, and Andrew.
I liked potential, it was an interesting how it centered around Dawn, a character who is always kind of left out of the Scooby group. I also liked Storyteller, especially because at least in the beginning, it was so damn dreary, unlike almost every other Buffy episode we’ve seen in the later series. Since the theme of growing up has pretty much passed in concern to Buffy and the Scooby gang, the problems and emotional toll of the conflict in each episode has grown a lot higher. From Dawn grasping for the attention and love of her older sister like in Potential, to Willow becoming addicted to magic, to Buffy dying and becoming depressed, from Joyce’s death, a lot of what we have been seeing has been very dark. Though the earlier seasons were often Kitchy and Corny, I miss the lightheartedness of them. As you say, there are no more hellhounds or inca mummy girls and willow/cordellia doesn’t just run away from monsters anymore. One could make an argument that the light-to-dark trend that the series goes through symbolizes the transition between childhood innocence to struggling with adult problems. Maybe this is true, but I still don’t like it. Anyway this all being said, I liked how this episode started out with the kind of silly cliche of Andrew in an old library telling a story in a velvet smoking jacket and (trying to) puff a pipe. I also liked how the episode still was able to include some heavy stuff like at the end when andrew finally confesses to killing his friend and feels remorse for it. Buffy also took a secondary role in both episodes, which I’d say were really about Dawn (potential) and Andrew (storyteller) and their personal struggles. In potential Dawn struggles to deal with not being noticed and the climax is where Xander talks to her about understanding how hard it can be to “be so close the the spotlight but never be in it.” In that episode Dawn starts to accept her normality in a group of supernatural people. In story teller Andrew begins his road towards Redemption when he finally stops dissociating himself from Jonathan’s death and admits to himself that he murdered his best friend.
ReplyDeleteIn both episodes, Buffy was not the focus of attention and she kind of played the mentor role of giles. Not to say she was the best at it, as we see when she kind of ignores Dawn, but she plays the role of mentor none the less. For example, she tries to guide the potential slayers and train them, which is definitely an adult responsibility. She guides Andrew into seeing the horror of his deed when she threatens to kill him in Sunny dale high’s basement. Though her actions are not conventional in any sense of the word, Buffy has taken on the role of an adult, showing how far she has come since the beginning of the series
1) "Potential" is really an episode about Dawn. The most telling moments of this episode are those in which Dawn is simply staring longingly at the potentials. It's interesting, she never says anything that explicitly tells that she wants to be a slayer, but her hidden resentment for being "not special" definitely implies, especially during her conversation with Xander. When she thinks that she's a potential, it empowers her and she feels special, like she has a role in the world. However, she doesn't have to be a slayer to be special, as Xander says, she is "extraordinary". That was probably one of the most touching parts of the series, that conversation. While there is so much focus on all of the powerful characters, Xander and Dawn are watching from the side, powerless, yet still involved. That is hard, and it's painful and degrading as well. Not only that, but the danger is still omnipresent in their lives, nearly, if not as much, as it is in Buffy's, but they can't fight back. I liked how the show acknowledges this finally, as it's a really important part.
ReplyDeleteI loved "Storyteller". You could probably hear me cracking up, that episode was hilarious. I forgot how funny Andrew was! This episode was definitely about every character as their character in the show, it was kind of like a break, narrated by what could be a BVS fan. However, as the episode progressed, we learnt about Andrew, and his emotional dissociation finally met reality as his tears sealed the seal. That was interesting, as his character never really showed any true fear (or any acknowledgement of reality) until that part. It'd be interesting to psychoanalyze his character.
2) In "Potential" Buffy is an adult in two ways: having a career as a guidance counselor at school, and being the caretaker and teacher of a group of teens. Being responsible for others is probably one of the most adult qualities a person can have. Not only does Buffy have Dawn to take care of now, but what ends up being a massive group of girls who are all in mortal danger as well. In addition, she has the mundane duties of running the household, paying the taxes and bills, and all that jazz, as well. As you mentioned, her giving the long, boring speeches shows that she has to be the mentor now, the adult. She gives these speeches in both episodes, as well as assuming her duties in both. In "Potential" she is defined as an adult by being the caretaker, and in "Storyteller" she is shown as being the matriarch of a mass of people. I also find the difficult task of faking near murder (on Andrew) without cracking to be a solemn ability, as well.
