Like Being Swallowed. By Something Larger.

Episode 7.12: Potential. Original Airdate 1.21.03  

"Buffy takes the Potentials to a demon bar and then to Spike's crypt, in order to teach them the art of slaying. When Willow casts a spell to seek out the next Potential, the spell leads them to believe that Dawn may be a future slayer."

Special Note: We apologize for the huge hiatus: Holidays, vacations and other commitments kept us busy, and probably the thought of continuing season 7 felt a bit daunting as well...so...HERE WE GO:

Zelda's Thoughts: 

• God, I've completely forgotten how to do this. Um. Hi. Yay Buffy!
• Starting in a graveyard is a good throwback to early Buffy.
• But gasp! They're fighting Spike! Gasp gasp! He's training them.
• Aw I love Felicia Day.

• "Don't fight on his terms. Your gut's telling you to run, run."
• "He needs to kill to live. That tells you everything you need to know."
• Buffy and Spike have A Moment. // Daniel: ugh. // Me: MY SHIP. // Potentials: That's hot. So we're supposed to make out with them or something?
• Sigh. The beginning of Buffy's less fun speeches. Buffy as Teacher/General gets a lot of hate in the fandom, and I get it because she's not as fun and quippy as teen Buffy was, but she's basically forced into this position by everyone around her, and she has to feel her way. She goes into full detachment mode in order to fill the role. It makes her less approachable, but she's trying to do what needs to be done.
• Yay it's Amanda! Hi again, Amanda.
• Buffy is the worst counselor you guys. Stop "humorously" projecting your Spike baggage onto poor Amanda.
• "Wait, the seers couldn't find out her name or, like, her address or anything? Am I getting the definition of seer wrong?"
• Dawn snarking at the Potentials is way more fun than self-pity Dawn.
• "He's not evil, but when he gets close to it, he picks up its flavor, like a mushroom or something." Accurate.
• I wish MT were a better actress. Or at least a funny one.
• And then there's Emma Caulfield, whose delivery of "Oh look pretty" is amazing.
• Ugh they're still talking about the line of succession as if it goes into effect when Buffy dies. The succession line has moved onto Faith. This is never going to not bother me, the clumsiness of the writers on this score. It just leads to stupid back and forth in the fandom.
• "Well, it's almost like this metaphor for womanhood, isn't it?" Hey look Andrew just named Joss's thesis for the genesis of this. #tbt to when Buffy got menstrual cramps whenever a vamp was near in the film.
• Props to Xander for standing up for Dawn when the others are kind of (uncharacteristically?) dumping on her. Set up for his speech at the end of the episode.
• Aw it's Clem, you guys! And apparently his face opens up in weirdass ways.

• The Potentials all ship #Spuffy. Poor Daniel. [*sigh* - D]
• "It takes just one vampire to kill you." Bit of a callback to "Fool For Love"?
• Dawn failing to break the flagpole over her leg. Oops.
• And now there are Bringers.
• Aw, Dawn's realization. "You don't want her. You want me." Except they don't.
• Dawn handing over the power and the weapon to Amanda - Xander's right, it's the most adult gesture we've seen from her.
• And now we get to feel the feels, as Xander reminds Dawn he knows what it's like to not be Special, and that she herself is extraordinary.

Gross if you know what happens later...

Daniel's Thoughts:

• Wow, we’re on season 7 still right?  Right.
• Ok, we start with two potentials, Vi & Rona – one ok, one totally annoying. Any episode that starts with potentials instead of regulars can’t be good, right?
• Oh hey, they’re tracking Spike. 
• I mean, in a way Rona’s kinda right – they don’t have the slayer powers that Buffy has….but neither do Willow/Xander/Anya….  And also to be fair, it’s a miracle that Willow, Xander and Anya aren’t dead yet...
• Ugh, all the Spuffy stuff, I just can’t.
• Ugh, Does Buffy practice these speeches?  Where do they come from?  What is going on?  Why does Buffy have a slayer professor tenure [Maybe you get it automatically if you survive the cruciamentum. - Z]
• Oh hey, an Anya mention.  She has resources.  But let’s continue to concentrate on the extras...
• Hahah Chaka Kahn.
• Omg, the 2003ness of the potentials outfits.
• And Dawn is all sad face because she feels left out.
• Hey, Amanda!
• Buffy is a terrible guidance counselor…it’s almost as if she has no credentials.
• “Sometimes that’s how people relate – being mean to each other.” – that’s a terrible feminist lesson, Buffy. 
• “Hey, everybody look – it’s Willow….”  - 10-15 minutes into the episode.
• So the seers see someone in Sunnydale who is a potential but don’t know where/who…why isn't it just assumed that they're just sensing the potentials already in Buffy’s house?
• WHY IS ANDREW IN THE SCOOBY MEETING?
• “I like to feel the wood in my hand” Kennedy: “lost me there” THAT IS A HINT THAT I AM A LESBIAN.  IT IS VERY VERY SUBTLE – DID YOU GET IT?
• How awkward that Andrew and Willow sitting at the same dinner table… you know, with his best friend killing her girlfriend and her killing his best friend and stuff?
• But let’s put all that aside.
• Oh hey, Anya is sitting with everyone but has said nothing.
• It’s actually really kinda sad that her hopes are built up that much.
• Shut up, Andrew.  We have all the funny we need from Anya.
• Im glad we’re concentrating on the scoobies right now and not so much the potentials.
• Now of course, Dawn is going to prove...that she’s stupid…and run away.  Because that always works out.
• “It’s a demon bar…like gay bar…but for demons”  Great comparison, Vi.  Maybe it’s like a straight bar…but for demons?  Why is ‘gay’ always the stepping stone for something. Like the conservative argument about marrying animals if we make gay marriage legal….like again…why is “gay” that stepping stone?  Why does it go straight – gay – ANIMALS.  Or  straight  - gay – DEMONS.  Fuck off.  Ok, I’m off my soap box.
• I love that Clem can do the Beetlegeuse thing.   Nice reference.

• I love when they play up the awkward klutziness of Dawn.  She thinks she’s a potential but she can’t even climb into a window.
• Amanda’s twisted. I love it.
• So Dawn…you’re really that stupid? Go in search of a vamp without any weapons? 
• I mean it might not be a bad episode if pretty much every episode wasn't like this….season 7 is just so damn repetitive. We keep asking ourselves…which one is this again?
• Yeah, I don’t know if I agree with this teaching, Buffy….just throwing them into mortal danger.
• Dawn, pretty much: “the bringers are going to kill Amanda…that means I’m not a potential….how sad…for me…” 
• Nice, job Amanda!
• 2 minutes on the job and she did much better than the rest of the potentials put together.
• To be fair, as soon as she realizes that Amanda is the potential, she gets all Buffy-Speech-Professor and encourages Amanda.   So that’s cool, I guess.
• Oh no, is this the Xander, you’re extraordinary speech to Dawn? Cause I don’t care.

Favorite Lines:

Z: "Seven years, Dawn. Working with the Slayer. Seeing my friends get more and more powerful ... I saw what you did last night. You thought you were all special - Miss Sunnydale 2003. And the minute you found out you weren't you handed the crown to Amanda without a moment's pause. You gave her your power. They'll never know how tough it is, Dawnie, to be the one who isn't chosen. To live so near the spotlight and never step into it. But I know. I see more than anybody realizes because nobody's watching me. I saw you last night. I see you working here today. You're not special. You're extraordinary." - Xander
D: "One second you're just a klutzy teenager with fake memories and a history of kleptomania and now suddenly you're a hero! A hero with a much abbreviated life span!" - Anya 

Arc/Continuity Stuff:

Recurring: Rona, Vi, Molly, Kennedy, Buffy's job as counselor, Amanda, Andrew, the demon bar (is it still Willy's place?), Clem, Bringers

Stats:

Anya's Hair - dark blonde, shoulder length, straight
Dead Humans - 0
Dead Undeads - 5
Dead Potentials - 0
Dead Flashbacks - 0
Giles Unconscious - 0
Giles Cleans His Glasses - 0
Buffy Breaks a Door - 0
Buffy Makes A Speech - 1
Evil Reveal - 0
Unevil Reveal - 0
Shenanigans Called - 0
Apocalypse Called - 0