1) Even though “Potential” creates the excitement of new slayers, or teen girls that are very likely to be a slayer come into play as Buffy’s minions, for she has to struggle to train these girls through what they may or might become in the future. However, in my opinion this episode was more evolved around Dawn, the character who seems to be always left out of the “Scooby Gang”, having no super powers, or being some form of a supernatural creature like the others. This episode gives her the slight feeling of having the huge responsibility of possibly being the chosen one to save the world, but coming to the conclusion that she’s really not and she’s the same Dawn as she was before. Even though she may look weak compared to the others, this episode did teach her that she is capable of being strong even if she hasn’t been given any special powers.
ReplyDelete“The Story Teller” isn’t about a particular character, but Sunnydale. Obviously, the characters lives are being documented in this episode by Andrew who seems to have nothing else better to do. As Andrew said, he wanted to record every moment of this because every time there’s an apocalypse, there’s no proof that they had saved the world and so this time (if they do live) there will be absolute proof.
2) Buffy is for sure growing into an adult in these two episodes. Since her mother has died and Giles has gone back to England she has taken over the responsibility of having to take care of Dawn because her two potential parent figures are gone. Aside from taking care of Dawn she has also become a watcher pretty much for the potentials and she now has to train them everyday which has defiantly seemed to be a challenge for her so far.
1. I like both of the episodes that we saw in class on Friday. Each episode had its heart tugging moments and Andrew's interviews in "Storyteller" were extremely funny. The seventh season shows a different side of the show than we have seen before. Buffy is now in charge without the help of Giles. All of the characters have still grown up more since the 6th season. Xander's speech to Dawn stood out to me most in "Potential." He has grown up so much from the skate boarding sophomore he was in the first episode. Xander understands being normal more than anyone else in the show. He helps Dawn understand that she doesn't have to be a potential to be amazing. It would be really difficult to be the normal person surrounded by the Slayer, witches, and potentials. Xander and Dawn can relate to each other really well because of this. This episode was about Dawn and what it feels like to be the Slayer's sister. Always in the shadows. When she thought that she was the Slayer, Dawn was scared, but finding out that she wasn't was harder. The episode was about the people who don't get to be the chosen one, but are surrounded by people who are. "The Storyteller" was a dark episode surrounded by humor. Andrew's final admission of his guilt in Jonathan's death was powerful. He spent so much time changing his story to make it better, until he finally had to admit that he killed his best friend. I can't imagine the guilt that would come with those feelings. He was so scared and vulnerable in that moment with Buffy's knife closing in. The episode was about Andrew and his character. Through the episode he acts like the quirky kid with the camera making jokes and capturing Buffy as the Slayer in her normal routine, but in the end he is covering up such dark memories and feelings. He acts so innocent and he can't let himself fully admit that he killed his best friend until it is forced upon him.
ReplyDelete2. Buffy has become the teacher, the guardian, and the guidance counselor. She guides, teaches, and takes care of a sister. In the beginning of the series she wanted to be able to blow off her responsibilities, but now she has taken on more than ever before. She has to make all of the hard decisions because she has no Giles to do all the things that she doesn't want to have to do. In "Potential" she leads the girls through training and is like a watcher. She showed the girls how to start the fight with the vampires in the crypt, but then she left to make them finish the vampires. Buffy shows so much maturity with her new job and she has to take take care of everyone. In "The Storyteller," Buffy makes Andrew cry to close the hellmouth. She has to make the tough decisions for the group. As Andrew talks about early in the episode, Buffy makes long winded speeches that bore people, but Buffy has done a great job filling in the role of the leader. Giles and Joyce would be proud.
In “Potential”, you already brought up how Buffy isn’t the main character. I think since the series is fairly finished with the growing up theme concerning Buffy, Xander, and Willow’s lives, they have to pass it off somehow. So now, they are slowly bringing Buffy out of the scene and making the Potentials, the ones who will have to take over once she dies, more main characters. She obviously still plays a large role within the episode, though it isn’t all about her and her life story anymore. The main part of the episode that I enjoyed though was the talk between Xander and Dawn about lacking special powers. It is true, they are rarely seen as powerful people who help with slaying within the series, but I liked seeing them realize that the role they play is important even if it isn’t a magical power. I really liked the episode “Storyteller”. I found it interesting having everything being put through a camera, and the narrator, Andrew?, was extremely amusing. It was a new sort of view of the show than the usual, so I found it fun. Besides all of the funny points of the episode, the part that stood out to me was the ending when Andrew turned off the camera abruptly. I thought it was a more powerful ending, showing he had grown passed his issues of wanting to hide behind the scenes by videotaping.
ReplyDeleteShe is a very strong adult and she doesn’t seem to make any mistakes anymore. The view of her has really changed from when we saw her growing up, when she obviously had to make mistakes to learn from them, to now where she has to teach others. For instance in “Potential” we see her take this new role when she is teaching them in the basement and they are all joking around until she forces them to take everything seriously. Then within “Storyteller” she helps Andrew take responsibility for the murder of his friend Jonathan when they are in the basement of the school. She realized through out the entire episode that he was hiding from this, and in order to save Sunnydale she helped him through it. Both of these show how much Buffy has grown up from the teenager she used to be.
1. I loved that both these episodes were more focused on characters that are usually not presented as heroes. Dawn will always be the little sister who is in her older sister's shadow, and Andrew is the bumbling sometimes-villain who is there against his will. Buffy the Vampire Slayer has been on for so long, and Buffy the character has been doing what she does for multiple seasons, and personally, I get a little bored with her story. At this point, we know her too well, and these episodes told from different points of view that were focused on other character's problems and shortcomings were fresh compared to the more Buffy-centric episodes. I really loved "Storyteller" and the techniques that were used, I think it's the funniest episode we've watched. What "Potential" showed is that even after Buffy dies or retires from slaying, there will still be slayers like her saving humanity in a very Buffy way. Her legacy will carry on forever, and that makes her different than any other slayer, and it makes all of her struggles for the past 7 seasons worth something more than Buffy could have ever imagined.
ReplyDelete2. In "Storyteller", Buffy's strategy to closing the portal, manipulating Andrew, was very smart and showed that she can succeed without Giles being the brain behind the operation. A younger Buffy may not have handled the situation with the same calmness and confidence that this adult Buffy does, and I felt it was a sign that Buffy has evolved into an adult post-Giles. In "Potential", she is running a whole operation with training these young girls how to slay like she does, and while she may not know all the answers, she is still willing to take all these girls into her care and be responsible for them, and I think that was a very brave and adult thing to do. There was a time when Buffy was ashamed of her slaying, but here she has accepted it and is wearing it proudly, serving as a good role model to this young slayers.
1. I really liked "Potential" because, for the first time, it revealed some of Buffy's more discreet faults. In class we had always discussed how it is Buffy's friends who are in the best position. They get protected by Buffy and experience the benefits that come with being friends with the Slayer but do not have to bear her burden. Xander, we had said, was the only one who was not exactly happy with this situation. We had said that he felt emasculated and helpless next to Buffy but wrote off his reaction as a resistance to changing gender roles. With Dawn we began to see how it felt to be overshadowed and under-appreciated. This is also the first time that we saw Buffy from an outsider's perspective, even if the person whose eyes we were seeing Buffy through was her sister.
ReplyDelete"The Storyteller" was interesting because it presented Andrew who, to me, is a very likable character as who he truly is: a murderer. I think that it only further blurred the lines between good and evil and served to show how sometimes cruel acts can not be redeemed. It showed Andrew's transformation from denying to accepting his past and the course of his future which will be determined by his previous actions.
2. Buffy is truly an adult in this episode because she leads a semi-normal life in the public eye. In "Potential" we see that Buffy has taken a job as a guidance counselor at Sunnydale High School. For me, this seems like the most ironic job that she could have taken. To return to that particular high school after everything that she went through there seemed slightly off-putting. Furthermore, her role and the way that she is seen and talked about by the high schoolers (like Dawn's friend says in "Potential:" "slightly schizophrenic") clearly shows how others view her as an adult. The fact that she is holding responsibility for all those teenage girls also gives a testament to her status as an adult. Also, "The Storyteller" shows just how strong Buffy is emotionally. She is finally open with others about their hopes of survival. Although she is obviously more brutally honest with Andrew because of his past, she no longer hides the fact that there are and will be casualties in war.
1. I love both these episodes, especially Storyteller, because I think Andrew is really funny. They both have some amusing moments, but they both end on a fairly serious, meaningful note. In Potential, what stuck with me was the moment when Dawn yells at the bringers: "You don't want her, you want me!" (That may not be an exact quote) Obviously, it's hard to feel disappointed when evil people are trying to kill someone else, not you, but Dawn seems to be almost hurt that the bringers aren't interested in her. As Xander says in the end, when you think you're special and then you find out you aren't, it can be painful. Maybe Dawn didn't want to have all this pressure, but she does seem to want to have something different about her, to stand out. I think that's what this episode is all about. A lot of people want to believe they have something special or that they're important in some way and to find out in the end you're just another ordinary person can be a let down. Buffy suffers with being the slayer, but Dawn suffers because she isn't that important to the cause, especially when compared with her heroic sister. There's a conflicting impulse to both stand out and fit in, and I think it's demonstrated in this episode. In Storyteller, what stood out to me was when Andrew was flashing back to what happened when he killed Jonathan. It was especially interesting because I'd seen the original episode and recognized that neither of the flashbacks were particularly accurate. Andrew seemed to be lying not only to Buffy, but also to himself by creating a flashback more favorable towards him, in which his actions were less evil. And I could really relate to this because when I do something I regret or feel guilty about, I sometimes try to imagine that it wasn't my fault in some way, almost change the story in my head to something more favorable towards me. It's hard to look back on something awful you've done, and it's often tempting to think of it more as a story, something that didn't really happen to you and wasn't your fault. Obviously few people have examples as extreme as Andrew, but I feel like he's not alone in wanting to feel detached or separated from his past actions, the "detached journalist". I think this episode is about facing your guilt and how difficult and damaging it can be.
ReplyDelete2. Buffy is a secondary character in both of these episodes, and this allows us to see her through others eyes, so it's pretty clear how much older she's become. A subtle example in the first one is when she tells Dawn to get ready for school, a motherly, head of the house thing to say. She's the one keeping everything running, not only in their everyday lives but also the continuing fight against the first evil. The way she trains the girls is reminiscent of Giles training her and we see her prepared to give the tough speeches and prepare them to face their destiny. In Storyteller, when she threatens Andrew, we see that she feels bad about it afterwards, but she still forces herself to go through with it because she knows it needs to be done to keep everything going. She's also more bothered by Andrew's camera than anyone else because she thinks it's a waste of time and this shows how she's not quite as hopeful about this apocalypse and is viewing it in a more mature light.
Both episodes are about the sideline characters. Buffy has dominated the show so far as well as the other characters. In “Potential”, Dawn is thought to be the new potential slayer while all along it was another girl. Dawn is forced to give up that role and keep being Buffy’s normal sister. She feels marginalized and not special like most all of her friends who have supernatural abilities. Xander feels the same way as Dawn and explains to her that they are really special themselves. The role of being just plain normal is important. In “Storyteller”, the focus is shifted away from Buffy again. The entire episode concentrates on the shenanigans of Andrew. The not so evil villain turned friend of Buffy. He was coerced into Killing his best friend Jonathan and hides from what he did behind his foolish antics. Buffy has a way of hugely affecting the people around her and these two episodes gave us another look at what it’s like to be one of those people, friend or foe.
ReplyDeleteBuffy has become a very responsible adult. Ditching her foolish teenage adventures, she has started acting like an adult; she runs a tight ship at home and is quite frankly a slaying machine. Before, she has been insecure about her slaying identity but now she seems totally fine with who she is. Two examples, one from each episode, show how she has grown: teaching the potentials and figuring out a plan to get Andrew to close the seal. While teaching the potentials, she has a ruthless but mature attitude that shows that she knows what she is doing. The potentials look up to her and respect her authority. With Giles gone, her planning and book knowledge is questioned when it comes to slaying. But, in “Storyteller” she is able to establish a plan and know exactly what to do all on her own. In addition to being mature and responsible she is now independent.
I thought the first episode, “Potential,” was pretty good. For me at least, this was the first episode where I get a sense of what Dawn is like. It stuck out to me how many similar qualities she and Buffy share, maybe because they are the same person or she was made from Buffy or whatever it is. But I found it interesting how Buffy, throughout the series, always wanted to be normal and not be the slayer, but Dawn wants to be a potential. I think this show is about how you don’t have to be the hero and be in the spotlight to make a difference. I also thought the episode “Storyteller” was pretty good. Andrew is a crazy character and his movie was very funny. The scene that stuck out to me was scene with Xander and Anya on the couch. I thought the part when he was mouthing the words that Xander and Anya were saying on the video camera was very funny. I thought this episode was about how everything Buffy and the crew does to save the world goes unnoticed. Andrew says that he is making the video to record Buffy saving the world and documenting it because if they die, nobody will know what they did.
ReplyDeleteIn the first episode, Buffy is an adult because she is a teacher to kids in two ways. She in the mentor for the slayers, and teaches them how to succeed in the world as a slayer. Buffy is also a school counselor, and she helps kids with their problems, even if she doesn’t seem to be too good at it. In the second episode, Buffy has to play the role of Giles, while also taking care of the house and pretty much being a mother to Dawn.
The removal of Buffy as a primary focus for both the episodes allows for a reexamination of the theme of coming of age within the series. With the potentials, Andrew and Dawn assuming the prominent roles in their respective episodes, many of the issues confronted by Buffy in the initial seasons of the series are present once again. Whether it be Dawn’s conflict concerning her true role in life or Andrew accepting responsibility for his actions, many of the characters depicted in these two episodes serve to exemplify many of the struggles of adolescence and young adulthood. “Potential” is an episode concerned with discovering one’s true purpose in life, and furthermore what one must do when that purpose is stripped from them. While Dawn is incorrectly labeled as a potential for a short period of time, her seemingly set role in life is suddenly revoked from her, removing Dawn from the ranks of the extraordinary once again. As stated by Xander, one does not have to possess powers to be an extraordinary individual, and this is, in some respect, what coming of age is all about. “Storyteller” is an episode primarily focused on maturity and taking responsibility for one’s actions. Andrew presents an example of a typical teenage individual whose close minded worldview renders them naïve and wholly unable to assume any mature role in their life whatsoever. Although having matured considerably by the episode’s conclusion, Andrew displays what may be the most difficult aspect of coming of age, doing so in a incredibly exaggerated fashion.
ReplyDeleteBuffy’s entrance into the mundane world of adulthood displays her maturation to a considerable extent. By finding a desk job and assuming a mentor role to the potentials, Buffy has transitioned from the archetypal teenager to an aged and mature teacher. Buffy is not so much wise as she is depleted, and the episode shows this to a considerable extent. The adult world is not meant for Buffy, and she is most certainly not meant for it.
Having an older sister, I can relate to Dawn’s feelings in “Potential.” I know what it’s like to feel stuck in an older sister’s shadow. I like how the writers don’t leave any possible storyline out. Similarly to what Jenny said, Buffy’s story has become a little bit repetitive, and it was nice to have an episode focused on Dawn. It was interesting seeing her at the same age Buffy was when she and her mom first arrived at Sunnydale. Dawn seems so young and more or less naïve, and Buffy seems so dark. It’s sad to think that Dawn’s future will only get harder, just as Buffy’s did. I loved the exchange between Xander and Dawn. Previously I had thought it must be strange for Xander and Willow to have their lives basically revolve around Buffy’s. I’m glad this episode addressed that. As Xander said, it must be hard to be surrounded by powerful friends and not possess any supernatural powers yourself. This episode illustrated the value of special human traits. I like this adult Xander who doesn’t worry about being emasculated like he did in the earlier seasons. “Storyteller” was a little hard for me to follow because we skipped so much, but I enjoyed seeing Buffy’s world through an outsider’s eyes. Andrew’s show resembled a TV show inside a TV show. Andrew struggles with his guilt, so he represses it until Buffy makes him truly feel and acknowledge what he did to make him seal the seal. I thought the ending was powerful when he turned off the video and returned to reality. By turning off the camera he stopped hiding from reality.
ReplyDeleteI think Buffy should have paid more attention to Dawn in “Potential.” She seemed pretty oblivious to her sister’s pain. She was focused solely on training the potentials and staying away from the Bringers. This is something Buffy, as an adult, needs to balance better. I did like how she trained the potentials though. Her realism and faith in them showed when she and Spike left them in the crypt with the vampire, and they killed it as a team. They were able to grow and truly know their own skill and power. In “Storyteller” Buffy does what she has to do to close the seal. She breaks Andrew and makes him cry. This reminded me of when Giles killed the human in “The Gift.” Her maturity is evident because she doesn’t shy away from her duties at all.
1. being the youngest child with two very accomplished and impressive older sisters, "Potential" was an episode in which i really connected with Dawn. though i found her actions immature and foolish when she claimed she could take on the vampire without Buffy, i understood her feeling of insufficiency and invisibility when placed next to her heroine of a sister. we are also alike in finding our places: supporting the cause and family. i found the scene when Xander really stepped up and reassured Dawn of her worth so touching, as if Xander was beginning to step into that parental void left gaping when Giles went back to England. along with making us love Xander even more for making a young teen feel better about herself, his true role in the Scoobies is finally articulated. he is the glue keeping everyone together and on their feet. i also was intrigued that he could be so honest with Dawn with how he felt about being the "powerless" one in the group, although we learn that though a mear human, he's not powerless at all.
ReplyDelete"Storyteller" was indeed a light episode with a different format which i found refreshing. i think this episode was interesting because it was not hardly about Buffy and the gang, despite the fact that Andrew was making a movie about them. i found the style in which this episode was filmed very different from all of the others. for example, we are cut out of Buffy's inspirational speech to save the world, and learn that the listeners actually think she's borring! maybe it's not so gung- ho and dramatic as we thought.
2. Buffy has definitely stepped into the adult role in a big way since Giles left town. in "Potential" we see her actually as an authority figure, teaching the young girls how to fight. she seems to take this job very seriously and the girls definitely look up to her. in "Storyteller" we see Buffy with a real job at the high school: the guidance counselor. as i stated in a previous blog post about adulthood, i associate such a status highly with self sufficiency. i see Buffy now as much more of an adult than before; she has a job, is mentoring young potential slayers, etc. we dont see ditzy little school girl anymore, this lady is all business.
1. I thoroughly enjoyed both episodes we watched on Friday, but of the two I found Potential to be the most interesting and entertaining. This episode really focused on Dawn, who might not live with the burden of being a slayer but certainly has to deal with struggles of her own. Dawn is living with her sister, the all-powerful slayer, and several other girls around her age that could all potentially become the slayer and gain immense strength and ability. Not to mention Tara and Willow, both of whom are incredible self-taught witches. Dawn is surrounded by super humans: other than Xander, she’s the only normal one of the bunch. This episode was her opportunity to be Buffy and try out the life of a slayer. Of course, this was only temporary for Dawn. It really stuck with me when Xander sat down with her at the end of the episode and told her that he understands. He reassured her she wasn’t alone by expressing that he too often feels useless and insignificant in the group, and most importantly he assures her that she might not have mystical powers, but she is special. Extraordinary even.
ReplyDeleteStoryteller focuses on Andrew, a relatively new character who’s funny and likeable, but has a very dark side that we get a glimpse of in this episode. We see how he murdered his best friend, and although throughout the episode he tries to make excuses for his actions, by the end he comes to accept that it was a choice he made and he has to take responsibility for it. What really stuck out to me in this episode was Xander and Anya, who were so in love and set on a future together in early episodes and now just seem like a totally lost cause. They were interviewed by Andrew and seemed so awkward around each other: it just wasn’t natural and was pretty sad to see.
2. In Potential we see Buffy start to take on very adult roles. For one thing, she’s teaching all of the potential slayers the basics of vampire slaying: she’s passing along all of her knowledge to younger girls hoping to be like her someday. She’s very much a mentor here: she’s clearly the responsible, wise, and “in charge” one of the group. Another thing that makes her very adult in this episode is the fact that she has a job: we see her working as a counselor at the high school. Of course teenagers get summer jobs and what not all the time0, but this is different. This is a grownup job that can only be filled by someone who’s old enough and reliable enough to give high schoolers advice and help them with school or social related issues.
We see the new adult Buffy in Storyteller throughout the episode. For one thing, like in the Potential, she’s very much taking on the role of responsible, in charge grownup. She prepares the girls to fight in an upcoming battle and is very serious about the whole thing: in his absence she’s almost take on Giles’ role. Another thing is Buffy’s approach to the upcoming battle/war. In the past she would go into something like that with a very positive attitude: knowing she would fight her hardest, win, and everyone would be fine. She’s taking a much more realistic approach here and making it clear that not everyone is going to survive. She seems to have lost a lot of her innocent hope and become rather cynical.
1. In her first two seasons, Dawn was really annoying to me but when she grew up I started to like her a lot more. It's interesting how she never showed much adversity to Joyce's authority, but she doesn't really like Buffy telling her what to do. Their relationship never fully changes from a sisterly one, even though Buffy is her guardian. (Also, let's just take a moment to recognize what a terrible father Hank is. His ex wife dies and he doesn't even visit his two daughters, let alone try for custody?) It's hard enough being protector of the world, but now she's the protector of a teenage girl. One who is very much drawn to danger. And while I appreciate Xander and Dawn's feeling of being left out I feel like everyone really does take Buffy for granted. We are skipping over the most aggravating episodes on television in which everyone is mean to Buffy (flashback to season 3, Dead Man's Party) but it's become a lot less "oh hey, you died for us, you rock!" and a lot more "you make annoying speeches, who put you in charge?" Although I do love Andrew and his bromance with Spike. Someone said this already but he's basically the entire fandom. He ships Spuffy, finds everyone's favorite characters attractive and still does not understand any part of season 5. I have no idea why he chooses Vampyrs over Vampires, though.
ReplyDelete2. Instead of her usual quips, she's moved onto inspirational speeches, which are perhaps more effective pre-apocalypse. She's definitely very similar to Giles, but she knows exactly what her trainees are getting into, because she's lived (and died) it. And it obviously hurts her, no matter how honest she tries to be with herself. Very Dumbledore of her, to, in a way, raise these girls for slaughter for the greater good. It's a burden she wouldn't wish upon her worst enemy but has to share with her best friends. Maybe for Buffy, growing up is realizing you can't protect everyone and they have to learn to fight for themselves. She too can't be "standing in the way". But it doesn't make it any easier.
1. Both episodes put emphasis on characters who are otherwise pretty easy to overlook. Dawn, the younger sister of the world saving slayer, and Andrew, the self proclaimed evil mastermind turned meek prisoner. In Potential, I thought the most powerful part, along with her talk with Xander, was the scene (which he actually comments on) where she hands over the stake to Amanda. It is difficult to give up power and step down from such a position, but she recognizes that she isn’t the true possible slayer and gives the glory to its rightful receiver, an act which ultimately saves them. I find this to be in itself a heroic thing to do, and it’s nice to see it not go unnoticed by everyone. I thought Storyteller was a very funny and light episode, up until the point where Buffy has Andrew hung over the opening and we finally see him forced to confront his past wrongs. It’s clear there’s a lot of guilt buried under the stories he’s told, and the murder of a best friend seems like an incredibly difficult thing to bear the burden of and take responsibility for.
ReplyDelete2. Buffy has taken a new role in the slayer world. She no longer can just kill the vampires herself; she must also train others to do so. We see her taking on the part of a mentor and teacher to the potentials as well. Buffy has also traded in her smart remarks for a new approach: darker, angrier drawn out speeches. She has very much become an authority figure, dedicated to her duty and not afraid to scold the potentials when she doesn’t think they’re taking it seriously. She has also developed into a less hopeful, more realistic person, aware that not everyone can survive.
Both of these episodes follow the characters that no one pays much attention to. Xander has no special powers, is a construction worker, and is often the goofy friend of the slayer. In both episodes – but Potential especially – Xander is explored further as an adult and is complemented by Joss through the script. We also see more of Dawn and how she is being affected. She has no power and at the beginning of Potential it seems to really bother her, but by the end she is willing to seamlessly give her power to someone else if that is what needs to be done. She also was pretty heavily complemented by her old crush, Xander. We also get a look at Andrew. In Story Teller Andrew looks at the Scooby gang and season 7 in a different light than that of an average episode, and I really liked that different perspective. It allowed me to see things that I didn’t before or just better understand (that diagram helped, Okay.). You also see his remorse and you see that human characteristic of seeing things you want to see. He told Buffy (when she was about to stab him) that part of him knew it wasn’t Warren, but he wanted to think it was. He wanted for things to go well and for Warren to be back, an he did a horrible, unforgivable thing in the process.
ReplyDeleteNow she isn’t just having to take care of Dawn, but all the other girls they’re bringing in as well. She has to be a mom, mentor, and drill sergeant. She also has a job now. She is a councilor at the high school. I always admired my school councilors because they have to do and put up with a lot, but I commend her especially because Sunnydale High gets all the normal crap and multiplies it by 100. We see her step it up and help others either in training the slayers or with her buzzing around the school trying to keep kids from exploding , disappearing, or fighting. Admittedly she floundered a bit in advising Amanda, but I think that was more personal problems than being unable to deal.